Know No Fear discussion – Teasers and Spoilers

[Apologist]

First off – *enthuse*


Downloaded this at midnight, and find myself halfway through; having managed to put it down at 2. What a book!


Teasers
The book fits in well with the material we've already seen on the Word Bearers and Ultramarines, and expands on these two Legions in an organic, natural way. There's a surprising amount of logistical detail in the first half of the book, and I for one will be digesting and compiling info for quite some time. That said, this information is written naturally; and the tone and content of the text suggests the organisation and discipline of the Ultramarines in particular, without becoming jarring.


Dan has totally 'got' the Ultramarines. They've got a great balance of being focussed, military and yet interesting; and there's loads of info on the personnel: just check out the extensive Dramatis Personae section. The contrast between the clean operation of preparing to fight the Orks and the betrayal is startling, and the book sets a real pace, which prevents the information becoming a morass. In fact, the book is more immediately violent – and for a more sustained time – than I can remember in another Heresy novel. Abnett gives real 'shock and awe' with a short-burning fuse, and that perfectly captures the point of the teaser Black Library gave us (the death of Honorius Luciel at the hands of Sorot Tchure) – Tchure's words.


If I breathed a sigh of relief as the character of the legion was revealed, it was doubly true of Guilliman. In my view, Dan was always going to be a safe pair of hands for any Primarch – his Horus was with invested with majesty, humanity and charisma, his Alpharius was suitably evasive and yet inspiring; and his Guilliman is portrayed in a fantastic light: you get a sense of veneration from his men then edges towards majesty rather than pomposity (except in Lorgar's view, of course!). He's not as immediately charming as Abnett's Horus: instead, you instinctively feel he is trustworthy.


Best of all? You get the feeling that the modus operandi Guilliman espouses – and the Ultramarines practise – would work; there's a sense of professionalism and adaptive self-reliance.


The book is very interestingly written: like Eisenhorn, the text is mainly written in the present tense, which gives a fantastic urgency to the tone and helps create an atmosphere that supports the surprise and shock of the events. Unlike Eisenhorn, it's third person. That's a very different beast, and it definitely helps to construct the scale and breadth of the campaign.


I found 'my' reference in there – the very first Ultramarine you meet is:

Tall as one big man on another big man’s shoulders, broad as any three muscle-heavy athletes, his bulk augmented by the massive ceramite plate of gleaming Praetor-pattern armour, Luciel opens the airgate hatch.

Squee! I don't really have anything to say about that beyond it put the biggest grin on my face. It's a throwaway line, in many ways; but it's lovely to think that the enthusiasm of the fanbase feeds back into the growing shared world of the Horus Heresy. Hugs for everyone


The Word Bearers come across suitably bad-ass as well – Lorgar has grown some nuts: for very good reason. There's a sense of having left his self-doubt behind; which expands beautifully on Dembski-Bowden's groundwork and character development. Of course, that hasn't come with complete balance, and while he's not a frothing caricature of himself, he's a perfect contrast to Guilliman's deep-seated balance.*


The subtle changes in the Word Bearers are good: I loved the mention that they're using daemoncraft in lieu of a voxnet, and the basic plan of attack is one that seems eminently sensible and achievable – one worthy of a Primarch and Astartes. They aren't berserkers: they're coldly clinical murderers coming at a hated enemy, and that sense of purpose and ambition comes across even where it isn't explicitly mentioned. Masterful handling of a well-loved Legion. I imagine Dembski-Bowden is very happy with how the Word Bearers are portrayed, as it feels like an organic development of his groundwork in The First Heretic.


I think the cultists have been well thought-out – rather than faceless screaming nutjobs that get mention elsewhere in the 40k background, you get an explanation as to why they're okay with dieing (well, if you believe the promises...), and they're a believable enemy for the Imperial Army. I was hoping for good things from Abnett on this, as he realised the Blood pact and Sons of Sek so well. He doesn't disappoint.


Spoilers

Setpieces galore – a sky massacre that ends with spaceships crashing to earth; super-heavy tanks raining from the sky. Lots of short-term foreshadowing of the perfect defences being breached.

I continued reading on the way to work and startled some poor sod when I realised I was reading about the Catheric Oll – Ollanius freaking Pius! – stepping on to Horus' throne. What a startling piece of foreshadowing, and beautifully executed. It's great to see Horus back in Abnett's hands – despite him being a tiny cameo, you got this dripping sense of power; of betrayal... Abnett is truly a first-class writer, and this book cements his reputation in my mind.

