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fritzh8u's review
5.0
Audiobook was short and made for a fun pairing with this Michaelangelo coffee table book I'm flipping through. Recommended.
mrm4games's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ratgrrrl's review
3.0
This was a tricky one to rate because it has a lot going for it with McNeil's skill in crafting dynamic encounters around a simple dialogue that reminded me of why I used to hold him in such esteem until the last time I started a Horus Heresy re-read and was faced with the bioessentialist, misogynistic, men writing women that is the true horror of Fulgrim far and above the Dark Prince's cacophonous imrov troupe, the fact it is a genuinely significant and still so simple and contained a moment in the timeline of Warhammer +/- 40K, and a nice grounding on lore with references to the Unification Wars, Thunder Warriors, and the often quaint and rather silly real world analogues to our own Terra.
The problem is that as much as I was initially drawn in by the conversation and theological philosophising, it quickly becomes an exercise in the insufferable arguments and pomposity ripped straight from the New Atheist movement of the 2000s. Being reminded of my brush with that religiously intolerant, fart sniffing smugness isn't pleasant and neither is McNeil showing nary of a wink of self awareness beyond the obvious ironies of the Imperial Creed and the Inquisition -- this mention is played so straight and clangy that it just came across as painfully on the nose. I know a lot of Warhammer fans forget or are new enough to have never known, but remember when 40K was a parody and the Imperium of Man a send up of the British Empire and Thatcher's draconian malevolence? I enjoy the epic mythos of the Horus Heresy as much as the next gal, but it doesn't have to be this dry.
The allusions to real world cultures also gets into some really dicey territory, playing into the colonial, orientalist 'Western' view of the practices of the cultures of the Global South and Middle East, boiling them down into exoticsed caricatures and fetishising the parts that can be sensationalised without regard for the span of time and breadth of people that are bundled into these generalisations. I enjoy a lot of works of the Black Library, but they consistently need to check themselves when dealing with cultures beyond the UK and USA, BIPOC, and gender. This might not be the most egregious, but it's unfortunately a thing.
We got one of the Horus Heresy magic words: actinic. Sadly, there was no charnel house in sight.
All in all, this is still a pretty decent audio drama that gets into the lore and philosophy of the Horus Heresy and the Emperor, but it does make clear to me that irony, vibes, and over 9000 Internet IQ philosophy aren't enough to make a truly top year grimdark tale.
Jonathan Keeble does a smashing job as always.
The problem is that as much as I was initially drawn in by the conversation and theological philosophising, it quickly becomes an exercise in the insufferable arguments and pomposity ripped straight from the New Atheist movement of the 2000s. Being reminded of my brush with that religiously intolerant, fart sniffing smugness isn't pleasant and neither is McNeil showing nary of a wink of self awareness beyond the obvious ironies of the Imperial Creed and the Inquisition -- this mention is played so straight and clangy that it just came across as painfully on the nose. I know a lot of Warhammer fans forget or are new enough to have never known, but remember when 40K was a parody and the Imperium of Man a send up of the British Empire and Thatcher's draconian malevolence? I enjoy the epic mythos of the Horus Heresy as much as the next gal, but it doesn't have to be this dry.
The allusions to real world cultures also gets into some really dicey territory, playing into the colonial, orientalist 'Western' view of the practices of the cultures of the Global South and Middle East, boiling them down into exoticsed caricatures and fetishising the parts that can be sensationalised without regard for the span of time and breadth of people that are bundled into these generalisations. I enjoy a lot of works of the Black Library, but they consistently need to check themselves when dealing with cultures beyond the UK and USA, BIPOC, and gender. This might not be the most egregious, but it's unfortunately a thing.
We got one of the Horus Heresy magic words: actinic. Sadly, there was no charnel house in sight.
All in all, this is still a pretty decent audio drama that gets into the lore and philosophy of the Horus Heresy and the Emperor, but it does make clear to me that irony, vibes, and over 9000 Internet IQ philosophy aren't enough to make a truly top year grimdark tale.
Jonathan Keeble does a smashing job as always.
falcon's review
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
nikolastoti's review
5.0
What a great piece of literature. It is the first time I read about the denial of god and the absolute dedication to god clash on even field. Extremely enjoyable, definitely thought provoking and fair to both sides.
hand's review
3.0
The emperor spends too much time on Reddit. But there is still something good about this book, I can't put my finger on it
the_bitextual's review
dark
emotional
slow-paced
4.0
Without the last maybe twenty minutes, this is just a forum conversation online. But that ending? It really elevates everything.
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