Yo, that Vulkan be spittin' that hot fire, son.

So after months of fucking nothing (beyond a fairly vague tweet from Nick Kyme), Heresy fans were given a treat yesterday...

Yes, book 32, the sequel to 'Vulkan Lives' and 'Unremembered Empire' is coming, in, like, two fuckin' months. AGES away! (Remember when we were told "Hey, by the way, we didn't mention it before but 'Unremembered Empire' is out this week!"? That seems a loooooong time ago now.) Ahh well, I guess it gives me time to read all Kyme's Heresy work again in preparation.

£25 is the price tag floated, so we can probably expect the hefty 500+ page count of 'A Thousand Sons', 'Vengeful Spirit' or 'Fear To Tread'. This could be a mixed blessing. 'Vulkan Lives' was average length but it felt drastically overlong and I really struggled to read it. But that was a book I read fresh off of reading the whole Heresy series for the first time. After the famine of 2015, I might be hungry enough for Nick's rather dry prose to seem a feast...

So, what will 'Deathfire' actually be about? From BL's website:

Vulkan lies in state beneath the Fortress of Hera, and yet many of his sons still refuse to believe that he is truly dead. After a seemingly miraculous rescue by the Ultramarines, Artellus Numeon, once captain of the Pyre Guard, urges the other Salamanders on Macragge to leave Imperium Secundus and return their primarch’s body to the home world of Nocturne – there to be reborn in the flames of Mount Deathfire. But Numeon grapples endlessly with his doubts and fears for the future of the Legion, while their foes seek to carve out new destinies of their own...

And from an email sent out from BL, with a slightly different synopsis:

In the wake of the cataclysmic events in The Unremembered Empire, Captain Numeon of the Pyre Guard experiences visions of Vulkan born anew in the furnaces of Mount Deathfire. An epic odyssey to Nocturne ensues. Beset by the Death Guard and Magnus the Red, can the Salamanders make it home through the Ruinstorm?

So we have a pretty good idea of what the setup will be, and I'm kind of confident that neither BL or Nick will throw us a curveball and have this be Vulkan's last voyage. No, this will most likely be a setup for his eventual return to Terra - well, if that's what they end up doing with the character (I got my suspicions). A corpse-carrying road-trip isn't necessarily a bad idea, and a small group of Salamanders defying Guilliman and going on a Viking-style quest for a borderline-impossible goal could be the framework for an excellent novel.

I anticipate that Vulkan will spend most (or all?) of the book as an inert corpse in a box, making Numeon our primary character. He wasn't always a character I felt massively engaged by, but the way his storyline was left hanging at the end of 'Vulkan Lives' always nagged at me, and now I guess we'll get closure, or as close as we can get in these books.

As for the Ultramarines... my bet is that Aeonid Thiel rescues Numeon - in fact, this would make a lot of sense as a topic for the apparently upcoming audio drama 'The Red-Marked', named for Thiel's unconventional group of Ultramarine guerrillas. That would be great, as I really like how Kyme writes him. And then, the return to Imperium Secundus; that'll give us some hints about how that story will progress, I hope, maybe even answer some of the annoying questions the last few stories set there have raised.

The Death Guard and Thousand Sons being the antagonists could be interesting, not least because I'd imagine they are almost as likely to kill each other as to kill some Salamander leftovers. I'm always keen on the Death Guard taking a prominent role in a Heresy novel, and Nick hasn't written them yet as far as I recall - so I'm quite intrigued to discover what his spin on them might be. As for the Sons, it'd be interesting to see what Nick would bring to that Legion too, and considering 'Crimson King' is probably up next, it could give some nice opportunities for some 'Prospero Burns' / 'Thousand Sons' split scenes, with the action playing out differently depending on the viewpoint character. Of course, the two factions may never interact, in fact, Magnus might just show up in magic ghost form and scream "NEW MIXTAPE DROPS 2015!" then disappear as everyone shits blood.

Concerns? Well, I don't know if more stories about Shattered Legion warriors "[grappling] endlessly with [their] doubts and fears" is really what the Heresy needs. In fact, we probably need a break from it. Salamanders doing it is probably going to be a bit more readable than yet more Iron Hands grinding their teeth about their moribund Legion, but... I dunno. I guess it could be an OK theme, if it's not one that 'Deathfire' doesn't lean on too much; the problem is I have little faith that Nick won't just run it into the ground.

And also... Numeon experiencing visions? I mean... is this going to be another 'awakened psyker' story? While I don't hate them as much as some Heresy fans seem to, I think we've maybe had enough of them for now - yet the idea of another character being granted visions by the Emperor also seems depressingly likely, as well.

I'm not sure I can really express how disappointed I am with this year's Heresy release schedule without coming across as a real whiner, but this goes some way to redressing the balance. Still, it does make me worry we might see only two Heresy novel releases this year - maybe just one, if Graham doesn't finish 'The Crimson King' in the next few months. I suppose it's unfair to complain - Black Library seem to be concerned with pushing the End Times series at the moment, and gods know those poor Warhammer Fantasy fans do need some attention, so it's good they're getting their due. I do feel a bit hard done by, though, especially when you consider the sheer volume of Heresy stuff that came out last year.

