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Note on spoilers: There are many reasons to purchase a book or a movie, including to find out what happens in a story. Some stories revolve around plot twists to the point where they are little more than a built up misdirection and then a big reveal. Personally, I find this kind of thing cheap. There's nothing wrong with a surprise ending in itself but I think everyone can think of a story that is worth sitting through only once and ruined before being seen or read if the big surprise is given away. Dead Men Walking is not this kind of story. It is one of the few BL books that I can imagine re-reading. It is for this reason that I don't feel bad about talking about the plot and characters in detail here. But if you are the type of person who is only interested in finding out what happens DO NOT READ THIS THREAD.

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There are four main characters in Steve Lyons's Dead Men Walking: Gunthar, a mining administrator; Hanrik, the Imperial Governor of Hieronymous Theta; Arex, Governor Hanrik's niece; and Costellin, an aging commissar assigned to the Krieg 186th Infantry Regiment. In a half-metaphorical, half-literal sense, the Death Korps of Krieg represents a fifth "main character;" or rather the faceless Krieg man who, while appearing in thousands of individual bodies throughout the novel, is actually just one character: the dehumanized, efficient, supremely committed soldier. As you may have gathered upon hearing about this book, they are the eponymous dead men walking. Of course, they are not the only dead who walk in this tale.

The setting is the capital spire of Hieronymous Theta, a mineral-rich world that has heretofore been insulated from the eternal grind of warfare that seemingly defines every other location in Warhammer 40k. Despite being a lowborn hiver, Gunthar has managed to work his way up in the world and has a cushy job running the mines beneath the capital from the safety of his office. He is in love with Arex, who is so bored with her sheltered life as a Governor's niece that she steals away to the lower levels for fun. Gunthar is not sure if she loves him but he is sure that they have no future together. He's afraid to hope for more and he's afraid to be realistic and break it off. He's afraid of everything. When he's walking Arex--at her insistence--through a particularly bad level of the city, they wind up faced with a rampaging mutant and Gunthar simply panics and runs away. Unlike the soldiers in the newsreels he likes to watch, Gunthar is not physically courageous in the slightest.

Lyons handles Gunthar's cowardice and self-loathing impeccably. He shows us a man whose identity has been formed against a backdrop of ideological conviction driven by constant, total war. His inability to confront physical danger or even emotional risk is in his mind, and in the judgmental minds of readers, a near-blasphemous affront to the God-Emperor of Mankind. And, more intimately, it's yet another reason among a thousand why Arex--frequently courted by brave and dashing noblemen--could never really love him, never really want to be with him even if it was practically possible. Or at least that is how Gunthar sees things from his desk as a humble mining administrator. But there are strange things going on to at least halfway distract him from such indulgent if melancholic self-appraisal. The mutant attack was not random; something is driving the mutants upward. Ultimately, Gunthar's subordinates find a strange obelisk in the mines that, in a flash of green energy, flays the mining servitors to non-existence.

It is at this point that four Krieg regiments arrive over Hieronymous Theta, ostensibly for rest after a long campaign. But the soldiers of Krieg do not rest. (As it turns out, they do not even take off their masks aboard their own ships.) To a man, they volunteer to stay aboard their vessel and engage in training exercises rather than make planetfall. It looks as if the only representative of the Death Korps to visit the erstwhile peaceful, prosperous planet below will be a weary commissar called Costellin. Even the briefest introduction of the Krieg men begs the question of why these utterly devoted soldiers would even need the Commissariat. Costellin explains to another commissar that they are primarily liaisons to other, unmasked humans. After decades of serving with the Death Korps, Costellin has deep reservations about the complete mobilization of human life for the purpose of warfare and is ready for some R&R. Before he can take leave, however, he finds that the regiments are mustering for war against an enemy whose very name it was lately forbidden to speak: the mysterious, terrifying Necrons. Costellin suspects that the arrival of the Krieg regiments was no coincidence.

