Sanctus

Space Marine Battles #Novella

by Darius Hinks

The Relictors are sent by the Inquisition to loot the repositories and libraries of a world on the cusp of annihilation. With the countdown to Exterminatus looming over them, they realise that even the Chaos Space Marines of the dreaded Black Legion are not the worst threat that they will have to face before they can escape, and that their true enemy may lie elsewhere.

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k

98 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 25, 2011

About the author

Darius Hinks is an author, writing primarily in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He was born in Birmingham, England, in 1972. He works and lives in Nottinghamshire. Hinks' first novel, Warrior Priest, won the David Gemmel Morningstar award.

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in the Architect of Fate Space Marine Battle Novel anthology.

A squad of Relictors space marines, fighting a desperate last stand while on a redemption quest on a doomed planet, finds out that radical inquisitors toying with chaos demons are far more dangerous than hundreds of Black Legion renegades thirsty for their blood...



Loved the storyline and the fight of the Relictors overwhelmed by traitors had a nice "so bad, so good" Ultramarines animated movie vibe, but characters and story really needed to be developed in a full lenght novel instead of this abrubt ending novella for me.
Not bad at all but it could have been better.

[Abhinav · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 we have Sanctus by Darius Hinks, which features a strike force of the Space Marines of the Relictors chapter, a chapter that is damned in the eyes of the Imperium and excommunicated on top of that. I’ve never read any Darius Hinks, except for his eShort Cankerworm that was released a few weeks ago as part of the Black Library’s 15th Birthday celebrations. It is a story about the Skaven and I really liked it. Sanctus is an interesting narrative that deals with the Relictors’ obsession with discovering and retrieving Chaos-tainted artefacts and using them for the benefit of the Imperium against the forces of Chaos themselves. It is a tale that is very much about that old saying: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It is certainly true for the Relictors and their mad quest about turning the weapons of the Great Enemy against it.

The novella itself is not as enjoyable as I thought it’d be however. I never really connected with the Relictors characters and the scenes involving them were quite tedious to read. There just wasn’t any appreciable excitement in their scenes and they seemed to just drag on and on. The scenes involving Inquisitor Mortmain and the navigators attending him aboard the warship Domitus were far more enjoyable however. They had some great mystery and were fairly action-packed, whether it was actual physical combat or a war of words. Mortmain was certainly a character I enjoyed reading about, and he reminded me quite a bit of Graham McNeill’s Inquisitor-Lord Kryptmann from Warriors of Ultramar. Sanctus is a story that I think would have been better as a lengthier piece, perhaps even a full-length novel. It seems very compact and not a little rushed in its execution. Once again, the premise was sound but the novella just didn’t deliver. Still, I’m quite interested in reading more Darius Hinks and once my reading load drops somewhat, I’ll be picking up some of his Warhammer Fantasy novels.

Rating: 7/10

You can find the full review over at The Founding Fields:

http://thefoundingfields.com/2012/04/...

[Dylan Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sanctus follows two main characters at two related settings.
First, the Inquistion aboard the Domitus. That section of the novella was interesting to read. The enemy came from overall an unexpected source, and proves once again why radical inquisitors are my favourite to read about. The mystery and intrigue are well written and left me guessing at what was going to happen next and the battles were brutal and bloody. I think my favourite part of this section was the hopelessness that everyone on board the Domitus must have felt during the battles.
Second, the Relictors on Ilissus, a shrine world to the God-Emprah that fell to chaos a few centuries ago. This was my favourite part of the novella as it covered the Relictors, one of my favourite chapters. Hinks captures their anger and frustration at the lies and slander surrounding their chapter perfectly. Hinks built a very unique world filled with horrific oddities and a constant threat. The fact that a single squad of Relictors went treasure hunting on a world infested with the Black Legion on the eve of Exterminatus shows perfectly one of the many reasons I like them, they are dedicated to their beliefs, and even though others see it as heretical, they view it as the only option. The novella took a turn I didn't expect with the introduction of the pilgrams and the prophet. This is not a bad thing however, as I love hopeless last stands, and doubt that can lead to betrayal.
I think my favourite thing about this novella was that it was always hopeless, the characters DIDN'T have plot armour, and in the end.... The Relictors have both won and lost.
The one thing that frustrated me was the whole "time" concept. I think it would have worked MUCH better had this been a full length novel. Though while it frustrated me, it was also very interesting and offered a fresh idea to 40K writing.

Overall I loved the novella, though that could be partly because of my infatuation with the Relictors.

[Tarl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for a story about the Relictors, and unfortunatly this was not it. The story had a lot of potential, and some of the characters were well done. However, the constant rage/seeming panic of the leader of the Relictors seemed highly out of character for a space marine. Instead of being a controlled individual, he comes across as out of control/slave to his emotions.

Compared to some of the other stories in the Space Marine Battle series, this one falls short by a significant portion, which surprised me as it comes from an amazing author who I have enjoyed the other works of in the past. Perhaps given a larger amount of space for this story, he could have done more, but as it is, this story is weak and uninteresting.

You aren't missing anything by not reading this. If you are a Relictor fan, definatly don't read this.

[Euriclea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trama avvincente, stile fluido, ritmo di lettura incalzante......per poi crollare miseramente su un finale sbrigativo e paradossale. Mi aspettavo un thriller mistico di più alto livello e il paragone di Simon Toyne con Dan Brown mi sembra decisamente azzardato.

[Aleksi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 2/3 of Sanctus were amazing, but after that its quality dropped in my opinion. Still a good read though.