| Title | : | The Hunt For Voldorius (Space Marine Battles #3) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1844165132 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781844165131 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 416 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2010 |
The Hunt For Voldorius (Space Marine Battles #3) Reviews
-
The "Hunt for Voldorious" isn't bad. It's merely ok, hence the two star rating.
First a little bit about the story- a White Scars unit is hunting down a Daemon Prince named Voldorious who is working with the Alpha Legion. Along the way, the White Scars encounter the Raven Guard and both chapters join forces to fight the Chaos lord.
Space Marine Battle stories tend to be more action-driven than story-driven. While it was nice to see the Scars and the Raven Guard work together, I must admit to a bit of confusion over the semi-hostility between the two-I'll have to do more reading about that.
The problem, other than a sparse story, is the portrayal of Voldorious who comes off far more like a Chaos Champion than a Daemon Prince. Perhaps this is an older story and Andy Hoare just has a different interpretation, but I did not care for it.
A decent enough story, but nothing to rave about. -
Reasonable space marine novel, not exactly a literary masterpiece but that’s not really why we read Warhammer books!
First time I’ve read any 40K about White Scars or Ravenwing (only read their horus heresy entries).
A simple gore fest with a couple of interesting things, some fights read like a turn of the tabletop game might do in one’s imagination whilst throwing dice which was nice. -
As with all books that comes from the Black Library, you get a vague description of an Adeptus Astartes chapter, then the story runs.....
In this case the White Scars chapter led by Ko'sarro Master of the hunt, and the opponent Voldorious, it isn't a fast pace story, but a good story nonetheless, the reason for hunting Voldorious, where the protagonist went, and the final curtain at Quintus....ummmmm can't forget about the other chapter in this story the Raven Guard...
I guess I'll recommend this to the other Warhammer readers......... -
This one is terrible.
You take the tribal nature of the Scars and you just beat us to death with it. This book exhausted me. I finished it out of sheer spite, honestly.
I disliked the characters as painfully thin shams of people. The great big evil was just some moronic daemon type thing.
Ugh. This one is best forgotten. I'm only reviewing it to warn other readers. Don't. -
The book was exciting at times but I felt as if was rushed, there was not the sense of completion I got from other books. It felt like it ended at the highest point without the usual coming down that most books have. I like how the main human character stayed strong in the presence of Voldorius’s daemonic influence, through sheer faith. A simple human. Awesome, though Andy Hoare should practice writing a good 3 act story. I would like read more of his stories.
Recommended though. -
Andy Hoare's HUNT FOR VOLDORIOUS has all the "minimum requirements" for a book in the Space Marine Battles series. There's a Space Marine chapter (White Scars, in this case), an enemy (Alpha Legion and traitor militia), and plenty of over the top violence (I lost track of the number of times someone was cut in half). Unfortunately, it's a little short on story, and as a result doesn't really hold up well with either RYNN's WORLD or HELLSREACH (the first two books in the series).
The 3rd company of the White Scars have vowed to bring down the daemon Voldorius, who is bent on releasing the Bloodtide once more. They track him to the desolate planet of Quintus V, where they join forces with the 3rd company of the Blood Ravens, who are there on a related but separate mission. There is mutual distrust between the two chapters, but out of necessity they work together to achieve both their aims. Along the way there are many bloody battles, with all the chainsword flesh rendering and bolt gun carnage most 40K fans have come to enjoy.
But in my opinion the story is long on daemons and warp, and shorter on Space Marine tactics, cooperation, and domination. The introduction of a second chapter (Blood Ravens) as tentative allies detracts rather than adds to the story line, and in the end the whole book just sort of felt average and unremarkable.
I wouldn't go so far as to say "disappointing," but it's pretty average. True Space Marine fans will find something to enjoy in here, but if you just dabble in this world, there are other titles more worth your time. -
Hunt For Voldorius!
This is the 2nd battle novel i red in the past months.
There is this amazing trend with the Black Library books....they are ALL AWESOME! :O you can clearly sense the passion their authors have for the universe and their deep understanding of the lore. (Something us wow fans do not enjoy from the wow books we have seen released so far :X)
The book follows the White Scars 3rd company as they chase the Daemon Lord Kernax Voldorius in a sacred hunt.
The book was very engaging from start to end. Altho the ending seemed to me a bit rushed and should not have been that easy considering the forces that were on the field....ull know what i mean if u read the book.
