The Primarchs [spoilers in tags]

[SunTzu]

Managed to pick this up early and figured I would share my thoughts, because a couple of people had been asking; sorry to those of you who've not got it yet. All of the really juicy stuff is in spoilers (and even then, I won't reveal anything that I think would actually spoil your reading of the story), but for each of the four novellas I'll give a high-level review, and a teaser.

The Reflection Crack'd - Graham McNeill

The first story in the book explores Fulgrim's relationship with his Legion, from the viewpoint of Lucius. Some of the character development is pretty fascinating, particularly Lucius' standing among his brothers since the events of Isstvan; but the focus is of course on the primarch himself.

The story has certain parallels with Aurelian, when Lorgar confronts Fulgrim-who-is-not-Fulgrim, though with a decidedly different outcome, the details of which I will leave you to read for yourself. In a sense it's quite clever, though I felt it also cheapened the newly-discovered awesomeness of Lorgar a little bit... not entirely satisfactory IMO.

There's an extended torture scene which just left me raising my eyebrow (just like this ). I mean, I know these guys are Slaaneshi... but anal violation? Really?

With plenty of cameo appearances from well-known characters, there could have been enough here to create something special. For me, it didn't quite hit the mark. I was left disappointed.

Teaser: anal violation. Really.

Feat of Iron - Nick Kyme

Next up is Ferrus Manus, who appears to have something of an inferiority complex. This story takes place on the same world as Promethean Sun, but in a desert instead of the jungle.

Having failed to alert Fulgrim to the dangers of the path he walks on, the Eldar try again, this time with his closest brother Ferrus Manus. Unfortunately they seem to have decided that the simple approach ("Mr Manus, your brothers are plotting against your father. You won't believe us now, but soon Horus will rebel openly, and when he does remember this conversation") is far too boring to be successful, so they instead trap him, throw him into an alternate dimension, and subject him to visions which lather on portentous foreshadowing like a TOWIE star putting on makeup.

Along the way some of his Legion learn a humbling (and deeply tedious) lesson about the importance of sharing with your friends. No, wait - the limitations of man and machine. It really did feel to me like a saturday morning cartoon.

Suffice to say I am not a Nick Kyme fan. I struggled with this novella as much as any of his other work I've read previously. But, they wouldn't keep printing his stuff if it didn't sell, so I guess some of you out there must like it; and for those of you who do, this is more of the same. There's no accounting for taste... I personally found this story difficult to even finish.

Teaser: twenty statues, two of which are faceless.

The Lion - Gav Thorpe

I gather this novella is being serialised in Hammer and Bolter, but I don't know how far it's got... suffice to say that Lion El'Johnson gets some serious screen time, in a direct follow-up to ADB's simply superb short story, Savage Weapons.

Apart from the Lion's brooding on Konrad Curze's words when they fought on Tsagualsa, the plot for this novella feels incredibly artificial. The Lion is told an offhand intelligence report from his subordinates, suddenly remembers that there's a really important plot device that he'd previously forgotten about but realises is completely crucial to the war effort, and off he goes to collect the tokens on the back of a breakfast cereal packet and send off for the ending.

Don't get me wrong - I loved Angel of Darkness. I really did. That one novel (by this author) made the Dark Angels my absolute favourite loyalist chapter. It's just that in Fallen Angels, the Lion was portrayed as a complete idiot. In Descent of Angels, Mike Lee did his level best to undo the damage but just had too much baggage to carry. This is a whole different Lion again; with the possible exception of the paranoia running throughout, he seems to go through personality changes with each different author (understandably, but uncomfortably).

In any case, Savage Weapons left the Lion's position clear (to me anyway) in that he intended to wait things out and see what happened and simply avoid ending up on the losing side. But a whole bunch of people even on this very forum still insist he's 100% pure, so Thorpe spends most of this novella making it expressly clear that that is exactly what he was doing - he even says, straight out, that he has no intention of even attempting to get back to Terra. Then in the last two pages, Thorpe seems to decide that Dark Angels need to be mysterious above all else, so having spent the whole story establishing that the Lion is looking after number one, he then muddies the water again. The final line could and should have been a shocking and breathtaking expose of the Lion's painful sacrifice... were it not that it contradicted most of the rest of the story, so to me at least, it just fell flat. As well as paranoid, the Lion seems to me to be schizophrenic. I didn't find it very compelling.

