One of only a handful of non-Dan Abnett novels in Black Library’s Sabbat Worlds series (or is it maybe a setting now?), Nick Kyme’s Volpone Glory more than holds its own in this much-loved range – a gritty, powerful page-turner of a book that delves into the complex character of the Royal Volpone regiment of Imperial Guard. Set in 791.M41, so roughly the same time as The Warmaster, it sees the 50th Royal Volpone on Gnostes, bogged down in a protracted campaign attempting to push the Blood Pact out of an entrenched island chain, their vaunted pride dented by their lack of progress. As the prospect of victory hangs in the balance even while the archenemy develops its own devious plans for the war, politics within the ranks of the Volpone lead to division, mistrust and increasingly desperate tactics. Hope springs from an unexpected source, but will it be enough?
The Royal Volpone, otherwise known as the Bluebloods, were originally introduced in Dan Abnett’s Ghostmaker as antagonists for the Tanith to deal with, an elite regiment of heavy infantry with a storied military history and an overbearing sense of superiority that saw them instantly at odds with the Ghosts. Since then they’ve made strangely compelling appearances in other Gaunt’s Ghosts stories and indeed in their own short stories – Kyme’s Blueblood and Tempest from the Sabbat Worlds and Sabbat Crusade anthologies – but this is their first novel-length solo outing. There are some small nods here to previous stories for the completists, not least the inclusion of two key characters in Major Regara and Lieutenant Culcis (see Ghostmaker), but otherwise this is very much a standalone story within the broader context of the Sabbat Worlds crusade, and it doesn’t require any prior knowledge of the Gaunt’s Ghosts series.
There’s a sort of ‘boots on the ground’ sense of footslogging infantry here that feels similar to the approach Abnett often takes with Guard novels, but the aristocratic, entitled soldiers of the Volpone give this its own unique tone, and that combination of the familiar with the new is very effective. Kyme uses a variety of viewpoint characters (all Imperial) to show different aspects of the conflict, from the blood and dirt of various spheres of war to the realities of life in a military camp for both the regular soldiers and the upper echelons of the officer class. Regara and Culcis, two unusually likeable examples of the Bluebloods, get the most page time, but accompanying them are Captain Aramis, whose mere presence as a woman offends many of her bigoted peers, the mil-serve Darian, a sort of Volpone dogsbody, his lowborn ancestry preventing him from bearing weapons, and Sergeant Hauptmann of the Pardus Rough Riders, whose steady, calm confidence offers a valuable outside perspective on the Bluebloods.
For all that they’re the ‘heroes’ here, it’s clear that the Bluebloods are, objectively, arrogant and unpleasant in a great many respects, largely uncaring of how their superior attitude grates with their counterparts in other Imperial regiments, and even with some within their own ranks. Kyme has a real knack for making arrogant, theoretically ‘unlikeable’ characters relatable and engaging though, and it’s hard not to sympathise with the likes of Regara, Culcis and Aramis, whose moderation sets them apart from the more egregiously awful characters. Even so, any time there’s a risk of forgetting what the Bluebloods are really like, Kyme swiftly hammers home the cost of their callous, superior, prejudiced arrogance, and the price they pay for their hidebound adherence to tradition and breeding. Of course the idea of even the most relatable, most human characters all being pretty awful by real-world standards is about as 40k as it gets.
Even by Black Library standards this is a bleak, gritty story, examining the Bluebloods’ hunger for glory at all costs, the lengths certain members of the regiment will go to for victory, and the powerful – if sinister – impact of Imperial propaganda. There’s no caring, beloved leader here who cares about the troops under his command; Regara does his best to mitigate the worst excesses of his superiors, but this really is a meat-grinder of a war, and Kyme digs deep into what that sort of conflict does to the human body and spirit. Again, this sort of darkness and the concepts of victory at a terrible cost and heroism in the name of an uncaring empire, are all classic 40k themes, and contribute to a real sense of impact for this book. It’s a genuinely excellent piece of military SF in its own right, and as part of the wider Sabbat Worlds range it comfortably fills its own unique niche while nicely complementing the series as a whole.
Huge thanks to Rhodri Morgan for sending me a copy of Volpone Glory to review – keep an eye out for a certain Slokan medic who makes an appearance!
See also: all of the Nick Kyme-related reviews and interviews on Track of Words.
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Great review but it misses a mistake in the overall continuity of the book that revolves around Regara and Culcis.
Namely the fact that Culcis should be a major and have a bionic hand. (See Necropolis)
Other then that agreed , great book.