What do you think?
Rate this book
Bloodquest: The Eye of Terror #Audio Drama
Bloodquest: Prisoners of the Eye of Terror
Travelling across the daemon world of Eidolon in search of the stolen Blade Encarmine, Blood Angels Captain Leonatos and his battle-brothers are saved from death by another servant of the Emperor, Murius Aquinam. To their surprise, they recognise his name – he fought alongside the Blood Angels four thousand years ago. Can he still be trusted after four millennia in the Eye of Terror, or is he as much of a threat as the servants of Chaos that they fight?
1 pages, Audiobook
First published December 1, 2012
48 people want to read
About the author
Ben Counter
170 books214 followersBen Counter, as well as making several contributions to Inferno magazine, has written the Soul Drinkers and Grey Knights series and two Horus Heresy novels for the Black Library. He is an ancient history graduate and avid miniature painter with a bronze demon under his belt.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 31, 2017
Hmm I have a mix feeling about this novel.
On one side I really liked the Blooquest Graphic Novel. It was one of my first insights on the Blood Angels and Space Marines in general. In the other hand I hope that the graphic novel had a new chapter. The search of Leonatos. When I heard about this audiobook I thought that was it. the continuation of that story but... I was mistaken.
This tale is set between two of those three books and that is always a problem. It can felt cheap and without purpose. In the end my mind was saying, "ok nice audiobook but was it really necessary?" Of course not. The milking cow of money is the best friend of the companies.
Some spoilers ahead...
Our Captain Leonatos and the three remaining space marines while travelling through the desert of Eidolon find a Prison where the banner of a IG Regiment is flowing. They try, nay, they save them for a living nightmare and escape to a oasis. While there they find a cave and the Space Marines are trap and the IG reveals themselves not so friendly because of ancient war where too many IG man fought and died alongside the BA and they attributed them the fault of the IG demise.
Too far fetch to my liking but okay.
Too many IG die each day in the name of Emperor. If all of them would rebel Terra would have fallen already.
In the end I enjoy the audiobook but knowing now the plot and the money I spend to get it I wouldn't have bought it. It has a weak plot and without any repucursions to our big tale. Nothing.
Advisable to whom?
To anyone who really really enjoys BL books and BA afficionados. To everyone else - not worth the money.
On one side I really liked the Blooquest Graphic Novel. It was one of my first insights on the Blood Angels and Space Marines in general. In the other hand I hope that the graphic novel had a new chapter. The search of Leonatos. When I heard about this audiobook I thought that was it. the continuation of that story but... I was mistaken.
This tale is set between two of those three books and that is always a problem. It can felt cheap and without purpose. In the end my mind was saying, "ok nice audiobook but was it really necessary?" Of course not. The milking cow of money is the best friend of the companies.
Some spoilers ahead...
Our Captain Leonatos and the three remaining space marines while travelling through the desert of Eidolon find a Prison where the banner of a IG Regiment is flowing. They try, nay, they save them for a living nightmare and escape to a oasis. While there they find a cave and the Space Marines are trap and the IG reveals themselves not so friendly because of ancient war where too many IG man fought and died alongside the BA and they attributed them the fault of the IG demise.
Too far fetch to my liking but okay.
Too many IG die each day in the name of Emperor. If all of them would rebel Terra would have fallen already.
In the end I enjoy the audiobook but knowing now the plot and the money I spend to get it I wouldn't have bought it. It has a weak plot and without any repucursions to our big tale. Nothing.
Advisable to whom?
To anyone who really really enjoys BL books and BA afficionados. To everyone else - not worth the money.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 26, 2012
Back in the mists of the early primordial time that was 1999 to before the tau had turned up and the space stunties had only just disappeared there was a comic called Bloodquest. One of several published within Black Library’s Inferno! magazine alongside Titan it covered the quest by disgraced Blood Angels hunting a lost relic. The comic showed heroes fighting against insurmountable odds and dared to flesh out aspects such as the organised daemon worlds within the Eye of Terror not under the direct control of the traitor legions. Better yet it managed to do this without completely botching either.
Despite a rocky start it eventually built up a fandom strong enough to last three books across four years and be reprinted twice. Apparently someone in Black Library liked it enough to issue this audiobook, harkening back to the glory days of the comic and serving as a side-story to the series. Taking place just after the halfway point within the second book, the three remaining astartes following captain Leonatus encounter the last thing they expected to see on the world of Eidolon: potential allies. Unfortunately despite much promise the story just ends up being a missed opportunity.
The problem is the time in which it is set, towards the end of the original quest. By this point the story was quickly accelerating towards a conclusion and in the process of wrapping up two individual character arcs, so having an additional story included here feels misplaced. As an expansion this could have been used to be set earlier and characterise those largely overlooked like Palemon and Tranio and give more weight to their later deaths. The characters present are certainly written consistently with what was seen in the comic but it still feels like there should have been so much more to this. Serving a role similar to some of the Horus Heresy audios, giving information not necessary to the core of the story but enjoyably fleshing out what was started with the novels.
Thankfully there some good here when Ben Counter manages to fall back on what he’s good at: Chaos. While he is never allowed to run wild with his ideas as he did with Daemon World and Dark Mechanicus there are glimpses of fascinatingly disturbing details in the locales. Most notably the chief setting of the book: an obsidian prison described as having grown open and decayed like a skeleton. It’s just a shame some are let down by the delivery of this information one time too many.