Ah well, the Warhammer World opening will probably give us a bit of a preview for the release schedule. I'm optimistic that 'The Red-Marked' is a likely audio release before 'Deathfire', and hopefully at least one HH novella to come out this summer... if nothing else, that Battle for Calth Forge World book is gonna be here soon.

AND WE OUT LIKE FULGRIM

PurpleHeresy at the Weekender, y'all!

Yo yo yo yo yo! PurpleHeresy was all up in the Horus Heresy Weekender in Nottingham this past weekend. I will be posting exhaustive (exhausting?) updates about EVERY DAMN THING I did, but I'll warn you right now, there's not a colossal amount of news for people who just like the books and not necessarily the Forge World publications or novels. And the news that does concern the HH series... well, you guys might not like it much.

Anyway, that'll be going up over the next few days, I hope. On a plus side, all of the stories in 'Blades Of The Traitor' are now available as ebooks on the Black Library site. I've read it, and it's a great anthology, even though two of the stories were available before. In particular, Guy Haley's 'Twisted', an exploration of Maloghurst after the events of 'Vengeful Spirit', is a great read, but 'Chirurgeon' (Nick Kyme short story about Fabius) and 'Wolf Mother' (Graham follows up Alivia and Severian's story strands after 'Vengeful Spirit') are good as well. And of course, 'Daemonology' is in there. I can't even complain that I've read it before, because I was ready to read it again.

Black Library Weekender III: "I'm Getting Money, I Think I'm MC Hammer"

No, I didn't attend the third Black Library Weekender... I'm borderline agoraphobic at the moment, and also a bit ill (and a bit broke). Still, starting Sunday I was eagerly trawling the internet for any info about this event.

The last few days, as attendees started to shake of their hangovers and post about BLWIII's announcements, I've been pretty excited at the release schedule taking shape; my bitterness about the disappointing 'Legacies Of Betrayal' lineup is all but forgotten. Unfortunately as per usual I had to wade through all kinds of bitterness, anti-BL circle jerking and general hate/ignorance while I was trying to get the facts. Same old story, it's pretty much why I avoid the forums whenever possible, but I always enjoy seeing the posts from the few users who obviously enjoy reading the series.

I've taken this opportunity to update the Index Page with some of the confirmed Horus Heresy release information and some of the rumours as well (although I'd say pretty much anything discussed by the authors at the Weekender can count as 'confirmed'). My main source here was Nico, who sometimes posts as Death-Nikorps, and is @blacklibrarium on Twitter. Shout outs to Nico, your enthusiasm and positivity is always nice to read - and thanks for the scoops!

I've also decided to take 'The Shattered Legions' and 'The Silent War' off the Uncomfirmed Projects list. It feels like nobody's talked about them for a while, and they were probably unofficial groupings for arcs rather than a planned anthology release.

Some thoughts here:

Stealth Alpha Legion novella release! Would we want it any other way? Having read a few things about the storyline of 'The Seventh Serpent' I am confident I'll enjoy this when I actually get to read it (hopefully it will go on sale on the BL website in the next few months). It almost feels like BL are letting every author give the XX a shot, I look forward to reading Graham's take on the sons of Alpharius.

On a less positive note, I'm lacking in any optimism about 'Deathfire'. My interest in the Salamanders remains low. My interest in Vulkan remains low. My faith in Nick Kyme's ability to write a good novel remains low. I'm sure it won't be bad, but if it's anything like 'Vulkan Lives', it may be a struggle for me to get through. If this is a book about stoic Isstvan survivors struggling to come to terms with their Primarch's absence and pondering at length on how best to strike back against the traitors... well, fuck. On the other hand, if it's an Imperium Secundus book focusing on Vulkan's sons clashing with Guilliman's authority, and their Primarch's resurrection/rehabilitation - that could be an interesting scenario. But... the cover art really makes me think it's the first one, 

Looks like a lot of HH audio dramas over the next few months, which I'm definitely pleased about, and they're mostly from authors/storylines I'm a fan of. In particular, I look forward to 'Iron Corpses', which I assume is a continuation of John French's Tallarn storyline (the Battle Of Iron Corpses being a significant action in that conflict).

Aaron has bowed out of the Heresy lineup for now, preferring to focus on the second Abaddon book. I have mixed feelings about this, which I'll probably explore in my 'Talon Of Horus' review, but there certainly seem to be several 'young blood' Heresy authors to replace him - Guy Haley, David Annandale and Andy Smillie are all making waves, after all.

It doesn't seem like there'll be a Death Guard or Mortarion-focused book in 2015. Oh well. A couple more short stories or an audio drama would tide me over, but I really hope 2016 sees a full novel or at least a novella... and that Chris Wraight writes it.

