Re-visiting and re-evaluating Dark Angels HH-books

[Aegnor]

The building buzz around the Dark Angels, and in particular the novella The Lion have prompted me to go back and revisit the previous Horus Heresy Dark Angel books. I'm two-thirds of the way through Descent of Angels at the moment, and I'm glad I've dug it out to re-read. In part this was due to a comment in one review of "The Lion" that suggested DoA and Fallen Angels were so bad, Black Library should reboot the Dark Angels in the HH and let Gav Thorpe write them this time, which I thought was a bit harsh.

 

I was part of the broad consensus when DoA first came out that it was a disappointing mis-step in the HH series. It bugged the hell out of me while it felt like it took forever to get going and then finished on a cliff hanger. In retrospect, those reactions had a lot to do with how I understood the HH at the time, and what I expected from the "sixth" HH book. Back in 2007 (my goodness, was it that long ago?) we'd had the heady rush of the initial trilogy following Loken and crew, then the "stand-alone" "Death Guard" and "Emperor's Children" books that focused on those legions but advanced the thread of Horus's rebellion - advancing the "main plot" as it were. I know I expected DoA would follow the same pattern. Back then, I don't think anyone knew how many books there were, and the main concern I remember was whether they'd squeeze in all the stuff there was to see in wha I assumed would be 10-12 books that stuck with the "main storyline".

 

So in that context you get DoA, and you spend 221 pages before the Imperium and the Great Crusade, let alone the Heresy is more than vaguely foreshadowed. This, after the crescendo of actions that was the Drop-Site Massacre in Fulgrim. It annoyed me intensely and meant at the time I didn't really give the story a fair chance. It also wasn't clear that each legion's story might get several books to play out.

 

So, re-reading it now, knowing how the series has panned out since, I'm finding it a very different read. Walking in understanding that this is a book about Caliban, and the initial stages of the Lion's reunification with the Imperium and the first legion helps immensely. I'm actually finding that I think I've been pretty harsh on Mitchel Scanlon. Look, he's no Abnett or ADB in terms of the polish and snappiness of his prose, or his ability to combine high paced storyline with characters that suck you in - but his story is actually pretty engaging. It IS patchy in terms of its writing, some bits are really good, other parts read like they needed another trip to the editor. Zahariel is an interesting character - maybe a bit of a Mary Sue, but also fitting into the "thoughtful/philosophical" mold of a Loken, or a Tarvitz.

 

The portrayal of the Lion is interesting, and I warmed to it a great deal more this time than I did originally - although I'm yet to reach the parts in the 3rd act that particularly annoyed many, regarding his dealings with the Saroshi and with Luther after Luther's lapse. There are some great bits - him looking at the stars with Zahariel when the later has just become a knight was a great scene. His appearance during the storming of the Knights of Lupus's castle, and slaying the dragon-beast was great. I think Scanlon actually did some great stuff here in establishing Lion as a really interesting character - and I'm also being more conscious that the views we're getting of him are those of an intelligent, but still naive, awestruck young man trying to understand a Primarch's thinking and actions.

 

I actually think we got a lot of good stuff fleshed out about Caliban and the Order from this book that make me glad I've gone back to re-read it and also make me mentally re-mark it a bit higher than I had previously. That's with the caveat that I'm still only 2/3s thru and the ending might change that - it has been five years since I read it, and I remember the broad strokes of the story but not the fine detail.

 

Does anyone else have any comments on this with the benefit of a few years more HH fluff development compared to when it was first released?

 

I'll follow up after finishing DoA, then do the same with Fallen Angels (which as I recall - even more vaguely - had it's own series of issues).

[facmanpob]

Interesting that you seem to have had the same reaction that I had when I re-read it last year. I didn't think much of it after the first reading either, and felt that it added very little to the Heresy novels. But again, similar to you, now that I know that the Heresy series is about filling in the blanks of the legions, as well as telling the story of the heresy, I can see why having the whole Caliban back story is relevant. I am assuming that there will be a third DA novel within the series, dealing with the return to Caliban.

 

B)

[Komodo]

The story on Caliban is good, but after they depart it's total rubbish.

[Isiah]

At the time of course, one can only 'rate' something at face value and in the context of what else was around at the time. And that essentially was the first three blinding HH books being very freshish in the mind and setting the benchmark. So don't think badly of your first judgments.

