Prospero Burns & The First Heretic (SPOILERS!)

[Elheru Aran]

Right then, as I haven't seen a review thread yet. You have been duly warned to proceed no further if you haven't read these books yet!

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Prospero Burns

Decent Space Wolves story. Interestingly enough not very much about the Fall of Prospero at all; that receives about a chapter's worth of material at the end. It's mostly about the bildungsroman of an Imperial remembrancer who comes to Fenris to find the Space Wolves, and becomes one of their bards. He eventually figures out that he's being used as an spy by Magnus, but it turns out that Chaos itself is using him as a pawn, or at least it's a daemon of some kind, who is finally vanquished during the fighting on Prospero.

Interesting points:

We meet Bjorn the Fell-Handed, though we don't figure that out until the very end, of course.

The Space Wolves and their thralls and such... wear gimp outfits when not in armour. Uh, yeah. All-enfolding skinsuits of leather and leather masks over their faces? I'm not sure where Abnett got *that* notion... I prefer the Bill King imagery of them walking around in their armour for the most part. Perhaps their fashion sense improved after the Heresy?

Leman Russ is appropriately barbaric, but thankfully isn't all "RAR SPACE VIKING" in characterization; he's a little more subtle than that. Of course, he ignores a pretty blatant corrobation of Magnus' warning to the Emperor, that Horus has in fact fallen to Chaos... but that's really to be expected, isn't it?

More Custodes and Sisters of Silence goodness.

Rune Priests are definitely Librarians. It's a blatant technicality that prevents them being shut down by Nikaea. This is no surprise, I suppose.

Space Wolf Dreadnoughts apparently can walk in some sort of dream-state with others?

All in all, a decent story, I thought. I wouldn't put it as my favorite Heresy novel-- which is still a tie between Fulgrim and Thousand Sons-- but it's good enough; better than the last Abnett novel in the series, anyway (iirc Legion).

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The First Heretic

I haven't finished this yet, so I'll just hit on a few high points. Bear in mind that later on, about halfway through, we enter into some serious Chaos mindfuckery, so some of this should be taken with a definite grain of salt.

The Ultrasmurfs purge a Word Bearers-pacified city that's been engaging in some pretty fervent Emperor-worship, and the Emperor Himself shows up to smack Lorgar down.

The Word Bearers number an even hundred thousand strong... and yet the Ultramarines are supposed to be still larger than them? This is explained a bit later...

The Word Bearers are definitely where Chaplains first originated, and in the Word Bearers at least, they are leaders of the Imperial Creed. In other Legions we've only seen two named so far-- one of the Emperor's Children in the original trilogy, IIRC, and then Nemiel in the Dark Angels books. In those, they seem to be more like... motivational officers? Political officers? rather than religious leaders. Almost a Space Marine equivalent of Commissars.

Further: The 'Old Faith' of Colchis apparently has parallels on worlds all across the galaxy. Of course, this leads to Chaos worship eventually...

One Custodes, a standard guardsman, is capable of killing three Word Bearers, including a Chapter Master, in less than three seconds. Surprise may be argued here, but you have to admit that that's somewhat impressive. He also takes a bolter burst to the face of his helmet and remains standing; he's still alive after getting a sword through the face... finally dies after being impaled Dracula-style.

(After this point we enter some serious dealing-with-daemons territory, Chaotic visions, and the like)

We find out that:
+++ The Emperor made a deal with the Four Powers of Chaos to help him create the Primarchs- and then he tried to renege on the deal by using Gellar fields to protect the infant Primarchs and shut them off from Chaos' influence.

+++ In retaliation, Chaos stole the Primarchs and dispersed them.

+++ We find out that apparently the Second and Eleventh Primarchs, the Unknowns, survived, and were created into Legions. And, no less, the other Legions had to go to war against them. This was alluded to in Prospero Burns as well, when... ah, I can't find the quote right now, but it does definitely mention that the Legions had a conflict with the two missing Primarchs at some point.

