Tales of Heresy

[Kuja]

I purchesed the latest installement to the Horus Heresy book line a couple days ago and just finished it. Here's my initial (short) reactions to the short stories contained within, along with brief (spoiler-free) synopses.

Let's begin.



BLOOD GAMES by Dan Abnett

Plot: An assassin attempts to gain entry into the Imperial Palace and an up-close and personal look at the Adeptus Custodes. Includes a guest appearance by Rogal Dorn.

Reaction: In retrospect, I think this is my favorite of the bunch. We get to see some of the workings of the Palace defences and the focus is one a group who up til now have recieved very limited exposure.

WOLF AT THE DOOR by Mike Lee

Plot: Prior to the sack of Prospero, the Thirteenth Company of Space Wolves find themselves embroiled in a war with a fleet of dark eldar raiders over a world as-yet unclaimed by the Imperium.

Reaction: A fair, fun story that showcases the 13th and includes a few hints of their future destiny. Beware of GRIMDARK ending.

SCIONS OF THE STORM by Anthony Reynolds

Plot: Following rebuke by the Emperor, the Word Bearers lay siege to a pagan world, determined to crush all resistance. We discover that once upon a time, there was actually a Word Bearer who was not a total douchebag.

Reaction: Meh. Sor Talgon is a decent protagonist, but the story is fair at best, boring at worst. Erebus and Lorgar show up near the end to fulfill the WBs alotted quota of asshole behavior, spoiling any good that might have come out of it. Another GRIMDARK ending.

THE VOICE by James Swallow

Plot: Sister of Silence Amandera Kendel and her cadre strike out to rescue one of the Black Ships, lost amidst the warp. Upon boarding, they discover that someone - or something, has been waiting for them.

Reaction: A spinoff of the characters featured in Flight of the Eisenstein, this story is fairly interesting and fun as once again, we get to see a subset of Imperial history that has recieved only limited exposure. Falls into the pit of GRIMDARK by the end.

CALL OF THE LION by Gav Thorpe

Plot: A pair of chapter masters of the Dark Angels, one Terran and one Calibanite, repeatedly butt heads as they prepare to bring a divided world to compliance.

Reaction: Short, pointless, and boring. RAWRGRIMDARK.

THE LAST CHURCH by Graham McNeill

Plot: Following the Re-unification of Terra, the last church of the old faiths stands empty of all but a lone priest one night, at least until he recieves an unexpected and mysterious visitor. Hilarity ensues.

Reaction: I have mixed feelings about this one. Much of the story is enjoyable and engaging as we watch two men spar regarding the morality and purpose of faith and religion. However, the massive GRIMDARK ending slams into the story like a freight train and blasts it all to hell.

AFTER DASH'EA by Matthew Farrer

Plot: The primarch Angron has been discovered and sent to meet his legion, the War Hounds. He introduces himself by promptly killing several of his captains. Kharn attempts to talk him down from his frenzy while Angron acts batshit insane. Angron renames the War Hounds the World Eaters.

Reaction: The story made me goggle at how unbelievably bizarre it is, even for 40K. I can see the picture it's trying to set up, but it's so far out in left field that it's hard to understand how GW let this out the door. I guess the loads and loads of RAWRGRIMDARKLOL are what did it.

-------------------


General reactions: I hate to say it, but this book feels like a massive bomb compared to the rest of the Heresy series. Many of the stories are weak, with either a strained point or none at all. Even the better ones are little more than momentary amusements, there's nothing about this book that's deep or thoughtful with the sole exception of "The Last Church" which blows its own foot off towards the end. My big complaint is that, well, I expected stories of more importance than this. Sure some of them give us little windows into the bigger scope, but on the whole so many of these could be passed over without any great loss, and that feels like a disappointment

[Cykeisme]

So...
GRIMDARK?

[Juubi Karakuchi]

Blood Games:

Did anyone else spot the 'Zeon-Ind Orbital?' A sideways reference to the Gundam Franchise perhaps?