 

A reread might well be in order in terms of the DA/development/history specifically - divorcing the subject from the literature as it were and that's fine - but with DoA it still doesn't shine for me.

 

But I agree there were some nice bits - unfortunately not that many. Overall felt lightweight and somehow lacking something it couldn't quite reach.

 

However, the Tower scene you allude to Aegnor is one that resonates withj me too.

[Gillyfish]

Oh, I really enjoyed the book when I originally read it for the reasons you stated above. However, the final section really let it down. It felt tacked on and more about setting up the next book than continuing the existing story arc, so it felt disjointed. The first part of the book set an interesting pace that gave space to the characters and the environment of Caliban to breath and develop, building a picture very nicely. The Emperor's coming was well dealt with too, it's just the later sections that grated and felt rushed and poorly sketched out when compared to what came before.

[Phoebus]

I agree that it was tough reading "Descent of Angels" after the first five Horus Heresy books. In all honesty, GW and BL might have done a better job keeping readers informed and aware of how the series was going to play out. I'm not talking about spoilers, per se, but perhaps some more effort letting folks know that, "Hey, this series will go for more than a decade in all actuality... expect a lot of stories - a lot of different types of stories between now and the Siege of Terra." Maybe some effort was made, but I don't think it's coincidental that so many people lambasted "Descent of Angels" for reasons that so often had to do with how it fit in the chronology, or the absence of the Heresy from its pages.

 

That having been said...

 

I felt Scanlon might not have done the best job setting up the key personas in his book. There was quite a leap from Happy Luther to "I'm showing signs of jealousy..." Luther and finally to "I will let my best friend be murdered!" Luther. That's the problem with having the most important tension associated with secondary characters. Scanlon probably should have taken a page from Abnett and McNeil's book in terms of how much attention he gave Luther and the Lion. Notice how you weren't necessarily privy to Horus' or Fulgrim's thought process, but you were there for pivotal events that revealed just where they were going and why. By contrast, Scanlon relied on just a couple instances of vague implication until Luther finally confesses to Zahariel. Making matters worse, the duo that Scanlon DID focus on, Zahariel and Nemiel, don't feature the necessary conflict to keep the story going.

 

The descriptions of the Order just didn't really grab at me. I wanted to like what I was reading because this was the lore defining the origins of the First Legion, but it just struck me as mostly generic. Lord Cypher and his traditions, and the spiral paths used for swordsmanship "katas" were nice, but other than that I just don't recall anything really memorable. Ditto for Caliban, which - frankly - shocked me. One of the benefits of working within a pre-defined universe is that some of the work is already done for you. So how did Caliban go from a Death World - a planet defined as inimical to human life to a mundane woodland landscape that happens to be populated by the occasional deadly beast?

 

This was disappointing, because Scanlon was literally given license to describe some of the defining aspects of the 40k universe... and seemingly decided to stay within a very narrow "comfort zone".

 

Finally, when it comes to the second half of the book, many noted that it's disassociated from the first half, or that it doesn't have much to do with the Heresy, either. This goes right back to the issue of Scanlon opting to focus on Zahariel and Nemiel instead of the Lion and Luther. The crucial part of the second half is Luther's near-betrayal. Everything else is secondary, but it's forced to take the attention because, again, Luther and the Lion are kept in the background. The author has tried so hard to maintain a level of secrecy out (a misguided "nod" to previous fluff) that the story itself suffers as a result.

 

So, bottom line. To me, "Descent of Angels" suffered from a setting that was mostly generic, a lack of conflict throughout most of the story, and a deliberate sense of secrecy that ended up harming the story moreso than helping it.

 

I hate to unload like this on anyone's work because at the end of the day Mitchel Scanlon is probably a real nice guy whose wish was to write a good, engaging story that would enrich the Horus Heresy series. I just don't think it was his best "at bat" for the Black Library.

[The DIA!]

I liked DoA for the most part the first time i read it, though i liked the story on Caliban much more. All though it was the first HH book i read, and i read it for the soul purpose of the development of DA and the order.

[Augustus]

Inspired, I, too, began to reread to the novels.

 

I found this quote from the Lion interesting in regards to the novella The Lion

 

All too often, I found that the causes of these objections were rooted in some dated custom that had long ago worn out its welcome.

Tradition is a fine ideal, but not when it serves as a shackle on our future endeavours.

 

The big E said no more librarians? Ok, as long as it does not shackle us.

