Book Review: Space Wolf

Ok, Space Wolf was wayyyyyyyyy better than Space Marine. Much of this is due to how it was written, rather than the content itself, which was similar in both books--the recruitment, training, and transformation of a young man into a Space Marine.

William King's style served clarity above all else, and for this the words on the page became invisible, as did the page itself. The ideas passed into the mind without friction, and so the real world was forgotten. It reminded me of some of the best writing advice I ever heard, though I don't remember from where: Be brave enough to be plain.

There was also a sort of nostalgia in Space Wolf, something I had not expected. For apart from the futuristic tech, monsters, and sorcery was something even more mystical in today's age--a male space and story.

Space Wolf was full of the fire of a young man, of the urges that compel him, ancient instincts once honed by our elders, now stagnant and sneered at by those who know better.

The Russvik longhouse was at once a barracks, a hunting lodge, and a sleepover with your rambunctious friends from middle school. The energy and dynamics between the young men, their peers, and their elders had an authenticity that resonated in my memories, not only of my youth, but ancestral memories, I suspect---like remembering something you've never done, like truth without logic.

I kept waiting for the strong independent woman to saunter onto the page, declaring that she needed no help, outsmarting and outpacing all the boys, beating them in fights, and ultimately leading them. I kept waiting for deconstruction of gender roles, the message that any difference between men and women is merely imposed by society... but it never happened.

This was a tale of heroes and warriors, of the wolf in all men, unchained from the fashions of modernity. I highly recommend it, not just for fans of Warhammer, but fans of fantasy/adventure as a whole. It is the first of three books centered around this protagonist, and I'll definitely be reading the whole trilogy, so long as it maintains its quality, before moving on to other Warhammer books.