"The First Heretic" by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

The First Heretic: I think after 'Horus Rising', 'The First Heretic' was the next HH book I loved. And aside from author Aaron Dembski-Bowden being an actual genius, this is mainly 'cause I love Lorgar quite a bit.

At least you haven't ended up friendless and alone LIKE ZOIDBERG

I think I like Lorgar because in a lot of ways, he's a bit like me. This sounds massively egotistical and all, comparing myself to a superhuman genius, but... he has a very strong sense of 'right' and 'wrong' he tries to stick by; he tries to be a pretty nice guy; he wants the best for the people he feels responsible for. I'd say those are mostly traits I share with him (hopefully) though 'the people I feel responsible for' may not be as numerous as Lorgar's, what with his thousands upon thousands of dedicated supermen looking to him for guidance.

So what are Lorgar's flaws? Well, he really knows how to hold a grudge (forever), and he often spazzes out and throws tantrums (and these get worse when his peers don't take them seriously). I'm like, "Same!" I'm sure a lot of nerds feel this way because Lorgar is really the nerd (or 'scholar' if you prefer) amongst the Emperor's sons, but he's also not a flawless genius; he's got a lot of knowledge, but not necessarily the best application of that knowledge. Compare that to me: I'd like to consider myself pretty well-read (heck, some books that I've read don't even have ANY hordes of orcs in them) but I can't really bring that in as 'real-world knowledge'. At the start of this story, Lorgar is viewed with disdain by a lot of his brothers. Many secretly see him as a disgusting weakling; many more feel the same way, but don't bother to keep it secret. The comparisons just keep piling up. Lorgar also has some problems with his hair. See, we're separated at birth. ZOMG, maybe I'm the 2nd Legion primarch!!!!??

All jokes and creepiness aside, this is in fact probably the best single HH novel I've read (subtly different from 'best novel in the HH series' which I'd give to 'Prospero Burns' or 'Legion' - those are the best written, I think, but 'The First Heretic' better serves the actual series as a whole). Only 'Horus Rising' is close when it comes to excellent characterisation, fast-paced but unrushed plot progression, and showing you WHY the Heresy happened in a way that can't be flippantly summarised as "Horus was a crybaby and Erebus was a dick"... all that good stuff, The First Heretic arguably does it mo' better. Perhaps I feel this way because when I re-read 'Horus Rising' now, I just feel a lot of missed opportunity: I remember how many of the nuanced, interesting, or funny characters turned into boring, one-dimensional assholes or heroes in books by other authors. Since it's looking like AD-B has "got this Word Bearer shit on lock" right now, it seems these characters aren't going to be taken away from him, bent over a table and nailed hard, while Black Library snarls "Feel that, Argel Tal? That's your STOMACH LINING getting fucked, asshole." And that lack of daemon-rape can only be a good thing.

This story - naturally - is about Lorgar's fall from grace. Some 40k lore or general HH knowledge helps, but isn't mandatory. We start with Lorgar's humiliating censure by the Emperor for bein' crazy idolatrous and building monuments for how awesome the Emperor is instead of just getting on with the genocide/subjugation in His name. After knocking that punk-ass Guilliman the FUCK OUT, Lorgar decides to go off and brood. Since he's a sensitive flower, his father's scolding has really hurt his feelings; resentment festers, and his two BFFs don't need to expend much energy in convincing him "Listen, turn to Chaos, brocialist. It'll be a real good time, we'll rule the universe, and gain unimaginable power." Lorgar then gets into ALL types of shit; dark compacts with gods of unknowable malice are sealed, the Immaterium is fucked around with, he makes his own marines agree to daemonic possession (knowing full well what will happen to them, and not telling them), germs of rebellion are planted in the other legions at his instigation, and entire planets are massacred to cover his tracks. In a scene I honestly can't believe made it past Black Library's "don't alienate the 12-year-olds" guidelines, a naked female shaman on primitive Cadia is literally ripped apart from within by an emerging daemon; what's more fucked up is that she's totally down for it to happen. All described in a fair amount of detail of course. Yikes.

