"Nemesis" by James Swallow

Damn, it has taken me QUITE A WHILE to write this review...

Just noticed this book is dedicated to Aaron & Katie. Awww.

‘Nemesis’ opens “two years after the betrayal of Isstvan”, though whether that’s two years since the virus bombs fell on the Choral City or two years since the Urgall Depression became the galaxy’s largest graveyard isn’t really clear. In the ‘cold open’, we catch up with the Sons Of Horus, who’ve spent the past years rampaging through the Imperium, converting or crushing the planets they’ve found. Some poor jobber has been sent to kill Horus, a pretty poor choice for a novel’s opening gambit really, since we are automatically going to have zero stake in this assassin character. (I guess they could have said Horus was actually killed at this point, and ‘Horus’ for the rest of the war was just Alpharius.) Anyway, after that dumb mislead, we see the political manoeuvring that’s already rife in Horus’ high command, here summed up in a bitter argument between Erebus and Luc Sedirae. Since I know the, erm, developments in Sedirae's story later in the book, I read his sections with greater attentiveness than before, and I think Swallow rounds out the character very nicely, giving him an undercurrent of seething frustration at the slow pace the campaign is taking.

This turns out to be ANOTHER mislead and we’re off to the setting of one of our primary plot strands, Iesta Veracrux. Yosef Sabrat is our first protagonist, basically veteran cop-dude-man, having to investigate a series of horrific murders on this apparently unimportant world (which mainly exports wine). I do kind of like these sections as it’s nice to see a different side of the 30K Universe. This thread is a nice study of how a normal Imperial agri-world can be torn apart without an invasion force landing, all it takes is some dark suspicions from the general populace and fear, paranoia, misinformation does the work – it reminds me a bit of ‘Liar’s Due’ in that way. I kind of hoped Swallow would go all the way with this cop drama and make it into a real ‘whodunnit’ story. But less than 80 pages in, we find out who the culprit is – a malevolent entity called Spear. What do I mean? Well, it’s a little unclear what Spear really is, but more on that later: he can definitely change his identity to people who he’s killed (hey, just like the shittest ever Buffy villain).

Meanwhile, on Terra they’re setting up the other main plot strand of ‘Nemesis’. The leaders of the six ‘clades’ of the Officio Assassinorum are meeting in secret, with their faces masked, all weepy about their failure to get rid of Horus. Back when I played 40k there were 4 assassin types, but here there are also Vanus and Venenum, who are information-gatherers and poisoners respectively. (Unlikely to make an appearance in tabletop games, but I guess they’re probably popular with 40k roleplayers.) We also have the ‘classic’ clades: Vindicare (snipers), Eversor (berserkers), Culexus (psyker-killers) and Callidus (shape-shifting infiltrators). Quickly the clade leaders come up with a pretty obvious scheme: why not send one member of each clade to kill Horus, working together as a team, rather than individually? To which the reader might say, shit, why not send TWO of each team? Or three? Or in the immortal words of Gary Oldman, EVERRRRRYYYYOONNNE!!!!!!! Anyway, they’re certain that Dagonet, near to where the Sons Of Horus are fighting, is where The Archtraitor will pop his head up and boom bang bing, they’re gonna cap that fool.

The seventh operator here, the Master of Assassins, turns out to be Malcador, which pulls ‘Nemesis’ into the ‘Silent War’ category of HH novels I’m very fond of. I love all these surreptitious political shenanigans on Terra. Another important character in the Imperial thread is Constantin Valdor, the Chief Custodes. An important character, and I think this book is the first to flesh him out. In fact, he’s the one who gives the ‘kill order’ on Horus to the execution force. While apparently a major figure on Terra, I really don’t remember much about him – it doesn’t help that to my recollection he’s made only fairly minor appearances and cameos in books so far. I just want more Custodes lore, dammit! Only ones that really made an impression were Aaron’s in ‘First Heretic’, and, well, those guys won’t be back. I don’t know where Valdor’s arc is going, which is probably a good thing – but it’s more due to the vagueness of the character than any great mystery.

There’s a few brief Dorn scenes in the book. He takes the view that as long as Horus heads the rebellion, the traitor forces can be predicted in their actions, so an assassination would be disastrous. Unfortunately, this view makes the assumption that Horus is still the same guy as before. But I guess that’s what you get when you’re happy to stay blinkered on Terra with your head in the sand, only acknowledging things your daddy spoon-feeds you. (Yeah, I know none of that is fair. I’m just venting.) I really don’t understand how anyone can like Dorn, the way he’s been portrayed in the Heresy books at least. Basically, I think until Dan (or maybe John French) writes Dorn again, I will continue to hate on that guy, he’s probably still my least favourite Primarch. I mean Vulkan is dull, but he’s cool at least, and Ferrus is a much bigger asshole, but he’s more interesting than the Emperor’s Praetorian in my opinion… Meanwhile, on Ieasta Veracrux, the staff of a Rogue Trader show up to assist with the investigation into the occult murders. Kind of the equivalent of the FBI showing up in a cop drama and waving their dicks around over jurisdiction. There’s one brief mention here of the Contract of Trade being sealed with a drop of the Emperor’s Blood, and on my second readthrough, this struck me as almost painfully obvious. And here’s where another issue with the ‘detective’ narrative becomes more obvious. We start getting much more effective characterisation and fleshing out of the various investigators – but just as we start to like each of them a bit more, Spear shows up and kills them in short order. And then leaves the planet, so really none of it was too necessary, I guess?

The beginnings of our ‘execution force’ gathering are sort of interesting, as Valdor plays a prominent role. We first meet Vanus operative Fon Tarel. He’s established as a compulsive information-gatherer, which is apparently the main function of his clade – they do not kill directly, they plant misinformation and skilfully manipulate their targets into fatal positions. Right away, you realise Vanus operatives aren’t likely to have much place on a “kill-a-Primarch” mission, but the character doesn’t suck. I really like the brief glimpses we get of the ‘Atalantic Wilderness’ (sic) on Terra, a featureless desert dotted with scavenger gangs where there used to be an ocean, a long time ago. It adds another dimension to the seat of the Imperium and shows that Terra is far from a locked-down, 100% secure safe-haven.