What follows is brutal, spirit-crushing, and realistically lengthy warfare. As you may have guessed, the capital of Hieronymous Theta was unfortunately built above a Necron tomb and the Necrons have awoken in force. Between the Krieg Regiments besieging it and the Necrons attacking it from within, the once safe and shining capital is torn to scrap while the bulk of its population is trapped between the belligerents. Among the trapped are both Gunthar and Arex, although they are separated and never even know for sure whether the other has survived. Their desperate and ultimately futile attempt to reunite drives the various subplots that tie the nightmarish world of survival inside the hive spires to the outer world where Costellin and Governor Hanrik try to keep at bay the worst brutalities of the ever-efficient and dispassionately effective Krieg soldiers in their prosecution of the war effort. The reader will come to unfalteringly believe that if any force in the Imperium can defeat the Necrons, it is the indefatigable Death Korps. The worrying question is, however, is the cost in humanity (both in terms of lives and the very meaning of life) worth it?

Compared to the ruthless conviction of the Krieg Colonels, every one else seems like a naive and blubbering child. This is especially true of Governor Hanrik. Hanrik eventually pulls himself together (once he thinks Arex is dead) and assumes command of the PDF. But, like in any other IG novel, the PDF is pretty well useless and Hanrik finds that he's been outmaneuvered by the Krieg colonels into providing them with canon fodder. Late in the book, Hanrik receives a message from within the capital that Arex has been captured and will be killed if he does not call off the attack on the city. As it turns out, the message has been sent by a group of human survivors who have taken to worshiping the Necrons in hopes of being spared. Hanrik, in a fit of pique, sends a strongly worded complaint about the Death Korps to the Departmento Munitorum and, at the same time, offers to negotiate with whoever sent the message. The Krieg men intercept both and as soon as Hanrik admits to authorship of the latter, they summarily execute him for treason. Just like that. Costellin dies in a similarly abrupt manner--shot by his own troops as he's being held hostage by Necron cultists simply because it is the most efficient thing to do. Thirty years of service with the Death Korps and his last sensation is of a Krieg Quartermaster stripping him of his weapons.

While no character is spared the dehumanization of war, it is Gunthar who is most thoroughly transformed by it. He is airlifted out of the city in what to him seems a miraculous rescue (to the reader, it makes perfect narrative sense--no plot holes here) and find himself conscripted into the PDF along with other surviving civilians. He is increasingly trained by brutal Krieg sergeants. His name is replaced with a number. He is made to fight his own comrades nearly to the death. He becomes a soldier in the Krieg mold: faceless, emotionless, expendable. By merest chance, he survives his first battle against the Necrons and is assigned to a suicide mission, a last desperate gamble to win the war against the Necrons. He is more and more the soldier of the newsreels and yet he knows he is no kind of hero. He is a dead man walking and his death might as well mean something. Gunthar assimilates into the culture of Krieg and assumes their ultimate goal: to die in the service of the Emperor. But his mission fails. Just like that.

And just like that, the Death Korps decide that they cannot win. They withdraw their forces and pack up to leave. Exterminatus is decreed. The planet's population will never evacuate in time, although it will be months or years before then. And in the meantime, the Death Korps has left them to the Necrons. It's shocking. The reader, as I said, completely expects that the stoic Death Korps regiments are invincible. But they are defeated and immediately, emotionlessly acknowledge it. Gunthar is bereft of his life's new purpose, now that his mission has failed and he believes that Arex must be dead. And then, as if things could not be worse, he finally finds what the reader has known along: that Arex is not dead. He sees her being evacuated from the planet with a very few other handpicked notables. She does not see him. His irreversible dehumanization into a Krieg-like soldier has been for naught, as becomes clear as they and Arex abandon him with all the rest of the human chaff of Hieronymous Theta.