Oh - and I nearly forgot - the Lion outright murders one of his own men, purely for daring to remind him that the Emperor ranks above him - and nobody makes any mention of this at all? Even between themselves? Or even appears to think it at all strange?

It's a story that crams a lot of different stuff into just one quarter the length of a novel, but I didn't feel any of it really meshed together very well. Given what Gav Thorpe did for the Dark Angels previously in the excellent Angels of Darkness, I was expecting more here. Sadly, I didn't feel like I got what I was hoping for.

Teaser: Terminus Est.

The Serpent Beneath - Rob Sanders

So three quarters of the way through the book, and so far it's been very disappointing. And - oh no - who's this? Rob Sanders, the guy who wrote Atlas Infernal, which was almost Nick Kyme-like to the extent that I gave up after three chapters. Looks like it's going to be four bad stories out of four.

...or maybe not.

Wow.

This is a wonderful and clever tale that rescues the whole book. Alpharius/Omegon and their Legion do their thing, and rock the galaxy.

It turns out that not even the Alpha Legion is immune to infighting and a schism between those loyal to Horus and those loyal to the Emperor (made even more complicated for the Alpha Legion for all the reasons covered by Legion and Deliverance Lost). Omegon thus sets out on a mission that must be hidden even from his own Legion, to track down a traitor (...who I suppose would technically be a loyalist, sort of) with extreme prejudice.

Before that we get a taste of how the Alpha Legion work, tricking some Orks into prolonging a war against the unsuspecting White Scars. Then kidnapping an operative of their own who has gone rogue, a psyker, and a xenos outpost. The mission doesn't go entirely according to plan, but it all works out in the end... and what an ending. I won't spoil it, even though this is in spoiler tags, because you really deserve to read this for yourself. One of the biggest revelations (IMO) of the HH so far is innocently hidden in the last few pages of this novella; I did see it coming, but only towards the end and didn't really believe it could happen until I actually read it... it pretty much blows everything open. And I loved it.

It's fair to say that not only did I think this so good that I stayed up till 1:30am reading it, but I was then so excited that I got onto Warseer to write about it instead of going to sleep. As I said, I was not at all impressed with what I'd read from Sanders previously... this novella, however, was brilliant.

Teaser: Demiurg!

[Son of Sanguinius]

Many thanks for the preview, but off with the kid gloves. Reveal what must be revealed.

[shadowhawk2008]

I gather you haven't read Rob's Legion of the Damned yet. Give that one a try. It is simply awesome. Probably even better than Battle of the Fang.

[SunTzu]

I gather you haven't read Rob's Legion of the Damned yet. Give that one a try. It is simply awesome. Probably even better than Battle of the Fang.

I'm giving all the Space Marine Battles books a miss. There's only so many hours in the day, and there are so many books I want to read... I can't keep up with BL's output nowadays (I did for a while, for the first couple of years I read literally everything they printed) let alone everything else I want to read, so I decided the Battles books would have to be skipped, for my sanity if nothing else.

[Sheena Easton]

The Reflection Crack'd - Graham McNeill

The first story in the book explores Fulgrim's relationship with his Legion, from the viewpoint of Lucius. Some of the character development is pretty fascinating, particularly Lucius' standing among his brothers since the events of Isstvan; but the focus is of course on the primarch himself.


Teaser: anal violation. Really.

Just when you thought GW's view on Slaanesh couldn't get any more blatantly one-dimensional and puerile...

[fracas]

I'm giving all the Space Marine Battles books a miss. There's only so many hours in the day, and there are so many books I want to read... I can't keep up with BL's output nowadays (I did for a while, for the first couple of years I read literally everything they printed) let alone everything else I want to read, so I decided the Battles books would have to be skipped, for my sanity if nothing else.

you should make an exception for LotD book
an exceptional read

[Dogface]

Oh no! Butts! We can read descriptions of people being ruthlessly murdered but lord almighty don't you dare bring the holy sphincter into this!

[Londinium]

Just when you thought GW's view on Slaanesh couldn't get any more blatantly one-dimensional and puerile...

