I'm at Chapter 2

The minute I heard an American accent instead of an unoriginal redone british/heroic accent I came here. this is the best voice acting ever. not cause america but because original voices for characters. see?
ding ding diggly doo

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love the 9th, but. . .

Guy Haley is one of my top 3 writers for Black Library, which is why it pains me to write this middling evaluation, especially since Dante and Mephiston are two of my favorite characters from one of my favorite legions.

First, the performance was excellent. I only picked out 1 or 2 missteps the whole book, that is rare! The voices were evocative. Aside from the Flag Lieutenant which was inconsistent, great!

Secondly, and most disturbingly, this book embraces complete moral relativism at 2 major fulcrum points 4/5ths of the way through the story. This was both anticlimactic and cheapened the 2 major characters painfully.

It was like wine with a weak, thready finish. It was entirely unsatisfying. It cut the purpose from both characters.

In order to combat something bad, you need something, not nothing. I kept waiting for the admiral to follow up with the rational next step, but Guy Haley skipped reason here. . . which sucks. . . and is NOT HIS USUAL AT ALL.

Third, the story pacing through 80% of the book is great. . . then it's not. The end is clumsy, with poor proportion. I don't know why.

Fourth, as a fan of the 9th, why was Astorath written so thinly?

This is probably the worst writing that Guy Haley has put out that I can remember, which confuses me.

I was lukewarm on the book, yet it was written by one of my favorite authors in the stable and on some of my favorite characters.

This was really disappointing.

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Skip this one

A book about nothing. Skip for another book. Voice acting for a few characters was unbearable. Juvenile in particular

2 people found this helpful

So close but this falls short of the Dante series

This book came close but ultimately failed to be as good Dante or Devastation of Bhaal. This reeks more of a cash grab than an inspired tale.

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Unfortunate Bolter Porn Squanders Excellent Subject

I was incredibly excited to pick this up after the excellent and thrilling Devastation of Baal, also by Hayley. Unfortunately, where DoB was heavy and driven, Darkness in the Blood meanders between action scenes that feel forced to sell models (particularly those scenes involving Mephiston). The Angels are an incredible chapter, and it’s a shame to see so little accomplished in an 11 hour audiobook. Richard Reed was at least as awesome as ever.

1 person found this helpful

Primaris Medical Drama...

Whole thing is a medical drama about whether or not Mephiston will survive becoming primaris or not. SPOILER ALERT: He does! Judging by the fact that this came out like a year after his new model this should surprise literally no one.

Can't wait to tune in for Darkness in the Blood part 2: Dante Boogaloo to coincide with his new model release!

Have yet to see a single example in the new books of why primaris marines were necessary or even cool, keep hoping they are going to walk it back and just say "hey just kidding, primaris is just a new armor type as an upgraded model that we released because all the new chaos models are a head taller than tacticals and we did not in fact just make the heroes from the past 25 years obsolete" but when they make an entire book about the surgery that possibility seems more and more unlikely.

1 person found this helpful

Solid Entry into the happenings of Nihilus

Overall pretty good look at the situation on the other side of the great rift. Dante and Mephiston are always interesting characters to follow. Didn't care much for the resolution to the Admiral's PTSD subplot but the rest of the book gives a prime look at the first Blood Angel to cross from Astartes to Primaris and sets the scene for what's happening across Imperium Nihilus and how Dante and friends are handling things.

1 person found this helpful

Great listen.

Loved this book. Guy Haley keeps developing the blood angel perfectly. The Narrator has a wide range of voices, but he shines when he does narrations. If you are a BA fan, this is a must. Dante's speeches are inspiring.

1 person found this helpful

great story

fun and exciting .A good in depth look at the blood angels lore .

1 person found this helpful

Interesting story with a talented actor doing hilarious American accents.

You know how in other 40K books Jon grimmaticus sounds like the most annoying pompous ass? A different character has the same voice and I do not like it. Great story with lots of action narrated in a strong way by Reed.