"Fallen Angels" by Mike Lee

So after 'Descent Of Angels' turned out to be, erm, pretty OK, how does the second (and last, so far) HH Dark Angels novel stand up on its re-reading?

Apparently the dude with the big sword is Luther. Sick helm brah.

Well, there's no fucking around - the book picks up exactly where 'Descent Of Angels' left off - with Luther, Zahariel and hundreds of other out-of-favour Dark Angels landing back on Caliban, cut off from their Legion and out in the cold. Holding the fort are a load of green recruits they are supposed to train, as well as the ancient, sick and wounded who were unable to follow the Astartes off-world. We also see new Cypher - a young, mysterious knight with dual pistol skills. During this section there seems to be a lil ole Game Of Thrones reference - Luther jokes that they should raid "Master Luwin's kitchen". Hahaha you Winterfell-ass motherfuckers, you better not!!! Aldurukh remembers. Luther puts on a brave face, but has to admit privately that it looks like they'll never leave Caliban again. Quickly, it seems apparent that Mike Lee's writing is quite similar to Mitchel Scanlon's; perhaps a little better. His lack of overblown, wooden language makes the book a little easier (and quicker) to read than 'Descent Of Angels' was. The attempts at Space Marine banter here, obviously, ain't shit compared to First Claw's sniping or Torgaddon breakin' Marines' balls, but at least it makes a change from po-faced bellowing at all times.

The action quickly jumps 53 years forwards, right to the eve of the Heresy. It's here we'll stay for the rest of the book, jumping between the exiles on Caliban and the Lion's Crusade force. Soon after the book begins, we are told of the Isstvan III bombing, and the book ends with the Isstvan V betrayal yet to happen (but soon come, dread). So the timeframe is fairly short. No lengthy 'Time passed and these events happened' sequences like in its predecessor. The news of the Heresy sets up Nemiel's plot thread; the Lion can't take his Legion to Isstvan to bring Horus to book, as he's currently stuck in a dang quagmire... but he'll take a small strike-force to the rebel Forge World of Diamat, in the hopes of disrupting Horus' supply lines. (Man, Jonson is keen on leaving most of his Legion to sort shit out and just fucking off with a strike force - see also that novella 'The Lion'.)

Nemiel wasn't a 'viewpoint' character in 'Descent Of Angels' as that book was definitely focused on Zahariel. Here, we're inside Nemiel's head for around half the book. Both cousins feel pangs of loss for each other and wish the exile had not happened. Nemiel is now a Chaplain, "charged with maintaining the fighting spirit of (his) battle brothers and preserving the ancient traditions of their brotherhood". It's still very strange to me that the atheistic Empire would use a term like 'Chaplain'. It makes sense for the Word Bearers - who I think were the inventors of the role - and it kind of makes sense that many Legions would later use the position as an 'enforcer' of the Edict of Nikaea (which 'The Lion' seemed to retcon Nemiel as). But Nemiel's duties here, well - it possibly would have made more sense for him to be a well-loved Veteran Sergeant or a Company Captain or something. All I'm saying is: it's acceptable for the 30K Space Marine Legions to not always fit in perfectly with the 40K Chapters... we won't shit ourselves. On that subject, it's apparent that it was written before 'A Thousand Sons' and its ramifications were really planned out. The Edict of Nikaea isn't mentioned too much, and in fact Zahariel is constantly described as a Librarian, carries a force staff, uses his psychic powers without thinking "O NO THIS BAD" or having his brothers yell "wwwwwwwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitchhhhh!!" I guess it's not too much of a stretch to imagine that the news of the Edict never reached Caliban, but the Edict being such a huge part of the First Legion's arc makes this a little problematic.

I'm just sayin' I don't think Nemiel should be baby Asmodai just yet...