[Solly]

Afternoon brothers,

 

I too feel that the second half of the first book felt rushed. The first half was good (though a little drawn out) and it was interesting seeing the development of the rift that would occure between jonson and luther however it didnt really make sense to me either the way things suddenly came to ahead. it literally goes from luther feeling resentment towards what was effectivly his brother to wanting to let him be murdered in cold blood on his command ship. didnt really make sense to me.

 

Also (i think this has already been discussed elsewhere but still) didnt really like the end. i know there had to be a reason for them to be sent back to caliban however no clear reason was giving. The attempt on his life was suggested but never confirmed. i know theres supposed to be a deamon in the centre of caliban he sent them to guard but this wasnt explained.

[Aegnor]

So, finished DoA last night. Agree with everyone else that the ending, basically everything AFTER Zahariel discovered the bomb and Luther's action, did feel rushed. Sadly, the trip by the Lion and Zahariel to kill the Angel of the Saroshi, which was some pretty 'standard' 40K action, took the place of the exposition that was needed regarding the consequences of the Lion's suggested suspicion regarding what Zahariel and Luther were doing with the bomb. It let down the novel significantly because that critical element - the first break between Luther and the Lion, which feels throughout the novel to be what we're building towards - feels so rushed as to be almost nonsensical. There's a line to be walked between having the motivations of a major character being deliberately ambiguous and having your story not ultimately make sense. We're not really interested in the Saroshi, apart from as a device to tell us about the Lion and Luther.

 

So, stepping through it (maybe just rehashing it, but hoepfully this is interesting to someone :) ) - Luther has, unconsciously, been feeling more and more wounded by always being overlooked in favour of the Lion. Those feelings never consciously occurred to him until he was presented with an assassination plot already in action against the Lion - and then they overwhelmed him and he decided to let it proceed. Zahariel saw this reaction, and soon afterwards uncovered the plot, and realised Luther's act. At this point Luther re-appears, confessing his lapse but saying he almost immediately changed his mind and realised he loved the Lion and wanted to try to save him.

 

A couple of options exist at this point. 1 - Luther's motive for coming back was exactly what he said. His decision to - thru inaction - kill the Lion was a momentary lapse brought on by an emotional reaction that caught him off guard, but from which he quickly 'came to his senses'. The relationship between the Lion and Luther was still intact at point, albeit with some significant issues to work out. 2 - Luther had realised Zahariel was going to go back and discover the bomb and potentially prevent the assassination - and that if this happened and Luther did nothing, Zahariel would reveal Luther's treachery. In this scenario, Luther hasn't recanted at all, but has acted to cover his treachery. The relationship between the two leaders is broken.

 

Which one of these options is true is impossible for us to tell, but on this choice, the fairness of the Lion's reaction swings. This brings us to the second part of this equation - the Lion's reaction. He appears to immediately suspect that somehow Luther and Zahariel, who show up late after the explosion, bearing signs of having been in the vicinity of where the bomb was, were somehow to blame for the assassination attempt nearly succeeding. No reason at all is given for this leap in logic by the Lion, beyond him being aware they were present when the bomb was 'discovered' and jettisoned. From everything WE know of what the Lion knows, he should feel grateful to them for discovering and disrupting the plot. So we're again, left with options:

(1) Scanlon is deliberately portraying the Lion as irrational, turning on those he has no reason to turn upon; or

(2) the writer does an inadequate job of conveying that the Lion has a basis for almost immediately discerning that their version of events doesn't stack up, and has formed a (partly) accurate theory as to what they're hiding from him. This is the theory that makes the most sense. We'd seen already in the HH, the preternatural ability of Primarchs to discern and analyse patterns that weren't apparent to anyone else and arrive at an accurate insight. Maybe the Lion read something in Luther and Zahariel's body language that told him they were lying. Maybe even while talking to the Saroshi ambassador, he had been taking note of Luther's position around the ship (which might have been visible on a screen on the bridge or something). Maybe he was able to calculate how long it should have taken Luther to discover the bomb and jettison it, and realised there was a five minute delay that shouldn't have been there.

 

Frustratingly though, this process of deduction is not shown, or even hinted at. If that was what Scanlon was aiming at, he could have had a reference to some stream of information being there in the background, or have the Lion asking a specific quesiton or somthing. In other instances of this kind of 'genius deduction' we'd seen the Primarch's thinking at least hinted at to someone else - be it Horus' interpretation of the Interex warning beacon over Murder, Fulgrim's assessment of the alien fleet the Iron Hands were struggling to engage, or Guilliman's phenomonal ability to multi-task while appearing fully absorbed in a single task during the preparations on Calth ahead of the Word Bearer's attack. Because we have no information to suggest an alternative explanation for the Lion's behaviour, we tend to find that behaviour odd and unbalanced.

