Horus heresy book 3 series#

I have read Abyss and did not enjoy it, but as u/InquisitorEngel said, Skraal is great and he single handily makes the book not the worst.

Honourable mentions to Legion and Horus Rising as favourites. I'd be very curious to hear McNeill's opinions on it.

Horus heresy book 3 series#

It's a book written for a short series that doesn't hold up well at all to what the Heresy became, especially seeing as how many of the older works did. I'm thinking how Lodges go from being presented as a good thing to being filled with schemers, how Erebus goes from being subtle to having everyone distrust him, and how the closest brotherhood of the Mournival takes exactly half a book to be at each others throats. They get one more book that focus' on Loken and Tarik, and then it's all Abaddon Abaddon Abaddon (which is another example of GW's money hunger overruling lore, and I hate it). We don't get to see anymore of their culture, their ways of war, of what makes them the pre-eminent marines. The next truly essential entry is A Thousand Sons, as the fall of Magnus and his thousand children is an essential part of the plot. Primarch primer: Meet Warhammer 40k Rogal Dorn. When I read it I'm thinking this is the end of the SoH legion. After these first few books, the Horus Heresy splinters a little, with many of the following books covering events which precede the first five novels. When I read it now, I'm not able to appreciate the bits of it that are good (like Marr's miniarc, or Horus' remembrancer). Characterisation is all off, things go from 0 to 100 real quick, it introduces the start of the Magnus timeline pickle, it's just disappointing. I understand that McNeill had one book to speed Horus into treachery, but 54odd books into the Heresy it was such a bad decision. A victim of GW's small scale start, the brilliance of Horus Rising, and the near complete lack of SoH action we see in the Heresy proper. It says something that KNF is put in the WB trilogy despite being written by a completely different author, following different characters, and with different protagonists. Both sides feel powerful even when we barely get any WB characterisation, which is really uncommon for a 40k novel. And just for the icing on the cake, he does both Ultramarines and Word Bearers incredible justice. Looming dread, the sheer scale of betrayal, the feeling as named characters die left and right is amazing. Put that aside and I'd say it has to be one of Abnett's finest works. It has an easy pitch pearl harbour in space. I'd give it to my children, but I don't have any. I'd give it to someone who's already read. I'd give it to someone who's read 40k but not 30k. Know No Fear is one of the books I'd give to someone who hasn't read 40k. Sticking to the books I own and have read multiple times, I have to give best to Know No Fear and worst to False Gods.