Though not billed as such, this book is the last part of an unofficial trilogy. Battle of the Fang effectively bridges the story begun in McNeill’s A Thousand Sons and Abnett’s Prospero Burns to the ‘present’ of the 40K universe.
A thousand years has passed since the bloody end of the Horus Heresy, and the leader of the Vlka Fenryka (aka the Space Wolves), Harek Ironhelm, learns of the location of the Thousand Sons’ renegade primarch, Magnus. Presented with the chance to put Magnus’s evil to an end, Ironhelm musters all but one of the great companies and sets off to hunt down Magnus and destroy him
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Meanwhile, back at the Aett, the leader of the only remaining great company, Vaer Greyloc, prepares the defences for what he sees as an inevitable attack on the base in their reduced state. Sure enough, he isn’t disappointed, as an enormous Thousand Sons fleet begins to make planetfall and lays siege to the Aett, marking the start of the next stage of a bitter struggle between blood enemies.
Though Wraight has written a number of 40k short stories, this is his first 40k novel, and it is a very welcome addition to his growing Black Library portfolio. It’s clear very early on that Dan Abnett shared his notes about the Vlka Fenryka and Graham Mcneill about the Thousand Sons with Wraight to ensure consistency between their tales. This was very welcome, however, Abnett effectively reinvented the Space Wolves while Wraight appears to be trying to bridge the gap between the old and the new.
One of the very clear subtexts in this novel is the unexplained degeneration of the Space Wolf geneseed, the Canis Helix. It is through this, I felt, that Wraight was trying to show how the Vlka Fenryka–controlled, cunning and ruthless–became the Space Wolves, barely controlled savages that 40k old-timers like myself once knew. There were still hints of Abnett’s Rout warring with a more savage and uncontrolled version, and I found myself wondering whether Russ’s absence had triggered their degeneration.
Wraight really does provide all possible perspectives on this old tale of revenge; Greyloc and the defenders of the Aett, Magnus and his Thousand Sons, as well as Ironhelm and his pursuit of the ‘completion’ of the hunt for Magnus. Each side of the story added to a really great big-picture view, and each character felt well crafted and unique, though some of the ‘rank and file’ Rout in their current iteration were a little too cookie-cutter Space Viking for my tastes. On the other hand, I thought Wraight captured perfectly the tragic nature of the Thousand Sons and really brought to life their world one millenium on from McNeill’s epic story.
Wraight’s writing style in this novel is also worthy of mention; he seems to have gone for a rather Skald-like or quasi-poetic tone to the writing, which flowed well most of the time and felt really congruous with the vast and epic nature of the narrative. I’ve mentioned the great quality of his descriptive prose in other reviews, and it is without doubt present here…and yet, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he’s more comfortable in the Warhammer Fantasy world. There is a richness to his fantasy writing that wasn’t quite as present for me here.
To be fair, this is the fifth or sixth novel in the Space Marine Battle series, and this collection is all about action, so I know I’m being very nitpicky–and this is mostly because Wraight has set the bar so very high with his previous works.
The action scenes are, as you can imagine, really intense and plentiful, though there are one or two scenes where I found my suspension of disbelief challenged by a Space Wolf surviving something that, even with their enhanced physiology, seemed a little far-fetched. Other than that, the battles are epic in scale and firepower and are quite exhausting to read. In fact, the exhaustion experienced by the thralls helping with the defence of the Aett became a sensation I shared as I read. The relentless nature of the fighting and enormity of the stakes stand clear of the page, and the final setpiece battle between Magnus and the Wolves is a no holds barred page turner!
Wraight has also added to the mythos of the Space Wolves by developing the background of the human thralls that live amongst the Wolves. He has even done something unprecedented: he has brought the concept of female thralls to the story and, more than that, has made her a character in the tale! In fact his development of this rather fascinating subculture was a great way of conveying a needed human element to the saga that made the plight of the Space Wolves easier to relate to in some ways.
Despite my very personal nitpicks, I would have no hesitation in recommending this book to 40k fans, and it is without doubt in the must-read category for any Space Wolf aficionado.