I also need to highlight the great characters featured within Kingmaker as Rath has created an excellent collection of enticing figures whose unique personal stories deeply enhanced the overall tale. This was a fantastic group of deep and complex characters, and their statuses within this universe ensured that they all had some unique experiences. Most of Kingmaker’s narrative is spread amongst the three members of the Assassinorum who represent a different Assassinorum Temple, and as such have very different viewpoints on the universe and the best way to operate as killers. This provides some compelling initial conflict amongst them as they try to work together, something none of them are really good at. However, they soon start to come together as a team as the novel continues, and they ended up playing off each other’s strengths and personalities to create an excellent, core group of protagonists. The most lethal assassins in the Warhammer 40,000 universe go face to face with a gigantic foe in the impressive and deeply thrilling Assassinorum: Kingmaker by amazing author Robert Rath.

The Spy Novels That Inspired Assassinorum: Kingmaker – Robert The Spy Novels That Inspired Assassinorum: Kingmaker – Robert

To Slay a WAAAGH! (718.924.M40) - The Ork Warlord Urgak the Unstoppable is on the verge of completing his Gargant and launching a WAAAGH! into the Vondiac Sector when a Vindicare Assassin sends a bullet into the reactor core of the giant effigy. The thing catches fire and then explodes spectacularly, killing not only Urgak himself but also the vast majority of the Meks in his employ. The WAAAGH! is halted before it even begins, putting the lie to Urgak's self-aggrandising title and plunging the surviving Orks into a bloody civil war.Vindicare Temple Assassins are cold, calculating killers that eliminate their targets with contemptuous ease. They aim to bring inglorious death to the enemies of the Emperor with a sniper's bullet, and have elevated the skills of the marksman to an art form.

Assassinorum: Kingmaker – Robert Rath [IN BRIEF] Assassinorum: Kingmaker – Robert Rath

When a distant yet crucial world threatens to secede from the Imperium, the Officio Assassinorum dispatches a group of its finest agents to replace the planet’s monarch with someone more favourable. But when you’re working with trained killers, can you really trust anyone . . ? I really, really loved the cool story in this book, which essentially boiled down to ultra-elite assassins attempting to kill the king of a planet of mecha, which is such an awesome idea. Despite this being a heavy concept to achieve, Rath managed to achieve it in spades, providing readers a fantastic and clever narrative that instantly grabs your attention. This book starts off extremely well, introducing the world of Dominion, the unique mission, and the four central characters of the three assassins, and their Knight patsy, and generally setting up all the key elements of Kingmaker to ensure some outstanding moments later. From there, the story turns into a bit of an espionage thriller, as the three assassins begin their infiltration of the court, impersonating the knight Rakkan, and coming to grips with the unique world they have arrived at. Rath provides an excellent balance of story elements in this first half of the novel, and the reader gets a fantastic mixture of character development, massive universe building, political intrigue, spy elements and some early mecha-action, all of which is a ton of fun and ensures that the reader is firmly addicted with this novel.

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I was warned that this book is more Knight than Assassinorum, but I don't agree. I would say it's about 70-30 if favour of our killy boys and girls. Despite not having Imperial Knights in the title this is the best Imperial Knighs book that I've read so far. So many deep dives into Assassin/Knight lore. Intricate descriptions. Great ending. Even amongst the upper echelons of the Officio Assassinorum, this temple is always viewed with extreme caution. This is not because of the way that the Culexus operate, nor because of any particularly hideous methods they use to kill their targets. It is because of the Assassins themselves, for they are bearers of the Pariah Gene.

