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As the thread title probably gives away, I'm just done reading the 4th Horus Heresy novel and

...what a let down.

After the first three were a cracking trilogy with decent action and reasonable characterisation we get something that landed with a wet thud.

I did like the books treatment of the Sisters of silence, mad em want to find out more about the enigmatic faction.

I also enjoyed the implication towrads the end of the new role that the Seventy would be taking.

What I didn't like:

Flat characterisation. I know this is gaming firction, but there should still be some quality standards. In the first few books we've gotten a very good impression of the characters of Horus, Angron and to an extent, Fulgrim. What do we learn about Mortarion in a book starring his Legion? He's kind of grumpy and drinks poison for fun. Oh and he's following Horus for no given reason whatsoever.

I also felt that Swallow could have been a little bit more subtle in showing that it was Nurgle's tendrils influencing the DG, I know we all know that's how it ends up, but it seemed as subtle and well thought out as a sledgehamemr to the groin.

Starting 'Fulgrim' tonight. Hoping that's better. MacNeill & abnett are likely my two favorite BL authors so looking forward to this and to 'Legion'

Wait until "descent of Angels..." that is the real disappointment in the series.

I didn't mind "Flight..." but it was a slight let down. I liked the Nurgle aspect though.

I really liked Fulgrim and Legion is, IMO, the best of the lot.

I'm a secondary English teacher so I am forced to read a lot of "proper" literature. I love escaping to fun stories like these but I really only read Abnett, some McNeil and a few others. I totally agree that there should be some standard for them.

Try reading some really early stuff (Beasts in Velvet?) for a real laugh at quality

The first 3 were good and I hope the closing ones follow this suit.

Flight was a very upsetting book for me, beleiving the series couldn't get worse I hated it when Decent of Angels was! Fulgrim isn't a bad book, longer than the others yes, but lets you get inside the mind of Fulgrim for a while. But the Flight of the Eisenstien could easily have been left out of the series and it wouldn't have been a huge loss to it

A quick question about the Horus Heresy series- is there basically going to be a book for each chapter?

We have seen Sons of Horus/Luna Wolves, Emperor's Children, Death Guard, Dark Angels (apparently they were somewhere in 'Descent of Angels', blink and you miss it though lol), Alpha Legion etc

As for "Flight of the Eisenstein", I thought it was an OK read, although my favourite so far is "Legion" because of the vastly different style of the Legion in question, which makes the narrative new and refreshing

i didn't like legion much, is was different but i couldn't really get into it. As for DOA, strated off like a not so great fantasy, which was a let down but sufferable, when the spaceships showed.....hmmmmmm it went downhill imo. Eisenstien wasn't the best, but was a nice casual read. Fulgrim (was this the arty one?) was good. From the plot line of the next I'm not expecting much at all, have already seen one review and it wasn't good. Hoping mechanicum is good, that's what I'm waiting for! It's a nice series, not poor, not great. At least the books look nice lined up on the shelf!

What is the next book in the series? I have them all up to Legion but haven't seen a preview of what's coming next

The next book is Battle for the Abyss. I believe it deals with the Wordbearers and the Thousand Sons.


Abnett's stories are clearly, IMO, the best of the lot. The man could write a grocery list and it would be fun to read.

McNeil I like too, as well as Ben Counter. Wasn't all that impressed with Mr. Swallow's work.

That sounds rather good- I like the theme and background to the Thousand Sons, so that should be well worth a read

Its actually Word bearers and Ultramarines, as has been mentioned in all the articles on GW's website and WD 344. As far as I know Thousand sons aren't even mentioned in it

No, you're wrong. One of the cast of characters is Brother Mhotep from the 1k sons. There's also some World eaters-- Skraal is quite bad ass in my opinion, and some Space Wolves with the Ultramarines as well.

Word Bearers are the bad guys though.

Good book overall, I enjoyed it very much.

Really? All I knew was a large Word bearer fleet is heading to Ultramar or calth, or somewhere... in order to kill Ultramarines.

Now I wonder which side the 1k son will be on. Because if he isn't on Prospero he wouldn't be corrupted with the rest of his legion when they fled using warp magic. Maybe this will reveal the Blood ravens origins?

Oh, and how do you know this out of interest?

For those who have not seen them yet, here are the next two book covers:


Release date July 29


Release date Nov 25

@ legoburner: Thanks for the covers!


Did i see ultramarines and 1k sons beeing attacked from word bearers? :S

In the end of the HHbooks every traitor legion might had some loyalists.
(or intelligent marines)

Storm Lord wrote:Really? All I knew was a large Word bearer fleet is heading to Ultramar or calth, or somewhere... in order to kill Ultramarines.

Now I wonder which side the 1k son will be on. Because if he isn't on Prospero he wouldn't be corrupted with the rest of his legion when they fled using warp magic. Maybe this will reveal the Blood ravens origins?

Oh, and how do you know this out of interest?

Because I read and finished the book last week.

And the story concerns a SINGLE Word Bearer ship on its way.. kind of ties in with the ambusg thing on Calth etc etc.