I’m gonna skim over the rest of the Execution Force introductions. The sequences where they gather the team are pretty good, enjoyable action sequences where they show each assassin’s MO and a few of their character traits. The Callidus operative’s ‘groundwork’, wherein the target is psycho-conditioned subtly over a period of weeks, to fall in ‘love’ with the assassin’s cover identity – well, that’s pretty cool. And the setting of the Venenum operative’s introduction – some ancient temple on Terra that’s been reclaimed by the jungle and is being used as a “poison farm” – is also imaginative. Unfortunately the assassins can come across as quite shallow characters based on standard movie/fiction tropes. The Vanus is the nervous, high-strung hacker from any generic thriller or heist movie; if it was an anime he’d push his glasses up his nose all the fucking time. The Vindicare has the standard ‘doesn’t play nice with others’ sniper characteristic, as well as being the ‘conflicted leader’ whose arrogance conceals deeply hidden doubts in his own abilities. The Eversor is the ‘big angry dude’ who just wants to fight all the time and snarls at anyone who tries to assert authority. (So he’s like a Space Wolf from the bad times of Black Library.) I guess the Culexus isn’t hugely clichéd, though I guess an unkind reviewer could say that she’s meant to illustrate how unknowable, strange and cruel women are. (I definitely don’t hate the book enough to argue that, though.) Overall I think she acts a bit like a stereotypical ‘alien trying to learn the ways of humanity’ – socially awkward, emotionless, apart from everyone else. By the nature of her/his/its character, the Callidus is a bit of a cipher, though it’s consistently arrogant and smug. And Jenniker, the poisoner, is the doubting Imperial servant with a hidden conscience, who secretly follows the Imperial Cult. If you’re like me, you could think of a fair few movie characters that fit nicely with those descriptions. I mean, they’re not badly written. There are nice moments showing the tensions between the clades (usually when the Eversor opens his mouth). But I’d have personally preferred a much smaller team with more detailed characters.

So, when the execution squad actually gets to Dagonet, it’s almost fallen to pro-Horus forces already. They decide to prolong the resistance by joining the rebels; that way, Horus may present himself on the planet’s surface. Not a terrible plan, as Horus apparently won a decisive victory on Dagonet early in his military career, so there’s a chance his pride won’t let a prolonged war against him sully his memory of that easy first conquest. Of course, like Dorn’s viewpoint, this plan still hinges on Horus having the same personality as he did pre-rebellion… Meanwhile, Spear takes on the personality of Hyssos, an associate of the Rogue Trader baron, and finding that the Warrant of Trade is on Dagonet, he decides to go there, since if he can get the Emperor’s blood, he can kill the Emperor (apparently). The two storylines are neatly tied together, ready for the third act…

Around this time, Spear begins to lose his shit, as apparently the murdered shade of Josef Sabrat is still able to mess around in Spear’s psyche and occasionally cause him discomfort or even loss of control. This prompts us to flash back to Spear’s backstory, and this is the genesis of the most commonly raised complaint about ‘Nemesis’. Spear is a “Black Pariah”, some combination of a psyker and a psychic blank. Personally, I don’t really care about this botch of the fluff. Sure, it’s pretty broken but I find it easy to reason it away. Maybe Spear is incorrect about what he is. Maybe Erebus mislead him. It’s salvageable (as well as being a very, very small part of a 500+ page novel). But visit any forum discussion on HH and you’ll eventually see people holding the Black Pariah twist up as proof James Swallow has no regard for the fluff and should never write another BL book. This is one of the things I find most baffling about HH fans and also why I don’t hit the forums much. They’ll praise to the heavens books that I personally find mediocre as fuck, like ‘False Gods’ or ‘A Thousand Sons’. Hey, those books respect the fluff – no doubt there. But a book comes along which changes, or just tweaks a tiny aspect of, their beloved lore and it’s just the worst thing ever. See Oll Persson in ‘Know No Fear’, or when exactly the psychic backlash left the palace in ‘The Outcast Dead’, or the Black Pariah in ‘Nemesis’. Stuff I personally feel is of minimal importance in the context of the books (or a drastic improvement of established fluff, in some cases) but which had GW fanboys all but calling for these authors’ beheading. Eugh. Sometimes I really hate the fandom I’m part of.

Just one of the many drawbacks of caring about Warhammer 40,000 I guess.

Anyway, the last act builds the tension nicely, with the Venenum operative following her faith rather than her orders and helping the citizens of Dagonet defend a “holy relic” (which turns out to be the Warrant) from the evil force of Spear, while the Sons Of Horus make planetfall, expecting a fully compliant world. And thus, taken unawares, HORUS IS ASSASSINATED AND GETS HIS CABBAGE POPPED THA HELL OFF, KID! But no, wait, it was just Luc Sedirae wearing some Lupercal-calibre pimp threads. I don’t like this. Sure, the fake Horus is described as being ‘taller’ than his comrades, but shouldn’t Kell have realised “yo, this guy isn’t a fucking giant, so he’s unlikely to be a Primarch, maybe it’s a decoy”? Overall I guess I’m just kind of bummed out that a character I quite like (for no particular identifiable reason; he’s not hugely developed in any of the books) got shuffled off. Anyway, shit gets kind of South Central after that and Space Marines be firin’ into the crowd and shit. This makes the assassins scatter, their hopes of killing Horus pretty much crushed, and all that remains is for Jim to pretty much ‘Wild Bunch’ it, the way I kind of wish Graham did in ‘Vengeful Spirit’ – just kill all his main characters, one by one. While it felt obvious that this was the final destination, it didn’t stop the last battles from being well-written and tense (the Eversor doing a suicide-charge into a full squad of Sons Of Horus is a highlight). The book ends with Kell’s status unclear, possibly dead but apparently piloting his one-man ship directly at the Vengeful Spirit; it’s been rumoured he will feature in a forthcoming HH anthology, so maybe we’ll see him die ‘onscreen’ after all. I also really like the last scene between the clade leaders, with Dorn and Malcador duking it out for the Imperium’s soul before the Emperor has to come in and say “you’re both right but shut up though”. It’s nicely juxtaposed with the last moments with Horus and Erebus. Speaking of that, our time with Erebus certainly sets up his appearance in ‘Fear To Tread’ nicely. So yeah, for all my criticisms, I do commend ‘Nemesis’ for its particularly strong ending (though it gave me such SoH blueballs, I had to go read ‘Little Horus’ right away).