Back on Caliban, Zahariel is preparing to send 4200 new Astartes to join the Legion - holy fuck! It seems they're about to begin their "19th training cycle", could they have sent 18 similar sized groups of Astartes in the last 53 years? Even if the first batches are implied to have been smaller, that's... still pretty huge. We also find that Luther has spent his years in exile 'civilising' Caliban - improving its infrastructure, boosting its population, making it more hospitable to life - basically turning it into a factory for the Imperial war machine. "I started this muthafuckin Caliban shit... and this the muthafuckin thanks I get??" Zahariel's continued psyker powers reveal to us that apparently the Winds of the Warp are strong on Caliban - possibly due to the proximity to the Eye of Terror? Oooh, this is an interesting turn for Caliban's backstory... well, if it hadn't been heavily signposted at every opportunity. Still, I was a little surprised by the revelation that the Watchers in the Dark are apparently xenos psykers tasked with protecting Caliban and containing its inherent corruption. I don't know if this is a new HH retcon, a secret finally revealed, or an established bit of Dark Angel lore since '94. Guess that's what comes of not giving a single shit about the Dark Angels until now... poor research, guys. I'm mad ashamed of myself.

One thing that made me cuss and realise my chronology of Dark Angels events was totally off is the fact that Astelan shows up as a fairly major character; he's been on Caliban for ages, which shows that 'Call Of The Lion' takes place 15 years after 'Descent Of Angels' and the ominous threat at the end of that book signified his exile, not his execution. Glad I finally realised that.

The Lion's parts of the story remind me of Guilliman's criticisms in 'Unremembered Empire'; that Jonson is too sly, secretive and private. That criticism's borne out here. Even with his favoured sons, the Lion isn't a leader who is in favour of transparency. He was born for royalty, like Guilliman was born for democracy and Kurze was born for totalitarianism. The arrogant control-freakery isn't necessarily a handicap, as he's a very good tactician, taking point in every aspect of the Legion's strategy and warfare.

The void war section Nemiel witnesses here is pretty dull and makes me wish ADB could have given some of his skillz to this bro. Not an auspicious start, as it's our first battle sequence. In fact, throughout the whole book, the action sequences aren't great. Arguably they're quite dull. As a result, Nemiel's chapters in the book are kind of a drag, as they include way more action - in fact, once you've got the setup out of the way, Nemiel's chapters seem like one long, continuous action sequence. (Despite my criticism, I can't deny that the section where Nemiel's insertion team finds the, erm, 'savage weapons' Horus seeks is brilliantly written and fucking cool.) With the creepy building foreboding of Zahariel's 'strand', Mike Lee is much more successful. Though the bit where Nemiel suspects the Lion is incapable of 'reading' his subordinates, then spends about half a page dissecting what this says about his character, is fucking great... and it also may be why Jonson KARATE CHOPPED NEMIEL'S FUCKING HEAD OFF. (I mean, we know Jonson had Watchers on deck, maybe they were reading minds and reporting back to him... xenos psykers be snitchin'.) Then again, later in the book it's implied that Jonson's motive could have been to silence anyone who could know of Caliban's taint (snarf); Nemiel and Zahariel were the last to speak to Lord Sartana, after all, and the Lion couldn't know what they discussed... so, they had to go.

Even Tony Jaa ain't do that shit Lion. Damn.

Zahariel investigates an apparently growing insurrection on the Lion's homeworld - his arc carries an interesting concept from 'Descent of Angels' - compliant worlds, even Primarch 'homeworlds', aren't sacrosanct - they get hecka plundered. You can see why the civilisations might revolt. Of course, I'd feel more sympathy if the rebellion didn't seem to be led by noblemen crying about how they got no feudal subjects anymore. But that's good, right? It'd be easy to paint the rebels as sainted crusaders the way the storyline is going. We also find that Luther is holding those thousands of new Astartes back from their deployment. I was kind of annoyed when Zahariel uncovered this information and gave in to the one of the worst HH cliches - positing the actual reason (that Luther is disillusioned with the Imperium and the Lion, and is unsure if they deserve his loyalty) then rejecting that, throwing his hand to his brow and swooning "No, NO, I must not think on't!" While this story line is far from unpredictable, I kind of like that some aspects of it at least are a bit shadowy. For most of the novel, it seems like the "accepted fluff" from 40k around this Legion - "half of 'em fell to Chaos because of Luther's selfish ways and bitter jealousy" - is just some bullshit Jonson made up after he Hulked out and blew up his homeworld for embarrassing him in front of his dad. But then, towards the end... Luther's fall to Chaos becomes much more possible.