This leads to speculation-- perhaps there will be a further Heresy novel that explores the two Primarchs? Unlikely, but I think this is as close to a definite answer on that question as we're going to get. It's used as an (rumoured) explanation for how the Ultrasmurfs got to be such a massive Legion-- one of the Word Bearers alludes that the missing Legions were integrated into the Ultramarines. This is certainly the most open that GW has gotten so far about them, anyway... even if they can handwave it away later as 'a lie of Chaos'...

+++ Further, it is explicitly shown (by Chaos, granted) that Lorgar was definitely under their influence when he landed on Colchis.

Finally, it is more or less explicitly stated that the warrior-lodges were planted by Erebus and Kor Phaeron, to further the Word Bearers' Chaos-driven agenda.

I haven't finished the book, although the cover promises tasty Custodes versus daemon-possessed Word Bearer action... so more to come!

Feel free to post your quotes and observations as they come...

[Lonestar]

Let's be serious here, the Dark Powers claim that the GEoM made a deal with them. It's a important point.

I also like the indication that the missing Primarchs had been created and some kind of conflict occurred with them and the other legions. Were the survivors folded into the Ultrasmurfs, explaining why they had so many peeps?

It would also explain why nothing is known about the missing Primarchs by M41...because the Emperor had already purged the records by the time of the Horus Heresy.

[Elheru Aran]

It is indeed implied by this passage:

Xaphen moved away from the others, coming to the pod etched with XI. Rather than peer into its depths, he looked over his shoulder at Argel Tal.
"The eleventh primarch sleeps within this pod-- still innocent, still pure. I ache to end this now," he confessed.
Malnor chuckled from behind the Chaplain. "It would save us all a lot of effort, wouldn't it?"
"And it would spare Aurelian from heartbreak." Xaphen traced his fingertips over the designating numeral. "I remember the devastation that wracked him after losing his second and eleventh brothers."
Argel Tal still hadn't left Guilliman's pod. "We do not know for certain if our actions here would change the future."
"Are some chances not worth taking?" asked the Chaplain.
"Some are. This one is not."
"But the Eleventh Legion--"
"Is expunged from Imperial records for god reason. As is the Second. I'm not saying I don't feel temptation creeping over me, brother. A single sword thrust piercing that pod, and we'd unwrite a shameful future."
Dagotal cleared his throat. "And deny the Ultramarines a significant boost in recruitment numbers."
Xaphen regarded him with emotionless eyes, seeming to weight the merit of such a thing.
"What?" Dagotal asked the others. "You were thinking it, too. It's no secret."
"Those are just rumours," Torgal grunted. The assault sergeant didn't sound particularly certain.
"Perhaps, perhaps not. The Thirteenth definitely swelled to eclipse all the other Legions around the time the Second and Eleventh were 'forgotten' by Imperial archives."

And of course Chaos *claims* this. That's GW's out if they need it. You really think they would let anybody really assert that such did actually happen, and force them to come up with new material?

Though when one thinks about it, it could actually lead to far more money-making for them. "Codex: The Lost Legions", anybody?

[Bob the Gunslinger]

I thought Prospero Burns was a very weak follow up to A Thousand Sons. The main character is a puppet his whole life and he's the only one in the story who's at all likable. The Space Wolves--er, pardon me, the Vlka Fenryka or Rout because Dan Abnett is too embarrassed by 40k to write for it--are all even bigger hypocritical douchebags in this book than in ATS. They keep claiming that the pagan-barbarian act is just a facade for a professional army of thinkers, but we never see any evidence of that at all. It's funny that Abnett seems so opposed to the campy William King version of the Space Wolves considering how much cheesier and wankier Prospero Burns is than the original Space Wolf. Some chapters came across like they were typed with only one hand.

Another thing that bothered me about the book was how tedious it was to read. I get that Abnett was trying hard (as in "what a try-hard") to fill the book with themes or meaning or some literary merit, but it just reads like a creative writing student who overdosed on Vonnegut and The Usual Suspects wrote it to show off how stylish he was. I don't need 15 repeats of Hawser's damn servitor wake-up call or to hear about black-pinned eyes and wet leopard-growls. (Wet leopards make the best growls.) I read A Thousand Sons in two or three sittings but it tok me almost two weeks to force myself to finish Prospero Burns.