  

So, is this “OMG WORST HH BOOK EVER, MORE WORTHLESS THAN CATTLE FOR THE ABYSS!!!” ? Not really. I don’t think ‘Nemesis’ is a complete island. Even though the narrative thrust of ‘Nemesis’ seems standalone, there’s certainly evidence that Swallow has read the other HH books – he’ll drop allusions and hints in passing. I like the hint that Kell, the Vindicare, may have killed Astartes on assignment before this story (maybe even pre-Heresy…?). The allusions aren’t just to HH stuff. There’s a possible ‘Firefly’ reference when the Garantine, the Eversor assassin, is given his weapons and reacts with almost orgasmic joy; he gleefully says “I’ll be in my bunk” and walks off… Jayne? Jayne is that you? My days of taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle. What about the quality of the writing? Like I’ve said before, I think James Swallow is a good writer – not ‘great’, like AD-B with his well-rounded characters with subtle and broad emotional palettes, or Dan Abnett’s poetic and elegant style. But good. Solidly good. He writes briskly, the plot zips along, the dialogue has some sting to it, and if a cliché comes along, it’s usually a sci-fi cliché rather than a specific 40K cliché. Having said that, I don’t like all the choices he made here – the way the action cuts abruptly between Spear and the Execution force a few times in each chapter is something I find quite jarring. As for the actual content of the story…? Well…

Armchair BL Executive time: I’d have released ‘Nemesis’ in a vastly different way. I still think there’s a lot of worth to it… but powering through it as a novel, I found pretty tough going. Shit, you know I always try to be positive in my reviews and I have to say I found this much less readable than books like ‘Fulgrim’ or even ‘Vulkan Lives’, which I didn’t like at all. Personally, here’s what I might have pushed to be done with this material, if I was in the position where people actually gave a shit…

• The coming together of the assassin team? I’d have cut this down pretty drastically, pushed it together with the Valdor and clade leader stuff, and put it in an audio drama, probably concluding with the team learning who their target was. In a lot of ways this was a nice scene-setter, but I don’t think we need THIS much interaction between these, frankly, quite shallow characters.
• The detective story/Spear’s establishment? It was well-written, and I enjoyed it – but the oddly rushed conclusion to it, the surprisingly small importance it has to the later part of the book, makes me want to scrap this altogether. All I can say is that if James Swallow had used this as a basis for a non-BL novel, I’d have probably enjoyed it quite a lot more.
• Spear and the Execution Squad’s ultimate confrontation: Absolutely enough awesomeness here for a solid novella. You’d have to put a bit more explanation about Spear (or, to be honest, just make him a powerful warrior bound to a daemon, and forget the pariah/absorbed personalities angle) and add a paragraph about Eristede and Jenniker’s family ties, but you could pretty much publish, like, page 350 through to page 500 as they stand, and it’d probably be fine.

Anyway. I don’t think there’s a problem with HH self-contained books featuring casts who haven’t appeared before, and won’t appear again. I liked ‘Damnation Of Pythos’ a lot, after all, and that also kind of describes how Tallarn will most likely be handled in the HH line, and that’s fucking great so far. (And if we look at the opposite approach, remember how much people HATED Graham putting his 40K Iron Warriors into ‘Angel Exterminatus’). But… this was the wrong time to slot ‘Nemesis’ into the Heresy lineup, in my opinion. Not that it did any long-term damage to the series. I’m sure a few people thought ‘Oh man, the Horus Heresy series is fucked now’ and then the next novel was ‘The First Heretic’. Lastly, I think it’s worth mentioning that this probably has the most female-heavy cast of any Horus Heresy novel; maybe I should stop beating this particular drum, but it’s kind of shameful how few books have non-male characters, and for that, if little else, ‘Nemesis’ gets some real respect from me. But the INCREDIBLY overstuffed length, the rather dry first half of the book, and the sneaking suspicion that we don’t need an Assassinorum 30K book because apparently very little has changed in that organisation between 30K and 40K… well, all these things hurt ‘Nemesis’ badly. I am slapping it with a 6/10 for now (but ‘Fear To Tread’ is still really good, fuck all y’all haters).

Finally, here’s a song by Tom Waits called ‘Big Black Pariah’, about how much Tom hates James Swallow (?).

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

"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!

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

"The Imperial Truth" (short story collection)

Today, exclusive to PurpleHeresy, a review of the just-announced HH limited edition novella "The Purge"! I hope you're ready for a lot of anorexia jokes!

Ahh, I'm just fucking with you. Today I'm reviewing 'The Imperial Truth'.

"And over there, you can see some horrible fucking compression."

‘The Imperial Truth’ was a stand-alone, limited-edition novella available only to attendees of the 2013 Horus Heresy Weekender, and for a long time ‘TIT’ (jeez I better not use THAT acronym) was one of my primary reasons to curse Black Library for a bunch of bastards. Why were they so keen to dry-fuck the fans who weren’t able to spend £70 for admission, plus train fare, to go to Nottingham and buy a bunch of limited editions in the £20-£30 range? Ah, I guess my question answers itself. We live in a capitalist democracy, so we always have a choice of “to buy or not to buy”. I think I was angrier because of the fact people said these stories were really good. BL release schedules being what they are (and ‘exclusive’ basically being meaningless with them) I knew that we’d get these stories eventually, but I wanted them now, now, now, right now! Luckily, when the ‘last few hundred copies’ went on sale in the Black Library vault, I managed to snap one up pretty quick. It’s now sold out, which I think means we’ll either get these in e-book form in the next few months, or they’ll bring it out as a non-limited novella next year – so take heart if you didn’t get a chance to buy it. Hopefully, the 2014 Weekender anthology ‘Perdition’s Gate’ will also be added to the vault this time next year, as I hear that one’s pretty fucking good as well. Without further preamble let’s get into the stories in this collection.