Knowing when and when not to use a narrator can be crucial to making or breaking an audio story, using the characters rather than the narrator to explain things. Something which took James Swallow multiple efforts to learn. Unfortunately it seems like Ben Counter learned from this mistake and started making all the new ones: Using the characters when the narrator was needed. It doesn’t matter that they have a genuinely great cast of actors to voice everyone when you’re being distracted by just how ham-fisted the exposition is. When the group first sees the prison and the flag of an ally they are oath-bound to it’s delivered purely through dialogue. Resulting in those “Don’t you love talking about things we already know?” conversations. This is hardly helped by the sub-par sound effects and music. While neither the Big Finish or Heavy Entertainment are known for great SFX, those present in this tale seemed especially cheap. Rather than heavy footfalls the movements of the astartes are done through repetitive electronic whirrs and the music sounds more like something from Soul Reaver than a modern audiobook.
If there is a saving grace in this it’s that Counter manages to put a good spin on a very obvious plot twist. As well as being built up to the point where you almost begin to doubt the twist will happen the reasoning behind the action is surprisingly sympathetic. One which would have made for a good story in a stand-alone setting. Probably with a more notoriously arrogant chapter rather than the Blood Angels, and it is curious to wonder why Counter decided to include it in this rather than a separate tale.
For all these criticisms Bloodquest: Prisoners of the Eye of Terror is still worth buying if you have fond enough memories of the comic. It’s like Path of the Warrior, extremely flawed with a few gems to offer if you’re willing to stomach its many problems but you’re probably better off finding another story. Still, at the very least these were proper Blood Angels and clearly sons of Sanguinius. Not jokes shrieking constantly about how they’re dying out, shooting bloodstrike missiles as they fly in with bloodships out of their bloodfortress in the name of the bloodfather to make bloodpacts with necrons.
Despite a rocky start it eventually built up a fandom strong enough to last three books across four years and be reprinted twice. Apparently someone in Black Library liked it enough to issue this audiobook, harkening back to the glory days of the comic and serving as a side-story to the series. Taking place just after the halfway point within the second book, the three remaining astartes following captain Leonatus encounter the last thing they expected to see on the world of Eidolon: potential allies. Unfortunately despite much promise the story just ends up being a missed opportunity.
The problem is the time in which it is set, towards the end of the original quest. By this point the story was quickly accelerating towards a conclusion and in the process of wrapping up two individual character arcs, so having an additional story included here feels misplaced. As an expansion this could have been used to be set earlier and characterise those largely overlooked like Palemon and Tranio and give more weight to their later deaths. The characters present are certainly written consistently with what was seen in the comic but it still feels like there should have been so much more to this. Serving a role similar to some of the Horus Heresy audios, giving information not necessary to the core of the story but enjoyably fleshing out what was started with the novels.
Thankfully there some good here when Ben Counter manages to fall back on what he’s good at: Chaos. While he is never allowed to run wild with his ideas as he did with Daemon World and Dark Mechanicus there are glimpses of fascinatingly disturbing details in the locales. Most notably the chief setting of the book: an obsidian prison described as having grown open and decayed like a skeleton. It’s just a shame some are let down by the delivery of this information one time too many.
Knowing when and when not to use a narrator can be crucial to making or breaking an audio story, using the characters rather than the narrator to explain things. Something which took James Swallow multiple efforts to learn. Unfortunately it seems like Ben Counter learned from this mistake and started making all the new ones: Using the characters when the narrator was needed. It doesn’t matter that they have a genuinely great cast of actors to voice everyone when you’re being distracted by just how ham-fisted the exposition is. When the group first sees the prison and the flag of an ally they are oath-bound to it’s delivered purely through dialogue. Resulting in those “Don’t you love talking about things we already know?” conversations. This is hardly helped by the sub-par sound effects and music. While neither the Big Finish or Heavy Entertainment are known for great SFX, those present in this tale seemed especially cheap. Rather than heavy footfalls the movements of the astartes are done through repetitive electronic whirrs and the music sounds more like something from Soul Reaver than a modern audiobook.
If there is a saving grace in this it’s that Counter manages to put a good spin on a very obvious plot twist. As well as being built up to the point where you almost begin to doubt the twist will happen the reasoning behind the action is surprisingly sympathetic. One which would have made for a good story in a stand-alone setting. Probably with a more notoriously arrogant chapter rather than the Blood Angels, and it is curious to wonder why Counter decided to include it in this rather than a separate tale.
For all these criticisms Bloodquest: Prisoners of the Eye of Terror is still worth buying if you have fond enough memories of the comic. It’s like Path of the Warrior, extremely flawed with a few gems to offer if you’re willing to stomach its many problems but you’re probably better off finding another story. Still, at the very least these were proper Blood Angels and clearly sons of Sanguinius. Not jokes shrieking constantly about how they’re dying out, shooting bloodstrike missiles as they fly in with bloodships out of their bloodfortress in the name of the bloodfather to make bloodpacts with necrons.
December 6, 2017
Started off as a melodramatic reworking of Counter's Hammer of Daemons but redeemed itself with a very interesting twist at the end.
January 19, 2023
Not the most engaging listen. It is very generic Warhammer action. The discussion between two major Blood Angels at the end was my favorite part. I have always liked the Blood Angels so this was another piece of the collection but there are better stories in the Warhammer universe than this one.
September 10, 2018
Love the audiodramas. Over the top voice work for over the top super humans!
November 17, 2023
Simultaneously boilerplate and ambitious. The twist was good enough to take it up to three stars, though.
February 7, 2014
Second time through, just as good as the first time. Forgot the twist which I chalk up to good writing as much as me being spacy. It is a very well laid out and told story with very believable characters.
November 5, 2025
This review is written after my third listen to this story. It's alright, am changing my review to 3 stars though, I think because I've read the graphic novels recently, and that was so much better. The audio work is good, and the voices well done, but there just wasn't enough to really enjoy.
June 2, 2013
Good to hear from The Exiles once more...
December 18, 2012
It has gotten that 80`s feel to it that you will either love or hate.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews