"Deliverance Lost" by Gav Thorpe

For the eighteenth book in the HH series, Black Library turned its attentions to a Legion which is something of a 'cult favourite', but often seems to not get the same 'push' as some other Space Marine armies we won't name here. Here we go with the first HH Raven Guard novel.

Man Corax is pretty cool.

The book begins with a recap of 'Raven's Flight' and 'The Face Of Treachery', as the Raven Guard escape Isstvan (but I do recommend reading those short stories again if you can, before you start this one - and the Isstvan scene in 'The First Heretic' might not be bad to revisit, either.) There's a great moment where Corax reflects on his confrontation with Kurze and notes that their upbringings could have been much more alike, if not for fate, so Corax is lucky not to have turned out like Night Haunter. It's nice that he's aware of his relatively privileged past.

I didn't know much about the Raven Guard before I started 'Deliverance Lost'. Remember, "my" edition was 2nd Edition, so the universe was a lot... goofier back then. All I knew is that their home fortress had basements full of hideous mutants for some reason, and that their Primarch Corax survived the Heresy, only to go a bit mental and disappear off into the void, leaving with only the word "Nevermore..." Even 11-year-old-me rolled his eyes at THAT shit.

However, this really bare-bones 'fluff' has been fleshed out a lot in the intervening two decades or so. There is certainly plenty of Raven Guard lore here to sink your teeth into. Early on, it becomes obvious the Raven Guard are a 'stealth' Legion. Of course, an army where even your lightest troop types are much bulkier than a standard full-grown human will need some creative thinking in order to be light on their feet. So they use guerilla tactics, striking hard and fast, and retreating before their foes are able to counter-attack. Then they find another weak point somewhere else, and strike again. Their way of warmaking is necessarily bolstered by a lot of tech innovations other Legions don't have access to (or don't care to make use of). For example, the Raven Guard ships are tricked out with 'reflex shields' which make them practically invisible to enemy scanners. However, when this is active, the ships have almost no physical defense against attack. This technology becomes useful in the torturously slow high-tension escape from the Isstvan system, a masterfully handled sequence.

There are other interesting factors in the Raven Guard's cultural identity too. Unlike many of their brother Legions, the XIX are established as very austere warriors, likely influenced by the prison-moon, no-frills culture of its Deliverance-born soldiers. No Ultramarines ceremony or Emperor's Children flashiness for them.

But the Legion is in a pretty dire state. At this time, only 4,000 Raven Guard remain, less than 3,000 of them being Isstvan veterans. Considering the Legion was over 80,000 strong before Isstvan, this is pretty fucking horrendous. (I guess this doesn't take into account the scattered Raven Guard who didn't make it to Isstvan, or the ones who made it off-world separate from Corax's force.) Also, the survivors of Isstvan obviously share the bond of that terrible experience, which leads to the Deliverance garrison feeling alienated and guilty. It's a nice touch but not one that is developed particularly interestingly in this book. Agapito and Branne's conversation about Isstvan's horrors, or rather Agapito's refusal to talk about them, is another well-handled moment - an Astartes who was quick to boast about his exploits and combat successes before, now seems ashamed of his survival. But apart from that, this is just a background factor, not a real threat that is actually causing divisions in the Legion.

Corax is arguably the main character of 'Deliverance Lost', so we get plenty of Primarch-shadowing here. Left to reflect, Corax thinks on his past relationship with Horus - apparently they never got on. Corax felt he was an arrogant glory-hunter. He also thinks about the consequences of his actions during the Isstvan fight. Corax chastistes himself for being reckless and breaking from his sons to fight Lorgar. He swears he won't have an 'emotive response' like that again. Corax isn't a Primarch who gets all angsty when he considers the end of the Great Crusade - we find he had always accepted it would happen eventually and he would have been happy to sit in some apartment somewhere, writing political treatises or erotic thrillers. I really like this key quote from Corax: "We have no room for hope. We plan and we act. Hope is for dreamers and poets. We have our will and our weapons and we shall dictate our own fate." We also get frequent flashbacks to Corax's time leading the rebellion against the prison overseers on Deliverance (Lycaeus, at the time). They're a nice insight into his character, and also I guess they provide some action for readers who hate all the boring talking and need some FITES. In the course of the 'fleshing out' of Corax, we also get some of the best writing in the series on the subject of what it's like for a Primarch to come out of their stasis pod suddenly cut off from their 'father'. Disconcerted and alone, within seconds of finding himself on Deliverance, Corax is fighting a brutal 'overseer' and protecting defenseless prisoners, so he obviously got to Deliverance with his value system at least partly formed.

