White Dwarf #29 - Grey Knights

This week's White Dwarf has arrived, and it features the somewhat surprise codex release of Grey Knights. For August at least, Games Workshop is ramping up the already frantic rules release schedule, giving us a second codex this month.

In the teaser blurb, it is hinted that the mysterious past of the Grey Knights will be at least partially revealed as tying back to their founding during the Horus Heresy. The promise of possibly linking up with the Garro series has me at least intrigued from a fluff perspective.

Know No Fear (Horus Heresy Book 19) Review

Next up in the Horus Heresy Review Series is Know No Fear, by Dan Abnett. As the subtitle suggests, this story centers around the battle of Calth, where the Ultramarines are attacked by the Word Bearers. As always, potential spoilers ahead.

If I were to summarize the story, it would boil down to "don't piss off Ultramarines." There are plenty of badass moments for the Ultramarines, including Guilliman hanging out in space without a helmet for a while.

Deliverance Lost (Horus Heresy Book 18) Review

It has been a long time, but I need to catch up with my Horus Heresy Review series. It has been a while since I read Deliverance Lost, but I liked it, in large part because it features two of my favorite Legions, Raven Guard and Alpha Legion. As always, spoiler alert for below the bump, though it might be fairly general.

The Outcast Dead (Horus Heresy Book 17) Review

I'm trying to catch up with my Horus Heresy Review series, but right now my reading is outpacing my analyses. The next in the series is The Outcast Dead by Graham McNeill. This is one that I'd heard whispers about, so was excited to read it. I was not disappointed in that the book shows a lot of Terra and the Imperial Palace in particular, not to mention insight into the Astropaths, a pretty underrepresented group. Anyway, as always, spoiler alert ahead.

Age of Darkness (Horus Heresy Book 16) Review

Continuing on with the Horus Heresy review series, the next up is the second short story collection. This collection contains nine short stories spanning a majority of the legions. With these short stories, some are cool from a story standpoint, but in the end are fairly inconsequential, while others might introduce something for following novels, or follow a new aspect of an old novel. As always, spoilers may follow.

Prospero Burns (Horus Heresy Book 15) Review

I took a bit of a break, but I'm back to the Horus Heresy review series with Prospero Burns by Dan Abnett. This was the one book I'd read before coming into the series. As with previous reviews, spoilers ahead.

The First Heretic (Horus Heresy Book 14) Review

The first entry in the Horus Heresy from Aaron Dembski-Bowden is the story of the architects of the Horus Heresy: the Word Bearer Legion. Continuing the Horus Heresy Review Series, this novel gets back to some of the main action of the Heresy. As with the recent reviews, following the jump, there will be spoilers.

Nemesis (Horus Heresy Book 13) Review

Next up in the Horus Heresy Series is Nemesis, by James Swallow. Ever since Flight of the Eisenstein, I have looked forward to reading more of his work. Listening to the Garro Audio dramas he wrote were fun, but I didn't get the same feeling from them as his novel. This novel focuses on the Officio Assassinorum and agents of its five clades: Eversor, Callidus, Culexus, Venenum, Vanus, and Vindicare.

As with recent reviews, I will put the spoiler alert here: below the jump I will not hold back details I think are relevant for discussion.

A Thousand Sons (Horus Heresy Book 12) Review

Marching right along in the Horus Heresy review series, next up is Book 12, A Thousand Sons. This book begins to touch on the one Horus Heresy storyline I'd read before embarking on this journey; Prospero Burns. I'd known from just a background and discussion perspective that the story of the Thousand Sons was a tragic one. Unlike other fallen legions, as has been hinted at in previous books in the series, and False Gods in particular, Magnus and the Thousand Sons are not part of the Heresy exactly. As a reminder, Magnus is the one who tries to stop Erebus when Horus is sick and prevent his turning.

As with recent reviews, I'll put the spoiler alert here, because I will not hide from them if I want to discuss them after the jump. You've been warned.

Fallen Angels (Horus Heresy Book 11) Review

Continuing with the Horus Heresy Review Series, next up is Book 11, Fallen Angels. This book is a follow up to Descent of Angels, and follows the same characters. While I think Fallen Angels includes enough review that a reader wouldn't be totally lost if they skipped the previous book, it certainly helped. As a result, this book helped me appreciate Descent of Angels a bit more. After the jump I'll get into some of the details (aka Spoiler Alert) but I actually really liked this novel. I was a little leery of continuing a story arc that I hadn't enjoyed overmuch, but the story is generally well crafted and pretty fast paced.

Tales of Heresy (Horus Heresy Book 10) Review

Next up in my Horus Heresy Review Series is Book 10, Tales of Heresy, a collection of seven short stories by assorted authors. I really liked the format as it allowed for glimpses into multiple legions and story lines. As with my Mechanicum review, I am not going to avoid spoilers in this review, particularly since the short-story format requires spoilers for any real discussion I believe. After the jump, I will go through each story in turn with my impressions, how I think it fits with the rest of the book, and any interesting hints or story lines.