Call of the Lion:

The planetary forces seemed distinctly familiar. A reference to '40k vs Real-World' debates?

[Imperial Overlord]

Blood Games:

Did anyone else spot the 'Zeon-Ind Orbital?' A sideways reference to the Gundam Franchise perhaps?

40K does that all the time. Real history, Dune, The Black Company, Girl Genius, puns, and word play are pretty common in their naming choices.

[Lost Soal]

CALL OF THE LION by Gav Thorpe

Plot: A pair of chapter masters of the Dark Angels, one Terran and one Calibanite, repeatedly butt heads as they prepare to bring a divided world to compliance.

Reaction: Short, pointless, and boring. RAWRGRIMDARK.

Also features a character from "Angels Of Darkness", shows the division within the Chapter that already exists and highlights said Chapter Masters disagreements. The events of this story also help to give credence to tale he tells in "Angels Of Darkness" showing that one of the people primarily responsible for the Dark Angels civil war, was Lion El'Jonson himself.

Yeah, no point to that story at all.

[Kuja]

Also features a character from "Angels Of Darkness", shows the division within the Chapter that already exists and highlights said Chapter Masters disagreements. The events of this story also help to give credence to tale he tells in "Angels Of Darkness" showing that one of the people primarily responsible for the Dark Angels civil war, was Lion El'Jonson himself.

...huh. I'd actually forgotten about AoD, which is really not surprising considing that it was published six years ago. Christ. All this time and this is the best tie-in Gav can give us? An abortion of a short story that ends with no clear resolution (which it obviously can't give in any case, since the did-he-didn't-he of Lion El'Jonson is an important part of the Dark Angels' mythos) after meandering through some thirty-odd pages of pointless battle, predictable intruige, and the usual snarl and snap of two at-odds characters.

Even reminded of the story's point I still don't think any better of it. It just doesn't have any real life to it. It's flat and boring, and everything it does has been done better in 40K, even in this very book. Gav Thorpe is, in my opinion, very much a hit-or-miss author, and this feels like a big fat miss.

[Lost Soal]

Also features a character from "Angels Of Darkness", shows the division within the Chapter that already exists and highlights said Chapter Masters disagreements. The events of this story also help to give credence to tale he tells in "Angels Of Darkness" showing that one of the people primarily responsible for the Dark Angels civil war, was Lion El'Jonson himself.

...huh. I'd actually forgotten about AoD, which is really not surprising considing that it was published six years ago. Christ. All this time and this is the best tie-in Gav can give us? An abortion of a short story that ends with no clear resolution (which it obviously can't give in any case, since the did-he-didn't-he of Lion El'Jonson is an important part of the Dark Angels' mythos) after meandering through some thirty-odd pages of pointless battle, predictable intruige, and the usual snarl and snap of two at-odds characters.

Even reminded of the story's point I still don't think any better of it. It just doesn't have any real life to it. It's flat and boring, and everything it does has been done better in 40K, even in this very book. Gav Thorpe is, in my opinion, very much a hit-or-miss author, and this feels like a big fat miss.

This could also be a lead up story to Fallen Angels which covers the civil war, and has been handed off to Mike Lee to write.

[white_rabbit]

The problem with the Heresy books is that even more so that the average 40k book, they are doomed to the Grim Darkness of the 41st etc etc.

They can't end upbeat, because we know the next ten thousand years are fucking awful, and everyone who isn't a complete douche is going to get fucking murdered.

I had enough of that feeling with the first few Heresy books, knowing that all these characters are going to either become horrific monsters, pathetic little voices inside daemon possessed brains, or grist for the Grimdark mill is enough to make even a die-hard fan feel a little bad.

It doesn't help that some of the books are fucking atrocious. Who the FUCK let Ben Counter near the Horus Heresy ?

[Connor MacLeod]

The problem with the Heresy books is that even more so that the average 40k book, they are doomed to the Grim Darkness of the 41st etc etc.