Nothing to do with the Blood Ravens. Mhotep is the 1K sons name.

Skraal is the World eater captain , Brynngar the Wolf captain.

After Mechanicum is "Tales of the Heresy".. see Angron in full rock god pose !

Good find on that cover image reds8n, thanks I had not seen it before. I'm picking up my copy of battle for the abyss tomorrow hopefully (assuming forbidden planet in London has them in early like it has with every other book so far).

Very good find indeed. That one was new to me as well.
And I must say, I am REALLY excited about Mechanicus....

Now Ill go back and *try* to finish the DOW books... sigh

I ordered battle for the abyss last week from the UK, but have to read legion first.

From what I gathered its not so much 1 novel per chapter but coverage of the events of the heresy. The pre-heresy primarily revolved around horus so the lunar wolves played the biggest part in the first 3 books.

Expect the defece of the imperial palace to be primarily a blood angel affair due to the central role sanguinus played (however a book could easily be done for the IFs and white scars on the imperial side alone, never mind the imperial army)

Has GW given any indication how long this series is going to be?

I have up to Descent of Angels (Only read the Prelude so far but it seems promising, though people here tell me otherwise) and I will be getting Legion and these next three when I see them in Barnes & Noble, but I don't want it to be another Dragonalnce (Tried collecting those, but gave up when I released there were over eighty in the series. May just try and colect all the Weiss & Hickman stuff...)

chaplaingrabthar wrote:Has GW given any indication how long this series is going to be?

I have up to Descent of Angels (Only read the Prelude so far but it seems promising, though people here tell me otherwise) and I will be getting Legion and these next three when I see them in Barnes & Noble, but I don't want it to be another Dragonalnce (Tried collecting those, but gave up when I released there were over eighty in the series. May just try and colect all the Weiss & Hickman stuff...)

I asked Graham McNeil this question and he told me that there was the opening trilogy, a planned closing trilogy and then the many books in between... he said there was no concrete plan and it depends on how well they keep selling, but it could be around 30 or so. However, this was about 18 months ago so things have probably changed since then

Knowingly the series will keep going until all the legions are eventually covered and run out of ideas for any other events that happened at the same time. I'd like to know who'll be writing the Emp vs Horus book-they'll have a tough job trying to get all the facts right and finish it well, or will they actually make this book? Seeing as it would close the series for good.

Word was the closing trilogy was going to be written by counter/mcneil/abnett in that order but I dont know if it still applies. I'd like to see abnett and mcneil team up on the final book and write it together perhaps.

No, I'd prefer Abnett to be solo on the final book (Which I'm calling "Terra" as, while McNeill's a good wrter, the two styles don't mesh that well and Dan is just, well, better)

Agreed, and as Abnett started the Series it seems fitting he finishes it himself

I dont think that the emperor vs horus should be the final book either, I think that there should be at least one followup explaining things like the cleanup, the golden throne, the grey knights and how the imperium went about changing governance. Some of the primarch conflicts after the heresy might get a bit too drawn out though so I dont think I would like to see most of them.

I think they must end after the Emperor vs Horus. What could any book add to be interesting enough?
A final battle is always a potent end for a novel.If you go for after-heresy storys,it is necessary to reveal new stuff to hold the
pace after such a all-out conflict.IMHO the furthest we get is just before the second founding of the marines.

I dont think a followup could be branded as a horus heresy series but perhaps branded as the start of the current age of the imperium, picking up where the horus heresy series closes off would be something that I would probably buy.

Storys from the time at the reorganization after the heresy would be worth a buy.

But first I hope for a long run of the heresy books,many Legions were not getting fluff in the existing series.

Some legions are so forgotten in previous books.

The heresy-series, a chance to show off more details from fogged legions.

legoburner wrote:I dont think a followup could be branded as a horus heresy series but perhaps branded as the start of the current age of the imperium, picking up where the horus heresy series closes off would be something that I would probably buy.

I totally agree. It wouldnt fit under the title Horus Heresy but rather the aftermath of said heresy. And you already mentioned a few options of possible content. The grey knights, more on the throne...what are the loyalist legions doin right after the "death" or incapacitation of their lord and emperor..... creation of the ecclesiarchy. Pursuit of the traitor legions ...

Theres a lot to tell since all that fluff is still very very vague.

Flachzange wrote:

legoburner wrote:I dont think a followup could be branded as a horus heresy series but perhaps branded as the start of the current age of the imperium, picking up where the horus heresy series closes off would be something that I would probably buy.

I totally agree. It wouldnt fit under the title Horus Heresy but rather the aftermath of said heresy. And you already mentioned a few options of possible content. The grey knights, more on the throne...what are the loyalist legions doin right after the "death" or incapacitation of their lord and emperor..... creation of the ecclesiarchy. Pursuit of the traitor legions ...

Theres a lot to tell since all that fluff is still very very vague.

The beginnings of the Chapter system. As I remember it was and still is met with some resistance by certain loyalists.

I'd like to read about the Fall or Caliban, might be better than the Decent of Angels book-and interesting to see how the Characters have developed since then.