Review: Blood and Fire

The ebook cover. 

Blood and Fire by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.
This a short story that follows up directly to the story Helsreach in Black Library's Space Marine Battles range. It was originally only available as an ebook but was recently combined with Helsreach into a two story omnibus called Armageddon.

The story is written in first person, as told by Chaplain Grimaldus of the Black Templars. It directly follows the events of Helsreach and wraps up some of the leftovers from that story. Helsreach jumped back and forth from a third person viewpoint to a first person view point from Grimaldus's perspective. Sticking with the first person viewpoint better serves the story in my opinion and helps pull, and anchor, the reader into the story.

The story is about Grimaldus finding out about the Celestial Lions Chapter's very high fatality rate in both the space and ground battles during the Third War of Armageddon. He receives a message from a fellow Chaplain of the Celestial Lions who sends him a detailed report that spells out the fate of the Celestial Lions chapter. It implicates that the Inquisition is likely orchestrating events to set the Lions up for failure in their campain against the orks. Essentially he learns what we players learned from the old 3rd War of Armageddon Website about the Lions. And he decides to do something about it.

As a Celestial Lions fan I am thrilled to say that we learn quite a bit more regarding the Celestial Lions in this story. And I am trying my best here not to make this review a total spoiler fest. So I will spare the details and stick with the basic story.

We learn that the Celestial Lions are also, like the Black Templars, a successor Chapter of the Imperial Fists. Grimaldus feels an obligation to assist so he and his companion, Cyneric, a new Chaplain aspirant, return to Armageddon to seek out the Lions. They find them, or what is left of them and learn this:

"Nine hundred and eighty-three warriors. They had brought nine hundred and eighty-three warriors to this world, and only ninety-six remained."

These survivors were being led by their highest ranking officer to survive, Sergeant Ekene. Having given up any hope, these warriors have decided to make a final push back into the Mannheim Gap where so many of their battle brothers have perished already. They do this for both honor and vengeance and they know it is likely suicide. Although Grimaldus would rather pull them out and return them to their chapter world so that they may begin to replenish and rebuild their Chapter back into a fighting force.

I will stop here with what is essentially a set-up. As I said, it is a shorter story and it is hard to say too much about it without opening a can of spoilers.

• Did I like it? Oh, I loved it. Sticking with the first person perspective for the entire story was s major plus for me. I love it because we got to see the aftermath of the 3rd War of Armageddon after the "fire season" starts and we got to revisit characters from the previous story. As a Celestial Lions fan, it was nice to get more details about their chapter and customs. 
• Was it hard to put down? Very. I tore through it relatively fast compared to Helsreach. The only part that I thought went too long was the storytelling session Grimaldus has with Ekene and the Lions. But otherwise, it was quite good.
• Could I care about the characters? Indeed I could, but for some characters this proves to be a regrettable decision. I have said before, if you mourn for a character than that character was well written and developed. 
• Did the writer truly grasp how the 'world' of the 41st millennium works in the sense that it doesn't betray or retcon previously established (as I know it) lore? This was handled well. Heck, there is so little Celestial Lions lore that all Aaron could do was build upon it. And he built upon it well. I felt that the Lions were given a new life, and I would love to see him revisit them as the Chapter tries to rebuild. Or better yet, revisit them in the post Dark Imperium paradigm.
• Was I being talked down too? Well, you are reading the personal account of a Reclusiarch...
• How predictable is this story? It is a very straight forward story, but it did not end how I predicted it would end. The body count was considerly higher than I would have anticipated also. For a short story, it adds considerable weight to the legend of Grimaldus. 
• Do I recommend this book? Very much so. Even more so if you have an interest in the Celestial Lions or of the 3rd War of Armageddon. However, in order for the story to have maximum impact you really do need to read Helsreach first. And you should because it is awesome.

Armageddon Omnibus.