Hands Of The Emperor by Rob Sanders: In the context of the HH series, Rob is seen as one of the key Alpha Legion authors, but instead of XX Legion shenanigans, here he tackles one of my favourite areas of the Heresy: Age Of Darkness-era Terra. Our main character is a Custodian Guard called Stentonox, one of Constantin Valdor’s immediate subordinates, and we follow him as he tries to get through his 24-hour shift as Master of the Watch for the Imperial Palace. We learn this position is cycled between a different member of the Custodes every day, which is a pretty cool detail I think. Anyway, shit gets pretty outta control for Stentonox fairly quickly as he attempts to fulfil his role (apparently somewhere between police chief, air traffic controller and diplomatic envoy). Before long he’s in direct conflict with a complement of Imperial Fists who are manoeuvring an airborne ‘continental plate’ into the restricted airspace above the palace, and refuse to acknowledge his authority, saying only that Dorn’s word will be carried out. These continental plates are basically Bespin’s Cloud City, so you can understand the Custodes’ concern over not being in control of their movements. So how far will each side go to assert their authority, and will the long-simmering mutual resentment between Astartes and Custodes come to the fore? Sheeeeeit, do you even have to ask?

I really like these glimpses of the Imperial Palace. Rob Sanders brilliantly evokes the galactic capital’s atmosphere of desperation, mistrust, and frantic activity, with the defenders hoping they will be able to shore up Terra before the storm comes. It shows that even warriors who would normally be seen as upstanding and forthright can be drawn into intrigue and shadowplays simply by circumstance. And I like the way that the story isn’t neatly resolved in all aspects by the time it finishes; you get the feeling that its consequences will linger, particularly in the festering grudges of the Imperial Fist captain who opposes Stentonox. For my money this is a much better Custodes story than ‘Blood Games’ – but then I never loved that story too much. I give this 9/10.

Phoenician by Nick Kyme: A first-person monologue from the perspective of a mortally wounded Iron Hands Morlock Terminator on Isstvan V, this is the first of two ‘microstories’ in the collection, only lasting for a few pages. Who cares about some dying, flesh-spare bastard’s miserable last thoughts, right? Except… he’s watching the duel between Ferrus Manus and Fulgrim. Due to its length there’s not much to say about this one, except that I loved it. I feel the quality of the writing here is far above Nick Kyme’s usual standard (which I find capable, but bland). Thanks to their portrayal so far, as well as their general ‘fluff’, I don’t really like the Iron Hands at all as a Legion, but Kyme made me sympathise with his viewpoint character before I’d even finished the first paragraph. We’ve read about the Fulgrim/Manus duel in a few places before, but here it’s given a fresh lick of paint so it doesn’t feel too repetitive. And hey, the Morlock was lucky enough to die before witnessing that clumsy dumb-shit ‘What have I DDDDOOOOOONNNNEEEE’ moment Graham put in ‘Fulgrim’. Hey, you might like that moment, but I personally hate it. A lot. Overall I’d give this 8/10. I’d say Nick should be given a shot at another Iron Hands story, but ‘Feat Of Iron’ was… not my favourite. Maybe just ask him to write ‘microstories’ from now on?

By The Lion’s Command by Gav Thorpe: So I guess Corswain is now just a Gav character. I wouldn’t mind, but the drop-off in characterisation is comparable to the Torgaddon drop-off between ‘Horus Rising’ and ‘False Gods’. Ahh well. This is another Gav Thorpe Dark Angels story. I liked ‘Call Of The Lion’ a lot, but ‘The Lion’ was a little problematic for me (a few too many ‘why the fuck…’ moments). With Dan Abnett now the author associated with Lion El’Jonson for the HH storyline, Gav takes the plot strand of “what happened to the rest of the Dark Angels after the Lion went to Ultramar?” No Night Lords here (thank fuck, after that horrible bullshit in ‘The Lion’), so I guess Thramas is done. Instead, the First Legion are chasing Calas Typhon and the Death Guard from system to system; on this occasion, the two sides square off near a planet which has seceded from the Imperium, but not declared for Horus, and whose governor makes his contempt for both sides fairly clear. An interesting moral conundrum which is dealt with… fairly ambiguously by the Dark Angels.

Despite Corswain now just being a cardboard cut-out of a high-ranking Dark Angel rather than a black-humoured badass, there is little wrong with ‘By The Lion’s Command’. It moves along at a good clip and there’s a nice heel-turn by Corswain at the end. My only minor complaint was that there were absolutely no Death Guard characters here, but it was a short story and really, a lengthy Typhon scene would have served little narrative purpose. What’s most interesting is the direction hinted at in the last few pages. Corswain is splitting the Legion, with some of them most likely continuing to hunt Typhon (perhaps setting the First as the antagonists in the hopefully forthcoming Death Guard novel?) and searching for Leman Russ’ forces to combine their strength (setting up thousands of ‘culture shock’ buddy comedies with Adam Sandler as the blue-collar Space Wolf and Andy Samberg as the clean-cut Dark Angel) but others heading to… Caliban. I admit my dick twitched at that news, as I’ve been craving a Fallen Angels novel since ‘Grey Angel’. And the loyalist First will be headed up by Belath, which sets things up nicely for a possible Astelan/Belath showdown (what do you mean “no one cares”? I CARE!!). I assume Gav will tie this story strand in to the Cypher story he’s apparently writing for ‘Legacies Of Betrayal’.

In another anthology, with less impressive neighbours, my hype levels might have pushed this to a 8/10… but it’s 7/10 for me now. I still think Gav is much better suited to the Raven Guard, but maybe that’s because I think it takes a LOT to make the knightly pomposity of the Dark Angels interesting. Only Aaron and Dan have done it for me so far.

The Devine Adoratrice by Graham McNeill: As of yet, the only story in the collection which has been released as a standalone e-book. A prequel set some decades before ‘Vengeful Spirit’, this is concerned with the Devine noble house, who play a major part in that book as Knights on Molech. You don’t need to read ‘The Devine Adoratrice’ before you read ‘Vengeful Spirit’, but maybe you should, as I think it deepens the characterisation of the repulsively arrogant Devines, and adds more gravitas to their fall. Granted, none of these characters develop hugely as a result of the events which unfold here. They’re massive shits in ‘VS’, they’re massive shits here. But Graham writes smoothly and evocatively about an unusual, interesting culture that’s not quite the Imperial norm, and ALSO puts in some stuff where a big robot does the Hulk Smash.

