That's done by practically all if not all the Black Library authors. It is annoying. I don't know why that seems to be a stylistic requirement.

I didn't read the first 3 books. I've read 4 and 5 but they are taking me a heck of a lot longer than any other 40k fiction that I've read. I agree that they aren't very interesting. I can't really put my finger on why. I like the idea of the Soul Drinkers, but the individuals are kind of bland. I'm going to try and get through book 6 when I can find the motivation.

It's a trait found in a lot of broad scope stories, and an easy way to depict wars on a massive scale. You can only do so much following a single squad of soldiers or a single regiment in a war to show its scale without resorting to basic information. Have a widespread group of characters from civillians to princeps and the idea is that the reader will have a better idea of how big things are. That and it frees up authors to add in any new toys games workshop might want them to advertise without it causing too much trouble. At least, that's a personal theory on this anyway.

That would make sense. I've seen it done by non-Black Library authors as well. Jim Butcher's fantasy series comes to mind. Thanks for the explanation.

I did not enjoy Ben Counters Soul Drinkers and I recently read Arjac Rockfist.

I'm a fan of the Wolves of Fenris and I was astonished by the uncharacteristic behavior of the Wolves as portrayed by Counter. First and foremost members of the Rout referring to themselves as Space Wolves which they never do. This theme was even repeated by thralls addressing Astartes of the Vlka Fenryka as "Lord Space Wolf" which is laughable IMO.

Those examples are simply terminology related and just the tip of the iceberg as far as the sheer wrongness of Mr Counters portrayal of the Vlka Fenryka.

The one thing I did really like was the story of Arjac Rockfist being told as a fireside saga in a feast hall. Hats off to Mr Counter on that aspect of the novel. I was fully immersed by the method that the story was told, though I kept getting jarred back to reality by "Space Wolf...this" and "Space Wolf...that" Coming from the mouths of the Sons of Russ.