There’s an old Dragon magazine short story entitled, “The Confusing Sequel to a Story That You Have Never Read Before,” or something like that. I think that when I selected this novel that I was going to be getting either a stand alone novel, or a first volume of a trilogy—I was wrong on both counts. This novel is book three of Watson’s Inquisition War trilogy and highly confusing to me. I figured had I read the previous volumes in the series, the author’s writing style—both edgy and stream of conscious at times—might have grown on me, but as it stands, it made the book very difficult to follow, even after rereading passages more then three time.

Taken on its own, the story follows the events after Jaq Draco has stolen a key relic form the Black Library. The story focuses on this madman and his quest to get back to the death of his lover, and transfer her soul into the body of a vessel that looks like her. This story features several elements of the Warhammer 40K setting, Harlequins, genestealers, Tyranids, Eldar, etc. and how the rogue Inquisitor battles his way to his enviable end.

Not a bad story, taken by itself though thoroughly confusing, probably would have been easier to follow with the other volumes read. I can’t say that I’d read the other volumes, one knowing the end, but the other is how the narration twisted my desire to finish the book—I almost didn’t finish, in fact I read another book while trying to be engaged with this one. The characters were a motley sort, a Space Marine, a squat and Jaq—the Inquisitor, all tied together, battling Chaos and fate while following the madness that drives Jaq. While I enjoyed a little of Watson’s narration, when it was humorous, the constant shifts in POV and tenses are what made this text hard to digest.

Overall, it’s hard to judge part three without the rest of the series to back it up, so please take the rating with a grain of salt, coming from just this volume being read. It’s not a bad display of the WH40K setting, and some of the characters were a nice to see in its pages, however the plot was hard to follow and the ending seem unjustified in the first part of the novel.