Customer Reviews

False Gods: The Heresy Takes Root (The Horus Heresy)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

False Gods is the second book in the Horus Heresy Trilogy from Games Workshop's Black Library division. The first book in the trilogy was Dan Abnett's excellent Horus Rising which introduced the Imperium's newly appointed Warmaster, the Primarch of the Luna Wolves Legion and the Emperor of Mankind's favored son. Horus Rising showed the personality of chief architect that would someday plunge the galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man into its darkest hour.

Graham McNeill takes over the writing duties for the second novel of the trilogy. False Gods details the little doubts Horus brought up during the first book and how these doubts gave those powers in the Warp the opening they needed to deceive, inveigle, and obfuscate their way into Horus' heart and mind. The Chaos Powers are not alone in their endeavor for a traitor within Horus' inner circle plots with these powers to sway the Imperium's Warmaster to their cause against the Emperor of Mankind and the Imperium. McNeill does a very good job of showing Horus' inner turmoil concerning the responsibilties heaped on his shoulders by his father the Emperor. McNeill also introduces Horus' growing resentment towards his father and thus infecting his own Legion whose admiration and loyalty to him is akin to deity worship.

There's a major section of the book where Horus and his Crusading force first begin to fight the minions of the Chaos Powers on the moon of Davin. There's a sense of Night of the Living Dead in this section as powerful Space Marines must contend with the plague zombies of their opponent. But action in False Gods takes a backseat to the manipulation of Horus and how false promises and miscontrued words from the Chaos Powers gradually breaks down Horus' will. Some have pointed out that in False Gods it's shown that the Emperor must take some of the blame as to the cause of the Heresy, but the opposite is true. Horus was given a choice as to which side to believe: his loyalty and faith to his Emperor or the words of powers in the warp. Those who have followed the mythology of GW's Warhammer 40K knows what his decision will be.

The fall of a star ascendant has begun and the end of McNeill's novel sets the stage for what will become the unveiling of the ultimate betrayal of son against father, of brothers against brothers and one man against an entire galaxy. I can't wait for the final book in the trilogy: Galaxy In Flames by Ben Coulter.

minor spoilers follow

this is a worthy sequel to Horus Rising. Unlike, say, Star Wars, the temptation of Horus is at least somewhat convincing, and the greatest irony (and a classic tactic) is that Horus is convinced by showing him parts of the future his own insurrection will create (i.e. he is shown the deification of his father, but doesn't see the actual physical condition of the emperor). I wondered at Horus' foolishness in believing erebus despite seeing him in many lies, though we have not been told what horus decided to do for himself, as it is implied he knew erebus sought to use him. Horus was certainly written as more arrogant and prideful in this novel than in the last.

I did wonder at the literary device of making the beginnings of worship of the emperor appear at essentially the same time and place as horus' treason, but will give the benefit of the doubt until book 3. I was even more skeptical of the oddly childish behavior of the astartes when horus was wounded and no officer exhibited anything remotely resembling leadership ability or responsibility and even worse when he was subsequently taken to davin, the idea of an entire space-based army taking it upon themselves to abandon their posts to have a sort of cultish vigil just doesn't seem probable.

Erebus' original motives in stealing the amathane are still not completely clear.

Like any story where you essentially know where the end of the story is, the enjoyment is in the telling of it. This book accomplishes that.

The second book of the Horus Heresy series, this time penned by Graham McNeill, is a ripping adventure tale that continues the story of Horus' inevitable fall. Garviel Lorken, the Company Captain of the Sons of Horus Legion and main protagonist from the first novel, now shares the stage with Horus himself in roughly equal measure. The supporting cast is too numerous to list here, but suffice to say, it includes many other canonical characters from Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K universe: Horus, Angron, Fulgrim, Magnus, Kharn, Abaddon, Fabius, and others.

M. McNeill does an excellent job capturing the feel of the 40K background, excels at action scenes, and captures the epic scope of the Crusade and subsequent Heresy. You really feel the ground tremor as titans stride into battle, and quail before Angron's savagery as he charges into the fray. The enemies of the Imperium fight intelligent campaigns that reflect well thought out strategy, making them worthy foes.

Gone, however, is the subtlety and delicate moral quandary of M. Abnett. Lorken's character growth, and that of some of the other characters, takes a back seat to Horus' tale and larger-scale conflict. This brings me to the two weaker points of the novel:

1 - M. McNeill uses some clumsy plot devices at key points in the work. The Mournival (Horus' council of Captains) and some of the senior Sons of Horus act stupidly or ignorantly from time to time, even though it's been firmly established that they are neither. There are a few other instances where Marines "regress" from extremely wily to easily misled.

