Ferrus Manus: Gorgon of Medusa

[DarkChaplain]

Corax has stealth dropships, the Khan had his entire fleet modified for speed, Fulgrim was just shown with his personal transport being improved and even featuring noise dampening tech....

[rendingon1+]

Agree that Achilles had to be modified to be credible but author didn't deigned to mention it. Instead he foccused on how decorated it was. Just "heavily modified" would do. Also as I understood it's early/early middle GC (not all primarchs are found, termie armour is being introduced etc) and here we have vehicles and tech that according to FW were introduced at the outbreak of HH or late GC . Like scorpius, sicaran, thunderhawks,raptors and eagles. Eh..

[Ingo Pech]

I love the book. Nearly every part of it. The design of the Special Edition, the cover-art, Guymers linguistic style and oracy, his Imagination and lavish attention to details (especially regarding the Gardinaals). And I love his portrayal of Ferrus as an elemental force, like a volcano in human gestalt. At the end, he´s a brawler and conquerer and he admits it to himself and that´s where he´s good at. He´s no statesman, no liberator, he´s not Roboute, not Rogal, not Horus.

And Guymer dropped some hints that there´s more to Ferrus´ hands than the usual and commonly known story of Asirnoth.... perhaps he will elaborate this further in upcoming novels!? I really hope so!

But like @Nagashnee said, I just can´t get used to Akurduana, because he´s just too good. I see the parallels between him and Ferrus, that both are better than the men around them and that both of them crave for a real competition, for being challenged or being beaten and so on, but...

at the end it´s Akurduana who saves Ferrus and the Iron Tenth and forces the Gardinaal to submit...

But at least Gabriel Santar is his equal in the fighting cages...

At the end I would give a 8/10-rating and it´s slightly behind "Perturabo", because I would have loved to see more of Ferrus´ childhood or youth. But altogether it´s a good read imo.

My favorite quote:

"My own father doesn´t know me!"
 

[Lord_Caerolion]

My favorite quote:

 

"My own father doesn´t know me!"

 

 

Is that why Ferrus wears black armour? I mean, I'm sure it's better in context, but this just makes him sound like a whiny goth kid. "Gawd dad! You just don't get me! Let me run my Legion the way I want!"

[b1soul]

"Ferrus is still a raging brute who always have problems with others. No indication he's a veteran GC commander because his "tactics" are all about smash with superior force (and superior loses). Worse than Perturabo in chatacter, equal to Angron as a general. EC are extremely annoying, always ridiculously better than poor IH. Like 10x better. And there is not a fragment in the book that would balance it out by showing IH as superior in any way. EC have better tactics, more kills, less loses and are just more skilled."

 

If true...very frustrating indeed

 

The EC utterly thrashed the IH in Fulgrim

[Ingo Pech]

@Lord_Caerolion:

 

You`re right. :D If it stands alone, it's quite whiny...;)

 

But the context and the situation makes it remarkable for me.

 

I think there's more to Ferrus than what we know now and Guymer will work it out in the future...

[Fedor]

Hello guys, new poster here.

 

I've been really looking forward to this book as Ferrus early HH death has left him the Primarch with the most left to explore character-wise, so i reread Fulgrim to refresh my memory of McNeil's take on him before i get it. He's a solid enough secondary character in the book, with a couple of great quotes, especially the one about how humanity will forever fear Astartes now while en route to Istvaan. Though in retrospect i think a Thousand Sons\Prospero Burns duology approach would have been much better, with the Iron Hands getting their own book covering a similar time period to Fulgrim.

 

Two things regarding Ferrus really jumped out at me on rereading though. The first was just how badly McNeil botched the first confrontation between two Primarchs in the series, something that should been a momentous occasion, yet was easily the worst scene in the book imo. Fulgrim's attempt to convince Manus(which should have been the meat of the scene) was rushed and woefully inept, plus the actual fight itself is just bizarre. They have a couple of exchanges, Fulgrim gets the  initial edge by exploiting Forgebreaker's unwieldy nature for a duel, by landing a few punches that stagger and briefly blind Ferrus(though Fulgrim himself casually shrugs off a full blown right hand just before) then Ferrus grabs the attempted deathblow with his metallic hands, blows the sword up and knocks himself unconscious . Fulgrim is far less affected by the explosion despite them both being in contact with Fireblade.

 

I can see what Graham was going for, with the symbolic end of brotherhood being shown in Ferrus destroying the blade he created, but it doesn't work at all for a few reasons and just makes Manus look like a complete idiot. It would have been a fitting conclusion had the fight been described as longer and much more brutal, something done as a last desperate gamble by Ferrus as he was about to lose....but it had only just got started and nobody was badly hurt. Why didn't he just melt the blade a bit, snap it or try disarm Fulgrim to turn it into a brawl if outright blowing it up would cost him so much?. Which leads into the fact we get no explanation beforehand of how Ferrus arms actually work regarding forging, it just comes out of nowhere and seems daft, draining any tension right out of the scene. I've usually enjoyed the Primarch encounters,-albeit imperium secundus went a bit over the top with the number of inconclusive Curze bouts,-but this was a low point of the series in that regard.

