The Soul Drinkers Omnibus (Warhammer 40,000)

If you're looking for a deep storyline, complex characters, metaphors, aesops, or stellar writing, then you're definitely not going to enjoy Soul Drinkers Omnibus. The plots are simplistic and predictable, the protagonists are paper-thin, and overall writing quality is average. Then again, I don't know why would anyone search for literary merit in a media tie-in novel, anyway. If it's there, great. If not, who cares? That's not what these books are for.That being said, Soul Drinkers novels are pure entertainment. They're perfect, because they're a work of joy created with the sole purpose to spark joy in others, and that's something they absolutely succeed at. They're crammed with explosive action, over-the-top moments, and delicious stereotypes. Exactly what it says on the tin.The depiction of the 41st millennium is spot on. The atmosphere of the novels is ominous, morbid, and pessimistic. The feeling of constant, desperate warfare is ever-present. It's obvious the Soul Drinkers chapter is on a downward spiral, stuck fighting for goals that are ultimately beyond their power to achieve. Yet it's equally obvious there's nothing else they can do. Grim Darkness of the Far Future, indeed.[SPOILERS] Sadly, some plot developments overstretch the willing suspension of disbelief, creating a lot of "What the hell, Ben?" moments. These include, but are not limited to: seven hundred or so loyalist space marines readily accepting what is (very) obviously a chaos mutant as their new chapter master; a space marine, with his throat ripped out, surviving for a long time in hard vacuum; an inquisitor inexplicably deciding to abandon the assignment he was ready to die for mere moments earlier; Dark Eldar openly worshipping Slaanesh; the fact that Soul Drinkers apparently have no ground-based vehicles, etc.[/SPOILERS]Overall, Soul Drinkers Omnibus is a fine science fiction collection. Fans of Warhammer 40k and Space Marines are definitely going to enjoy it. If, on the other hand, you never heard of 40k, then this collection is a good place to get involved - it won't give you much food for thought, but it'll keep you page-turning.

The first book in this Omnibus was fantastic... the other two were only ok. It starts out strong and devolves into bleh. A lot of the information was just off... so if you are a 40K who has read a lot of the lore/stories then a few major things will not sit well with you in the 2nd and 3rd stories especially... decent read.

Wow, did Ben Counter phone this one in. I tend to think most of his stuff is good or at the very worst just okay.No spoilers in this review.The premise of the Soul Drinkers chapter is that it's viewed from a lens where the Imperium is a bad guy (and as Counter says himself in the foreward, the Imperium is a great bad guy).The Soul Drinkers turn traitor against a system that has wronged them, have their brush with Chaos, but ultimately decide to go for a third, more difficult path: They will fight evil without the help of the Imperium.This could have been a very interesting viewpoint for a series, but it falls flat. It reads more like someone's bad fanfiction.1. The Imperium, especially in the first book, does things that make no sense considering the circumstances. The Imperium is portrayed as a mindless idiot rather than the harsh fanatical dictatorship that it is.2. There is a ridiculous amount of Deus Ex Machina in these books. The first can be somewhat excused, but later it just becomes so formulaic where Counter says "And then they find whatever they needed and succeed" in every book. I couldn't even finish the third book.3. The Soul Drinkers, especially in the first book, are right simply because counter says they are. There are events involving their own chapter in the first book that should have had some emotional effect, but are ignored after the three lines that describe them.The only people I'd recommend to read this book would be those who need an IV of Astartes at all times. The normal folks should pass for Ben's better works.

Great book fast delivery

Came fast and in great shape.

Fast shipping, good quality and great price.

Surprisingly upbeat, entertaining protagonists, clear writing, this tome deserves all the praise it gets. If you're looking for a real group of champions, look up the Soul Drinkers.

No complaints.