I think I'll be avoiding Legion forever now.

The First Heretic, on the other hand, was brilliant. It wasn't quite as enjoyable for me as ATS, but there some really outstanding character moments in it as well as a real sense of danger from Chaos.

[Black Admiral]

Abnett's take on the Space Wolves (which I happen to like) isn't anything new; it's the same as how he wrote them in the graphic novel Lone Wolves. And at least Prospero Burns makes the Wolves look much less like incompetent tools who can't keep their bloodlust in check (see: Russ actually offering Magnus the chance to surrender and giving him time to comply, instead of, as it's portrayed in ATS, violating his orders and charging in guns blazing because he's little more than a murderous thug).

Also, if we want to talk about screwing things up, how about the mysteriously appearing Wulfen in ATS? Considering they're something the Wolves try and keep quiet rather than dragging into the public eye.

[Imperial Overlord]

I liked Prospero Burns (and First Heretic, but I talked about that in the other thread). Portraying thehe Space Wolves were presented as intelligent, disciplined barbarians instead of dumb thugs gets my approval. Showing why the Wolves feared and distrusted the Thousand Sons so much makes the Space Wolves less douchey and makes the whole situation more tragic. They see the evil they expect to see, the evil they are lead to see, and in the process destroy their most potent defence against the true enemy.

Also, if we want to talk about screwing things up, how about the mysteriously appearing Wulfen in ATS? Considering they're something the Wolves try and keep quiet rather than dragging into the public eye.

There's nothing mysterious about that. The Wulfen weren't put on a public parade, they were part of an attack force that consisted of the most of the entire legion with support from the Custodes and Sisters of Silence. Desperate fighting is expected and occurs and neither group of allies has a reputation for being chatty gossips. Leman Russ throws everything but the kitchen sink at the Space Wolves so of course he's going to bring the Wulfen.

[Jaevric]

For some reason I seem to recall that the Wulfen didn't show up in A Thousand Sons until after the Sons started using the warp against the Wolves and triggered the Wulfen mutation. I'll have to check the books again.

I liked the common soldier's response to the Space Wolves -- I imagine a Legion such as the World Eaters get much the same reaction of "Do we really have to be on the same planet as these crazy bastards?"

Now, while I'll admit I've been a Space Wolves fan since I read the admittedly-campy Bill King novels, I'll note at this point that there's evidence to suggest the Wolves aren't talking completely out of their asses when they say that the Rune Priests aren't entirely the same thing as Librarians. I'm basing this off of two things -- the "wolf spirit" and its ability to effectively possess and mutate a Space Wolf over a period of time, and the use of frostblades. It's unclear whether the "wolf spirit" is a simple psychological artifact stemming from the Wolf geneseed or a form of low-level possession that can take over if the Wolf lacks strength of will. A simple physical mutation shouldn't be something that can be controlled through sheer willpower (though this being 40K anything is possible).

However, I find the frostblades to be a more interesting argument that there's something more going on with the Wolves. In several novels power weapons and some daemon weapons rather handily destroy chainblades in fights (admittedly, this seems to vary based on the requirements of the plot), but Ragnar's frostblade holds up against power weapons. There's also the "aura of cold" surrounding such weapons -- this seems like an odd effect if it's just another form of power weapon with a fancy name. In Sons of Fenris the Dark Angels captain describes Ragnar's frostblade as a daemon weapon and it's suggested that the frostblade (a chainsword, IIRC) was actually able to damage the Dark Angel's power sword -- Torin says something to the effect if "I try to keep fine weapons, even damaged ones" when handing the sword back to the Captain. While he's not a Librarian, I wonder if the Dark Angel is correct and the Wolf frostblades are a form of daemon weapon, minus the corrupting aspects of most examples.