I was actually quite pleased to read that...no that in that way It harkens back to the days of the late 80s and early 90s when Chaos really was gross. The modern day 40k tones that down a fair bit, so it's nice to see something a little controversial again. Not that I'm advocating anal violations all over the place but the odd shocking event really hammers home the nature of Slaanesh. Yes many things lead to worshipping that god, not just sex but once you've fallen you're just a perverted freak usually. Does the Fulgrim novella end with a jumping off point for the new Emperor's Children HH novel that McNell is working on SunTzu?

Anyways back on the subject, thanks for the minor spoilers and reviews Sun, I was actually looking forwards to the Fulgrim and Lion stories in this anthology but after what you've said I'm going to swap the Lion out for Alpharius/Omegon, who I've had little love for since their Cabal inspired makeover. I'm really interested just as to what this massive spoiler is. Just as long as it's nothing stupid like one of the missing Primarchs or Ferrus Manus being alive or some other rubbish. I'm really liking the fact the Alpha Legion have a civil war of kinds aswell, Deliverance Lost and this short story seem to put the ending to Legion (which I hated at the time) into much better context and it benefits Legion as a book.

[samiens]

SunTzu: I've also read the book and have to say I think you've misread what happens in the Lion. In fact, its made very clear who the one person who Jonson is loyal to (as in he says it numerous times) and that is, unsurprisingly the big E and he is unwilling to let anyone usurp him.
Sent from my 7 Mozart using Board Express

[SunTzu]

SunTzu: I've also read the book and have to say I think you've misread what happens in the Lion. In fact, its made very clear who the one person who Jonson is loyal to (as in he says it numerous times) and that is, unsurprisingly the big E and he is unwilling to let anyone usurp him.

Riiiiiiiiiight... so that's why he

PUNCHED NEMIEL'S HEAD OFF just for saying the Emperor was a higher authority than the Lion, I take it?

And it's why he said straight out that he had no intention of even trying to return to Terra?

The last two pages are the only point in the entire story where he shows any regard for the Emperor at all. And that's one of the many reasons I disliked the story: the conclusion is in direct contradiction to his behaviour through the rest of it, which makes you wonder what the point was.

As if Savage Weapons hadn't made it clear enough, The Lion spells it out in black and white: the Lion made no more than a token attempt to return to Terra, then stopped bothering. He was as much against his loyalist brothers as he was against Horus. He was paranoid, self-centred, possibly delusional and apparently schizophrenic judging by the contrast of those last two pages to the rest of the novella. He claims to consider the Emperor foremost, but murders his own beloved and faithful warriors in cold blood if they remind him that the big E is a higher power than himself. You go ahead and insist that he was the perfect loyal son... they can't do any more than print in physical form that in fact he wasn't, but if you still can't see it, there really are none so blind.

[samiens]

Ok, im on my phone so cannot use spoilers so I will reply with more quotes later but needless to say I disagree. Now lets be clear, the Lion is far from a perfect son, and indeed is mistrustful of his brothers but his loyalty to the Emperor is explicit, in black and white and you have mentioned it, however much you might dislike it.

As for Terra, we know he and Leman Russes imminent arrival is the catalyst for Horus gambit, so until we get a retcon he still strives for Terra (but there is someone else he clearly does not want to get there...)

Finally, the summary execution is in somewhat extraneous circumstances that you have oddly failed to mention- its not just insubordination- itsinsubordination in desperate circumstances.

But i don't think anyone would argue the Lion isn't paranoid or frankly, a bit of a nutter butter- he's just a moderately loyal one!
Sent from my 7 Mozart using Board Express

[ChrisMurray]

Thanks for the reviews. Any chance you might be willing to spoil the ending of the Alpha legion story for those who would like to know. (I personally find reading a book really slow going if I don't know the ending, I always read the last chapter first.)

[Morkash]

Forgive my ignorance, but when can some ordinary guy like me get my hands on that book? Black Library says the book is released in June, then again I bought Know No Fear weeks ago and it is listed as March on their website. I'd really like to read the story of Alpharius & Omegon!

Great review btw, SunTzu, I particularly enjoyed the non-spoily spoilers.

[SunTzu]

Finally, the summary execution is in somewhat extraneous circumstances that you have oddly failed to mention- its not just insubordination- itsinsubordination in desperate circumstances.

"Oddly failed to mention"? No, it's simply only tangentially relevant.

