The Last Days of Ector

Warhammer 40,000

by Guy Haley

Hive Fleet Leviathan – billions upon billions of ravenous creatures intent on devouring every scrap of life in the galaxy. In its path is the Valedor system, five Imperial worlds zealously guarded by the Crimson Castellans Space Marines Chapter. As the planets are razed one by one, only Ector remains defiant. Faced with foes beyond number, the Crimson Castellans are confronted with an impossible dilemma – fight to the last as honour demands, or retreat to safeguard the future of their Chapter.

An Apocalypse novella from the Valedor War Zone by Guy Haley.

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction, Novella

128 pages, Hardcover

Published May 17, 2014

About the author

Guy Haley is the author of over 50 novels and novellas. His original fiction includes Crash, Champion of Mars, and the Richards and Klein, Dreaming Cities, and the Gates of the World series (as K M McKinley). However, he is best known as a prolific contributor to Games Workshop's Black Library imprint.

When not writing, he'll be out doing something dangerous in the wild, learning languages or gaming.

Reviews

[DarkChaplain · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last Days of Ector is an excellent novella, showing just what the cover shows: The final days of an imperial hive planet, in the fangs of a Tyranid invasion.

I'll put the plot-focused part into spoilers. They shouldn't be too spoiler-heavy, but better safe than sorry!

The story kicks off with a gang of teenage-hivers fighting, which shows off some of their culture quite well, including dialects and oddities in vocabulary. Turns out, those kids have been participating in the trials to join the Crimson Castellans Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes, Space Marines.

The story proceeds with the gang leader being rejected by Chaplain Gorth, due to insubordination - he spoke out that it'd be unfair to leave the girl in the group behind, just because she was female - which not only shows the colder side of the Space Marines, but also makes it clear that certain unchangeable rules have to be adhered to, even if they may seem sexist to naive imperial youths.

The Castellans are shown celebrating that they have gathered over a dozen of neophytes in total, with their astropath being sent out to transmit a message to the rest of the Chapter. The scene shows the Crimson Castellans in a more relaxed manner, though still bound by rank in some ways. Their Chapter's culture is shortly explored, before the astropath takes the stage.

The astropath's sending was especially well done, as it used the relatively limited information on the process and framed it in a more intuitive, understandable way. But then our astropath notices a shadow in the warp - Hive Fleet Leviathan is approaching the system, and warning must be issued.

And thus begin plans of evacuation, hamstrung by politics, and the reinforcement of Ector's hive cities. Minefields are deployed, walls erected, holes stuffed. A raffle for the evacuation effort is held, everybody else equipped and shown how to fight for their lives. The Castellans organize the defense, coordinating the defenders of Ector.

But then the nigh-impossible happens - another Hive Fleet materializes, Kraken, and it is upon Ector's back in no time. With the defence grid directed at the less immediate threat, the people of Ector are forced to fight for survival, to buy time for the transports to evacuate the lucky parts of their population.

The novella spans a few weeks, from start to finish. It is a losing battle, from the moment of contact on, there could be no doubt about that. It does not tell of victories, only of cutting one's losses. More than anything, though, it shows just how massive a threat the Tyranids really are - something I feel has been underestimated too many times. There's no real winning against the Great Devourer, only delaying him.

There are a few twists and turns along the way, however, and it is but the prelude to the battle for Valedor - which I hope to get to soon.

The story did extremely well at what it tried to show, within the limits of its format. I probably sound like a broken record already, but Guy Haley is a brilliant man who really gets the grim darkness of the 41st Millenium. Not only that, but he brings his own style to the mix, which benefits the franchise as a whole. More power to him, if you ask me!

I fully recommend The Last Days of Ector. It is a real treat to fans of the IP, as well as a rock-solid science fiction story, framing the hopelessness of mankind in a galaxy out to devour us.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my eightieth book I've read this year. I don't count short stories but this year I've heard some audiobooks so that help achieve this mark. One thing is for sure: It couldn't be a better book to commemorate.

Some minor spoilers ahead but with a title "The Last Days of Ector"...

The story is set on Ector, one of the planets in the Valedor System (or Duriel System if you are an Eldar). There we see some gang wars as a way to impress the Crimson Castellans who watch and enlist the best of the best. One of the best is a female who is turned out because of that... particularity. With her another man-boy is turned out because he defended that she should be accepted. Insubordination is not a trait Crimson Castellans appreciate - if you want to know why - it's not reveal in this book but I bet it has something to do with half the chapter turned to Chaos some years before.

After the ordeal they become aware that a hive fleet Leviathan is inbound to the planet. The Crimson Castellans say that the three planets are doomed. There is no stopping them (is not said here but they had fought another Hive Fleet several years before). The three governors disagree to help one another but they all will stand and fight. After all billions and billions lives will perish since is not possible to evacuate them all. After this meeting all the tale is focus on Ector (Valedor will be dwelt in another novel written by the same writer).

From this moment on the book tells us of fighting in different hives and the encounter with some eldar who strangely enough are helping humankind.

Some interesting points.... Brother-Sergeant Yoth is important because the eldar Isarion said that he should not hesitate 53 years from this day in the planet Malefix. The phoenix lord Asurmen makes an appearance even if brief. It was interesting as well as the Crimson Castellans made their choice. Either they defend to the last man or try to escape because as you should know (I told you before :) half their numbers fell to Chaos and most of them (good guys and chaos guys) died at the... claws of the tyranids.

I really enjoy the aura of despair, of unavoidable defeat and of the grimdark the 40K transcribes. People talk about grimdark of other fantasy books but so far this world is the grimmest. If I am not mistake this guys coined the term grimdark(ness) and this book is that. Look at the title. There is no hope before the Great Devourer. All will perishable. The only thing you can do is sell your lives dearly. I think I had a solution for this... do what Switzerland do.. Every house should have a firearm. If Ector with countless billions had one arm for each inhabitant they would not fall.

Read this - then go to Valedor as I am going to do...

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely bloody brilliant!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good prequel to the Novel Valedor. A nice complement to it.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grim and engaging, this story focuses on a hive world besieged by tyranids, yet surprises with its ties towards a much wider scheme.

Medium length stories can be tough to write, and this one showed every will of being a full novel. The fast forward in the middle of the tale felt awkward. Every arch is completed, though, and what lines of development are left hanging by the end merely make promise and rouse apatite for the coming tales.

I'm afraid most of the main characters we will never see again, though they had all it takes to become a living saga of the 40k universe.

[Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written novla full of hopelessness and determination. Scary book

[Stephan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've not read many Space marine novels so far and didn't really know what to expect. What I got was a really good story of a small chapter fighting a losing battle against the endless hordes of the tyranids. I love the characters and how the author describes people who are chosen to become space marines, but fail for one reason or another. Very interesting!
The book is a prequel of sorts to Valedor, but not quite as good.
I very much enjoyed reading it and would definitely recommend it to whoever enjoys a nice 40K novella. There's plenty of action, last stands and hopelessness. And still.. a glimmer of hope, characters who simply won't give up, no matter if they are Space marines or just ordinary men and women, and help from an unexpected group of Eldar!