*That said, the scene where Guilliman loses his rag on the flagship as Lorgar taunts him is perfectly pitched: you get Guilliman revealing his passion without losing complete control, and there's a reserve even here that contrasts brilliantly with the teaser scene where Lorgar rages at Guilliman's 'confrontation', as he sees it.

[SunTzu]

Not finished it yet, about two thirds of the way through... but so far I'm unimpressed. Not Dan Abnett's best work, I fear.

Part of the problem may simply be the premise, which is in the subtitle: the Battle for Calth. It's a battle. With lots of space marines. Big guns and explosions, wooooot! There's almost zero character development: for example I can say without fear of spoilers (because everybody knows that the Words Bearers are here to betray the Ultramarines) that the only Word Bearer and Ultramarine who are friends, end up with the WB betraying the UM something like four pages after we learn they are friends. That's just not enough page time for them to display the kind of rapport that gives the betrayal any impact or poignancy. The actual moment of betrayal is quite nicely written but ultimately there's a big feeling of "so what" - and it's all tell, not show.

Similarly, we are told that Guilliman is awesome with information. OK, great. So what? The closest we get to seeing that in action is that nearly three hours after the battle starts with casualties already in the tens of thousands, Guilliman works out that Lorgar intended for this to happen all along. Well... no **** Sherlock. What we are shown is that Guilliman really likes using words like "bastard" and "****". I found it all rather uninspiring.

There's plenty of spaceships crashing into planets and lots of people dying, so if action is what you're after it's here in spades. I'm just left a little bit cold by that. If I want bolter porn there's plenty of fanfic that does that for free. Dan Abnett's strengths have always been his characters and the interplay between them. There's two hundred thousand Word Bearers and two hundred and fifty thousand Ultramarines featuring in this book, plus the obligatory civilians and support staff; I don't think it's possible to write about an epic battle that size and spend any time on the characters, so we just get a story of a battle which, y'know, given the premise of the book, was always what was going to happen (and maybe Abnett phoned it in as a result)... I'm just not finding it very interesting. Explosions look awesome on a cinema screen. In a book, they're just words. Exciting stuff in books comes from character IMO, and here it's all just spread too thin.

There have been good moments. Some of the early foreshadowing was impressively ominous, in fact everything relating to daemons is written very convincingly with some cool daemonic touches. The Ultramarine who's being punished (and the reason for his punishment) was quite a nice concept, but just hasn't had space to be expanded on. But that (so far anyway) is about it. Most of the rest of the book is explosions and bolter shots, and some potentially good ideas don't get fully explored (one of the Ultramarines works out a way to identify an unknown unit as friend or foe... but by the time he does so and gives the order to open fire, their crimson power armour is visible anyway... duh!).

The book is written in the present tense, which in this case I find quite awkward to read - it doesn't flow naturally in my opinion; and all too often the "exciting" and "fast-paced" combat sequences that comprise the bulk of the book get bogged down in tedium as we are told how sixteen thousand four hundred and seventy two people are killed in nineteen point four seconds, or whatever. For me, it just doesn't work.

Dan Abnett has written some superb books and is a superb author. But this isn't one of them, and in this book he doesn't show it, in my opinion. Ultimately it's the Battle for Calth - it's nearly half a million space marines fighting dirty. If that sounds awesome to you (OK, the concept would sound awesome to anyone; if the idea of reading about it for three hundred and something pages, instead of fighting a wargame based on it, sounds awesome to you) you'll probably love this book. It's barely diluted bolter porn which some people will adore; but it left me cold.

[Simo429]

Our review of this book can be found here

Good book but shoud hve been two parts to it rather than cram it into one, I would have liked to have seen it like Propero burns and a thousand sons where it was from different perspectives.

[Apologist]

Our review of this book can be found here

Good book but shoud hve been two parts to it rather than cram it into one, I would have liked to have seen it like Propero burns and a thousand sons where it was from different perspectives.

I was under the impression that that was the intention: I believe A D-B is writing a companion piece (though like Prospero Burns, offering a complementary, overlapping story, rather than simply a change of perspective). Is that no longer the case?

There's plenty of spaceships crashing into planets and lots of people dying, so if action is what you're after it's here in spades. I'm just left a little bit cold by that. If I want bolter porn there's plenty of fanfic that does that for free. Dan Abnett's strengths have always been his characters and the interplay between them.