2 - The biggest difficulty, however, is in the representation of the change in Horus. There are no slippery moral slopes filled with the excuses of expediency or necessity. There is no gradual or subtle descent, such as those displayed by M. Abnett's Inquisitor Eisenhorn. Instead, Horus takes the Warp induced visions of a man he admittedly doesn't even trust, and makes a decision without even checking the veracity of these mirages. As it's really one of the pivotal moments of the entire epic, it's disappointing that it doesn't receive the attention it deserves.

These - although fairly significant - detractors aside, the book is a very engaging read, and M. McNeill's writing style holds the reader's attention throughout. The plot flows well, and one can't wait to begin the next chapter after finishing the previous.

In short: a generally solid work with a few troubles for more discerning readers. However, any fan of 40K will easily get his money's worth on this ride.

The sequel is never as good as the original.

The Horus Heresy is the biggest event in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and I was deligthed when they finally decided to write it. Dan Abnett wrote the first part (Horus Rising) and did a masterful job of creating characters we could identify and telling a rocking good story while simultaneously setting up the background for the betrayal.

McNeil takes this and puts a full clip of bolter shells into it. He is a decent sci-fi action writer, but his weaknesses are writing great characters and grand plot arcs, and here he just destroys everything Abnett built up in the first part. Horus becomes stupid and petty, and none of the Luna Wolves get decent character development. While all the parts of the book are readable and some of the action is great stuff, overall the book is disjointed and the master plot clumsily executed.

BUT - 40k fans must still read this book! The Horus Heresy is still pretty interesting stuff, and Ben Counter, one of the Black Library's best, writes the third installment (Galaxy in Flames). Buy this book, not because its great, but because the rest of the series is terrific and its worth your time and money.

Another Excellent book from an excellent writer. Graham is a very "graphical" writer, his writings reveal an excellent imagination that would lend itself very well to the silver screen. His handling of the epic battles within the story "Warriors of Ultramar" is some of the best that I ever read (matched only by Brown's Hyperion trilogy), Abnett included.
In this volume, Graham takes up the reigns left off by Dan Abnett in portraying the fall of Horus. I won't spoil anything for you, but I like how they have portrayed Horus' downfall. It's not the simple minded tale that is Darth Vader, but here present in the superhuman immortal Primarchs are the weaknesses and emotional vulnerabilities inherent within all humans. You tend feel sorry for Horus, and truly get the depth of tragedy that befalls the primarchs especially Magnus the Red, and Sanguinius, and of the space marines Loken and his command (for those who know their 40K history.) You begin to feel exactly the resentment the Marines feel at the Emperor not being there to handle matters.
As the first volume sets the stage, and introduced the characters, this volume continues the storyline with the fall of Horus. The next volume details his killing off those too loyal to the Emperor concluding with the sad tale of the battle of Istvaan IV.
Still, I hope GW will eventually tell the tale of the great battle for Terra, and the demise of Sanguinius.

While I was impressed by the sequence of events which fill in the missing parts of what actually happens to Horus to turn him against the Emperor, I wasn't impressed by the poor depiction of the characters. Dan Abnett did a great job of creating the characters in the first novel which Graham McNeill unfortunately cannot follow. The characters seemed very repetitive until the moment on Davin where everyone basically turns into the total opposite. This transition is a bit difficult to imagine since only Horus was affected by the events on Davin. The storyline and intense conflicts, both martial and psychological, do a great job of keeping the story together I was a bit upset about the character transformation. I must admit though it was much better than I expected after reading the other reviews before reading the novel.

I'm a little disappointed that GM was the writer of this, because this was not so good as the first one. I think that I must share the opinion that I read, about GM is just awesome writing about Chaos characters and of course, you can see that in the loyalist pre heresy version of Abaddon that is presented here. to some one new to the universe of WH40K, you can see that he will be one of the bad guys.

the thing that I complain is about Horus. he present a really weak Horus, I think is because he want to make him evil as he will be but he must put him something like a victim because in this book he still is loyal to the Emperor. so, instead of present a loyalist primarch that represent the awesomeness of the imperium and the good guys, or the lost by chaos future representation of all evil primarch, he is stuck in the middle and I think that must be real hard for him, write about it. maybe if he wrote the third book, his work could be just awesome about Horus, but here was a little weak.

for the rest, is just great, I love the way that represents Abaddon, maybe a little bit Khorny, but hey, is the freaking future supreme lord of Chaos, come on!! =DD

in general lines, this book is great, I wish to give 4.5 stars but no middle points so, 4 will be.

