Reviews

The Outcast Dead by Graham McNeill

pinkeyeofsauron's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

bastimapache's review against another edition

2.0

Worst Horus Heresy book I’ve read, and possibly also worst book I’ve ever read. The story is completely lineal and has no depth, there is no real conflict in the plot, the main character does nothing in the whole book besides suffering and lamenting, all characters are obnoxious, there is a group of 6 space marines but none has a personality nor character development and they are all basically brutes, the ending is rushed, a primarch appears for no reason at all, certain characters are introduced extensively just to be dropped quickly... The only thing that could be remarkable about this book are some passages about the duty of astropaths, and some depictions of the misery endured by certain characters that are quite well written. Otherwise, this is a totally skippable book.

thepattyshack's review against another edition

4.0

Love the "small scale" change of pace across Terra compared to the grand scale of the greater universe. Some really great down to earth characters and amazing insight to big universal plot points that I never thought I'd see or read or listen to happen and blow me away every time they do.

itcamefromthepage's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

4.0

What this book lacks in continuity cohesion it more than makes up with some instances of great prose. 

"Too often you allow the fear of that which your opponent has not even considered to keep you from greatness." Is a quote that sums up anxiety so well, and the book is filled with other such aphorisms that in a different book I may have found tiring, but here it really really worked for me.

The depth of character here really made for an exciting read. The fact that you are invested in characters make the action hit all the harder. 

Graham McNeill is my favourite storyteller in Black Library. 

seven_of_ten's review against another edition

4.0

It was awesome. I thought it would suck...way to many humans but the humans weren't so bad and there where some really interesting twists.

yuiscool's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

thedadsie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

2.5

beorn_101's review against another edition

2.0

This was an odd bag. The first half had some interesting bits, but was incredibly slow, and did next to nothing to actually move the narrative forward, or even really give us more information on the Heresy.

Having Navigators and an Astropath be some of the main focus was an interesting choice. We get a nice view of Magnus in the book.

But the entire first half is just sort of there. The second half picks up the pace, taking the characters it has been meandering with, and running into a action packed prison escape, while trying to solve a mystery of a message to an Astropath.

Moments of this chase are really amazing. But, overall even by the end I sort of found myself wondering so what.

If this was anime it would be considered filler. Filler that has some entertaining moments, but largely you can skip without missing much.

The only thing I really enjoyed was referencing and exploring warriors from Terra's past.

Overall, a very meh book.

farilian's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

fastasashark's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I finished this but am still not sure how to rate it - either 3.75 or 4/5 stars. I enjoyed all the plot lines and characters and there were a lot of very interesting tie-ins and revelations. Getting all that info about Astropaths/the Telepathica and City of Sight was very cool. First time we really get an inside look. There were just some lore inconsistencies or timeline questions that bugged me. For example some of the combat outcomes and relative strengths didn't make sense. I'm used to Astartes being so powerful even human mutants shouldn't last more than mere seconds hand-to-hand or be able to match their speed. Thinking back to Nemesis, for example, where it was a novelty just for the rage killer to be able to say that he finally managed to kill an Astartes. There were moments where both Astartes and Custodes seemed weirdly underpowered and it bugged me. Good read otherwise though!