Customer Reviews

Nemesis (Horus Heresy)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Nemesis is the latest release in the Horus Heresy series of books which examines one of the most important events in the Warhammer 40k universe. Although you do not need to have read the other twelve books, it definitely helps to have read some of them to know what is going on.

Nemesis has so many awesome characters in it I don't know where to start. If you want to know more about the Custodes, the Sigilite, or even Rogal Dorn, you will not be disappointed in this book. Obviously the main attractions in the book are the Assassins. There are five different groups or "clades" of assassins who contribute to the group formed for the mission in the novel, and they are all superhuman and lethal in their own way.

I have not read Mr. Swallow's Blood Angel series, I had heard bad things, but after reading Nemesis I may have to check out the omnibus. It would have been easy to show the assassins as being mindless killers, and for certain they are single minded (mostly), but they all act so different. Even the ones who have been changed to a point where human feelings aren't part of their minds act in distinctive and very believable ways.

As far as the rating is concerned, giving this book five stars might seem excessive. However, when I rate novels like this I am not comparing this to anything other than other fun and action packed science fiction or fantasy. This novel is not meant to be deep, but it has a great sense of history and is well executed, and for that I think it deserves five stars.

Two years had passed since the betrayal at Isstvan, the event that opened the way to Horus's insurrection against the Imperium and his father, the Emperor of Mankind. During that time Horus's forces had steadily crossed the galaxy and gathered momentum. His number of followers grew ever larger with every system that Horus passed. These systems either swore fealty to Horus or they burned.

Within the confines of the Emperor's Palace is a chamber in which the Officio Assassinorum convenes. Under the Assassinorum's orders, for the first time ever, all of the Clades will work together. An Execution Force made up of six assassins, one from each prime clade, is formed. Kell, of Clade Vindicare, is to locate and assemble those selected by the Officio Assassinorum. Iota, of Clade Culexus, is a psyker girl with a rare null-aura. From the Clade Eversor comes a rage-killer known as The Garantine. Soalm of Clade Venenum is the mistress of poisons. Koyne of Clade Callidus is a shade. Tariel of Clade Vans is an infocyte.

Once assembled, the Execution Force chooses the planet Dagonet on which to lay their trap. They will lure the Archtraitor Horus to Dagonet and either assassinate the war-god or die in the attempt. But what they cannot know is that Horus and his dark allies have already embarked on a sinister plan of their own.


***** FOUR AND A HALF STARS!Author James Swallow captured my interest quickly and then slowly began weaving a plot, and subplot, that steadily built until its climatic ending. At least once, a minor character is introduced and has a detailed background told only to be killed off within a few pages. However, this will not bother most readers. You do not have to read the previous books to fully enjoy this story either. It stands alone, yet still manages to add a bit more flavor to the Horus Heresy series. Excellent! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

This is one of the better offerings of late from the Horus Heresy series which began great four years ago, but had stalled over the past year-plus, with releases of what I felt to be some pretty mediocre books and plot lines.

James Swallow does a nice job of developing the details and backstories on the individual assassins in the execution force-- you know it's not going to end well for them, but the road from start to finish is compelling to say the least.

'Spear' is another outstanding story angle and the way the author develops his character as the book moves on is fresh and intriguing.

I also liked a return to a focus on the Sons of Horus chapter and some of the characters that we got to know in the first three books but had not been exposed to much in the years since.

I thought Swallow's Flight of the Eisenstein, the fourth book in the Heresy series was solid, but this is a cut above.

This isn't the best book in the series, but it's helped to spark my interest again. I hope that Dan Abnett's Prospero Burns will provide us with a return to the kind of writing that got me hooked in the first place.

So im a big fan of the 40k world and the heresy series, ive read some of James Swallow's books before that i liked, and while Nemesis has many things in the begining that have much potential, the book is ruined by going no where, and constant 'dont go in there!' moments that you can see coming not just a mile away, but over the horizen. Not to mention this book is wracked with many 40k inconsistancies in one of their flagship lines of books.

The characters are just downright terrible, and plain undisciplined for a soldier, much less a bred from childhood super soldier who should be the imperiums top of the line. Even the elite assassins dont use more then rudimentary and basic intelligence or tactics at any given time. The level of training seems more like a militia or weekend warrior then anything resembling 'elite' units, unless your talking hand to hand combat. Dont get me started on the brother and sister assassins that are both pouting because they chose to become assassins in the first place? Stupid in 12 directions.

Overall in the 20+ years ive been reading and playing games in the 40k world, this is probably my second most hated book in the entire black library arsenal and ive read a LOT.

Although I am certain this novel serves as a lead up to some point of relevance in the Horus Heresy series, the book itself has no business being in the Heresy saga - apart that it shows a truly insipid attempt on the Warmaster - Horus' life, but what seemed to me a bunch of lackluster, uninteresting assassins - and inept too! In short, it is a betrayal of what we have come to expect from the Black Library. Fluff. Filler. The accepted 'norm' of Black Library of late, and it saddens me.

The Horus Heresy series began on excellent footing with the initial trilogy following Garviel Loken and the Sons of Horus: Horus Rising, False Gods and Galaxy in Flames. Those novels had purpose and complexity; thanks, no doubt, to the wealth of background detail the folks at Black Library had fleshed out regarding the era of the heresy. Too bad Black Library has failed to pin the story on another such character and continue the narrative in a similarly engaging manner.

