First book was great.

Second book was pretty good.

Third book in the omnibus was meh. ( )

Dead Sky, Black Sun: Attracted by the title I read this years ago and thought it was crap. Rereading it, having read some later McNeills that were better, I was right the first time. First the good bits. The action is well-paced, frantic, and authentically OTT. Every time I wanted to give up on the book he wrote a great fight. But the rest of it is awful. Hammy characters, hammy scenes, proper wtf moments abide, like a daemon traindriver, like a secret army of monsters, like space marines running around a daemon world, like the main characters barely surviving a sewer luge that shred other space marines but the two standard human characters made it through just fine. Honestly, this is a stinker that is just a series of fight scenes loosely strung together. It insults the intelligence of its readers, assuming that plot and characterisation are meaningless. Horrible. ( )

I finally finished this big omnibus. This volume collects the first three novels chronicling the adventures and battles of Space Marine Captain Uriel Ventris and his 4th Company of the Ultramarines. This is all out escapist military science fiction but do not let that label fool you. There is some very good writing in these novels, and at least once I found myself really sympathizing with Captain Ventris. That particular instance for me came in the novel where the inquisitor lied about the fate of a certain planet that Uriel and his Space Marines struggled to save from the tyrannid invasion. There is an excellent passage where Uriel and a Space Marines admiral meditate on idealism and pragmatism that I found excellent. So the novels do have their noble moments, so to speak. And in the good tradition of Black Library WH40K novels, these novels have plenty of action and a fast pace to keep you moving along. Of the three novels in the book, I will note that the third one takes a much darker tone. I will not spoil the ending other than to say that it does set up for the next novel in the series. I liked all the novels, but I think my personal favorite for this volume was the first novel in the series. The connecting short story where Uriel inherits command of the 4th Company is a nice piece as well, and it sets the novels nicely. This is definitely good entertainment, and I will certainly continue seeking out the rest of this series.

The only reason I did not give it the 5th star is that, while I enjoyed it, I still like the Ciaphas Cain and Eisenhorn series better. Also, while I did like the darkness in the third novel (I do like some dark tones now and then), it did not seem as strong as the previous two. Still, do not let that deter you from reading this. If you are a Warhammer 40K fan, you should be reading this. If you are not a WH40K fan, but you enjoy military science fiction, I think you will enjoy this collection as well.

Finally, the only reason it took me as long to read as it did is that I had various interruptions and a very busy schedule in this time period. However, in that time, this was my go to book for my bedtime reading. ( )

Dead Sky, Black Sun. This book unites characters from Storm of Iron, and from the Ultramarines series of books, so the attraction is clear - two pulp serials for the price of one! I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone who hasn’t got there yet. Storm of Iron is being re-released, and this is the closest thing you are going to get to a sequel. Uriel Ventris, the main character from the Ultramarines series, is sent on a Death Quest into the Eye of Terror to prevent the rise of a terrible evil. In the Eye Ventris finds unexpected allies, and also finds himself in the middle of a power struggle among the Iron Warriors...[return]http://icantstopreading.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/dead-sky-black-sun-by-graham-mcneill/

Dead Sky, Black Sun. This book unites characters from Storm of Iron, and from the Ultramarines series of books, so the attraction is clear - two pulp serials for the price of one! I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone who hasn’t got there yet. Storm of Iron is being re-released, and this is the closest thing you are going to get to a sequel. Uriel Ventris, the main character from the Ultramarines series, is sent on a Death Quest into the Eye of Terror to prevent the rise of a terrible evil. In the Eye Ventris finds unexpected allies, and also finds himself in the middle of a power struggle among the Iron Warriors...
http://icantstopreading.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/dead-sky-black-sun-by-graham-mc... ( )