The end reveal – Raeven and Lyx’s affair is even more taboo because THEY ARE TWINS! – was more of an eyeroll moment for me than a shock. I guess ‘Vengeful Spirit’ mentioned this plot point and I read that first, but I must have forgotten since then, since my reaction wasn’t “Oh yeah, I remember that now!” but “What? That’s weird and kind of dumb.” I guess Slaanesh loves incest, but we already knew that shit. As I’ve pointed out before it’s dumb to assume authors are reading the same books that I am, and the ‘degenerate incestuous nobles’ is kind of a common trope, but I REALLY feel like there’s a Jaime/Cersei theme with this shit. But hell, who cares? Me being a whiny little bitch isn’t enough to stop ‘TDA’ being a comfortable 8/10.

Lord Of The Red Sands by Aaron Dembski-Bowden: Remember that brief introductory vignette in ‘Betrayer’ with a few pages of Skane on Isstvan III, finding Kharn’s almost-dead body? This microstory is in a very similar vein. (Heh, vein.) A deepening of the World Eaters culture and way of war in just a few pages. Aaron writes about Angron’s mad rampage through the Loyalist survivors of the virus-bombing with panache and skill. It’s AD-B, of course he does. But it’s not all flying blood and viscera. Angron’s almost tender treatment of a dying Loyalist World Eater centurion he sees as worthy of respect shows that Aaron is the master of bringing dimension to characters who GW often treated as paper-thin before the HH series started. And our peek into Angron’s internal monologue regarding his ambitions and motivations… well, you might be surprised what we find. 8/10 for this; I think the writing quality is perfect, but it’s just too short to call it compulsory reading – though if you liked ‘Betrayer’, you need this story in your life. I believe you can buy it as part of the ‘Angron’ audio/ebook bundle from Black Library.

All That Remains by James Swallow: A story of Loyalist human soldiers, survivors of rebellions on their own worlds which led to them facing daemons. Shell-shocked (or warp-shocked) yet still unbroken, they are determined to carry on the fight against Horus… until they drop out of the Empyrean, becalmed for NO RAISIN. I’ll be brief here, because it’s not a heavily plot-focused story. The emphasis is on building the characters and this is done brilliantly. It’s not just humans in this story. Halfway through we are introduced to a Knight Errant formerly of the Thousand Sons Legion, and I am going NUTS trying to work out if we’ve seen this character before. The story is resolved nicely, with some more humans for Malcador’s ‘Silent Army’, and… what’s this… the hundreds of psychically capable young boys in the hold may be redirected to Titan and turned into Space Marines? FFFFUCK. If Jim Swallow gets to do a Grey Knights Founding novel, especially if he writes it to the standard shown here, I will BREAK OFF MY DICK with all the pounding. Having said that, sometimes I feel that Swallow is better at the short stories (‘Forgotten Sons’ was also excellently written). However, this feels like something from towards the end of the HH timeline – the soldiers here have seen Thousand Sons standing with Horus’ forces and summoning daemons, which certainly hasn’t happened ‘yet’ in the main HH timeline. Still, the fact that Titan is on the table at all at the moment is very encouraging and I hope they follow up on it – even if it’s set post-Heresy, I’ll buy that shit fo sho. This is a 9/10 story for sure.

All I can say in conclusion is “Shit yeah”! This reminds me of ‘Age Of Darkness’, back when it felt like almost every story was an awesome set-up for an exciting novel that would come further down the line. I continue to have reservations about BL pushing ‘event only’ anthologies – imagine what it’s like for HH fans in Brazil or Japan – but as long as we get them EVENTUALLY, I can’t be too mad. I give ‘The Imperial Truth’ an overall score of 9/10. It’s releases like this that remind me the Horus Heresy is probably my all-time favourite series of books.

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

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.

"Vengeful Spirit" by Graham McNeill

Vengeful Spirit is book 29 of the Horus Heresy series; the book where, as the cover summary states, the Sons of Horus reclaim their place at the forefront of the galactic civil war. It’s been a minute since we had any books where these guys were the focus. WHAT, YOU THOUGHT THEY WAS DONE?

As I said before this is almost the exact same cover as 'Age Of Darkness' - but I'll allow it since I think this version looks waaaaay better.

Sometimes I get the feeling that in the last couple years, HH writers are scrambling to tie up loose ends from books 1-20. ‘Mark Of Calth’ was about the continuation – if not the ultimate fate – of the participants in the largest Legion action since Isstvan. ‘Wolf Hunt’ was one big wrap-up for ‘The Outcast Dead’. Hell, even ‘Scars’ wrapped up some loose ends from the collections ‘The Primarchs’ and ‘Age Of Darkness’, as well as being primarily concerned with a Legion that’s been one big ‘loose end’ since the series began. And of course, ‘The Unremembered Empire’ was a loose end apocalypse, possibly to its detriment, but no doubt to the benefit of the series as a whole.

'Vengeful Spirit' is sort of like Dan Abnett’s book in that it brings together several ‘arcs’, concludes some, continues some, and adds a few new elements to the HH series (and by the way, the more I re-read 'The Unremembered Empire', the more I wince at how petty and harsh my review was; that book is uneven, but it’s one of the few in the series I’d call beautiful. [Oh, and there's a sentence of explanation for the Vulkan appearance/time discrepancy, which I totally missed]). As with 'The Unremembered Empire', you may want to revisit several stories before you start ‘Vengeful Spirit’. In Aximand’s timeline, it’s a sequel to ‘Little Horus’. In Qruze’s timeline, it’s a sequel to ‘The Last Remembrancer’. In Severian’s timeline, it’s a sequel to ‘Wolf Hunt’. In the Red Angel’s timeline, it’s a sequel to ‘Fear To Tread’. In Loken’s timeline, it’s a sequel to 'Luna Mendax' (I think?), a story which I haven’t read and isn’t widely available; other BL fans will just come to it as a follow-up to 'Grey Angel'. For the society of Molech, it's the sequel to 'The Devine Adoratrice' (I've not read that one yet, to be honest with you). But for Horus, it’s the sequel to… what? His cameos in ‘Fear To Tread’ or ‘Nemesis’? Or the last time he was a primary 'onscreen' antagonist – ‘Galaxy In Flames’, bloody book 3 of the series, like 8 years ago? Probably the best precursor to ‘VS’ is John French’s excellent ‘Warmaster’ audio drama, though it takes place some years before ‘VS’ in the chronology. ‘Warmaster’ shows us a Horus wracked with doubt, distrustful of his fellow Traitor Primarchs and frustrated that the brightest and best of the Emperor’s sons have spurned him. And ‘VS’ shows us how Horus has not only regained his confidence, but further cemented his complete damnation.