Not a good book; reads more like a fan fiction, than an actual epic. I know you should not expect literary achievements in Black Library books, but this one is one heck of a disappointment. The characters are two dimensional, un-relatable (I have almost finished the last book of the trilogy, and still have not bothered to remember their names...), their motivation is just silly (spoilers...: some technodude stole our artifact, the whole Imperium is corrupt, let's just secede...), the whole mutation stuff just makes them even less relatable, and the story is quite unbelievable (space marines coasting on a wooden boat repelling boarding actions from chaos spawn... it's kind of like Games Workshop and Pirates of the Caribbean went to an orgy and forgot to use protection...)... all in all, it's just not a good book. The whole premise is just not right; and this has been a constant problem with the Horus heresy books as well. Most characters' motivations are just not real, and at best they behave like some adolescent with an IQ of 10. I can't recommend this book at all. If you want to read about interesting characters and corruption, read the Eisenhorn trilogy, or the Soul Hunters.

I've been thinking about buying one of these books for a long time, but, as a previous reviewer has stated I always thought the 'Black Library' was a cash-in for the WH40k universe. Previous opinions of other people I'd asked had always maintained the books borrowed heavily from the established universe, and hoped it would carry them. Not so though in the case of 'Soul Drinker' which I bought based on the reviews below. Ben Counter has obviously married his fascination with the WH40k'verse and his writing talent and created a wonderful adventure from the eyes of an errant Space Marine Chapter. This book kept me interested from start to finish as the story progressed, wondering how the Soul Drinkers were going to end up.That said though, I thought main character development throughout the book was slim. The Space Marines are typically pious and stoic in a 'fight or death' kind of way, and you could argue that they would have stock answers for every question and generally speaking those answers would have 'By the Emperor' in them somewhere. The whole book though leans away from the typical Adeptus Astartes and lends itself gloriously to explore the mind of the Space Marine but doesn't quite hit the mark. You can guess what is happening in the minds of main characters like Sarpendon and Pallas, but you never feel privvy to their private thoughts. Ben seems to develop these skills later on, but for more 'human' characters perhaps.By and large though the writing style and enormous talent and creativity allows Ben to describe a wonderful world at every opportunity, whilst weaving a well-thought out plot through all the books in this omnibus. I expect this author will only improve, and its a delight that my introduction to the Black Library has been with this book.

I am a fairly new bookworm, and generally I like scifi/fantasy.I grabbed this predominantely due to the price and I used to be into W40k stuff when I was a kid.The first book was a stuggle for me and I ended up putting it down for a 'fairly' long time, while being about one third of the way through. After finishing Horus Rising, (with a renewed interest), I attacked it with a new spirit of Grr-ness; then I got hooked. It was awesome! I thought it was quite intense, but still quite good too. I slipped easily into the second book and ratted through that while getting impatient with some of the drawn out fight scenes, which I think is both a good thing (showing it's fun), but also annoying.The third book I was a bit of a dissapointment (it was a stuggle like the first, something to do with 'the enemies' facing the Soul Drinkers, but also felt like it was dragged out too much, and a bit more like I was watching a game of pong). The only consolidation I got was finishing it, and also knowing what happened.The first chapter of the next book looks cool. Although from the third book, I'm dubious to buy it! Can't say never though..

The main point to note about the Soul Drinkers series, above all others, are that they are quite different from all the other 40k tie-in novels. Most of the time they will deal with the fighting forces of the Imperium, or other times with the alien or Chaos-worshiping armies they fight.Here, the stars of the book choose neither side, fighting in the grey area between, for a cause more sympathetic to the modern reader than the grim, no-prisoners, ends-justify-the-means approach that coats the rest of the dark millennium. This originality is very refreshing.Ben Counter handles the pacing well, never allowing the plot to get bogged down for too long in one place before delivering another action set-piece. On the flipside, character development is pretty slow, but still miles ahead of most of the rest of BL Publishing's output. And really, it is the scope of the ideas on display here that are the real attraction, before even the protagonists that wade through them with chainsword and bolter.All around, one of the better 40k books, in my opinion, but for those perfectly at home with the 'generic' style of the other series may find it a little jarring.

Not as pictured. Different print run so didn't match existing book set