 

This hole felt a bit less gaping on this re-read because we've had some many more examples of the abilities of Primarchs in this regard since I first read this book - the Guilliman example mentioned before, Corax's ability to analyse his environment even as a youth, etc etc. The idea that maybe the Lion just worked out what had happened did occur to me reading it this time, whereas it didn't at all on the first read.

 

Scanlon would have been better served spending a little more time on the repercussions of the incident, and maybe even a couple of hints about what both Luther and the Lion were thinking as what had happened began to sink in for them, than having the pretty superfluous quest to kill the daemon on Sarosh. This could have made the ending make a lot more sense. It's a Dark Angel book, I think we should expect that there's always going to be some ambiguity as to what has ultimately happened and why, but yeah, we could have been focused on a "that was cool, do you think it was (a) that happened, or (b )" rather than just saying "huh? But why did that happen?"

 

As an aside, I did very much like the exchange between Zahariel and Kurgis of the White Scars. Was a nice glimpse of the Scars and also of how the Dark Angels were seen by other legions.

----------------------

 

Overall, I'm glad I re-read it, and it does end up higher in my estimation than it was before (though it had plenty of room to move in that regard). The first half was better than I recalled, for the reasons I mentioned before relating to my expectations of what the story would be. The last quarter was as flawed as I had recalled, but in a way that was actually more frustrating because it seemed clearer this time how things could have been tweaked to make it a better ending, in my opinion at least. I think Scanlon tried to do a few quite interesting and different things, some of which worked, some which didn't quite come off but I could see what he was trying and liked the idea, and a few unfortunately that just didn't work full stop.

 

One final note - I think it was an utter error to have Zahariel stuck with Luther and Nemiel staying with the Lion, especially with the direction things subsequently go. I get that they were probably trying to switch it up a bit, and sorta worked (sorta) for Zahariel, but it utterly killed (so to speak) Nemiel as a character IMO, and made the story arc of their rivalry very hard to incorporate from then on. I can see why they've since decided to draw a line under Nemiel's character - I don't see how it could have been salvaged from that point. The idea of their rivalry was really that it was a microcosm of the relationship between the Lion and Luther, and that twisted it, and broke that idea, and it's ability to help explain to us what was going on with two leaders.

 

Going to start re-reading Fallen Angels next.

[facmanpob]

I think that was a good exposition of the book. The one thing that I recall that you haven't mentioned is that this is the 2nd time Zahariel has been "involved" in a plot to assassinate a senior person....when the Emperor arrives on Caliban Zahariel is invloved, and foils the plot, but iirc the Lion realises that Zahariel knew about hte plot earlier but didn't say anything. This puts Zahariel's loyalty into queston from that moment on. Thus, when he turns up after the bomb plot, the Lion is already suspicious of his motives......

 

This doesn't stop the writing from being rushed or incomplete, which it is, but it does add a preexisting level of mistrust of Zahariel to the mix. :)

[Aegnor]

Yeah, thanks facmanpob - I did think about that, but got up to do something else in the middle of writing, and forgot to include it. You're quite right, Zahariel has an unfortunate habit of 'happening' upon, and therefore being at the scene of, assassination attempts that are about to go off. The Emperor himself (in a part of the novel I did NOT like) cleared Zahariel of any wrongdoing in the first instance though, but given the Lion is a suspicious guy, it's not surprising if he recalled it when nearly the exact same thing happened later on. And surely the Lion would have realised that Nemiel was probably involved if Zahariel was, but he favours Nemiel after deciding Zahariel is not to be trusted.

 

That was one of the things I was talking about that Scanlon tried to include that I liked. It felt like there were lots of deliberate references/foreshadowings/parallels occuring throughout the book that fit well with the "circle within circles" theme - Zahariel/Nemiel and Lion/Luther parallel; the old-guard on Caliban and the Saroshi trying to prevent their cultures being overwritten by trying to bomb the Imperial leaders; Zahariel repeatedly finding himself in the position of solemnly promising to keep a secret that has been revealed to him; the many snubbings of Luther; Zahariel's first initiation when joins the Order and the Lion and Luther are 'debating' about his soul, etc, with the then Cypher as the ambiguous person in the middle between those two, etc etc. Some were probably too vague to be effective, but I liked that structure/idea.

