Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Why'd you have to go and do me like that?

Despite www.heresyomnibus.com suggesting this come between False Gods and Flight of the Eisenstein, this was a new one on me, despite my coveting The Imperial Truth Limited Edition anthology exclusive Black Library events in 2013, which I didn't realise they actually made available online in 2015, and I am so very glad I didn't wait until the War Without End anthology that is Horus Heresy Book 33. Anthologies really should have been kept out of the numbered novel line.

Another story about the Red Angel and his Eaters of Worlds and another time I find myself crying over the non-stop abuse, misunderstanding, and tragedy that make up the life of my dear, sweet angry boy and his grumpy guys.

The story follows the Primarch of the VII Legion on Isstvan III in the thick of the fighting as the Traitors Extremis expunge the Loyalists from their ranks. We are given an insight into where his head is with the Blood God and his motivations for refusing to follow Horus' orders ahead of the virus bombs, as well as the would-be saviour of Desh'ea's perspective on the Emperor and Horus that informed his stance.

Everything about my big read boy his sons is heartbreaking and tragic and I love them so much. I feel the feels coming over me, it is a good pain! I started crying in 2009 when I first read After Desh'ea by Matthew Farrer, one of my favourite short stories of all time without qualifier, and I have been sobbing for nearly fifteen years about the Lord of the Red Sands and his Equerry, Khârn, the best boy.

Incredibly short story filled with ludicrous amounts of emotional gore and gory emotion.

Bloody marvellous!… (mais)

This is one my absolute favourite books from this series and was such a wonderful bolstering of the first touch of Heresy Burnout I was feeling after Battle for the Abyss (BFTA). I'm using a combination of the Shadow Crusade I: Only the Faithful and Shadow Crusade II: Underworld War omnibussies from www.heresyomnibus.com to follow the Word Bearers vs Ultramarines storyline, as well as going onto Lorgar: Bearer of the Word (Primarchs) next. I say it's one of the best Horus Heresy, but I haven't given it full marks for reasons I'll get more into later.

From the shameful wreckage of Monarchia, through the Eye of Terror, to the Dropsite Massacre, A D-B tells the story of how Lorgar was disregarded, broken, and manipulated by everyone around him. This is the heartbreaking backstory of what was less a fall, but a damning push and pull to seeking answers and discovering darker truths.

We're so back baybee!

That's the feeling I was instantly hit by when picking this up. Honestly, I'm not sure why this wasn't released after Flight of the Eisenstein instead of Fulgrim, or included first in the Shadow Crusade Omnibus because it fully establishes the apotheosis of the Red vs Blue rivalry. I partly understand BFTA being before this, despite none of the Legions or context being established (I talked about this more in my BFTA review), because this is the introduction of the Ultramarines and an incredibly ignoble one at that. Honestly, it's a testament to the writing of Dan Abnett and co that they can elicit any sympathy for the XIII after this book.

I did not recall Monarchia being as brutal as it was. This is at least the third time I've read this and I was just as, if not more, shocked this time. There are aspects of seeing the Sons of Guilliman's interactions with the Monarchians that tragically resonate with atrocities we see in the real world. The entire tale of Monarchia from the Word Bearers' perspective is harrowing; there is shame, of course, but their is a cruelty of very real physical, emotional, and psychic abuse that Lorgar and the XVII suffer, along with what we come to learn about previous understandings the Urizen had, are beyond heartbreaking.

In previous novels the merits of brutal and punishing Compliances and/ or dealing with rebellion against the Imperial Truth have been discussed by Astartes with one pointing out that they ferment resentment that leads to further opposition. You have to question whether the Emperor could be so incredibly ignorant in the handling of his sons from Monarchia, to the Emperor's Children's Aquila, his actions upon meeting the Red Angel on Nuceria and Night Haunter on Nostromo, etc., or his indifference and cruelty are part of his grand plan.