Early in the book, without much fanfare, the narrative suddenly switches to our primary antagonist: the Alpha Legion. First of all, we get some stuff from Alpharius' viewpoint. He's on the Vengeful Spirit, being dressed down by Horus for his mysterious tactics. ('Mysterious Tactics' - title of Alpharius' autobiography, I guarantee it.) Some nice stuff here along the lines of "you've changed bro, I don't even know you anymore!!!", as well as the setup for our book's plot: the Raven Guard have been infiltrated by the XX Legion. The dialogue isn't brilliant but it's not bad either, and at least it moves the plot along well (I feel like Primarch-to-Primarch conversations are the hardest to "get right"). This scene, and its aftermath, makes it clear that Horus and his commanders don't trust the Alpha Legion at all. In fact, they are ready to move against Lupercal's 'youngest' brother at the slightest provocation... but for now, Alpharius is a useful resource, despite his schemes. Back on Alpharius' flagship, the Primarch meets with his ambassador to the Cabal, some freaky lil alien dude. From the beginning we can see that Alpharius' relationship with the Cabal is strained to say the least; there's not much trust on either side. We also discover that Omegon is on Kiavahr (the planet which Deliverance is a satellite of) ready to provoke unrest and rebellion.

I am a huge Alpha Legion fan so I treasure the Alpha Legion lore which is casually dropped for us here - that the infiltrating Astartes, who all go by the designation 'Alpharius', have their real names wiped from their memories while undercover; that they still use Librarians, despite Nikaea's ruling; and perhaps most interesting, the mindset of an infiltrator - what it's like for one marine to take on another Legion's identity. The portrayal of the Alpha Legion in 'Deliverance Lost' is frequently criticised, but I think it's invaluable in establishing Alpharius and Omegon as distinct characters. Alpharius the worrier, preoccupied about the thousand deaths that await him if any of his schemes fail, haunted by the "truth" of the Acuity; and Omegon the field operative, calm, callous, efficient. Of course, they share more traits than they differ in. But I hope they continue to grow as their own characters; I'm really very anxious to see which author will handle them next. Moreover, 'Alpharius' is an interesting character(s); it's cool to see the frosty, cynical outlook of the XX Legion contrasted with the more humanitarian Raven Guard. And while the Alpha Legion infiltrators are pretty calm under pressure, it's an unenviable position they're in: isolated from their brothers, surrounded by the enemy, no hope of rescue if they fuck up. This leads to some awkward situations which the operatives extricate themselves from quite skillfully.

As for the Raven Guard characters, I feel they are a little bland and dour, but that actually seems quite fitting considering the nature of their Legion culture, as well as the horrors they've witnessed. The deployment here of the standard Black Library fallback "taciturn = stoic" could seem a bit lazy to a cynical reader, but I'm going to say it works this time. It is a bit of a problem in some contexts: When the identities of the fake Raven Guard are revealed, they turn out to be fairly peripheral characters; one is just some asshole who's done nothing "onscreen" but make an awkward joke to Corax in passing. Worse, one of them is actually one of Corax's most trusted commanders, but he's not really been fleshed out before this point, so you'd be forgiven for thinking "who?" at the big Reveal moment. Faring a bit better is one of the only human characters, Valerius, the Therion officer (the Imperial Army of Deliverance, I guess) whose visions prompted Corax's rescue. He's an interesting character: a vain, paranoid asshole, but a Loyalist one, who cares deeply and genuinely about the Legion he fights with.

