Helion Rain

Warhammer 40,000

by George Mann

The world of Idos is on the verge of destruction, wracked by catastrophic storms and plagued by ravening tyranids. Into this maelstrom come the Raven Guard 4th Company, the warzone perfectly suited to their lightning-strike methods of combat. Led by Veteran Sergeant Grayvus, their mission is simple - to rescue the planet's last survivors. But in the midst of this nightmare, they receive new orders to locate and destroy a power station. The station is built upon a fault line, and the resulting quake would swallow thousands of tyranids and turn the war in the Imperium's favour. Grayvus and his company must fight their way through genestealers, acid spore mines and a deadly biomorph if they are to succeed and reclaim Idos for the Imperium.

Genres: Audiobook, Science Fiction, 40k, Fiction, Media Tie In, Aliens, Military Science Fiction

Audio CD

First published February 3, 2011

About the author

George Mann is an author and editor, primarily in genre fiction. He was born in Darlington, County Durham in 1978.
A former editor of Outland, Mann is the author of The Human Abstract, and more recently The Affinity Bridge and The Osiris Ritual in his Newbury and Hobbes detective series, set in an alternate Britain, and Ghosts of Manhattan, set in the same universe some decades later.
He wrote the Time Hunter novella "The Severed Man", and co-wrote the series finale, Child of Time.
He has also written numerous short stories, plus Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes audiobooks for Big Finish Productions. He has edited a number of anthologies including The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, The Solaris Book of New Fantasy and a retrospective collection of Sexton Blake stories, Sexton Blake, Detective, with an introduction by Michael Moorcock.

Reviews

[Terrible Reviewer · Rating 2 out of 5]

“The one race you don’t want to face in close-combat would be the Tyranids – Raven Guard don’t care”

This is another Space Marine romp (that sounds wrong) that is set on the world of Idos, which is wrecked by extinction level storms and befouled by the xenos known as Tyranids (think Alien and you’re getting their most basic level warrior). Led by Veteran Sergeant Grayvus of the Raven Guard’s 4th Company their directive is simple – to rescue the planet’s last survivors and hold back the Tyranids while doing so. Throw in a few other objectives that, on the face of it, have absolutely no reason to being asked of them and you get the idea. With seismic activity taking place along the fault line where one of there objectives are located – the ‘Nids are in their element given this and a bloody battle ensues between the two races.

I do rather enjoy these ‘against the odds’ stories, but blimey there are A LOT of them in audio format, too many in my humble opinion. Helion Rain from George Mann leans heavy on the bolter porn and little on character building or development – it’s a real problem, as other than Grayvus, I cannot recall any other detail about his fellow marines, that’s a problem. There’s plenty of descriptive narrative on how the Raven Guard prosecute their mission – I mean Helion Rain is over-described in my opinion, it’s another problem, as the action was hot, but given no background to those who were expending their lives, I couldn’t give a damn about them. Just a choice line or character development… just one. Please? Yes. No. Maybe?

”What now Sergrant?” Turning to him “Now Brother… now you can call yourself… Astrates”

I will say the story is far less melodramatic than the audio drama I listened to Thunder From Fenris. I did enjoy that mentioned story as there was so much character development, it just worked well. I use that as a mooring, as the story was unique in that sense – I actually gave a damn about Skein and his Thunder Wolves. These nameless Raven Guard, not so much. There is a certain comfort to listening and reading Black Library stories – but this, well, I didn’t like it for the reasons mentioned.

I forgot to mention Captain Corrin completely, that is how much of an impact or interest I had in the characters – it a writing problem to have a story that ratchets up really quick BUT you’ve forgot to give the listener any basis to give a damn about the characters. I promise to leave this be now.

There are elements I did enjoy, like the various species of Tyranid’s, genestealers, lictors. The fight at the end is a highlight – Space Marine’s out-thought by Xenos? Yes, that happened. The fact this is a scout squad going up against Tyranid’s is also interesting. Scouts are basically cadets/green. Some of the world building of Idos is interesting and there is certainly a familiarity to having Toby Longsworth voicing this AD. If you like your stories with ‘stabbie-stabbie’ then your love Helion Rain for me this one didn’t really grip me sadly – though I shall honour Brother Tyrus for his service *salute*.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review To Come