That's a fair point, but I think 'bolter porn' is a bit harsh in this case. I generally find action scenes in literature a bit tugid, but Abnett's actually capture my imagination. His writing is cinematic, but that just fires my imagination rather than leading to me rolling my eyes and flicking through to get to some plot; as is the case with some authors.

I'm just not finding it very interesting. Explosions look awesome on a cinema screen. In a book, they're just words. Exciting stuff in books comes from character IMO, and here it's all just spread too thin.

It's a difficult balance, and I think there may have been some heavy 'groupthink' influencing the book, as it is running on fairly firm rails. As you mention, the Battle for Calth is ultimately a big planetary ambush; but scale doesn't equate to interest. What I have enjoyed about this is the way that the style of writing informs the character of the Legions involved: both are huge, and I think the adoption of the third person present narrative style is inventive and perfectly suited to getting the (necessarily wide-reaching) plot rolling. This is not a character piece in the cast of Prospero Burns (which I enjoyed greatly); but a book which is solidifying the events of the Heresy so far. As you mention, we have foreshadowing to the

confrontation between Horus and the Emperor

; but we also have a well-written 'crib notes' of the entire Heresy so far. The characters and rivalry of Guilliman and Lorgar is much colder than that between Leman Russ and Magnus (for example). I'd argue that a books in the more personal style of A Thousand Sons and Prospero Burns wouldn't have been appropriate for these characters and events.

Dan Abnett has written some superb books and is a superb author. But this isn't one of them, and in this book he doesn't show it, in my opinion. Ultimately it's the Battle for Calth - it's nearly half a million space marines fighting dirty. If that sounds awesome to you (OK, the concept would sound awesome to anyone; if the idea of reading about it for three hundred and something pages, instead of fighting a wargame based on it, sounds awesome to you) you'll probably love this book. It's barely diluted bolter porn which some people will adore; but it left me cold.

Fair enough – I'm finding it a great read, personally; though I appreciate your thoughts. As I mention, I'm only halfway through at the moment, so it's really my first thoughts. There have been some good seeds planted in the first half, but I'm open to changing my mind if those don't bear fruit.

[Dead.Blue.Clown]

I was under the impression that that was the intention: I believe A D-B is writing a companion piece (though like Prospero Burns, offering a complementary, overlapping story, rather than simply a change of perspective). Is that no longer the case?

Sort of. Betrayer is set at the same time as Calth, and a little past it, but it's set elsewhere in the galaxy. Aurelian sets up the fact that Lorgar chooses not

to go to Calth

, and takes a chunk of his Legion "elsewhere" with the World Eaters. The Butcher's Nails shows the beginning of what those two primarchs and Legions are up to, behind enemy lines.

Betrayer itself will show the real deal - what the World Eaters and half of the Word Bearers were doing, while Calth raged.

EDIT: Spoilered, though... not really necessary given how long Aurelian has been out for. It's tough to keep track of what's in the public consciousness now, as The Butcher's Nails was written months before Know No Fear, and was directly written as a precursor to Calth from Lorgar and Angron's point of view.

[SunTzu]

Sort of. Betrayer is set at the same time as Calth, and a little past it, but it's set elsewhere in the galaxy. Aurelian sets up the fact that Lorgar chooses not

to go to Calth

, and takes a chunk of his Legion "elsewhere" with the World Eaters. The Butcher's Nails shows the beginning of what those two primarchs and Legions are up to, behind enemy lines.

Betrayer itself will show the real deal - what the World Eaters and half of the Word Bearers were doing, while Calth raged.

EDIT: Spoilered, though... not really necessary given how long Aurelian has been out for.

Can

not

wait.

[Simo429]

I was under the impression that ADB was writing a world eaters book

[SunTzu]

Finished it tonight.

I personally found the ending as disappointing as the rest of the book, and just as rushed.

A bunch of Titans turned up from nowhere to rescue some Ultramarines and extend their survival, only if they hadn't, the UMs would still have lived long enough to gain control of the planetary defences. So the Deus Ex Machina of the Titans didn't even achieve anything, it just happened.

Having taken control of the planetary defences, some of the Word Bearer positions were bombarded. Only they would have had to go underground due to the sun blowing up within a few hours anyway (leading me to wonder why the WBs stayed on the surface for so long - and why blowing up suns doesn't happen more often, instead of Exterminatus). Granted some WB ships were destroyed... which I suppose demonstrated the WBs didn't have everything their own way and the UMs aren't rubbish... but it just left me thinking "so what?" It wouldn't have made much difference if it hadn't happened.

