"Garro: Sword Of Truth" by James Swallow

I believe this is the longest HH audio drama, clocking in at around 2 hours and 20 minutes, spanning two CDs. While I guess most of the 60-80 minute audio dramas in the HH series are the equivalent of a short story, 'Sword Of Truth' is closer to a novella. It's read by Toby Longworth, John Banks and Ramon Tikram. Warning: even for a PurpleHeresy review, this bitch be rotten with spoilers, so if you haven't listened to this Audio Drama or read it in the new HH Scriptbook Vol. II, probably don't read this.

GARRO!
(not pictured)

We open on the Somnus Citadel on Luna, with an engaging portrayal of Garro, brooding and preoccupied with the horrors of Isstvan and Calth. It serves as a nice recap of the HH events so far (though why the fuck you'd start with this audio drama I don't know) as well as Garro's story in particular, including the events of 'Flight Of The Eisenstein'. We also have a recap of 'Garro: Oath Of Moment', which is lucky, because I haven't got the CD, I don't plan to download it, and I may never do a review. (I have read the script though.) In brief, Garro went to Calth and fought Word Bearers and daemons alongside the Ultramarines and Imperial military. He also recruited a former Ultramarines Librarian, Tylos Rubio. Rubio is established as an uncertain, cautious character where Garro is already fairly intractable and unquestioning of his new masters. He doesn't want to turn his back on his former Legion and is haunted by the shame he felt breaking the Edict of Nikaea. This part of the drama is really well written. Also the soundtrack is brilliantly employed here, low-key and almost ambient, and the acoustics of the vocals really sound like they're in a giant, echoing chapel. Rubio is a bit quiet in the mix though, and remains so throughout the drama - perhaps a performance issue rather than a production one.

One of the main things I like about the Garro stories is the little glimpses we’re treated to of the earliest foundations of the Inquisition, so I was pleased at the moment here where Rubio is presented with his new Knight Errant armour, grey and featureless but for the 'I' sigil of Malcador (clearly quite similar to that of the 40K Inquisition).

The Garro/Rubio dynamic isn’t flawless. Early on here, the two comrades have already begun the lengthy, pointless dance around Garro’s “heretical” beliefs. Garro is one of the most prominent characters in the HH universe who is a devotee of the banned Imperial Cult. This involves disobeying the atheistic nature of Imperial society and venerating the Emperor as a god… a religion which will ironically become the status quo in a few thousand years. As Rubio is able to read Garro’s thoughts and emotions to some degree, but won’t fully probe his mind out of respect for his privacy, he’s always slightly suspicious of Garro… but he never quite gets to the point of openly accusing him, or actually, you know, doing anything about it. Religious intolerance and the theological attitudes of the Imperium were heavy themes of the early HH books, so I’m glad that some stories are carrying on with those threads, but I’m still not sure if this story thread is actually going anywhere. (No end in sight, several years later…)

We then meet our initial antagonist, a Custodian Guard named Corarrin. He is arrogant, aggressive, competitive and distrustful (especially of the fact Garro wishes to employ a psyker). I’m pleased with Corarrin’s inclusion in the story. He is described extensively and is quite a distinctive character, not just Generic Custodes Dudeman. As we get to know him further, we get to understand his motivations and why he's so abrasive. In a way, Corarrin seems to be a stand-in for Rogal Dorn - he has similar attitudes, and he and Garro clash on similar issues. I’m glad they did this, there’s only so many times Garro can think “Jeez, I disagree with Dorn, but I’m physically incapable of speech around him because homeboy is legit swole.” It’s cool that they put in someone for Garro to bounce off of who can actually get touched. We’re not at that stage yet, though. While Corrarin’s barely hidden insults to the two Knights Errant are noted, Astartes apparently don't feel comfortable speaking out openly against the actions of any Custodes. However, Garro clearly doesn't want Corrarin’s arrogance to go unanswered, so under the guise of a healthy training exercise, he engages the warrior in a duel. A nice way to make the listener feel there's been some action while the plot is still being established, and a well-written scene; we also get more of a sense of Corarrin's character when we see his barely restrained fury at losing to someone he clearly sees as inferior. Garro's fiery retort also shows it's possible for him to be pushed too far.

