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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
An entirely entertaining book picking up on one of the bigger unresolved threads from Galaxy in Flames while giving us a glimpse at a pre-heresy legion very different from that of the good ol' Lunar Wolves/ Sons of Horus. Garro is a likeable lead, and so are some of the new supporting characters. James Swallow's prose was also better than that of some of his colleagues, and I found myself enjoying it a good star more than Galaxy .
Oh, and the Rogal Dorn scene was pretty damn sweet! As was that 'post-credits' bit with the Sigilite. Looking forward to the next book...though I will be taking a short break to listen to a few classics.
Oh, and this one wasn't read by Toby Longworth which I was originally worried about; I needn't have been, on account of the fantastic job by Jonathan Keeble, though the juxtaposition of Euphrati and Qruze's voices compared to those of Toby's was a bit jarring at first. It's only natural, though!
Oh, and the Rogal Dorn scene was pretty damn sweet! As was that 'post-credits' bit with the Sigilite. Looking forward to the next book...though I will be taking a short break to listen to a few classics.
Oh, and this one wasn't read by Toby Longworth which I was originally worried about; I needn't have been, on account of the fantastic job by Jonathan Keeble, though the juxtaposition of Euphrati and Qruze's voices compared to those of Toby's was a bit jarring at first. It's only natural, though!
This story takes place concurrently with Ben Counter’s Galaxy in Flames. It is the story of Garro’s flight to Earth to warn the Emperor of Hour’s betrayal and move toward chaos. Overall, it is a fun read like the other previous three. It is not as good as the initial trilogy, and the writing voice of James Swallow in this book, does not mesh as well with the others, but it works, and it kept me engaged in the Horus Heresy storyline.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, War
Incredible, this series continues to astound and impress me. The care with which the stories have been crafted is much more than I could have hoped for. The events of 'The Flight' are equally as intense and emotive as they were in 'Galaxy in Flames' if only slightly diminished by the story being centred on a new cast, predominantly made up of The Death Guard.
However, Swallow does an excellent job of introducing us to the new characters; a talent that I both love and despise, because I'm a giant softy and I hate it when well liked characters die. Which is something they frequently do in WH40K stories. Anyway, I would say that I had grown very fond of The Sons of Horus and The Emperor's Children, but without a doubt by the end of 'The Flight' I had become very much attached to The Death Guard also.
"We play for the right to be right". I didn't note down who made that statement, but it struck me when I read it. This story rewinds a bit from the end of book 3 and then picks up events that coincide with Horus' treacherous activities. The blurb tells you straight up, Garro and his loyals are heading for Terra to bring news of the betrayal to the Emperor himself. You're not going to cover much of the same ground at all, so don't worry about a retelling, you will occasionally see a familiar face but this is an entirely new story.
An interesting feature that I picked up in this book, or at least took note of for the first time, was that corpses reanimated by the Warp apparently can maintain their memories. I had basically presumed such beings to be sort of possessed by an entity of the Warp and didn't really expect this.
Our new hero of the Empire, Garro reminded me of the early Horus in some ways. Not a vengeful overlord so much as an intelligent leader. He really was a pleasure to meet and he confronted many wrongs in this story.
There was one scene with a bunch of warriors awaiting a battle and I had just thought to note down that rank seemed less important to this crew, when suddenly the book said it for me: "There were no barriers of rank or Legion here."
I'm familiar with Swallow from other writing, so I expected to enjoy this. I suspect he did a lot of research for this story and I reckon he might just have enjoyed doing so, judging by the tone of the afterword. I couldn't help noticing the use of many rarely heard words, nothing so obscure as to make the writing opaque, generally I knew the word but was surprised to see it and just a handful of times I had to do a quick google.
Swallow gave a beautiful description of Terra and (my memory is not great, but) I think that this might be the first time I've visited Terra in the 40K universe (strictly speaking, 30K I suppose). Everything from the rot of the warp, to the gore of battle and the serenity of the environment has been captured in very tangible prose.
I had a gap of 6 months or more between book 3 and book 4, but I can't wait to charge through a few more of these right now.
However, Swallow does an excellent job of introducing us to the new characters; a talent that I both love and despise, because I'm a giant softy and I hate it when well liked characters die. Which is something they frequently do in WH40K stories. Anyway, I would say that I had grown very fond of The Sons of Horus and The Emperor's Children, but without a doubt by the end of 'The Flight' I had become very much attached to The Death Guard also.
"We play for the right to be right". I didn't note down who made that statement, but it struck me when I read it. This story rewinds a bit from the end of book 3 and then picks up events that coincide with Horus' treacherous activities. The blurb tells you straight up, Garro and his loyals are heading for Terra to bring news of the betrayal to the Emperor himself. You're not going to cover much of the same ground at all, so don't worry about a retelling, you will occasionally see a familiar face but this is an entirely new story.
An interesting feature that I picked up in this book, or at least took note of for the first time, was that corpses reanimated by the Warp apparently can maintain their memories. I had basically presumed such beings to be sort of possessed by an entity of the Warp and didn't really expect this.
Our new hero of the Empire, Garro reminded me of the early Horus in some ways. Not a vengeful overlord so much as an intelligent leader. He really was a pleasure to meet and he confronted many wrongs in this story.
There was one scene with a bunch of warriors awaiting a battle and I had just thought to note down that rank seemed less important to this crew, when suddenly the book said it for me: "There were no barriers of rank or Legion here."
I'm familiar with Swallow from other writing, so I expected to enjoy this. I suspect he did a lot of research for this story and I reckon he might just have enjoyed doing so, judging by the tone of the afterword. I couldn't help noticing the use of many rarely heard words, nothing so obscure as to make the writing opaque, generally I knew the word but was surprised to see it and just a handful of times I had to do a quick google.
Swallow gave a beautiful description of Terra and (my memory is not great, but) I think that this might be the first time I've visited Terra in the 40K universe (strictly speaking, 30K I suppose). Everything from the rot of the warp, to the gore of battle and the serenity of the environment has been captured in very tangible prose.
I had a gap of 6 months or more between book 3 and book 4, but I can't wait to charge through a few more of these right now.
An easy going follow on from the original trilogy. Introduces a few new characters & gives us some insight into the Death Guard legion.
Some great scenes & awesome action we’d expect from 30k, but suffers a little as the relationships & interactions between characters is very much a ‘copy/paste’ of the first three books. Each Astartes character in this book directly corresponds to another within the Luna Wolves (later the SoH) books. As a result it feels a little too similar & stagnant.
Still worth reading as it does directly follow on & does interlink with future HH books.
Some great scenes & awesome action we’d expect from 30k, but suffers a little as the relationships & interactions between characters is very much a ‘copy/paste’ of the first three books. Each Astartes character in this book directly corresponds to another within the Luna Wolves (later the SoH) books. As a result it feels a little too similar & stagnant.
Still worth reading as it does directly follow on & does interlink with future HH books.
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
IF I EVER RISE FROM THE DEAD MAY THE EMPEROR GRANT ME THE PETTINESS TO SAY, “MY ENMITY FOR YOU IS BEYOND DEATH”
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
A great book on the fall of the Death Guard and the conversion of Garro into the Lectitio Divinitatus.