Mechanicum (Horus Heresy Book 9) Review

Continuing with my Horus Heresy review series, the next book is the first to not follow Space Marines directly (though Legion has arguably very little directly following the Alpha Legion), instead focusing on events on Mars. As a result, the subject matter was fresh and new and interesting. With this book, and I believe going forward, after the jump I'm going to be less cautious about spoilers, so be forewarned. I am open to input whether this or the previous format is preferred. The reason I'm leaning to this new format is partly out of inspiration from listening to the After Ullanor podcasts, but also because I am worried that non-spoiler reviews are getting a little repetitive and vague.

In summary, the book follows several story lines of characters on Mars. The protagonist is arguably Dalia, a simple scribe who has incredibly memory and intuitive skills, and is not of the Mechanicum. Other minor (sort-of and only by comparison) story arcs follow the Legio Tempestus (Titans - sweeet!), a group of Knights, and a few Mechanicum Adepts. The arc of the story shows the triumphs and potential of the 30k Mechanicum, their fall, and a bit of why technology in 40k is the way it is.

Battle for the Abyss (Horus Heresy Book 8) Review

Back to the Horus Heresy Series, I recently finished up Battle for the Abyss. After Legion, I had a bit of a book hangover and took a couple breaks in the reading of this novel. Not because it was bad by any stretch, but it was certainly a good bit more direct and so, there was a bit less suspense I felt. As I mentioned in my Galaxy in Flames review, I've been a Ben Counter fan since Soul Drinker; I think he does an excellent job of developer characters through action and not having to divide the two. You get to learn about a character as the plot progresses swiftly, without stopping for a lot of background. At the same time, while the plot progresses quickly, the characters don't end up as boring, static action heroes.

Legion (Horus Heresy Book 7) Review

Continuing with the Horus Heresy Series, and after struggling to finish Descent of Angels, I was hesitant to dive in to another book. That said, I knew Dan Abnett was capable of writing a good book, so it was more a feeling of being burnt out than anything. That said, once I picked it up, I didn't really put it down.

Descent of Angels (Horus Heresy Book 6) Review

Continuing in my Horus Heresy Reviews series, I recently finished Descent of Angels, which I had been looking forward to a bit during Fulgrim because Dark Angels have always been so shrouded in mystery (and they wear cool robes). As I mentioned in my Fulgrim review, I was looking forward to getting away from the Istvaan incident and the legions involved there, and so, I had high hopes for this novel.

Fulgrim (Horus Heresy Book 5) Review

Unlike the previous books, when I finished Flight of the Eisenstein I wasn't in a big hurry to pick this book up. I knew it would go back and retread some of the same plot points I'd been over at least twice for one, and I also didn't want to leave the story of Nathaniel Garro. I wanted his story arc to continue. But I was drawn on if only to get other perspectives on the story we'd encountered so far.

Flight of the Eisenstein (Horus Heresy Book 4) Review

As has been my habit with these, after finishing Book 3, I quickly moved on to Book 4. While Galaxy in Flames tied up the Loken trilogy, it also hinted at the importance of the divergent story arc surrounding Nathaniel Garro. Just in case you want to read back, previous reviews for Book 1 and Book 2 are linked. As before, I will try to largely avoid spoilers, but we all know generally how things will go.

Galaxy in Flames (Horus Heresy Book 3) Review

Like with Book 2, I bought Galaxy in Flames immediately after finishing False Gods (review here) and started reading just about straight-away. This novel more or less ties up the first trilogy that started with Horus Rising (review here). As with previous reviews, I'll try to avoid spoilers, but this one might make it tougher; at this point there's no way to avoid mentioning some events of Book 1 and 2, so if you haven't read them yet, maybe wait until you have.

False Gods (Horus Heresy Book 2) Review

Once I finished Book 1 of the series I was hooked and immediately bought Book 2: False Gods, at around midnight on a weeknight. As with Horus Rising, the first line is a heck of a hook: "I was there the day that Horus fell..."

Horus Rising (Horus Heresy Book 1) Review

I know I am way behind the times, but the Horus Heresy books were first released in my time away from the hobby. I am an avid reader, but always found Black Library novels fairly hit or miss in terms of enjoyment, some being absolutely atrocious while others being fun. My interest in the Horus Heresy series was piqued when +Chandler D lent me a copy of the audio Prospero Burns to listen to at work. I was thoroughly impressed by scope and quality of the writing, pleasantly surprised to find that the novel not only went far beyond an action, hack and slash story, but that I enjoyed a Warhammer novel that couldn't be recreated on the table top. As I read through, I plan on doing short little reviews for anyone who is interested. I will do my best to avoid spoilers, which means the review may have to be fairly generic.

I was sucked in, from the very first line, preceding even the first chapter: "I was there, the day Horus slew the Emperor..."