A decent book that is hard to like

If there is one thing that is truly well written within this book, it is tension. The slow rise of tension, the story building up pressure, going crescendo before a strong reveal - the kind of feeling conveyed when an author wishes to describe an horror scene; a door slowly opening on creaking hinges, diverting the reader's focus before a monster reveals itself few pages later.

And, you know, generally this works just fine, except the scale of the story is completely not adapted to this style of writing.

This book set out to make us experience multiple stories all related to what is, within this fictional universe, the greatest conflict humanity has ever witnessed, and it does it through tension slowly building up independently within all these different storylines. Granted, when there are scenes of true horror describing the eldritch nature of the warp, and the mind twisting abominations the Emperor's Children have become, this style of writing truly shines and becomes genuinely impressive. But these moments are rare, and there is only so much tension that can be garnered from describing soldiers endlessly holding a wall, or an open conflict between battle titans, again and again. This book is sixteen hours of tension, trying to build up, with more than five different storylines all attempting - and failing - to lock into a coherent whole.

Let me say that again; sixteen hours of tension buildup, trying to slowly reveal everything - from describing the environment to an actual open battle - trying to keep you on the edge, with barely anything being plainly presented, just buildup.

Eventually the buildup have to loop around itself; one moment a character would overcome a daunting obstacle, ending the tension buildup within their storyline, then a few chapter later it starts all over again because the story has to progress. Except the author seems to lack the imagination to come up with new ways for the characters to overcome challenges, so they just end up doing the same thing endlessly, just in a different context. Actual *changes* within the story are few and far between.

Thankfully, Jonathan Keeble still remains the god-tier narrator that he is and saves it partially thanks to his impressive reading. If you don't mind a very slow book that has some strong moments (again, in the case of eldritch horror and genuine moments of tension) but is, overall, kind of a slog that'll make you roll your eyes because of how silly this buildup gets, then you might enjoy this book. Otherwise, look for a sum up online and skip this book altogether, you'd only get frustrated.

It's a shame though, a lot of interesting things happen throughout this book, I am simply unsure if these plot points and the rare instances where this book shines are worth the ponderous writing.

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