Product Description

Like all Space Marine Chapters, the Soul Drinkers are bound to serve the Imperium by ancient vows. But when an ancient relic of the Chapter is misappropriated, the Soul Drinkers face a terrible dilemma - betray the Imperium, or lose their honour? Their final choice, and its consequences, form the theme of this classic trilogy of SF stories set in the nightmare world of the 41st millennium.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19944 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 768 pages

About the Author
Ben Counter is fast becoming one of Black Library's most popular authors. An Ancient History graduate and avid miniature painter, he lives near Portsmouth, England.

Customer Reviews

There is no peace amongst the stars...
I was very wary of this book when I picked it up. Even though i'm a big fan of the Warhammer 40,000 game I always viewed the Black Library novels as mere trash fiction, no more than cash-ins. The previous Warhammer and 40k novels I have read have done much to reinforce this judgment. However, I am very pleased to say that in this case I was wrong and happily so!
This omnibus contains the first three books in the Soul Drinkers series (Soul Drinker, The Bleeding Chalice and Crimson Tears), with the fourth (Chapter War) having only recently been released. For me the series got better as it progressed. At the end of Crimson Tears I rushed out to buy Chapter War straightaway!
In the fast-paced, action-filled stories the Soul Drinkers must choose whether to betray the Imperium they are sworn to protect or put at stake the honour of their entire chapter. A decision is made and they muct live with the consequences, facing enemies both within and without, human, alien and daemon, along the way.
The only real negatives with this book are the oft-repeated stock phrases that the author uses, which is a particular problem in the first book.
I would recommend this book to any fans of the 40k universe. It offers a glorious insight into the workings of a Space Marine's mind as well as offering several viewpoints on the state of the Imperium. It is full of glorious action sequences and plot twists and has enough character development to keep you interested.
If you are not a fan of the 40k game then I hesitate a little to recommend this book. Although the Black Library claim that anyone can enjoy the books I would disagree and say that a knowledge of the Warhammer 40,000 universe would greatly increase your understanding of certain characters, decisions and events that occur or are referred to in this series. Still, that is not to say don't buy this book. Much of the information about the 40k universe is readily available on Games Workshops's website and Wikipedia. It will make very interesting additional reading for any sci-fi fans!
As for me, this book has given me faith in the Black Library so i'm off to give Dan Abnett's novels a go!

I enjoyed this book
I've been thinking about buying one of these books for a long time, but, as a previous reviewer has stated I always thought the 'Black Library' was a cash-in for the WH40k universe. Previous opinions of other people I'd asked had always maintained the books borrowed heavily from the established universe, and hoped it would carry them. Not so though in the case of 'Soul Drinker' which I bought based on the reviews below. Ben Counter has obviously married his fascination with the WH40k'verse and his writing talent and created a wonderful adventure from the eyes of an errant Space Marine Chapter. This book kept me interested from start to finish as the story progressed, wondering how the Soul Drinkers were going to end up.

That said though, I thought main character development throughout the book was slim. The Space Marines are typically pious and stoic in a 'fight or death' kind of way, and you could argue that they would have stock answers for every question and generally speaking those answers would have 'By the Emperor' in them somewhere. The whole book though leans away from the typical Adeptus Astartes and lends itself gloriously to explore the mind of the Space Marine but doesn't quite hit the mark. You can guess what is happening in the minds of main characters like Sarpendon and Pallas, but you never feel privvy to their private thoughts. Ben seems to develop these skills later on, but for more 'human' characters perhaps.

By and large though the writing style and enormous talent and creativity allows Ben to describe a wonderful world at every opportunity, whilst weaving a well-thought out plot through all the books in this omnibus. I expect this author will only improve, and its a delight that my introduction to the Black Library has been with this book.

Great Book!
Read this a while back. But still think back to this set of books as they are really good read.
The only 40k books I have read since that are better/on par with Soul Drinkers are Dan Ablett's!