Book Review // Grey Hunter by William King
Welcome to the Grey Hunter book review. This is the third installment of William King's exploration of the Space Wolves and their most famous character, Ragnar Blackmane. The first two books of the tale can be found here on the blog, so go check them out.
Title: Grey Hunter
Author: William King
Publisher: Black Library
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 288
Commercial Fluff: "Ragnar Blackmane is unique among the Space Wolves in ascending to the Wolf Guard without ever being a Grey Hunter. But how did he manage such a feat? The beginnings of that story are told here… When the Spear of Russ, an ancient relic of the Space Wolves once wielded by Leman Russ himself, is stolen, the Chapter seeks its return to the world of Garm. But when they are ambushed by the forces of Chaos, the enraged Space Wolves learn that there is more to the attack than they could have guessed, for an ancient enemy of the Chapter is prophesied to be reborn…"
Review (Contains Spoilers)
First, this is the third book in a series, so don't just jump straight in, as it will be confusing to understand the characters and how they are organized. Unsurprisingly, it features Ragnar as a Blood Claw going to war within a great company of Space Wolves, fighting against a chaos-infested uprising that has also stolen the legendary Spear of Russ on the World of Garm.
Angered by this a front to chapter, the Space Wolves head to Garm in full force to bring down this uprising and recover the lost Spear. But it is never that easy in the 41st millennium. In a surprising twist, we see the return of Madox- A Thousand Son Sorcerer from the first book, who has seemingly learnt a few tricks and grown into a true villain. Madox is attempting to open a portal to the planet of Sorcerers to allow Magnus the Red to re-enter the material realm. Soon, Ragnar is facing off against Madox in a race to close the portal letting chaos flood the world. What follows is a pretty epic battle as Ragnar fights Madox and, in the final moments, chooses to throw the Spear of Russ into the portal of chaos, closing the gateway and ending the conflict. This leads to mixed feelings for Ragnar as some believe him to be a saviour and a hero, while others see him as the upstart who lost Leman Russ's Spear.
Like the other books in this series, William's writing is sometimes blunt and bland, but his fight scenes are always well-paced and not gory for the sake of it. I enjoyed about 70% of the book, while 30% seemed to drag on while Ragnar faced inner demons and became an Emo marine. If you are a Space Wolf/Space Marine fan, this read is enjoyable. As always, thanks for reading my review. Feel free to follow or drop a comment below.