A sequence here I feel gets unfairly criticised is the 'labyrinth navigation' Corax must mastermind to retrieve his dad's gene-tech is a nice piece of high-tension plotting. Some feel this is too 'videogamey', but that doesn't really put me off (I'd rather see a blatant 'adventure/puzzle game tribute' than some boring 'huge Prince Of Persia boss battle' ripoff). This sequence also shows us Corax's mettle. He may be a more humanitarian, conscientious and all-round courteous Primarch than, say, Night Haunter or Perturabo, but under the social niceties, there's a cold bastard who's very willing to sacrifice his own men if he feels the objective is worthwhile. Not that dissimilar from the Lord of the 4th, then.

Having said that, I felt that 'Alpharius' starting to feel a kinship and rapport with his 'squadmates' is perhaps a little heavy-handed. Surely a specialist trusted to a 'deep cover' mission of this magnitude would be prepared to squash emotions like this? Perhaps it's because 'Alpharius' is a well-rounded character with doubts and flaws that he also seems like a shit operative. I mean, getting your feelings hurt when the Loyalists you're infiltrating talk shit about Horus? Did you think you were infiltrating a princess' tea party dawg? Then again, later there's a really nice 'Alpharius' moment where he encounters Word Bearer Gal Vorbak warriors and is overcome with disgust, so it's clear the Alpha Legion isn't too psyched about the behaviour of its 'allies' either.

So the reward for this trek is the by-now-familiar laboratory where the Primarchs were created, and the genetic material that Corax needed, apparently bringing with it the ability to rebuild a broken Legion in a fraction of the time it should take. Corax thinks they can take advantage of the power and purity of this new genetic source material to greatly improve the chances of successful implantation and decrease the time it takes for a Legionary to be 'formed' - from several years, to a matter of months. All very well until you start thinking about how the Raven Guard will be going into battle using soldiers who were, until very recently, pre-adolescent boys. I guess Corax is prepared for a drastic increase in fart jokes and attempts to emulate wrestling moves on the frontlines. With this dramatic rise in the stakes, Part I of the book abruptly ends.

Part II begins similarly abruptly, with no indication of how long has elapsed, but the Raven Guard are back on Deliverance. They waste no time in shaking things up, immediately enacting the Edict of Dissolution and rounding all their Remembrancers up for return to Terra so they can be 'debriefed'. (I really like that Gav put a scene about this in here, I'd always wondered what putting that into practice would actually involve). There's also an interesting moment where it seems a Word Bearers Chaplain has been seconded to the Raven Guard to ensure Nikaea's edict is followed. Corax goes HAM on that hoe, first verbally excoriating him and his Legion, then executing him out of hand. A nice contrast to Guilliman's much more 'Geneva Convention' treatment of a captive Word Bearer in 'Unremembered Empire'.

Let me not forget the Raven Guard Apothecary, Vincente Sixx. As in, Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue. FUCK YOU FOR THAT SHIT GAV! He's a good character though. It's revealed at this time that only seven Raven Guard Apothecaries survived the Isstvan massacre; Sixx has seniority, so he's the Chief Apothecary of a Legion by default. No pressure.

ARE YOU READY TO ROCK TONIGHT, DELIVERANCE??

We get some nice stuff for the 40K 'tech nerds' as well, including an early showing of 'Vengeance' bolter rounds and some fluff on how the Traitors were so successful - with relatively little loss - against an enemy who was armoured and armed to the same standard as they were. Another nice bit of fan-service is when the Raven Guard are presented with some of the very first Mark VI 'Corvus' power armour suits, the style they're most associated with in 'modern' 40k, and their slightly miffed reaction. "What, you gave us these 'beakie' suits because our Legion's named after a bird? Rude." And that part where Sixx complains about the disparities between all the Primarch gene-codes - well, damn, that's full of stuff to geek out over.