 

The second was regarding the long running view by many i've read on the internet about Ferrus choice not to retreat being idiotic and compromising the battle.I had forgotten, but McNeil actually makes it pretty clear that he actually doesn't compromise the agreed tactics of the three legions by charging ahead. It's only when the second wave make contact he decides to carry on and engage a goading Fulgrim rather than retreat with Sallies and Ravens to let the other legions finish the traitors off as intended. It's actually quite well done, highlighting the temper and pride that got him killed, while also not showing him to be reckless while the initial attack wave was actually ongoing.

 

On Gorgon of Medusa, i read some french spoilers(google translated) a few days ago that indicated Ferrus was very into sparring the other primarchs, and had never been defeated or felt he was really tested leaving him feeling disillusioned and craving someone who could beat him, but that only some had actually accepted his sparring offers and who exactly is left open. I may have completey misread this with it being google translate, but it caught my eye as i vaguely recall that the "undefeated in sparring" thing was a piece of background for Horus or Russ at some point in the past, but could be mixing it up just with some internet speculation i've read.Does anyone remember an older piece of background like that?.

[bluntblade]

Welcome Fedor. Some interesting thoughts there, though I'm inclined to agree with a few of them anyway ;) Isstvan V in Fulgrim leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion.

[SkimaskMohawk]

Pretty sure Horus wasn't undefeated in sparring. Corax claims to have been able to take him

[bluntblade]

I always figured that Horus and Russ must've both lost a spar to each other in the early days too.

[Mellow]

Horus was unbeatable. He could find a way to win regardless.

 

Did he ever have to fight The Emperor when they first met? I know others did before He revealed himself but I don’t know much about Horus and his origin story.

[Roomsky]

Horus was unbeatable. He could find a way to win regardless.

 

Did he ever have to fight The Emperor when they first met? I know others did before He revealed himself but I don’t know much about Horus and his origin story.

 

Horus was still quite young when the Emperor found him I believe, he's the favored son because he had the most time with the Emperor, and received his training more from him than adoptive parents.

[bluntblade]

You could say the same of Russ.

[mc warhammer]

first found but also coincidentally the best

[DarKnight]

Horus was unbeatable. He could find a way to win regardless.

Did he ever have to fight The Emperor when they first met? I know others did before He revealed himself but I don’t know much about Horus and his origin story.

None of them had to, the ones that did chose to before acknowledging his supremacy. Horus' discovery hasn't been delved into in detail, but I'm sure they'll touch on it whenever his book isn't published. I just hope we don't choke on all the foreshadowing.

[mc warhammer]

yeah BL has a habit of laying on the foreshadowing a bit thick. for my tastes

[Lord_Caerolion]

You could say the same of Russ.

 

Yes, but Horus spent a number of years as the only Primarch, and I believe was basically just out of Primarch-adolescence when the Emperor found him. Russ was already an adult, Horus partially grew up with the Emperor.

[bluntblade]

That was in response to the finding a way remark.

[Roomsky]

My opinions on this one are mixed, to say the least.

 

Guymer is a great fit for 40k, in my opinion, he's even a great fit for 32k as seen in The Last Son of Dorn and some of Echoes of the Long War. I love me some real dark shiz, but even for a legion that is founded on cold brutality I think he stresses the bounds of 30k in this one. Certainly he gets many parts correct, better than so many other HH authors I've read: his legionaries are free-thinkers, the X Legion is quite distinct in culture from its 40k self, and he writes most of the book from the perspective of new characters who could live or die, rather than creating overmuch empty tension by putting Ferrus in danger. 

 

But man, Guymer need a higher page count to put this story in, what is to my mind, a Great Crusade context. There's all the appropriate idealism behind much of the supporting cast, but Ferrus struck me as someone who never got the memo about mankind's bright future. I'm not asking for a happy-go-lucky Gorgon, but all his attempts at diplomacy strike him as at best an annoyance, a means to an end. Sure, Ferrus was interesting, and the one combat sequence he does have is used brilliantly to show his character and express some primarch badassery, but I don't exactly view his eventual death as a tragedy after this book. The Palatine Phoenix made Fulgrim's fall that much sadder, but Gorgon of Medusa sort of made me think Ferrus had it coming. I appreciate the themes of the Emperor's dream slowly unraveling, but this is pre-Ullanor, it becomes less tragic when it's made to seem it was never there in the first place.