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

- Quote: I told you not to let it get close to you
- Thoughts: This is a good episode, this time space mariners fighting against alien monsters. It uses a very bad clichè though, in wich the first monster is absurdly strong and hard to kill, then near the end of the episode others of the exactly same monster appear en masse and also die en masse against the same heroes.
▶◀
These are my personal opinions, you may discord, my final rating of the book is not necessarily linked to this system and may diverge from it.
Book Storyline
- Originality: 4/5 stars
- Development: 4/5 stars
- Enjoyment: 5/5 stars
- Writing stile: 4/5 stars
- Funnyness: 1/5 stars
- Epicness: 4/5 stars
- Scaryness: 3/5 stars
- Smartness: 3/5 stars
- Addictiveness: 4/5 stars
- Plot twists: 2/5 stars
- Pace: 5/5 stars
- Storyline planning: 4/5 stars
- Ending: 4/5 stars
- Holes: 2/5 negative stars
- Self contained (Y/N): ✓
- Cliffhanger (Y/N): ×
- Adult (Y/N): ×
- Mystery (Y/N): ×
- Treasure Hunting (Y/N): ×
- Violence level: Expected
- Tech level: High Tech Power armor and weaponry, orbital strikes... but nothing beats the trusty combat knife
- Religion level: none in this episode
- Main genre: warhammer 40k
- Subgenre: Scy-Fy, military, alien monsters
- Point of view: 2 main characters point of view
- Best of it: has a somewhat tense feeling
- Worst of it: some bad clichès
- Aftertaste: pretty good as a whole
Cover

- Quality: 4/5 stars
- Traces: 5/5 stars
- Colors: 4/5 stars
- Style: 4/5 stars
- In a few words: well made computerized image, would have been way cooler if it showed the broken moon in the background.
Audio
As seems to be the usual from the black library, each phrase is spoken as an epic poem in itself, it does remind of old heroes comics.
- Overall quality: 5/5 stars
- Audio clarity: 4/5 stars
- Style: 4/5 stars
- Multiple voice actors: ✓
- Background music: ✓
- Special effects: ✓
World
- Originality: 4/5 stars
- Variety: 2/5 stars
- Consistency: 2/5 stars
- Impact on the story: 4/5 stars
- Maps: -/5 stars
- Real world (Y/N): ×
- Fantasy based on real world (Y/N): ×
- Journey (Y/N): ×
- Main scenario: Some ruins of a city
Characters
Not much ro say here, the characters are all military stereotypes, no growth required, they fill their roles
- Consistency: 4/5 stars
- Connection: 2/5 stars
- Dialogs: 3/5 Stars
- Interactions: 3/5 Stars
- Underworld Crew (✓/×): ×
- Training (✓/×): ×
- Romance: again, badass military men don't know romance
Setting
A very good planetary setting for the events of such a short story. The broken moon raining in the surface is particularly cool
- Setting overall score: 5/5 Stars
- Tension: 4/5 Stars
- Atmosphere: 3/5 Stars
- Evil Alien infestation ✓
- Power Armored Space Mariner who brings a combat knife to an alien infested warzone ✓
- Rulebreaker ✓ monster difficult goes down, I guess the first one gives too much XP
Series Storyline
- Impact of this book in storyline: 1/5 stars
- Can be read as a standalone (✓/×): ✓

[Declan Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like the Black Library Audio-Dramas this is a great addition. The Raven Guard take on a horror of the Tyranid menace with all the background noises, sound affects and mood music to really get you into the story.

It is, of course, a short story and follows the formulaic road for such short audio dramas, but Black Library are great at doing these, and it was wonderful fun

[Ross Cudmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Veteran Sergeant Grayvus of the Raven Guard leads a squad of Scouts on the world of Idos that is being ravaged by the Tyranids

An action-packed story with some good performances. A little light on character development, but I had a fun time with it. I really enjoyed the depiction of the Tyranids. They felt like a dangerous and resourceful enemy. The opening scene was particularly strong in how it built up tension and then provided an explosive fight scene.

[Gabby · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tyranids are a terrifying opponent it was amazing to see that the Raven Guard can mix brutal efficiency with espionage. It was great to learn more of their respects and what their greis come from.

[J.L. Perish · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Great performance, but the most "by the book" 40k story I think I've ever heard. Not bad by any means, just average at best.

[Jessica George · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book would of been better if it was a bit longer. Still absolutely awesome, I do enjoy the Ravenguard.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bolter porn. Well enough produced and fine for background at the gym. Nothing too engaging though.

[Lex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another heroic tale of Space Marines going against the odds...well such is the pattern for most of these short novels for Warhammer 40,000. This time, it's the Raven Guard, with Sergeant Grayvus at their helm, sent out to rescue the survivors of Idos, a planet currently being plagued by Tyranids. The title pertains to the violent weather patterns on Idos, as small to large meteoric storms fall upon its surface as regular as rain, which makes this planet, and this scenario for our beloved Space Marines, somewhat unique.
I breezed through this novel in one morning as the length is at a good 70-minutes. The main character's views and moral strengths (on having to rescue the survivors) makes for another admirable Marine...well, don't get me wrong...I may sound tired of the WH40k novel template here, but if you're into all the mythos (and are into the novels), you should know what to expect already. And Helion Rain is no exception. The writing is good though, and what we're presented is a gaunt hero in the form of Grayvus, which, to credit the author, is actually a very transparent and likeable character.
And that's all I can say without giving away too much. I recommend Helion Rain to stout WH40k fans, especially if you like the Raven Guard. This is an interesting mission that's quite a good read.

[Rodney Sloan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining.

[Vansh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was about to say “raven guard? More like raved mid”, then the story turned out to be alright-atleast the end

[Micha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice and short!