Nemiel said "I will not follow that order". The Lion said "WTF? I'm your commander." The insubordination was contained... the Lion could have busted Nemiel down to corporal (or whatever the marine equivalent is) and dealt with it more fully later, maybe tried the "desperate times call for desperate measures" angle, or even just locked Nemiel away and forgot about him, if he preferred. There was no threat from Nemiel at all. He wasn't attempting to stop the Lion doing it, just saying he wouldn't do it himself.

The problem was Nemiel went on to say "but the Emperor ranks higher than you"... at which point the Lion said "HULK SMAAAAASH" and punched his head off. That's not an appropriate response to a simple reminder of the chain of authority. The other marines in the room are expressly noted as being shocked, which shows it's not the normal response to a disagreement between a Primarch and the marines he calls his "little brothers".

The only thing that seemed to drive the Lion to murder Nemiel was not simple insubordination (even in trying circumstances) but a reminder that the Emperor's authority is higher than his own. Now, it's certainly true that the last two pages of the novella give support to your view, though by doing so they needlessly confuse the issue by contradicting the previous 100 pages... but at the time of the incident, the cause of the Lion's murderous rage was crystal clear.

[SunTzu]

OK, people have been asking for more detail on the Serpent Beneath spoiler. I recommend you don't read the following, unless you intentionally and specifically want to spoil the surprise for yourself.

No really. I thought this was a jaw-dropping moment and if I'd known about it ahead of time, it would have ruined everything. I know you opened this spoiler thinking "it can't be that big a deal" but it is. Don't open the next one.

I really mean it. This isn't "Snape killed Dumbledore" where the real truth isn't even the spoiler itself. This is "Bruce Willis is a ghost" that makes the whole of Sixth Sense totally not worth watching. The next spoiler tag (genuinely) contains the spoiler. Don't blame me if you read it, and later wish you hadn't.

OK... so the plot of Serpent Beneath is centred around Omegon as he seeks to purge the Alpha Legion of the traitors/loyalists in their midst (ie. the ones who Omegon suspects of reporting back to the Emperor). Only... it's not.

Omegon identifies a leak from a secret Alpha Legion installation hidden in an asteroid that's being mined by the Demiurg, only it's not clear exactly who is doing the leaking. In order to avoid demoralising the Legion, and to be sure that they stop the leak, the decision is made to wipe out everyone on the installation in total secrecy. He and a crack team secretly infiltrate the installation and start killing everyone, with extreme prejudice.

As it turns out... it's not just any secret installation. This is the location of a powerful technological device that is capable of stilling the warp in the local vicinity, making the Legion's movements easy. In so doing, it has the handy side effect of causing warp storms elsewhere... in this case, "elsewhere" being the region of space where the White Scars are operation. The storms are not only trapping the White Scars in place, but they're preventing them from even hearing about Horus' rebellion. The Khan isn't even trying to get back to Terra - he doesn't know he needs to - but even if he did try, the storms would stop him.

Once nearly everyone on the installation is dead, the team wait for extraction. Only it never comes. Omegon isn't even Omegon - it's another Alpha Legion marine, pretending to be him (acting under his orders). The last we see of them, the asteroid has been redirected into a nearby sun, killing not only the installation garrison, but also the infiltration team... and destroying the artefact that's meddling with the warp, presumably (though we don't see this) enabling the Khan to learn of the rebellion and start heading back to Terra. There wasn't any leak - Omegon wasn't trying to stop someone feeding intelligence to the loyalists - it was all a cover, even though it was top secret in itself!

As if that wasn't enough circles within circles... Alpharius didn't even know what was happening, and is furious that the plan to keep the White Scars out of the picture has been defeated with the destruction of the artifact. This was all Omegon's initiative. It's not just that the Alpha Legion are backing Horus in order to follow up on the Cabal's plan and make things better for humanity in the end, as seen in Legion. It's not even that they've rejected the Cabal's scheming and decided to do their own thing, as seen in Deliverance Lost. It's that the Alpha Legion - even Alpharius/Omegon, who are supposed to be one soul sharing two bodies - are themselves divided, not supporting the Emperor, not following Horus, not following the Cabal, not even working together... but working against everyone, even each other, having a massive impact on the galaxy while they do so.