Lastly: Horus Heresy Weekender 2015 dates have been announced, and I'm determined to attend - I'm so sick of getting pissed off about the event-only anthologies, why not do something about it? Hopefully I'll manage to act naturally and not freak out (well I doubt there'll be many girls there so I'll probably be fine).

News from the frontlines of this Heresy shit (Well, not really)

Awwwww shit!

It has recently come to my attention (via Black Library's helpful newsletter email) that the next Horus Heresy release after 'The Damnation Of Pythos' is going to be called 'Legacies Of Betrayal'. Here's a slightly cropped shot of the cover art they released - the full version is now proudly taking over as my desktop background (I can retire the long-serving 'Tallarn: Executioner' art, goodbye flaming Iron Warriors, hello flaming... well... there's a Lucius joke in there somewhere, but it seems cheap).

PASS THE MIC SON

Sooooo... some characters seem clear to me (Kharn, Cypher, Lucius, and I suppose Ahriman, though I don't remember him having horns at this point). Some are a mystery but we can at least guess at their identity. The Word Bearers are conspicuous in there absence so we can presume that's a Gal Vorbak bringing up the rear, but with Argel Tal's death, who could it actually be? But speculation isn't helpful (he said, limbering up his fingers for some heavy fucking speculation).

So what's this actually about? Went through some of the usual well-informed but passive-aggressive posts on Heresy Online, and it looks like it will be a three-volume novella collection. (And seriously, guys, why would you think an anthology called 'Legacies Of Betrayal' would have an Ultramarine story in it?) In terms of what the stories will actually be, well, that's unclear, but it's shown on Amazon and Waterstones as being written by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Chris Wraight and Graham McNeill. Looks like a lot of people think Graham has most likely been replaced by Gav Thorpe, though.

So, dream lineup for me:
ADB: A 'Prince Of Crows' sequel. Perhaps a conclusion to the Sevatar story? Though that might be too soon. KILL HIM! KILL HIM, ADB, KILL HIM IN A REALLY AWESOME WAY THAT MAKES EVERYONE MAD!
Chris Wraight: Something about the Alpha Legion would be nice. 'Scars' featured only a tiny bit of XX Legion shenanigans but I felt that Chris had a really good handle on them. Perhaps something about the Thousand Sons character he wrote about in 'Scars' and 'Rebirth', though I'd wager something a bit more villainous is likely with the theme of the collection.
Graham McNeill: A continuation of the story hinted at in 'Lucius: The Eternal Blade'. Lucius and the Thousand Sons butting heads could be a great scenario. But it's being said that we're more likely to get...
Gav Thorpe: Looks like a Cypher story. I could go for one of those. I guess.

But hey, the world isn't an ideal one, so this might not be what we get. It really doesn't look like Sevatar is on the cover, so I'd say it's much more likely that we get a Kharn story. Still, who the fuck am I to complain? I'll buy that shit as soon as it goes on sale. I'd buy it if it was an anthology written by Mitchel Scanlon, CZ Dunn and the fucking ghost of Ayn Rand. So a book with two (mmmaaaayyyybeeee three?) of my favourite HH writers getting 100+ pages each to deepen the story... that sounds golden. I'm not crazy about the concept of Graham being dropped for another Gav Dark Angels story, but if it's on Caliban and deals with the Fallen, I'm still on board. As for Wraight and ADB, I'm not worried about what those guys will bring to the table... at all.

I did not see this one coming, but I did hope another story collection would be out soon, and the dark gods have answered my prayers. Here's hoping it'll be as good as that other 'Legacy' collection...

Erebus, yesterday.

In other news, I got my hands on a copy of 'The Imperial Truth', so I hope to have a review up fairly soon. I'm still struggling horribly with my review readthrough of 'Nemesis' (been stranded at the halfway point for weeks now; boy is that book not fun to write about) and so I'm taking a break to read 'Angel Exterminatus' again, plus all the short stories leading up to it. That means 'The Crimson Fist' so far, and I really didn't give that book its due in my 'Shadows Of Treachery' review, it's very good. definitely better than 7/10.

And of course, I'm stoked for 'Damnation of Pythos' brah.

"Freedom will be bought with blood."

Visitors to the Black Library recently will have seen the following image beckoning them to click on it:

"Falling black feathers?" HH fans might say. "Well, unless that's a continuation of the story of that rascally Prince Of Crows - and Aaron would have certainly told us something if that were the case - then that must be something to do with those cussed ornery birds in the Raven Guard."

Further investigation will reveal a banner saying 'FREEDOM WILL BE BOUGHT WITH BLOOD" and featuring this Beatle-esque chap looking glum:

why do u h8 me tho

And, if you watch the Youtube clip on the page, which shows zooming views of what will probably be the cover art for this thing, as well as SFX to make it more XTREME, you can catch a clearer glimpse of the guy:

That certainly looks like a Raven Guard insignia. And... could those be the turbines of a jetpack behind him? Gosh, who could that be? Rogal Dorn??

