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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Full Review: http://thefoundingfields.com/2013/03/horus-heresy-false-gods-graham-mcneill-dual-review-bane-kings-lord-night/ (Dual Review with fellow Founding Fields member, Lord of the Night)
“A weak second installment in the Horus Heresy series by Graham McNeill and not his finest moment, but is essential reading if you want to learn why Horus fell.” ~Bane of Kings, The Founding Fields
Graham McNeill’s False Gods is a book that is never going to make it anywhere near the top half of the Horus Heresy series for me, and If I made a list, it would come near the bottom. But first, let’s talk about the Horus Heresy series as a whole. The now New York Times Bestselling series has come a massive way since its roots as a three-book trilogy ending with the betrayal at Isstvann III in Galaxy in Flames by Ben Counter. It’s now stretching into and beyond 20 books published, and has risen to become Black Library’s flagship series.
With such a vast period of time and space to cover, there was no way that Dan Abnett could have possibly covered the whole series on his own. After all, the author has certain strengths and weaknesses which is why the series has been included to find room for multiple authors. Now, obviously – there are both positives and negatives with a multi-author written series. The positives are mainly that we get chances of seeing books being published quicker, and we get to see alternative views on the Heresy from different authors. The negatives are fairly obvious – not every writer can match the quality of Dan Abnett, and False Gods is an example of this.
First off, let’s start with the negatives of this book, of which there are many. Firstly, and this may be me being nitpicky, but the book – or the edition that I read, boasts multiple typos that should have been fixed by an editor. This kept making me lose interest in the novel every time I came across a mistake, and whilst it’s been a while now since I last re-read the book and can’t quite come across the exact mistakes, I was left disinterested in the pages that followed which was a real shame.
Secondly, McNeill has a load of characters all shoved into one book, and it becomes a point where the dramatis personae is unbearable and unless you have a large enough book to develop the pages and make the book’s characters compelling enough to read more of, then they quickly loose their interest and you will find yourself only sticking to the characters that you like and lose track of the others. However, not all of the characters are uninteresting in this book though – Loken and Torgaddon continued to remain my favourite characters of the novel and are probably my favourite characters of the entire opening trilogy, and McNeill manages to capture their human reactions very well, despite the fact that they are Adeptus Astartes, superhuman killing machines. It’s a shame that he couldn’t have done this with the rest of the dramatis personae as well.
Take Horus, for example, the Warmaster. Whilst he gains much more of the spotlight in this novel than in the last, he somewhat falls flat as a character and doesn’t really develop over the course of the book. He doesn’t grow, and his character trait can be attributed to one thing - ambition. The main reason for his downfall, and his ultimate corruption. I also felt that the dream sequences featuring Horus were somewhat differently paced from the rest of the narrative, and I would have loved them if they were on their own or told in a similar style to the rest of the book – I just felt that they were out of place here.
However, there are some things that I enjoyed about this book other than Loken and Torgaddon. I felt that the action was written well, and I think this is what he does best. The battles in the Swamp in Davin shortly before Horus falls are possibly one of the strongest moments in this novel, and McNeill really manages to capture war on a sheer scale. It’s just a shame that the character development failed to shine here, especially in a book that need character development the most to work.
