Customer Reviews

Hereticus (The Eisenhorn Trilogy, Book 3)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although Abnett has created, in my opinion, the best Warhammer 40K book series with great plotlines, characters that one could care about (or hate), and an excellent view into the world of the Imperial Inquisition this book suffers from the same faults as Malleus.
If the Black Library wouldn't limit their authors to ~300 pages per book, we could have had a much more refined text and a more satisfying ending. As it is the book and ending don't feel nearly as rushed as Malleus but it is still somewhat anti-clamactic and lacking. The biggest issue that I had with it was the "epilogue" and how it seemed like it was mearly a commercial for the Inquisitor game to experience those continuing adventures of Eisenhorn. (although all of these books are in truth advertisements)
Yet even with these faults, I think the book is excellent and I couldn't put it down. Abnett was very risky when it comes to the deaths of his characters and I find that very refreshing when so many sci-fi and fantasy authors cling to characters although they've outlived their usefulness. It was the best Warhammer book I've read and the series ranks as one of my favorites.

Hereticus, the last book of the Eisenhorn trilogy, probably the best story to come out of WH40k so far. It's the story of the Inquisitor Eisenhorn. The book is rich, lavish and vivid in details, and it brings the book to a "reality feel" (and that's hard to do in a fiction). I gave Hereticus 5 stars, since it brings back an amazing story (Xenos style) and has lots of twists, the first half of this book is amazing, and is the best part of the whole trilogy, it has a unique reality feel, it's sad that the Eisenhorn trilogy had to stop here, Dan had finally the perfect balance of story telling, description and style with this book. The book will please anyone from a new fan to a old WH40K expert. It should be noted that a minimum, or basic knowledge of the WH40K universe and the previous books Xenos and Malleus is required for a full appreciation of this book.

A fine ending! If you liked the first two books, don't miss this one. I won't ruin the book by telling it here. Comes strongly bound with decent quality paper in a modern plastisized cover. This book is hard to find; i suspect a limited production run already out of print. It's worth finding though. Maybe next time Dan Abnett writes a book his publisher will trust they have a big enough audience to publish a few more copies.

Dan has once again outdone himself. If you're seeing his work for the first time I recommend you pick up any random Gaunt's Ghost book and then get kicking with the first of the Eisenhorn series, or better yet go with the full trilogy in one volume, the Eisenhorn Omnibus.

By the time you get to this part of the epic saga you'll be thoroughly hooked, so don't even bother fighting the impulse.

Criticism:
- Occasional lack of connections between the three parts of the trilogy, important characters are introduced without having been mentioned previously.
- A few somewhat implausible and incongruous (suspension of disbelief only works if the author stays consistent within his own work, i.e. a character cannot continuously be described as old and decrepit and then suddenly do something wholly un-decrepit... it hurts the immersion and seems a cop-out for lack of polish) fight-scenes that might go down better with a younger audience than with ex-mercenary deepsea divers like myself.

All in all, insanely good work that is wholly worthy of mainstream recognition and awards. A CGI-movie? The Peter Jackson treatment?

Or perhaps just a forever cult classic amongst the WH and WH40K crowd...

He's on edge of slipping to the other side(chaos)but holds on for a great ending,also a new beginning for Ravenor(next set future -I- style books.

Great Book/Glad i didnt buy all 3 seperate.
Peter

Hereticus chronicles the climax of the Eisenhorn trilogy. As with the other two books of the trilogy, it is full of intense action and entertaining interactions between the characters. Some new and interesting characters are introduced here, including one of Eisenhorn's old lovers, that help to expand the overall story background. In this last novel, the whole world comes crashing down for our hero and a desperate and final confrontation with his arch enemy is finally forced.

Another exciting read from Abnett.

For some odd reason, this book - a $6.95 paperback if purchased from The Black Library itself is being listed by sellers here for $40 and up! Do yourself a favor and just use the GW online store to order, after speaking with a GW sales representitive here in the US, the book is not in limited production, nor is it sold out.

The entire Eisenhorn series is a must read for any SF reader or anyone who likes books on investigations. This one brings it all to a close, or does it???? A keeper.

Going out on a limb with this review considering how much everyone seems to love this book, BUT...I didn't.

I didn't care for this book as much as the first two in the series (which were excellent). The opening part of the book is awesome and I couldn't wait to get into it. Then came the middle....and I thought it very tedious. The introduction of the "old flame" I could have done without, an extremely annoying character. I thought things would pick up but they didn't. Although at the end things got better it was still rather anti-climatic.

Some reviewers point out that the publisher puts extensive size limits on these books and I'm sure that is true (since I've read it other places as well) but alot of fluff could have been chopped out of the middle of this book to make alot of room for some serious Warhammer 40K "fleshing out".