...Anyway, the BlackLibrary.com page which all this is on is titled 'Ravenlord', which rather puts the damper on further speculation. The cost on the site listed is £30, which is what the 'limited edition novellas' usually cost. So it's probably a new Raven Guard novella called 'Ravenlord', probably by Gav Thorpe, probably about Corax fighting Word Bearers or Sons Of Horus or Iron Warriors (those enemies in the video are hard to see). Currently, Horus Heresy releases fall into two categories: "I'll buy this first day" and "I'll buy this first day, but I'll feel annoyed about it." This one could go either way... roll on 2nd May.

So what's on the way for PurpleHeresy? Having finally posted my horrendously long (apologies to anyone who managed to read it) 'A Thousand Sons' review, I'm - coincidentally - halfway through my 'Deliverance Lost' review/readthrough. Spoilers - I'm enjoying it just as much as I did first time around. 8/10 isn't out of the question. I've also taken the plunge and ordered the first of the horribly expensive Forge World books with rules for fighting the battles of Isstvan III. It's full of background and gorgeous pictures apparently, so... perhaps I'll do a review of that when it arrives.

I'm looking forward to getting Volume II of the HH Audio Drama Scripts and also the short audio story compilation 'Echoes Of Ruin'. Eventually. Those aren't too high on my list at the moment.

Finally, the newest official addition to the HH novel release schedule is 'The Damnation Of Pythos', apparently. See Amazon for its far-off 'official' release date. And some pretty great cover art...

"Yes, feed me more bolter shells!"

Amazon also helpfully provides a brief synopsis: some Shattered Legion survivors find themselves on Pythos and start trying to establish a safe haven for refugees from that event that's making the galaxy burn and stuff. But then something apparently goes wrong (?). Anyway, this will certainly have something to do with the Damnation Cache which was important for some reason in C Z Dunn's 'Pandorax'. We're not even close to the formation of the Grey Knight Grandmasters, so it seems unlikely this book will include their intervention to save Pythos as described in 'Pandorax'... so what WILL actually happen? Due to the Legions involved, and the author, I think we could assume that this will be a continuation in some way of 'Veritas Ferrum', the short audio drama. Not really sure how this will fit in with the HH series as a whole, and I haven't really seen much David Annandale stuff. Maybe it'll be good. There's still probably a few HH things to come before we get to this, though...

Oh, and John French has a Sigismund audiobook coming soon, it seems:

Pretty cool cover, if nothing else...

Is it M41 yet??

Errr... no. So it's been a while since I wrote any posts on this 'do shitty reviews of all the Horus Heresy books and feel bad when nobody even reads them' project. But I haven't given up, by any means. I have, however, been busy with 'other pursuits'... Necromunda and Netflix have taken up most of the time I'd normally be using on this project, and I've also been trying to read a few non-Black Library books and remembering the time when I used to read Serious Literature. Heh.

I've felt a bit of pressure building when it comes to PurpleHeresy as there's so much I haven't even begun to tackle that I hoped I'd have done before 2014 started. I have rough reviews of 'Aurelian' and 'Honour To The Dead' which require a fair amount of editing before they're suitable even for this shit blog, and notes from my readthrough of 'A Thousand Sons' which I haven't begun to transcribe (they may rival my 'Fulgrim' readthrough notes for length). I've also read 'Brotherhood Of The Storm' and 'Scars', not even trying to make notes. I feel like for those books, my notes would have just been alternative phrasings of 'HOLY SHIT THIS IS THE BOMB PEW PEW PEW', so I'll save it for my second or third readthrough. I will say that 'Scars' was one of the best Horus Heresy books I've read in a while, and unlike many fans, I've really enjoyed the last 10 or so, so that really says something. I've also enjoyed the audio drama 'Wolf Hunt' and the e-book 'Wolf Of Ash And Fire' - that one in particular makes me salivate at the prospect of 'Vengeful Spirit' in a few months, as my confidence in Graham's writing gets stronger and stronger. And, as always, I'm pining away until there's an official release date for 'The Talon Of Horus'.

I'm beginning to re-read the 'Silent War' arc, or the books I loosely group together under that banner. Stuff that loosely involves subterfuge, particularly the ones set or partially set on Terra. I've started with 'Legion' (still amazing) and I'm planning on moving on to 'Flight Of The Eisenstein' and 'Mechanicum' shortly after. This will ultimately lead to me writing a review of 'The Outcast Dead', which may be... interesting. I enjoyed it a lot the first time round, maybe this time I'll understand why all the nerds hate this one in particular.

I don't tend to do this on here, but I'm going to talk about two non-HH Black Library books I've read recently (which, as per usual, I bought only because of their tie-ins to the HH line).