So then, nearly 30 minutes in, the plot itself starts moving. A sizable fleet of apparently Imperial vessels has entered the outskirts of the Sol system. They claim to be refugees from Horus' betrayal. Corarrin views them with suspicion, but Garro feels some kinship with their plight. They are led by the 'Daggerline', a World Eater frigate Garro recognises from Isstvan. A pressing concern is the huge amount of civilians amongst them. These are the poor, downtrodden bastards Garro is committed to protecting - but amongst so many, can they be sure there are no agents of Horus present? We quickly learn that Corarrin is just itching to destroy the entire fleet at the first time of trouble. Moving to the fleet, and making contact with the 'Daggerline', we are introduced to Macer Varren of the World Eaters. Varren is a plain-spoken, passionate and quick-to-anger Legionary. Some ambiguity of characterisation may have been an interesting idea, to keep you guessing where his loyalties lie, but frankly it was hard to be suspicious of Varren for even a minute. Amongst the other Astartes who can seem pompous and stuffy, he's a welcome breath of fresh air, and you know there's no 'heel turn' in store for him.

We then meet the rest of the Astartes that Varren bought with him, and here's where the cracks in the drama (the story as well, to a lesser extent) start to show. Firstly, while there are clearly a lot of Space Marines present, we are only introduced to a few named characters, so we know that most of these guys are just superfluous bullet-sponges. On the Daggerline are several groups of Astartes, but we just meet their leaders. Rakishio (Rekitio?) of the Emperor's Children, who's kind of a boring non-character (though there's a well-placed mislead where Rakishio responds "I can't say" when asked about the fate of Saul Tarvitz, and you wonder if he might be more than he appears) and also Hakim of the White Scars. Remember the horrible scene in 'A Thousand Sons' where Yeseugi haltingly speaks with a forced Asian accent at Nikaea? Well, James Swallow doesn't give the Scars that horrendous broken English, but Heavy Entertainment decided to make Hakim have a VERY strong accent. And it sounds really overdone, as Hakim telling Garro that the Emperor's Children are planning something becomes "THEY'AH PA-RANNING SAAAHMTHEENG". It's something of a pet hate of mine, I don't think it's a bad idea for all the Legions to have a different accent (rather than all of them sounding like they went to Eton) but this is on the verge of pantomime. Not only is the accent strong, but effort seems to have been made to put maximum sneer and sinister-ness into it. I really feel like a much more restrained, less dramatic performance would have made Hakim's character a little bit more ambiguous and less obviously a villain. And fuck it, I'm gonna stop dancing around it: It seems racist, and built on negative perceptions of Asians. I know some people are like "lol fagot why u mad thats how they acshuly speak tho" but come on. The cynic in me says that they listened patiently through a 'normal' take and then asked Ramon Tikram to "do it really Chinesey" or something like that. At this point I should say that despite my issues with his delivery, Hakim is actually a well-written character at least, and the White Scar being the first character that Corarrin shows actual respect (if not deference) is a nice moment.

Also. Here’s a tiny detail that it’s kind of unfair to call out, but I will anyway. The story states the varied Astartes and Custodes present hold the belief that the White Scars have never shown anything but unswerving obedience and loyalty to the Emperor; an attitude that the novel 'Scars' directly states was not common amongst the other Legions, with many unsure of Jaghatai's loyalties and frustrated with what they perceived as a wilful, disobedient streak in his character… and others openly stating the V Legion would go to Horus' side. Later it's said that the Scars have proven their loyalty in the civil war, again, something that's just not true at this part of the HH timeline. (I guess this could take place after ‘Scars’, though; ‘Sword Of Truth’ is never firmly placed in the timeline aside from being after Calth.) In fairness, it's very likely that Chris Wraight's treatment of the White Scars hadn't even begun to take shape at the time 'Sword Of Truth' was written and recorded.

So without getting too exhaustive in my overview of events, SHIT GETS DIRE pretty quick, with the fleet of vessels feeling threatened and paranoid at the Custodes’ attitude towards them, and all kinds of courtly intrigue shenanigans taking place and dudes informing on each other all over the place. Things really hot up towards the end of part one of this drama, with one of the vessels in the refugee fleet desperately trying to run the blockade and being destroyed. With Garro now seeing Corarrin as having civilian blood on his hands, their relationship utterly disintegrates, while Rubio detects something dark and mysterious on the transport which attempted flight. As part two begins, Garro and Varren have an excellently written, excellently acted confrontation which adds more character to their relationship. Varren is characterised as quick to anger, but there doesn't seem to be the instability, or uncontrollable rage, that are brought on by the Butchers' Nails. (Then again, later the implants are alluded to in connection with Varren, and he bursts into a wild frenzy of killing.) The growing friendship and respect between the Knight Errant and the World Eater is nicely contrasted with Rakishio and Corarrin’s arrogance, and there's some further development of Rubio as a character as his long-dormant Librarius powers return to potency – but sadly, Rubio is probably the least utilised character in this drama.

