Crusade + Other Stories

Warhammer 40,000

By: Dan Abnett, David Annandale

Narrated by: John Banks, Penny Rawlins, Andy Clark, Aaron Dembski Bowden, Peter Fehervari, John French, L J Goulding, Robbie MacNiven, Steve Parker, Josh Reynolds, James Swallow, Gav Thorpe

Length: 13 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

Within this book you will find Crusade, a fantastic new novella from Andy Clark.... 

Sons of the primarch Roboute Guilliman, the Primaris Ultramarines are peerless warriors whose sworn duty is to protect mankind from the predations of the xenos and the foul traitors of the Heretic Astartes. In a galaxy riven by eternal war, they and the other armies of the Imperium are all that stand between mankind and damnation. Their ship damaged by warp storms, the Ultramarines of strike force Cassian make for Kalides Prime. They hope to find safe harbour to repair their craft before rejoining the Indomitus Crusade. Instead, the Primaris Space Marines discover a world reduced to rot and ruin by the plague-ridden warriors of the Death Guard.  

Also within this book is a host of awesome short stories to give you a flavour of the many warring armies that exist within the worlds of Warhammer 40,000.  

Contents

'The Lightning Tower' by Dan Abnett 

'Sarcophagus' by David Annandale 

'Crusade' by Andy Clark 

'Extinction' by Aaron Dembski Bowden 

'A Sanctuary of Wyrms' by Peter Fehervari 

'The Purity of Ignorance' by John French 

'The Word of the Silent' King by L J Goulding 

'The Lost King' by Robbie MacNiven 

'Culling the Horde' by Steve Parker 

'The Zheng Cipher' by Josh Reynolds 

'Red & Black' by James Swallow 

'Honour of the Third' and 'Howl of the Banshee' by Gav Thorpe

©2017 Games Workshop Limited (P)2017 Games Workshop Limited

Surprisingly Bad

The title story is surprisingly bad, and reads like a collaboration between a fan fiction writer who isn’t well versed in the existing lore and the GW marketing department trying to promote new models. The Primaris Marines (you’ll hear that trademarked name every sentence!) constantly talk like religious zealots, even though existing books make clear they (especially the Ultramarines!) are in no way religious. The random Cadian Guard unit is present so we can hear campy heroic speeches punctuated with “Cadia Stands!”. One Cadian officer, call him Captain Mary Sue, single-handedly one-shots (seriously) an Obliterator and later nearly kills the Death Guard leader. The main character, call him Primaris Lieutenant Mary Sue, gets a personal vision of the Emperor and a visit from the Primarch purely to shower him with praise and, oh yes, this is all after the Eldar show up halfway through the story to help him out and tell him how special he’ll be in the future.

The awful narration doesn’t help. When voicing characters John Banks over-enunciates EVERY syllable and puts a dramatic pause after EVERY OTHER WORD, making them all sound like pompous caricatures of Captain Kirk.

This story is a dumpster fire start to finish, and you won’t miss anything by skipping it. The rest of the book is a mishmash of completely random, sometimes incomplete, short stories, and only one other story is from the Dark Imperium timeframe, Anyone not already familiar with WH40K lore will be confused. I’m not sure why it is being promoted as an introductory book.

It gets better after the first story

Crusade, the first and longest story of this entry feels like an uninspired commercial for Games Workshop's new product line. The way the author name drops primaris space marines so often is kind of cringe worthy. All the characters have virtually zero personality even by space marine standards. The space marine characters are difficult to distinguish from one and other as the narrator uses the exact same voice for all of them.

However everything that comes after that first story is really good. Red & Black, Culling the Horde, Extinction, and The Lightning Tower are some of my personal favorites. Penny Rawlins delivers a particularly great performance in Red and Black.

For the Emperor!

It seems that Black Library not only has a great pool of competent writers, they have a wonderful array of narrators. This collection is indicative of the vast quality 40k audiobooks from Black Library. I may not play the game anymore but the stories are so entertaining....

grim and dark

A good intro to the universe. My only problem is that it jumps around in the timeline from 30k to 40k.

Good stories, subpar performance

Josh Banks isn't good at doing multiple voices, all the marines sound the same and it's even worse when he tries to imitate the tinny dialogue from them wearing helmets.

Great compilation

These stories are a wonderful compliment to most other 40k audio books out there, particularly Dark Imperium. Overall a bit of this and that in the last stretch of 11 millenia

In the 41 millennium there's only hope

I get it GW wants to appeal to the modern audience but they've changed Warhammer to the point where it's unrecognizable. The imperium of man is stronger than it's ever been. the only reason I'm giving this collection of stories three stars has to do with one of the stories being enjoyable.

crusade is boring, the others are better.

The lead story definitely feels like an introduction and is pretty boring because of that. Many of the other stories are okay but, the few by Penelope have really hard voices to listen to, you can tell that it's just because he's trying to make the voices sound different but it can get grading. There's a few stories that I really like, sarcophagus, and the word of the silent King. and a few that were kind of whatever like the sons of Horus one, and the orks one. In general it's a mixed bag and I wish that the chapters were labeled so that you know which stories were which because I had to do the labeling myself if I ever want to go back to them.

Great stories deluded by blank ones

My advice - skip "Crusade", "The word of the silent king", "Lol of the banshee", "Culling the horde" (not Wh story). They are shallow and uninspired.
And get pleasure from reading Aaron's, Fehervari's and the one about Rogal Dorn. These are really good.

Excellent!

the main story was all right not spectacular not bad enjoyable though can't place my finger on it but didn't love it with the same type of exuberance I normally feel for Warhammer books but the short stories included oh good lord best $8 I've ever spent.

Definitely not for newcomers

A great idea but a mixed bag. While the stories themselves are quite good they do not flow together easily and rather than get an idea of the shape of the 40k universe they simply repeat the kind of stories more prevalent in the literature. The first is essentially Helsreach in a more compact version while the last story is actually set in the Heresy era.

For any newcomer looking to understand the 40k universe Eisenhorn is the best way to begin. As a straight thriller it uses the background of the 40k universe to great effect rather than trying to get you to go along immediately with the flow.

This collection is better for long-time readers as an introduction to different authors and the wider range of literature beyond the Imperium-centred novels.

Throws you in at the deep end

It's not a good place to start with the whole 40k universe. Straight off the bat there is a lot of in universe specific language, which for the uninitiated will probably just be confusing. The stories are OK but nothing more than that.

recycled stand alone stories

this audiobook masquerades as the next book of watchers of the throne. but in reality there is only one story that contains the primaris space marines. it just recycles old short stories.

Great first listen

This was a great listen, a great Introduction to 40k lore, the narrator's did a bang up job making it easy to differentiate characters, well worth picking up.

A mix of excellent and average short stories

Overall the collection of short stories are great. There are the odd 2 or 3 which prove underwhelming however.

Purchase if your in the mood for a mixed bunch of stories encompassing a variety of races. If you want something a bit more engaging then go for a full novel.

bit disappointing

all the storys seemed pointless and a little dull only one or two are worth a listen.

Good value

Some very good stories compiled here. One or two are a little dull but the narration is spot on

Really great

Good if you understand a little of the 40k back story/fluff. Good however it is a bit random with the selection of the stories.

great stories for a newbie and oldie

lots of fantastic stories in here with great voice acting. a great place to start for newbies but also an enjoyable listen for others

boring title short story, rest disapointing

title short story is incredibly boring, with stereotyped characters making stupid decisions, and im sure more than 100% of the space marine force is killed by the author who clearly isnt keeping track.
Some other disappointing knes on there that are just too short to bother with.
there are one or two good ones on here but not worth it.