Knights of the Imperium by Graham McNeill – Book Review

Graham McNeill wrote the companion story for the release of the Imperial Knights – Knights of the Imperium (not the most creative title!) – a 125 page novella showcasing the varieties of Knights, their outlook on war and their relationship with the Adeptus Mechanicus.

The story fulfills its purpose of showcasing the Imperial Knights and their tension-filled relationship with the Mechanicus. McNeill clearly knows how to write Mechanicus!

Unfortunately, the physical book itself was atrocious (might be a bad copy), the Tyranid fights lacking, and the introduction of a parallel-universes into 40K … well … unexpected.

The swarms of Hive Fleet Hydra descend upon the world of Vondrak, and the Knights of Cadmus answer the call to war. Baron Roland of Cadmus seeks to throw off the yoke of Adeptus Mechanicus control, but the lords of the Red Planet do not easily relinquish their vassals, and they will do anything to ensure that Cadmus remains bound to Mars. With the fate of Vondrak at stake and the designs of a feared Martian adept upon them, can the Knights of the Imperium survive long enough to repel the hated xenos?

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#1 – The Physical Book

First things first… the physical book I have fell apart, literally, as soon as I first opened it.

Knights of the Imperium is a £ 15,- hardcover novella with 125 pages. It is a format GW used in the past – the first I had was the Dark Vengeance novel – (though these things used to cost £ 12,-), and it worked all right, if you  are willing to pay the high price for a shiny format.

Not this one. I am not sure if I simply have a bad copy, but they seemingly forgot to glue it together. The prints of the Imperial Knight schemata inside the covers are coming off the cardboard in most (but not all) places. The pages themselves, as a stack, are loose at the bottom end of the book. It’s simply faulty (and I’ll probably return it to a GW store).

If you buy the physical thing, get a look at your copy first, if you can.

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 #2 – The Plot

The story of the book is written to showcase different types of Imperial Knights and their relationship with the Mechanicus. It works well in that.

… SPOILERS…

The story deals, mostly, with Baron Roland, the Leader of the Knight House of Cadmus, who has severed his ties with the Mechanicus and replaced the Mechanicus Cog in the heraldry of his house with the Imperial Eagle. Naturally, the Mechanicus isn’t pleased.

Against the background of a Tyranid invasion, the Knights of House Cadmus get a request to aid the Mechanicus in retrieving a piece of valuable old tech. Being honourable Knights, they cannot turn down a request for aid, even though they know it might be ploy to force House Cadmus back under the thumb of the Mechanicus, or destroy House Cadmus entirely.

Along the way, there are fights with Tyranids, tensions between Baron Roland and his ambitious second-in-command, a look at the role of women in a Knight’s household, an alliance with House Hawkshroud and a mysterious Imperial Knight Freeblade. The full monty.

Hats off to Mr. McNeill for bringing all that into a 120-page story.

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#3 – The Good and the Bad

Aside from the poor physical book, these are the things that stood out, both good and bad.

The Good!

• The Mechanicus – Graham McNeill knows how to write the Mechanicus, given he’s written an entire trilogy on them. Mechanicus characters like Nemonix are probably the best in the book. They tend to feel more “real” than the sometimes slightly 2-dimensional Knights. If you like McNeill’s Priests of Mars books, you’ll like this one.

• The Knights – Even if McNeill hasn’t quite warmed to the Knights as much as he has to the Mechanicus, I can see them becoming popular characters. The medieval-knight parallels make them easy to characterize. They are brash, arrogant and warlike, yet bound by honour and tradition. Unlike … say … Space Marines however, they also have families to protect and are prone to all the human failings such as greed, rivalry, jealousness. There’s room for many awesome stories.

The Bad!

• Tyranid Fights – The battle with the Tyranids in this book were mostly a sham. One second, the planet is covered horizon-to-horizon with Tyranid monstrosities, the next second they are gone again, because the plot demands some bickering between the characters. One second, the city is still free of Nids, the next, a swarm attacks from the sewers, because the plot demands it, only to disappear again. The Tyranids here are far, far too obvious a (badly used) plot device.

• Parallel Universes – The big Mechanicus secret the Knights are looking for was, well, unexpected. It’s a device to move between parallel dimensions or universes; not in the sense of the Warp, but more in the sense of the recent Star Trek reboot or books such as Iain Banks’ Transition. Infinite “alternative” realities that are similar to the one we (or the book’s characters) live in. It’s not an unknown sci-fi trope, but it is new to 40K (as far as I am aware), nor do I think it fits well.

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#3 – Thoughts?

Overall, I would’ve given this ~3 stars. Knights of the Imperium is not the most memorable story ever, but it does a good job of showcasing the different types of Imperial Knights and their place in the 40K universe. It made me interested in reading more about them.

Graham McNeill’s own The Devine Adoratrice proves, that there are great Imperial Knight stories out there waiting to be told

However, the (for me) jarring addition of a multiverse of infinite realities, the poor depiction of Tyranids (why didn’t he use some more “hit-and-run” enemies, such as Dark Eldar?) and the poor physical book (15 quid after all!) bring it down for me.

I hope the poor binding is simply my bad luck, and not typical of the entire print-run. It will clearly not be an issue, if you get the ebook version.

Have you read Knights of the Imperium by Graham McNeill? What did you think of it? Did it meet your expectations?

Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Z.