Rynn's World finished

Setting the Wayback Machine for the late 1990's......

When I dove into the 40K universe I did it during the early days of 3rd edition. My first army was Space Marines as they look cool (even you Astartes haters know it is true), were easy to paint, easy to learn and the store carried a lot of them. My army was based around the Crimson Fists as they have a much cooler and darker blue than the Ultramarines. I chose to keep the main dark blue color scheme, but lost the red hands.

Now......

I'm at the local book depository and see they have a copy of Rynn's World, a 40K novel about the battle for the Crimson Fist's homeworld. I didn't think twice and grabbed this book. Now it is one of the early Battle Novels from Black Library, but I have never seen a copy and had forgotten it existed. After enjoying Helsreach, I had some expectations for Rynn’s World, not to lofty, but a bit more elevated than usual. I was not truly disappointed, but I was not swept away either. I guess it was a push.

This covers more of the events that happened during the Ork WAAAAGH!! Snagrod, and the assault on the home of the Crimson Fists. There is the usual level of Marine action, violence, heroism and sacrifice. That didn't disappoint and is expected. There was a deeper look into Chapter Master Pedro Kantor that nobody has really touched upon. He was given a "softer" side than the typical Astartes. I was fine with that as it was sort of refreshing. The ,at times, tenuous relationship between Captain Cortez and Master Kantor was descent as they were both trying to save the planet and kill the Orks differently. There was just something lacking in this story.

I think I was hoping for more of a reason why the Crimson Fist fortress had a cataclysmic malfunction, besides the mechanical glitch it was described as. Also,  there were nods Ork Kommandos that never really panned out along with their powerful Wyrd Boyz too. There was also a bit too much time spent on the New Rynn City nobles for my taste. I know they have to add a human element to these tales, but there was already plenty of that. There were some pointless characters added and then forgotten about/killed off that were unnecessary. Then there was the lack luster ending, like the author ran out of time or allotted pages.

The Crimson Fist story was descent but it once again the non-Marine vs. Ork elements were lacking and lame. If you are going to throw in the human element, at least make it pertinent or at least entertaining.

At the end of the day I was really expecting more from this novel than what I received. This isn’t a must read. If you are super bored and have nothing else to read, then Rynn’s World is worth a borrow from a friend if they have it.