They can't end upbeat, because we know the next ten thousand years are fucking awful, and everyone who isn't a complete douche is going to get fucking murdered.

I had enough of that feeling with the first few Heresy books, knowing that all these characters are going to either become horrific monsters, pathetic little voices inside daemon possessed brains, or grist for the Grimdark mill is enough to make even a die-hard fan feel a little bad.

It doesn't help that some of the books are fucking atrocious. Who the FUCK let Ben Counter near the Horus Heresy ?

But thats clearly the intent of the company and thus must be followed

REally I wont ever touch the HH novels until I run out of other things to analyze. Which is going to be some time.

[Seydlitz_k]

Just started reading this, finished Blood Game and just started on the one with the Space Wolves.

Am I the only one who dosn't find this series as memorable as they hoped? It took a long time to get started, and it still dosn't even feel like the middle, and the big final battle is already in sight it seems. It's not that it's bad, some of it is quite entertaining...

But it just dosn't feel epic, and the fall of some of the Primarchs and legions dosn't feel convincing. Especially the fall of Horus, which I thought was handled terribly. I'm still not exactly sure what happened. He was alright and reasonable at first, then he got wounded, became suddenly evil? Is there no progression?

I liked the fall of Fulgrim and his legion, that was the only one handled well. I can't even really remember what happened in the the book about the Dark Angels, and The Battle for the Abyss was a waste. The fleet actions weren't so bad, but who cares about one ship, when there is a massive war going on? I'd rather they spent the time expanding and talking about the conflict.
Most of the battles as well are short, and there dosn't feel like there is a campaign gearing up. I just get this feeling the beginning of the story is going to follow straight into the finale, with the galaxy spanning conflict being trivialized like the EU did to the Clone Wars.

I was hoping tales of heresy would have stories about the large scale campaign, but it seems like it dosn't. I'd like to see what the Imperial Guard Units were up to, or other sieges and battles on various locations across the galaxy.

[Samuel]

But it just dosn't feel epic, and the fall of some of the Primarchs and legions dosn't feel convincing. Especially the fall of Horus, which I thought was handled terribly. I'm still not exactly sure what happened. He was alright and reasonable at first, then he got wounded, became suddenly evil? Is there no progression?

I think he is supposed to have become possessed. Hey, if you don't like that the Alpha Legions case is worse.

[Falkenhayn]

BLOOD GAMES by Dan Abnett

Plot: An assassin attempts to gain entry into the Imperial Palace and an up-close and personal look at the Adeptus Custodes. Includes a guest appearance by Rogal Dorn.

Spoiler

Serious foreshadowing going on here. Who's responsible for the defense of Terra? The semi-Sovereign regional noblemen? How's the Emperor going to deal with this? Lots of potential problems have sprung up, thanks to Abnett's structuring of Unity Terra...which leads me to hope that they have Abnett do Horus' invasion

THE LAST CHURCH by Graham McNeill

Plot: Following the Re-unification of Terra, the last church of the old faiths stands empty of all but a lone priest one night, at least until he recieves an unexpected and mysterious visitor. Hilarity ensues.

Spoiler

The last religious building left on Terra was the Last Church holding the Last Christian? So...any coincidence that the Mural on the Wall was a Golden knight slaying a Silver Dragon? Yeah I thought not. It wasn't much a spar though, just a broken old man with milquetoast theology and nothing left to live for but the motions he goes through every day. Quite heavy handed from Graham, I thought.

[Tanasinn]

Blood Games:

Did anyone else spot the 'Zeon-Ind Orbital?' A sideways reference to the Gundam Franchise perhaps?

40K does that all the time. Real history, Dune, The Black Company, Girl Genius, puns, and word play are pretty common in their naming choices.

...just ask Ciaphas Cain, who last we left him butted heads with a Chaos-worshipping werewolf psyker Hitler.