First off, John French's 'Ahriman: Exile'. Despite my hopes, I was disappointed by this. It seemed like an automatic success at first. A 40k-era continuation of Ahzek Ahriman's story as he wanders the stars searching for knowledge and redemption, written by one of Black Library's rising stars. 'Tallarn: Executioner' was superb after all (review coming soon... maybe). And I've always been a Tzeentch devotee at heart so Ahriman's story was always interesting to me. But 'Exile' fell short of what I feel French was capable of. In being a dark, grimy story about being a very small, yet important part in a huge conflict, it felt like it was heavily influenced by Abnett's Inquisitor books and ADB's 'The Emperor's Gift', in intent if not form. It was full of unpleasant, or abrasive, yet well-drawn characters, and it frequently put its "heroes" into situations of genuine peril which they couldn't get out of just by planting their feet on the floor and rapid-firing a boltgun. But Ahriman's character didn't really... click for me. As in 'A Thousand Sons', Ahriman comes across as a bit of a boring place-holder at times (but, sacrilege: the writing quality here is leagues beyond 'A Thousand Sons'), so insular and withdrawn that one of the main joys I take from this kind of fiction - seeing how different Traitor Legions interact with each other after their fall from grace - was hardly present in the book.

At times he seemed like a power-armoured Shinji Ikari; bubbling with self-hating "Ooooh I'm such a despicable coward" sobs even as he did phenomenal, world-changing and suicidally brave things. The best thing you could say about 'Exile' was that somewhere, someone was reading it and getting ideas for the best Dark Heresy campaign ever. And that's not a bad thing to say about a book like this. Ultimately, I wouldn't say the book was a waste of time to read at all; there are setpieces which will probably stay with me forever, and there are enough mysteries around at the end of the book to make me take note if a sequel is released. (And I hope John French gets a full Horus Heresy book soon.)

Next up, 'Pandorax' by C Z Dunn. I bought this hefty tome because a gamer friend mentioned casually that there's a plot strand in this where one of the original Grey Knight Grandmasters shows up after 10,000 years in stasis - a former Fallen Angel Librarian who fought in the Horus Heresy. When I heard that, I flipped the fuck out. I knew there was only one Fallen Angel that was gonna end up being, and it totally disproved my theory about Zahariel's ultimate fate (trumpeted loudly in my 'Fallen Angels' review). And you know what? This is better. My version was dumb. The added prospect of seeing the Dark Angels and Grey Knights fight shoulder to shoulder and try to overcome a deep distrust of each other, as well as appearances from Abaddon and Huron Blackheart, convinced me that it was worth a look. Hey, I'd never read anything by this 'C Z Dunn' before, but with a story like that, anyone could knock it out of the park, right?

Well, no, as it turns out. 'Pandorax' is terrible. It's fucking garbage. It is honestly one of the worst books I've ever read.

...OK, it's not really BAD bad, not bad enough to get this angry about, but it's dumb bad. So fucking dumb bad.

'Pandorax' is about the defense of Pythos, a jungle/hive world from the Black Legion, who show up with support from the Death Guard and a shitload of boring daemon assholes in order to get some magickal MacGuffin which apparently has been hidden on the planet for milennia. With help from some stalwart Catachans, a friendly visiting Inquistor manages to get a distress signal off before the planet's defenses are overwhelmed and guerrilla warfare commences. Many months later, the entire Dark Angels chapter shows up, along with a company of Grey Knights. But are they trying to save Pythos, or are their motives a bit more complicated??

So far, so good, so what? The plot goes to hell quickly, involving dissent and argument between the Grey Knights and Dark Angels just because, a Heldrake that's fucking super tough and indestructible until the plot says it isn't, apparently interchangeable Imperial Guard regiments with vastly different specialist skills being namedropped with no reason other than to add variety to the battle scenes, every single Chaos general stabbing each other in the back, generally for no obvious gain (yeah, I guess that one's fair enough though) and my absolute favourite device in BL fiction, a horde of unstoppable daemons ripping apart huge armies of Imperials. Yeah, an unstoppable force murdering all the guard, we ain't seen THAT shit before. The way their armies tend to be portrayed, Tyranid and Daemons players must be those guys who insisted they never got killed when they played with other kids. "I shot you!" "No, I had another guy. I always have another guy, and so my guy can never die. Not really die. I'm in THE WARP, not dead, so I ACTUALLY WIN!"

But put all that aside. The plot, really, doesn't bother me much. What bothers me in particular is how predictable, lazy and rote the character development is. Aside from one character betraying their comrades quite early on (heavily signposted, too) everyone acts EXACTLY the same from when they're introduced to when they die (or the book ends). There is, for all intents and purposes, NO character development at all. In its own way, it's even more agonising than the shitty characterisation in those first few McNeill HH novels. To add to this, the book is so full of awkward phrasings, garbled syntax and oddly mangled clichés that it feels like it wasn't even run through a basic grammar check. An unfortunate flaw, as C Z Dunn has primarily worked for Black Library as, er, an editor. 'Pandorax' feels like it has a terrible line, confusing phrasing or straight-up mistake on every page. I mean, 'Battle For The Abyss' needed to put the thesaurus down, but aside from a few glaring examples, grammatically it was tight... But like that book, 'Pandorax' feels like it was rush-written due to GW demands rather than, well, needing to be written because the story was worth telling. Advertised as an 'Apocalypse Novel', it's supposed to cater to fans of the ridiculous version of 40K where you need to field armies that take hours to complete a single movement phase. But actually only a fairly brief action sequence near the end of its 400+ pages is an 'Apocalypse'-level engagement, the rest being more standard-size fights or even small skirmishes involving around ten or so on each side.  That's not a complaint though, at least there's SOME variation instead of just "start with 100 vs 100, work up to 1000 vs 10,000!!"

