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Space Marine Battles #Novella
Endeavour of Will
An Architect of Fate novella. Chaos Space Marines of the Iron Warriors Legion launch a devastating attack upon their hated foes the Imperial Fists, crippling one of their principal starforts. Unperturbed, the heroic Captain Darnath Lysander withdraws his warriors to a second stronghold, the Endeavour of Will, to weather the rest of the assault. But as the Iron Warriors’ methods are revealed, critical and desperate decisions must be made, lest their insidious techno-contagion spread throughout the Imperial Fists’ fleet and beyond...
ebook
First published October 1, 2011
About the author
Ben Counter
170 books222 followersBen Counter, as well as making several contributions to Inferno magazine, has written the Soul Drinkers and Grey Knights series and two Horus Heresy novels for the Black Library. He is an ancient history graduate and avid miniature painter with a bronze demon under his belt.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 12, 2018
Read in the Architect of Fate Space Marine Battle Novel anthology.
Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors are masters of siege warfare and natural enemies since the Horus Heresy.
In this awesome action packed novella you can really see why: daemon viruses crippling starports' machine spirits, terminators versus obliterators (demonic possessed walking tanks chaos space marines craving to destroy everything around them), assaults feints and counters by two brilliant leaders (Shon'tu and Lysander are 2 badass characters), unexpected twists, thrills and ultraviolence.
And captain Darnath Lysander of the Fists, sole survivor on the daemon world of Malodrax (a novel that just have to read as soon as possible) is now one of my most favourite W40K characters ever (together with Gregor Eisenhorn and Ibram Gaunt).
Excelsior!
June 29, 2012
Shadowhawk reviews the first ever Space Marine Battles anthology, a collection of four novellas by different authors focused on a key character of the Warhammer 40,000 setting, the Greater Daemon of Tzeentch known as Kairos Fateweaver.
“One of the best anthologies that Black Library has ever published, Architect of Fate has definitely set a great precedent for future works that are similarly themed. I certainly want more such anthologies!” ~The Founding Fields
The Space Marine Battles series is one of the best ideas to come from the Black Library editorial staff as it has produced some of the best novels from some of its best authors. Sarah Cawkwell’s The Gildar Rift, Chris Wraight’s The Battle of the Fang and Rob Sanders’ Legion of the Damned are some of my favourite novels, especially the latter which I believe has set the bar really high for a really dark, gritty and stubborn yet heroic portrayal of Space Marines.
..................................
Next up we have Ben Counter’s Endeavour of Will, a story of the Imperial Fists chapter and the star fortress known as the Endeavour of Will. This is downright the most enjoyable novella in the anthology. I have a really soft spot for the Imperial Fists, as they and several of their successors have always taken quite a beating over the years in various BL publications and they got a really lamentably bad outing in their last full-feature novel, Sons of Dorn. Ben has written Imperial Fists before, in his Soul Drinkers novels and his take on them, an outlook that is quite simplistic in its approach and makes no pretensions at subtlety or deeper meanings, is something I like. Not to mention that this novella also features the Iron Warriors, enemies of the Imperial Fists since the days of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.
I really like what Ben has done in Endeavour of Will. His depiction of Captain Lysander, commanding officer of the Imperial Fists’ First Company, is pretty spot-on. Lysander does what it takes to win victory and no sacrifice is above him. Victory is everything to him and the ends justify the means. This may sound like somewhat of a cliche and maybe even unappealing, but trust me, it is anything but. Lysander is one of those flawed good-guy characters that a lot of people, me among them, really love to read about. His cameo in Ben’s Phalanx was also immensely enjoyable. There is also a certain doom-and-gloom feel to the novel, which really adds to the authenticity of the narrative: anything can go wrong and there is a damn good chance that the bad guys may just lose terribly. There is a very realistic sense of danger for the Imperial Fists and that is consistent throughout the novella.
Ben’s depiction of the Iron Warriors and Chaos Daemons is pretty true to form: he has this really quirky, mind-messing handle on the followers of Chaos and it really shines through in Endeavour of Will. I won’t spoiler the novella but suffice to say that his depiction of daemons in this story is one of the most interesting and enjoyable depictions in the vast majority of Black Library fiction. He really gets what makes Chaos so unreal and other-worldly.