The last third or so of 'Fallen Angels' is excellent, full of great moments - the Lion and Nemiel's suicidally brave (and arrogant) last stand against waves of Sons Of Horus, and Luther's 'declaration of independence' from the Imperium's affairs, as well as his big reveal of "Hey, I done got myself psychic powers through all my book learning!" While I'll still contend the Zahariel chapters of the book are superior and stay that way throughout, aspects of his plot strand's ending seemed stupid and rushed to me - the big reveal of the "Terran sorcerors" who serve as the book's antagonists is completely botched - who are they? what's their endgame? how did they infiltrate the arcology? THERE'S NO TIME!!! Just make 'em dicks with robes and wands and pointy hats, and fudge their motive confusingly.

This would have been way better.

By the end, Luther is certainly on the path to becoming the sinister magician we saw in 'Grey Angel'. It's kind of a cross-pollination of Lorgar and Magnus' stories - driven by bitterness and a public scorning by someone you intensely admire, you let your thirst for knowledge get the better of you. Unoriginal it may be, but Luther's arc has actually become one of my favourites in HH and I'm extremely interested in how it turns out. Speaking of 'Grey Angel', a central tenet of that audio drama was that Luther didn't know - or feigned a lack of knowledge - of the Heresy. Re-reading 'Fallen Angels', I realised this was falsehood. So did John French just forget (unlikely, but not impossible) or did the manipulative, psychically gifted Luther just read Loken's mind, realise the information he was looking for, and play dumb real good? I think I've answered my own question. But to what end? I'm assuming to buy time for his Legion...

It's still my opinion that Young Cypher is a big red herring. I believe Zahariel is the one who'll become the 40K Cypher. Still, this creepy young anonymous Cypher dude will have a big role to play in upcoming Dark Angels stories, I'll wager. We get a nice amount of backstory for him, it's just not that interesting. He's such a fucking one-dimensional chin-stroking evil puppetmaster that I can't believe they'd make him THE Cypher. Also, Zahariel is about the only Dark Angels Fallen character of note beside Luther (well, excepting Corswain, he's kind of the only surviving Dark Angels character of note, full stop). It seems unlikely that they'll waste him on death. Then again, my predictions have frequently been inaccurate, so we'll see what happens.

Here's the main problem with 'Fallen Angels'. You're switching back and forth, quite often, between two quite different stories - the slow burning political/mystery thriller on Caliban, and the straightforward BASH EM CRASH EM action movie featuring Jonson and his Crusade. But aside from its (many) minor flaws, I can't hate on 'Fallen Angels' anymore. Not when there's weirdo shit like 'False Gods' around still getting serious accolades. As a book, it reminded me more than a little of 'Vulkan Lives'. Sure I was bored at times, but I was also thinking "Oh, man, that makes that part in that book so much better!" I think reading the HH books in order of publication is a mistake, and the Dark Angels 'arc' illustrates this. Normally, introducing a Primarch would involve a big focus on description of their appearance, manner and general swagga. Sadly, you go through two whole books without ANY gripping descriptive work on The Lion. Then Dembski-Bowden's 'Savage Weapons' says more evocative shit about Jonson in its short length than both the full novels, and of course, 'Unremembered Empire', flawed as I think it is, was superb in its Lion coverage. (Then again the trip down 1st Legion Memory Lane wasn't all good; re-reading the novella 'The Lion' from 'The Primarchs' collection, which I've praised to the skies at every opportunity, I didn't find it significantly better than 'Fallen Angels' or 'Descent Of Angels' at all.)

Like 'Descent Of Angels', I'm giving this the 7/10 solution. Man, the books I was hatin' on before are actually pretty good. Seems like 'Fulgrim' and 'False Gods' are the only ones I can really summon up hate for these days...

New to PurpleHeresy? Head on over to the index page to see a more chronological list of the Horus Heresy reviews on this blog.

"Descent Of Angels" by Mitchel Scanlon

AKA 'Decent Of Angels'. Cause it's decent, I guess...? FUCK, failure of joke. My memory of this book and also of its companion piece 'Fallen Angels' is not particularly favourable. Let's see if that is still the case after re-reading it.

Your MOM Descended on my Angel last NIGHT.

My patience is tested initially with a portentuous, overdone hand-wringing preface a-weeping and a-wailing about the fall of the Angels, the curse of Caliban and how Luther was a chill bro who gets totally misrepresented by the durn Emperor and his LIES. Our narrator for this intro isn't defined, but I'm guessing it's Zahariel. Who? Well, we'll get to that.