Keep in mind that a great deal of this stuff happens long before Horus even gets a bit miffed at the Emperor for deserting the Crusade. That's right - Lorgar's been claimin' Chaos since WAY before all these effing hipsters started jumping on the bandwagon. Pfffft... Magnus. Poseur.

The real treat, of course, is Lorgar, who always struck me - like Night Haunter, I guess - as being a tragic hero of the Heresy, for sticking to his principles, even if they were extremely wrong, and weird. We get a LOT of Lorgar here; I suppose it's nice when HH books continue the 'mystification' of primarch characters by having them seldom-glimpsed, inscrutable figures even to their own legion. But this is the opposite, and I much prefer this approach. We get to know Lorgar deeply, his motivations, his thoughts; we're privy to some heated conversations between him and his subordinates (these guys don't pull their punches) and of course, the fact that we already know how this shit will end makes it all the more fascinating.

Dream casting for Lorgar? I'm thinkin'... Ed Norton.

We also get some nice cameos from other primarchs. Guilliman, who is ice-cold and really breaks out of that annoying "limitless intellect plus a superb tactician and really super great guy who does a load of work for charity" role that 40k history sees him as, but without pissing on continuity (in this book, it really seems like he is the Stannis Baratheon of primarchs; forgive me for my cross-pollination of nerdiness, but that's AWESOME). And, naturally, since this is an AD-B book, Night Haunter AKA Conrad Kurze AKA The 31st Milennium's Charlie Brooker shows up to bum out everyone's party; he gets just a couple paragraphs really, but he Makes An Impression. After pretty much seeing him as a pathetic (yet badass) depressed Goth teenager lounging in an armchair sobbing "Everything's SHIT" in the flashbacks of the Night Lords trilogy, it's nice seeing CK getting out and mixing shit up (he FUCKS UP Corax pretty good, but Lorgar gets all weepy and tries to hug him halfway though the battle, so the bird-faced emo primarch gets away). His utter disdain for his fellow traitor primarchs (Lorgar in particular) is bracing, but not a surprise. The part where he's approached by the horribly mutated daemon-bound Astartes of the Word Bearers on the battlefield and is so repelled he's nearly lost for words, nicely fits in with the image Dembski-Bowden has created of the Night Lords primarch in his other work, and kind of explains the attitude of his 'true sons' (ie Talos) even more. Speaking of which, we get some brief cameos from other Night Lords series characters like Sevatar and Malcharion as well.

Word Bearer Argel Tal is (kind of) the main character here, and he's a pretty cool one; what's really interesting, since the Word Bearers arguably become the MOST evil legion by some standards (they go the furthest in spitting on what they once were) is that our main character is a thoughtful, intelligent and - let's just say it - loveable guy. He's like Loken, if Loken decided to choose Chaos over his straight-up-n-down principles. His relationship with a human camp follower is quite tender and sweet, and from this (and some other elements of the story) we really get the feeling that the Word Bearers are proficient and enthusiastic in the arts of "actually talking to regular humans without making them shit blood". An oddity among Legions Astartes. Another great character is Kor Phaeron. If Lorgar is The First Heretic amongst primarchs, then Kor is 'the First First Heretic', an OG Chaos Motherfucker. He's an amazingly slimy, evil dude, full of malice and hatred, but also, in a weird way, very fond of his adopted son Lorgar and firm in his belief that THIS is the right way for Lorgar to get his due. I look forward to whatever this crazy kid gets up to next.

Are there any problems with 'The First Heretic'? Not really. There are a couple sequences which I felt were a little ponderous - ie some elements of Argel Tal's first journey into the warp. But at the same time, not a page is wasted in this book. It all drives the story towards its dark, terrible conclusion, even when it's moving slowly. I give 'The First Heretic' 9/10. After 'Horus Rising', this was the book that convinced me of the worth of this series. And with 'Betrayer', Aaron had more bombs to drop on us...

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