I have long talked about my love and sympathy for the Primarchs of the VIII and XII, but I always forget how Lorgar's life is also a tragedy of epic proportions. The outcast brother and devoted son, desperate to venerate his father, traumatised by the abuse he received in response. The way his adopted father and son then use this grief and vulnerability to manipulate and compel him is truly painful to see. I think how genuine and humble he was, and the suffering he experienced gets forgotten and he becomes such an easy target for contempt due to the ego, confidence, and zealotry that come to fill the husk his life leaves him, makes him such an unbelievably smarmy and unlikable prick.

Through tantalising discussion of the Lost Legions it seems that only Lorgar and his sons who feel the heartbreaking familial fear of being cut out and purged hanging over them, along with the pain of losing two brothers and countless cousins that his is sworn to never speak of. It's always exciting to see how the Lost Legions are included and discussed--those familiar with Warhammer 40K will be aware that these were wiped from all records to enable players to create their own First Founding Legions--they can never be detailed, but the little we glean is fascinating, but, more than that, in this deeper story this is an absolute nightmare to live with the knowledge of.

This is a book of a great deal of unknown and forbidden knowledge. In fact, it's an amazing masterclass in turning a colossal info and lore dump into an engaging narrative. I am a self-admitted lore nerd so my perspective is going to be biased compared to someone reading this series without prior knowledge and/ or interest, but I do think it does a brilliant job of making it fun to read and parseable for the majority of readers.

There are so many huge drops and reveals, so many that I had forgotten, that I won't spoil here, but I definitely was gagged a bunch of times. One thing that has been clear throughout the series is the way it plays with dramatic irony for those with knowledge of the Dark Millennium, without being impenetrable for those without. Something I particular enjoy, which we see in here, is the way both 'Loyalist' and 'Traitor' forces plant seeds that will eventually bloom to benefit their opponents. Watching elements of each other's doom and difficulty being sewn brings me a wonderful schadenfreude.

Let's talk about one of my favourite characters in the Horus Heresy, my sweet prince, the Last Angel, the Crimson Lord of the Gal Vorbak, Argel Tal. His depth of character is easily comparable to Loken and Garro, though he is shaped by different experiences that make him in various ways courser and party to dark deeds. Nevertheless, he has that rare humanity in him so many Astartes lose after ascension. His relationship with Cyrene actually mirrors that of Loken's with Mersadie Oliton, enabling a confessional and for tales of the Legion to be told. In the way she becomes revered, there is also a dark reflection of Euphrati Keeler in Cyrene--again, we see the importance of humans in affecting the galaxy and the Heresy. Argel Tal is an echo of Lorgar himself, with the personal tragedies and experiences being closely aligned, but with the Gal Vorbak actually going further and being the canary in the Warp for Lorgar and suffering for it; another devoted son, mistreated. I did year up when he said, "I'm sorry."

I don't want to go on for too much longer or into more florid detail, so I will try to cover things more briefly.

A D-B's descriptions and discussions of the Immaterium are gorgeous and riveting! The sheer weight of reveals and context are staggering! This series does so well to justify within context the ridiculous events and make me care for individuals, and this book has that in spades!

Ferrus Mannus is given such a raw deal in Horus Heresy and I do wonder if it's because ole Durus Renatus has such a silly name for a 'Loyalist' (The Red Angel was given the slave name, Angron-Thal'kr, literally Child of the Mountain [House], and Night Haunter is the VIII Primarch's chosen name & incredibly apropos).

As much criticism as I had for BFTA, one thing it did, along with all other novels so far, including this one with how it described the Gal Vorbak as standing 'together, but alone', is the echoing leitmotifs of Astartes brotherhood and its dichotomy of the perilously fragile assumed/ told bonds and the individually established/ cemented true connections, while everything happening around them and just being individual weapons/ expendible, they are all alone or at least threatened by it.

The story of Lorgar, the Horus Heresy, The Emperor and the Imperium of Man at its heart is a story of withheld truths, lies, manipulations (genetic, mental, and psychic), neglect, abuse, and trauma that make the possibility of informed consent impossible. It's a tragedy of destiny and being trapped by circumstance and I love it! Never is it more on display, at least in the books so far, that in The First Heretic.