Once the italics disappear, the books set about establishing the character of Caliban's society before the Empire reaches it. They're essentially in a feudal state with castles, horses, knightly orders etc. However, they also have the technology for pistols, chainswords and power armour, though in crude forms. Their civilisation is harried by creatures called Great Beasts, each of which is a hideous yet unique monster. They sound very Chaos-tainted from the first time they're described, so the big secret reveal that's sold hard during 'Fallen Angels' that Caliban suffers heavily from warp-taint is, well, kind of pre-spoiled. Right off the bat though, I'm impressed - the beginning of this book is WAY better than I remembered it as. The ominous scene setting introduction, Zahariel's initiation, and the first time we see Luther and Jonson - pretty much handled impeccably. Scanlon's dialogue and characterisation is patchy, though. Especially when dealing with Zahariel and Nemiel. I can see why I hated these characters on my first reading. Also, the writing is a little shaky - not full of weird, twisted errata like 'False Gods' was, but packed with clichés, ie darkness that "seemed to reach out from... haunted depths like a living thing, enveloping (characters) in its silken embrace like an unwelcome lover." Count 'em up kids.

Early on, Lion El'Jonson's name is retconned to mean 'The Lion, The Son Of The Forest', not just a straight up stolen name from a dude who wrote a poem called 'The Dark Angel'. I would think that to make this a little more credible, the book would be full of forests with 'Jon' in their name. But no. Ah well. Anyway, Jonson's origins story is gone over in depth here - with almost 2/3 of the book dedicated to his life before the Imperium finds him, he may have the most 'pre-reunion with daddy' HH history of any Primarch in the series. The fact he was alone in the forest for the first few years of his life makes him unique amongst his brothers - most of them were quickly given surrogate father figures. Even Angron and Night Haunter - while fending for themselves - were at the centre of large societies of humans. This goes a long way towards explaining why the Lion is so secretive and has such an obsession with being self-sufficient.

The Lion wants to be the very best, that no-one ever was.

We also learn quite early on that the Lion has some premonitions of the Emperor and his crusade coming to Caliban. Not so special and unique now, are you Conrad? Ahh, that's unfair I guess... but I'm petty like that.

There are hints early on of how much the Order of Caliban will influence the First Legion - ie there are famed cavalry called the Ravenwing, the order has a Lord Cypher who is Keeper Of Secrets, they all wear hooded surplices over their armour... couple this with the fact we know Caliban has crude bolt pistols and chainswords, and you could argue the Lion had to make nearly no adjustments when he assumed control of his Legion. Also, when it comes down to it... ain't Knights In Space just a cool idea? Unoriginal but cool. Anticipation of this almost glosses over the fact the Lion uses goddamn CHILD SOLDIERS of 7 and up, putting them in incredibly deadly situations. But again, that totally fits with what a fucking ice-dick motherfucker he is. He also gets incredibly butthurt if anyone reminds him the Dark Angels existed before he took control. Insecure or what?

It's not all about the Lion (and I think this fact is one of the reasons 'Descent Of Angels' was quite poorly received by HH fans and still gets shit on today). Luther is a major character from the very beginning of the book. I found his character very bland the first time round, but after 'Grey Angel' single-handedly rejuvenated my interest in this character, I paid much more careful attention this time. And Zahariel is a much more interesting character than I remembered. He's outwardly cavalier and confident he's The Bravest Little Knight. But he's tormented by memories of his brutal initiation, where he was disturbed by the cruelty of the men he now calls brother. His rivalry with his close relative Nemiel also secretly disturbs him. Zahariel is terrified of the Great Beasts (a pretty normal reaction and one that makes him a much more relateable character).

So, the first quarter or so of the book is mostly scene setting and context. Then we're show the order in action when they come up against the Knights Of Lupus (RIP J Dilla). Zahariel goes on a Beast Quest (hoping to one day rhyme like Freddie Gibbs) and discovers his hidden psychic powers, as well as meeting the hidden Watchers In The Dark. The Emperor and his Astartes don't arrive until over halfway through 'Descent Of Angels'. It's a bold move, and I can see why so many people ended up pissed off and bored, but I think it ultimately pays off. We see these characters and learn their culture for a long while, so their reactions to the Imperium mean more. Already, the seeds of the Dark Angels' schism are sown...