VERDICT: 2.5/5
THE HORUS HERESY SERIES: Horus Rising by Dan Abnett, False Gods by Graham McNeill, Galaxy in Flames by Ben Counter, The Flight of the Eisenstein by James Swallow, Fulgrim by Graham McNeill, Descent of Angels by Mitchel Scanlon, The Dark King and the Lightning Tower by Dan Abnett and Graham McNeill (Audio), Legion by Dan Abnett, Battle for the Abyss by Ben Counter, Mechanicum by Graham McNeill, Tales of Heresy by Various Authors, Fallen Angels by Mike Lee, Raven’s Flight by Gav Thorpe (Audio), A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeill, Nemesis by James Swallow, The First Heretic by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Garro: Oath of Moment by James Swallow (Audio), Prospero Burns by Dan Abnett, Garro: Legion of One by James Swallow (Audio), Age of Darkness by Various Authors, Promethean Sun by Nick Kyme (Limited Edition), Aurelian by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (Limited Edition), The Outcast Dead by Graham McNeill, Deliverance Lost by Gav Thorpe, Know No Fear by Dan Abnett, The Primarchs by Various Authors, Fear to Tread by James Swallow, Shadows of Treachery by Various Authors, Brotherhood of the Storm by Chris Wraight (Limited Edition), Angel Exterminatus by Graham McNeill, Garro: Sword of Truth by James Swallow (Audio), Betrayer by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
“A weak second installment in the Horus Heresy series by Graham McNeill and not his finest moment, but is essential reading if you want to learn why Horus fell.” ~Bane of Kings, The Founding Fields
The Great Crusade that has taken humanity into the stars continues. The Emperor of mankind has handed the reins of command to his favoured son, the Warmaster Horus. Yet all is not well in the armies of the Imperium. Horus is still battling against the jealousy and resentment of his brother primarchs and, when he is injured in combat on the planet Davin, he must also battle his inner daemon. With all the temptations that Chaos has to offer, can the weakened Horus resist?
Graham McNeill’s False Gods is a book that is never going to make it anywhere near the top half of the Horus Heresy series for me, and If I made a list, it would come near the bottom. But first, let’s talk about the Horus Heresy series as a whole. The now New York Times Bestselling series has come a massive way since its roots as a three-book trilogy ending with the betrayal at Isstvann III in Galaxy in Flames by Ben Counter. It’s now stretching into and beyond 20 books published, and has risen to become Black Library’s flagship series.
With such a vast period of time and space to cover, there was no way that Dan Abnett could have possibly covered the whole series on his own. After all, the author has certain strengths and weaknesses which is why the series has been included to find room for multiple authors. Now, obviously – there are both positives and negatives with a multi-author written series. The positives are mainly that we get chances of seeing books being published quicker, and we get to see alternative views on the Heresy from different authors. The negatives are fairly obvious – not every writer can match the quality of Dan Abnett, and False Gods is an example of this.
First off, let’s start with the negatives of this book, of which there are many. Firstly, and this may be me being nitpicky, but the book – or the edition that I read, boasts multiple typos that should have been fixed by an editor. This kept making me lose interest in the novel every time I came across a mistake, and whilst it’s been a while now since I last re-read the book and can’t quite come across the exact mistakes, I was left disinterested in the pages that followed which was a real shame.
Secondly, McNeill has a load of characters all shoved into one book, and it becomes a point where the dramatis personae is unbearable and unless you have a large enough book to develop the pages and make the book’s characters compelling enough to read more of, then they quickly loose their interest and you will find yourself only sticking to the characters that you like and lose track of the others. However, not all of the characters are uninteresting in this book though – Loken and Torgaddon continued to remain my favourite characters of the novel and are probably my favourite characters of the entire opening trilogy, and McNeill manages to capture their human reactions very well, despite the fact that they are Adeptus Astartes, superhuman killing machines. It’s a shame that he couldn’t have done this with the rest of the dramatis personae as well.
Take Horus, for example, the Warmaster. Whilst he gains much more of the spotlight in this novel than in the last, he somewhat falls flat as a character and doesn’t really develop over the course of the book. He doesn’t grow, and his character trait can be attributed to one thing - ambition. The main reason for his downfall, and his ultimate corruption. I also felt that the dream sequences featuring Horus were somewhat differently paced from the rest of the narrative, and I would have loved them if they were on their own or told in a similar style to the rest of the book – I just felt that they were out of place here.