But nevertheless this is a great read even if your not a Warhammer fan. Chances are most of the BL books can get you hooked in the WH40k universe.
p.p: I loved the i guess acidental tribute to my own country`s khans and their famous riders. It was cool -
This was a bit clunky to begin with and the writing a little 'immature' at times - I get the feeling that some of the chapters are more edited and refined than others. The story is good although predictable at times. Sometimes the authors of Black Library books try to be 'too epic' in what's happening in the story and that on occasion can irritate me! It was good to learn about the White Scars however and the Raven Guard - so if you are interested in learning a bit about each chapter these books are ideal. I will be pursuing the others in the series.
-
Interesting book from the standpoint of the Raven Guard and the White Scars working in conjunction against the traitorous Alpha Legion, led by the Chaos-tainted Voldorius, but probably near the bottom of Warhammer books I've read from a quality of writing standpoint. I thought there was a bit too much fluff put in to describe how bombs were exploding, or missiles or bullets flying through the air, or similar descriptions of warfare, but overall still a good read.
-
Well, it is a book about Space Marines. The writer has a weak grasp of the concept of what a Space Marine is, but there is very little character development or personality to the characters in this book. I would avoid this book and read a more well known series in the 40K universe. The deamon Voldorius is a weak enemy, not to mention the badly written Alpha Legion characters, just do not add anything interesting to the story. To me this was an uninspired story, that I am glad came to and end.
-
Started out a bit of a 3 star, but wow it picked up and was awesome- The South Nine Battle really redeemed it and was a real page turner til the end after that! !Great battles
-
Excellent story, White Scars and the Ravens are my favorites so this was a double treat.
-
A great look into the complications of working with another chapter, white scars and Raven Guard fighting to eradicate chaos from the Imperium
-
Fun, I guess.
-
I have always been a huge fan of the Mongols. When I was six, I would get my mom to take me to the library to rent Genghis Khan, a turn based strategy game for the NES. When I was 7, I would make the same request for Genghis Khan II: Clan of the Grey Wolf for the Sega Genesis. A couple of years later, Sid Meier's Civilization came out for PC, and being the TBS-obsessed 9 year old that I was, I spent thousands of hours building and conquering empires, mostly as the Mongols. This scene repeated itself over the years as Civilization gave way to Civ 2, to Civ 3, and so forth. In fact, a part of me really believes that I have spent more time conquering in the name of the Mongol Empire short of anyone named Genghis, Khublai, or Tamerlane. (I'm fairly certain I have the edge on Ogedei and Chagatai). I have also read through Marco Polo's The Travels and Jack Weatherford's Genghis Khan and the Makings of the Modern World and The Secret History of the Mongol Queens. All this said, while I don't profess to be the leading scholar of the medieval Steppe, I am obsessed with the Mongols and do have a fair bit of knowledge for a layman.
So imagine my disappointment when I read Hunt for Voldorius. I love Black Library stuff, particularly 40k, so I went in thinking 'Space Mongols?! How can this go wrong?' Well, for starters, it can. Essentially this is a 40k bolter-porn fanfic that spends the majority of the story droning on about a completely one-sided battle that the Space Marines never once threaten to lose. Hundreds of pages are devoted to Space Marines carving their way through hordes of terrified, untrained conscripts with bolters, chainswords, tanks, jetbikes, and Thunderhawks. The Alpha Legion spends the majority of the book hiding behind this gigantic meatshield and barely plays a role of any import. The two best characters, Voldorius and Malaya, get startlingly little page time due to the incessant descriptions of an incredibly dull battle.
But worse than all this is the incredibly cliché way in which the White Scars are portrayed. Constant references to 'The Hunt', 'The Khan', and the implied comparison of space marines on jetbikes hunting down Jim Bob from accounts receivable (who just happened to be forcibly conscripted into the army of a malevolent demon prince) to the Mongols on horseback wiping out professional armies of Russia, Ukraine, and Northern China really get old. The only thing they didn't do is sit in their yurts and drink fermented mare's milk while waiting for a kurultai.
Anyway, this may be harsh, but if you're looking for something that rivals the quality of Rynn's World and Helsreach, you won't find it here. This one will mainly appeal to those looking for 411 pages of space marines kicking the living shit out of everything they encounter, in which case The Hunt for Voldorius expertly delivers. -
This book rates only two stars or to quote that bastion of TV comedy scientific knowledge "Sheldon Cooper" it rates a "Meh". Of course I wasn't expecting much. Most of the novels in this or any of the Warhammer based series are not intended to be great literature. But this one was just a bit too much roaring motorbike engines, despicable warp spawned monsters and way to formidable and virtuously stalwart Space Marines.
