Book Club Book #151: Fifteen Hours by Mitchel Scanlon

Every two weeks we read a new book in the WH40k universe and discuss it on our podcast. We invite you to read along with us and join in on our conversation via comments, Twitter, Discord, email, or vox cast.

For this episode, we’re reading Fifteen Hours by Mitchel Scanlon. You can purchase it at Amazon, Black Library, and Audible.

From the back of the book:

Arvin Larn is terrified. On the battlefields of the far future, only an insane man wouldn’t be. Seventeen years old and still new to the Imperial Guard, he is thrust straight into his first war and must face horrors that his sheltered upbringing could never prepare him for. The trenches of the 41st millennium are filled with worse things than rats and trenchrot. For one, the world they fight for is being contested by the monstrous barbarian orks. The orks live for battle and know no fear, so it’s no wonder that the average life-span of an Imperial Guardsman on this forsaken world is only fifteen hours.

Discussion guide for Fifteen Hours

• Did you like the book?
• Which parts stood out to you?
• Were you invested in Arvin Larn’s story? Was he a compelling look at the “real” Imperial Guard?
• The book has some commentary on the Imperial war machine. Was it interesting?
• ORKS! Were the orks a good antagonist for this story?
• How does this compare to more recent guard books that we’ve read?
• Were you surprised by the ending? Was it a satisfying ending?