Indomitus

I read the Warhammer 40,000 novel Indomitus by Gav Thorpe, and this is my review. This post contains spoilers.

You know how there are episodes of Star Trek (TOS and TNG) where our heroes beams down to a planet to save a civilisation in peril, and then there are episodes of Star Trek where our heroes stay aboard the Enterprise to save budget? As a kid, I used to generally prefer the planetside episodes, probably because those tended to show off the product of cool sci fi worldbuilding. As I grew older, I started to prefer the shipboard episodes, probably because those tended to showcase the science part of science fiction, like wormholes and engineering or computer problems. These days I just sort of enjoy both. Anyway, Indomitus is a shipboard episode.

The book is split into 3 parts, and most of the 1st part is flying through outer space on the Ithraca's Vengeance, an Ultramarines strike cruiser. There's a running subplot about some internal disputes within the Necrons, but that's on ships as well.

The 2nd part is mostly spent lost in the Warp.

The 3rd part is the big finale, a space great big tense space battle.

In other words, the entire book takes place in space, and it's frankly kind of amazing.

But it's amazing in a subtle way, sometimes. You know how 2001: A Space Odyssey is an incredible movie, but (unlike the book) does tend to have some major lulls in some places? It's the same with Indomitus. I'm ashamed to say that about midway through Indomitus, I lost faith. I stopped reading it for several days, and I wasn't sure I was going to return to it, because it had started to bore me. I felt like it was a lot of filler content, and to be fair the book is nearly 400 pages and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that it doesn't really get really good until the last 100 pages.

But those 100 pages at the end wouldn't be great but for the 280 pages leading up to it.

Boarding actions

There are notable exceptions, so I guess it is an exagerration to say that it doesn't get good until the final 100 pages. Early in the book, a detachment of space marines board a shipwreck and encounter a bunch of chaos cultists or something, and that's exciting. So exciting that it almost had me clear my game table of the game I was playing so I could set up a boarding actions scenario.

Failure

There are 2 major storylines happening within this book, and they're equally beautiful. Well actually there are 3 storylines, but one is "just" the actual plot, the story about space marines fighting necrons. That's a good story but that part only happens in the last 100 pages, when the 2 forces finally find each other and clash.

The story I feel like I'll remember years from now are the little stories happening on each opposing side, independently.

The necrons are experiencing some internal strife, and I won't spoil what happens here. The important thing is that some necrons are struggling with feelings of betrayal, like the immortality they'd been promised wasn't what they'd expected. They lost their families, only to become indentured warriors. The story that emerges from this is touching and effective, and I think most of us can probably identify at least with broken promises or unattained dreams.

The other story is about Captain Aeschelus and his "cursed fleet". Again and again, victory is stolen from Aeschelus and his crew. They're forced to retreat from the first battle they fight in the book, if you can imagine that. Then they get lost in the Warp. And then more bad stuff happens. It's nothing but failure, the whole book.

Also on the Imperial side of things, the governer of a system is compelled to surrender to the necrons in hopes of saving the lives of those on the planet. This is essentially heresy and treachery, and Captain Aeschelus means to kill him for it but, of course, fails to do that, as well. A failure fails to slay a failure.

This might sound like a comedy of errors, or just a boring story about people who can't seem to do their jobs, but that's the magic of this book. In the end, the book manages to find heroism in failure. Captain Aeschelus knows, at the end of the book, that he'll never be remembered for any great deed. But he finds comfort in the hope that his actions, however futile they were in the end, might have influenced the direction of the Indomitus Crusade. We as readers know that he's right, and that's profoundly comforting. You can fail, you can languish in obscurity, you can feel ignored or even cursed, and in the end your actions still mattered.

This is a good book. It's slow, but it's good. I'd read it again, and I recommend it, probably not as your first Warhammer 40,000 novel but definitely as one to get to.