The book is called "Lord of the Night". It's written by Simon Spurrier. (An english guy named simon who almost makes up for another english guy named simon.....)
It's printed by Black Library and it's set in the 40K universe. Now before you go dismissing it and rolling your eyes, just sit down, take your hand off the mouse and keep reading.
I've read quite a few 40K novels, in fact I just read "Dawn of war" which wasn't all that hot. But Lord of the Night made up for it completely. In fact, I do believe it may be the best 40K novel ever written, and if you're a fan of tom harris' 'hannibal lecter' books you may love it too.
The book does in some ways remind me of the Hannibal lecter books, in that it starts out with two diametrically opposed characters who are on oppisite sides of just about everything. On one hand we have Mita Ashyn, an interrogator under the ducatorship of an arrogant, pompous inquisitor. She struggles to serve an imperium in which she is hated and spat upon because she has psychic powers, making her a 'witch' in the eyes of the masses.
On the other we are introduced to Night Lords commander Sahaal, a high ranking member of the infamous night lords 'traitor' legion of space marines. Cmdr. Sahaal is portrayed as a fully realized person, tho not a normal human by any means, and not a mindless, 2d psuedo-latin chanting mindless chaos fanatic.
Much like the hannibal lecter books, we see these diametrically opposing characters come to each other's attention, we see them fight each other and against far more terrible foes, we see them forced to re evaluate everything they've ever believed in, suffer terrible losses, misery and injury, and finally find themselves and, possibly, each other. The introspection each goes thru makes them seem so believable as real people, not just characters from a wargame.
This is no romance, the two characters are drawn together by loss, pain, betrayal and hatred, but find in each other a mirror image to hold onto when everything else is taken from them.
The author shows a deep knowledge of abberant psychology, and writes from the POV of one who's life has been shaped and warped by betrayal, lies and loss to the point all they have left is their hatred and their desire to avenge. The best part of the book, IMO, is the way the author makes it so believable that these two characters could start out determined to destroy each other without a second thought, then gradually realize that the other is the only person in the univsrse each can understand or empathisize with. You can accept the way their relationship develops and grows without batting an eye.
Asides from the excellt psychological portraits painted of each character and the awesome growth and change each character shows, there are other goodies in this book.
Lots of gory battles, of course. In one scene Sahaal must fight against over a hundred armed and armored, disciplined opponents, but he does so in a way that is plausible and doesn't insult the reader's intelligence.
Also the book gives some excellent notes of psychology, including a bit that could almost be labled "A primer on building a cult". Sahaal must, ir order to retrieve his precious Corona Nox, turn a band on underhive scum and rejects into his personal, worshipful cult, and does so step by step. It all seems to sound fairly plausible, based on my knowledge of cults.
Even if you're not a 40K fan, you might like Lord of the Night, it's characters are so good, it's so well written, the psychology is so powerful. if you ARE a 40k fan, lord of the Night must go to the top of your "read it" list, and i say this despite it's hefy, 400+ page count. (However if you're not a 40k player, or victim, as some call them, already, please don't let tyhis boom get you into 40K, given GW's constant price hikes and utter disrgard and disrespect for their customers I can't advise anyone get into any of their games.)
But if you are a 40k victim already, you may find the book a good guide to starting a new army lead by a character based on Cmdr. Sahaal, once you understand Sahaal's vision of what the nightlord's should have been and would be under his command.
The book tells some interesting stories about the heresy and the fall, btw, that aren't quite in line with what the usual imperial gospel is in 40k, and it fits in quite well with the 40k universe, being an anternative view without violating any current 40k canon.
The only trivial quibble I came close to having with the book was the fact sahall was equipped with lightning claws but was still able to use a bolter as well.(In 40k rules a model with a pair of lightning claws can't have other weapons.) But the talons were defined as being retractable and to whine over such minutia would have been unworthy in the face of an incredibly well written book.
Even a non 40K fan might get a lot of inspiration for deeply developed and motivated characters by reading this book, and a NPC villian, or hero, based on Commander Sahaal would be a very in depth addition to any campaign.
All in all I have to throw my head back and let slip the cry of "AVE DOMINUS NOX! "
(For those of you with poor latin, I'll say that translates out to "Hail the Lord of the Night!)