Is it feasible the Space Wolves have knowledge of, and access to, some sort of "predator spirits" in the Warp that can possess initiates or, in rarer cases, be used to imbue weapons? Additionally, symbology seems to play a role in use of the Warp -- perhaps the "Rune Priests" reliance on runes is an additional cushion between them and warp corruption? This could be the basis for the Wolves mistrust of Librarians from other Chapters and insistence that their Rune Priests are different, even if they aren't fully aware of it -- the instinct-driven "wolf spirits" recognize warp use without what they consider "appropriate safeguards" and create a subconscious reaction in their hosts. At the sign that the Thousand Sons were overstepping their bounds, that instinctive reaction kicked in and the Wolves went overboard.

Then again I may be bored and overthinking this.

[Elheru Aran]

I thought Prospero Burns was a very weak follow up to A Thousand Sons. The main character is a puppet his whole life and he's the only one in the story who's at all likable. The Space Wolves--er, pardon me, the Vlka Fenryka or Rout because Dan Abnett is too embarrassed by 40k to write for it--are all even bigger hypocritical douchebags in this book than in ATS. They keep claiming that the pagan-barbarian act is just a facade for a professional army of thinkers, but we never see any evidence of that at all. It's funny that Abnett seems so opposed to the campy William King version of the Space Wolves considering how much cheesier and wankier Prospero Burns is than the original Space Wolf. Some chapters came across like they were typed with only one hand.

I agree with most of what you've written. I found the whole way Abnett kept inserting Norse or faux-Norse terms rather grating.

It's a Space Wolf novel, guys... it doesn't have to be deep... all it really needs is guys in grey power armour going back and forth between One Hell of a Fight (TM) and One Hell of a Party (TM)! I do understand that Abnett was trying to give them a different character than King's stories portrayed, but the fact is that the Bill King version of the Space Wolves is what the GW audience thinks when someone brings up Space Wolves. Not guys in leather gimp-suits.

Something that's been frustrating throughout the Heresy series is how, in the Marine-centric novels, much of the action... isn't portrayed through the Marines' experience. Rather, you see it from the viewpoint of the damn remembrancers. And they are getting old. Not that this is always a bad thing, but the Heresy was more or less a Space Marine vs. Space Marine fight. The Last Heretic was an excellent example of how I felt the HH books should've been written-- full of action, Primarchs agonizing over their course of action (not that Lorgar did much, but then as the book showed he was basically being messed with from birth, more or less, by Chaos), battles, Chaos Space Marines bellowing "Death to the False Emperor!" for the first time and mutating in battle...

Did we get that in Prospero Burns? No. We got the old remembrancer scampering about and poking shit until he gets his ass in a knot, and Papa Russ' rune-priests have to unknot it for him. And then, what he goes and gives himself up to the wolves on Fenris? Huh. No.

"Bjorn! Gunnar! Two krak over that barricade!" Sergeant Hengist bellowed, taking cover behind twisted metal struts that had been part of a glass pyramid.

In unison, the two Blood Claws leaped out from behind cover and flung their grenades. Hengist's nictating membrane clapped down over his eyes just in time to absorb the glare of the explosion, and before it lifted entirely he sprinted forward, shouting "For Russ! Destroy the traitors!"

Landing among the ruins of a warrior once clad in crimson and gold, he leveled his boltpistol and sent three rounds into the helmet of a stunned Thousand Son. Without turning, he knew his squad was following, and leaped forward over the wreckage of an ornately bedecked Rhino. In the corner of his eye flickered a red-armoured figure, and he twisted in midair while bringing his boltpistol to bear.

He crashed to a halt in thin air, and he lifted his lip, snarling at the Thousand Son psyker holding him in midair with the unholy powers given him by the Warp. Underneath the traitor's helmet, Hengist imagined a sneer as the psyker spoke, "Shall I send your soul away to be eaten by the true wolves out there, Fenrisian?"

Then suddenly the sorcerer jerked, and Hengist tumbled out of the air, landing ungracefully upon his feet. A chainsword thrust forward through the Thousand Son's breastplate, and young Jarol's face appeared beside his helmet, snarling, "Not before another Wolf has you first!"

Jarol yanked out the chainsword hard, splattering black blood across the ground, and the Thousand Son crumpled. Hengist nodded in grudging approval, and then with a wave of his own chainsword brought his pack together. They would see this lot of heretics finished soon!

