Courage and Honour

The Chronicles of Uriel Ventris: Warhammer 40,000, Book 5

De: Graham McNeill

Narrado por: Bruce Mackinnon

Book 5 in the Chronicles of Uriel Ventris

Newly returned from the Eye of Terror, Captain Uriel Ventris must redeem himself in the eyes of his battle-brothers, who fear he may have been tainted by Chaos.

Listen to it because....

After two books in the wilderness—both metaphorically and literally—Uriel and Pasanius finally return to battle alongside their brother Ultramarines. But they're being watched, and must be above reproach if they are to remain....

The story:

The Ultramarines are the epitome of a Space Marine Chapter. Warriors without peer, their name is a byword for discipline and honour, and their heroic deeds are legendary. Newly reinstated as Captain of the Ultramarines Fourth Company, Uriel Ventris leads his warriors in battle once again on the world of Pavonis, now a target of invasion by the upstart T'au Empire.

With the eyes of the Chapter upon him, Uriel must win this war by following completely the wisdom of the Codex Astartes, lest he be exiled once more. But no plan survives contact with the enemy, and the t'au are a dangerous and unpredictable foe....

Written by Graham McNeill. Read by Bruce Mackinnon. Running time is approximately 10 hours 18 minutes.

©2022 Games Workshop Limited (P)2022 Games Workshop Limited

Good book / peformer is a bit much

This is from back when they leaned more into bombastic nature of lore as opposed to the more "serious" grimdark of the current stuff. It's so over the top that it kept breaking the immersion. Otherwise, the book is great!

Great build up at the end

The beginning could have more action less politics but that’s just me.

Overall great time with ups and downs.

An awesome book

It is very much a symbolic novel that brings Uriel and the 4th Company back to the world of Pavonis to deal with recidivism and the threat of the expansionist Tau who want the world. The action is simply awesome here, as are Uriel's relationships with everyone around him, from the commander of the Lavrentian Hussars Imperial Guard to his own warriors, especially his First Sergeant Learchus and Chaplain Clausel. This is everything that The Killing Ground should have been but wasn't. Its not an entirely fair comparison but I do feel compelled to point that out. The Tau are also well-done and have some great scenes themselves.

Return to form

I was worried about this series after The Killing Ground, but this book is a return to the quality of the first omnibus. My only criticism is that it's pretty light on lore and character development of the enemies when compared to the first four books. But the bolter porn is on point, and the Tau aren't featured enough in 40k books in general so it's nice to see them as a genuine threat here.
Lastly, Bruce MacKinnon is a great narrator. It's a true performance imbued with emotion, not a dry reading. Through this series, he has become my favorite Black Library narrator.

Another great performance. Story is underwhelming

The narrator is fantastic as always.

However, this story arc felt like it was just here to fill a void between the previous book and the next. It's Uriel's redemption from the previous book but doesn't really feel very important outside of that.

The same impact to the overall story could be done by just listening to the last hour of this book.