Ben Counter

Wow! Just plain wow! The battle scenes at the end were full of gallantry, nobility, honor, and all the good things you expect in an epic where brave men make a last stand. The path to get to that point was also a very good read as the treachery of the heresy is finally revealed and pits Space Marine brother against brother. Once I picked this up, I could not put it down. Ben Counter manages to maintain the crescendo and swift pace of the series in the closing volume of this first trilogy. He show more also sets things nicely for the rest of the series. Horus solidifies his power, but he is in a race against time to carry out his plans before the Emperor finds out about the treachery. Legions turn against each other as the Astartes take sides. Oh, Captains Loken and Tarvitz and the other loyalists will, in their last stand, make sure Horus' forces pay dearly for their treachery. There is drama, intrigue, action, suspense, and more in this novel that does not let go until the end. Counter's narrative is epic in scope and style; in some ways, this is like reading a classic epic poem. This is definitely a very good entry in the series. I will definitely go looking for the next one. show less

Initial Reaction

I have read this book, which I consider one big book with Horus Rising and False Gods with parts of Flight of the Eisenstein as a coda, at least four times in the nearly 18 years since it was published, and every time it has made me cry. These books are incredible and the stories and characters within are something special.

I will be taking a little break to catch up on reviews and to keep on top of other reading, including a proper write up for this, after Flight of the show more Eisenstein, as well as reading the early stories and accounts of the Horus Heresy, including The Emperor and Horus by William King, The Horus Rebellion by Alan Merrett, and The Dornian Heresy for fun.

This whole saga continues to be an unbelievable undertaking, despite the wildly vacillating quality as things go on, but this opening trilogy is damn near perfect for what it is. I think some of the negative reviews I've seen don't seem to know what that is and judge it unfairly. I'm all for the joys of subjectivity and I know my brains mercurial and sporadic tastes, but I think complaints about characters making ridiculous choices and acting in 'unbelievable' ways make the mistake of viewing this as a traditional sci-fi story or space opera. The Horus Heresy is the foundation story for Warhammer 40K (with its own foundation stories, which spirals back on itself); it is myth and legend like the Eddas, Odyssey, Illiad, and The Contending of Horus and Seth. It draws on these and classic and foundational tales from across the globe, particularly the latter, both in form and through in universe references, surpassing the simple pig Latin Catholic allegory it began as, the just over 15 lines of small box text in the Book of the Astronomicon, as I mentioned in my Horus Rising review, to become a gestalt. It is a reflection and interpretation of all of these things through the medium of novels, novellas, short stories, audio drama, and a graphic novel about big dudes in armour with machine gun rocket launchers, giant cathedral spaceships, it's own eldritch horror, combining Cthulhu mythos with every concept of hell and the supernatural, and every alien in media on steroids.

I'm not saying this should be held up with Homer, Snorri, and Sîn-lēqi-unninni, but the mythological and allegorical nature are self evident, so some criticisms I've seen do have a ring of ‘cancelling’ Achilles for being too problematic a fave. Yeah, taking concubines is awful and pouting over having yours stolen because your king wanted a new one so you nearly lose a war and your ‘close personal friend’ and [roommate] seems absolutely ridiculous behaviour, but these aren't stories about realism and, in the case of the Astartes and Primarchs, being exactingly genetically engineered and going through truly inconceivable amounts of indoctrination will make you do some odd things.

Anyways, I need to stop acting as an Iterator for this series and come back after I get my head together enough to catch up on reviewing False Gods and this in full. But the tragedy of the tragedy of the Mournival, the death of the Great Crusade, the kindling of the Imperial Creed, Qruze embodying Milgram's obedience, Tarvitz stepping out of being a line officer and stepping up for his moment, the camaraderie between the Loyalist Captains, and Counters wonderfully visceral and vivid descriptions, without wallowing in florid detail are all glorious elements I have a lot more to say on another time.

For now, I have a Flight to catch with a certain Battle Captain on the commandeered Eisenstein. show less

In the general realm of Warhammer 40k books, this is fairly high on the quality scale. It's not overly info-dumpy, it his back on the people per, and it achieved a good mix of action and plot movement.

I'd have liked some more warp grotesquery and grim darkness, actually, but as the backbone of the Horus Heresy this book does a good job of driving home the bitterness of betrayal.

Honestly, this book was a grind. Now I know I've read it before, but I couldn't remember any of it. That's a fair appraisal. Nothing that happens in this book is interesting or noteworthy. It's the first book in the series that is really a background story to the HH arc, and the first truly bum note (plenty more to come, sadly). Its just dull Space Marines fighting in boring places, cliched baddies, incomprehensible and improbable decision making, and a grand finale that makes no sense show more whatsoever. An absolute waste of everybody's time. show less