Very average

I liked the narrator, but I found the story dull and nothing much of note happens, I found myself losing interest towards the end.

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Finally on audio

Having read and enjoyed the book it was great to get to hear it, the narrator is superb,

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Dull automatons wage war boringly

Nothing much happens. If you want angry war robots best to check out the recent necron perspective novels like the Infinite and the Divine or the King series.

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A reminder of a more tedious time

Wrath of Iron published in print in June 2012 and this audiobook release now really serves to highlight how tedious and formulaic most Black Library output was until recently.

It's a pity this doesn't reflect well on Chris Wraight, as he might just be the best writer working for Black LIbrary currently. Alongisde Guy Haley, Aaron Dembski Bowden, Robert Rath and Nate Crowley, he's been part of a crop of writers who've steered Black Library away from exclusively teenage male power fantasies to give us actual stories with characters who don't feel like cardboard cut-outs. Wraight's Lords of Silence, Valdor, Bloodlines and the Watchers of the Throne and Vaults of Terra series have all been excellent, characterized by thoughtfully constructed plots and characters of genuine depth who go through meaningful change on their journeys.

So this audiobook release serves to remind both how far Wraight has come as a writer, and how much better the level of Black LIbrary's output has generally been. 'Wrath of Iron' follows the Space Marine Battles template that no matter what happens, nearly all the mortal characters will die, and the space marine characters will for the most part win out/survive, because they're so just so much bigger, stronger and more belligerent. If you're looking for any kind of deeper message here—don't. The only lesson one could possibly take from this is "When space marines behave like total bell ends, it's okay. They're allowed to do that because they're bigger and stronger than you. If mortals try to stand up to them for entirely rational and defensible reasons, they will end up humiliated and dead—because space marines are AWESOME."

Because it's Wraight, even early Wraight, the characters all have some depth and interest to them—that's what the second star is for—but sadly none of this potential goes anywhere. The non-space marines characters are nothing more than window dressing. Their individual plotlines serve to pad out the story, but no matter how interesting their individual arcs, each one fizzles out because none of these characters can be allowed to do anything of consequence that affects the plot. Only Space Marines are AWESOME enough to be able to affect the outcome of a story!

The Iron Hands characters are, for the most part, incredibly boring and unlikeable. I don't mean unlikeable as in 'evil'—a lot of chaos marines like Fabius Bile or Vorks from Wraight's own Lords of Silence are interesting engaging characters depite being monsters. It's just that here, the Iron Hands are all emotionally stunted teenage boys. Their commander in particular has all the leadership qualities of a leaf salad. I kept expecting to have one or two of them to go on some kind of journey of personal growth similar to Grimaldus in Helsreach, learning to connect in some small way with their lost humanity and the mortal soldiers they lead, but no—that would be asking too much.

There's no moral here, no message, no interesting ideas. There's no consequences for the Iron Hands' brutality and lack of feeling towards mortal allies and civilians. They behave like, well like teenage boys , with no regard for anything or anyone else. And of course they win, because they're AWESOME.

Narrator Andrew Wincott leans in to everything he does with commendable enthusiasm, and he's very well-suited to grim space marine characters, so four stars for him despite the paucity of the material.

I'm just grateful that Chris Wraight is allowed to write with more freedom nowadays instead of being required to churn out this kind of formulaic bolter porn. I listened to this so you don't have to.

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