[.uk] Iron Hands (Warhammer 40,000 Novels) (ISBN 1844160947)

Disappointing:
I thought Green's 'Crusade for Armageddon' was a pretty good book but I had to force myself to finish 'Iron Hands'. The writing is just repetitive, tiring, and full of fluff. If I had to read 'black ichor' one more time I was going to scream. The story is un-interesting and the characters not only shallow but also not likable. Granted the universe of WH40K is fiction but Green makes the world completely unbelievable in this story. The one good thing about the book is Green does a nice job of describing both ground and space actions. Fans of BFG will find some interesting sections. If you like WH40K go read Abnett's books.

A kick in the face to Iron Hands players:
Ohhh where can I start on this review. Lets start with the main character, Iron Father Gdolkin. He seemed to be a pretty characterful guy when he was young, but when he became a Space Marine apparently they decided to remove part of his brain and replace it with part of an Ork's brain. Gdolkin does two things in this book. If you think this sounds rather odd then I agree with you, but unfortunately its true. Gdolkin is extrememly shallow and one of the biggest train-wrecks of a main character I've ever read. First of all, he is very gullible. Its not fun to watch our hero follow a Tech Magos around because "he is on an important mission" and never find out what that important mission is, EVER (as in the reader never knows what the whole point of the book was). You wouldn't believe how gullible this guy is. Next, he gets angry at everything. With how often he gets angry it doesn't make sense that he doesn't shoot the Tech Magos who is dragging him around everywhere halfway into the book. And finally, he is stupid. You wouldn't believe the idiocy of this guy at some points in the book. I would spoil them because after reading this review you shouldn't even consider reading this book, but just incase you are going to anyways, I won't. The ending is priceless (in a bad way). There Gdolkin is, a gullible drooling idiot with a very short temper, and well, you will have to see for yourself. If you have considered starting an Iron Hands army in Warhammer 40,000, this will turn you off from them forever. If you have an Iron Hands army then you will be seriously disillusioned if you read this book. I am a hardcore Iron Hands player, they are my favorite army, but I really, really had to force myself to finish it. The only reason I give this book 2 stars is because the book does have a few good parts. One star is reserved for the very bottom of the barrel.

Boring and Tedious:
In what could have been a good book, nothing really happens. While Green has a good grasp on the Warhammer Universe, it means little when it comes to the plot of this book. I'd say over half this book is just describing how things look, and that is not an exageration. Green will describe down to a freckle what a character looks like (which he does do a good job at), but when it comes to an action scene, he will mention "he did this" and "he did that" with no enthusiasm or liveliness. The majority of acion scenes consisted "Gdolkin fired his bolt pistol" or "Gdolkin brought down his axe." Nothing original and very repetivtive. As mentioned by others, the characters are very bland, boring and 2 dimensional. You can't relate to any character, main or supporting, in any way. I really wouldn't recommend this book, as 1/4 of the way through it, almost nothing had happened, and what did happen was inconsequential to the rest of the book. However, if you don't care about action and only details, then you may want to give this book a try.

Iron Hands:
With war everywhere, everyone needs to stay alert. With their immense bodies and hi-tech gizmos, it will be an easy task for The Iron Hands. Their leader was once a human, but after many battles, his body was replaced with metal and he became a cyborg. And as for his brain, it is much stronger now for it is half computer. Iron Hands by Jonathan Green was a great read. With its vivid description and intense battles, all sci-fi readers will enjoy it. This book has many different races to help intrigue the readers. One such race is the Chaos, strong magical wielders. Their enemy, Iron Hands, have very powerful hi-tech cyborgs and weaponry that can blow apart anything. Their leader has lived for centuries because of their technical advancement allowing to increase his life span by millenniums. This book also has original names of characters races, and ranks in armies. The highest rank in the Iron Hands army is Carrion Lord of Imperium, but this rank is only achieved once you have killed the previous one. The throne he sits on is called the Golden Throne of Worlds. Though he is only one, many respect him and trust him with their lives. Adeptus Astartes is the class of many races. Each class has its own characteristics and traits that separate them from another. Iron Hands, for example, is the only race to solely focus on technology and fire-power using projectiles such as guns and rockets. Chaos on the other hand, has monsters that attack first and clear the way for them to advance. Iron Hands imagery was that of a masterpiece. Everything it described made the reader feel like he was looking at it right in front of him. It described the army of Iron Hands as immense soldiers suited in armor made of the toughest metal, only penetrable by the strongest of weapons such as blades as magic. Their guns were the size of a human body, and they wore helmets of gold and silver to keep them strong. Their ruby red eye holes so they may see had sensors in it so they may find out more information about their enemies. And they had a great insignia on the chest plate to proudly show who they were. This book would be great for all readers who enjoy wars and sci-fi/ fantasy reads. Though many would find it as a fantasy book, it is also a sci-fi due to its advanced technology and armor/weapons, as well as the cyborg armies. It is a little confusing, but once you get started around the fifth chapter, you get engrossed in it. Therefore, grabbing the reader and making him read the entire book and then the rest of the series with its story and characters. Once you read this story, you will continually want more, and the thing is, there are so many books in the entire series, that all of the books intertwine with each other and you have to pay close attention to understand it all. N. Koester

First Read:
This book was my first exposure to Warhammer 40k. I didnt know it existed till I picked this book up from a pile in Iraq. I thougth it was great, kinda shallow and predictable, but what can you expect from books based off of a game? Anyhoo, I thought it was very entertaining.