Near the end of July, Black Library released four Horus Heresy short story eBooks through their website. Naturally, as a real Heresy junky, I gobbled these up ASAP. All four are pretty different, offering alternative perspectives on different events and times during the galaxy-spanning civil war that dictates much of how mankind operates in the 41st Millennium (the ‘present’ for the game and system). So, here are four mini-reviews of these excellent stories…
A Horus Heresy Short Story
Bloodied but unbowed, the Raven Guard and the Iron Hands fight on. In the wake of the Dropsite Massacre, the shattered Legions are still prepared to bring the fight to Warmaster Horus and his traitorous allies. On the doomed forge world of Cavor Sarta, two veteran warriors of the Imperium strike deep into the heart of the Dark Mechanicum’s territory. With bolter and blade ready to cut down any who cross their path, they will seek out the enemy’s most valued asset: the mysterious ‘Kryptos’...
This is the story of a two-Astartes infiltration-and-capture mission. It’s a short story, but one that packs quite a punch and perfectly shows off McNeill’s skill in writing shorter fiction – you get everything you need, and are dropped right in without any difficulty. I really enjoyed this. That being said, I’m sad it’s only a short story, as a longer format would would have allowed the author to really explore some of the themes he touches on in greater detail.
A Horus Heresy Anthology
From the battlefields of Phall and Isstvan, to the haunted shadows of Terra itself – the greatest war in the history of mankind rages on. While the traitor Legions continue their campaign of terror across the galaxy, preparations are made for the defence of the Imperial Palace and the final, inevitable reckoning that must yet come between Horus and the Emperor...
I know a few readers who really don’t like the Horus Heresy anthologies of short stories, but I rather like them. They offer some great gap-filling fiction for specific events (noteworthy or just interesting), and are great for marking time between the full-length novels. It’s just a pity that some of these stories couldn’t be longer still – there are two novella length stories (one by the great Aaron Dembski-Bowden), but the rest of the stories within are pretty short. I think it’s a good collection, but some people may be disappointed with the fact that three of the stories are just prose versions of audio-books. As someone who prefers prose to audio, though, I thought this was a great read and addition to the series.
Performed by: Peter Longworth
The world of Idos is on the verge of destruction, wracked by catastrophic storms and plagued by ravening tyranids. Into this maelstrom come the Raven Guard 4th Company, the warzone perfectly suited to their lightning-strike methods of combat.
Led by Veteran Sergeant Grayvus, their mission is simple – to rescue the planet’s last survivors. But in the midst of this nightmare, they receive new orders to locate and destroy a power station. The station is built upon a fault line, and the resulting quake would swallow thousands of tyranids and turn the war in the Imperium’s favour. Grayvus and his company must fight their way through genestealers, acid spore mines and a deadly biomorph if they are to succeed and reclaim Idos for the Imperium.
Just a really quick review. I thought this was a pretty good audio-book. I enjoyed it, certainly, but I don’t know why I don’t rate it as highly as some others do. It’s not that it’s bad, by any stretch of the imagination – the story itself is pretty good. It just didn’t stick with me as much as some of the others have.
The story is packed with intense, brutal, and detailed warfare between the Raven Guard and the ravening hordes of Tyranids. I liked that Grayvus strategizes about how best to take out a lictor (at the beginning), and plenty of other beasties, giving this story a little more than just hack-and-slash, bolter-filled battles.
I would have preferred a little more character-building and character-development. While there was plenty of detail on how the Raven Guard prosecute a war, and a couple of their idiosyncratic customs, there were moments when I felt I hadn’t really got to know the characters themselves particularly well, or as well as I have in other audio-dramas from Black Library. Perhaps some battles were a tad over-described, as well.
The story is well performed, though – far less melodramatic, and with calmer expressions than in some other performances. On that score, it’s much better than the earlier offerings from Black Library.
So, in sum, Helion Rain is sure to please fans of Space Marine stories, who are after a short, action-packed fix. But, it is not quite as good as some of the other audio-dramas the publisher has released.
The Horus Heresy continues…
As the Horus Heresy divides the Imperium, Corax and his few remaining Raven Guard escape the massacre at Isstvan V. Tending to their wounds, the bloodied Space Marines endeavour to replenish their numbers and return to the fray, taking the fight to the traitor Warmaster.
Distraught at the crippling blow dealt to his Legion, Corax returns to Terra to seek the aid of his father – the Emperor of Mankind. Granted access to ancient secrets, Corax begins to rebuild the Raven Guard, planning his revenge against his treacherous brother Primarchs. But not all his remaining warriors are who they appear to be… the mysterious Alpha Legion have infiltrated the survivors and plan to destroy the Raven Guard before they can rebuild and threaten Horus’s plans.
The Horus Heresy series is one of the best collaborative sci-fi series currently being published, in my opinion. All of the authors working on it bring their A-game, producing some of their best fiction. Deliverance Lost is Gav Thorpe’s first novel for the series, and it is excellent. Like some of the other, more-recent Heresy novels, it offers something new and takes a slightly different approach to the fictional time and setting. Deliverance Lost is great – nuanced, tense and action-packed. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