Another thing I’d like to commend Ben on is how he portrays the machine-spirits for the star-forts Endeavour of Will and the Bastion Inviolate. They have a real personality, one that is stubborn, loyal to a fault, chilling, unnerving, and punch-the-air, all at the same time. If there is an author writing for Black Library who I would love to see a true unreal and other-worldly story about the Adeptus Mechanicus and machine-spirits, it is Ben Counter. He is that good.
As part of a larger whole, re: the anthology itself, Endeavour of Will works really well I found. It has some overtures to Accursed Eternity that become apparent towards the end of the narrative and they offer quite an endless amount of possibilities as to what Kairos Fateweaver duplicitous and circular manipulations are going to play out in the future.
Rating: 10/10
You can find the full review over at The Founding Fields:
http://thefoundingfields.com/2012/04/...
“One of the best anthologies that Black Library has ever published, Architect of Fate has definitely set a great precedent for future works that are similarly themed. I certainly want more such anthologies!” ~The Founding Fields
The Space Marine Battles series is one of the best ideas to come from the Black Library editorial staff as it has produced some of the best novels from some of its best authors. Sarah Cawkwell’s The Gildar Rift, Chris Wraight’s The Battle of the Fang and Rob Sanders’ Legion of the Damned are some of my favourite novels, especially the latter which I believe has set the bar really high for a really dark, gritty and stubborn yet heroic portrayal of Space Marines.
..................................
Next up we have Ben Counter’s Endeavour of Will, a story of the Imperial Fists chapter and the star fortress known as the Endeavour of Will. This is downright the most enjoyable novella in the anthology. I have a really soft spot for the Imperial Fists, as they and several of their successors have always taken quite a beating over the years in various BL publications and they got a really lamentably bad outing in their last full-feature novel, Sons of Dorn. Ben has written Imperial Fists before, in his Soul Drinkers novels and his take on them, an outlook that is quite simplistic in its approach and makes no pretensions at subtlety or deeper meanings, is something I like. Not to mention that this novella also features the Iron Warriors, enemies of the Imperial Fists since the days of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.
I really like what Ben has done in Endeavour of Will. His depiction of Captain Lysander, commanding officer of the Imperial Fists’ First Company, is pretty spot-on. Lysander does what it takes to win victory and no sacrifice is above him. Victory is everything to him and the ends justify the means. This may sound like somewhat of a cliche and maybe even unappealing, but trust me, it is anything but. Lysander is one of those flawed good-guy characters that a lot of people, me among them, really love to read about. His cameo in Ben’s Phalanx was also immensely enjoyable. There is also a certain doom-and-gloom feel to the novel, which really adds to the authenticity of the narrative: anything can go wrong and there is a damn good chance that the bad guys may just lose terribly. There is a very realistic sense of danger for the Imperial Fists and that is consistent throughout the novella.
Ben’s depiction of the Iron Warriors and Chaos Daemons is pretty true to form: he has this really quirky, mind-messing handle on the followers of Chaos and it really shines through in Endeavour of Will. I won’t spoiler the novella but suffice to say that his depiction of daemons in this story is one of the most interesting and enjoyable depictions in the vast majority of Black Library fiction. He really gets what makes Chaos so unreal and other-worldly.
Another thing I’d like to commend Ben on is how he portrays the machine-spirits for the star-forts Endeavour of Will and the Bastion Inviolate. They have a real personality, one that is stubborn, loyal to a fault, chilling, unnerving, and punch-the-air, all at the same time. If there is an author writing for Black Library who I would love to see a true unreal and other-worldly story about the Adeptus Mechanicus and machine-spirits, it is Ben Counter. He is that good.
As part of a larger whole, re: the anthology itself, Endeavour of Will works really well I found. It has some overtures to Accursed Eternity that become apparent towards the end of the narrative and they offer quite an endless amount of possibilities as to what Kairos Fateweaver duplicitous and circular manipulations are going to play out in the future.
Rating: 10/10
You can find the full review over at The Founding Fields:
http://thefoundingfields.com/2012/04/...
