Tyrant of the Hollow Worlds
Book: Tyrant of the Hollow Worlds
Author: Mark Clapham (couldn't find a website so it is the wiki page)
Publisher: Black Library
Commercial Fluff:
"Chaos Warlord Huron Blackheart and his Red Corsairs launch a devastating conquest of the Hollow Worlds of Lastrati.
When Huron Blackheart leads his warband of Red Corsairs to attack the Hollow Worlds of Lastrati, the human defenders can do little to protect themselves against such powerful enemies. By the time the Space Wolves Chapter arrives, the Red Corsairs are already well entrenched. With neither side prepared to withdraw nor concede defeat, the battle spirals out of control – will the Hollow Worlds be destroyed by the forces of destruction that have been unleashed?"
First up the book itself is pretty standard for the Space Marine Battle series. It has a white cover with a battle scene playing out along the bottom. Showing the main Man himself Huron Blackheart the ruthless leader of the Corsairs. Then about halfway through the book we get treated to some maps of the Hollow Worlds and some pictures of Huron and his weaponry.
The story itself is a pretty straight forward battle from A to Z. We start with the Red corsairs preparing to invade, they then invade, the Space Wolves arrive, then the Corsairs leave vowing vengeance upon the Sons of Russ. If you are looking for a good train/bus read or a holiday book this could be for you. If you more interested in deeply themed story to sink your teeth in then maybe skip this one. For the most part characters worth remembering are few and far between, with a lot them playing just bit roles to allow battles to happen or take place.
What really shines in this book though is Clapham's descriptions of locations and features. The Hollow Worlds sound amazing, built by someone other than the Imperium of Man, the Hollow Worlds are exactly that. Accessible only via one world that has a port drilled through the planet. The battle for this location was a great read, along with how once inside you could see the entire World from the ground (just picture seeing the other side of Earth above you), then as the story progress we get Jungle Worlds, Frozen Planets, Clockwork Planets and a security train that never stops moving. For me these were the highlight of the book and I kind of wish Clapham had picked just one world to battle over. Huron and his advisors seemed believable if a bit too invulnerable and the infighting of the Corsairs is something we can all get behind. At some points I even felt sorry for the Wolves as they took a real beating by the Corsairs. In one battle they lost an entire army without killing a single Corsair!
Highlights
- Easy to pick up and read
- Huron Blackheart is a badass
- The World's seem amazing when explored
- Imperial Lapdogs on the losing side
Lowlights
- Characters not fleshed out enough or killed off quickly
- Too many Worlds. Think we travel through five in total
- Space Wolves came across as weaklings
- Story rushed in places
Overall a fun read, great for Red Corsair fans not great for Space Wolves fans. I feel there are better tales in this series but in no way is this a book to skip if you enjoy 40k.
As always thanks for reading and if you missed the other reviews here are the links: Jan, Feb, March, April, May, June, July & Aug
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