[NecronLord]

I liked some of the stories in this. But the thing that bugged me was that they'd lost the nuance of the earlier expedition fleets. Where were the Iterators (or whatever the propagandist guys were called) in Wolf and Lion? No reasonable person would expect diplomacy out of your average space marine officer.

[Cykeisme]

I liked some of the stories in this. But the thing that bugged me was that they'd lost the nuance of the earlier expedition fleets. Where were the Iterators (or whatever the propagandist guys were called) in Wolf and Lion? No reasonable person would expect diplomacy out of your average space marine officer.

Well, the current Space Marine codex states that Astartes captains are expected to be diplomatic enough to deal with planetary governers and officers of other Imperial military forces..
Of course, the Heresy stories take place pre-Codex Astartes, so that may not apply.

[andrewgpaul]

Actually, the pre-contact Captain seemed reasonably competent at diplomacy - it was the Calibanian newcomer who ran about like a grox in a china shop.

[NecronLord]

And the space wolves... Well, they weren't exactly Logan Grimnar on this front.

[Shadowtraveler]

I was hoping tales of heresy would have stories about the large scale campaign, but it seems like it dosn't. I'd like to see what the Imperial Guard Units were up to, or other sieges and battles on various locations across the galaxy.

The thing is the heresy hasn't really started yet. Heck, the next book or two is about the Thousand Sons and Prospero.

Which is kinda bullshit. They're up to 10 books in the series now and all that's happened since book 3 or 4 is meandering around, showcasing the disfunctions of the other Traitor Legions. It's like they're reluctant to show the Heresy proper.

[andrewgpaul]

I'm assuming that's deliberate. We already know the large-scale events; we know Tallarn is devastated by the Iron Warriors and Death's Heads, we know the Ultramarines and Word Bearers fight each other to a standstill, we know the Space Wolves attack the Thousdand Sons. What this series is trying to do is make things a little more small-scale - have an insight into what the Marines felt, having to fight their erstwhile brothers, which is something they've not done since the fluff pieces in 1st edition Space Marine, except for Bill King's Emperor vs Horus short piece.

[Aaron]

I think he is supposed to have become possessed. Hey, if you don't like that the Alpha Legions case is worse.

Did Legion actually tell us anything? I got the impression that they were hoping to bring Horus down from the inside.

[andrewgpaul]

I think the Cabal wanted Horus to win, on the understanding that such a victory would lead, in reasonably short order, to the extinction of mankind.

[Lost Soal]

I think the Cabal wanted Horus to win, on the understanding that such a victory would lead, in reasonably short order, to the extinction of mankind.

They wanted Horus to win because it would lead to the burn out and complete destruction of Chaos. I believe some of mankind were meant to survive it and grow afterwords.

[andrewgpaul]

I don't think that was a concern of the Cabal - if some humans survived, so be it, but they didn't care. They just wanted to make sure Humanity and Chaos stopped being a threat. Whossisname the human agent of the Cabal pretty much admitted he was working towards the extinction of humanity.

[Kuja]

Legion was shit for two reasons:

First was the complete and total assassination of Alpharius' established character in the last two chapters or so of the book.

Second for the fact that Alpharius, character-assassination or not, swallowed the Cabal's story hook line and sinker. It didn't even seem to occur to him that it might be an attempt to fuck the Imperium over and he cheerfully went along with them when, really, they gave him no more reassurance for their truth than "TRUST us!!"

Legion was a great book, right up until the last two or three chapters, but that ending was so utterly terrible that it completely destroyed the rest of the novel.

[Cykeisme]

Even from Alpharius' in-universe perspective (without the knowledge that readers like us would have), my first impression would have been either the Cabal are filthy xenos trying to weaken and destroy humanity, who is currently the most prolific and powerful race.
Either that or they're tools of the Dark Gods (knowingly or not), working to give Horus a boost when they know the Emperor would otherwise prevail.

They could have at least worked out a situation where Alpharius would have experienced more events, and come to learn more things, that convinced him to side with the Cabal (whether or not it's the truth).

As it is, Alpharius' choice is downright ridiculous.