Michael C.

A solid, older book

Revisado: 08-24-23

I really enjoyed this, one of my first Guard books. ADB is as solid as always even though you can tell this was one of his earlier books. I enjoyed the narration as well. The only thing that through me was when this takes place, as Cadia is said to be being invaded by Abbadon, but this was all before GW retconned the original 13th Black Crusade so it's not a big deal. Enjoyable all around

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Abnett at his most indulgent

Revisado: 07-30-23

First of all, the narration is great as is Keebles standard. That being said, the story here is not great. If you are expecting an exciting climax that builds off of Echoes of Eternity, this does not. If you finally want insight into the Emperor or Malcador, this has very little. If you want a lot of Frontline combat, this doesn't have much of that either. There are so many different plot lines clunking together that it takes you out of the store. Every, single time momentum starts to build, it's ground to a halt by 10 minutes spent on the layers of dirt of the Imperial Palace, or another side plot that didn't need to exist. I'll still get part two (and inevitably part 3 when it comes) but if they're anything like this, my hype is gone. The fact that the same author did this, as did Know No Fear, Horus Rising and Legion blows my mind

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A good tale on all fronts

Revisado: 05-30-23

I personally rate Brooks works very highly and this is no different. While not perfect, this is the Lion we should've gotten during the Heresy from other authors. The ensemble cast here is well done as well, everyone from the Risen, to the Chaos marines are well characterized and portrayed. Timothy Watson does a great job with the narration as well

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Unfortunately mixed

Revisado: 11-08-21

The parts with the Sons of Horus and the actual battle are the highlights of the book. Unfortunately there are a bunch of side plots (one in particular about an incestuous family) that really don't add much to the overall story. It helps if you listen to the short stories "Little Horus" and "The Either" as they both deal with the Dwell campaign which is mentioned heavily here as a prequel.

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A good followup to Mortarion after Scars

Revisado: 06-14-21

A solid stepping point for Mortarion between Scars and where we see him in Vengeful Spirit and The Buried Dagger. Another good performance by Longworth as well

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Get this if you have any interest in the BAs

Revisado: 04-27-21

I am not a Haley megafan, but this is one of his best, second only to Devastation of Baal. Armstrong also delivers a solid performance

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Not a lot of Valdor for a book called Valdor

Revisado: 02-13-21

This book has the same problem that some of the Primarch novels do, where it features the title character but is mainly focused on someone else. Wraight is a good author and this is not exception, but the story is mainly centered around a High Lord, a gene scientist and then another Custode. While Valdor is in it, and does have some good moments, I would be prepared for the majority of this book to not have Valdor in it. If the book was just titled "Birth of the Imperium" it would remove my complaint, but having Valdors name in the title is a little deceptive and doesn't help manage expectations going into it

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Mixed

Revisado: 12-06-20

Overall this is probably the best of the Siege series, but the end has some serious consistency issues to the point where it's immersion and almost lore breaking in some sections. This is very much a "loyalist good traitor bad" story so if you're a fan of the traitor legions (two in particular but I won't put them here for spoilers sake), then you're not going to be happy with how they're portrayed here. The performances were good, and bringing in Emma Gregory to do Kroles voice was a great choice.

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A mixed bag

Revisado: 08-28-19

I'm torn about this book. Its written as a TV series finale, with flashbacks to throughout Curze's life and reoccurring characters (Sev, Talos, Scrivok etc) that we have seen before as a kind of fan service.
Some of it, particularly in the first half can be hard to follow because it jumps around (sometimes without indication), which I think is on purpose to mimic Curze losing his sanity, as he recounts his tale. I didn't particularly care for the first half of the book, and I think the author went too deep into the "Curze is insane" feeling, which is true, but could've been done better like we have seen with ADBs night lords books.

The second half of the book is much better in my opinion, and is pretty sad as Curze finishes his tale, has one last conversation (maybe) with someone you wouldn't expect and then comes to the end that we all already know.

Keeble, as always, does a good job with the narration

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A mixed bag

Revisado: 07-24-19

The highlight of this is Keeble's performance, he nails all of the voices well especially Malcadors.

Other than that, my big complaint with the story is that a vast majority of of the book focuses not on the war for Sol, but on a remembrancer from the first four books in the series (French makes her central to the plot, but she honestly didn't need to be in the book at all, let alone in what's supposed to be the opening chapter of the Siege). The other parts of the book which focus on Jubal Khan, Sigismund, and Abbadon are good, and you get a good taste of not only void warfare but intership fighting as well.

The other complaint I had with the story is that it follows a pattern, which kind of takes away from the hard fought nature of the war that's being fought. There might be a slight spoiler with this, but I won't talk about any details. Basically the loyalists fight hard, almost win the battle and then the traitors win because of warp stuff. This same cycle repeats 3-4 times throughout the book, so by the end of it, the victories fought by combat feel kind of cheap and overpowered by the warp stuff.

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