I mean, this guy would have totally flown a spaceship if he had one.

Zahariel's discovery of his psychic abilities is pretty damn great. However, I don't see how he had to kill a Calibanite Lion. First you make this big song and dance about how the Beasts are all different to each other and there are no two the same. Then you say that the only Calibanite Lion was already killed by Jonson, a fucking Primarch. Then Zahariel finds out that no, guys, there's totally another Calibanite Lion and he just goes and kills it. I get that the purpose of this was for Zahariel to catch the Primarch's gaze - not in a totally favourable way, either ("NOW I DON'T HAVE THE HIGH SCORE ANYMORE!!!!! GRRRR!!") - but why not have it be a different, equally badass beast? It's still impressive for a teenager to triumph in that way, why double back on your own mythology to emphasise it?

In my opinion, the plot (and some of the action sequences) of 'Descent Of Angels' are surprisingly good. It's just that there's a bit too much exposition and dialogue handled in a stumbling, haphazard way. All the more reason to wish that Dan, Aaron, John French or Chris Wraight get the next Dark Angels full length. We got the brilliant 'Savage Weapons' from ADB and the Lion's excellent treatment in 'Unremembered Empire' from Dan, but that shit ain't enough. I want a full First Legion novel where they talk a bit more like normal people - I mean, I know they're pompous, honourable knights but that doesn't mean they have to spout awkward Tolkeinesque drivel. Regardless of the blandness of the writing, and sometimes of the characters, the lasting gift of 'Descent Of Angels' is the relationship between Luther and Jonson. It's a little bit fraternal, a little bit unspoken (sexual?) jealousy, and a little bit political power-struggle. Tough to describe. You really get the feeling that while there's envy there, Luther loves the Lion and wants him to succeed. Few Primarchs we've seen have a contemporary like this; I'm thinking a little bit of the Abbadon/Horus relationship, but even there we're always reminded of their military hierarchy.

The Knights of Lupus episode (as well as many more moments through this book) shows Luther as the smoothie in the partnership. Luther is the diplomat to the Lion's intractable, tactless bastard. If they'd stuck together, I've no doubt they could have achieved great things. The KoL episode, though, also really illustrates what a shit the Lion is. This segment starts with a gripping siege scene, albeit a very videogamey one - kill these guys! breach the walls! this guy is pulling on a lever - oh no, more Elites! Shit, a giant boss battle! Oh, a final cutscene, this guy's gonna tell us some history and accuse us of being the REAL monsters... IT'S LIKE MASS EFFECT 3 UP IN THIS BITCH. After this, we get a glimpse of how naive and short-sighted the Order's goals are: what do they think will happen after the Great Beasts are gone? (This is reinforced as poorly thought out in 'Fallen Angels', when we realise the importance of the function Great Beasts played on Caliban). Furthermore, we start to suspect that Jonson massacred an entire knightly order just to get a peek at their forbidden library of knowledge. Another question always in my mind was: how does the open, even-tempered good guy Luther in this book become the disquieting, slimy presence in 'Grey Angel'? I guess I will have to re-read 'Fallen Angels' to find out.

All we wanted... was the right... to live... and breed horrible Chaos monsters...

The 'payoff scene' where the Stormbirds of the Imperium finally arrive is excellently handled. I really like the initial chapters where Calibanite and Imperial are just feeling each other out. In these novels, we haven't really been shown what happens a) when a Primarch meets the Imperium or b) when the Imperium meets a feral but obviously 'compliant' world. It's not pretty, as their ecosystem, social structure and even beliefs are rendered down in a matter of weeks as mulch for the Imperial regime. It's not long after our heroes have passed their trials that we are whisked forwards in time - the process of Astartification (?) is glossed over. There could be an excellent HH book that spends most of its time on the process of implanting the new initiates with gene-seed, but 'Descent' isn't it. (I don't understand why a lot of reviewers seemed to lambast the book for its incredibly slow pace during its 'Caliban' sections, then got angry when a lengthy 'WE ARE TURNING INTO ASTARTES' sequence wasn't included.)

