Reviews

Reviewing the previous novel I summarized my thoughts as "that escalated quickly", but little was I prepared for Galaxy in Flames really kicking it into overdrive. Especially in hindsight when you consider Horus Heresy series spans dozens and dozens of novels, and yet we're already at this point. Makes you wonder if the entire thing was supposed to be much shorter at some point?

So anyway, we're continuing with Horus' fall as the novel leads up to and focuses on infamous Isstvan 3 Atrocity where Legions turn on Legions and heresy is finally revealed. I'd say Galaxy in Flames relies more on already established characters over introducing new ones which means our boy Garviel Loken is back along with his crew of battle brothers. On top of that we also get in close and personal with the Emperor's Children Legion through the eyes of Saul Tarvitz. Sadly, it also means we get to see how they both went to hell from the inside... which seems to boil down to "hey, our Primarchs decided we should abandon the Emperor of Mankind and join with mysterious beings of the Warp". I would say that sounds silly, but that's precisely what Isstvan 3 is about - Loyalists who would not turncoat and had to be disposed off by their Primarchs. Space Marines being Space Marines entire affair escalates beyond a simple mop-up job as last stand legends are made. Sadly, history would not be kind to anyone involved.

Would I recommend Galaxy in Flames? It's chronological and narrative continuation of the threads from the very beginning so yes. I wish more subtlety was employed and reader was less blatantly hit over the head with who's good and who's bad whenever said characters were included in the scene, but you could argue this is a pivotal moment that had to be conveyed clearly. I wonder what changes are in store for future stories now that we need an entirely new Space Marines cast of characters.

shookone's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

This is my favorite of the series so far. This feels like a book that knows exactly what it is (pulpy military sci-fi) and embraces that. The back half of the story especially shines, as the big battle plays out and double cross after double cross occurs. Of the three books in the series so far this one had the best combat writing by far. That’s partially down to the quality of the prose, but partially down to the author actually making an effort to describe some of the tactics and stratagems the various soldiers are using, instead of just endlessly and vaguely describing space marines running full on in to gunfire and winning because they’re so much tougher and meaner than everyone else the way the last two books often did.

There’s a few things to criticize. Horus was never a great character, but he was at least conflicted. Here he and his buddies have now just gone in to full on mustache twirling villain mode. Also it’s hard to shake the feeling while reading these books that everyone in this setting is pretty dumb. And finally there’s a few parts where the story veers off a little so the author can very clearly set up an upcoming book. These parts aren’t terrible, they just feel like when you’re watching a post credits stinger in an MCU movie, only they’re in the middle of a book.

It’s hard to blame the author for any of this stuff. The thing with Horus, and the MCU of it all feels more like just a consequence of having a 50 something part story that needs to keep moving its plot along. The thing about everybody being dumb? Well this is my third Warhammer book, and all three of them had this same problem. Maybe it’s supposed to be like this? I dunno. Ask me again a dozen books from now, maybe I’ll have finally read about some characters who didn’t make me want to face palm every couple of chapters by then. Or maybe the emperor just likes surrounding himself with dummies and he grows them this way. Hard to say at this point.

More...