"Deathwatch"

Deathwatch (Steve Parker)

In W40k, the Deathwatch are anti-alien specialists, the guys you call in when giant space bugs or depraved space elves come knocking. Unfortunately, the book named after them doesn't really have enough Deathwatch stuff in it; Our main character is from a chapter called the Death Specters, and they get almost as much ink as the Deathwatch itself does. The book is also split between the actual Deathwatch space marines and a set of Inquisition agents, and the agent storyline really drags; the book tries to set up a mystery about who the Deathwatch is going to be fighting, but if you know anything about W40k (and this isn't the book to start with if you don't), it's painfully obvious literally from the first page. This makes most of the Inquisitor pages rather pointless, and I can't help but feel that they would have been better spent spending more time with the (checks title) Deathwatch. The end result is not a bad book, but not really what I was hoping for, and unless you're desperate for a 40k novel, I can't recommend going too far out of your way to pick this one up.

Grade: C+