So, what did I like? Well, it heavily features Grey Knight Supreme Grandmaster Kaldor Draigo, who is the internet's favourite illustration of how immature GW fiction is (and almost illegally obviously named after the internet's favourite horselord rapist, Khal Drogo). As opposed to the way Matt Ward has portrayed him, Draigo here isn't just an unstoppable juggernaut capable of 'bombing' a daemon Primarch's heart Wildstyle. He's an arrogant but incredibly capable rising star in the Grey Knights. I guess it's dumb to say I 'liked' this but at least I didn't hate it, not compared to the fucking dull-as-dishwater non-character that is Azrael. I also found the hints about the Grey Knight founding really interesting - this is probably old news to people who have one of the many, many Grey Knights-related rulebooks or novels out there, but, yeah, so there were eight 'Grandmasters' originally at the Chapter's founding in the Heresy era. Their identity is entwined with the Horus Heresy series of Garro audio-dramas. Now, we already know that Garro's 'dirty dozen' are going to end up heavily involved in the founding of the Inquisition and the Grey Knights. But we also know that Garro, Qruze, Loken and Varren don't have psyker abilities (unless there are drastic changes to their characters), so Rubio and Severian are the only Malcador recruits even slightly likely to become Grandmasters. And whaddya know, that's almost directly confirmed in this book by Abaddon (what a helpful guy). We also are given to believe Zahariel (well, who else could it be?) became Epimetheus, the Grandmaster in this book. Of course this raises the question: how did this come about? And shortly after that: who the fuck are the other FIVE Grandmasters?

There's a contentious theory that the Grandmaster Khyron is actually the Night Lord Sevatar, based mainly on the fact that in 'The Emperor's Gift' a statue of him is depicted as brandishing a Nemesis halberd and Jago totally used a chain-glaive which is not 100% dissimilar and the plinth shows some attributed remarks of Khyron alluding to the fact he had committed treachery in his past and that's totally applicable to Sevatar since he totally killed or tortured hundreds of Loyalist marines! Ehhh, about this I'm ambivalent. Aaron's already said in no uncertain terms that Sevatar dies in the Heresy timeline. Now, maybe he's just being creative with the definition of 'death' and Sevatar's identity rather than his physical form is what dies. I'd also LOVE to see acid-tongued Sev playing off a bunch of ramrod-straight Grey Knights. But... to me, I think Sevatar's too far gone to ever accept The Emperor's Gift. That's not to say that if it turns out to be Sev, I won't weep tears of joy...

Anyway, at this point we have to seriously think about all the Astartes psyker characters which exist in the Horus Heresy: who's it going to be? Is my facetious theory about Mhotep still being alive going to end up being true? Maybe Yeseugi Khan is going to be the Grandmasters' 'token ethnic stereotype'? Maybe they're going to pull the Severian trick of "this character's really a psyker despite it not being mentioned before" on someone surprising. One thing I'm fairly confident of: there probably won't be an Alpha Legion Grandmaster.

Anyway, all this stuff that I actually care about is from a couple pages where the fluff is briefly discussed. For most of the book, I couldn't even raise a yawn. Read the stuff about the Grey Knight history online, and consign this bullshit to the list of forgotten BL books. If you want to read a Grey Knight story, read ADB's 'The Emperor's Gift'.

Oh, the title is actually the name of the system it takes place in, and it's also a portmanteau of 'Pandora's Box', which is a myth where a certain cache is opened up and releases damnation on the world. Subtle stuff.

Oh, the other day my copy of 'Macragge's Honour' arrived. The "time it takes to read it" to "money spent on it" ratio is extremely unfavourable, but I can't even try to complain about it; it's fucking gorgeous. I'm not sure how much re-read value it will prove to have, but I'm very glad to own it. There may be a bile explosion when I see it on sale for a third of the price I paid in a year or so, but... that's in the future, and I have my beautiful renderings of Kor Phaeron's smugness now. That said, I fervently hope that Black Library does NOT begin to branch into graphic novels as a "regular thing". Just seems like an opportunity for them to release even slimmer volumes than their novellas and charge even more. Something tells me a £14.99 'trade' paperback of a Black Library graphic novel is incredibly unlikely.

Yeah, so, tl;dr: 'Aurelian' review coming soon I hope, and I still love the Horus Heresy despite recently being told it's "a terrible series that makes all the primarchs seem really emo".

The Hand of the Ship

Holy shit, I found this when looking for Horus Heresy on Amazon... not sure how long ago this was announced...

