bookmax00 's review for:

Vengeful Spirit by Graham McNeill

3.0

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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This is unfortunately Graham McNeill at his worst. He has often been given pivotal moments of the Horus Heresy to tell, from the initial Horus heel turn to the burning of Prospero. This makes sense in a lot of ways, he is great at establishing the stakes, weight and feel of a storyline. This book is no different, serving as the reintroduction to the Sons of Horus during the refocusing of the Heresy leading up to the Siege of Terra (Which Scars wonderfully initiated), one would hope McNeill knocks it out of the park. However, all the fantastic set ups in the start of this book, a standout being our first check-in on Little Horus since Galaxy in Flames, get bogged down by bloated war set pieces and lead to cartoony resolutions that feel more like the author trying to hit known marks rather than a proper climax.