Nick Kyme returns to the ongoing story of Captain Cato Sicarius of the Ultramarines 2nd Company in Knights of Macragge, which sees Sicarius and his brothers, and the crew of the Emperor’s Will, lost in the Warp. The events of Damnos are in the past, the Great Rift has opened and Guilliman returned, and the Ultramarines of 2nd Company are both reinforced and wracked by rivalry like never before. After years spent battling daemonic incursions and the debilitating effects of the Warp, everyone on board the Emperor’s Will is stretched to breaking point, but Sicarius is determined to find a way to survive, and eventually return to the Imperium…or what’s left of it.
While it follows on chronologically from previous Sicarius stories this takes a noticeably different tone, as befits a story set for much of its length in the hell-scape of the Warp. Kyme sets out his stall early on with five straight chapters of brutal, claustrophobic, non-stop action which introduces key characters accompanying Sicarius, aptly demonstrates the nightmarish situation they’re in, and reveals the divisions within the Ultramarines’ ranks. Even when the pace slows a little the tone remains notably dark as characters are forced to suffer through awful hardships and make impossible choices. For the Ultramarines this means trying to balance their noble ethos of ‘Courage and Honour’ with the need to survive and keep fighting, while for the human characters it’s just a case of doing whatever it takes to remain alive and with some form of sanity remaining.
As you’d expect Sicarius gets plenty of time to shine, having been noticeably changed by what took place on Damnos and becoming a much more sympathetic character than in earlier depictions in the process. In his mind he feels somehow lessened, but from the outside it’s more like he’s grown into the leader the Chapter needed him to be, maturing into a calmer but somehow more interesting character. This isn’t solely about Sicarius, however, so while he has a strong presence Kyme also spends time with a pair of human armsmen, an interesting ‘remembrancer’-like character and a variety of Ultramarines from both generations. A key theme is the divide between ‘firstborn’ and Primaris Marines, offering an in-universe exploration of what exactly the different generations think of each other; Kyme offers a nuanced take on these particular characters’ thoughts on the matter, providing food for thought rather than a concrete answer.
It’s worth pointing out that this is very much a tale of two halves. At risk of offering spoilers (on which note, try to avoid the synopsis on the back of the book!), almost exactly halfway through the story shifts into a new direction with a slightly less grim tone and an interesting, if somewhat unexpected, narrative. The 50/50 split somehow works, even if a little more time spent with the remembrancer Vedaeh in the first half might have helped to help contextualise her role in the story (although that’s nitpicking, really), and the core themes remain despite the change of surroundings. All told, provided you can stomach the constant, grinding darkness there’s a lot to enjoy here, with masses of bone-crunching action but plenty of characterful dialogue and quieter moments as well. There’s even a little bit of much-needed humour here and there to leaven the darkness, and while this certainly isn’t a cheerful book it’s gripping, powerful and bleakly satisfying.
Click this link to order Knights of Macragge, or this one for the audiobook.