Iterators and remembrancers have not yet become an official part of the Crusade fleets. The civilians and scholars still follow the expeditionary forces, moving among them and writing of the glorious truths of the Imperium. Even Warmaster Horus decides to choose a personal documentarist, Petronella Vivar.

Horus is tricked into leading his men to Davin's moon where he is critically injured. Petronella witnesses as Horus falls unconscious from his wounds. While Horus is still unaware, he is transferred to a place of sorcery and the void. It is there Horus is swayed in his thinking to Chaos.

Garviel Loken, the Company Commander of the Sons of Horus Legion, and Tarik Torgaddon watch in horror as events play out before them. When Horus falls from his wounds, the Astartes begin to fall apart in confusion. Loken and Torgaddon are no exceptions to this. The death of the universe may just have begun.

**** In book two, author Graham McNeill continues the series of the Horus Heresy. As talented as I believe this author to be, I cannot help but notice the huge changes in the mood swings and attitude of Horus. The character is no longer as careful and seldom checks for facts any more. No longer does The Mournival whisper words of wisdom and advice in the Warmaster's ear. To me, it did not even seem to be a gradual change. The character is simply not believable to be the same Horus from the first book's foundation. I found the men of the Astarte to be just as unbelievable in their undisciplined behavior while Horus is in the void. Thankfully, that did not continue as long as I thought it might. Everything else is done well. The ending is a bit rushed to me, but still well done. Small threads (such as mentioning "the saint") are planted for book three to pick up and carry onward, just as the first book left small threads for book two's continuation. I look forward to more! ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Graham McNeill is one of the major innovators at The Black Library. His books are always filled with the kind of "fluff" that excites Warhammer enthusiasts and I consider him the speartip of Warhammer creativity.

For the most part I am thrilled by his creative inventions. His descriptions of the various planets and societies are inspired and his descriptions of Chaos rituals are among the best in the Warhammer universe.

I would have given this novel five stars but for some niggling complaints, which I am going to enumerate out of a certain frustration.

My frustration arises from the following: (1) he usually employs multiple points of view (a practice endemic in Warhammer writing). This is not bad in itself but he employs short passages that break the flow of the writing and slows the narrative. Tolstoy uses multiple points of view but he lets the narrative develop and flow, allowing the reader to become involved in the narrative. Frankly, I want to be unaware of the change in point of view; I want to sink so deeply into the novel that I am living it. If a novelist shifts back and forth in short machine gun like bursts, it disrupts the narrative flow. This works in a movie; it doesn't work well in a novel. (2) He tends to use anachronistic expressions that distract from the narrative. For instance, twice Horus, the great Warmaster, says to his Mournival- "You are a sight for sore eyes." (3) Horus acts child-like over and over again (but so did Hitler and Stalin, you say), even spilling his guts to a journalist in an attempt to immortalize himself in print, when he thinks he is going to die.

In addition, certain plot choices confused me. More particularly, I didn't understand the motivations behind the invasion of the Davin moon. For instance, why would the Legion transport Titans to the moon to battle an army of the undead, which they dispatch with a blow to the head? Was Horus' hubris such that he saw every battle as an insult to his pride and honor? Was it necessary to display the almost incalculable strength of the Legion against a rebellious brother? Or was it necessary to introduce the Titans into the plot? Additionally, at the end of the novel,why does Horus abandon the crusade to attack a potentially friendly world? Does he seek their technology or has Chaos already taken hold of him and he wants simply to kill and maim?

Irrespective of these criticisms, I say bravo to McNeill. He took the threads of the Horus Rising and substantially raised the level of discourse.

The seed that ultimately blooms into what has to be the most grim future of Warhammer 40k fiction, the Horus Heresy, does not disapoint. "False Gods" picks up the pace after the end of "Horus Rising", seeing the Warmaster Horus leading his forces to the moon of Darvin, where the fate of the "thirsting gods" ultimately catches up with the Emperors most favoured son.

For any good fan of that dark and grim future of Warhammer 40K, this book (and the rest in the series) are a definite _must_ as the tale is told in detail how those charged with the defence of humanitys sanctity and superiority, ultimately turns to corruption and false gods, the very backbone of the Warhammer 40k mythos.

This is a must for any warhammer fan and a good edition for any sci fi-lovers. But do yourself a favour and begin with book one, "Horus Rising" before reading "False Gods" - the road to corruption is winding and long and takes time to tell. And furthermore, the artwork gracing the covers are very nice with inlays of gold and bronze and will look good in any bookshelf.