I mean, I'm not claiming to be an author of the same quality as Abnett, but this is really the kind of thing I would've enjoyed reading a lot more than the dreck he ended up giving us...

Jaevric: As far as my understanding of frostblades goes from the codexes and the novels, they're usually just rather exotic power weapons, not daemon blades. They may be derived from a STC design that's the exclusive property of the Space Wolves, for example... "Pattern Arctic Power Blade Generator" or something like that. If a Dark Angel thought a frostblade was a daemon weapon... well, they've got a bit of a chip on their shoulder when it comes to Chaos, and they don't exactly have a history of getting along with the Wolves...

[Sinewmire]

I totally agreed with Dan Abnett on his blog that the space wolves were a little too close to their source material, the vikings. What puzzled me was the way Dan actually made them *closer* to the vikings in his novel.

That and sacking of Prospero actually seemed like an afterthought rather than the climax.

[Aaron]

As far as I'm concerned the Bill King Wolves were the perfect mix of sillyness, grimdark and relatable super-dudes.

TBH I find Abnett to be very hit and miss. Eisenhorn is excellent, as is Brothers of the Snake but on a whole I find his short stories to be better then his actual novels.

[Falkenhayn]

*The following is a rant. I'll take my lumps for it.

They told Dan to polish off the Thousand Sons, and he turned into an Arc Story for the whole Heresy. Hence the brow beating we get over the Russ and the 6th Legion's place in the grand scheme of the Imperium. All the talk of Astartes Executioners and Terran politicking lead up the real climax of the book; the speech by Demon-Horus to the remembrancer. Which has to be the nth "Bwahahahaha, Dance Puppets!" monologue we've received so far. It's one of the reasons why Abnett's attempt to rehabilitate the SW is a failure.

The big one would be the discovery of the multi-generational plot to infiltrate the SW's remembrancer corps. It's a fine piece of detective work to ferret that out, and is supposed to be the demonstration of Russ' perceptiveness and intellect. So...how is the Remembrancer instantly Magnus' spy again (because the SWs, being the Emperor's Executioners, have an huuuuuuge fan club)? This isn't to say that Magnus doesn't have spies (plural on purpose) in the SW; he says so himself. But the whole process stinks of a profound intelligence coup shoehorned into an existing institutional bias without without cross-examination on its own merits. What follows is a series of reasonable deductions devoid of factual support. As if somebody knew Russ was waiting for a crack at Magnus, as his gloating speeches to "Magnus" spy on the way to Prospero's sanctioning imply. Lo and behold, four warp gods figured out that Leman is really a fool, acting as a savvy warrior, acting like a thug.

What's lost in translation is Horus' skullduggery in altering the Space Wolves' orders from the Emperor, mentioned earlier in the series. Leman isn't a complex character, and attempts to portray him otherwise, like this one, are doomed. He's chain-of-command to the core. In spite of their contemporary image, the best way to get the Horus Heresy Space Wolves to do something is...have a superior tell them to do it. After 15 rounds of RUSS IS THE EMPEROR'S HATCHET MAN!1!!!, any display of sympathy or restraint isn't endearing (or humanizing, or insightful in the least, really), but a contrived hiccup before Leman does what we all know he's going to do anyway.

Nitpick: So with Constantin Valdor personally present, along with Custodes, Sisters of Silence, four primarchs, the Sigilite, and the Emprah himself, nobody notices that there are two Amons in two different places? Or are we to believe that Amon has always been a demon?

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Maybe it's supposed to be a subtle thing, like the one Vassily named after the other Vassily? If so, I don't know what it means. Instead, I gathered that no one thought it was important enough to mention "Oh, hey, a Thousand Son just used his psyker abilities to assault and attempt to kill a custode, two astartes and a remembrancer within sight of the Emperor." That's the kind of thing you could just forget about if you don't set a reminder or something.

For the record, it was around that scene that I started thinking of the book as "Prospero Blows" rather than just "Prospero Drags".

