Brutal Kunnin by Mike Brooks

This is perhaps one of the best Warhammer books I have ever read, and Mike Brooks has demonstrated what is perhaps so uniquely enjoyable about this fictitious universe. This is, of course, the innate chaos (not to be confused with Chaos) of the 40k universe and how even those with great personal power can be brought low on the whim and scheming of various individuals. And oh boy, is there a lot of the latter in Brutal Kunnin.

Brooks craft really shines through in his take of this murky universe, as he puts together one of the most singularly balanced and acutely thematic tale of Orks fighting against the Adeptus Mechanicus. One of the things that sometimes puts me off a novel is when the story is so heavily weighted in the character's or 'races' favour that all becomes a bit fascial. Too often a space marine cleaves through a horde of chaos, only for a chaos marine to do the same in a different novel from the other perspective.

Brutal Kunnin is a not stop fun-fest of Ork driven madness and Mechanicus razor-sharp strategy. Not only that but the main characters are a real treat to engage with in the story. My favorite, and not without some bias, is Ufthak Blackhawk - the Ork Nob through whom we see most of the Orkish perspective of this tale. He brings us everything we could hope for in an Ork focused novel; the love of a good fight, technological madness and one delightfully insane situation after another, most of which are fixed with judicious applications of speed or a big enough shoota. The Mechanicum is certainly not lacking in its own heroes, and introduces some worthy opponents for the Orks to test their kunnin against.

The dialog is really fun to read, though Brooks leans hard into the sort of stereotyped 'Millwall football fan' style of hooliganism in the Ork's speech mannerisms. However, it delivers well given the background of the species and builds on the 'friendly yet thuggish' rivalries that fuel their interclan feuds. The way the Meklord and Kaptin Badrukk constantly try to out-flash eachother in what was effectively just a mad dash for the best loot, really made it easy to get behind their senseless rampage through the forgeworld, and made it just all the more fun to read.

The Mechanicum side of things is also a great look into the bureaucracy of the adepts, how the forge world runs and the politics that drives these religious engineers in their pursuit of information and power. The way they fight back against the Orks invasion is a great example of how in such a huge organization can leave the left hand acting without the right knowing what is going on. While they certainly have their moments of glory, something which is essential to keep the story engaging and exciting, it also acts as something of a critical introspective piece on the way blind devotion to logic and status can lead the powerful to their own undoing when too blind to consider the real information before them.

As I said, it's a really well paced and exciting story and Brooks has managed to keep it really on theme throughout without needing to give any real Deus Ex moments which can all too often crop up in this sort of science fiction writing. There are also some wonderful surprises in the story that left me laughing out loud with just how ridiculous and delightful they are, and I am loathe to reveal even a hint of them for the spoliery nature of these events, but trust me when I say you should get a real kick out of how events unfold.