This book is so nearly perfect with some of the most wonderful descriptions, excellent storytelling, and mastercrafted dialogue, so when it isn't hitting those highs the lows feel lower and I do have some criticisms to discuss.

I'm sure I've read A D-B books that had good battles in them, but the general action of the Compliances in this book are compently described, but lack any real energy or interest, which is almost certainly exacerbated by everything else being so bloody good
(*shhh* Don't tell anymore, but I'm not really into the Heresy for the battles as much as the pain and the drama)

The rather bizarre organisation and weighting of parts of this book are really effective when they work, but it does lead to parts almost feeling vastly different in terms of interest and quality, almost tacked on. This makes sense in the way different parts are being told by different people as we see them play out, but there are whole sections that might have been better as separate stories to keep the story more focused and balanced.

My only other complaint is if the writing is that it seems A D-B has She Who Must Be A Bigoted Fuck levels of fatphobia. I don't know how purposeful it is, but any kind of fat or overweight aspect to a character is portrayed as gross and bad, as well as being a reflection of their negative character. This is something that comes up in so many books, genre fiction particularly, and it's always noticeable, but often ignorable as it only comes up once or twice, but it comes up a LOT over the course of this book. This really isn't OK and I hate it. I don't compare an author or their writing to that virulent hatemonger lightly, especially not books and authors I genuinely have the highest respect for, but on this one issue, it's warranted.

One thing about the otherwise brilliant audio book narrated by Gareth Armstrong is the voice he uses for the Remembrancer, Ishaq Kadeen, which seems to be a questionable, vague South Asian accent. I assume this is in an attempt to be explicit about diversity and the character, but white British folx doing accents in books is weird and uncomfortable, unless the accent is flawless. But even then it is a a question.

This book is so gods damned good and I'm so excited to get into more Imperial Herlads-Word Bearers shenanigans starting with Lorgar's Primarchs backstory, and following the Shadow Crusade storyline at least through the extended Calth storyline, but I'm so enamoured with Lorgar and Argel Tal that I might follow it all the way to the Shadow Crusade III: Chosen of Chaos to really get my fix, as well as getting into my sweet, sad, angry bois, and the big [Roommates] energy between Argel Tal and Khârn.

You can find the omnibussies referenced in this review here: www.heresyomnibus.com… (mais)

I am not that much into the bad-guy novels. What I like to read about is redemption, person going from complete baddie to someone who is fighting for a good cause.

Here.... there is no way Iskandar will ever become good guy. But what captures reader from start is perspective of this bloodthirsty bunch - they are right example of the hell-bound creatures that do despicable and twisted things as a routine, Emperor's Children champion especially (duh!), destroying their opponents while trying to survive in the Eye of Terror. So from perspective of psychopaths they live life of normal, outside the usual laws of physics. Think natural-born-killers perspective - for them all atrocities are normal things.

So when they bleed into real space ...... oh man what a twist, because for majority of them they are entering the crazy world because the ultimate looney-world is the normality. I especially liked this part of story and their coming to terms that while they fought eternal Legion Wars in the Eye, in real world ..... well things changed significantly.

From the perspective of mad warriors that have nothing to lose and everything to gain by aiming very high under the charismatic Abaddon they are on a crusade high, screaming Vengeance as a rally motto, and in perspective trying and gambling everything to gain glory for themselves. Aim is not brotherhood but bloodshed for the bloodshed sake, revenge for getting their butt kicked thousands years ago, ascending while saying that does not matter. Warriors with full coffers of apologies and justifications for their behavior, while they are all aware of their faults that make them what they are. And they embrace it, no shame about it.

Are they true to themselves? Definitely. But are they warped beyond recognition - oh, boy, definitely.

Lunatics have escaped the ultimate asylum, defeated the main opposition from asylum, met some even more Lovecraftian people outside (Ghosts are ...... brrrrr) and even clashed and had luck when encountering the Black Templars, first ever battle outside the Eye.

I can only say, I truly hope we get book 3 sometime in near future. This is epic story, told by Iskandar, the herald from the Mouth of Madness.

For fans of W40K, Chaos Marines and stories of tough, eternally bad, very bad guys, highly recommended.… (mais)