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A rocky novel with ups and downs.

Krieg is a novel that makes us experience the harsh reality of the lovers and experts of trench warfare. The Death Korps of Krieg. Regiments specialized in attrition warfare in the most terrible conditions possible. The theme itself is an attractive one that presents us with a series of fantastic scenes.

Now, as for the book, I feel it left me wanting more than it satisfied me. Steve Lyons has an interesting way of writing that I don't appreciate as much. He makes quite a bit of use of commas and pauses in sentences, and he likes to use dialogue breaks, particularly when there are several people talking at the same time. His descriptions, on the other hand, tend to be more direct, to the point, but evocative and detailed enough to allow scenes to flow quickly and effectively. The dialogue itself is not a problem, it's simply the execution of it and the odd way in which pauses are set up. It's a particular style, no doubt.

Now as for the story, that's probably what bothers me the most. I can handle certain narrative styles depending on the authors, but in Krieg, the problem lies in the fact that the story is divided in two parts, one that sees the origin of the Death Korps, and another in the present during an invasion of orks, where a company of Cadians is assisted by a few thousand Kriegs. Simple (though minuscule considering the scale of things in the big picture). The stories are decent, and each one presents different situations in different time periods that give us an evolving perspective on these characters... but that's where it ends. The stories weave back and forth, and sometimes get in each other's way. Each story could have been developed into a full novel, but instead we just have chapters that run us through multiple years and multiple events. The book tries to cover too much, but manages to squeeze in too little.

For this reason, the development of the characters is almost nothing, only Jurten, the protagonist of the origin story, manages to have some spotlight for a prolonged part of the time, but even so, his character arc always ends up being the same.

I think the beginning of the novel is the weakest, particularly for those who are bothered by the fact that Black Library writers tend to use extremely small numbers for the situation. Krieg is not spared from this. On the other hand, as the story progresses and the situation gets more tense, things pick up a good pace and the scenes are fantastic to admire, especially when the climax comes.

So, I think Krieg is an entertaining novel despite its short length, but it could have been much better, no doubt.