"Vulkan Lives"

Vulkan Lives (Nick Kyme)

I really hated this book. It's nominally about Vulkan, leader of the Salamanders, one of the neglected groups of characters in W40k. I thought this would be his chance to shine; Instead, the book is more about John Grammaticus, the annoying gary stu from Deliverance Lost and Legion. Like these two books, this one is a boring, annoying disappointment. I'm at the point now where when I see the name John Grammaticus I might just put the book down, because there's never anything interesting that happens when he's around. This book is no exception, and does itself no favors in being split into three narrative threads (Vulkan in captivity, John Grammaticus fucking around, and the Isstvan V dropsite massacre, which has been depicted four or five times by now). There's at least one thread left dangling where we're told that Vulkan must die to prevent him "becoming the gatekeeper" (I'm not sure where the keymaster is) that is never explained or explored at all. For bonus points, the end of the book is confusingly nonsensical and appears to conflict with what we've explicitly been told earlier in the book. Avoid at all costs.

Grade: F