Master of Rites

Warhammer 40,000

De: Rob Young

Narrado por: John Banks

A Ferren Areios Audiobook

The Khorsari Reach has been lost to the Imperium for over a decade, locked behind the warp storms that cling to the edges of the Great Rift. Its worlds have been claimed by the Death Guard, its people slaughtered by the servants of the Plague God. But these are the worlds of Ultramar, and they are protected.

LISTEN TO IT BECAUSE
We first met Ferron Areios in the epic Dawn of Fire series. Now he's ascended to the rank of Captain of the Ultramarines Sixth Company, earning the title Master of Rites. Now he must face his most challenging task to date – taking on the Death Guard in a grinding war where little glory can be found. Honour demands that this task must be undertaken, and who better to lead than the Master of Rites?

THE STORY
Ferren Areios, Captain of the Ultramarines Sixth Company, has been dispatched to retake the worlds of the Reach and cleanse them of the Death Guard’s corruption. As the Plague Marines dig in and the death toll rises to catastrophic heights, Ferren is pushed to the limits of his Chapter’s creed. Isolated in the Plague God’s domain, the reclamation fleet fights not only for the worlds of the Reach, but for what remains of Ferren’s own humanity.

Written by Rob Young. Narrated by John Banks. Runtime 9 hours and 7 minutes approx.

©2025 Games Workshop Limited (P)2025 Games Workshop Limited

Fun adventure

Really fun and exciting novel. With excellent character development and exciting fast pace battles. This book shows why the ultramarines are such a great chapter with great characters. I'm hoping for a sequel.

not what i was expecting

this one was a little unconventional, i was expecting bolt guns and codex and but its actually more of a psychological thing about Ferren dealing with a profound loss while learning how to run a crusade for the first time

there is a second storyline about a navy officer who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time (till he found himself at the right place in the right time in the end) classic!

Ultramarines by name only

This story say that these are Ultramarines but they do not act or talk like Ultramarines. My interpretation of this book or story is that the writer did not do his homework in writing about Ultramarines. Here is why, not once did I remember hearing them ruminate or reflect on the application of the Codex Astartes (10,000 year legacy of strategic treatieses, contingency planning, and the rigorous application of expertise designed to account for nearly evey concievable tactical situation.) also I do not remember them saying the famous mantra of the Ulramarines "Theoretical and Practical" rambling that Ultramarines do. Its been several years after the Indominous Crusade and the Character's of the story have seen their Primarch do it and they are not mimicing what their Primarch does. The Chaplin of the Ultramarines is preaching exterminatus instead of "what would the primarch do, before we do it?" The Chaplin should be ecouraging the Chapter and the Captain to have faith in the Codex the wisdom of the Primarch because they are Ultramarines. This is the first flaw I see in this book. By omitting the Captain's attempts to use these pre-existing "books of plans," the story ignores the very thing that makes the Ultramarines superhumanly resilient; their ability to rely on their collective genius of their ancestors and their primarch.

The Second flaw is, their absence of logistics and redundancy:
Robute Guilliman is the Imperium's greatest administrator and logistician. Sending a liberation fleet into an isolated section of the 500 Worlds of Ultramar without a monitoring station, a convoy chain of ships for supply, communication, reinfocements, or recovery, repair, and rescue; also a secondary or a third rescue vector contradicts Guilliman's primary doctrine of layered defense. Contingency Lore: Historically, Guilliman would not move on from a world until he had established a self-sufficent system and trade routes. Unable to suspend my disbelief, it is out of character for the High Command (Calgar or the Tetriarchs) to deploy a force into an "isolation zone" without a data-retrieval plan or a relief force on standby, especially given the high value Guilliman places on his remaining sons for the liberation of The 500 Worlds.

The Third flaw is to describe it as 'rolling a double six on a leadership test' the Captain and Chaplian fail as Ultramarines; from a lore perspective, this feels 'wrong' because an Ultramarine should have thousands of mental "sub-routines" and "theoretical"(s) to fall back on before resorting to the cold, Black Templar-like fanaticism seen in the story.

in conclusion, I view this book as a deliberate subversion of the "perfect" Ultramarine trope. it sacrafices their signature competence to the telling of a story about the 'psychological toll" of the Greate Rift, even if that means ignoring the very treatiese and contingency plans fighting Chaos and Xenos that have defined the Chapter for ten millennia. If this story was about the Black Templars or Imperial Fists then it makes perfect sense.

Nothing special

While John Banks voice acting is spot on Rob Young wrote a story that leaves much to be desired. Multiple character actions and story events just dont make sense and the Ultramarines dont act like Ultramarines, many times acting more like Black Templars.