I usually think of the serial SF novels based on either a game or movie as Mac&Cheese for the mind and the occasional respite from the intricacies of my usual histories, or something mentally a bit more engaging. Not that some of them haven't surprised me by being having a rather good story but this was definitely in the "Meh" category. It's more in the line of a paperback version of a grade B movie with more than it's share of gratuitous violence or a very cheaply done comic book. Anyway it filled the slot as number 3 in the "Space Marine Battles Novels" and now will rest on the book shelve along with it's Brother Marine novels if only just to annoy my wife who will ask as she usually does, "Are you ever going to get rid of some of these Old books?"
I of course will just smile and nod as I or must husbands do when pretending to listen to their wives. SIGH! -
This is my second time reading a book in the Battles series. I was pleasantly surprised with the first one, but this one lived up to my expectations for the series. While I don't regret reading it, there are many many better books featuring the Space Marines than this one. Granted, part of that might be that I don't find the White Scars chapter particularly interesting. However, the characters all seemed stereotypes of their chapters, and not even very interesting stereotypes, either.
On the plus side, you do get to see a decent amount of Space Marines kill about 20-30 times their own number.
On the downside, I thought the way the White Scars used battle cant was silly, and the fact that every time it was used the author felt he had to explain they were using battle cant drove me batty.
The plot is also fed to you with a spoon, with nothing surprising happening ever, since the book stops, yells, and points every time there is a bit of foreshadowing.
I don't expect my 40K books to be the height of literature, but I do expect them to be entertaining. This book seemed to fall far short of the Black Library's normal standards. -
As an avid reader of 40K fiction for quite a long while, I was excited to see a new series - Space Marine Battles, introduced. I started with this novel since I had not read much about the White Scars, a chapter that has been woefully under served in 40K literature.
Regrettably, Mr. Hoares' novel does nothing much to deepen the legacy or standing of the White Scars. While I understand these novels are supposed to highlight one particular conflict or series of battles, I had hoped for more chapter flavor.
Mr. Hores writing is adequate enough but at the end of the novel, I didn't like the protagonists any more than at the beginning of the novel, which is unfortunate as I believe Kor'sarro held a lot of promise.
I am not a fan of Chaos being the adversary as many 40K authors go overboard with it. I find Mr. Hoare to be more restrained in his depiction of the forces of Chaos but would have much rather have the Scars fighting the Orks.
All in all, a decent but ultimately forgettable 40K novel. -
I think that this is one of the best warhammer 40k books that i have ever read! the space marine battle novles are my favorite.
this story thakes place when the white scars chapter is sent on a mission to hunt down the vile deamon prince lord kernax voldorius
and after hunting him down for centuries they finaly trap him on a small planet that has totaly fallen under his controll but there is more than just voldorius him self he is protected by his own army of the chaos warband the alpha legion.
plus he is planing to release a devistateing weapon apon the imperum of man. A weapon that was thought just to be a myth......
and the rest is for you to find out and again a exilent book and i highly recomend it to any one, weather they are new to warhammer or know all about it. Me my self have known all about warhammer my whole life. but people who are more familiar with warhammer might find it more interesting than those who dont.enjoy! -
On paper, this should be a slam dunk: The White Scars and Raven Guard - two of the most ignored groups of guys in W40k - team up to take on a demon prince and his band of minions. In practice, it's a bit of a letdown; there's not really much of a Hunt for Voldorius, as he takes over an entire planet, which is kind of hard to miss. The White Scars - basically space Mongols - are forgettably generic. In fact, "forgettably generic" sums the whole book up pretty well. It all rather disappointingly boils down to: There's some Good Guys, and they don't like this Bad Guy, so they go have a big fight. The end. This leaves the book to rely on its action scenes, which are workmanlike enough but nothing special, and the result in a firmly middle of the road book I can't really recommend unless someone loans you a copy for free.
-
I've been enjoying the Space Marines Battle series. After the first two books in the series dealing with Ork invasions, it was nice to get a change of pace and see a story about Chaos. It was cool to see the two Chapters (White Scares and Ravenguard) working together. I would have liked if the scope of the novel was a little larger. The Hunt for Voldorius took almost ten years, but the novel only covers the final bit of it.
-
The Space Marine Battles series seems like it was originally started to flesh out massive pivotal points in the 40k universe, much like the Horus Heresy series. This book doesn't really live up to that goal, unlike its counterparts Helsreach and Rynn's World. It's still a well-written and entertaining read, just know what you're in for.