Assassinorum: Kingmaker (Robert Rath) - + THE BLACK LIBRARY Assassinorum: Kingmaker (Robert Rath) - + THE BLACK LIBRARY

An Assassin's body is his most powerful weapon. He can smash through steel with his hands and feet. He can climb sheer surfaces, leap gaping chasms, run as fast as the wind, and endure hardships that would kill a lesser man. None can withstand pain or hurt like an Assassin. He can place his hand in boiling lava without flinching, he can endure flame or cutting blade. Even mortal wounds will not blunt his purpose. He works silently and without thanks, for he is the bloody-handed and secret saviour of the Imperium." The Assassins of the Imperium are able to change the fate of worlds with the pull of a single trigger. Where the length of the Emperor's reach needs to be made abundantly clear, a Vindicare sniper will put a bullet in the target's head whilst the errant individual is surrounded by his followers. If the traitorous creed has spread to an entire organisation or military force, an Eversor will instead be set loose; a bio-enhanced berserker that will slaughter dozens if not hundreds of rebels alongside the key individual he has been sent to slay. Should the deed require more subtlety, an operative from the Callidus Temple will instead be despatched; in such cases it is all but impossible to detect the presence of these shape-shifting Assassins until the deed is done. If the target is a psyker, one of the rare and fearsome Culexus will be sent to hunt them down –- beings with a strange void in place of a soul that makes them the bane of all who treat with the Warp. Temple Secretum - It is whispered that there exists a "Temple Secretum," an Assassinorum temple named for its dedication to keeping the Imperium's darkest secrets by any means necessary rather than for a preferred method of killing. Other than that, Kingmaker is just overall a fun time. The three assassins making up the Officio team all get their moments to shine and have great interpersonal chemistry. They were surprisingly – though pleasantly – human, with a smart focus on how their personalities and viewpoints integrate with their equipment and methodology instead of bland codex regurgitations.A Ghost Amongst Devils (990.M32) - The Culexus Assassin Dranos is sent to destroy the Chaos Sorcerer Xantaka before he can conjure any more daemonic legions from the Warp. Being all but invisible to not only the aether-sight of Xantaka's Daemon armies but also his Rubricae bodyguard, Dranos simply walks up to the Sorcerer Xantaka and burns his brains to ash with a blast of negative energy. The Knight World of Dominion is on the verge of seceding from the Imperium, its court riven by factionalism and ruled by an increasingly unhinged monarch. With the aid of the shapeshifting Callidus assassin Sycorax, Raithe must remove the king from his throne—and safely steer a pro-Imperial candidate to victory through the brutal succession crisis that will inevitably ensue. His team will need to infiltrate a world steeped in chivalric codes, where every move risks discovery and every threat pilots an adamantine monster...for if the assassins fail, and Dominion falls, the entire sector will be plunged into darkness. Adamus Temple - The Adamus Temple, originally known as the Clade Adamus, was the oldest of the clades of the Officio Assassinorum during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. It is unclear whether it survives into the 41st Millennium as one of the Officio Assassinorum's present temples. Clade Adamus Assassins are master swordsmen and melee specialists, drawing on some of the most ancient blade-master traditions of Old Earth. Adamus Assassins were dedicated to decapitation strikes intended to eliminate an enemy military force's command and control. The Horus Heresy (ca. 005-014.M31) - After the Warmaster Horus' treachery is revealed, an early incarnation of the Officio Assassinorum sends four operatives, one from each of the major temples, to form an Execution Force and hunt down and destroy the Traitor Primarch. All four are found wanting, for Horus is powerful beyond the reach of mortal men, and his destiny lies elsewhere.

Assassinorum Kingmaker is Awesome (Light Spoilers) Assassinorum Kingmaker is Awesome (Light Spoilers)

An Eversor distills the brute force of an entire strike team into a single Human body, and hence rarely has just a single target. His mission will be to rip the heart out of the rebel operation, wreaking havoc and destruction. Such brutality ensures that the Renegade leaders are destroyed in one fell swoop, and that no would-be successors may take over. Over the course of the Imperium's history, the agents of the Officio Assassinorum have claimed millions of lives for their masters. But their tactics differ greatly from the worldwide slaughter brought to bear by the Astra Militarum or the unremitting force of an Adeptus Astartes strike. Each death they bestow upon the enemies of the Imperium is a carefully crafted link in the chain that binds the realm of Man to the Emperor's immortal will. Though every one of these kills is extensively documented in the appropriate temple's datacrypts, only a very small fraction have entered the legends of the Imperium, known by few outside the vaulted halls of the High Lords themselves.So all-in-all, great read: fast-paced espionage thriller with fun characters that evokes certain genre tones/atmosphere whilst integrating it into a 40k tapestry.