I really like the sections of the book which are concerned with character development and increasing the 'fluff' for the Legions involved, but as things start hotting up (like, two-thirds of the way through the book) part of me thinks "thank fuck for that". Omegon's gambit doesn't disappoint either - a well-written, edge-of-the-seat sequence which feels like the culmination of all the 'Alpharius' parts in the book, plus the tension of a 'casino heist' scene, right up to the bloody conclusion. (Also - the Door code for the gene-see storage unit is 'peta-orpheus-epsilon'. Most obviously this is a reference to Poe, that sad motherfucker who wrote a poem called 'The Raven', but could it also be a reference to Jack D. Ripper's mantra in 'Doctor Strangelove'? Maybe that's a bit too 'outside'.) So... the error that left the Raven Guard bolstered with horrible mutants, the error that haunts Corax for the rest of his days, isn't really his fault. That's some tragic shit. I think Alpharius owes him a phonecall at this point. "LOL IT WAS ME BRO, I WAS IN UR BASE, CORRUPTIN UR GENE MATERIAL. U SEEM MAD THO?"

We have a nice little 'wind-down' sequence where the Raven Guard look forward to - No, wait, there's still an entire military operation here, just over 10 pages, where they destroy an Emperor's Children base. The Perfect Fortress is an Emperor's Children installation on a planet called Narsis. As in narcissist. FUCK YOU GAV!! A bit strange this plot strand was picked up so late in the book, and perhaps cynical readers would feel BL looked at Gav's manuscript, said THERE'S NOT ENOUGH SHOOTBANGS, and made him tack this on. But I did enjoy it, and it's really the only time in the whole book where we see Corax in no-holds-barred combat, fucking dudes up.

I love books with this 'Empire Strikes Back' ending style, as I've said before. With Fabius and Alpharius both working on the Primarch gene material, and the Raven Guard halting their over-ambitious Legion rebuilding, it's shit times for the good guys. And yet their spirit is unbroken. It's an unfair comparison, as they benefit greatly from their Primarch's presence, but the XIX really seem to have a much healthier attitude than the surviving Salamanders and Iron Hands we've seen scattered through the post-Isstvan books. And as for the antagonists... I love all this internal suberfuge in the XX Legion; shit really feels like Smiley's Circus except with genetic superhumans rather than effete public school voyeurs. I get the feeling even Alpharius himself doesn't necessarily understand all the shit happening in his name. That last scene tho!! WHAT IS OMEGON DOING YO?! 'The Serpent Beneath' made it clear (as clear as things can ever be with the 20th) that the twin Primarchs don't necessary share an agenda anymore, let alone methods. Omegon's 'plain, unadorned' suit of mysterious "other" armour in that novella does make me think that perhaps the Knights Errant could be getting a new recruit sometime soon, or would that be too insane?? The fact their customary sigil, the Hydra, is generally depicted as having three heads - well, that makes me even more suspicious: Could there actually be a THIRD brother? It's doubtful, but DUDE I DON'T EVEN KNOW ANYMORE.

Through the series I've always like the books which give us an inordinate amount of time to just hang out with a Primarch or Legion and get to know them. 'The First Heretic' is really the king of this, and 'Scars' isn't far behind. 'Horus Rising' and 'Prospero Burns' too, of course, and I suppose you could argue for 'Fear To Tread' or 'A Thousand Sons' as well. I found 'Deliverance Lost' to be a worthy addition to this group of HH books. Not only did it provide a nice insight into a pretty neglected Legion, it answered some "what have they been DOING all this time?" concerns, AND we got some nice Alpha Legion stuff. I really don't see why some people violently hate on this book so much. Perhaps they don't like Gav's style (it is quite dry), perhaps they were disappointed at the lack of action, perhaps they didn't like the character development the way I did, or perhaps it was because "the series has stalled now and Black Library aren't pushing it forward 'cause they just want the $$$!!!!!" I mean... what's with those dudes? Do they want the Siege Of Terra to be over and done with by book 10? Anyway. It's not just the 'escape to Terra' storyline that reminds me of 'Flight Of The Eisenstein'. It's the fact that the story is fast-paced and compellingly told. The dialogue may be a little clumsy, and the characterisation made with broad strokes, but it's still a great yarn. I am happy to give this 8/10 and I hope that re-reading it continues to pleasantly surprise me each time, I always seem to forget that it's a good one. I also hope they keep giving Gav the Raven Guard stories, novels and novellas to write; seems he's got a real kinship with this Legion.

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