This book follows three easily identifiable strands. First, Horus and his Legion set sail for Molech (they actually say ‘set sail’ at one point, which I found surprisingly exciting), a world they believe has some shadowy and significant connection to the Emperor, a world Horus and several of his brothers apparently fought across... but their memories of it seem to have been wiped. But how, and why? Then, on Molech itself, we follow the fortunes of House Devine, one of the Knight Houses which hold a large amount of power on the planet. (I wonder if the inclusion of this storyline could have anything to do with GW's push of the Knight model range?) Finally, Garviel Loken and his grey-armoured Knights Errant, the Chosen of Malcador, must infiltrate the Sons Of Horus flagship 'Vengeful Spirit'. They do this to perform recon for Leman Russ, who is laying the groundwork for the inevitable Horus-execution mission he feels will certainly fall to him before the Traitors can reach Terra. There are other strands and subplots, but those are the main three, and that's certainly more than enough to work with.

One reason that I loved ‘Angel Exterminatus’ was the depth and nuance brought to the relationship between Perturabo and Fulgrim – as well as unprecedented insight into the character of the poor, misunderstood Lord Of Iron. We don’t get that here, and that’s possibly for the best. Graham’s handling of Horus in ‘False Gods’ is something I’m on record as not being too fond of. I am a Primarch-groupie, and on that level, 'VS' is slim pickings, though I loved the brief summit between Mortarion, Horus and Fulgrim, the apparently genuine anguish Horus shows when Mortarion is wounded, and also a nice moment which shows again the high esteem Horus had for Ferrus Manus. Generally, Horus is kept at arm’s length, seen through the eyes of his Mournival or his cowering enemies, but that really suits the story; the detailed account of Perturabo’s thought processes was great, but I feel it’d be wrong for Horus (I think they’ll hold that back until his dying moments, for a big finish).

The other major reason I loved ‘AE’ was the extremely strong cast of Astartes characters; we had the Emperor’s Children exploring the depths of corruption following their excellent novella ‘The Reflection Crack’d’,  and the Iron Warriors characters, the majority of which had been important characters in Graham’s ‘modern’ 40K books ‘Storm Of Iron’ and the Ultramarines series. Many readers felt that the appearance of characters we know to be surviving beyond the HH timeline robbed ‘AE’ of dramatic weight, but I still think that misses the appeal of that book: it’s not about who will die and who will live, it’s about how the characters will be changed and twisted by the events taking place. Here, I’m sorry to say that ‘VS’ doesn’t quite measure up to 'AE'. I AM very impressed by some of the characterisation here; Graham builds excellently on the ‘melancholy’ portrait of Aximand that Dan Abnett painted in ‘Little Horus’ and I’d argue that Aximand stands out as the main character here even in such a large cast. Grael Noctua is also a good addition to the XVI command elite, an interesting character with an unexpected arc throughout the book. But Abaddon is still a bit of a non-character, just an angry, bloodthirsty guy who excels in almost every combat situation (I guess they’re holding out for Aaron to give him more depth?) and Falkus Kibre seems an Abaddon clone. Non-Mournival members are barely featured at all, and of course, Luc Sedirae’s fate doesn’t even merit a mention. (I'll keep banging on about that shit forever... I'm still butthurt...)

The Knights Errant are problematic – as fans started to complain about how frequently stories ended with Malcador snatching up new characters, and they were still quite limited in number, I can see why the authors decided to add several new ‘Greys’ at once here. but they end up being little more than Legion tropes. Tubal Cayne the Iron Warrior and Bror Tyfingr the Space Wolf are the only ones I was impressed by. Hell, even Rubio and Varren don’t stand out as interesting characters, which is a shame since James Swallow's ‘Sword Of Truth’ made them a couple of my favourite Loyalists in the HH series overall. Severian is well-handled, but he’s a purely Graham creation, so it’s not like he has to match him up to someone else’s narrative voice.

Loken… hmm, him I’m not sure about. Graham does well at communicating that Garvi is mentally scarred from the shock of his Legion’s betrayal, the death of his closest friend, the fact his other closest friends tried to kill him, and he has some brilliant scenes with Qruze… but I feel he ends up as something of a dull character. Perhaps this is unfair, as the rather dry sections of his plot in the beginning of the book seem a little squeezed by all the other crazy stuff happening elsewhere, and then the later sections of his story are (through necessity) a blur of Astartes chasing each other through the ship and don't have room for character development. As with most things I’m unsure of with HH, I guess it’ll really depend on what they do with Loken next.

I really liked the callbacks to the beginning books in the series; this is the first time we’ve seen Mersadie Oliton in ages, it’s implied that Euphrati Keeler and Kyril Sindermann are evading capture and spreading the ‘truth’ of the Lectitio Divinitatus around the fragmented Imperium. I really hope they pick this storyline up in the next few books; hopefully them reminding us is a sign of their intentions. From the limited amount we’ve heard concerning ‘The Damnation of Pythos’, it could perhaps fit quite well into that book...?

I'm going to talk here about one of the only really glaring problems I have with this book. You know me, I’m psyched whenever a HH novel features Mortarion, but I was particularly unhappy with one scene starring the future Plague Lord. So we know the lord of the XIV is pretty intractable on all this stuff to do with psykers and the Warp being a very bad, forbidden thing. Suddenly Mortarion is willing to sacrifice his elite Deathshroud guard because the voice of a dead Legionary tells him it needs ‘meat’. Y’all might remember Ignatius Grulgor as Calas Typhon’s confederate in ‘Flight Of The Eisenstein’. He got locked in a hangar with some open Life Eater containers in part of the worst work-related injury claim ever. But death wasn’t the end for this plucky fella. Grulgor has become a warp-thing, something it seems Mortarion would spit on and burn as an abject study in witchcraft. But nope! He’s happy to help his dead buddy manifest by killing a bunch of his elite guard and apparently sealing a pact with a warp entity. The only justification I can come up with in my mind is that a) Mortarion is genuinely deeply ignorant about the way the Warp works and believes this is a friendly ghost and b) the daemon formerly known as Ignatius is an incredibly effective weapon and fits well with the method the Death Guard use to fight so Mortarion is like "selling all my principles will be WORTH IT for THIS shit". But... fuck... LIBRARIANS are effective weapons. DAEMONS are effective weapons. It just seems like a bloody big leap for Mortarion to just shit on his previously established ethics. I would like a LOT more material about the repercussions of this decision and Mortarion’s thought processes. And on this Primarch in general. He just doesn't seem as fully-realised as any of the others at the moment. Having said that, I really am glad they brought Grulgor back, since he has the potential to be a badass, interesting character, AND a link to the Legion's future.

