The Emperor Expects: Warhammer 40,000

The Beast Arises, Book 3

By: Gav Thorpe

Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong

Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

As ork ships lay waste to world after world, heading inexorably towards Terra, Imperial citizens despair. The High Lords become desperate to prove that victory is possible, no matter the cost.

A massive navy fleet is assembled - their mission to make a definitive strike against the orks at Port Sanctus, an area of enemy-held space. But when the Imperial armada arrives, they find themselves outclassed and outmanoeuvred. Can human courage and faith possibly prevail against such terrible odds?

©2016 Games Workshop Limited (P)2016 Games Workshop Limited

Impressive

This is easily the best book Gav Thorpe has written. I know what your thinking that’s a low bar, but hear me out this guy has finally stopped chasing Dan’s coat tails and has finally stood beside him as an equal if only for 1 moment. 8.75/10

Getting good

I've been marathoning through this series started on Friday 12/4/2020 and I'm engrossed. It's great to have a sprawling narrative that draws you in. Armstrong is my favorite narrator so that's a plus. Get this series.

good narrator but bad voice actor

the narrator is good. but as a voice actor he is terrible. he has some really annoying voices that are very difficult to listen to. I love a good voice actor this guy isn't it. he is a good narrator he shouldn't do voices. leave that to others.



book is ok it's very very slow and kinda boring

Kick off point for the series.

As the third book in the series I feel this is where things finally get good. Books one and two are really more setting the stage and this book starts to pay off. Unfortunately this isn't a place where the reader can jump in at as books 1 & 2 are required reading.

The narrator is fine, if a little too fast (but a slight tweak to playback speed fixed it) and really sells the ships officers.

“AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY”

Great book

This one was great, I loved the navel combat and wished for more. Great overall.

great book, navy focused

The focus of this one is a grand naval battle! I was in the navy, I believe inter officer drama is captured very well.

Advances the story, but grindingly slow.

This book might be 25% story. The interplay between the naval characters could’ve been 10 pages and it would’ve been too much. Absolutely no reason for this book to have THAT MUCH filler. I didn’t know it was possible to make void war boring. The only things worth hearing in this are the portions about the inquisition and the astartes.
It normally takes me a day to listen to these books, but this took me a week, I kept getting too bored to pay attention. Hate to be so negative but damn was that a tough listen. Gareth kills it as usual, performance off the charts.

Boring

More political intrigue then space marine. The story seems to drag on and on. My curious nature wants me to get to the end but I don't know if I can do it. Particularly because there are so many and they are so short. Why use a credit on a 7 hour book when I can use that same credit on a 30 hour book.
Audible should have bundled these In sets of 3 or 4 books at the very least.

Slowly improving

Slow in the beginning, with a few moments of excitement, with interesting characters but overall boring enough to make me seriously reconsider buying more of this series. That is the best explanation for the first three books. It’s more for the fans of political intrigues. I was so bored with the first two books, I had to make myself finish the third novel. I even considered asking for a refund.
Towards the end of this third novel, it’s finally getting better, with the arrogant High Lords of Terra getting a much needed reality check.
Excellent performance from the narrator and the characters are three dimensional and believable but the story is extremely slowed down by the political storyline but this book is an improvement over the first two.

Less Yakka, Moar Dakka

We’re on book three of this series and we’ve yet to leave the boring slog of Imperium politics.