Fear the Alien (Warhammer 40,000) by Christian Z. Dunn

Fear the Alien (Warhammer 40,000) Reviews

• 
  Bodicainking

  A generally unimpressive offering, marking a rare miss for Games Workshop anthologies. The only stories of note to me are a one-note joke Dark Eldar tale and a genuinely interesting tale focused on the Harlequins (worth reading up on your Eldar mythology to fully appreciate it, though). Overall, the surprising prevalence of human-focused stories in an anthology 'about' the various alien races of Warhammer 40,000 was the biggest let down. In a similar way, a story written from an Ork perspective - surely a vehicle for good comedy or dark brutality - manages to find a way to 'humanise' the Ork main character to the point of it having no unique voice.
• 
  Rooney

  It's always difficult to rate this types of books, as the often eclectic selection of authors means they are almost always a mixed bag. Some of these stories are really good, and some are... not.
  
  Depending on what sort of WH40K stories you like, your experience of this volume will vary. But it's worth it for the good ones!
• 
  Steve

  Excellent
• 
  Drayke Larson

  There were definitely a couple of clunkers in here, but for the most part this collection of short stories is worth reading. I especially enjoyed the Dark Eldar short. It was fun and had many of the elements of a cultural myth, as though it was being passed on from an elder to a young member of the tribe. In a culture where pain, deceit and hatred are revered, but still.
  
  As always, for me, the weakest stories are always those focusing on the space marines. Yes, we get it, they're supermen with little emotion and no fear. This also makes them totally unrelatable. It's bad when I find more common ground with poorly described asshole commissar characters than the supermen protagonists. Basically, what I am saying is:
  Dear Black Library,
  I buy lots and lots of your books, and I would very, very much like to read more novels about the people of the Warhammer40k universe, and less about the unemotional superheroes. The Imperial Guard and Inquisition are obvious choices, but remember how much of "Dead Men Walking" focused on someone who wasn't even in the military? That was fantastic, please encourage more of that!
• 
  Jean-Luc

  There are 2 stories in this book about a space hulk. The same space hulk. One is from the POV of the Salamanders (space marines) and the other is from the POV of the Night Lords (chaos space marines). Yes, there are aliens. The 2 group clash w/ the aliens, then each other, then the aliens some more. These 2 stories together ruined space marines for me. Space marines are supposed to be supermen, but the Salamanders behave so stupidly that it's impossible to take them seriously. Then the Night Lords behave as if they have goals that they are trying to accomplish, so I found myself far more interested in what the forces of chaos are up to! How strange and not like me at all.
  
  Elsewhere, we've got Tyranids, Dark Eldar, Necrons, Orks, Tau. Fun for everyone! If you enjoy any aspect of the Warhammer universe, you will love this anthology.
• 
  Chris

  I think i'm growing out of Warhammer 40k books now, as much as it pains me to be a book snob I must say that when you start reading classics by literary giants such as Turgenev, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Robert Louis Stevenson and Steinbeck you soon grow out of genetically modified super soldiers blasting aliens to pieces. The main problem with the Warhammer 40k series is that once you've read one you really don't need to bother reading the others.
  
• 
  Olli Booms

  
  
  Well, as with most of these things it's a mixed bag. Some of the stories - the ones by BL stalwarts Abnett, Kyme and Dembski-Bowden come to mind - are pretty great reads, whereas some others don't reach much beyond generic or bland.
  Which evens out to 'average' for the collection in total, I suppose.
• 
  Christian

  This is a very uneven collection, mishmash really, of short stories. I chose this collection as a change of pace as I had been reading novels and I wanted to try reading short stories. The good thing is that when I didn't like the story I knew it would end shortly. Unfortunately, some stories also ended abruptly. I am indifferent to this collection.
• 
  Rob Sanchez

  Many great short stories, quite a few "space hulk" type stories though never the less a good quick read.
• 
  Steve Irvine

  Excellent range of different stories from a few different perspectives. I really enjoyed them all. Worth a read if you like WH40K universe, and/or SciFi generally.
• 
  Matt Holland

  Eh, ok.
• 
  David

  Some great stories, very good read for an afternoon. Recommended for anyone that likes to read short stories.
• 
  Berta Kleiner

  Dan Abnett!
• 
  Nathan Avery

  Public Service announcement: the cover has an ork on it, but only one of the stories is about orks.. and it is one of the shortest. Zog it.