| View Larger Image | Salamander (Tome of Fire Trilogy) | Paperbackby Nick Kyme (Author)
| List Price: | $11.70 | | | Available: | Temporarily out of stock. Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your credit card will not be charged until we ship the item. |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Black Library | | Page Count: | 416 Pages | | Publication Date: | September 07, 2009 | | Sales Rank: | 93,364rd |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Hailing from the volcanic world of Nocturne, Space Marines from the Salamanders Chapter are in search of an ancient artefact that leads to a world overrun by Chaos. They are the fire-born: implacable warriors with iron hard determination. But all is not what it seems as far more dangerous foe is revealed. As bitter rivalries break out amongst the Salamanders their endurance will be tested to the limit. Will the Salamanders survive long enough to discover the truth about this world and the revelations that will shake the very foundations of this Chapter forever? |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 24 reviews)
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one of the best sci fi books i have read by Carryit (iowa)  5 Stars
November 22, 2009
if you like to speed read your entertainment books, you know, skip the mushy stuff and get to the fighting and glory, this book is NOT for you.
the book has some of the most sophisticated prose i have ever read for a scifi space marine book, the author is has a real grasp of the language and science you just cant read it fast. the book has to be absorbed. a random example:
"A thin mist drifted over the deck of the cryogenic vault like the slow passage of a tired apparition. A gaseous amalgam of nitrogen and helium combined to produce the chemical compound that would catalyse the cryogenic process, it rolled languidly off a series of semi-transparent tanks situated at one end of a large metal room. A high ceiling still carried the ubiquitous censers and there were small Mechanicus shrines set into alcoves in the walls. Exposed hosing, cables and other machinery were also prevalent. it was as if they were the excised innards of some mechanical behemoth, and this room was part of its mech-biology."
the authors descriptions put you there. the battle sequences are also smartly developed.
my criticisms are that the transistions from one persons activities to anothers are somewhat abrupt so if you read too fast you can get lost as to where you are at in the battle and some of the saved in the nick of time sequences were somewhat contrived, the fonts are too small for me, i wish it was a kindle book so i could choose a better font.
i would give the book 4.5 stars for my complaints but i cant so it gets a five.
it is intelligently written and i liked it and i am looking forward to the next one. especially if its on a kindle, otherwise maybe not.
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Not for the uninitiated. by Sharilyn (Somewhere in Time and Space)  2 Stars
November 18, 2009
Before reading this book, I knew absolutely nothing about the Warhammer universe; after reading it, I'm still not sure what it's all about. The author throws out a lot of information, but he doesn't really explain why it's relevant. I never felt I knew why things were happening and sometimes I was hard pressed to even tell what was happening.
I found the writing style of this rather sizeable tome to be plodding. It didn't hold my interest at all. I believe I might have enjoyed it more if I was into Warhammer, but frankly nothing in this book whetted my appetite to learn more. This just isn't my kind of military sci-fi.
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Slow start but strong finish by Patrick Holt (San Antonio, TX USA)  4 Stars
November 12, 2009
I enjoyed this book. It starts off slow and a bit confusing at first but the author nicely focuses in the characters toward the 2nd half. He also does a good job of building a world and culture within the Warhammer 40k setting.
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Seeing both sides of the reviews... by LRS 51st 4 Stars
November 06, 2009
Hmmm, it's funny reading after all the reviews here, I see the trend is that those who somehow never, ever read about W40K, just happened to pick THIS novel. go into any chain bookstore and you will see whole sections of W40K and Warhammer Fantasy novels. Then the bashing begins (I mean comparing something that's been out for over 25 years to "Halo's Space Marines", come on), yet they don't have a list of books/novels THEY wrote to compare the literary styles. Read more about the W40K universe. Pick up a W40K roleplaying Codex, the main game's rulebook or hey, look up the background info online on W40KWiki or something similar. It's very trite to see all the flak a new author gets. If Tolkien came out now, he would be considered too much of a read, boring and copying someone elses style.
As for the fans, you see hope and optimism. They know some novels are not on the same level as some of the writers who have wrote dozens of books, design parts of the roleplaying game and work for Games Workshop/Black Library. I have read many of the books, played the video games and constanly update myself on the lore. It's no different than Star Wars or comics to me. I try not to stay in the dark and then think about trying to complain.
Just my view. I think the novel was decent and talked about a Space Marine Chapter than has been overlooked in W40K canon. This is why the author had to provide background info. As for the characters with no backgrounds and just showing up, well it's MILITARY Sci-Fi, not a fantasy-adventure love story. A miltary unit has many members and you are not going to get a full history on every member (this I know as 21 year infantry vet). Since this a planned trilogy, I expect to see more development and fleshing out. I wish the critics would give it a chance and read a little bit about W40k or hold there opinions and not compare Drake, Pournelle or even "Halo" to this realm lol.
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Wow....I am REALLY Not the Target Audience for This?!?! by Graboidz (Westminster, Maryland)  1 Stars
November 04, 2009
What the hell was this? I guess there is an audience out there for this type of thing...but I'm not part of it.
Yes, I judged a book by it's cover, saw that chainsaw-dealie and the Halo-like armor and thought what the hell? I figured the story would be some kind of novel version of "Halo" meets "Fallout 3".
Wrong.
This is just a poorly written pile of sci-fi junk. Right off the bat I knew I was in trouble when the characters names sounded like poor imitations of Star Wars background characters. You have to love "Space Marines" as a descriptive title. I guess "Space Marines" carry around "Space Guns" with "Space Chainsaws" wearing "Space Armor" so that "Space Dust" won't get into other various "Space Gear" when they cross the "Void" in their "Space Ship"????
Even if you enjoy sci-fi action, you can't possibly like this! It's so poorly written, the dialogue is choppy at best and the author has no sense of characterization. As I said earlier in the review, this is definately not my thing so maybe I'm way off base here, but with the poor writing, even someone who takes an interest in this genre probably won't really enjoy this thing.
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