Anyway. Inevitably, the Knights Errant face off against the Mournival in Lupercal’s Court. It’s a tense, well-written action scene. I really thought Graham was going to ‘Wild Bunch’ it here, and just straight murder all of Malcador’s knights. The fact that doesn’t happen didn’t make me respect him any less. However, I did feel that Loken’s diatribe against his Primarch was a pretty dumb concept and it was executed sloppily. Hey, let’s all stop our life and death struggle to listen to this guy we hate, talking about how he hates us back. Don’t shoot him while his guard’s down though. The Sons Of Horus are renowned for fighting fair like that.

I’m a little confused at the significant repetition of the word ‘Murder’ in a few of the arc conclusions – are we perhaps going back to the world Murder (from ‘Horus Rising’) in the series’ future? As for the Sons Of Horus arc, it ends with Horus striking a 'Lettu Garaxy Burn' pose and saying "I am coming for YOU, Father!!!!!!!!!!", like a 'payoff' moment from my Japanese animes; to me, that seems to imply it's next stop, Terra. While that does get me really psyched, a part of me instantly started whining "but NOOO WE HAVEN'T EVEN HAD RESOLUTION FOR THRAMAS YET THOUGH!!!!"

There are certainly minor issues with 'Vengeful Spirit', that's unavoidable. I mean, ANOTHER Perpetual sideplot? What function is this one going to fulfil that Prytanis or Grammaticus or Persson (or Vulkan) doesn’t fulfill? I remain unconvinced. The Red Angel is ill-used, as are the Blood Angels who guard Molech; after a promising introduction, there’s no character development before they meet their nemesis. It really feels like another token ‘Hey, there are still Blood Angels around, guys!’ gesture. The female characters are horrible as usual; Lyx Devine (as well as sounding like a pornstar name) is a nakedly grasping, venal whore who is unambiguously evil and ambitious. And the awful matriarch of the Devines is actually even WORSE. Basically if you’re a sexually active woman you’re shit outta luck in the Grahamverse. At least there were a couple tough, capable Imperial army officers who just happened to be women, but they weren’t exactly developed characters; they get a couple of pages each. Graham is no Dan Abnett, Chris Wraight, John French or ADB when it comes to this shit. (As I wrote that, I did brighten up, because four authors who are making sterling efforts to bring three-dimensional female characters into the HH universe is better than nothing.)

Overall, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. And even the cynics may have to admit that for the sheer amount of plot it ploughs through in its considerable bulk (close to 540 pages in the hardback collectors' edition), 'Vengeful Spirit' is impressive. I really don't get the reviewers who are crying about the HH series trafficking in predictable, zero-stakes scenarios we already know the outcome of. For instance, HOW did the way things were left in 'The Unremembered Empire' not result in the Dark Angels and the Ultramarines bolstering Sanguinius' Legion at Terra? And in this book, WHAT HAPPENED to Leman Russ' plans to make a Luna Wolves-style 'decapitation strike' at the Traitors? Or to Malcador's hopes he and the VI Legion would stand on Terra? And Graham states in his afterword that he hopes to explore what Horus experienced in the Immaterium (the cynic in me says he’s just copying Aaron’s ‘First Heretic' / ‘Aurelian’ double punch, and the HH fanboy in me REALLY HOPES that’s the case). There are plenty of questions that I feel should be answered in the next few years of HH before we get into "who did what on Terra". But enough of my ranting. Despite the parts of it I didn't like, I can't give 'VS' any less than 8/10. Here's hoping that Graham's 'killstreak' continues with whatever he tackles next.

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

"Deliverance Lost" by Gav Thorpe

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

Man Corax is pretty cool.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ARE YOU READY TO ROCK TONIGHT, DELIVERANCE??

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

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

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

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

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

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

Book One: Betrayal (Forge World publication)

With feelings of guilt and self-hatred, I bought this from Forge World for £70 (plus P&P). After paying large amounts of money for the Collectors Edition of 'Visions Of Heresy' (by no definition worth it) and 'Macragge's Honour' (probably about halfway worth it), I was quite cautious and held off buying it for quite awhile. But... I'd finished 'Scars' ages ago, and it was over a month before 'Vengeful Spirit' would come out, so... I decided I NEEDED MORE HERESY STUFF. Yes, I'm aware this is kind of compulsive behaviour.

GET A LOOK AT THIS SHIT

I'm very pleased with this purchase. First of all (not that this really matters) the book is gorgeous. It's a full-colour, leather-bound 400 page monstrosity with hefty corner guards and a big fabric bookmark. You get several highly detailed pictures of Legion armour with their colour schemes at various points of their military careers, some of them even pre-Crusade. Did you know what the Dusk Raiders looked like before Mortarion reshaped them into the Death Guard? I sure didn't.

This is how you add pictures of minis, you make them look like actual paintings.

The layout is absolutely beautiful, the pages are the same cracked-parchment colour as the 'Visions Of Heresy' book, and also have the same deep red border full of High Gothic (I think?) text. My (minor) first complaint here is that a lot of the page layouts are only half text or sometimes closer to 25% text with a lot of the lower half of the page taken up by a sepia-tinted, bleached-out photo of Forge World minis in frustratingly amazing 'Isstvan III' style terrain. I don't dispute the photos need to be there (Forge World gots to get that PAPER, plus they are amazing minis) but I feel they didn't need to be so processed to look like ageing, yellowed photographs of a smoky warzone. In fact I feel they could have made them a lot stronger, and have them as full-colour like all the other pictures in this book.

...and the bottom half of this layout is how minis are shown far too often in 'Betrayal'.

It feels like maybe the Forge World Horus Heresy Range had only a few models available at the time of this book being put together (MKII, MK III and MKIV tactical squads; Contemptor Dreadnoughts... and of course the Forge World obligatory TANKS AND TITANS). So you do tend to see photos of the same 'units' again and again. This is Forge World though so the miniatures themselves are fucking beautiful.

