Reviews

False Gods by Graham McNeill

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josh94mac's review

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

loz1327's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

alinn45's review against another edition

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5.0

Another great book in the Horus Rising book. Can’t wait to see what comes next!

The Horus Heresy is such a pivotal moment in the Warhammer legendum, and Graham McNeill had the unenviable task of showing the descent from heroic and enlightened saviours to traitorous monsters in a single book. As such, characters seem to have an emotional 180 decree flip with little build-up and events snowball with staggering speed towards evil. Again, this is more a product of the Heresy originally only being planned as a trilogy rather than any particular weakness on McNeill's behalf, but it is still a glaring fault. Characters feel more like caricatures without nuance, and that's unfortunate for a setting with such larger than life characters. Everyone feels a little bland since so many suddenly have to display the seeds of their fall without being cartoonishly sinister.

bhamberger's review

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

earlgreyvibes's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Honestly I was a little surprised by the pacing given the breadth of the series. If you read the first book you'd understand. It really has me curious about how things will unfold.

aoc's review

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4.0

Quickest summation of False Gods would probably be “whoa, that escalated quickly” and I'm not entirely sure if that's all positive. Continuing some time after the first novel we still follow Garviel Loken of Luna Wolves legion, now renamed to Sons of Horus, but there are more points of view involved now. Of particular note is Primarch Horus as we finally get some insight into his mindset and actions. Which is where False Gods falters because it all happens so quickly. Yes, he undergoes a dramatic experience and there are already plots underway he seems to play into (un)willingly which did not change my impressions this was a hard and fast 180 that should have been gradually spread over more material considering the type of “fall from grace” scenario, one that pretty sets the events of 40k into motion, we're talking about here. Considering how long the series turned who's to say this was a bad call, though? Good news is what's in there; action scenes, debating the morality of what is going down and Primarch guest stars, is still on the same level established in Horus Rising making this a worthwhile read continuing that plot thread.