Instead, we're off to the Great Crusade. We learn quickly that the respected senior members of the Order were taken along with the Astartes and slotted into their ranks - shit, old Hadariel is even a Chapter Master. Seems like the existing Terran structure of the 1st Legion was very accommodating to the Order (or, more likely, the Lion would brook no disagreement). We're not in the new-look 1st for long before we're off to Sarosh, an apparently unobtrusive, compliant world. Actually it's totes corrupt and Chaotic but rather than resisting the False Emperor in the usual way, they're outwardly compliant and burying any real progress in endless bureaucracy. The description of this is weirdly funny, but also deadly boring. Man, the White Scars are ill-treated in these books, eh? On Sarosh, we get a friendly White Scar dude who just says alternative phrasings of "DON'T TRUST EM" again and again. Christ, at least he's better than Hakim... or the White Scar Librarian in 'A Thousand Sons'. I will never get tired of bringing up those racist-ass characters. Still, I read the first chapter of Chris Wraight's 'Scars' and it looks like he is gonna redress that balance, so... cautious optimism. BUT WE'RE HERE TO TALK ABOUT THE ANGELS SO MOVING ON...

Like the White Scars dude said...

Overall though, the Sarosh segment - which wraps up the book and sets up the concept for 'Fallen Angels' - is great, as Scanlon ratchets up the creepiness excellently. From the featureless golden masks all Saroshi wear, to the fact that projected census data shows 8% of the planet's population is simply unaccounted for, there's clearly Some Wrong Shit Goin Down. When the planet does, inevitably, erupt into Empire-defying violence, it's extremely chilling. Having said that, the "suicide bomb shuttle" plot detail is fucking stupid and depends on an incredibly retarded Mechanicum contingent on board the Invincible Reason.

"You guys, this shuttle the diplomats are coming in is really old and busted."
"Bor-ing! I'm so OVER it already. Don't even BOTHER scanning THAT shit."

It does at least lead to one of the book's best moments - the tense sequence where Luther debates whether or not to actually defuse the bomb... how badly does he want the Lion to stop overshadowing him? Dramatic.

The end of the book is abrupt, and comes when an intense action sequence is seemingly just getting underway. I guess the HH writers quickly learned the lesson of the exhausting 'Fulgrim' - always leave 'em wanting more... Suddenly, Zahariel, Luther and many of their brothers are packed off back to Caliban. With the Lion becoming increasingly capricious, those who are out of favour are to be swept under the rug and forgotten about. Ostensibly, they're "overseeing recruitment on Caliban" but everyone knows the real score. It's worth noting that at this point, we're still over 50 years before the outbreak of the Heresy. I'm not sure what to think of the Future Fallen Angels being 'benched' so quickly, basically a few months into the 1st Legion's involvement in the Crusade. In fact it seems to contradict the 'Grey Angel' section where Luther implies his involvement took into account several significant battles alongside 7 or more other Legions including the Luna Wolves. But this may just have to go into the growing file of "Stuff that shows HH readers don't read each others' shit too religiously."

I was kind of dreading this re-read. But I really enjoyed 'Descent Of Angels' the second time around. The writing is often clunky, and it very rarely surprises. Still, I can't see why I hated it so much before. All that's changed? I actually CARE about the Dark Angels now. Stuff like 'Grey Angel', 'The Lion', 'Unremembered Empire' and especially 'Savage Weapons' have got me interested in these humourless dicksmackers. It's crazy they got benched so quickly - for a while it seemed like nobody wanted to write about these dudes at all. More recently, there seems to have been a thawing of the ice towards these guys, so we'll see what happens. First read-through, the stilted, overly formal and often clichéd writing style really annoyed me. However, I now think it's intentional - Scanlon wants to create a mythic ambience to the book. First read-though, I shared the still-prevalent HH fanboy opinion - "All this shit is irrelevant, it's just for DA groupies - give us stuff that has a bearing on the actual Heresy!" Now I think this stuff is pretty relevant to maybe the sleeper hit of the HH series - the character studies of the Lion and Luther's natures and motivations. At this point, it seems very unlikely that Scanlon will be asked back for another book, but I don't think he's the shithound that many BL fans seem to paint him as. And therefore, I'm giving this the cautious thumbs-up of a 7/10.

New to PurpleHeresy? Head on over to the index page to see a more chronological list of the Horus Heresy reviews on this blog.