Weak start into the final chapters

I was waiting a long time to arrive at this point of the series. The weaknesses of the Horus Heresy continues and starts to seriously annoy me. The Traitors still outwit, outmatch and outfight the loyalists at will, the loyalists come across as a band of fumbling fools unable to tie their own shoes. All main Characters of the Legions seem to have Plot Armor- and as soon someone new enters the scene, you know they are, what red shirts where to Star Trek. This book had numerous opportunities to shed light on the Emperor and his thoughts, but decides to foregoe them in order to show off Horus perceived awesomeness some more. The Solar war does not portray the Emperor as a being that- even at this state- is capable of obliterating Horus if he chose to do so. Instead- he comes across as brooding, capricious and impotent- someone Horus will dispatch at his leisure. This framing takes much out what this book could have been. Instead of both sides having their moment to shine, the Traitors have one success after the other, while some plans are so ridiculously convoluted they are just plain old luck or the author simply needs them to work precisely this way for the story to work. Out of all the books of the series, this one had me rolling my eyes several times. Much eye rolling happened every time Abaddon enters the scene, a character French seems to love more than the story itself. The Solar Wars in part feels more like a highlight reel for Abaddon than a real story. The issue is that focusing on a Character everyone knows is going to survive the Heresy; it gets boring very fast. No matter what Situation Abaddons finds himself in, he is going to survive. No matter who he fights, he'll end up winning. No amount of dramatic writing is going to change that. As as last point the book ignores previously established rules of the universe if its useful to the story, like being able to Teleport at will during Ship Battles, even if shield are up- kinda makes Boarding Torpedoes useless. SPOILER: A good part of the Story is a very convoluted arc in which several books back a character has been bewitched to be used as a spy. This "back door" is used by a demon in an attempt to assassinate Rogal Dorn- which of course fails, because everyone know Rogals fate. Horus buts this of as a "minor detail". Yes. The guy that organized the defenses of Terra, a demi God in its own right with a brilliant strategic mind and expert in defending and attrition Warfare escaping your planned Assassination attempt to the very place you intend to conquer is a "detail". I guess someone should remind John French that Horus is supposed to be a strategic genius without equal.

9 Leute fanden das hilfreich

Mavy "just as planned" moments from the traitors

instead of a grinding fight for the solar system, the traitors pull out one warp trick after the other, especially in the second half of the book. A lot of the story is spent POVing traitor characters as they prepare for or anticipate large events of warp magic. I get that the story needs to move forward and they can't spend several books on the battle for sol, but it would have been more interesting to see the attackers adapt to a well prepared defense and using the full arsenal at their disposal to overcome it, rather than simply through "they can do it, because of warp "

5 Leute fanden das hilfreich

Great start to the final part of the heresy

traitor legions finally reach solar system.
great story with an interesting twist in the end.
naval battles dominate the scenes.

1 Person fand das hilfreich

unpersönlich, langatmig, zerrissen, schlecht.

Es ist langweilig, schlecht und leider pure Zeitverschwendung. Schade. 10€ für die Tonne. Es ist m.E. eines der 5 schlechtesten Horus Heresy Büchern....

1 Person fand das hilfreich

Amazing start

Jonathan Keeble delvers am absolutely stunning voice performance. The story fetishes features some favorite characters and a satisfying arc. Keeble is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

Love it

I'm loving the siege of Terra series. Shining a light on many different legions, custodians, sisters of silence and normal guardsmen. Really great books.