Brothers of the Snake
Title: Brothers of the Snake.
Author: Dan Abnett.
Released: June 2007.
Price: 16.99 (GBP)
ISBN: 9781844164752
PP: 320, hardback.
At a Glance:
Blurb -
'In the grim darkness of the far future, the fearless Space Marines stand supreme as the defenders of humanity. The Iron Snakes of Ithaka have sworn a pledge to protect the Reef Stars from ruin, at whatever cost.
When Baal Solock comes under attack from a mysterious alien race the citzens are paralyzed with fear. In desperation they use an ancient artefact to signal for help for the fist time in over six hundred years. They are stunned when their cry for help is answered and even more amazed when they realise that only one Space Marine is sent to succeed where their armies failed. Follow the exploits of Brother Sergeant Priad and the Damocles Squad as they battle to preserve humanity against a number of enemies from the depraved dark eldar to a vast ork waaagh!'
Cover art -
The cover art for 'Brothers of the Snake' is amazing. Depicting an Astartes of the Iron Snakes chapter, striding towards the 'camera' out of the foggy background, like a mythical war-god, bolter in hand, it is certainly among the best cover art that Black Library has produced. It is not busy, but simply elegant, and I for one like that fact. You may actually want to remove the dust cover while reading the book, in order to do as little damage to it as possible, it's just that excellent.
Analysis:
Style -
While the story does follow Priad and his squad throughout it's entirety, it isn't a continuous story of a single mission like other Black Library books. It's written in a short story format, divided into several 'chapters', which denote different missions the squad undertakes. The gap between missions is minimal, so don't fret on not knowing the characters in the squad.
The writing style is on par for Abnetts better works. Information is given easily without bombarding the reader, and the character development is quite well-done. Abnett has taken the fighting prowess of the Astartes over the top however. If you are one of those who the story will be ruined by reading about the glorious Space Marines literally crushing all those who stand before them, even if they take a few wounds/fallen along the way, this book probably isn't for you. You may also wish to avoid this work if you dislike Astartes who doubt/feel they have something to prove.
Background -
'Brothers of the Snake' contributed much to the Warhammer lore. The Iron Snakes are a unique, fully fleshed out chapter with many interesting facets to their 'chapter-personality'. There are various insights into the recruitment of Astartes into squads, as well as disciplanary action, and many other facts about the Astartes, with particular reference to this chapter.
The book also looks into the Reef Stars, and the enemies that lurk out there. An enemy that makes regular appearances throughout the series are the Dark Eldar, which is certainly different, and welcomely so, showing Abnetts view on battle between the Dark Eldar and the Space Marines (And it's certainly nothing like what happens on the table-top!).
There was only one major discrepency with background fluff that I could see in this book, which is the following:
Spoiler:
During the latter stages of the story, the Dark Eldar divert an Ork Waagh into the Reef Stars by stealing a sacred relic of the orks, the jawbone of a massive Warboss, which they then come to attempt to reclaim. I personally find it unlikely that the Orks would find the jawbone of any of their kind sacred, and didn't just Waaaagh for the fight.
Conclusion:
I would rate 'Brothers of the Snake' 9.5/10, and recommend any fan of the Space Marines, or Black Library in general to read it. I could not put it down, and read it from cover to cover in one sitting, that's how encaptured I was by the story.
