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revolution666's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
l0rdtim865's review
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This book started off slow and I wondered if I was ever going to get into it. As it turns out you just have to trust the author. The book turns better about half way through.
A solid book in the end.
A solid book in the end.
dkrael's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
simonmee's review against another edition
4.0
‘You mean we created… something… new?’ gasped Mellicin. ‘Precisely,’ agreed Zeth. ‘And that is not something to be taken lightly.'
The Martian Mechanicum. Bit of a weird bunch, with their distaste for the confines of flesh, worship of the Omnissiah, and a desire to lubricate via prayer the machine spirits that dwell within your electric toothbrush. A fun group of electrical appliances they are.
In service of a higher plotline
‘We can do nothing for them!’ shouted Sigismund. ‘They must stand or fall on their own.’
The Horus Heresy is a series running to about 50 odd books, with a successor series running at full steam. To varying extents each book serves the overarching plot. The first three books were the keystone, whereas [b:Legion|1678745|Legion (The Horus Heresy #7)|Dan Abnett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1280756821l/1678745._SY75_.jpg|1673863], [b:Fulgrim|957931|Fulgrim (The Horus Heresy #5)|Graham McNeill|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403985069l/957931._SY75_.jpg|942841] and [b:Descent of Angels|768929|Descent of Angels (The Horus Heresy #6)|Mitchel Scanlon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1332438082l/768929._SY75_.jpg|754989] are character studies that refer back to the main plot (barely for the last one). [b:Battle for the Abyss|2322177|Battle for the Abyss (The Horus Heresy #8)|Ben Counter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348356160l/2322177._SY75_.jpg|2328701] is a self contained action piece with wider implications bolted on.
Mechanicum is a bit disjointed. It is a story in itself that impacts the narrative. It is a good story. I like it when the Titans "walk". I like the intercine politics. Unfortunately, McNeill seems to be awfully keen to make it clear there's a bigger story happening, and that we should care about that more than what's right in front of us. The intervention of the Imperial Fists is absolutely crucial... ...for a battle that's a few dozen books away. It's really important to hand over custody of the "Dragon of Mars" by the climax of the book because... ...that "dragon" will absolutely nothing to do with the climax but is probably going to be useful down the line. Good on McNeill for fleshing out a reference he found in the lore about an A.I. controlled robot... ...which even its own controllers seemed dimly aware of and therefore had minimal impact on the actions of those characters.
Mechanicum is so desperate to form part of the connective tissue of the Horus Heresy that it barely distinguishes itself as a separate story.
Let's hear it for the girls
'You are a disgrace to the Mechanicum, Zeth!’'
'Your assassin destroys the mind of my apprenta and then murders one of my acolytes, and you dare call me a disgrace to the Mechanicum?’ snarled Zeth. She consulted her internal chronometer and said, ‘Four minutes and forty seconds, Melgator. I suggest you get moving.’
Warhammer 40K books often seem to save themselves from their weak plotlines via characterisation, and I think Mechanicum (just) manages it here, because it does so in a novel way for the series.
I wrote about [b:Fulgrim|957931|Fulgrim (The Horus Heresy #5)|Graham McNeill|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403985069l/957931._SY75_.jpg|942841]:
I would offer McNeill this advice: Write every character as a male, then roll some dice to work out who’s pronouns you will swap in the final version.
...well someone must have told him the same thing circa 2008, because that is exactly what it feels like he did with Mechanicum. There are two women in leading roles along with almost the same number of female supporting characters as males. I'll concede that there are some female specific elements, and occasionally I did cringe, but there weren't many situations, and the relevant scenes could be modified very easily to be as though solely males were involved.
That's a good thing.
There are unquestionably stories that differ from a female perspective than a male one and it is worth being able to make that distinction. However, the Warhammer 40K universe leans really really heavily on characters having outsized virtues or vices to convey wider points. Honour, Loyalty, Betrayal, Zealotry, Charisma, etc.
There's no reason for any of these characteristics to be male specific. Yet we've had a long, long run in the Horus Heresy of these characteristics being attached to males. The women so far have been pretty so-so, with weak control of the narrative and occasionally falling into parody - I targeted McNeill over [b:Fulgrim|957931|Fulgrim (The Horus Heresy #5)|Graham McNeill|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403985069l/957931._SY75_.jpg|942841], but Abnett's [b:Legion|1678745|Legion (The Horus Heresy #7)|Dan Abnett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1280756821l/1678745._SY75_.jpg|1673863] had similar problems.