Since the Khan and his White Scars were instrumental in the defence of the Emperor's Palace on Terra (even though it tends to be Dorn and Sanguinius who get most of the headlines), it may even be possible that Omegon, acting in opposition to Alpharius, by releasing the White Scars from the warp storms they were encountering, changed the whole course of the Heresy in the Emperor's favour. What's he really up to? What about Alpharius, what are his real motives? Are either, neither, or both of them following the Cabal's plan? I don't know - but I am desperate to find out!

Anyway, the story was beautifully written and I found the layer upon layer (upon layer...) of conspiracy, counter-conspiracy, falsehoods, secrecy and lies incredibly compelling. Just superb IMO.

Oh - and there was also a bit at the end I didn't really get. Having lied straight to Alpharius' face about what's going on, Omegon returns to his quarters. There, his Alpha Legion armour is on a stand... and "another suit of armour" is on another stand, under a blanket. It read like that in itself was a big revelation or hint at some other theme, but I didn't really get it? (Though it's a long time since I read Legion).

[ChrisMurray]

OK, people have been asking for more detail on the Serpent Beneath spoiler. I recommend you don't read the following, unless you intentionally and specifically want to spoil the surprise for yourself.

Thank you thats very much appreciated, and gives a lot to think about, although you could have given a warning that there was a spoiler in your post lol.

Not to give away what was said, but hopefully the bit at the end will be expanded on later in the series.

Forgive my ignorance, but when can some ordinary guy like me get my hands on that book? Black Library says the book is released in June, then again I bought Know No Fear weeks ago and it is listed as March on their website. I'd really like to read the story of Alpharius & Omegon!

Great review btw, SunTzu, I particularly enjoyed the non-spoily spoilers.

It will most likely go up for pre-order mid may and be dispatched althost imidiately if their previous pre-orders are anything to go by. Of course if you get a chance to grab a copy at a show\event it would seem you can get it much earlier (also downloads\ebooks seem to be coming earlier and earlier too).

[Londinium]

x

Ooh I like it, it's almost like the beginning of The Dark Knight where everyone is double crossing each other and no one seems to know whose actually orchestrating the whole thing. Very interesting to see how the Alpha Legion is so riven and how Omegon seems to be possibly turning against Alpharius. Might we be seeing another riff on the whole star signs thing? After all Gemini is the twins and Geminis are supposed to be two faced, saying one thing on the surface and then doing quite another. I also like the idea that maybe like the Word Bearers and their propensity not to question leadership, maybe the Alphas (or their Primarchs) have a slight default and are prone to schizophrenic outbursts or multiple personalities thus explaining their constant circles within circles plotting against everyone and even maybe themselves. Although maybe that's a bit too Tzeentchian for the Alphas. Then again I never did understand why the Alphas never fell to Tzeentch beyond the fact of wanting to keep the Thousand Sons as the only Tzeentch specific legion.

[samiens]

Ok so a lot of this response is going to be in spoiler tags for obvious reasons- please don't read on if you don't want to know.

As for how I got the book early- it was on sale at the 40k doubles tournament last weekend! It may well be on advance sale at other events too.

On to our favourite paranoid primarch:

Concerning the Lion's loyalty prior to 'The Lion'

I am really struggling to see how he states in Savage Weapons that he is waiting for the victor to emerge. What I can see is that Kurze states that that is how history will judge Jonson. Kurze states that he is keeping the Lion from Terra, and that if he does not the warp will. The Lion's response to this is 'I do not care who knows the truth now, tomorrow, or in ten thousand years. Loyalty is its own reward.'

To really rub it in, when he asks why Curze betrays the Emperor, the Night Haunter's response is 'Why did you not?'

Then there's the issue of Fallen Angels where the Lion gifts Pertabo the seige weapons (an act he regrets in The Lion). Jonson clearly states an ambition to be Warmaster and indeed does not want the Emperor top doubt why he has taken a detour before returning to Terra. His loyalties seem pretty clear. Note that he does state that Gulliman appears to be trying to become heir to the empire- something he clearly will not allow to happen.

Finally, it appears that Dorn ordered Jonson to kill Kurze, as per Savage Weapons.

