Soul Hunter by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Warning - this review contains some minor spoilers in the form of plot outlines, though no key details are revealed.

Having recently purchased the reprinted collectors' edition of the Night Lords trilogy, it seemed like an ideal time to leap into this highly acclaimed series by Aaron Dembski-Bowden. As an aside, the book itself is absolutely stunning to behold with a cloth-covered binding and gold lettering on the front cover and spine. The legion's icon has also been laminated onto the front cover and looks appropriately foreboding. The pages themselves are edged with a very eye-catching blue and white lightning bolt, and inside you have a full-size version of the original paperback cover art.

Soul Hunter gets into the meat of it all - revealing much of the hidden culture and intrigue buried into the Night Lords legion. While they fought against the Emperor during the great heresy, the legion still stands apart from other Chaos Astartes in several notable ways. Dembski-Bowden teases out these character details while Talos, our main narrator and former apothecary of the 10th Company, pushes against the forces conspiring against him.

The story nearly exclusively follows the depleted remnants of the 10th Company, as they set about their various objectives while onboard the Marine strike cruiser, the Covenant of Blood. Talos, cursed with visions of the future, seeks the keys to avoid the coming slaughter, though his actions earn him the ire of their commander; a being now only known as the Exalted. Time-wise the story seems to be spaced over a few weeks at most, starting with the capture of the newest addition to their crew and ending a little later when they narrowly avoid their destruction at the hands of the Blood Angels and Abadon's displeasure at their actions.

The novel is jam-packed with action and intrigue, as expected from a story featuring any flavour of Space Marine. Still, the pace of action flows well and naturally takes us from scene to scene without ever feeling jarring or forced. Dembski-Bowden uses each character well, with few instances of throwaway persona. Even those who make a brief appearance before falling victim to an array of deaths throughout the story feel like there was something more to them.

As a legion, the Night Lords are known as the terror troops of the Astartes. Not a small feat considering even the lowliest of these super warriors is a towering killing machine. Soul Hunter touches on the motivation for this nature, using several flashbacks. These cover periods of time before the death of Nostramo, their homeworld, and their Primarchs demise. While they do take us a little out of the 'main' storyline, these little glimpses are employed sparingly but with great effect. As we look on, the reader gets to take a ride in the mind of one of these fearsome warriors. We gain first-hand experience of the unfiltered reasoning behind their often brutal actions, as well as their moments of humour and what passes for kindness among them. Talos and some of the other Night Lords are surprisingly human at points; something that is often missed out in Marine novels, which typically focus on how much beyond humanity these beings have become.

Dembski-Bowden seems to have a natural talent for creating highly detailed, almost likeable, Chaos characters that threaten to draw out support from even the most loyalist of readers. Having said that he sees them as the underdogs of the 40k world, Dembski-Bowden uses this element of their lore well, building these wonderfully compelling storylines. Soul Hunter is no different, and I would be utterly amazed if you didn't find yourself rooting for Talos, even as he ruthlessly torments, taunts and cuts down his enemies.