Atlas Infernal Review

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**cincydooley**

Another really great review, courtesy of Eldargal. Rob Sanders had soured me a bit after his....mishandling, perhaps...of Redeption Corps., but this review certainly has me looking to give him another shot. Oh, those quirky inquisitors!

Atlas Infernal Review

Enjoy!

**Kid_Kyoto**

I just did mine on Amazon.com, I gave it 3/5 stars.

Atlas Infernal is the story of Inquisitor Czevak, an aged and withered man hunted by the alien Eldar, the demonic forces of chaos and his own Inquisition as he tries to foil the plans of the Sorcerer Ahriman.

I picked this up because it promised to something different. The cover showing a hunted frightened man was a nice counterpoint to the usual Black Library book showing various steroid-abusing he-men posing heroically. The plot also promised to go places we've not seen.

And it delivers some of this. Czevak travels from haunted demon worlds to Inquisition fortresses to the Black Library itself in his quest.

But it's a mess. The story hops from one era to the next and in the end I'm still not sure how many times Czevak escaped and returned to the Imperium, once? Twice? Czevak seems to pull out deus ex machinas from every pocket in his Harlequin coat. Some are set up in advance others come out of nowhere. And more than one plan only seems to work because of the author's whims. And the rules seem to change from chapter to chapter. Czevak needs the titular Atlas Infernal to navigate the warp. Except when he doesn't.

Czevak emerges with something of a personality but his supporting cast of henchmen really don't. Worse yet author Rob Sanders can't seem to let go of characters. It's hard to build suspense in a climactic battle when every named character is protected by a suit of plot armor.

It has promise. But I'm not sure it has enough for me to seek out more books by Sanders.

MINOR SPOILERS

Basically Sanders writes Czevak as way too smart and way too lucky. The worst has to be the final twist when they fly into an kryo-sun (a sun that drains heat rather than giving) and just before certain death they find a warp porthole that miraculaously opens and takes their ship to a web-way dry dock.

This is slightly justified since the Eldar want him alive but seriously, they could ahve just yoinked him off the bridge and let the ship die.

It just really needed a bit more plot work.

**Omegus**

It was a shame Ahriman wasn't featured more prominently. The guy is a total badass.

**Connor MacLeod**

Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Basically Sanders writes Czevak as way too smart and way too lucky.

You just basically described the formula of a Ciaphas Cain novel.

**Coolyo294**

Spoiler:

**Connor MacLeod**

Thats what you get for not wearing your Sororitas-issue hat.

**Kid_Kyoto**

Coolyo294 wrote:

Spoiler:

I really didn't like the way that Czevak was able to kill an entire squad of GK Terminators just by flashing a Blank embryo at them.

Spoiler:

Anyway bottom line, it had promise but like a lot of BL stuff it just needs some more polishing and plotting.

OH and I forgot... at some point he refers to a Chaos Marine having 'tusk-like sabres' surely that should be 'sabre-like tusks' no?

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Connor MacLeod wrote:Thats what you get for not wearing your Sororitas-issue hat.

And body paint.

If they'd been extra special pure they'd have been fine.

**Connor MacLeod**

Untouchables/Pariahs are another one of those weird "depends on what the author thinks" sort of things. Jurgen from Ciaphas Cain for example behaves quite a bit differently than the untouchables/Distaff (like Beqa) in Eisenhorn/Ravenor, for examples. Whether this is related to the different "degrees" of Untouchable-ness, or if the untouchable thingy manifests differently in different people or is meant to attack psykers in one or more different ways.

(While it sbeen awhile since I read the Cain novels, Jurgen basically acts like a holy symbol/holy water to any Daemon within range of him or touching him, while in Eisenhorn/Ravenor it is an area of effect but it messes with the brain in some way to prevent psychic power.)

**Eumerin**

Connor MacLeod wrote:(While it sbeen awhile since I read the Cain novels, Jurgen basically acts like a holy symbol/holy water to any Daemon within range of him or touching him, while in Eisenhorn/Ravenor it is an area of effect but it messes with the brain in some way to prevent psychic power.)

Spoiler:

It's never stated, but Jurgen's status as a blank may also contribute to why people generally don't like to be around him (though his filthy appearence and his odor no doubt help out significantly in that regard as well).

**Omegus**

If that's the case, then it goes hand-in-hand with the description of the Untouchables in Eisenhorn/Ravenor, except the one Ravenor kept around also had some sort of dampener device that let him shut down his field so Ravenor could do his psyker thing.

**Deathsadvocate**

Omegus wrote:If that's the case, then it goes hand-in-hand with the description of the Untouchables in Eisenhorn/Ravenor, except the one Ravenor kept around also had some sort of dampener device that let him shut down his field so Ravenor could do his psyker thing.

Yeah that I was never really fond of. "Oh look we have untouchables that are the ultimate weapon against the warp and completely shut down all psyker nonsense. Unless he turns on his magic hat that somehow negates the negating effect of his blankness."

P.S. Yes I know he wasn't actually wearing a magic hat but it sounded funny.

**Kid_Kyoto**

HENCEFORTH - SPOILERS
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Well in this book untouchables are pretty much anti-psi bombs. Sanders does have the neat idea of the Imperium cloning them and bottling featus clones in status fields. It's a pretty gimmick and one of the deus ex machinas I actually liked. It was just the rest of them that irked me.