Action That Misses Its Mark

Architect of Fate by Christian Dunn (Editor), Sarah Cawkwell, Ben Counter, Darius Hinks, John French

Summary: The Space Marines stand against the darkness, and yet on countless battlefields they play unwitting roles in the schemes of Fateweaver. From the doomed world of Ilissus, through the embattled corridors of the Endeavour of Will, to the borders of the Eye of Terror itself – friend and foe alike follow the great plan that he set in motion many thousands of years ago. But not even the Architect of Fate himself can foresee the destiny that lies in wait for him...

Collected for the first time, all four parts of the Architect of Fate novella series are presented in a single printed volume. The infamous Kairos Fateweaver, greater daemon of Tzeentch and master of manipulation, has discovered the limits of his power – even one so prescient as he cannot divine beyond the event horizon at the end of the 41st Millennium.

Review: A collection of four Space Marine stories that are action packed, but still managed to bore me. 

In the Warhammer 40k universe, my favorite races are the Elder and the Space Marines. And while a lot of the full length novels are either good or meh, the short stories are always a sure bet. Perhaps it was because these stories are actually novellas instead of short stories. The stories had Space Marines, daemons, Chaos Space Marines, psykers, and the Inquisition, which are all elements I enjoy in 40k stories. Despite all this, I found these stories boring. I personally felt they were a tad too long, which it would help to contribute to the stories being boring. 

I did like how the four stories were tied around the Eye of Terror and the Fateweaver. There was a surprising amount of heresy committed by the characters, including Space Marines. I have read 40k novels where heresy was committed by main characters and I was fine with that since there was enough explanation of why and enough backstory. Sure, it was the lesser of two evils for some of the characters, but I just couldn't understand why the heresy was committed. Oh well, Chaos Space Marines are always cool.

Rating:

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to those that enjoy action packed science fiction and die hard Warhammer 40k fans.