Gunthar, utterly unafraid, goes back into the ruins of the capital. He finds a hellgun and a Death Korps uniform complete with gasmask. He gets into kit and marches alone toward the entrance to the Necron tomb. Utterly transcending the cowardly, indecisive man he was and the mindless, weapon-like non-person that he was becoming, Gunthar finally finds within himself solid purpose and the will to carry it out.

I truly loved this book. Freaking well creepy.

I liked this one too. It had the hopelessness and bleakness of a good zombie story, without any zombies. I really enjoyed reading it.

I do have to say, however, that I feel like they "oversold" the Death Korp of Krieg. While I think that their brutal, dehumanizing organization is an interesting idea and a good way to contrast them with other Imperial Guard regiments, the utter and complete fearlessness of the Krieg forces seems out of place. While I certainly don't expect the tabletop game and the novels to mesh perfectly, presenting an Imperial Guard force which is never disloyal, never disobedient, and always unbroken just seems dumb. Why not present an Imperial Guard regiment where every single trooper is equipped with a meltagun?

It would have been possible to present the Krieg regiments as grim, fatalistic, and dehumanized without presenting them as faultlessly loyal troops who never, under any circumstances, know fear or doubt.

Actually i like the way they did the Death Korp. They were presented as saviors to the populace but they quickly realised they weren't quite right...

Im still reading it. but finding it very Judge Dredd with all its talk of habs and skyways and mutants underground.

Dredd, eh? You must be right at the beginning. I would agree with Da Butcha's assessment that parts the book are reminiscent of survival horror. If you're going for something with a Judge Dredd feel, the Shira Calpurnia novels are more for you.

I loved the idea of DKoK vs. Necrons but wa afraid it wouldn't be that good.

So how many stars outta 5 would you give it Manchu?

Tough call. Thematically, it's 5 out of 5. But as entertainment, I was frustrated with a couple of aspects. I know that the point was to portray the DKoK as inhuman but I would have liked to at least read more about their material organization and customs. There are couple of little gems that give you the impression of their culture and I appreciate that Lyons didn't go overboard. He gave me just enough to want more. Additionally, none of the main characters really had a life of their own. They felt more like plot devices than developed individuals. And if you like to read Guard books from the soldiers' perspective, Dead Men Walking will not be to your taste. All that said, the book was still a page-turner for me and it left me with a sense of emotional weight that I haven't experienced from many other BL books. I think it deserves a 4 out of 5 with a strong recommendation for anyone who has stopped laughing at the Ciaphas Cain jokes or is tired of reading about how Space Marines always manage to be utterly glorious. It's not a "must buy" like Soul Hunter, however, but it's certainly as good as Cadian Blood. Like I said, just don't expect this to work out like a Gaunt's Ghosts read.

I think I will like it then. One thing I was worried about for the book was actually too much character developement. The Kriegers are a strange breed best portrayed as aloof and insular.
It's just Steve Lyons also wrote Death World which i really did not like at all. I'll add this one to my pile though.

The story is never told from a Krieg soldier's point of view. The lack of development I mentioned is in regard to the non-Krieg "main cast."

oh...lame. Well, could be used to maintain the Krieger's mysteriousness. A double edged sword I suppose.

That was exactly my feeling. Apparently Krieg men don't even have names. They have designations like Trooper 1449, Major Gamma, and Colonel 42. It's appropriate, I guess, but so much for naming your DKoK models!

They do have names as per The Seige of Vraks but it is true that their birthname will be something like 14489-4676-8.
The best Analogy I think is the clone troopers from Start Wars. They have names like Cody and Rex but got them later in life.
The DKoK ones are all Germanish and menacing of course though.

Franz? Hans?

None of them have names in Dead Men Walking or at least none of them ever told their names to the Commissar. (Good policy?)