So on to the insubordination in The Lion (with a great many spoilers):

The circumstances of it are that their ship has translated into the warp without its Gellar Field active and therefore is overrun by Daemons. A former librarian has used his powers to fight them and been brought before Jonson by Nemiel, the redemptor (chaplain) for breaking the edicts of Nikea. Jonson seems more interested in protecting his ship than upholding that oath (although he does appear to accept that it is oath breaking) which angers Nemiel, who defies his Primarch twice to press for punishment and the curtailment of psykers. Finally, as Sun Tzu says, Nemiel tells that there is no higher authority than the Emperor and Jonson kills him. Jonson appears satisfied for a moment, but then seems to realise what he has done and appears to show sorrow, and possibly remorse.

I agree that it was not necessary for the Lion to kill Nemiel but it is entirely in character- he's paranoid, mistrustful and intractable.

The end of the tale (which I did not find that contrary) has the Lion affirming his loyalty to the Emperor but making it very clear that he sees Gulliman as a usurper- and may even take action to delay Gulliman leaving for Terra. The Lion's exact thoughts are 'There is only the Emperor, none is worthy of inheriting his mantle.'

All in all, the Lion is, in his own way, loyal throughout. He even appears to know that Caliban has, or may have, fallen, and is willing to sacrifice his legion to save the Emperor's rule.

To move the debate on, I believe I have shown above, from the texts, that the Lion was, in his own way loyal, although I would be interested in evidence to the contrary.

[SunTzu]

p265. The Lion murders Nemiel simply for saying that the Emperor's authority is higher than his own. p288. "What of your oaths to me? Are you not loyal to the Dark Angels?" p289. "If I told you we would abandon any pretence of defending Terra, what would you say?" p315. The Lion tells Corswain to shut up every time he mentions fighting for the Emperor. There are probably more, but I didn't much enjoy the story the first time...

I hope we can at least dispense with giving examples of the Lion distrusting Guilliman, which are myriad, though even that itself was something that a number of people insisted wasn't the case when Savage Weapons was published.

Basically, although nowhere does it outright say "THE LION WASN'T TOO BOTHERED WHETHER THE EMPEROR WON", the implications are so strong and so clear that I am somewhat amazed that anyone can still dispute it.* When Savage Weapons was published I remember very clearly trying to convince people that he wasn't trying particularly hard to get back to Terra, only to be told I was wrong and he was trying really hard to do exactly that all along. Now it's stated clearly that he wasn't, so surely at least that is no longer up for dispute... must absolutely everything be spelt out so explicitly before people will accept it?

* - ...with the exception, I cannot deny, of the final two pages of the story. In these, he expresses (somewhat naive?) hope that Horus might still acknowledge the Emperor, and that both Horus and Guilliman (in the Lion's opinion) are equally culpable for trying to usurp the big E. But since we only get half the conversation, even this is not entirely conclusive... it's possible to read 'the Emperor winning' as being one of many possible acceptable outcomes (he mentions that his brothers may make terms if there is a threat of mutual annihilation, but doesn't seem entirely opposed to the idea of that himself - nor of a "lifetime of war" with no-one 'winning').

The problem that I have with this scene isn't that it contradicts my concept of the Lion (I mean, it does, but that's not why I dislike it) but that it contradicts the rest of the story (and IMO the previous stories about him too, though Samiel would dispute that). The Lion isn't a mysterious character with mysterious unknowable motives... he's just confused. He's going to make sure the Emperor wins by... not rushing to his defence? He's going to stop Horus and Guilliman by... fighting Curze? I dunno, maybe one needs to have a Primarch's intellect to make sense of that, maybe it's my comprehension that is lacking, but damn me if that makes any sense at all. And that's why I dislike that scene.

[edit] Mind you... even in Descent of Angels he made sure Luther wasn't in a position to betray him by... leaving him in charge of the Legion's homeworld, a third of the Legion and all the new recruits. So, I guess he's got previous on this... maybe "being confused" is just what Lion El'Johnson does. [/edit]

Hmm. Entire posts consisting only of spoilers probably don't make fun reading... sorry everyone. And I'm certain this topic will be revisited as more people get a chance to read this book.

[samiens]

Fair enough (can't go into great detail as no spoiler tags again) but it seems to me that how consistent this feels is partly down to how you read the rest of the stories- and maybe that's the point. The last couple of pages just didn't seem very inconsistent, with the rest of the story or earlier books, to me.

Anyway, this feels like a derailment of the thread. The book was quite a good read!
Sent from my 7 Mozart using Board Express