Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Heresy begins with a bang, December 11, 2006
For the past year or so fans of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 have been tantalized and teased by the first two books in the Horus Heresy series of novels. These novels from Games Workshop's publishing arm, Black Library, were to detail the root beginnings of the most calamituous event in human history: The Horus Heresy.
The first two books in the series were titled Horus Rising and False Gods respectively. Dan Abnett wrote the first book with Graham McNeill writing the second one. Both books showed in great detail and drama the steps and circumstances which led the Emperor of Mankind's most favored Primarch and Son to stray from the Imperium's creed and falling for the lies and temptations of the Great Powers of Chaos. Abnett and McNeill's take on the Primarch Horus and his Luna Wolves (soon renamed The Sons of Horus) really emphasizes Horus' similarities to Lucifer before that angel's fall from God's grace. By the time False Gods ends the seeds of Horus' heresy has grown and he'd come up with the plans to bring those brother Primarchs he could sway to his cause and manipulate those he sees as threats to be as far away as possible from Terra and the Emperor.
Ben Counter (writer of the very good Soul Drinkers series of books) folows Abnett and McNeill with an action-packed novel that breezes by quick despite being 400+ pages long. Right from the start the reader was dropped into the preparations for an assault on Isstvaan III where a previusly compliant Imperial world has seceded from the Imperium and denounced the Emperor. We're shown how Horus and his new secret allies have made Isstvaan III to be the battleground from which Horus could weed out those Astartes whose loyalty towards the Emperor and his Imperium is much stronger than those to him. He would need to cut this small, but hard core of men from his plans of defeating the Emperor. The rest of the story deals with how Horus' plans for the loyalist Astartes comes to fruition and the fate of such loyalist characters as Saul Tarvitz of the Emperor's Children, Loken and Torgaddon of the Luna Wolves and Captain Nathaniel Garro of the Death Guard. The novel also shows how Garro learns of the heresy and escapes with not just proof of Horus' treachery but the seed and founding of what would become the Imperial Faith in the Emperor as Divine.
Galaxy in Flames was as I'd hoped the beginning of the Heresy into full-blown war would turn out to be. The civil war which now pits brother Astartes against brother Astartes turns out to be as brutal and horrific a fight as any novel concerning these warriors in past Warhammer 40,000 novels. The Heresy has begun with Galaxy in Flames but the war itself is just beginning. Counter's writing was top-notch and this shouldn't be a surprise for anyone who has read his Soul Drinkers series. I'm a bit wary of the next book in the series which brings the story into Captain Garro's hands. The story itself should be told, but James Swallow's work on the Deus Encarmine and Deus Sanguinius were mediocre at best. Here's to hoping that Swallow has researched his subject more and doesn't change the canon of whats allowed.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fast paced action, October 22, 2006
Ben Counter continues the Horus Heresy series with this 3rd installment. The old adage that power corrupts is a significant theme in this series. The book flows at a quick pace with individual struggles for survival spaced between brief interludes describing the plotter and loyalist attempts to discover each others' plans, with the final climatic battle on Isstvan III revealing Warmaster's plot.
The characters originally presented by Dan Abnett and refined by Graham McNeill are in full conflict and action. This installment is more about survival as the Warmaster betrays the loyal Space Marines on Isstvan III by first dispersing them into a hazardous assault on the capital, and then attacking them. Not only are those Space Marines loyal to the Emperor in danger, but also the Remembrancers who follow the same path. The Warmaster is clearing his house of potential distractions and those who may oppose his change in leadership.
The book presents the different views of loyalty, honor, and the desire for power. There is loyalty between the individual characters through the shared experiences of danger. There is loyalty to their commander, Warmaster Horus, and there is loyalty to the human race and the Emperor of Mankind. Then there is loyalty to no one but themselves. The desire for perfection, power, and viewpoints on loyalty give a very human psychology to the super human Space Marines. The conflict of these loyalties results in the major characters being divided along with the resulting conflict.
Not sure how the writers agreed on how to write this series, but they have done a good job so far of developing a theme of questioning absolute power and different viewpoints of morality that was first introduced by Abnett.
W40k fans know the history of the Horus Heresy, but this series gives personality and character to the figures and names depicted in the game. The book's font size is a little bit larger than the previous 2 books, which definitely makes it a lot easier to read after a long day without having to strain one's eyes. Overall, light reading and quick paced, finished it in one evening and found it to be entertaining.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A worthy chapter in the Heresy saga, October 20, 2006
Ben Counter tells the difficult story of bravery and betrayal, heroism and treachery on Isstvan III extremely well.
This installment is less about the Warmaster and more about those who are forced to come to grips with their allegiance and duty to the Emperor of Mankind: Captains Garviel Loken (Sons of Horus), Tarik Torgaddon (Sons of Horus), Saul Tarvitz (Emperor's Children), Nathaniel Garro (Deathguard), Kharn (World Eaters) and of course- the Swordmaster Lucius (Emperor's Children).
In this book, Counter effectively captures the struggle by all to make the choice between their chapter legions and the master of humanity. For those seduced by the warp gods of Chaos, there can only be one decision: heresy. This book takes the reader down the paths faced by each key Space Marine and details the decisions that will ultimately decide their fate.
For those of us familiar with the events of the Horus Heresy, there is no real surprise in the outcome, for those who follow their consciences know in their hearts what will happen. Counter's tale is one of moral courage and duty. Does one take the path of least resistance, or does one stay true to sworn obligations and allegiances? The ultimate betrayal by the one trusted friend and comrade in Choral City comes as no surprise, but is just as gut-wrenching and tragic than it would have been if the history of the Horus Heresy had not already been written.
This book is must-reading for any Warhammer 40k enthusiast, and as a professional soldier myself, I found that many of the questions and eventual decisions (and their consequences) that Loken, Tarvitz, Garro and Torgaddon made are similar ones that I faced as a leader of troops in the Middle East.
Top-notch reading.
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