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

What's lost in translation is Horus' skullduggery in altering the Space Wolves' orders from the Emperor, mentioned earlier in the series. Leman isn't a complex character, and attempts to portray him otherwise, like this one, are doomed. He's chain-of-command to the core. In spite of their contemporary image, the best way to get the Horus Heresy Space Wolves to do something is...have a superior tell them to do it. After 15 rounds of RUSS IS THE EMPEROR'S HATCHET MAN!1!!!, any display of sympathy or restraint isn't endearing (or humanizing, or insightful in the least, really), but a contrived hiccup before Leman does what we all know he's going to do anyway.

Technically, not much has been portray of Leman Russ, and this by far has been the most detailed of the portrayals. So I wonder if many are colored by expectations after reading Bill King's novels.

Nitpick: So with Constantin Valdor personally present, along with Custodes, Sisters of Silence, four primarchs, the Sigilite, and the Emprah himself, nobody notices that there are two Amons in two different places? Or are we to believe that Amon has always been a demon?

The impression I get is that "Amon" here was outside the influence of the Sisters of Silence and that he was a daemon of sorts.

Maybe it's supposed to be a subtle thing, like the one Vassily named after the other Vassily? If so, I don't know what it means. Instead, I gathered that no one thought it was important enough to mention "Oh, hey, a Thousand Son just used his psyker abilities to assault and attempt to kill a custode, two astartes and a remembrancer within sight of the Emperor." That's the kind of thing you could just forget about if you don't set a reminder or something.

For the record, it was around that scene that I started thinking of the book as "Prospero Blows" rather than just "Prospero Drags".

There is a broad implication in the book that Hawser's memories have been altered.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Yeah, but you'd think someone would have told him if there was never any encounter with an Amon/daemon in the first place, or even if his version of events was massively incorrect. Once again, we have a psyker battle with lethal intent happening within view of the greatest gathering of Primarchs and Imperial big shots since the Unification Wars. Was there just no investigation at all?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Yeah, but you'd think someone would have told him if there was never any encounter with an Amon/daemon in the first place, or even if his version of events was massively incorrect. Once again, we have a psyker battle with lethal intent happening within view of the greatest gathering of Primarchs and Imperial big shots since the Unification Wars. Was there just no investigation at all?

They did say they went to hunt down the apparition but couldn't find him. He simply poofed.

I suppose there was an investigation, but the book leaped on to the Wolves trying to pry open the mental block placed into Hawser's head. And at the same time, it seems that there was a gathering of the Wolves before the attack on Prospero. So there was a time leap in between.

[dragon]

Only gotten a few chapters in but why did the space marine gouge out the uplander eye?

[Jaevric]

Only gotten a few chapters in but why did the space marine gouge out the uplander eye?

Spoiler

It's a really high-end augmetic with a camera, and the Wolves don't want him getting recordings of the Fang.

Admittedly, not much of a spoiler, but what the hell.

[Niz1]

Just finished it. Thoughts are:

The faux Norse that Abnett throws around started to grate on my nerves really damn quickly.

The lack of hard drinking hard partying Bill King esq writing felt boring . I mean ok he kept the drinking part, but now they all sit around in darkness drinking in silence like morose loners.

WTF is with the leather gimp suits and masks!!! Everytime he mentions leatherwork in the book I imagine it, and it looks damn stupid in my imagination.

I did however like that he tried to portray the "brainless savages" angle as a chapterwide ruse to make enemies not take them as seriously.

Russ really doesnt get much characterisation, comparted to the other Primarchs in their books.

It really dragged at points, especially and I agree with other posters here, in the repetitiveness of Hawsers wake up call etc.

The whole SW have no written records thing just seemed super dumb, I mean what the hell are runes for if not for writing ^^

Kudos for the Bjorn TFH cameo/role , although I figured out who he was pretty much from the start.

Also is anyone else sick of the hypocrisy shown by the wolves re psychers vs rune/wolfpriests.

Overall I wasnt very impressed, I would rate it below Legion as probably the worst Abnett book of the series. I hope that the series picks up again soon, looking forward to seeing Corax and Kurze and also the world eaters book (if they actually write them ofc).