Deathwatch: Xenos Hunters Paperback – March 11, 2014

Overall I really enjoyed this collection, but like any anthology, there are going to be some that don't work for everyone, and I think this was about 50/50. I don't mind not digging a story overall, but when those stories take up so much room, eh.The Steve Parker stories are probably the most fully "formed," in my opinion (because it seems they were written with the "Deathwatch" novel in mind, or possibly after it?), but my personal favorite was David Annandale's "The Varago Fastness" (sp?), which featured a lot of chapters from the "cursed" 21st founding. I'd never heard of this before, and found them hilariously fascinating. I hope those characters come back somewhere else. The first like three or four stories are very workmanlike, no risks taken. I felt they should have been scattered throughout more; the middle of the collection seemed to have all the 'risky' bits (i.e., Kryptman operating on a tyranid for the first time ... which barely even fit into this collection ... or a group of Tau encountering a nearly dead alien species and ... one ... half-alive Deathwatch member -- though I enjoyed that story, so I won't say anything negative about it).I think this did what a good anthology in a universe like 40K should do: it made me hungry to find out more about a lot of the facets talked about here (mostly I want more Black Dragon / Flame Falcons action), and introduced me to some authors I'm now excited about, and let me know I dislike a couple of others. Great stuff.

I really like this book. It basically takes a group of different Space Marines from different chapters and almost runs them through boot camp all over again all the way back up to the planning and execution of a special ops mission. The story is fairly simple and straightforward, but he execution is fantastic. I really liked it.

Excellent series of stories about the Deathwatch of the Imperium of man, showing off how well they are trained and equipped, and how even despite that, how dangerous their universe is..

Nice collection. Must be a 40K devotee

Love the ORDOS XENOS and am making a fire team. After reading this i may use some less known chapter houses for variety.

Fast service, good read.

Just as awesome as the rest of the warhammer books

This book contains a collection of eleven short stories of Deathwatch kill-Teams from ten different authors. There are two stories from Steve Parker featuring the same Deathwatch Team but with the second one taking place a few years later. The stories range from a very short four pages to a longer sixty four pages story.Just about all the aliens are represented, including Necrons, Tau, Tyranids, “Greenskins” and elder. Some stories end well or relatively well, with the mission being a success. Others end in disaster, with the whole Team being wiped out.A few themes seem to stand out, or, at least, appear in several stories. One is that the various Inquisitors that make use of Deathwatch kill-Teams are anything but scrupulous and quite ruthless. The same can be said about their officers. At best, the Teams are used and sent in blind with only the bare minimum information and without being aware of what is at stake. At worst, they are almost cannon fodder or even used as bait. Some of the Inquisitors clearly seem to be following their own personnel agendas and/or belong to rather radical factions. Their behaviours and motivations mat be rather questionable, border on heresy or may be driven by settling scores. Another theme, present in a couple of stories, and that some readers might disliked, is the way the Space Wolves are presented. I could not help feeling that they were somewhat caricatured as unsuttle and undisciplined brutes who get into trouble and have to be bailed out or have to be restrained before they put everyone else in their Team into trouble.As for the stories themselves, some are necessarily better than others. A couple are average, although none were really weak. Some were rather exceptional, with my favourite being “The Infinite Tableau” by Anthony Reynolds. This was partly because the leader of the Kill Team was a Blood Angels (which have always been one of my favourite Chapters!) but also because of the “artistically minded” Necron warlord Trazyn the Infinite. Other stories, such as the boarding of Greenskin space hulks, were less original, although still well told.Four stars.

This book contains a collection of eleven short stories of Deathwatch kill-Teams from ten different authors. There are two stories from Steve Parker featuring the same Deathwatch Team but with the second one taking place a few years later. The stories range from a very short four pages to a longer sixty four pages story.Just about all the aliens are represented, including Necrons, Tau, Tyranids, “Greenskins” and elder. Some stories end well or relatively well, with the mission being a success. Others end in disaster, with the whole Team being wiped out.A few themes seem to stand out, or, at least, appear in several stories. One is that the various Inquisitors that make use of Deathwatch kill-Teams are anything but scrupulous and quite ruthless. The same can be said about their officers. At best, the Teams are used and sent in blind with only the bare minimum information and without being aware of what is at stake. At worst, they are almost cannon fodder or even used as bait. Some of the Inquisitors clearly seem to be following their own personnel agendas and/or belong to rather radical factions. Their behaviours and motivations mat be rather questionable, border on heresy or may be driven by settling scores. Another theme, present in a couple of stories, and that some readers might disliked, is the way the Space Wolves are presented. I could not help feeling that they were somewhat caricatured as unsuttle and undisciplined brutes who get into trouble and have to be bailed out or have to be restrained before they put everyone else in their Team into trouble.As for the stories themselves, some are necessarily better than others. A couple are average, although none were really weak. Some were rather exceptional, with my favourite being “The Infinite Tableau” by Anthony Reynolds. This was partly because the leader of the Kill Team was a Blood Angels (which have always been one of my favourite Chapters!) but also because of the “artistically minded” Necron warlord Trazyn the Infinite. Other stories, such as the boarding of Greenskin space hulks, were less original, although still well told.Four stars.

The best thing about this book of short stories was that some were interesting, including some from the point of view of the Imperials' enemies like the Tau - and that several of the stories follow on from one another in chronological order without necessarily including the same characters.What was worst was that some of the stories about Space Marine squads working for the Inquisition had too many bad action movie cliche scenes - and in some of these the plot doesn't make sense either.Overall not bad though.

This is a fantastic read! The contents of the novel itself are varied tales of all the accomplishments of the deathwatch. As well as this, the stories were refreshing as the contents were short and straight to the point and it was a nice change of pace as soon as one chapter concluded, i was immersed in another almost simultaneously.

I have no problem with the quality of the book as was well above what I thought an arrived well on time will bbe buying more warhammer books for amazon in the future thank you