13th Legion Review

 

13th Legion

Book: 13th legion

Author: Gav Thorpe

Pages: 274

Hard Core Scale: 2/4

Normal Scale: 6/10

Publish Date: 2000

About: Lt. Kage of the 13th legion aka the last chancers has just been promoted to lieutenant. The reason? The last Lieutenant reached a terrible end. As a member of this Penal legion he will only be absolved of his crimes if he survives. From battlefield to battlefield he and the regiment fight hoping for redemption. Yet the colonel begins to make very strange tactical decisions pushing them towards a greater goal. Will Kage find redemption or end up dead.

 

Review: Gav’s first book. An early 40k novel of the early Black Library area and the first of a trilogy. This is the opposite of Inquisition War: A good story marred by some bad writing habits. Weak temporal transitions, a weak and uneeded frame resulting in poor present tense use, and the use of the bad, bad, bad royal you. It is a fun pocket novel though which I have not read in a while. It is rare to see long term PTSD in 40k characters explored. No ultra-heroics in this bolter porn. Things are gritty with that 40k feel. Some things are of question, but easily overlooked. The ending is delivered, Kage grows, things happen. An example of flat characterization that can work. No very deep or faceted character wise, but it meshes well with 40k and Kage’s PTSD and psychopathy. Some of the results of Kage’s actions seem at strange times but the setting and character allows for it as again heroics go against survival and cruelty in which the ending hits well. A unreliable main character in a cruel universe of which 40k should be. One can always argue for deeper thick description as well, but to a degree it is there.


Book Cover, 2000, Kenson Low, The Black Library, Games Workshop.





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