Mephiston: Revenant Crusade

Mephiston #2

by Darius Hinks

Book 2 in the Mephiston series

Haunted by the ghosts of long-dead foes and with his psychic powers blinded, Mephiston, Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels, travels to the warwracked world of Morsus, where death awaits…

READ IT BECAUSE
The Lord of Death returns in a novel that shows him pushed to his very limits and facing the doom that has chased him for centuries.

THE STORY
As the Great Rift tears the galaxy apart, portents and darkness beset Mephiston. At the time when he needs his psychic sight the most, the Chief Librarian's powers are rendered blind by some inexplicable force. Haunted by the ghosts of the damned, their purpose unclear, Mephiston takes his ship the Blood Oath and the Blood Angels in his charge to the world of Morsus where he believes the source of his psychic blindness is to be found. But Morsus is embroiled in conflict too, a longstanding struggle between the Imperium and some of its most ancient foes called the Revenant Crusade.

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction, Audiobook

235 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 7, 2018

About the author

Darius Hinks is an author, writing primarily in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He was born in Birmingham, England, in 1972. He works and lives in Nottinghamshire. Hinks' first novel, Warrior Priest, won the David Gemmel Morningstar award.

Reviews

[Sud666 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story takes place during the Dark Imperium story arc. Mephiston, the bad-ass Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels, is searching for an artifact that is clouding his pskyer vision.

On the planet of Morsus, set adrift from Imperial control during the Great Rift expansion, a rag-tag band of Sabine Guard (Imperial Guard) are holding out a small Imperial bastion against hordes of malfunctioning Necrons. Mephiston goes on a soul-journey and finds the item amongst the Necrons and inspires the Sabine Guard into helping in the capture of the item. That's the gist of the excellent story and one you should read for yourself. There is a lot that happens. It seems rather the standard Astartes- see/ Astartes-kill story. Sort of. It's really about Mephiston and the changes he underwent.

Once Mephiston was simply Calistarius, but was gravely wounded in combat and left for dead. He managed to overcome his chapter's blood thirst and the blood rage, with the help of Sanguinius and the Emperor, to arise as Mephiston. Power like his is rare, even amongst Chapter Masters, and really reminds me of Ahriman of the Thousand Sons. His powers and visions are beyond the norm. It is an eye opening thing to read about.

The story of the Sabine Guard and it regaining some semblance of honor was well done, as was the surprisingly touching loyalty of the ogryn mutants. The story of Mephiston's quest, the Sabine Guard's redemption and the substory of (I won't spoil the name) a Blood Angel who falls to the subtle wiles of Chaos all had deep resonance and I really enjoyed it all.

Any 40K fan will really enjoy this great little addition. Consider me a fan of Mephiston. This guy is a serious bad-ass.

[Chris Vest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uuugh very frustrating but good

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read with fair amount of character building, good story line and a fun conclusion with a nice intriguing cliff hanger. Critically however, I felt that the introduction of a new perspective so late in in the book was a bit odd and felt out of place, if the new perspective was sooner and perhaps more frequent it may have made that aspect of the book more fluid and less out of the blue. But overall, the book still kept my interest and I look forward to the next installment of the Mephiston series

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an easier to read and less angsty read than previous installments in the series. Mephiston goes to a Necron held world and smashes a machine that limits his psychic power. On the way, he deals with his subordinates, struggles with his sanity, the ghosts who died because of him and Necrons. It’s a good read to pass the time and it shows that just because you fight for the Imperium doesn’t mean you are good, just or kind.

[Aisla Houghton-Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another interesting entry into the Blood Angels canon, I enjoyed this book but not as much as the first in the series (counter to what some of the other reviews say). I much preferred seeing more into Mephiston’s mind, but there was a lot of this that felt rather piecemeal and bitty.

Individually each bit is very well written, and the back quarter really drives things forward, but it felt very much like a middle, which of course it is technically, rather than a complete arc in and of itself.

Overall though I enjoyed it and look forward to finishing the trilogy.

[Michael Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second book in the series outperformed the first. The characters and their motivations was more fleshed out and the conflict with the Necrons was enjoyable. It was nice to give so much character to the Necrons who can feel a bit "terminator robot" like. We find out they have motivations, emotions, and political machinations throughout their society.
This also set up a great finale for book 3 which raises the stakes for Mephiston and the Blood Angels.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't love this but it was good enough that I wanted to see it through to its completion. Definitely a bit of a meh start but got better once the main meat of the plot opened up. Sounds a weird criticism to make but I actually feel like the titular character didn't get enough airtime for my liking and we got the perspective of one of his lower ranked Librarians more than we did the man himself. Still a good, fun little read in one of my favourite universes.

[Mikael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more like it. The series gets better with Mephiston actually thinking of the fate of his and the chapters soul. And then he emediatly gets sidelined by Necrons. Luckily the Necrons are also interesting and gets me wondering if I shouldn't read the Twice-dead king series instead.
The narrator is great and pulls out his Neuron accent to great effect here.

'We dream, dreaming, dreamed.'

[Amanda]

Proofread

[Jon McGlone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant book in this series!!

[Mike Sheehan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, good characters but didn't grip me in the same way other 40k novels did.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. Much better than the first one!