Customer Reviews

Horus Heresy: Battle for the Abyss

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I love the WH40K universe and the lore and fluff behind it. The Horus Heresy series has been really awesome overall -- I could even tolerate Descent of Angels (loved the part where the Mechanicum bulldozes their continent to make a stadium for the Emperor).

Despite the general quality of the HH books though, Battle for the Abyss is just bad. Ben Counter focuses far too much time on writing long-winded and flaccid "action" scenes , and lets character development twist in the wind. Even when he is describing fight scenes, the descriptions are repetitive, banal, and just... well, boring. Like some of the other reviewers here, I found myself skipping pages. At times it was like reading a power point slide describing a fight in bullet format. Yawn.

Reducing a potentially rich story arc behind the Horus Heresy down to a dry play-by-play tactical account spattered with cheesy and meaningless (albeit mercifully brief) chatter between paper doll-cutout characters really makes this novel fail it. Hard.

That being said...

This is standard-issue Ben Counter writing. It's my own fault for buying it in the first place. Buyer beware with this author.

A lot of readers of the Horus Heresy series complained about the fact that the previous two books (Descent of Angels and Legion) did not advance the epic where it left off at the end of Fulgrim.

If you felt that way, this book isn't going to help that at all.

I personally enjoyed the previous two books, (especially Legion) because they reveal a lot of things about the the Astartes Chapters they dealt with, their Primarchs, histories and various plots leading up to the Heresy. Battle for the Abyss has almost nothing like that at all.

It's plot is interesting enough and the book itself is nicely written, but it doesn't feel like a dramatic part of the Horus Heresy epic. Since the story mostly only involves relatively low ranking Astartes, it could very easily have been made into a regular "40K" novel with a few tweaks to the characters (basically by making the Chaos guys more "Chaotic").

If you are following the Horus Heresy series, you are probably going to want to end up reading it no matter what...just lower the expectations for new revelations/Heresy story advancement and enjoy some decent Space Marine action.

Battle for the Abyss' is book 8 in the Horus Heresy saga, based on the history of Games Workshops Science Fiction table-top game, Warhammer 40,000. Set in the 30th Millennium, the saga tells the tale of the Imperium of mankind's expansion across the galaxy, and it's crumble from within, as the largest civil war in history threatens to destroy humanity forever. The saga up to this point has been hit or miss. While it has been brilliant to see this well known story told in such detail from many points of view, some of the books fail to really grab the attention of the reader or have plots that frustrate and annoy. Author, Ben Counter, did a sterling job with his first book in the saga, that closed off the opening trilogy. 'Galaxy in Flames' weaved several story lines together and opened up new ones for other authors to continue. The first trilogy made us care as we were brought along with the story through the eyes of several characters, some loyal to the Imperium, some to the rebels. And indeed as the tale continued in the excellent 'Flight of the Eisenstein' and the fantastic 'Fulgrim' we were pulled through the myriad of tales to create a sublime experience. Alas, Battle for the Abyss' fails to impress on the most basic levels.

Without creating spoilers, the Abyss of the title is the Furious Abyss, a ship forged by the Mechanicum of Mars as a giant ship with one mission in mind: To destroy the Ultramarines legion. The setting takes place just as Horus is about to invade Istavaan, roughly around the same time as 'Galaxy in Flames' is set. The Word Bearers, now hostile to the Imperium, and integral in the tainitng of Horus, have been charged with this duty. They test their new weapons Systems on a lone Ultramarine cruiser, arousing the attention of a nearby Imperial station, where members of the Ultramarine legion, are joined by Space Wolves and loyal World Eaters, along with a single member of the Thousand Sons. They battle the odds in pursuing the massive ship with the aim of destroying it before it can damage their legion.

The story seriously lacks anything to make us care. Firstly it suffers from a repetition of structure throughout the book. The Word bearers destroy a ship, they are pursued through the warp. They emerge into real space, have another battle, jump through the warp, emerge, have another battle etc. Gone are the subtle webs of plot present in any of the opening trilogy, as are any characters we really care about. Led by an honor guard of Ultramarines, whose flawless perfection make them as dull as they are to play in the table top game, they lack character and depth. Whereas in other books, we've been drawn into the real life and mindset of a marine, here there is nothing but bland duty. The most interesting character is Mhotep, a lone Brother sergeant of the Thousand Sons Legion, and his arc throughout the story is one of the few reasons I kept reading. The plot suffers from lack of feasability too. The largest most advanced ship ever created, containing a whole chapter of the Word Bearers legion is being attacked by three small cruiser with a total of roughly fifty marines on board. Those are worse odds than assaulting the Death Star. While there is nice imagery about warp travel, and particularly of the entities that dwell there, as well as a deepening understanding of the Word Bearers legion, this alone does not suffice to make this a good read.

The main problem with Abyss, is it doesn't feel like its part of the rest of the saga; a problem that blighted the dire 'Descent of Angels'. It doesn't really connect you with what's happening in the rest of the emerging heresy. While one could say the same of Dan Abnetts excellent 'Legion' that at least pulled one through with its intricate plot and brilliant twist. Abyss feels like a stand alone book, and suffers, I feel, from bad writing.

So while we wait eagerly for this tale to unfold, leading to its final ulmtimate conclusion, Abyss is a sad let down. And its a few more months till 'Mechanicum' comes out. Im sure you will buy this book anyway, particularly if you have read the previous installments, but I've been slating my thirst for tales of heresy by reading the opening five books again.