March 28, 2012
Overall not that bad of a story, though there are parts that bog it down and ruin what could be a fairly interesting story.
The basis of the story is fairly interesting, a force of Iron Warriors attacking twin space stations that if defeated will plunge an area of space into chaos. The only thing stopping them is their arch enemies, the Imperial Fists.
Due to the size of the story, parts of it end up feeling rushed, as the story builds to the final boarding of the second space station. This is the first flaw within this story as you have this huge rush to get to the meat of the story, and then suddenly it hits things like a flashback or the explanation of something a character says that bogs down the story to a crawl just when something like a fight scene hits.
This, coupled with what feels almost like a deus ex machina ending made me feel as if so much more could have been told rather than the rushed ending that was presented. All in all, this story has the feeling like it should have been longer, could have been far better, and instead was cut and squished into the required word count for the anthology it is to be in.
Not one of the better works from Mr. Counter, an author I normally highly enjoy the works of.
Still 3 stars because as much as it gets bogged down, it still presents interesting characters and broadens the 40k universe which leaves the reader having learned something new about its world.
The basis of the story is fairly interesting, a force of Iron Warriors attacking twin space stations that if defeated will plunge an area of space into chaos. The only thing stopping them is their arch enemies, the Imperial Fists.
Due to the size of the story, parts of it end up feeling rushed, as the story builds to the final boarding of the second space station. This is the first flaw within this story as you have this huge rush to get to the meat of the story, and then suddenly it hits things like a flashback or the explanation of something a character says that bogs down the story to a crawl just when something like a fight scene hits.
This, coupled with what feels almost like a deus ex machina ending made me feel as if so much more could have been told rather than the rushed ending that was presented. All in all, this story has the feeling like it should have been longer, could have been far better, and instead was cut and squished into the required word count for the anthology it is to be in.
Not one of the better works from Mr. Counter, an author I normally highly enjoy the works of.
Still 3 stars because as much as it gets bogged down, it still presents interesting characters and broadens the 40k universe which leaves the reader having learned something new about its world.
March 20, 2016
By far one of the greatest pieces I have ever read from Black Library. I loved it. I love Ben Counter's portrayal of the Iron Warriors and how they work, just.... amazing.
All throughout the novella I was kept guessing at what was going to happen and this is probably some of the most suspense I have ever gotten from reading a novella(Rivaled only by the closing scenes in Flesh of Cretacia) and I pray to the Chaos Gods that Mr. Counter writes some more Iron Warriors. Especially Shon'tu as he was an awesome character.
I was not a huge fan of the Imperial Fists in the book, except that little piece of back story we get from Malodorax(?). But that is pretty much a given as I find the Imperial Fists almost as boring and emotionless(yes, I called the Imperial Fists emotionless while giving praise to the Iron Warriors) as the Ultrasmurfs.
Overall, I would have liked to see a more... Chaotic ending, given the ending it had, it was still awesome.
Please, if you like Warhammer 40K, READ THIS!
All throughout the novella I was kept guessing at what was going to happen and this is probably some of the most suspense I have ever gotten from reading a novella(Rivaled only by the closing scenes in Flesh of Cretacia) and I pray to the Chaos Gods that Mr. Counter writes some more Iron Warriors. Especially Shon'tu as he was an awesome character.
I was not a huge fan of the Imperial Fists in the book, except that little piece of back story we get from Malodorax(?). But that is pretty much a given as I find the Imperial Fists almost as boring and emotionless(yes, I called the Imperial Fists emotionless while giving praise to the Iron Warriors) as the Ultrasmurfs.
Overall, I would have liked to see a more... Chaotic ending, given the ending it had, it was still awesome.
Please, if you like Warhammer 40K, READ THIS!
October 6, 2011
A welcome change from the usual bolter pr0n of Space Marine books. Without spoiling too much, you get some insightful writing on Chaos entities small and large, machine intelligences blessed by the Omnissiah and otherwise, and a nice tie-in with the events about the Sould Drinkers on Phalanx and before...
A nice read all-around, makes me really look forward to the upcoming Architect of Fate.
A nice read all-around, makes me really look forward to the upcoming Architect of Fate.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews