Ferrus Manus: Gorgon of Medusa

[b1soul]

I skipped large portions of that novel

[MrDarth151]

I thought we were all ignoring Outcast Dead existed because the fact that novel got published the way it was published is one of the biggest failures in the history of Black Library editorial department?

[Mellow]

It’s canon!

 

I liked it.

[b1soul]

I liked how it handled the Thunder Warriors...but McNeill's prose wore me down at places

[mc warhammer]

i didn’t mind it, but also skipped over huge chunks and only got broad strokes. same as i did with VS

[b1soul]

Before Outcast Dead, I thought Thunder Warriors were just inferior prototypes of SM, analogous to Spartan-Is and Spartan-IIs in the Halo-verse.

 

McNeill gives the TW a more interesting twist...absolute berserk beasts on the battlefield but with fundamental physical and mental flaws

[Knockagh]

Who can remember that far back! I’m ‘re reading’ the series on audible at the minute and 70% of the early stuff feels like new material. A lot of words read by my tiny mind since then

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Not sure if it's been mentioned here but for those feeling a lack of Iron hands love you may want to consider Feat of Iron by Kyme. It is a great Iron Hands Novella from book 20 of the main Heresy series and takes place during the great crusade. It explores the Iron Hands mentality and how they view human soldiers (your flesh os so weak!!! MWAHAHA!!) but also focuses on Ferrus, his quite volatile personality and features some really interesting foreshadowing of his eventual fate.

 

The audio version is a real treat as it's voiced by David Timson who sounds freaking awesome as always!!

Urgh. Feat of Iron was terrible, just complete poop. Kyme has more enthusiasm than skill, and he plays into the unfortunate trope of taking the Iron Hands' strength - their cybernetics - and turning it into a weakness.

[Lord_Caerolion]

He did that?

 

He plays a game of super-Tarot-chess with Malcador in "The Board is Set".

[Machine God]

I just received my copy in the post together with Old Earth.

 

Will start reading straight away, 202 pages of goodness hopefully.

 

Edit: Forgot to add that I have #287.

[Toothbrush of Terra]

Received my own copy last night, #1509, about halfway through now. Going to refrain from giving my two cents until I'm all the way through.

 

Also: my oh my is the case sexy on the LE.

[Machine God]

I'll echo that the case is Very nice.

 

I'm also about halfway through, a good read.

[Nashnir]

Spoilers please.

[Machine God]

I finished reading it.

 

It was Great.

 

How do you do the Spoiler thing on here?

 

Edit: Asking about Spoilers.

[Roomsky]

I finished reading it.

 

It was Great.

 

How do you do the Spoiler thing on here?

 

Edit: Asking about Spoilers.

 

[ spoiler ] Your Review [ /spoiler ]

 

Without the spaces inside the brackets.

[Toothbrush of Terra]

Machine God: as Roomsky said, it's [ spoiler ]text[ /spoiler ], without the spaces. On the big editor there's also a special BBCode button in the top left.

 

I also just finished it, also liked it a lot. The best showing for the Xth since Retribution came out.

 

For those curious about the book: The novel is early Iron Hands. Like, Amadeus-DuCaine's-still-in-command-we-haven't-found-five-primarchs early. There are multiple people who remember Unification in it.

 

But yeah, it's a great showing for the Hands. I'm happy I waited for my review because Ferrus

leads his Legion to fight in a characteristically un-Ferrus way at first, but there's a HUGE return-to-form about 3/4ths into the story that feels straight out of the Autek Mor playbook.

Guymer's Hands are brutal but firmly rooted in Clan behavior as well.

 

I thought his portrayal of the Empire of Gardinaal was also a really nice bit of lore expansion:

The tech they share and don't share with the Imperium, their similarly casual attitudes towards the expenditure of life, their arrogance, their psykers... For me I walked away with a much clearer sense of how much Mankind lost during the Age of Strife, in a way that fragments of archeotech never quite did it for me.

 

As for Ferrus himself, FINALLY there's some real nuance to his character in a BL novel:

There's still the trademark Ferrus Rage^TM, but it's tempered with pride, shame, willpower, envy, and yes, even humor. He feels much more complete as a person while still being an unstoppably driven warlord to the core. Particularly, I thought one of the better things about this Ferrus was how aware he was of other's perceptions of him, how he enjoyed cultivating some of the sense of myth about his origins. It was an elegant way of developing Ferrus further while acknowledging some of the blank spots in his background.

 

If I had to rank this book from 1-10, with 1 being Clan Raukann, and 10 being Massacre/Retribution, it's 9.5/10. 

 

If anyone wants to know anything in particular feel free to ask!

 

Edit: fixed my primarch discovery chronology

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Hmmmm, here's a couple:

 

Are there any depictions of Ferrus interacting with other Primarchs? I assume not because of the campaign it's set in?

 

Also. does it delve into the different cultures / mindsets of the different Clans at all?

 

Thanks

[RedFurioso]

If anyone wants to know anything in particular feel free to ask!

What happened to Akurduana and Ultramarines contingent?

[Marshal Loss]

High praise indeed! I might have to consider getting this if we get a few corroborating reviews.

[Toothbrush of Terra]

Very mild warning: light exposition spoilers may not be flaired. If you want to know absolutely nothing going into Gorgon, skip this post.

 

Hmmmm, here's a couple:

 

Are there any depictions of Ferrus interacting with other Primarchs? I assume not because of the campaign it's set in?

 

Also. does it delve into the different cultures / mindsets of the different Clans at all?

 

Thanks 

 

So in the campaign the 52nd Expedition has attached Emperor's Children, and is moving to bail out a combined XIIIth/XVth expedition. As such, it's not all Iron Hands, all the time necessarily. In terms of Primarchs, there's not tons of interactions with others, but there is some. Fulgrim in particular makes appearances, at the beginning of the novel the III and Xth are doing training excercises together, and at the end Fulgrim shows up

for Akurduana's funeral.

It's nothing earth-shattering as we've seen Ferrus' relationship with Fulgrim more than with any other Primarch, but it's well done. It feels like a friendship of equals; when reading it I was able to understand why they were so close while at the same time their differences were apparent without making either brother seem childish. Ferrus even has a brief moment of... bonding is too strong a word, but mutual understanding at least, with a III Legion Captain, over

their shared feelings of disappointment at being the best all the time.

So the Ferrus-Fulgrim relationship isn't new exactly, but it's more thoughtfully developed in this book than I've seen it in other novels.

 

As for other Primarchs, Guilliman and Dorn make lightning brief appearances, Guilliman towards the end and Dorn in flashbacks. Let's just say there's not a lot of love fostered in either relationship. Mostly on Ferrus's part of course. 

 

Guilliman even says that he considers Ferrus

along with Dorn to be the best of his brothers. Ferrus basically snorts and says "it's not mutual." It's awesome 

 

-----

 

As to cultures/mindsets of the Clans, it doesn't delve into specifics of individual Clans, but the Clan mindset in general is very present, if that makes sense. In the Medusan sense of clans, they're very present. The novel fleshes out the way Hands foster competition among themselves, and how honor & pride work with enmity to make better warriors. But if you're looking for what makes Vurgaan or Morragul or Sorrgol in particular tick, you're not gonna find it here. 

 

What happened to Akurduana and Ultramarines contingent?

 

 

The Ultramarines get really bloodied, Ferrus sends them in as the first wave in the final attack as a chance to "fix it, Ultramarine!" Ulan Cicerus himself is badly wounded, but he makes it out. There's a big procession at the end of the novel and every 1 in 10 Marines present is of the remnant of the XIII and XV force plus Ferrus's attached III Legion Marines. They make it out, but not by much.

 

As for Akurduana, he sabotages the Gardinaal's final defence - basically a really huge orbital atomic strike - by climbing the command tower and blowing it up. He does not survive.

 

Edit: random musing: David Guymer is also writing Voice of Mars, an upcoming 40k Iron Hands novel. I'm really interested in how he's going to portray them there, because his 30k Iron Hands are very clan-centric, Warlords of Medusa. To my knowledge, that's not something that's ever really been faithfully carried through to their characterization in 40k novels. It would be nice to see some of that, instead of the 24/7 BEEP BOOP FLESH = WEAK that some works have made them out to be.

[ShadowSwordmaster]

When is this book coming out for audio?

[Machine God]

Machine God: as Roomsky said, it's [ spoiler ]text[ /spoiler ], without the spaces. On the big editor there's also a special BBCode button in the top left.

 

I also just finished it, also liked it a lot. The best showing for the Xth since Retribution came out.

 

For those curious about the book: The novel is early Iron Hands. Like, Amadeus-DuCaine's-still-in-command-we-haven't-found-three-primarchs early. There are multiple people who remember Unification in it.

 

But yeah, it's a great showing for the Hands. I'm happy I waited for my review because Ferrus

leads his Legion to fight in a characteristically un-Ferrus way at first, but there's a HUGE return-to-form about 3/4ths into the story that feels straight out of the Autek Mor playbook.

Guymer's Hands are brutal but firmly rooted in Clan behavior as well.

 

I thought his portrayal of the Empire of Gardinaal was also a really nice bit of lore expansion:

The tech they share and don't share with the Imperium, their similarly casual attitudes towards the expenditure of life, their arrogance, their psykers... For me I walked away with a much clearer sense of how much Mankind lost during the Age of Strife, in a way that fragments of archeotech never quite did it for me.

 

As for Ferrus himself, FINALLY there's some real nuance to his character in a BL novel:

There's still the trademark Ferrus Rage^TM, but it's tempered with pride, shame, willpower, envy, and yes, even humor. He feels much more complete as a person while still being an unstoppably driven warlord to the core. Particularly, I thought one of the better things about this Ferrus was how aware he was of other's perceptions of him, how he enjoyed cultivating some of the sense of myth about his origins. It was an elegant way of developing Ferrus further while acknowledging some of the blank spots in his background.

 

If I had to rank this book from 1-10, with 1 being Clan Raukann, and 10 being Massacre/Retribution, it's 9.5/10. 

 

If anyone wants to know anything in particular feel free to ask!

@Toothbrush of Terra - You are spot on with these apart from the mention about Clanbook Raccoon.

 

I would give it 9.5 - 9.75/10, 1 being Iron Hands and 10 being Massacre/Retribution/Wrath of Iron.

 

I also liked the the portrayal of the enemy - Empire of Gardinaal.

The use of genetically created low grav/zero G fighters bred for the purpose of combat it brought to mind the (There are no Wolves on Fenris ideas). Also the theme of recycling old and useless citizens ala Soylent Green and Logan's Run.

 

Very mild warning: light exposition spoilers may not be flaired. If you want to know absolutely nothing going into Gorgon, skip this post.

 

Hmmmm, here's a couple:

 

Are there any depictions of Ferrus interacting with other Primarchs? I assume not because of the campaign it's set in?

 

Also. does it delve into the different cultures / mindsets of the different Clans at all?

 

Thanks 

 

 

Guilliman even says that he considers Ferrus

along with Dorn to be the best of his brothers. Ferrus basically snorts and says "it's not mutual." It's awesome 

 

 

What happened to Akurduana and Ultramarines contingent?

 

 

The Ultramarines get really bloodied, Ferrus sends them in as the first wave in the final attack as a chance to "fix it, Ultramarine!" Ulan Cicerus himself is badly wounded, but he makes it out. There's a big procession at the end of the novel and every 1 in 10 Marines present is of the remnant of the XIII and XV force plus Ferrus's attached III Legion Marines. They make it out, but not by much.

 

As for Akurduana, he sabotages the Gardinaal's final defence - basically a really huge orbital atomic strike - by climbing the command tower and blowing it up. He does not survive.

 

Edit: random musing: David Guymer is also writing Voice of Mars, an upcoming 40k Iron Hands novel. I'm really interested in how he's going to portray them there, because his 30k Iron Hands are very clan-centric, Warlords of Medusa. To my knowledge, that's not something that's ever really been faithfully carried through to their characterization in 40k novels. It would be nice to see some of that, instead of the 24/7 BEEP BOOP FLESH = WEAK that some works have made them out to be.

@Toothbrush of Terra - David Guymer also wrote Eye of Medusa and Voice of Mars is its sequel in the Trilogy about Iron Hands in 40K.

 

I didn't like the ending though.

The Gardinaal have a failsafe of hidden kill-sats loaded with nukes that they fire at their HQ (as Toothbrush of Terra mentions) extreme Danger Close. So the ICBM's are fired from the planetary rings at the HQ and a simple act of blowing the satellite dish stops them from hitting the HQ - After they are in flight?

 

I did like the correct portrayal of Iron Hands combat doctrine of Total War.

 

Edit: Punctuation.

[Gaugamela]

Do you guys think the book paints Ferrus as a viable candidate to the Warmaster position instead of Horus? Is any rivalry towards Horus even mentioned in the book?

[Machine God]

Do you guys think the book paints Ferrus as a viable candidate to the Warmaster position instead of Horus? Is any rivalry towards Horus even mentioned in the book?

A possible candidate. Ferrus tries to prosecute the campaign like Roboute Guilliman at the start, and while it works to a fashion he prefers to fight with his legion in the vanguard of battle.

There is no rivalry between him and Horus at this point as it is set before Horus was appointed Warmaster and so Ferrus doesn't know who will be appointed yet. He knows that someone will be appointed and he makes the play of the compliance of the Empire of Gardinaal as his pitch for the position.

 

Edit: Typo.

[Gaugamela]

So

if he preferred to fight in the frontlines in the thick of the fray, that to me would invalidate him a prime contender for the position. If your Warmaster is taking that kind of risks it's very likely that he could eventually be killed in the field of battle like it eventually happened.

.