Kor Phaeron didn't kill Guilliman when he could have, but I guess that's standard muahahaha bad guy behaviour; in fact, I think if there had been time and space in the book to really explore what happened between them (instead of a paragraph or two saying "Kor Phaeron decided to try to turn Guilliman" and a few paragraphs in which Guilliman basically said "no thanks") this might have been quite interesting; even if we assume that nothing could feasibly have tempted Guilliman even for a moment, it would have been enlightening for Kor Phaeron's character to see what arguments he might have tried. As it was it was all over before it had even begun. So Guilliman got a chance to flex his muscles but again, it left me wondering "so what?"

There was another massive "so what?" with Oll. He's one of John Grammaticus' colleagues, he's got serious plot armour and he "just knew" exactly which point on the planet's surface (which happened to be nearby) to go to, and what to do once he got there, to escape the planet. But... he didn't do anything. The entire Oll thread could have cut from the book and there would have been zero detrimental value whatsoever. One assumes that he'll turn up in a later book at his new destination and coming from Calth will turn out to be important, somehow. But it's hard to imagine how. He was a civilian on Calth but in the Cabal; he could as easily have started at his destination (which at first I took to be Colchis but re-reading I'm unsure) without having come from Calth.

[edit] Almost forgot - then there was the Dreadnought! That story started out with potential (it's rare to get inside the head of a Dread)... then... just... stopped. Nothing happened. Again I can only presume it was the lead up to another book, but it could have been removed entirely from this one. [/edit]

The biggest "so what?" of all... "It is the beginning of one of the most infamous naval duels in Imperial history." Wait. That's it? Really? I can only assume, again, that another book will reveal what happened there, but by then all the context will have been lost. If another book does pick it up, it's a really strange place to cut it off. If it doesn't... WTF?

It's possible that other books will fill in the gaps but standing on it's own, Know No Fear should IMO have cut out half of what it contains, and been twice as long, replacing all the cinematic set pieces with the characterisation and dramatic tension that Abnett normally does so well. Like I said before - if you want action, it's here by the bucketload, and I suspect a lot of people will love this book for that reason (and it is, after all, a book about a battle; perhaps it is unfair of me to expect more). But if you want dramatic tension, character development and a cerebral plot, this book, IMO, and unusually for Abnett, does not deliver.

[sheppe]

Literally wasn't able to put it down once I discovered it was available (thanks to your imperium log Apologist)

Even though it's fiction and set twenty eight thousand years in the future, I felt real empathy for the ultras as they were betrayed and the scale was breath taking - tanks raining from the sky crushing battle brothers as they hastily tried to get out of the way and lots more.

Also liked how the chapter masters / chapters / companies were defined explicitly at last - 1 chapter = 10 companies of 1000 marines, 25 chapters to the legion pre Calth.

A slight criticism would be the shear volume of names of characters and ships, to the point that I had the original page where the ships were mentioned book marked so I knew what was being destroyed - there's a difference between a battle barge and a small cruiser after all!

/ question about Rules of Engagement:

The 4th Company is called the troublesome for what occurred on Calth, but I couldn't find any mention of this in K.N.F.

[Lextheimpaler]

Finished it last night, and i have to agree with some of the above comments. Wow was the whole contemptor bit a let down i was expecting alot more from that.

Spolier

Why did Dan decide to rewrite fluff? It was not Kor Phareon who poisons him by cutting his neck it was the deamon prince fulgrim much later after the heresy. Kinda bummed me out, becasue guilliman is supposed to play a major role after the heresy.

Overall though still an enjoyable read, The whole story behind the red helms is interesting if not a little cheesy. I do like though guilliman is described as using 1 power fist and not two as i have him modelled as such.

[Baron Spikey]

Spolier

Why did Dan decide to rewrite fluff? It was not Kor Phareon who poisons him by cutting his neck it was the deamon prince fulgrim much later after the heresy. Kinda bummed me out, becasue guilliman is supposed to play a major role after the heresy.

Overall though still an enjoyable read, The whole story behind the red helms is interesting if not a little cheesy. I do like though guilliman is described as using 1 power fist and not two as i have him modelled as such.

1) that isn't the wound that kills him, he just gets slashed- so he hasn't rewritten the fluff at all there. If Dan had then 'He' would be dead before the short story that he appears in in Age of Darkness
2) he doesn't get both powerfists till after the Heresy.

[Wazzahamma]

I'm going to be one of those annoying people that throws in their opinion without having read the actual book ( I have read the extracts available online and loved every single one of them).

First things first, I have to say I hate the term "bolter porn", it's a neat sounding catchphrase which appears impressively derisive and dismissive without actually saying much of anything at all. That's a general grumble from me and not necessarily directed at SunTzu or anyone in particular. I'll take the point that the book seems to mostly focus on action (something which I would normally be wary of), though I have a feeling that a 'battle book' wordsmithed by Abnett might still be worth a read. At the very least, the phrases will be prettier than most.

If Woody Allen directed a porn movie, I'd have to at least watch the trailer. It'd probably be a very wordy.

Or by Tarantino. I'd watch one by Tarantino.

Part of the problem may simply be the premise, which is in the subtitle: the Battle for Calth. It's a battle. With lots of space marines. Big guns and explosions, wooooot! There's almost zero character development: for example I can say without fear of spoilers (because everybody knows that the Words Bearers are here to betray the Ultramarines) that the only Word Bearer and Ultramarine who are friends, end up with the WB betraying the UM something like four pages after we learn they are friends. That's just not enough page time for them to display the kind of rapport that gives the betrayal any impact or poignancy. The actual moment of betrayal is quite nicely written but ultimately there's a big feeling of "so what" - and it's all tell, not show.

This I can comment on with a little more insight, since I have read the extract dealing with that moment of betrayal.

I think to demand that it give character development or show obvious rapport ("shall we hug it out, my battle brother?") is to somewhat miss the point of what Abnett is achieving here. In this case, we're not meant to be moved through our familiarity with the characters or their relationship, but by the idea of the betrayal itself.

Fiction does this all the time, where the audience/reader is introduced to a character for barely any amount of page-space or screen-time before something horrific happens to them, and we react in sympathy, not because of our investment in that 2 minute character but because the concept of the act is so brutal and shocking. An example from TV would be the opening of Game Of Thrones, where the white walker tears into the Night's Watch, or the opening scene of Inglorious Basterds with the Jew Hunter and the Dairy Farmer.

The idea of being betrayed by a friend in that way, of having someone you know speak to you so candidly and plainly about the fact that they are about to betray you while using your naivety and trust as a weapon is where the poignancy and impact is found. It's gut wrenching in a way most of the betrayal scenes in the Horus Heresy haven't been so far, most of which have been "What? You spit on your oaths! Curse you oath-spitter! FOR THE EMPEROR!" .

I found myself thinking about that 4 page extract for hours after reading it.

And to say there was no character involved I think is to miss the subtlety in the writing; Tchure's strange mix of disgust, horror and resignation tinged with a perverse excitement is fascinating to watch, while Honorious' fair and open mindedness is almost painful in contrast. Especially knowing that he'll soon pay the price for those qualities. The character and relationship is still here but it is caught in the moments when one of them smiles, taps his fingers, or sits back. The character is in the action.

It feels like a film scene to me, which is probably why I love it so much. As they say in acting, character is how you do what you do, not the dialogue.

From SunTzu's description, it seems Abnett is breaking form once again with what readers expect of him, which only makes me more excited than ever to read the book.

[Havarel]

I'm only about 2/3rds of the way through and loving it. The characterisation of the Ultramarines and Gulliman is brilliant; I'm not the biggest fan of the Ultramarines (largely based on precious portrayals) but this book actually made me care about them, and feel the betrayal I knew was coming. I enjoyed the depiction of Gulliman, thought he was characterised very well. I also thought it was a very good idea to have the story told from multiple viewpoints; such a large conflict needed to do this and Abnett pulled it off well. Plus the depiction of the devastation of Calth was...stunning, and had a lot of moments that I can't remember being portrayed anywhere else. I'd have never imagined a rain of Baneblades!

Also, anyone else noticed the Ultramarine Shadowswords?! That'll reignite the 'SM don't have super heavy tanks' debate...

[shadowhawk2008]

Really shouldn't though. Legions having superheavies during the Great Crusade? Perfectly fine. Chapters having superheavies since after the Horus Heresy? Uh uh.

