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Hey folks!

I'm working my way through the Horus Heresy books.

I just finished Descent of Angels and am about to move on to Legion.

The previous books have been about the Horus Heresy; why the legions turned, how they fit into Horus' plans, etc.....Descent of Angels had NOTHING to do with the Horus Heresy. It had the background for the Dark Angels before meeting the Imperium, and the end of the book took us to "We're Astartes now" and going to war with a planet, and a fracture appearing between the Lion and Luther - which isn't explained or expounded upon. The shuttle missile that Luther contemplated ignoring could be the foundation but there's no explanation....nothing.

First of all....anyone with any thoughts on this?

Second....I'm moving on to Legion, and would typically order another couple books at this point so I have more to read when I run out. However, I read somewhere that the Horus Heresy trickles out of steam about halfway through and the rest of the books in the series are junk.

Advice welcome.

DoA is generally considered one of the worst HH novels. I hear that the 2nd DA book is better though.

I agree the it is completely over powered!!! Oh... wait...

Descent of Angels was truly awful. From the terrible Harry Potter plot that goes nowhere and has nothing to do with the HH, to the lulwut moments like the huge spaceship getting pulled out an airlock by depressurisation, to the characterisation of two main characters whom we are told are best of friends despite being shown them doing nothing but snidely bickering, to the unnecessary sexual tension between said two main characters (they massage one another's thighs after a sweaty work-out at one point...).

Legion is better, as is Fallen Angels. Legion reveals an interesting 40k secret, and Fallen Angels has some of the better combat I've read in a HH book. It isn't all Superman-esque face-pwning, it represents the Astartes fighting realistically.

ok, I'll go against the grain here and say its pretty good. Why? Because its a book someone with no knowledge of 40K could pick up and read. It's a better way of introducing people to SMs short of handing somebody a rulebook and say "here".

William King's first Space Wolf book was good for that too except that I didn't like how you could basically drink a magic potion and put on a 'Learning Cap" for the actual transformation process.

Yeah, Descent of Angels sucked ass...I liked Legion though, even if it didn't actually raise up to my expectations (Alpharius and the Alpha Legion are my always favorites, so i was a little subjective), but it was still pretty good though.
Fallen Angels is quite good, though in my opinion it didn't raise to the level of Whorus Rising or False Gods, but hey, no other book in the HH actually did...

"Descent of Angels" is in kind of a weird position.

It's set quite awhile before The Horus Heresy, and in fact before the Great Crusade itself.

It's also meant to be more of a mythical retelling of The Emperor's first contact with the first of the Primarchs that were found.

As for that idiotic comment about "unnecessary sexual tension"--wow. You're aware that they're cousins, yes? Cousins who basically were raised together to the point where they're brothers, yeah?

You must be an only child.

Ya, the first two are the best.

I thought Legion was pretty boring except for the end were the Legion actually comes up with a unique reason for going rebel.

I really wonder if the series will actually depict the final battle between the Emprah and Whorus...that's something i'd like to read

aka_tizz wrote:I really wonder if the series will actually depict the final battle between the Emprah and Whorus...that's something i'd like to read

Probably not. There's also a lot of interesting stuff that happened after The Battle of Terra. I hope they get into that too.

Kanluwen wrote:
It's also meant to be more of a mythical retelling of The Emperor's first contact with the first of the Primarchs that were found.

Horus was first to be found, DA are just the 1st legion to be founded

Mechanicum is an awesome read if you are into the legend of the Star Gods, particularly the Dragon and you like the Titan Legions and the Mechanicus in general. Prospero Burns, IMO, has been the best HH novel yet. You get a unique look at the Emperor's plans for the Universe and Magnus' role in them. Also Russ and the Wolves are portrayed excellently. I don't think the HH series is trash or losing steam, you just have to read the novels with out too much expectation or preconceived notions about what you will be reading.

Dashofpepper wrote:Hey folks!

I'm working my way through the Horus Heresy books.

I just finished Descent of Angels and am about to move on to Legion.

The previous books have been about the Horus Heresy; why the legions turned, how they fit into Horus' plans, etc.....Descent of Angels had NOTHING to do with the Horus Heresy. It had the background for the Dark Angels before meeting the Imperium, and the end of the book took us to "We're Astartes now" and going to war with a planet, and a fracture appearing between the Lion and Luther - which isn't explained or expounded upon. The shuttle missile that Luther contemplated ignoring could be the foundation but there's no explanation....nothing.

First of all....anyone with any thoughts on this?

Well, that's pretty much all the Dark Angels did in the Horus Heresy. I.e. jack squat except infighting until their planet burst, and till this day they spend every waking hour cutting themselves and seeking out their fallen brethren.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

aka_tizz wrote:I really wonder if the series will actually depict the final battle between the Emprah and Whorus...that's something i'd like to read

Walrus, Champion of Chaos?

Kanluwen wrote:As for that idiotic comment about "unnecessary sexual tension"--wow. You're aware that they're cousins, yes? Cousins who basically were raised together to the point where they're brothers, yeah?

You must be an only child.

I've got a brother and two sisters, all about a year apart in age (I'm the eldest at 24, brother's youngest at 20). I can safely say that at no point did we ever tenderly massage one another's inner thighs after a sweaty gym workout.

It wasn't only that, of course. It was the unnecessarily competitive way they acted in general. Like watching Top Gun all over again.

I didn't particularly care for Descent of Angels when I read it. But now after having read Fallen Angels I am glad I did. Descent of Angels set the stage for the events that take place in Fallen Angels.

I have to say first time round I hated the first DA book. But the I also hated Battle for the Abyss...but I digress

As a whole I like the Horus Heresy. Hopefully the DA story arc will eventually yeild some meaningful fluff or just some good old Bolter death to anyone and everything. I live in hope

The first DA book could of been condensed and added the the second DA book. A lot of it is unneccessary drivel.

If I were to have some one read the HH series I'd have them read the DA books together instead of as they were released.