How I wish Black Library had replaced this book with the tale of the raising of Prospero by the Space Wolves. Now thats a tale I really want to read.

I was deeply disappointed by this book. The story is incoherent, and frankly, does not make any sense. A bunch of one-dimensional characters, who were thrown together by chance, and do not like each other very much, try to take down an invincible space-vessel, throwing themselves at it again and again, instead of sending a warning. The whole scenario just does not work, not to mention there's no character development, and the charaters themselves are very one-sided. Basically they are only what you can read about their respective Space Marine chapters in the rule books. The evil antagonist also does not suprise the reader; everything is very predictible, and lacks imagination. The other big issue is that it simply does not add anything to the overall picture. Most of the Heresy books both introduced the reader to the background, to the players, and then went on to add to the story of the Heresy himself, thus getting closer and closer to the final showdown on Terra. Admittedly, after 6 books or so it became a bit ardous, but still kept the interest up. This book does not really contribute to the overall Horus Heresy storyline.
All in all, this is a very poorly written book. You'd better spend your money on a lottery ticket.

This book is lacking in just about everything. There is ZERO character development. Astartes start dying left and right and you will feel absolutely nothing for them because they haven't been fleshed out at all. More effort was put into a character that dies 10 pages in to the story than any of the "main" characters throughout.Even the names of the characters are completely retarded.

Worse yet the plot is just lame. It's a lead up to a lead up to a fight thats a sideline to an actual battle. This book can safely be left behind, it's an abomination in the Horus Heresy series.

I was very excited to see the Ultramarines in the Horus Heresy but more time is spent on the other legions which seem to just be thrown in randomly to begin with. It just so happens the Thousand Sons and the World Eaters are on the same dock with the Ultramarines and Space Wolfs and they all go take off after a mystery ship by themselves without ever contacting anyone else. I mean the plot is a joke. It's so horribly unbelievable that half way through you'll be wondering why the hell you bought the book.

This book is a dud, like Descent of Angels. The Black Library better start putting out better books in this series before they kill it completely. This rubbish won't cut it by a long shot.

One of the most disappointing things about the majority of novels from the Black Library is the avoidance of anything controversial - from ethical dilemmas, to gender issues and more. Battle for the Abyss is no different and is exactly as dull. Where authors like Abnett in his incredible Eisenhorn and Ghost series was able to discuss real issues that might tear the Imperium apart in the 41st century, this novel steers clear and makes the Ultramarine protagonists and the Word Bearer antagonists pointless cutout props with no moral depth.

But that isn't the only disappointment. There isn't a single appearance by a Primarch. The council of Nikeas is mentioned many times but without details about what actually happened. The warp begins to play a much more central role in the plot from both the Word Bearer side and from the Thousand Sons - all with zero explanation of how their warpcraft became so proficient (one marine is basically a Farseer!). The crowning failure however is that the book ends with the smoking hulk of the Abyss drifting toward the Ultramarine fleet around Macragge - after an absurd penetration mission that we're somehow supposed to believe and without showing us the reaction on the faces of Gulliman when he realizes what just unfolded before his very eyes.

Early Heresy books, dealing with the stunning Primarchs and their real dilemmas as they participated in the Great Crusade were gripping ("I was there the day Horus Fell"). The Abyss and Descent of Angels (excepting the appearance of the Emperor) as written are unimportant place-holders in the unfolding drama that, given it's 10,000+ year wake, should be a little more dramatic.

The Horus Heresy is one of the most intereseting subjects inside the wh40k universe, in itself a rich and interesting background.

There are several writers that write wh40k books, and Ben Counter is not one of the best, IMHO.

His story and plot are not completely bland. There are twists and surprises and things you don't expect. The problem is with his writing. The characters are cardboard thick with no change or evolution whatsoever. What you see at first is what you get in the last page. No surprises here.

The battles are not bad but the descriptions and action become repetitve after a time.

The book is not unreadable. Just be sure you understand what you get and what you don't.

In a word... disappointing. The HH series started out great. Horus Rising, False Gods, and Galaxy in Flames were all wonderful narratives that brought the reader along the path that will eventually (we hope) lead up to the ultimate battle between Horus and the Emperor to decide the fate of the Galaxy. Sadly, the books after those first three seem to be less and less about the Heresy and more like side stories soley to keep the series alive and the dollars flowing into Black Library's bank account. I am a loyal reader who has bought every book in the series, naively believing that it would advance the plot, and profoundly disappointed when it didn't.

Like someone else mentioned earlier, I will be reading reviews before purchasing Horus Heresy books from now on. Until Black Library gets back on track, Battle for the Abyss will be my last purchase in this series.

I was hoping that Dan Abnett's "Legion" was a sign that the HH series was back on track and moving towards bigger and better things. However, Ben Counter's latest entry is only so-so. Much like "Flight of the Einstein", we are following a band of loyal space marines struggling through the warp to spread word about Horus' betrayal. A few small skirmishes here and there, leading up to the big conclusion at the end. Certainly not groundbreaking stuff here.

While it does advance the plot a tiny bit, the novel failed to capture the epic scope that I felt reading the first three novels. It seems like the series jumped out to an excellent start and then has been tripping and stuttering forward ever since. And judging by the upcoming release schedule (the battle on Mars and then a collection of short stories from the HH timeline) I am not expecting to be reading anything new about the Sons of Horus anytime soon.

Another good book in the heresy. Nothing life changing but not a waste of time to read either. Shows some of the hidden animosity between legions even with a common enemy for them all to direct their anger at. Overall worth picking up and reading