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There are others that have already written much better explanations why this book is a weak entry into the heresy series.
I was already apprehensive of the book seeing as it was written by Kyme but, as a completionist and salamanders fan ( I own an army of them), I had to satisfy my morbid curiosity and see just how much would Kyme be able to screw them over.
This book is barely a 2 stars (more like a 1.5, and even that is stretching it) but I really liked the way Kyme wrote Narek and most of the minor characters like Thiel and Inviglio and especially Quor Gallek, Xenut Sul and Degat.
It figures that the one entrusted to write about the salamanders in the warhammer univers would write better characters of literally everyone else than them. I bet Tzeentch is having a laugh or two about it.


Having written almost anything written by Kyme (missedjust Promethean Sun) about the Salamanders I can conclude that he either doesn't really understand the Warhammer 40K universe or, if he does, then he doesn't care and instead tries to introduce stuff that he thinks is cool or just different into 40K without knowing how to make it fit in.

Some of the things in this book that show that in the spoilers section:

SPOILERS (some of them)

Kyme doesn't know how to write Primarchs. They are literal demigods walking amongst mortals whose presence is intimidating and awe inspiring to regular humans and Astartes alike. But Guilliman, the Lion and Even Sanguinius appear bland and uninspiring. The salamanders (Numeon and Zytos) act like brats being upset which somehow justifies acting borderline insolent towards these almost godlike figures. The only one who slightly resembles the primarchs of other better novels is Magnus in his baffling and confused short appearance.

Kyme has no sense of scale. The Salamander ship, The Charybdis is a battlebarge which is about 9 to 10 km long and maybe 2 km abeam. Now in the novel it flies for several minutes inside another bigger ship destroyed in the previously space battles around Macragge because it would take longer to go around it. WTF?! That means this ship should be hundreds of kilometers long and many dozens wide to allow for that...I've seen estimates thrown around for Abyss class ships of anywhere from over 20 to 50 km long but that still wouldn't allow a battlebarge to fly through it for minutes... The only thing that springs to mind is a space hulk (which is a conglomeration of warp fused ships for many hundreds of km) but there is no mention of that.

Kyme doesn't understand the warp. The manifestation of warp has some very specific signs (cold, frost, rime, uneasiness, making people throw up, etc) There is NOTHING like that when the manifestation (I kid you not) of the little girl from the movie The Ring appears to torment and kill the crew and some of the Astartes...supposedly the demon girls would be aligned with Slanesh, but there is literally nothing that shows it except some references to "six is the sacred number" and the like.
This was also evident in another sort story he wrote (can't remember the title) where it's clear that he doesn't understand the nature of the warp. The story has in it actual ghosts or spirits that act like ghosts from any dozen of ghost movies and that have NO relation to the warp...it is so un40k like, it's jarring.

Kyme misses the mark on the age of the captain of Charybdis, Kolo Adyssian, who is depicted as being in his early 30's. In a setting where life extension drugs and treatments exist for powerful people and where captains of important ships ( a Legion Battlebarge should qualify) are commonly depicted as being close to 100 years old if not more the fact that we have a captain in his early 30's is treated as something normal...no big deal. He isn't a tactical genius, an inspiring presence, a mastermind of void warfare... he actually appears as pretty normal and average. I think ( I don't remember precisely, it was so boring) he got the rank because the previous captain died, but even then there is no mention as being a big deal for someone so young to take command of a space marine battle barge... I mean if he was the second he should be groomed for a long time to eventually take command of such an important vessel.

Kyme doesn't know how to write planetary invasion. Leaving aside the ridiculous land battles (dragons and wyrms slaughtering the Death Guard invaders which then disappear conveniently when the Salamanders need to take the center stage with a counter attack) the fact that one Space marine Battle barge can freely engage, bombard and effect a planetary assault on a Legion Homeworld uncontested by defense ships, orbital stations, land based defense systems and aircraft is RIDICULOUS.
And Kyme does it again in the Tome of Fire trilogy which takes place in M41. At least there there are more invading ships and fewer Salamanders (just chapter strength, not a legion anymore) to fight back...but still.

Kyme doesn't know how to write a good subversion. Malig Laestygon, the Death Guard commander is set up as this glory seeking brute that gets an ignominious death (decapitation via one blow) by the hand of Numeon. I get that Kyme wanted to show he was more bluster than real skill, and that he dies ingloriously when all he has been seeking is to be remembered as the Space Marine who killed a primarch (Vulkan) but come on! he wants me to believe he can be killed in one blow when standing face to face with a not even particularly good warrior without even trying to parry or avoid the blow?! What is more funny (or sad) is that Numeon is not even a good fighter and is a far cry from the likes of Sigismund, Loken, Lucius, Sharrowkyn, Kharn, Sevatar andso many others. Actually the Salamanders don't seem to be particularly good at close combat. Well, sometimes they are and sometime they aren't....very inconsistent.
Also, Kyme would like me to believe that a Death Guard Commander (who has to be at least a decent warrior beside being a leader) would be basically executed without any fuss? Give me a break.


I know this is a pet peeve of mine but I am sick of Kyme's Salamanders that are always in need of being rescued by others, whether it's ultramarines, or Narek of the Word, or Marines Malevolent (in Tome of Fire) or someone else they come across as somewhat incompetent and actually not that formidable ...well at this point I've given up that there will actually be a good book about the Salamanders. At least I have ADB's Night Lords trilogy or the Word bearers omnibus to fall back on ;)