In Mechanicum Dalia and Zeth are talented, creative, strategising and driven female characters. They could have easily been male and just as good. That is what I like about them. It shows that gender isn't a critical component of what makes those characters good. It makes it believable within the Warhammer 40K universe that a woman can achieve exactly the same things as a man, and have the same personality traits.
It isn't how you should always write characters but, in what is essentially a fantasy setting, there's no need to be straitjacketed by the idea that the major players need to be male because males do the fighting. I feel McNeill toned down some of the "feminine" aspects of his earlier stories, and wrote better female characters as a result. It makes Mechanicum an interesting aside in the series.
For completeness, there is a subplot (and a sub subplot) about the melding of man and machine, and to what extent one retains their humanity. Look, it's fine, I liked it, but I think it's a less interesting point within the universe overall, and is explored plenty of times elsewhere, particularly the dark side of it.
The Martian Mechanicum. Bit of a weird bunch, with their distaste for the confines of flesh, worship of the Omnissiah, and a desire to lubricate via prayer the machine spirits that dwell within your electric toothbrush. A fun group of electrical appliances they are.
In service of a higher plotline
‘We can do nothing for them!’ shouted Sigismund. ‘They must stand or fall on their own.’
The Horus Heresy is a series running to about 50 odd books, with a successor series running at full steam. To varying extents each book serves the overarching plot. The first three books were the keystone, whereas [b:Legion|1678745|Legion (The Horus Heresy #7)|Dan Abnett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1280756821l/1678745._SY75_.jpg|1673863], [b:Fulgrim|957931|Fulgrim (The Horus Heresy #5)|Graham McNeill|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403985069l/957931._SY75_.jpg|942841] and [b:Descent of Angels|768929|Descent of Angels (The Horus Heresy #6)|Mitchel Scanlon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1332438082l/768929._SY75_.jpg|754989] are character studies that refer back to the main plot (barely for the last one). [b:Battle for the Abyss|2322177|Battle for the Abyss (The Horus Heresy #8)|Ben Counter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348356160l/2322177._SY75_.jpg|2328701] is a self contained action piece with wider implications bolted on.
Mechanicum is a bit disjointed. It is a story in itself that impacts the narrative. It is a good story. I like it when the Titans "walk". I like the intercine politics. Unfortunately, McNeill seems to be awfully keen to make it clear there's a bigger story happening, and that we should care about that more than what's right in front of us. The intervention of the Imperial Fists is absolutely crucial... ...for a battle that's a few dozen books away. It's really important to hand over custody of the "Dragon of Mars" by the climax of the book because... ...that "dragon" will absolutely nothing to do with the climax but is probably going to be useful down the line. Good on McNeill for fleshing out a reference he found in the lore about an A.I. controlled robot... ...which even its own controllers seemed dimly aware of and therefore had minimal impact on the actions of those characters.
Mechanicum is so desperate to form part of the connective tissue of the Horus Heresy that it barely distinguishes itself as a separate story.
Let's hear it for the girls
'You are a disgrace to the Mechanicum, Zeth!’'
'Your assassin destroys the mind of my apprenta and then murders one of my acolytes, and you dare call me a disgrace to the Mechanicum?’ snarled Zeth. She consulted her internal chronometer and said, ‘Four minutes and forty seconds, Melgator. I suggest you get moving.’
Warhammer 40K books often seem to save themselves from their weak plotlines via characterisation, and I think Mechanicum (just) manages it here, because it does so in a novel way for the series.
I wrote about [b:Fulgrim|957931|Fulgrim (The Horus Heresy #5)|Graham McNeill|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403985069l/957931._SY75_.jpg|942841]:
I would offer McNeill this advice: Write every character as a male, then roll some dice to work out who’s pronouns you will swap in the final version.
...well someone must have told him the same thing circa 2008, because that is exactly what it feels like he did with Mechanicum. There are two women in leading roles along with almost the same number of female supporting characters as males. I'll concede that there are some female specific elements, and occasionally I did cringe, but there weren't many situations, and the relevant scenes could be modified very easily to be as though solely males were involved.
That's a good thing.
There are unquestionably stories that differ from a female perspective than a male one and it is worth being able to make that distinction. However, the Warhammer 40K universe leans really really heavily on characters having outsized virtues or vices to convey wider points. Honour, Loyalty, Betrayal, Zealotry, Charisma, etc.