In my opinion, every entry in the series since the initial trilogy (The Flight of the Eisenstein, Fulgrim and now Nemesis) has increasingly shown just how easily and quickly a large undertaking comes unraveled when two elements come into play: lack of proper long-term narrative planning for what is indeed an epic tale grand in its scope, and the greed associated with what has become a marketable product or brand (to illustrate the latter argument, consider the Nemesis entry in the series). Black Library appears to be doing nothing more than bumbling around under The Horus Heresy label--in short, milking it; cranking out half-hearted, half-thought out tales, who's only similarities are that they are from the Warhammer 40K Universe -- and it is a big disappointment to fans.

This book played no real part in the Heresy saga, nor did it lend itself in any way to what was once a grand undertaking. As a 'stand alone' novel, it was 'okay', with a corny villain concept, and assassins who seemed no more skilled at their task than you or I.

I have since stopped following the Horus Heresy series. In fact, I have come to shun all things Warhammer 40K, you can find it all on E-Bay now - and its going cheap.

As an action packed adventure this book is awesome and filled with fast paced and detailed fight scenes, cliff-hangers, non-stop action, etc. The plot is interesting where power groups behind the scenes try to assassinate the leader of the opposing faction (without the knowledge of their respective faction leaders!).

Interesting and fun read, but somewhat unsatisfying. The team assembling is a nightmare! For such an important mission it would be reasonable to assume that the most enlightened and secretive minds would find a way to put the team in action without so much fuss. Although it gives us some nice action sequences it doesn't add to the epic that the Horus Heresy is all about.

In terms of characters thumbs way up to the Reeves and citizens of Iesta Veracrux! Finally the perspective of the civilian - from the reeve to the rogue trader. The Spear character is also fascinating in his fragmented, single purpose and amoral view of the world. The assassins are somewhat stereotyped, but it would be difficult to the author to personalyse them further.

SPOILERS

It is annoying that those greatest assassins in the galaxy are so dumb never confirming the hits or the kills! The situation of the final duel between Spear and the assassins is so Hollywoodesque that gets brutally annoying.

Great input on the honourable Rogal Dorn, the Loyal Valdor and the cunning Malcador.

Both assassination attemps were obviously snitched. Who did it? It leads to so many questions...some of them quite disturbing! Specially the mutual prohibitions that Horus and the Emperor make in the end...

END OF SPOILERS

Well written story but a different "more professional assassins" aproach would probably generate a better plot. Doesn't add much to the series as a whole.

...With a few issues.

1. Excellent exposé on some hitherto not deeply touched wh40k stuff in the Officio Assassinorum.
2. The book's title may have originally been intended to be "Execution Force" - a rather stilted-sounding artificial term they probably should have removed from the book entirely. Remember all the book and movies you've read or watched where the title of the work absolutely has to be mentioned several times? Yeah, kind of like that, except they changed the title and forgot to take the references out and probably should have at least taken the gratuitous capitalization out. Unless you want to read it as comedy in a Dolph Lundgren voice: "I ahm The Exekution Force."
3. While Mr. Swallow does an admirable to great job of character exposé and fleshing out people to make the reader actually care what happens to them, the use of the long-lost brother-sister trope is a bit over the top, though less discerning readers will no doubt enjoy that, in a soap opera type of way.
4. There are some minor plot holes, not uncommon in the Horus Heresy books, such as a blood-thirsty pure killing machine is an unstoppable and always switched-on killing machine that needs his own specific super-gravity prison one page and then is a reasonable, reasoning murderer the next page, capable of standing around and having arguments like an almost-civilized person.
5. Some spelling mistakes. Editors, get it together.
6. There's a bit of work involved on the part of the reader to keep track of which assassin is what "clade" and capable of what stuff. Might have been useful to have a small blurb or a sentence for each clade in the intro pages.

Who should read this:
WH40K fluff lovers.
People who like well-written military sci-fi.
Horus Heresy-interested people.
Anyone who likes stories of futuristic assassins with a slice of daemons and witchcraft/psykers.

I've read all Horus Heresy novels to date and this is one of my favorites. Action intermingled with shocking plot twists. The character progression is excellent, and I found my heart strings tugged by the outcomes.

I have all the Horus Heresy books, and I must say, this one is one of the good ones. Even from the cover art I could tell that this was going to be good. I mean assassins? Trying to kill Horus? Awesome idea. Of course as we all know *SPOILER ALERT* they failed (the Emperor kills Horus), the story is very interesting. Each of the assassins are portrayed very realistically, and the action scenes are hard and brutal. You'll be reading up to the wee hours of the morning, because even though you already know the outcome, you'll still care enough about the characters to wonder "what happens next?!".

The book had some interesting character development, but generally failed to explain any of the key points of the Horus Heresy story line. This is, basically, an extra book for the series, that is not necessary in the saga. The information and insight into the imperial assassins is interesting and the sacrifices of their humanity is tragically sad. If you need something to read while waiting for the next plot point of the horus heresy to be released, this book fills that need.