However, there are some things that I enjoyed about this book other than Loken and Torgaddon. I felt that the action was written well, and I think this is what he does best. The battles in the Swamp in Davin shortly before Horus falls are possibly one of the strongest moments in this novel, and McNeill really manages to capture war on a sheer scale. It’s just a shame that the character development failed to shine here, especially in a book that need character development the most to work.
VERDICT: 2.5/5
THE HORUS HERESY SERIES: Horus Rising by Dan Abnett, False Gods by Graham McNeill, Galaxy in Flames by Ben Counter, The Flight of the Eisenstein by James Swallow, Fulgrim by Graham McNeill, Descent of Angels by Mitchel Scanlon, The Dark King and the Lightning Tower by Dan Abnett and Graham McNeill (Audio), Legion by Dan Abnett, Battle for the Abyss by Ben Counter, Mechanicum by Graham McNeill, Tales of Heresy by Various Authors, Fallen Angels by Mike Lee, Raven’s Flight by Gav Thorpe (Audio), A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeill, Nemesis by James Swallow, The First Heretic by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Garro: Oath of Moment by James Swallow (Audio), Prospero Burns by Dan Abnett, Garro: Legion of One by James Swallow (Audio), Age of Darkness by Various Authors, Promethean Sun by Nick Kyme (Limited Edition), Aurelian by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (Limited Edition), The Outcast Dead by Graham McNeill, Deliverance Lost by Gav Thorpe, Know No Fear by Dan Abnett, The Primarchs by Various Authors, Fear to Tread by James Swallow, Shadows of Treachery by Various Authors, Brotherhood of the Storm by Chris Wraight (Limited Edition), Angel Exterminatus by Graham McNeill, Garro: Sword of Truth by James Swallow (Audio), Betrayer by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
adventurous
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:
Yes
This was solid. I liked a lot of the characters and the ways societal changes were handled, with a lot of the setup from the last book being used nicely. I guess I just thought Horus' actual fall from grace felt rough? It didn't really feel like there was a definitive moment that took him from troubled Warmaster to full blown Chaos worshiper. They definitely attempted to have a definitive moment but it lacked the suitable punch that was needed. Despite all that, it was still a fairly enjoyable read that went by pretty quickly. Loken is a great character and his detective work is very fun to read. I'm also continuing to enjoy Chaos being treated as an unknown, since that's a pretty interesting and refreshing dynamic.
Spoiler
The whole Astartes trampling people also fell incredibly flat for me and did not work as a plot point. This was not nearly the level of atrocity needed to spark conflict to the level that it was made out to cause.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
I was a little surprised by the speed with which the metanarrative in this series is moving forward, but it sure does have a lot of momentum to it!
False Gods is not written in as nuanced a fashion as Horus Rising nor does it deliver the same visceral pleasures. But False Gods is less a prequel than its predecessor and it receives additional weight from the monumental events it depicts.
This is still complete and total indulgent nerd fluff but I am here for it.
False Gods is not written in as nuanced a fashion as Horus Rising nor does it deliver the same visceral pleasures. But False Gods is less a prequel than its predecessor and it receives additional weight from the monumental events it depicts.
This is still complete and total indulgent nerd fluff but I am here for it.
Žymiai labiau patiko, nei pirmoji knyga.
Ne tik gerai laiką praleidau, bet ir visokių minčių pasigavau. Kaip gimsta religija ir prie ko ji priveda puikiai perteikta. Istorija įdomi, personažai faini. Loken, kuris dešimt kartų pagalvoja prieš kažką darydamas ir turintis teisingą moralinį kompasą. Targadonas, kurio bajeriai juokino ir poetas - alkašas Ignacijus.
Ne tik gerai laiką praleidau, bet ir visokių minčių pasigavau. Kaip gimsta religija ir prie ko ji priveda puikiai perteikta. Istorija įdomi, personažai faini. Loken, kuris dešimt kartų pagalvoja prieš kažką darydamas ir turintis teisingą moralinį kompasą. Targadonas, kurio bajeriai juokino ir poetas - alkašas Ignacijus.