Bloody Books Reviews: The Beast Arises Book Two - Predator, Prey by Rob Sanders

This second entry into The Beast Arises picks up direct from the end of I Am Slaughter and runs with it. After the complete annihilation of the Imperial Fists save a single Marine, The Beast is coming for Terra. Attack Moons (you read that right) begin appearing throughout Imperial Space causing destruction on a scale reminiscent of the height of the Horus Heresy. Meanwhile, Terra is unprepared for such a large scale invasion as the High Lords continue to powerplay and jockey for position, without ever understanding the sheer impossible size and scale of the threat they now face.  

Sanders takes the baton and delivers a frankly stunning second volume to the series. We bear witness to the green tide deliver killing stroke after killing stroke to world after world, before settling into a stride of four arcs moving the overall narrative along. Each of these arcs shows a different Imperial point of view, from the Marines of the Fists Exemplar to a lowly PDF commander. From the heated political arguments on terra, to the sterile observations of Mars. I honestly didn't expect the opening salvo to be bettered, but Sanders manages to accomplish just that, giving each of the contingents a very distinct voice as they watch with horror just what punishment these Orks are able to deliver. There is pathos alongside the brutality too, as the human eyes are able to describe so much more the horror than the transhuman, but both are equally valid and deserved.

Once again, this book is inhaled at high speed, with rarely a moment to stop and slow down. Everything moves at a quick pace towards the cliffhanger ending (Of which I feel each entry will have), but never sacrificing the humanity and the ground level view of such abominable actions.

The bar is well and truly raised and I hope this level of quality can be kept up