Piotr Szymaszek

The adventures of an inept megalomaniac

Revisado: 06-21-24

The problem with this book is that the main character is just not very compelling. He does not achieve anything of significance on his own (except when it comes to backstabbing his warband). He does not grow as a character and at the end of the book, nothing really happened. The entirety of the book is confined to a single world, with barely anything going on for it. It is a good character study for the Emperor's Children and just how pathetic they can be in their arrogance, but other than that, you can skip it and not miss much.

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Should have been a standalone book

Revisado: 01-02-24

As much as I like the book itself, it really should not have been part of the Dawn of Fire series. The only connection to the broader story is at the very start and the very end of it. Feels like the author had this book written some time ago, but the series needed a filler book, so they repurposed it.

As for the book itself - the characters were all good, had complex characters and motivations. The mystery was quite well done and you can't really see how it turns out. By the end I was rather surprised how it wrapped up, so that is a plus.

Overall it is a shame it ended up as a part of a series it barely has an impact on, otherwise I would score it higher.

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It is good

Revisado: 05-30-23

I really like Lovegrove's work on Holmes mythos, but I really prefer longer format than short stories. Now these stories are good and entertaining, but they are pretty short. I would tune in and tune out without paying too much attention to most of them.

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The story was OK, character interactions were bad

Revisado: 02-23-23

I was initially excited for the prospect of a book centered around the female descendant of Holmes, but quickly learned it was a mistake. The intrigue was mostly OK, nothing groundbreaking or ingenious, but the dialogue, especially between Holmes' daughter and Watson's son, was just plain bad. Bad to a point of sounding like fan fiction. Now I do not know if the subsequent books are any better, but I would try to start with later installments if you are considering giving it a listen regardless. There is nothing in this book that cannot be caught up to quickly.

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One of few really good Lovercraft books

Revisado: 09-15-21

These stories are a perfect modern version of Lovecraft's work. Even though they rely on some tropes too much (I think every one of them enumerated all existing occult books and Mythos gods, which was *tiresome*), they still are very fun. None of them are exactly scary, but the narrator did a fantastic job creating a threatening atmosphere, which really elevated the works. Mr Saxon, I do salute you for your work.

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This is a good book no matter what people tell you

Revisado: 07-18-21

Right, so if anyone tells you that this book is some sort of heresy, then I would advise yo not to trust that person in the future. Really, the best way I can describe it is "what if prequels were written by someone, who knows how to craft a sensible story and dialogue". The author takes an interesting approach and does not put the Jedi and the villain of the story in direct conflict until much later on, first doing *a lot* of setup. This may be the books biggest flaw to most people, since unless you like slow burns and world building, this can drag on for ages. Still, don't be discouraged - there is a lot of payoff. Frankly, the author is great at the setup - payoff loop and makes sure characters act in sensible way - no sudden heroism from selfish people, no braindead moments for characters just so the story can be pushed forward. If there is a plot point, it either gets resolved during the book or is progressed to a point where it will clearly be addressed in the next entries in the series.

Overall I cannot guarantee that you will like it, but certainly don't believe the bad press this book received from people who did not want to like it in the first place.

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One of the stronger entries in the Siege of Terra

Revisado: 07-07-21

First of all - do not trust people saying this book has too many characters, or that it introduces random people with plots going nowhere. I think there is one, maybe two completely new characters to follow, the rest were introduced either in the Horus Heresy books or in the previous Siege of Terra novels.

It is a continuation of the struggles against the arch enemy, exploring how different branches of the Imperium handle the gruelling siege, with the big players (Dorn, Perturabo, Space Marines) taking a bit of a back seat. The titular Mortis are funnily enough in maybe a third of the book, but I do not think it would have benefited from more Titan action. We already have Titandeath and that was enough of that. There are some big reveals, there are some nice twists and overall the story progresses at a nice pace. Just remember that this is part of a bigger story, not a standalone book, so it will take a while to get things actually resolved.

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Yet another great book in the series

Revisado: 11-26-20

Having read all the previous books in the series, this is the first time I have listened to an audio version. I was afraid the Scottish accent might be an issue, but thankfully it was just enough of it to make it feel authentic, but not to make the words undecipherable. The lector managed to make different accents quite distinct, so you could easily tell people apart just by that alone.

As for the story, it was standard for Logan MacRae books, but still really entertaining. Even though I managed to see a couple of small things coming and sometimes the characters acted a tad too incompetent in my opinion, I can hardly think of any bad spots or places where it was boring. What I have enjoyed most however, is the sheer ability of the author to make me chuckle on a constant basis, because of all the funny, authentic dialogue and very witty, sarcastic writing.

Overall both the performance and the contents of the book are an easy recommendation and if you are a Logan fan, this is a must. Now you do not need to read all the previous books to enjoy it, but long time fans will get the most out of it.

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A stepping stone in a bigger story

Revisado: 02-19-20

In my opinion this books is just a stepping stone, because there is no big reveal as in the previous one and the story got moved only partially, ending on a promise of another book. While Terra is being assaulted by 13th Crusade forces, the main character conducts his own investigation which does indeed shed light on some cool things, but feels disjointed from the events going on in the broader Imperium.

I cannot say that I did not enjoy it, because it is well written, but my feelings are a bit mixed.

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More of a window into the Death Guard than a book

Revisado: 02-19-20

In general, the book focuses much more on describing the inner working of the Death Guard than anything else. Unfortunately, I feel the story suffered because of that. It gets pretty tedious listening to more and more descriptions of how things look on their ship and how disgusting everything is, so I found myself half-listening to it most of the time.

I would recommend only to real Death Guard fans, which I am not.

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