I think there may have been a Hans in there somewhere. I recall a Colonel Jurten but Colonel Tyboc is my favorite Krieger getting wounded 5 times in one battle yet maintiaing that stiff post-apocalyptic upper lip.
I'm surprised you haven't read it. If you've got a whole bunch of money to waste I highly recommend The Seige of Vraks Trilogy. It's the best Death Korps ficiton you can get and also one of the darkest grimest 40K sagas out there.

Well, Jurten was the commander of the loyalist forces when Krieg rebelled. He's the guy who used the nukes to basically destroy the planet. In essance, he was the founder of the Krieg way of doing things and is venerated by the Krieg people as a saint.

ah yes, that's were I got the name from. I think Jurten is a good example of the victor writing the history. He's hailed as a hero but surely he must have been pretty insane.
Anyways, There's a good pic in the book of Guardsman 566-648-87991-72 who's name is Draeta. What comes first the name or the number? It doesn't really explain however your description of Dead Men Walking seems to indicate number.

Kriegers don't get names unless they do heroic acts or become officers.

Personally I felt the book to be a wonderful read for a few reasons. First it sets up either army as a possible victor, there is no one side that shouts that it's going to win. Necrons always carry that unknown factor in regards to number and it was said that the kreig forces had reinforcements on the way. As the story develops it swings back and forth between the two sides, a sabotage plan gas a chance to completely take out the necrons power structure, a battle took out 2 regiments of kreig men with minimal necron losses. It seemed well balanced.

Secondly, it kept with the back story of the necrons and of the dkok in a variety of creative ways. The korpsmen started tossing their guns away when about to be shot in order to save it from the guass weaponry, and the way everything was set up for the korps seemed very realistic to how they're usually portrayed.

For someone who's read alot of science fiction books across multiple series, I found it to be a gripping read.

I was annoyed that Gunther didn't get to set off the nukes...

This was easily the most depressing thing I've read in a long time. Everyone dies and it ends as a spinoff of the Romeo & Juliet ending.

The split amongst 5 different story lines made it impossible to get any depth into any particular one (except for the Hanrik and Costellan ones which intertwine enough to follow), and one is even dropped halfway through (and if it was continued in another storyline it was impossible to tell).

The Necrons in the story seemed to go against the killer mentality of the Necrons, shown particularly when Arex and Tyler managed to actually get IN the tomb, and several missed opportunities. Not to mention the fact they actually demand the Imperial forces leave, which to my knowledge Necrons do not negotiate or even send ultimatums.

The love story itself seemed both extra and unneeded except for the reason of providing more soul crushing to the already war-torn storyline, which also seemed to pass time by saying things to the tune of "X amount of time passed" in one sentence. The pacing seemed insanely unbalanced at several points, going from finding survivors to a decisive battle in less than two pages.

I find that Arex betrays the personality she has in the first two or three chapters, going from tough girl to naive child faster than a summary execution for desertion. Meanwhile Gunther seemed to lose focus for Arex midway through, while Arex had faith until the very end that Gunther would survive. This is only a problem because the author implies that the two of them are almost the same personality wise as lovers, contradicting himself. The personalities of both Arex and Tyler also change for half a chapter, during both their entombment and subsequent escape from said tomb, almost mirroring each others previous personality and then going right back. Sacrificing a lovers catastrophe for a fling romance between Tyler, who had hardly been fleshed out as a character throughout the entire book, and Arex seems rushed, cliche, and unoriginal.

The acceptance Gunther has of his training also portrayed him in a poor light, showing him similar to a man with multiple personality disorder. Not to mention this is betrayed and then never mentioned again during what would become a decisive battle against the Necrons before the final assault, cutting what was setup as an excellent twist of love into another hanging thread.

The other nagging thread is the seeming command of Colonel 187 over all parts, even more so than the Kreig Generals and the Commissars (Who I'm not entirely sure outrank everything... but I believe have a good amount of say over a simple colonel). The commisars are portrayed as weak, spineless elders who do little but provide a device to tug on the readers ethical heartstrings... amongst others.