[facmanpob]

I wonder if Mitchel Scanlon was under time pressure from the editors? You've hit the nail on the head with the "circles within circles" idea.......I think one of the things I like about how the Dark Angels are supposed to be is that nothing is exactly what it seems like on the surface, and everything resonates with something else. I just feel that it didn't quite come across that way......either because Mitchel Scanlon is not as adept at doing that as, say, Dan Abnett, or because (as you mentioned in the OP) the book needed more trips to the editors but never got them.

 

The book was released in Oct 2007, 3 months after Fulgrim, and 6 months before Legion, so maybe they didn't want it encroaching on the Xmas market and rushed it through?

 

I remember drawing a parallel with the part in the 2nd trilogy of Star Wars where Anakin turns to the Dark Side........I'm a naughty boy for 1 movie.....I'm an angry young man for another movie....I'm a jedi who falls in love, then has a bad dream, then gets offered a way out using "forbidden powers", then suddenly is EVIIILLLLL!!!!!! Muahahahaha! :) I remember watching the movies thinking "I know what George Lucas is trying to do, but he's failing miserably to convey it to the screen!"

[Phoebus]

So, finished DoA last night. Agree with everyone else that the ending, basically everything AFTER Zahariel discovered the bomb and Luther's action, did feel rushed. Sadly, the trip by the Lion and Zahariel to kill the Angel of the Saroshi, which was some pretty 'standard' 40K action, took the place of the exposition that was needed regarding the consequences of the Lion's suggested suspicion regarding what Zahariel and Luther were doing with the bomb. It let down the novel significantly because that critical element - the first break between Luther and the Lion, which feels throughout the novel to be what we're building towards - feels so rushed as to be almost nonsensical. There's a line to be walked between having the motivations of a major character being deliberately ambiguous and having your story not ultimately make sense. We're not really interested in the Saroshi, apart from as a device to tell us about the Lion and Luther.

Exactly. Notice how "Legion" dealt so well with a Legion that is defined by secrecy, keeping things from the reader but without any real confusion on what was going on - minus the final scene, wherein readers still debate whether that was Alpharius getting stabbed by Chayne or not (he wasn't). By contrast, "Descent of Angels" succeeds only in being vague and confusing where the motivations of a pair of the characters (the Lion and Luther) are concerned.

 

A couple of options exist at this point. 1 - Luther's motive for coming back was exactly what he said. His decision to - thru inaction - kill the Lion was a momentary lapse brought on by an emotional reaction that caught him off guard, but from which he quickly 'came to his senses'. The relationship between the Lion and Luther was still intact at point, albeit with some significant issues to work out. 2 - Luther had realised Zahariel was going to go back and discover the bomb and potentially prevent the assassination - and that if this happened and Luther did nothing, Zahariel would reveal Luther's treachery. In this scenario, Luther hasn't recanted at all, but has acted to cover his treachery. The relationship between the two leaders is broken.

I think it's the first, though that comes down to unconvincing writing.

 

It would only have been convincing had Luther been a mentally unstable individual. Let's face it. Sane individuals don't murder those they love on account of ambition (or allow them to be murdered). Oh, they might claim that they still loved them, but that's just dramatic license. At some point, their love for that person became secondary to their own ambition. For instance, I could buy this idea:

 

1. Luther loving the Lion like a brother;

2. Luther being very ambitious and eventually coming to despise the Lion enough that he would see him killed;

3. Luther falling back on his sense of honor and realizing the wrongness of his action;

4. Luther nonetheless still despising the Lion, and, following the revelations shown in "Fallen Angels" (and the subsequent corruption), rebelling against the Lion.

 

Again, as shown in "Fallen Angels", Luther is not mentally unstable. His decisions are driven by loyalty to the Lion... until he's pushed to the precipice by the revolt, the revelation of the taint of Caliban, and the subsequent (implied) sorcerous research that leads him to Chaos. They can't realistically be reconciled with his actions in "Descent of Angels".

