Brutal Kunnin by Mike Brooks, caution Spoilers ahead!
So to start with there is a short story prequel I have not read, but which fills in the beginnings of Ufthak* and how he keeps mentioning about his "new body".
I've never read anything by Mike Brooks before and am always cautious of lesser known Black Library authors as they fall into two camps usually I find.
1: Understands the universe and settings. Can also write really enjoyable easy to read stories.
2: Either dosen't understand the settings, or tries to bend them to fit their vision (sometimes this can work, more often then not however it does not). Sometimes they have an easy writing style, however, often their writing is patchy at best, downright awful to read at worst (looking at you Nick Kyme).
It turns out that Mike Brooks falls into the first camp fortunately.
He understood both the Ork and Adeptus Mechanicus mindsets, even the chaotic influence which turns up in the last third of the book. Obviously the Orks are the protagonists and get the most page time. In this I found he captured their archaic and ultra-violent sense of humour perfectly.
Ufthak at one point destroys a Warlord Titan by teleporting aboard it using a Shokk-jump Dragsta, with his second in command, a sniveling Grot who refused to get out of the Dragsta when they stole it, and an overly affectionate Squig which follows him like a lost puppy.
This leads to one of the funniest moments where said Squig kills the last member of the bridge crew saving Ufthak from being shot. In return Ufthak pets the Squig and looks around to name it.
A Squig named "Princess"!
(Seriously I've got to remember that for another Ork Warboss when I make more greenskin models!).
Also throw in a rivalry with a certain Freeboota Kaptain and his crew of reckless Flash Gitzwho keep popping up throughout the book, just in time to nick the loot.
This makes the Greenskin sections of the book unpredictable, entertaining and extreme fun, just as Orks should be.
The Adeptus Mechanicus characters are a lot more stiff in comparison, which is to be expected. The surprising addition was the completely confident, unemotional presence of an infiltrated Iron Warrior.
Whose methods of going about an Imperial Forge World without being noticed are brilliant and a refreshing change from the usual fare of sewer/access tunnels and "he can because he's Astartes"...
Once I started reading this novel, I think I finished it in three or four nights. It's an easy enjoyable and fun read. Sometimes it's laugh out loud funny, when the Orks are amongst themselves. Equally it's quite dry in places, especially when the Iron Warrior is around (as you'd expect).
Standard fare for Black Library hardbacks runs anywhere from £15-£25 depending on the size of the book.
Brutal Kunnin from memory was £18, which I paid full for because it was from an actual GW store, not eBay, Facebook or Amazon.
I would say it is worth that price tag as it did its job of entertainment and it's got some re-read-ability in it simply from wanting to relive Ufthak's best moments in the book, but you'll get sucked into the full story.
I think I'll post another book review from my collection in another couple of weeks, as I've enjoyed re-reading books for this, and it gives me something to do before going to bed.
Until next time...
*Just a shame Ufthak is a weedy Bad Moon, not from a proper Ork Klan, like the Goffs or Evil Sunz!
I don't think the book would have worked as well if they'd have been Goffs though.
