Fire Caste, written by Peter Fehervari and published by Black Library back in 2016 was certainly an interesting read. Having had a long passing interest in the Warhammer 40k universe as a whole, and recently getting into actually playing the tabletop miniature game, I decided I wanted to find some Warhammer literature to read, particularly something with Tau as a focus since that is the army I landed on deciding to learn how to play first.

The focus of this novel primarily switches back and forth between Imperial Commissar Holt Iverson, and Colonel Ensor Cutler, Imperial Guards from the Arkan Confederates their deployment objectives to eliminate the Tau presence in the Dolorosa Coil on the planet Phaedra. Phaedra is a swamp world believed to be cursed, tainting the poor souls that find themselves assigned there. Unexpected alliances are made, Brothers in arms are betrayed, crimes of the past haunt their perpetrator and posts are deserted. While certainly entertaining, and the story gripping I did often find myself confused on who’s perspective was where as the point of view swapped a bit too frequently, sometimes even changing points of view for a couple sentences before swapping back. The military heavy jargon while assisting with immersion also made the writing a bit clunky at times slowing the pace and to me often resulted in the book feeling like quite the slog to get through, with the expectation of a slog demotivating my want to read more despite still wanting to know what happened next and where the story was headed exactly. While focusing on the Arkan Confederates from the Astra Militarum faction of Imperials and the Tau, it was nice to see mention and interaction with Adeptus Sororitas, Adeptus Mechanicus, Chaos Knights, and Chaos Daemons even if those interactions were fairly brief when they did pop up. My favorite parts of this book were the occasional journal entries by Iverson, and the gory, brutal, and gruesome details of each battle scene each very well crafted. If it weren’t for the constant confusion I experienced between points of view, and the absolute slog that this book was for me, I’d likely be giving it 8 stars or so, but being as difficult to follow, and slog-like as it was I can’t justify giving this more than 6 stars. It’s still worth the read if you like Warhammer but be prepared for a battle of wits between you and the book.