Book Review: Fulgrim

It took me 7 weeks to read Fulgrim. Not for lack of effort or interest in the book but due to the holiday schedule, out of town adventures and new year work schedule, but the book stands completed. My only regret is that I couldn't have just read the book over the course of a couple of days versus the few weeks. The book is adventurous, fast paced and incredibly action-packed, that just keeps getting better and better.

For the first time in the series, you find out what happens in detail about the Istvaan V drop landing massacre. Throughout the book you watch as a great Primarch is laid low by the forces of Chaos, the corruption of an entire legion and members of an expedition. Throughout is interweave with established timeline and even a couple of characters previously introduced that locks you into place in the historical timeline of the grim dark future, so you constantly know where you are and what is going on around the galaxy at this time.

The Eldar make a brief appearance and the whole concept on how childish humankind is when concerned with the warp and Chaos is truly revealed and yet again almost makes you want to side with Horus and the Heresy. After all with all these things you as the reader are learning about this timeline and epic story arc, you have to ask why did the Emperor leave the crusade? Why did the Emperor NOT warn his children, even with the knowledge he KNEW about the dark aspects of the warp?

These questions and more is what attributes this epic story arc of the Horus Heresy as such a phenomenal tale. You almost want to sympathize with the Heresy, yet you see how they slip from being the good guys to the root of evil. You see pride and ego taken to such distances that nothing good can rebound from it. Still you have to wonder why the Emperor stays silent.

A blast to read, Fulgrim had it all. It'll be a little while until I return with book 6 of the Horus Heresy series - or even any other 40K book. Vanilla reading books have been accumulating on the bedroom night stand, along with Christmas presents (more books) and I have some catching up to do. So I have at least 3-5 books to read before I return the world of 40K, but with a book such as Fulgrim being a "breaking" point, I'm already anxious to return.

Book Review: Flight of the Eisenstein

Excellent book! The action, emotional quality and character development in this book supercedes or is compatable to the series before it. I was previously a fan of James Swallow with his Blood Angels Omnibus, but this work elevated him even further in my enthusiasm for his stories.

The book concentrates itself around the point of view of one central character - Nathaniel Garro, a member of the Death Guard and his escape from the Istvaan masacre and bringing the message of Horus's Heresy to Terra. An outstanding tale and my new favorite in the series.

Book Review: Galaxy in Flames

Where Horus Rising excelled at character development and False Gods pushed the plot forward, the strength in Galaxy in Flames by Ben Counter was in the detailed action and combat scenes. It was difficult for me to get into this book for the first 40-50 pages but I am glad I slogged through them, because it turned out to be an awesome action-filled combat book. Much as movies like Saving Private Ryan brought World War 2 to gruesome life, so did Galaxy in Flames did for the Horus Heresy and the battle of Isstvan III.

It is a toss up for me on which book I liked better so far - Horus Rising or Galaxy in Flames. This book was all about the combat and the detailed battle scenes were second to none. All through these first three books of the Horus Heresy, you can't help but wish that the Warmaster would change his direction - though as a player we already know the answer to that.

Well written, I'm looking forward to the next book in the series and learning more about Garro. The Flight of the Eisenstein is also by James Swallow, who wrote the Blood Angels books and my favorite series (Blood Angels Omnibus) that I've read in the 40K Universe up to this point.

Book Review: False Gods

False Gods pretty much takes up where Horus Rising left off. The shift to Chaos is a pretty quick and slippery one, though you can see that the setup for such a fall took a long time to setup. False Gods has a quicker pace than Horus Rising and I found myself getting worried for a couple of the characters. How it all ends up I suppose we will find out in the next book Galaxy in Flames.

Overall I think this book was on par with Horus Rising but because the pace seems quicker, there is a loss of character development that Dan Abnett worked hard on setting up. It's not that there isn't any character development, it's just not as in depth as in Horus Rising. Still, I am very much enjoying the story of the Horus Heresy.

Book Review: Horus Rising

After reading this great novel, I have to say that I am glad I waited until I understood some of the 40K Universe history before picking this book up. While the book is written in such a way, that the universe will reveal itself to you as you go, there are some reveals in this book that just make so much more sense and has much more of an awe factor if you wait until you have some of the basic concepts of the 40K universe down. Specifically who are the Xenos, the Imperium, Chaos and perhaps a little bit about Space marines in general.

This information I came across outside of the book through the fluff in codexes and the general rulebook, along with conversations with friends more knowledgeable about the 40K universe than I. The result is that I was able to follow the novel pretty well and was genuinely surprised and completely understood the significance of some of the reveals in this book.

I've heard good things about Dan Abnett the author and had even listened to an interview with him before picking up the book. I did find it a tad slow getting into for the first 30 or so pages, but by then I was sucked in and kept coming back for more as the story progressed. So much so, by the last third of the book I had a hard time putting it down at all.

Strongly recommended but IMO more for someone who has at least some of the basics of the 40K universe down first. I think the reader, like myself, will get just that much more enjoyment out of it.