A few thoughts:

-Hmm, is Horus wearing the same armour - and basically in the same post - as on the cover of 'Tales Of Heresy'? Dude may need to diversify his wardrobe.

-Graham McNeill is back! 'Angel Exterminatus' was the shit! However, 'False Gods', the only Horus-centric book Graham has done, is one of my least favourite in the series. I think Graham's writing style has improved dramatically in the last few years, but his characterisation of Aximand, Abaddon and Horus himself were... shaky. Mind you I hated his version of Fulgrim in the titular book, but then in 'Reflection Crack'd' and 'Angel' he's a badass... I'm still a little dubious.

-I have been whining about a lack of Sons Of Horus books in the series for ages now, though, so I can't really be trippin'.

-So, what's the battle of Molech? This, apparently. Looks like some more opportunities for Gareth to do some freaky-ass Slaanesh orgies, the stuff he loves to do more than anything else in the world.

-I didn't know what Knight Houses were. It seems they're the bitter smaller cousins of Titan Legions. That could be pretty damn cool - I'm not really a massive fan of BIG MECH BATTLES, but of all the HH guys who've tried it, Graham's 'Mechanicum' stuff was the best to me.

-The fact this is on Amazon, and 'The Shattered Legions' or 'The Silent War' aren't - perhaps this is next up after 'Scars'? Then again, there's a looooong gap between both books' projected release dates.

Here's maybe the best cover ever:

1. "Premier Heretique" is the best thing ever.
2. "Du sang por le Dieu de Sang" shows that French Khornate players must be so much more genteel than their Brit counterparts. I can't make it sound like anything other than politely asking for a brand of herbal tea in a restaurant.
3. Angron and Lorgar are definitely some felons by now...

RE-LOAD, for the love of the EMPRAH!

Well... I've come to the end of the (published) Heresy series. I did this once before (when I finished the 'Mark Of Calth' review) but it took me almost 2 more book releases before I actually got this blog up and running. Of course, I'm not an HH authority now by any means. There's a few audio dramas I'm waiting on hearing, due to my preference for getting them on CD rather than just buying the MP3s. And of course, there are limited edition novellas I'm missing, stuff that's only come out on e-Books (which I think I will continue to NEVER buy), and stuff which has only been available at GW/Black Library events.

In keeping with this theme, I got an email today about this, the second Black Library Weekender!!! I'm very conflicted about this. I'd absolutely love to get my hands on the 'Know No Fear' tie-in graphic novel 'Macragge's Honour'. And even more than that, an exclusive Horus Heresy anthology called 'The Imperial Truth'? Sign me up! I'm not really too fussed about 'Visions Of Heresy', though I'm sure I will get that eventually. I feel like I need to explain a bit; it's not that I want to get this stuff before everyone else but I just can't wait too long for more of the HH story.

On the other hand... it is expensive. £70 for a ticket, plus I'd have to get the train up there, and probably stay in a hotel for a few nights - not cheap. Plus all the books there would probably cost a lot. But if I'm completely honest, I'm not as concerned about spending money as I am about travelling out of my 'comfort zone', and going there solo isn't a hugely attractive prospect for me. I'm pretty uncomfortable in crowds, too. So probably I'll just stay home, and wait a few years for all the exclusive stuff to become available to the rest of us shitmunchers.

As for the signings and meet-and-greets with authors... man, I already KNOW I like those guys' work, and I don't feel like I need an autographed book to reinforce that. And I'm not sure I would want to meet them... Then you have this terrifying sounding thing called 'Pitch Factor' wherein you compete against a hall of other attendees to pitch some possible Black Library fiction. Deep down inside (no homo) I'd love to write Black Library fiction but I know from experience that any obstacles I encountered would make me completely forsake this dream. 'Having my ideas criticised by a room full of people who are similarly fond of HH' would definitely count as an 'obstacle' for me. I'd probably grab a corkscrew and attempt some DIY version of the 'forgettingness surgery' from Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.

So yeah, don't expect to see Purple Heresy all up in the VIP at the Black Library Weekender...

Moving on from that downbeat shit. Next in the pipeline for HH? Some shit I'm pretty stoked about. Chris Wraight's 'Scars' e-book series is coming to an end fairly soon. If the release schedule followed for HH so far is kept to, I'm guessing the hardback version of this book will go on sale in early December 2013. I just don't fuck with e-books so I'm holding out for the physical form, but I'm really looking forward to it and I've heard good things. We've barely had any White Scars stuff in the Heresy so far, and Wraight's 'Rebirth' is definitely one of the better HH stories I've read. We also have the 'Thief Of Revelations/Hunter's Moon' audio stories, listed on Amazon as coming out mid-2014 in CD format. Apparently, one story will be about the Space Wolves, one will be about Ahriman and Magnus.

