Book Review: Space Wolf

Space Wolf by William King
Release Date: November 2003
Publisher: Black Library
Audience: Everyone/Adult
Pages: 416
Buy the Book: Amazon
Book Rating: 4/5









The Warhammer 40k universe is tied to the Warhammer universe but, as the title implies, 40,000 years in the future. So, the elements that exist in Warhammer often continue on into the future in various permutations. The Space Wolves, a Space Marine Legion, are the 40k's answer to werewolves basically. By passing a series of initiations, a prospective Space Wolf will drink from the Cup of Wulfen (along with gene seed) and essentially gain power from both, but, like werewolves, have the animal inside threatening to take over.

Space Wolf follows the initiation of one of the legends of the Space Wolves, Ragnar Blackmane. As all Space Wolves are chosen from the best warriors their home planet, Fenris, can provide, the first part of the book follows Ragnar's life amongst his tribe. However, after proving himself in battle, Ragnar is chosen as a prospective initiate in the Space Wolves chapter. The second half of the book follows Ragnar as he is initiated, trained, and tested to prove himself worthy of the Space Wolves. However, Ragnar, despite his training, finds himself unexpectedly tested when he stumbles across the agents of Chaos on Fenris, a test where losing means death.

Granted, I don't play the tabletop and have not read the extensive codexes on the Warhammer 40k universe, but I feel that this novel does extremely well to introduce the reader to the Space Marines and Chaos, with especial attention paid to the many levels of initiation required to become a Space Marine, and also the various forces and technology that exists for the Space Marines. While the book has a good story arc, I felt that the climax of the novel did not entirely meet the standards of the novel, nor for a book of this length. That, and occasionally the novel would drag for ten or so pages. And a not so serious beef me and my friend have with William King: his extensive use of the phrase 'blood and sinew'.

If you are looking for good books to introduce you to 40k, or already are a fan of 40k, I recommend you check this series out (the amazon link leads to the first omnibus, $10 for three books ain't bad). However, if you are looking for a space opera or straight up sci-fi, I would look somewhere else or at other offerings by the Black Library, because this book doesn't leave the home world of Fenris, and most of that is in the chapter's stronghold. But subsequent novels in this series do go into space, so...