The BL Ultramarines series - verdict?

[Captain Semper]

I was wondering what the verdict for the series is and what do people think of Mr. McNeil's style. I'm seriously thinking of starting to read the entire series as a source of background. I just want to know if they are nice novels as well...

[Wyrmwood]

I've only read the first omnibus (Nightbringer, Warriors of Ultramar and Dead Sky, Black Sun) and, honestly, I was mostly disappointed. I enjoyed Nightbringer for the approach that Graham took with the Astartes. They were seldom seen, and were treated more like stately guests. Warriors of Ultramar was probably the singular book I enjoyed the most, but Dead Sky, Black Sun was enjoyable in parts - the Iron Warrior stuff.

[shadowhawk2008]

That's a somewhat contradictory verdict Wyrmwood

Anyhow, I enjoyed the first two novels tremendously, especially Warriors of Ultramar. DSBS was kind of a hit-and-miss for me, parts of the novel stand out but on the whole it doesn't match the first two.

Nightbringer is awesome simply because of the somewhat endlessly-debated-controversial ending but really it is quite good on account of featuring the Dark Eldar and the Necrons.

Warriors of Ultramar, with its Deathwatch/Ultramarine clash, Inquisitor Kryptman, the void battle in the Tarsis Ultra system, the Tyranid invasion of the planet, the conflicts between Uriel and one of his senior sergeants and between the Ultramarines and the Mortifactors it all added up to make a really great novel.

[Baragash]

+1 to enjoyed the IW bits in DSBS, not the UM bits. Haven't got round to reading more since then.

Also a big fan of Warriors of Ultramar though.

[FlashGordon]

I Enjoyed them all. But i have too say Killing Ground was the low-water-mark.
In order of best to worst(but in no means bad):
1: Courage and Honour
2: NightBringer
3: Chapters Due
4: Dead sky black sun
5: Warriors of Ultramar
6: Killing ground.

[Steve54]

Early ones were really good - especially Dead Sky, Black Sun and Warriors of Ultramar which got me into BL but also Nightbringer.

Later ones have been really poor - the Killing ground was a boring bridge book to reposition the characters, courage and honour was nearly as bad and while I had high hopes for Chapters due I found it the most disappointing. No really climatic battle (like DSBS, Storm of Iron, WoU) and depiction of the CSM as evil for evils sake rather than the more nuanced look at chaos in the more recent BL offerings.

[Xisor]

Very hit and miss. They are enjoyable, I can't deny that. I didn't grudge reading them (contrast with Brothers of the Snake, which I detest. And I can say I detest it now because I finally finished the damn thing. Only took me a few years). I'm fairly critical/uncaring for the books themselves; they don't leave a huge impression on me (except Warriors of Ultramar, but that was more for some of the related concepts/scenes than those concerning the main cast).

The upside, however, is they're consistently not bad either. More than anything, I think they're a series that offer something thoroughly different from what I look for/want/enjoy in a book.

I don't like Graham's portrayal of the Ultramarines, the only Ultramarine character I really felt any sort of connection to or interest in was Agemman in the short story where he chats with Ventris. In almost every other respect...I don't care for them. DSBS was a poor depiction of Medrengard, I'm afraid to say and I didn't really care for Honsou as a villain either.

Overall...it's very meh. But I can't say I didn't enjoy them, because I did. So I don't rate them highly, but they're nonetheless quite nice reads. And if you're critical of fiction or try your hand at writing now and then, I'd say they're fairly informative for looking at things which work or don't work in your estimation.

I hope that helps.

Edit: I think Graham's other books are much better by comparison. I don't want to say he's being 'less thoughtful' with the UM ones, but perhaps that 'I don't like the thoughts he's had' . Well, you'll see if you read them. Not excellent, but they're worth a look.

[Captain Semper]

Thanks guys, from what I gather the novels are so-so... I'll start reading them anyway, get up to speed a bit.

