I have to give this one five stars, even though I understand that 5 stars should be reserved for great works of timeless art, like (IMO) The Book Thief. However, Abnet did phenomenal job of playing off of a well-established world and story line, but explaining enough to build depth in the characters, and, more impressively, build sympathy for individual military chapters. His universe is one in which the characters have limited emotional range and in which the priorities of those in this world do not necessarily mirror 'real life' priorities. For example, The Astartes, the main 'race' (i know they are not a race; i know i just offended someone) are not normal humans, and do not feel sympathy, fear, intimidation, etc. They serve unflinchingly their military commander at the expense of all lives in their way. We mostly cant relate to this thinking, and there is not really any character that provides a lens for the reader to do so. But, we feel sympathy for and relate to the Astartes precicely because they are in a similar boat: they dont understand how we think either. They pity us, as we pity them, and this makes for an excellent dialogue on what it means to be human, to follow orders, to prioritize life. I look forward to reading the rest of this series.

Word of warning, I know a good amount about the Warhammer universe but some chapters I still had to read twice. If you are new to this universe, be prepared to read it slowly.