Cyndi

Great story from an underrepresented chapter

Revisado: 01-10-25

Didn't know much about the exorcists going in, and now I'm a fan. Their chapter rituals and character are fleshed-out well with their unique style of warfare in a great story.

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Great stories to add color

Revisado: 09-22-23

Perfect for those who have mostly exhausted the series or the HH books they're interested in and are looking for a few extra stories to add a bit more color to the primarchs. Nothing groundbreaking nor central to the Lore, but fun. Also, this new narrator rules. I hope he does more.

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A Decent PR Makeover

Revisado: 04-28-23

anyone familiar with The Lion from the Horus Heresy has been wondering what his awakening would mean in M42. From his established characterization it wouldn't be unusual for the old knight to take one look around and begin drowning xenos and imperial Ecclesiarchs alike in phosphex. Some might say anything less would betray the most basic expectations. But that won't work in 40k and if you're like me, you're picking up this book to see how good a makeover Mike Brooks can do. The answer is a mad decent one. my biggest concern was that they would gloss over his old characterization entirely, but Mike Brooks does a fine job of addressing it and providing a reasonable avenue through which The Lion can grow and mature as a character. if anything, The Lion's old anger and arrogance is sometimes mentioned too often leading to a constant reminder that he is different now. Instead of accidentally punching the head clean off a trusted lieutenant in a gory burst of anger, he now knows how to breath and meditate.

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Extremely Mid. Stop Hiring John Banks.

Revisado: 01-28-23

I can't believe this low-tier story arc is the main account of the Indomitus Crusade and Black Library's central lore for current 40k. I can't believe I've listened to four of these books now hoping they'll get better. I can't believe I've suffered this much John Banks. I understand that Jonathan Keeble and Toby Longworth are fully-booked for their respective Black Library series. But, there's Timothy Watson, Richard Reed, David Timson.. if you want John Banks then Stephen Perring is a better John Banks than John Banks is. Give some of these to Joe Shire or Philip Sacremento. They're similar one-trick ponies in terms of their limited voices, but their voices sound better and they know how to give them inflection and personality. They have the basic human sense of dramatic movements. John Banks is permanently doing an impression of Data from Star Trek - a droning android.

Joe Jameson was godlike narrating the Forge of Mars series. He's so goddamn talented what is Black Library doing? Is John Banks related to Kevin Rountree???? At this point there are 40k stories I'm avoiding because I can only deal with so much John Banks.

Dawn of Fire is lame. Don't bother until it (hopefully) gets better.

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It was okay (minor spoilers kind of)

Revisado: 01-10-23

I hate John Banks. His range of voices sucks. His narrative cadence and sense of emphasis or gravitas is entirely lacking. No matter what he's reading, his narrator voice is the same artificial android tone. He's so bad at his job stop employing him.

Story was mediocre. It hyper focuses on a conflict for a world required as a key resupply center for the indomitus crusade in the sector. For.. reasons, the entire plot of this full length book amounts to barely a footnote in the grand scheme. Haley pulled off his ending quite well - the characters and their sacrifices at worst forgotten at best abused as tokens of Imperial Propaganda. Now, if he could have written good characters and interesting characters that were worth becoming invested in, then this ending would have hit the emotional devastation high note he was aiming for and this would be a 5/5. I suspect Haley first came up with the concept for this story which is why the ending is so strong, but he was not able to drag the concept into reality with the multidimensional characters required.

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Definitely worth a listen

Revisado: 12-15-22

Overall it’s a good addition to the series. It moves quickly and has enough going on to hold your attention. However, there are some elements of the story that are a little off-putting. The pace of the romantic story line seems very accelerated which makes it a little hard to really believe in. Also, at times the daughter is written like she’s much younger than 15 (i.e. not knowing the word “concussion”). Everything gets tied up with a neat little bow at the end and the main pieces of the overarching story line seem to be largely resolved. I think that should feel really satisfying but there’s something a little hollow about losing all of the mystery. I’m not sure if there will be another installment in the series, but if she stopped here I think I’d be satisfied with how things turned out for the characters. Overall it was enjoyable but I wouldn’t say it was the authors best work.

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A New Contender for Best in Series (so far)

Revisado: 09-05-22

After years of bolter porn, you become calloused to it. ADB figured out how to make Warhammer battle scenes visceral and heavy to a higher degree than I thought possible. Considering this book is about the Siege's blood-soaked climax, not only did ADB pull it off, he went yard. I was pulled into the melee through his writing and hit in the feels more than a few times. The background information about Blood Angels' history was unexpected and enjoyable. I can already imagine some parts of this novel riling up certain fans. But, if we're setting aside any factional fanatacism (some folks get connected to legions like sports teams) and instead talking about *Story* and *Writing*, then this book is a no-doubt contender for best in the series so far whether you're a Saturnine or a Warhawk person.

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The Art of Laughing Lightning

Revisado: 06-14-22

Chris Wraight has made me a full convert to the White Scars. This book is also a great example of scale creep done right. The battles are bigger, the plot is more complex, the story threads more numerous and spread apart, and the characters introduced in the previous book "Scars" are placed into the pressure cooker to see what deeper characterization comes of it. This is standard operating procedure, but not everyone can stick the landing. Wraight does so skillfully with a tidy bow unifying everything at the end without grasping for a 40k deus ex machina like "it was a C'tan Shard the whole time!". There are also few examples of sucessfully fleshing-out the character of a primarch. Jaghatai is handled expertly.

Bonus Points: The story was so good I only fell asleep one time due to John Bank's narration. Seriously, though. The man has no sense of dramatic gravitas. A dramatic climax, decrescendo, an expository description of setting - it's all read in the same voice, cadence, volume, etc.

Please give more books to some of these new narrators like Joe Jameson. I love the Forge of Mars series, and a large part of that is his performance. John Banks suuuuuucks.

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Incredible

Revisado: 04-25-22

The format returns to that of the most successful 40k books wherein the post-human experiences of a space marine are filtered through a solid human character. The pacing is excellent. The motifs commonly wrapped around Sigismund - the stillness in a moment where the drops of rain slow to pause, the strength of the character in his refusal to stay down when he falls, the cold efficiency of his being - are expounded upon without feeling ham-fisted. Instead, they are deftly woven into the story and its structure. There is a great balance between pieces of lore we already know and new ones like his experience being chosen as a child for reforging into astartes. This book is now among my top 5 Horus Heresy novels at large. The narrator is also to Sigismund what Kevin Conroy is to the voice of Batman. It's so important to get right and Timothy Watson kills it. He also manages to voice distinct and well known characters like Kharn in the way we're used to hearing them - also important for immersion. 5/5, 10/10. Listen to this book if you like the Horus Heresy and if you like books in general.

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A breathe of fresh air

Revisado: 04-21-22

This narrator is amazing. Idk why they keep paying John Banks when you can get this guy. Seriously, why are you still paying John Banks to narrate so many books?? Coming off a binge of grim HH novels and out of interesting novels in the current timeline (blood of the emperor, dark imperium was a slog and I do not recommend the A Dawn of Fire series), this story was a great pallet cleanser. A straightforward action adventure story with a wide cast of characters with decent characterization. They're still somewhat flat McNeil type characters but they're so varied and so many of them interacting you hardly notice. The pacing is great as there's always a perspective to jump to. The basic premise of adventuring out past the edge of the galaxy with black templars, cadians, all kinds of adeptus mechanicus, and some menials coughslavescough, in search of a lost expedition is something few people would turn down. Ignore the dude railing about a black templar reclusiarch ditching his armor for formal wear - it's only one scene and the best thing about warhammer is there is no such thing as absolute cannon.

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