BTW is the "Fear of the Alien" out in ebook format? I can't seem to find it but for some reson I thought it was. Buying a single book from BL at GBP 10.50 means another GBP 7.00 for mail expenses (for Greece anyway)! Not prohibitive but, well, kind of ridiculus...

[Brother Sagaris]

I'd definitely recommend reading 'storm of iron' before 'dead sky
Black sun' as it is basically it's prequel but from the iron warriors point of view.

[KingDeath]

Mediocre but not truly bad. The characters tend to be rather bland ( Honsou is ok and so are some supporting characters ) and the spessmuhreen **** is strong but at least they are somewhat entertaining.

[DeeKay]

I've only read DSBS and The Chapter's Due. Previous comments regarding DSBS are pretty much true for me, as I found the CSM portions more interesting than the SM parts. The Chapter's Due however... avoid like the plague unless you really, REALLY love Ultramarines (and I do mean love in the most literal and physical terms) as McNiell did kick out 475 pages of marine fan-spank.

With regards,
Dan.

[Freak Ona Leash]

I've only read the first three. Nightbringer was the "worst" out of them and Dead Sky, Black Sun the best, so I'm the minority report here it seems

I think Ventris is perhaps one of the more stereotypical Astartes characters out there. I liked Ardaric Vaanes far more. Honsou was lame as well. But McNeill is a fairly good BL writer. Not as great as Abnett or Dembski-Bowden, but still a very solid and consistent writer.

I've noticed that I seem to enjoy Abnett far more than most people here anyways though. I LOVE Brothers of the Snake and thought Prospero Burns was literally one of the greatest Black Library books yet published, so I clearly have taste contrary to most of the internet

[Xisor]

Not too contrarian, Freak! I did really enjoy Ardaric Vaanes, I'd forgotten about him! And, as noted, it's not as if I didn't enjoy these books!

Prospero Burns? I quite agree, really an overwhelmingly excellent book (shame about the first 50 pages though). But Brothers of the Snake? Get out!

I didn't care for that novel. [/diplomatic]

(NB: I feel bad for reiterating it, but I think they're an enjoyable series, just not that amazing. I haven't seen Fear the Alien as ebook, which is a shame, it's not the best anthology, but it has some decent stories in it. Farrer's Masks is the memorable one for me!)

[Captain Semper]

I'd definitely recommend reading 'storm of iron' before 'dead sky
Black sun' as it is basically it's prequel but from the iron warriors point of view.

Good thing I have Storm of Iron -somewhere... Thanks or the heads up!

The Chapter's Due however... avoid like the plague unless you really, REALLY love Ultramarines (and I do mean love in the most literal and physical terms) as McNiell did kick out 475 pages of marine fan-spank.

No, I'm more of a Dark Angels man myself. Talking about mediocre books...

Prospero Burns? I quite agree, really an overwhelmingly excellent book (shame about the first 50 pages though). But Brothers of the Snake? Get out!

I didn't care for that novel. [/diplomatic]

(NB: I feel bad for reiterating it, but I think they're an enjoyable series, just not that amazing. I haven't seen Fear the Alien as ebook, which is a shame, it's not the best anthology, but it has some decent stories in it. Farrer's Masks is the memorable one for me!)

Prospero burns - I agree. Hugely enjoyable book and sheds some light on the TS background too. Arhiman was a very likeable character, quite grounded too. That is as opposed to the image of the know-it-all that is sort of how he comes accross in 40k lore... Now why this book made me to want to build a small force of SWs is beyond me . And I'm a DA player primarily as mentioned above...

Re: the "Fear of the Alien" I'm actually looking for the "Core". I understand this to be a NL story that takes place after "Blood Rever". I'm quite hooked to the ADB's NL series.

[Deepsix81]

I guess I kinda fall in with the majority of respondents here. I thought the initial trilogy was the stronger of the two, and Killing Ground probably the least interesting of all 6 (though it's tough to be disappointed anytime the Grey Knights become involved). I thought that Chapter's Due could have been much better than it was, but having the Raven Guard in action was beyond awesome.