Due to a shocking plot twist (or obvious misdirection if you prefer), the Emperor's Children are taken into custody by the Custodian after a tense confrontation. While they aren't really a focal point of this drama, their surrender shows the pre-corruption III Legion's respect for the chain of command and faith in Imperial honour. Both misplaced, as it turns out. As tension mounts, Rubio, Garro and Varren unearth the TRUE mastermind behind the conspiracy (hint: it was the dude who sounded like a fucking Scooby Doo villain.) As they try to warn Corarrin, Hakim makes his move. It's a superb sequence and it makes you root for a character you probably wanted to die not too long ago. It begins the last part of this drama, which boasts a fair amount of twists and turns, and you've really got to admire how well Hakim planned his gambit. Varren berating himself for not realising the White Scars' treachery is one of the best-delivered moments in the drama, but he needn't have worried. Those guys fooled everyone. (Yet another reason that Hakim should have been performed more ambiguously.) The only moment that takes me out of the story is when Hakim taunts Varren with the revelation that all his World Eater command are dead. So an entire complement of Astartes dies 'offscreen' with no apparent consequence. I find it hard to believe that the XII Legion loyalists were all in small, disorganised groups, as that seems like the only way they'd all be killed with no casualties to the traitors, and it feels like if the V Legion complement outnumbered all the others, we’d have been told about it…? Then again, Hakim has shown formidable ingenuity in his plans, so maybe I'm not giving him enough credit.

While it's a bit of a cliché, Hakim's "I'll tell you why I turned my cloak, BEFORE I KILL YOU" moment does show a quite nicely-developed set of character motivations, not just crazy ranting. It's also quite a nice foundation for the events of 'Scars'. In the end the fact that 'Garro: Legion Of One' came out before this is a bit of a spoiler (and I’m not really sure why that happened), as the main characters are Varren, Garro and Rubio. So we know that they will all come through safely. It does stretch the limits of credulity; actual numbers aren't given, but it was implied that the traitor White Scars had them heavily outnumbered. At least there's an attempt made to give a reason the Knights Errant are able to escape (though it's pretty fucking stupid). It helps that the soundtrack during the last battle scene is fucking cool! While this might not have the best overall soundtrack of all BL audio dramas, it’s not far off (as I said, the Somnus Citadel ambience is the highlight). Sometimes less is more, though… And to wrap things up we get a nice Malcador cameo, Varren 'taking the grey', and Garro musing further on the terrible angsty times we live in.

So what about the voice acting? Apart from the one I harped on and on about earlier, it’s mostly good. Rubio's voice acting is a little overdramatic and emotional. Garro's voice acting is overdramatic in a good way, consistent with his fruity yelling in the other audio dramas. You gotta have at least one super-hammy performance in every BL audio drama, so there ya go. Corarrin is excellent, a perfect mix of anger and confidence. I really liked the performance of Varren here, with his aura of East End charm and expressive outbursts of anger. Rakishio is almost comically bad, sounding like a posh bodybuilder with a heavy cold. But it’s all tied together nicely by the narrator, who is nicely energetic without being too over the top. Finally, the CD (or MP3 download if you prefer) has some great cover art, with a heroic picture of Macer Varren taking centre stage (which does look like he's escaped the visually distinctive implants of the Butchers Nails).

Like I've said, there are a few problems with 'Garro: Sword Of Truth'. My initial impressions were not at all favourable, but each time I've listened to this again, my opinion of it has improved. I'd say this might be the best Garro audio-drama, maybe even a better Garro story as a whole than 'Flight Of The Eisenstein'. I honestly feel that if the stories are this good, audio dramas this long are an excellent idea. I give it 9/10, and I really hope we get more Garro soon, ideally penned by Jim Swallow, and with Rubio and Varren back at his side. ('Garro: Shield Of Lies' coming soon though!) Oh, and I know I say a lot that "Since (blank) dies offscreen, I bet they're alive!" and it's getting a bit ridiculous, but I suspect we'll see Hakim again. Especially considering the revelation that an unidentified ship escaped the blockade and the chaos that broke out amongst the fleet… Hakim/Saul Tarvitz team-up audio drama in 2015. YOU HEARD THIS COMPLETE LIE HERE FIRST FOLKS!

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