[bound for glory]

i 100% still don't understand how people still insist ATS and PB tell the story of, well, prospero burning. mean to say, PB devotes about 3 pages to the attack. one small paragraph decribes russ and magnus fighting. the whole build up to th two books(at least as far a PB is concerned) was as over blown as anything the BL has ever tried. while i greatly enjoyed ATS, PB was a long bore. we never got to see any russ/horus whatnot. we were not told how the orders came down to russ. the list could go on. what makes me laugh is how people consistanly list BFTA as a crappy book. really? and i'd rather read a book with a good story over "bolter porn", but if you have a book that is suppose to tell the tale of the space wolves attack on the thousand sons, hey, heres an idea, HAVE SOMETHING IN THE BOOK ABOUT THE ATTACK ON THE PLANET!
i think with the long wait caused by dans health problems, something changed reguarding this book. and if ya like re reading the same dream sequence about 10 times, hey, knock yourself out. but be honest with yourself, its not that great...

[Londinium]

i 100% still don't understand how people still insist ATS and PB tell the story of, well, prospero burning. mean to say, PB devotes about 3 pages to the attack. one small paragraph decribes russ and magnus fighting. the whole build up to th two books(at least as far a PB is concerned) was as over blown as anything the BL has ever tried. while i greatly enjoyed ATS, PB was a long bore. we never got to see any russ/horus whatnot. we were not told how the orders came down to russ. the list could go on. what makes me laugh is how people consistanly list BFTA as a crappy book. really? and i'd rather read a book with a good story over "bolter porn", but if you have a book that is suppose to tell the tale of the space wolves attack on the thousand sons, hey, heres an idea, HAVE SOMETHING IN THE BOOK ABOUT THE ATTACK ON THE PLANET!
i think with the long wait caused by dans health problems, something changed reguarding this book. and if ya like re reading the same dream sequence about 10 times, hey, knock yourself out. but be honest with yourself, its not that great...

It wasn't that, it was just the case that Dan always planned to write the book that way. The main problem was that it was marketed in completely the wrong way, essentially it was marketed as something it wasn't, which meant that many people ended up with something quite different to what they were expecting. That said it did still have large problems like you said the lack of the Horus order changing and the stupid daemon plot. It was certainly on a whole different level to BFTA though. BFTA reminds me of the old days of Black Library writing where 99% of it was pulp blah and you only had Gaunt's Ghosts, Lord of the Night and Angels of Darkness to cling onto.

[Wazzahamma]

It wasn't that, it was just the case that Dan always planned to write the book that way. The main problem was that it was marketed in completely the wrong way, essentially it was marketed as something it wasn't, which meant that many people ended up with something quite different to what they were expecting. That said it did still have large problems like you said the lack of the Horus order changing and the stupid daemon plot. It was certainly on a whole different level to BFTA though. BFTA reminds me of the old days of Black Library writing where 99% of it was pulp blah and you only had Gaunt's Ghosts, Lord of the Night and Angels of Darkness to cling onto.

Agreed. If people manage to disengage themselves from not liking the book because it wasn't about what they wanted it to be about (and to be fair, BL/GW had a hand in the misconception), it's an excellently crafted novel.

[bound for glory]

glad others agree. again, i very much liked A THOUSAND SONS. due to barns and noble onlines mistake, i just now got my copy of deliverance lost in the post. first few pages are good. i'm looking forword to this(after being disappointed withthe outcast dead) and know no fear.

[Wyrmwood]

It wasn't that, it was just the case that Dan always planned to write the book that way. The main problem was that it was marketed in completely the wrong way, essentially it was marketed as something it wasn't, which meant that many people ended up with something quite different to what they were expecting. That said it did still have large problems like you said the lack of the Horus order changing and the stupid daemon plot. It was certainly on a whole different level to BFTA though. BFTA reminds me of the old days of Black Library writing where 99% of it was pulp blah and you only had Gaunt's Ghosts, Lord of the Night and Angels of Darkness to cling onto.

Aye, I can see how the dream sequence repetition could become quite grating for some but I suppose the main problem was with the marketing. That said, I can scarcely believe that some people are willing to write off the entire novel because of a marketing blunder and because it isn't just a Thousand Sons again with different characters. The thing is, the novel does so many things right - the way that the Wolves, and the novel in general, are written and presented, the fresh perspective we're given through Kasper etc.

It may not be my absolute favourite in the series, but it's up there with The First Heretic.

[Nazguire]

This was hands down my favourite Horus Heresy novel. I have no idea why people are saying that they don't like it, or that it's underwhelming. It's got a lot of action, because it's about the Battle of Calth!

I also feel that because it's the next major book advancing the plot it is also responsible for starting a lot of new plot threads. At least we know a certain John is still roaming around...