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Zardu Layak: The Crimson Apostle - Rich McCormick Another strange pick for the Heresy Character Series. Oddly enough, I've found that the less a character's needed one, the more enjoyable (if not necessarily higher quality) their book has been for me. This continues that trend, Layak needed this treatment the least after Sigismund, and it's also my favourite after Sigismund. By this pattern, if Typhus ever gets an entry into this series, it will be unreadable. McCormick returns after an extremely ambitious but messy debut novel, and in some ways this continues the trend. This is a story designed to tell you about the title character, conventional structure be damned. To his credit, he does make Layak his own character after one book of personifying "Lorgar's habits finally bite him in the ass" and three books of being "Generic Chaos Preacher Man." We get snippets of his past, we get several other characters' unique perceptions of him, ultimately making him a sort of anti-Erebus. Layak too came from nothing, but instead of using Chaos as an excuse to gain power, Layak wants nothing but to serve the gods. He is not the hand of destiny, he is its tool, and is the embodiment of the legion's acceptance of the universe's "truth." With that in mind, I think McCormick does justify the choice of Layak for this series - the Heresy doesn't really have another Word Bearers POV that displays this degree of zealousness. Talgron and Argel Tal struggle to retain some decency despite serving the dark gods, and Erebus and Kor Phaeron are ultimately only in it for themselves. Layak is truly, unironically, in it for the Gods and has no pretensions about this fact. The supporting characters are well chosen also. Our human POV, Barnhart, provides both a mortal view of Layak's inscrutable nature, and is a much needed reminder that even during the Great Crusade, astartes actions had plenty of well-trained Guardsmen support (I just wish we actually found out what became of her.) Our antagonists Hebek, Saucan, and Kulnar all embody the less "pure" Word Bearers templates: Hebek is only in it for himself, Kulnar believes himself uniquely enlightened, and Saucan thinks his is the vision that will rule the galaxy. This is quite effective in both highlighting why Layak ends up Chaos' mouthpiece for a time, and by contrasting against him they each become fairly memorable. This book is both a well done character study of its title character, and a very dignifying account of the Word Bearers that breaks away from the "bad fighters surrounded by cannon fodder cultists" stereotype. I think if each Character Series and Primarchs book were written in this way, they'd all be beloved by the fandom. But I did say it was messy. It's a book that knows exactly what it wants to do at the expense of structure. The first half is great - it establishes the conflict and the characters, we take a journey to the place of conflict, and see a confrontation with the first guy he came to kill. Then the second half is basically two instances of: "Layak immediately finds the next Anakatis Blade holder, their philosophies clash, Layak wins." Layak's victories don't feel terribly earned, and much like Lord of Excess, the back half takes "all killer, no filler" to the extreme by compacting necessary connective tissue to the absolute bare minimum (or less.) It makes for an easy read - it's hard not to enjoy a version of a story that's just the most interesting parts - but also transparently an excuse plot to show what McCormick wants to show. But can I really complain about that when it's both easy to read and fulfills the purpose of the book perfectly? Not with much gusto. Waiter! Waiter! My steak is too tender. My lobster is too buttery! McCormick continues to impress, and his love for the setting is apparent in both his books so far. Very much looking forward to the next one, messy or not. Arbitrary numerical rating is a 7.5/10