Honestly, this is nearly all crap. What saves it are three absolute crackers: The Last Detail, The Trial of the Mantis Warriors, and Orphans of the Kraken. What is interesting is that the authors of these three stories never did anything else good for GW - indeed none of them did much at all for GW apart from these stories. On the other hand, all the other authors represented here did LOADS of other things for GW but their contributions here are stinkers. The best of the rest is Graham McNeill's Consequences, which is well written and well paced and far better than any of his actual novels starring the same characters. Nick Kyme. Mitchel Scanlan, Jonathan Green, Ben Clunter, James Swallow, and Aaron Dembski Bowden all produce stories that are so crap I couldn't read them. Dull, poorly plotted and/or paced, crappy dialect, all absolute crap. A good thing none of these guys are editor in chief at Black Library eh? Apart from the works I mentioned, avoid. ( )

A pretty good collection of stories about the Space Marines. It is more a collection of novellas or longer short stories as opposed to just short pieces, but it is well worth reading. There are some very good works here. I did enjoy the story about Ventris and the Ultramarines, even though if you have read the Ultramarines novels, you know where things are headed. The story gives a bit more insight into events from the novels. If you are a fan of the Space Marines, you will enjoy this book. If you are looking for an entry point into WH40K and the Space Marines, this is a pretty good book for that. ( )

Enjoyed this collection of space marine stories. Good light reading which doesn't requre much thought but explores the background of 10 chapters of space marines. Something for everyone here, even if you don't like every story. ( )

Another collection of outstanding Space Marines short stories by various excellent Warhammer 40K authors. The last story by Aaron Dembski-Bowden about Gaius Point really was the best one in this series. ( )