For today, I'll talk about Yarrick: The Pyres of Armageddon. This book is about Commissar Yarrick's rise to a legend during the war he fought in Armageddon against Ghazghkull to save the planet. And it even features the scene where he fought a warboss, Ugulhard, killed him and took his power claw while losing his arm (ouch!).
Yeah, Yarrick is a badass. That's all I can say. Dude is not cold, but not warm either. He's a completely diffeernt commissar from Ciaphas Cain. And admittedly I still like Ciaphas Cain better, Yarrick takes himself way too seriously. Ha ha.
As for the writing style, it takes a little getting used to. David Annandale writes in short, jerky sentences that don't seem out of place from a high school student's essay...but considering he's writing from a first-person perspective through Yarrick's point of view, that might well be the point. Yarrick is a soldier after all, not a writer. Of course he'll write in short, simple and clear sentences, even if they don't flow lyrically. And it would be hard on the reader if David Annadndale switches writing styles in between the moments he switched character viewpoints. And he does that a lot, but it's made easy for us by very clear divisions of the chapters by each section that has the character as its title. So don't be afraid of being confused - even someone like me who strongly dislikes jumping from viewpoint to viewpoint somehow managed to enjoy the book without getting thrown off my usual rhythm. Yay. David Annandale knows what he's doing.
Maybe I should apply for the graduate school in the Canadian university he teaches at. Which is the University of Manitoba, by the way.
Anyway, the book is packed full of action and deep characterization. Ever wonder why the title is The Pyres of Armageddon? It's because Yarrick is forced to watch as hive cities burn under the Ork's onslaught (or in one case, by his own hand), their blackened husks turned into gigantic pyres that echo the sorrow of Armageddon as it is ravaged by the Greenskins. The title has a very poetic reference to it, which I think fits the somber tone of the book very nicely (hence I prefer Ciaphas Cain's flippant and humorous one). But it is tragic, it is deep and it just sucks you in.
Yarrick's transformation is pretty sound and evident in here as he is forced to make brutal and merciless decisions that see countless of the Emperor's faithful incinerated or sent to death by his own hand rather than by the Orks. The ruthless choices forced upon him sucks a void out of his heart and leaves him hollow, and yet at the same time his determination to save Armageddon is what preserves him. The book is packed full with characterization, and by the end of it you'll understand why Yarrick is who he is today. He is a man, but at the same time he is a symbol, a legend, a hero who inspires millions...no, billions to victory through his sheer name alone. He is badass.
But he's not Ciaphas Cain.
Okay, jokes aside, the action in this book is top-notched. Yarrick is thrown into some of the most intense battles in here as he struggles against all odds, from being blasted out of an air transport in the sky to survive being circled by Ork bikers and nobs, to fighting a siege in at least 3 different hive cities while running on foot after disembarking from a Chimera. There's even an awesome Titan battle scene in there featuring the Legio Metalica where their numerous Titans bombard and wreck hundreds of Stompas and Gargants before finally being annihilated in the most spectacular fashion imaginable. Sorry for the spoiler, but they had to die - nobody can steal Yarrick's spotlight, after all. The armored battles aboard Leman Russ tanks, the artillery bombardment of the Basilisks' Earthshaker cannons, they all felt so vivid, so viscereal. If you're in only for the action, this is still a great book.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who's a fan of Yarrick, or anyone who's looking for popcorn action and entertainment. The book contains loads of characterization and nerve-wrecking battles that ups the tension page by page, only to blow up in your face with the force of an Earthshaker shell. It is good, it is a little short, but it's worth the read.
And now, I'm moving on to Baneblade by Guy Haley, and already I'm loving that book. I dunno why, but it seems I'm running around awesome action-packed Warhammer 40K novels these days. And there's still Cybernetica after that, but it's by Rob Sanders who wrote Skitarius and Tech-priest, the latter being one of my favorite books of all time, so I'm not worried. Yay.
The Omnissiah protects! I mean enlightens.
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