So the book looks wonderful, how about the content? Nothing worse than presentation being excellent and substance being completely absent. Luckily, 'Betrayal' is excellent and has some great, substantial content. The first half of the book is dedicated to background and the second half is for rules. Of course, the background part was my absolute favourite. We open with a historical overview of the Age Of Strife and the Emperor's unification of Terra. Then in much more detail we learn of the Space Marine Legions and the creation (and 'dispersal') of the Primarchs, the Great Crusade, and the Seeds Of Treachery that led to the, well, Betrayal of this book's title. After this, we have a lengthy section on each of the Legiones Astartes this book focuses on: the Sons Of Horus, the Emperor's Children, the World Eaters and the Death Guard. We get about 20 pages for each Legion.

Each Legion gets several full page spreads like this, concerning the subtly different armours worn through their history.

I'm a big, big fan of the Horus Heresy novel series and stuff about the Primarchs in particular so I was expecting a lot of this to be familiar to me. But no. Alan Bligh writes with skill and enthusiasm about the 'first four' Traitor Legions and while you already know the gist of it, there's lots of fresh insight, background and characteristics here for these four very distinct Legions (in fact, to use a pet hate of mine, there's more material here on the Death Guard than there has been in the whole of the series so far). As well as an overview of their Unification, Crusade and pre-Isstvan history, you get a section some 'Exemplary Battles' of each Legion, in which their principles of warfare are demonstrated and you get to marvel at the Primarch's genius (yeah, even Angron a little bit).

Here's the only real problem with this part of the book. There are a lot of typos, mostly grammatical, but a few spelling errors. They didn't ruin my enjoyment of this book but they reinforced that Games Workshop, Black Library and Forge World all seem to view copy editing as something completely optional and not worth spending a lot of time on. But garbled sentence structure doesn't stop something from being good (I better hope that's true). The only thing that came close to annoying me was the frequent use of the word 'panoply' - it felt like this was being used once per page at some points. But hey, as a result I LEARNED A NEW WORD, so who am I to complain?

When I looked into buying this, many of the reviews I read skipped over the first section and focused on the rulebook part. This reminded me that many people are fans of Warhammer 40,000 as a game rather than fans of the Horus Heresy novels. After reading the 'fluff compendium' first half of the book, I was in the mood to read through this whole thing in its entirety but my resolve to do this quickly disappeared as I realised you can't power through a rulebook the same way you can read a novel. In fact by the time I had read about 20 pages of the rules I was pretty bored and started just skimming through.

If you want to recreate the battle of Isstvan III as a tabletop campaign, perhaps you could use an INSANELY FUCKING DETAILED AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH OF THE DEPLOYMENT ZONES?? JEEEZ GUYS

However, I do still have a bit of interest left over for 40K rules and there were some really great ones which further added to the character of these four Legions and showed how you can easily translate their dogma and fighting style into actual working rules:

• Due to their bitter pride, the Sons of Horus can't benefit from their allies' Warlord traits... but, if they outnumber their enemies in close combat at the end of a fight, they can all attack again - reflecting that very few opponents can withstand a coordinated assault from a large amount of 16th Legion troops.
• World Eaters get bonuses for wiping out units in close combats and must always consolidate towards their enemies (I found their special rules the least imaginative, though, but what can you do with Angron's mob except force them to run towards the enemy screaming?)
• Emperor's Children always have to issue or accept Challenges if possible, and if their champion loses, the unit gets an additional -1 to Leadership tests thanks to the blow to their Legion's pride. To reflect their propensity for fast-moving assaults, they get bonuses when Running or making Sweeping Advances.
• Death Guard on the other hand are given a -1 penalty when making Sweeping Advances, but to offset this, they're immune to Fear and Pinning, and they get bonuses when making Difficult or Dangerous Terrain checks. A shelled-out wasteland full of toxic waste is like a day at the beach for these guys, after all.

But that's not all, each Legion has access to unique units, like the World Eaters' Butchers Nails-crazed Rampager squads, given close-quarters weaponry influenced by the gladiatorial culture of their Legion. Some of these units seemed a little bit dull (like the Justaerin Terminators, I mean you gotta put em in there, but it seems like you're paying way more for a much smaller unit of Terminators with WS 5 and Ld 9). And of course, Forge World makes amazing (and amazingly expensive) models for all these specialist units.

Before any of this, though, there's the 30K era 'Legion Army List' which all your HH-era armies are to be based on. There are of course similarities to the Space Marine and (more obviously) Chaos Space Marine current codexes. But a lot of it is quite different to how the Codex Astartes dictates you set up the bomb. Makes sense, since Guilliman hadn't written that shit yet. There are small but significant differences in here - in 30k, if you want a squad of less than 10 Astartes it's gonna have to be a Support Squad and all of them will be carrying a Special Weapon. Then we have stuff like the 'Destroyer' units which use borderline 'illegal' weapon loadouts - guns which leave battlefields as irradiated, burned-out wastelands (well, even more so than before, anyway - this is the Warhammer universe we're talking about, everywhere's kind of fucked). I think this was my absolute favourite unit in the list, perhaps I'm biased as I've really enjoyed Destroyer appearances in the fiction series. (The short story 'Distant Echoes Of Old Night' features a Destroyer unit as its main characters, and AD-B did an excellent portrayal of a Destroyer in 'Betrayer'.)

There are statlines and special rules for several special characters who've never seen print before, including a Death Guard loyalist I hope we see more of in the 'proper' series.

The target audience for this book is the full-time, dedicated hobbyist, the person who has the disposable income to drop almost £80 (including P&P) on a rulebook. This person should be both a Horus Heresy novel series fanatic, and someone who actively collects, paints and plays 40K Space Marine armies. I don't really fit with many of these criteria. However, I'm certainly going to buy 'Book II: Massacre' and, since the forthcoming 'Extinction' features the Alpha Legion and Raven Guard, it's likely I'll buy that as well. Do I think these are worth their exorbitant price? No, but they're closer to "worth it" than some of the stuff GW has fucked me with, and that counts for something.

I give this 8/10 (docked from a perfect 10 for the hideous price, but I can't stay mad).

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