As a book on the ravages of war against an unbeatable force and the results of playing by the numbers, this book is... par for the course. As a book about a love story, a governor fighting for his country, or anything else... an amateurish failure. This book is hardly good enough to determine it as anything but a promotion for the Krieg forces and their deeds.

I give it a 1 out of 5 for being an accurate representation of the horrors of the 40k universe... but a failure as a story.

PS: Sorry for giving a second opinion but I felt it needed a touch of chaos to review it ^^"

My opinion of this book is somewhere between manchu's review and nagi's "touch of chaos"

Just as nagi, I didn't really enjoy the character development. the personalities of Arex and Gunther are a bit incoherent, and the war seems to change their personality too easily. I would have liked to read a bit more struggle in Gunther's mind as he tries to overcome his cowardice during his training for example.
I also think that the necrons should have been protrayed more "emotionless". I still don't understand why the necrons tried to negociate with the humans and how Arex survived her little trip in the tomb. I think Lyons did it on purpose. He probably tried to portray the DKoK even more inhuman by "softening up" their opponent, but it rather goes against the necrons' fluff, since they are supposed to be the most merciless warriors of the galaxy.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the atmsophere of absolute despeir that surrounds the story, and I think it depicted really well the W40K universe: a grimdark and merciless environment where only the darkest and meanest survive. Wait a minute, in this book, even the darkest and meanest guys die!

Seriously, this book really depressed me. It was simply the saddest and darkest ending I ever read in my life. It really reminded me that the W40K universe is the most merciless and terrible sci-fi universe ever created.

Thanks for the great review Manchu.

Laodamia wrote:

Seriously, this book really depressed me. It was simply the saddest and darkest ending I ever read in my life. It really reminded me that the W40K universe is the most merciless and terrible sci-fi universe ever created.

sounds good!

Necanor wrote:Thanks for the great review Manchu.

You're welcome, mate. Thanks for reading!

And thanks for the second opinions, guys. They're very valuable for anyone who is considering picking up the book.

Personally, I felt the story had an uplifting ending. A lot of the problems people had with the character development seems indicative to me that one's chances of developing a healthy personality in a hive city of the Forty Second Millenium are slim to nil. That's about right, as far as I would imagine. But I like the journey Gunther went through and the faith in himself and humanity and the Imperium that he discovered in the end, regardinless of the hopelessness of his situation.

Manchu you've gone green! and I don't mean in an Enviromental way...

Wot? Naw, dat's jess some kinda rash. Hurr.

Poor Ultramarines. They're on their own now.

Laodamia wrote:I still don't understand why the necrons tried to negociate...(

They didn't really negotiate - they just demanded that the humans surrender and leave instead of their usual surrender and die. The reason was that the Necrons appeared to fear that they didn't have the forces to hold out until their off world (?) reinforcements arrived. The Imperial forces very nearly dealt the Necrons a fatal blow, which it's implied would have prevented them from teleporting in their reinforcements. The Krieg commanders, to their credit, perceived this pretty accurately. They also immediately realised when their strategy had failed and acted accordingly in a way that almost any other regiment would have struggled to.

I really liked the more nuanced way the Necrons were portrayed in this book. So far they have always been portrayed as waking up and immediately having the firepower to take on the entire planet. This time they were effectively caught with their pants down and had to hold out and conserve their strength until they could generate enough power to link up with other forces.

Manchu wrote:...I think it deserves a 4 out of 5 with a strong recommendation for anyone who has stopped laughing at the Ciaphas Cain jokes or is tired of reading about how Space Marines always manage to be utterly glorious. It's not a "must buy" like Soul Hunter, however, but it's certainly as good as Cadian Blood. Like I said, just don't expect this to work out like a Gaunt's Ghosts read.

I'll have to follow this recommendation and pick the book up just for the reason that you labeled Soul Hunter as a must buy. That book was truly outstanding.