There's no reason for any of these characteristics to be male specific. Yet we've had a long, long run in the Horus Heresy of these characteristics being attached to males. The women so far have been pretty so-so, with weak control of the narrative and occasionally falling into parody - I targeted McNeill over [b:Fulgrim|957931|Fulgrim (The Horus Heresy #5)|Graham McNeill|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403985069l/957931._SY75_.jpg|942841], but Abnett's [b:Legion|1678745|Legion (The Horus Heresy #7)|Dan Abnett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1280756821l/1678745._SY75_.jpg|1673863] had similar problems.
In Mechanicum Dalia and Zeth are talented, creative, strategising and driven female characters. They could have easily been male and just as good. That is what I like about them. It shows that gender isn't a critical component of what makes those characters good. It makes it believable within the Warhammer 40K universe that a woman can achieve exactly the same things as a man, and have the same personality traits.
It isn't how you should always write characters but, in what is essentially a fantasy setting, there's no need to be straitjacketed by the idea that the major players need to be male because males do the fighting. I feel McNeill toned down some of the "feminine" aspects of his earlier stories, and wrote better female characters as a result. It makes Mechanicum an interesting aside in the series.
For completeness, there is a subplot (and a sub subplot) about the melding of man and machine, and to what extent one retains their humanity. Look, it's fine, I liked it, but I think it's a less interesting point within the universe overall, and is explored plenty of times elsewhere, particularly the dark side of it.
garybake's review against another edition
4.0
Nice to see the mechanicum side of things and the story is pretty good and not just one long battle sequence. Shame the characters are a bit flat.
din0_bot's review against another edition
McNeill focuses far too much on characters who aren't the Fabricator General or other important players in the story. The seriously interesting lore bits are too few and far between. The Titan legio characters blend into each other too much because of their lack of deeper characterization.
Maybe it's my fault for reading this directly after Legion by Dan Abnett. I can still remember John Grammaticus and the two hetman characters, Hurtado Bronzi and Peto Soneka. Alpharius is done rather well. Honen Mu is also still memorable for her personality and decisions.
I still don't get the Fabricator General of Mars and couldn't care less about his underlings. By about page 246, I stopped caring overall about the characters.
I have Forges of Mars, the Adeptus Mechanicus omnibus on my shelf by McNeill. He'd better kick ass with that one or else my impression of this faction is going in the trash.
Maybe it's my fault for reading this directly after Legion by Dan Abnett. I can still remember John Grammaticus and the two hetman characters, Hurtado Bronzi and Peto Soneka. Alpharius is done rather well. Honen Mu is also still memorable for her personality and decisions.
I still don't get the Fabricator General of Mars and couldn't care less about his underlings. By about page 246, I stopped caring overall about the characters.
I have Forges of Mars, the Adeptus Mechanicus omnibus on my shelf by McNeill. He'd better kick ass with that one or else my impression of this faction is going in the trash.
trackofwords's review against another edition
4.0
Young scribe Dalia Cythera is whisked off to Mars by Adept Koriel Zeth, who puts her innate understanding of technology to use working on a ground-breaking project. Meanwhile tensions are mounting between rival factions on Mars, even bringing the Titan Legions into conflict. It's the beginning of the civil war on Mars, and the ‘death of innocence’ – the loss of knowledge and the start of the journey towards stagnation – that ensues. It’s also an exploration of Mars and the inner workings of the Mechanicum, and the relationship between the Mechanicum and the Imperium.
There’s lots going on , and if you’ve read McNeill’s short story The Kaban Project then you’ll get a little more of the story, but it works well as a standalone piece within the Heresy. When this was first published it felt incredibly fresh and new, and even now it stands up as an exciting, entertaining story which delves into one of the most interesting factions in the setting, answering a few questions but – as usual – leaving plenty more teasingly unanswered. With Dalia as the protagonist it’s also still one of the few female-led Heresy stories.
Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2018/06/04/mechanicum-graham-mcneill/
There’s lots going on , and if you’ve read McNeill’s short story The Kaban Project then you’ll get a little more of the story, but it works well as a standalone piece within the Heresy. When this was first published it felt incredibly fresh and new, and even now it stands up as an exciting, entertaining story which delves into one of the most interesting factions in the setting, answering a few questions but – as usual – leaving plenty more teasingly unanswered. With Dalia as the protagonist it’s also still one of the few female-led Heresy stories.
Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2018/06/04/mechanicum-graham-mcneill/
drwilko's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0