In terms of more HH books, the names of two anthologies, 'The Shattered Legions' and 'The Shadow War', have apparently been announced (according to this old, but very accurate, forum post). 'The Shattered Legions' will focus on Iron Hands, Salamanders and Raven Guard. I'd expect that we'll get a continuation of 'shattered legion' survivors we saw in 'Angel Exterminatus', 'Vulkan Lives' and 'The Unremembered Empire'... and I bet Gav Thorpe gives us a bit more setup for whatever the next Raven Guard novel will be. Allegedly, 'The Silent War' will show us the fallout from Magnus' astral-projection craziness on Terra, but I'd also expect us to get a lot more stories along the lines of 'The Sigillite' and 'Grey Angel' / 'Burden Of Duty'. I'm guessing it'll have a bit of an 'espionage' theme, so I'm guessing we may get a bit more Cold War craziness from those creepy Alpha Legion dudes. If they get creative with the title, we might see some more stories from Calth's Underworld War, or Lorgar and Angron's Shadow Crusade... Next up for me, though, will be 'Tallarn: Executioner' which I ordered a little while back and should get to me some time before the end of November. I'm guessing this will also be a bit of a 'full HH novel setup', as I doubt the entirety of Tallarn's fate is going to be dealt with in just one novella.

In terms of non-HH Black Library fiction, I'm psyched for the new Gaunt's Ghosts book, 'The Warmaster', according to Amazon it's out July 2014 (which judging from the Amazon date/BL release date discrepancies I've seen in the past, should mean it's actually out in the first couple months of 2014). I'm eager to see what happens next in this series as the last couple books were brilliant. I'm also looking forward to the paperback of 'Pariah', which seems to have got some criticism from Ravenor/Eisenhorn fans, but I loved it. Bequin Book 2 can't come soon enough for me.

But just because I've read all the HH novels so far, doesn't mean I've reviewed them all. So, I just drew up my "Still To Review" list, of the 'mop-up' reading I have to do for books I haven't yet written reviews for...

Horus Rising - Dan Abnett
False Gods - Graham McNeill
Galaxy In Flames - Ben Counter
Fulgrim - Graham McNeill
Descent Of Angels - Mitchel Scanlon
Battle For The Abyss - Ben Counter
Mechanicum - Graham McNeill
Fallen Angels - Mike Lee
A Thousand Sons - Graham McNeill
Nemesis - James Swallow
The Outcast Dead - Graham McNeill
Deliverance Lost - Gav Thorpe

Two observations - one, it's quite McNeill heavy, and two, it contains some stretches I am NOT looking forward to reliving. From 'False Gods' through to 'Battle For The Abyss' is a run I remember as being some of the dryest, most joyless sci-fi writing I've ever encountered in all my nerdy days. And after the brief highlight of 'Mechanicum', it takes until 'The Outcast Dead' that we hit a sequence of books I actually relish the thought of reading again.

I'm not sure what to feel about the fact Black Library claim the overall series is "about halfway done". I mean, in a way, it feels like shit is rushing towards the inevitable conclusion... how could it really take 25 more books until we get to the point where the Emperor falls? Or even 25 books until the very end of the Great Scouring (is that even gonna be part of the series)? It's like, even after the gloomy tête-à-tête in 'Unremembered Empire', how long is it gonna be until those 3 dudes march on Earth? And even if the Siege of Terra gets a novel for each Legion which takes part, they can't spin that out for too long. Then again, we still haven't had jack shit about the White Scars. We don't know what those slippery bastards in the XX Legion are doing right now. Magnus is still moping around the Planet of the Sorcerors, biting on a pillow, and he's pretty far away from going full-on Fantasia. I still don't have a fucking clue what really motivates Mortarion or what kind of personality he has. "Hates magic, loves poison gases" isn't really much to go on. The Fallen Angels are, as far as can be told, standing around the surface of Caliban scratching their withered empty ballsacks. I'm just saying, for every Garro, Lorgar, Qruze or Fulgrim whose story is pushing onwards into fresh, weird new areas, there are story branches that seem to be in need of a definite kickstart, or perhaps just some STORY - any story at all. AND WHAT THE FUCK IS HORUS DOING RIGHT NOW???

I mean, I kinda hope that they don't decide to use one of the remaining 25 books to have Ben Counter describe in mind-numbing detail the alterations Dorn is making to the Palace, or have some new dude write about the Iron Hands being angsty and sulky about the fact they can't do SHIT anymore... but hell, I'm kinda content. So long as they fall into a 'holding pattern' of Abnett, Dembski-Bowden, Swallow and McNeill dealing with most of the releases (perhaps I'd give Gav Thorpe a place in the winners circle too, as long as he lays off the fucking hair metal references) I'm pretty casual. Shit, if we can get a few more 'Know No Fears', 'Angel Exterminatuses' and 'First Heretics', the series could probably survive some more yawnfests like 'Battle For The Abyss' or 'A Thousand Sons'.

So yeah, I'll keep marking HH release dates on my calendar. I'll even pay 20 FUCKING POUNDS for the hardback version just to read them about half a year earlier... because I'm loco like that.