Daemon World (Book Review)

If you were to define Warhammer authors purely by Hollywood directors then Ben Counter would be Black Library’s Tim Burton.

No this is not a comparison made in terms of style, though they do both have the habit of emphasising upon stylised versions of the darkest of subject matter, it’s in terms of their concepts. Even when examining the weakest of their products where the plot turns in on itself the ideas present always manage to hold your interest.

Where am I going with this? Well it’s the sort of mentality you need to have when reading Daemon World. As a conventional story it fails to stand out but as an examination of Chaos as a force and corrupting influence it is easily one of the best texts to be officially printed.

The story of this one is set in the Maelstrom on the corrupted world of Torvendis. As a favoured world of the gods, the planet’s surface warps and alters in near constant flux and has changed hands of champions multiple times. Currently dominated by the servants of Slaanesh, the book begins on the eve of a major change and follows the tales of several key characters representing different facets of Chaos. An aspiring champion, a ruling empress, a manipulator of events and a band of traitor marines tasked with hunting one of their own.