Horus Rising (Horus Heresy 1): Dan Abnett (2006)
(Re-read)
Horus Heresy Intro:
The Horus Heresy is a sci-fi series of about 60 books (numbers vary depending on whether one includes short story collections), covering the most iconic war in the Warhammer 40k universe. Games Workshop spent most of two decades putting this together, with at least 20 different authors working on different parts of it throughout that time. As you can imagine, that’s quite a bit of reading!
Having initially cherry-picked about thirty of the most interesting-looking books, I decided (with the modern joys of audible) to re-‘read’ the ones I enjoyed and also take a look at the ones I missed, to see if it was right or wrong to skip them. I’ll be doing reviews for all, some re-reads, some first time reads. Hope you find these of use.
Warhammer 40K (30K)
For those not in the know, here’s a very brief rundown of the scenario:
It is the 30th millennium, and humanity is on a crusade to conquer/re-conquer the galaxy. In a previous Golden Age of Technology humans colonised the Milky Way, but when that civilisation collapsed, contact with these worlds was lost. The Emperor, a psychic superhuman, has created genetically enhanced super-soldiers called Space Marines (Astartes) to lead this campaign, led by 18 super-duper-soldiers called Primarchs. The greatest of these Primarchs is Horus.
Intro:
Now, as a rule I’ve always been a Guardsman at heart and never been a big Space Marines fan (apart from Space Wolves and Dark Angels), but the HH is so iconic I had to give this a go.
This is the first book of the Heresy series and it primarily follows Garviel Loken, a mid-ranking officer of the Lunar Wolves who is unexpectedly promoted to a post which takes him close to the Warmaster, Horus himself. We get to see both Horus and the Crusade through the eyes of an ‘average’ Astartes, as well as see his opinions on the secular doctrine of Imperial Truth
Con:
After a very fun ‘I was there the day Horus slew the Emperor’ intro, this book took it’s time getting started up again. There was plenty of interesting stuff but a lot of it felt very slow, especially with the remembrancers.
Pro:
This book had a bit more to it than the usual bolter porn. Intrigue, an engaging principle, and a paragon-like protagonist who still manages to be interesting
Abaddon shouting at Horus was an incredible moment – seriously, this guy is hard! We know from this book and others that the sheer aura of a primarch makes facing up to them almost impossible, even for an Astartes. This shouting match establishes Abaddon as a man of truly superhuman will, even among other superhumans. (which makes a lot of sense long term…)
The ending was teasingly brilliant, showing us the shady beginnings of the Imperial cult and the Book of Lorgar
Overall:
I loved this book the first time around and I loved it again this time. The Heresy series is written by so many authors on so many tangents that it’s inevitable that the quality is varied, and this first book (indeed, the first mini-trilogy) stands out among the best. Can’t wait to get on to book two!
4 Stars