 

Which one of these options is true is impossible for us to tell, but on this choice, the fairness of the Lion's reaction swings. This brings us to the second part of this equation - the Lion's reaction. He appears to immediately suspect that somehow Luther and Zahariel, who show up late after the explosion, bearing signs of having been in the vicinity of where the bomb was, were somehow to blame for the assassination attempt nearly succeeding. No reason at all is given for this leap in logic by the Lion, beyond him being aware they were present when the bomb was 'discovered' and jettisoned. From everything WE know of what the Lion knows, he should feel grateful to them for discovering and disrupting the plot.

To be honest, I bought it, even though it's poorly implied. I reconciled it with the fact that the Lion is pretty much a super-genius. He also has access to all the records of his ship. His train of logic would have gone like this:

 

1. Saroshi assassination on his person.

2. Plot involved Saroshi ship.

3. Luther and Zahariel arrive suspiciously injured.

4. Neither offers much information at first.

5. Ships records/personnel clearly show that Luther cleared the bay the ship/bomb was in way before the alarms went off, and said nothing to anyone.

6. Ergo...

 

But again, it's poorly implied. It's another sacrifice to a poorly executed theme of "secrecy" and "mystery".

 

(2) the writer does an inadequate job of conveying that the Lion has a basis for almost immediately discerning that their version of events doesn't stack up, and has formed a (partly) accurate theory as to what they're hiding from him. This is the theory that makes the most sense. We'd seen already in the HH, the preternatural ability of Primarchs to discern and analyse patterns that weren't apparent to anyone else and arrive at an accurate insight. Maybe the Lion read something in Luther and Zahariel's body language that told him they were lying. Maybe even while talking to the Saroshi ambassador, he had been taking note of Luther's position around the ship (which might have been visible on a screen on the bridge or something). Maybe he was able to calculate how long it should have taken Luther to discover the bomb and jettison it, and realised there was a five minute delay that shouldn't have been there.

 

Frustratingly though, this process of deduction is not shown, or even hinted at. If that was what Scanlon was aiming at, he could have had a reference to some stream of information being there in the background, or have the Lion asking a specific quesiton or somthing. In other instances of this kind of 'genius deduction' we'd seen the Primarch's thinking at least hinted at to someone else - be it Horus' interpretation of the Interex warning beacon over Murder, Fulgrim's assessment of the alien fleet the Iron Hands were struggling to engage, or Guilliman's phenomonal ability to multi-task while appearing fully absorbed in a single task during the preparations on Calth ahead of the Word Bearer's attack. Because we have no information to suggest an alternative explanation for the Lion's behaviour, we tend to find that behaviour odd and unbalanced.

Exactly.

 

One final note - I think it was an utter error to have Zahariel stuck with Luther and Nemiel staying with the Lion, especially with the direction things subsequently go. I get that they were probably trying to switch it up a bit, and sorta worked (sorta) for Zahariel, but it utterly killed (so to speak) Nemiel as a character IMO, and made the story arc of their rivalry very hard to incorporate from then on. I can see why they've since decided to draw a line under Nemiel's character - I don't see how it could have been salvaged from that point. The idea of their rivalry was really that it was a microcosm of the relationship between the Lion and Luther, and that twisted it, and broke that idea, and it's ability to help explain to us what was going on with two leaders.

Agreed. The series has shown, thus far, that characters like Zahariel and Nemiel work best in the Loken/Garro mold as they provide a POV into the workings of the Legion while also successfully driving the story thanks to their central position.

 

In this series, though, that wasn't the case. Zahariel and Nemiel were often clueless to the events and dynamics that the stories SHOULD have been about - and they are our perspective! Wasted sense of secrecy, indeed!

[Aegnor]

I haven't forgotten about this. But in all this time, I've only managed to get halfway through Fallen Angels, and find myself poised with Nemiel and his squad having just met the Mechanicus representatives on the forgeworld, and Zahariel halfway down to the bottom of the arcology in the Northwilds. I've been stuck there since last Thursday, and am finding it really hard to muster any enthusiasm for reading the rest. That's probably the most eloquent review I can offer.

 

Luther's motives have become, if anything, less clear. It's a bit like a pantomime at the moment where we can see he's a bad guy because we know how the story ends, but our perspective, Zahariel, is utterly clueless. So Luther and Astelan's actions, to this point, aren't surprising but also provide no clarity as to WHY they're acting in the manner they are.

 

The Lion is busy being inscrutable and seemingly unreasonable. The now infamous scene where he asks Nemiel to interpret the trustworthiness of the humans from the forgeworld - and Nemiel's thoughts about that, still jars.