Thursday 11 October 2012

Reading The Crimson Fist

The Crimson Fist
114 page short story, published in Shadows of Treachery 

Not being a major fan of the Imperial Fists I wasn't going into this story with a great amount of confidence. But it's got Primarchs and space ship battles so what could go wrong?



As one of the few Legions to still not have a real Heresy book or Novella to their name the Imperial Fists feel a little like the forgotten middle child of the Heresy and this short story feels like the set up for their own book to come at a later date.

Plot: I felt I was really battling to get through this one as it didn't feel like it flowed properly as it shifts focus between the fleet sent to Istvaan and Dorn and Sigismund upon Terra. It has all the right elements but it just never really made me connect with the chararcters the way other stories have. 

Characters: Sadly, the Primarchs really play bit parts as Captain Polux (yeah, I struggled with that name) takes centre stage as Commander of the fleet. He comes across as a troubled Space Marine, which I have always found diminishes my respect for a Space Marine character when they are too introspective and fully of self doubt. Sigismund and Dorn's relationship is pushed along but I didn't see the need for this aspect of the story. It could be I'm missing some obvious part of the Black Templar background but the exchange between these two characters made no sense to me. 

All together I found this to be a real lack lustre affair, that is either a tolerable preamble to another more engaging tale or a puzzling short story that leaves me wondering what the author wanted to convey about the character of an oft overlooked Legion.

2.5/5

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