 

My other major gripe is the combat, perhaps its just me, but I found it very hard to follow. Nothing ridiculous like certain other authors, but it all sort of devolved into "they fight." I've been reading Cadia Stands also, and despite such a high density of combat it all comes across as interesting and easy to read, but I could just not get into this. I would have found some sequences of Ferrus directing the full engagement from his strategium far more interesting than what we got. 

 

The characters are strong in concept but hampered by their execution. Arkuanada gets by okay, but Santar, Moses, the party from Gardinaal, the medicae staff, Ducaine, The Ultramarine and Thousand Son are all fully distinct but come across as rather shallow as they fight for so little page space. They were identifiable, to be sure, but I didn't care overmuch about them. Again, this book is an excellent 400 page story impacted into half that. 

 

But, there is plenty of good, which I shall now list off:

-Astartes character is expressed through combat quite frequently, and I think that's brilliant. It's already a popular addage that warriors know each other best through a duel, it only makes sense that the full expression of a trans-human built for war would come out in the practice cages. 

-Gardinaal society is surprisingly well realized, probably one of the coolest subjects of reunification in the Heresy at large. Far and away better than the trite semi-feudal-autocracy.

-None of the legions present seem a parody of themselves, which seems like faint praise until you consider how many books are guilty of just that. For such bit parts, the non Iron Tenth legionaries all come across as distinct from both their legion tropes and their fellows in other works.

-I've seen some irritation at Arkuanda, but I didn't mind him at all. He has several flaws, frustrations, and sufferance for poor decisions. He shows up the X Legion in the dueling cages, true, but he strikes me as one who knows how to play to his strengths. He's not shown as some peerless marksman or unmatched commander, he's a guy who's really good at melee combat and does everything in his power to twist situations into that arena. Plus, the III legion is small, tiny combative forces can make each warrior an elite with far greater ease. I don;t see the same standard being upheld at a full 100,000 strong.

 

Over all, a very flawed work that excels in many areas while floundering in others. Probably still worth a read, but don't expect perfection.

 

TL:DR - It's got a lot of issues but is still totally readable.

[Fedor]

Was the blurb about Ferrus staking his claim as Warmaster a faulty one? The timing for this story just doesn't at all seem how it could fit for that.

[Roomsky]

Was the blurb about Ferrus staking his claim as Warmaster a faulty one? The timing for this story just doesn't at all seem how it could fit for that.

 

It's pre-Ullanor, not sure how distant. Emps, Horus, Fulgrim, Jaghatai and the Lion are off at Molech at the time, which doesn't have a concrete date far as I know. Moses cites 15 primarchs, so based on Tymell's timeline, 885-895, about 100 years distant of Ullanor. Apologies if there's a date provided in-book, I don't really absorb such things.

[1ncarnadine]

That tracks with the Jaghatai Khan book. He's brought to Terra on 879 and is noted to be the 15th Primarch discovered, in the very first chapter. Tymell's timeline shows 880-885 as an estimate for the Khan, but now we know that's only slightly inaccurate, at 1 year before 880.

[Indefragable]

I’m on Chapter 8 for the audio book version.

 

Ferrus says there’s “rumors” that one of the 15* will be chosen to lead the others in place of the Emperor.

 

Where a Primarch would hear such rumors is beyond me. It’s like the Vice President saying “I hear rumors the President is going to...” ...of ALL the people on the planet, shouldn’t the VP be the one person the President would talk of his/her plans to?

 

Not a perfect analogy, but you get the idea.

 

Point is Ferrus’ character is such that even at the hint of such a decision, he wants his name in the ring. So it kinda doesn’t matter how far off from actual events it is.

[Slan Drakkos]

After reading some of the reviews, I might just read this.

 

Ferrus always struck me as a fairly cool primarch, it's just that when he got mad, he had a tendency to lose his head.

http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/evlhnk.gif

[Marshal Loss]

I’m on Chapter 8 for the audio book version.

 

Ferrus says there’s “rumors” that one of the 15* will be chosen to lead the others in place of the Emperor.

 

Where a Primarch would hear such rumors is beyond me. It’s like the Vice President saying “I hear rumors the President is going to...” ...of ALL the people on the planet, shouldn’t the VP be the one person the President would talk of his/her plans to?

 

Not a perfect analogy, but you get the idea.

 

Point is Ferrus’ character is such that even at the hint of such a decision, he wants his name in the ring. So it kinda doesn’t matter how far off from actual events it is.

 

Poor analogy; It's more like a Secretary of State/Defence hearing rumours of the President's plans, not to mention the fact that, historically speaking, VP's are if anything more likely to be completely ignored by the President than actively kept in the loop.

 

The Imperial Court is vast and involved in interactions on a galactic scale, and this is the Emperor we're talking about: not exactly a man who likes to keep the people surrounding him informed of what's going on. It makes more sense that the Primarchs would hear rumours through others than from the Emperor himself.