Primarch Book 8 - Jaghatai Khan: Warhawk of Chogoris

[DarKnight]

Just finished. I feel comfortable saying this is by far the best of the Primarch novels and one of the better Horus Heresy novels period, coming from someone who isn't even the biggest fan of the V Legion. Really enjoyed the read. Am I the only one who thought Magnus was being more sarcastic than actually disrespectful towards Chogorian culture? All of the Primarch interaction scenes were great and presented them perfectly.

[Mellow]

I feel Jaghatai gets away with quite a lot of his “anti-Imperium” behaviour because at the end of the day he does still conquer worlds for the Crusade.

 

He’s very much a mix between the feral Russ and the refined swordsman Fulgrim.

[b1soul]

With a dash of the Lion's aloofness and prickliness

[animal310]

Finished it in two days. Great book, one of the best of the series. I like how it moves through the years covering key events in the story. Found this series somewhat hit and miss but this is definitely at hit for me. Looking forward to Vulkan next.

[Tymell]

Loved every moment of it. I would say “Chris Wraight demonstrates once again that he’s a master of Jaghatai and the Scars”, but honestly, does even that need to be said any more?

 

This one serves as a perfect companion to Brotherhood of the Storm, I feel, and not just because it leads into it. It shows us Jaghatai taking command of his legion for the first time, setting up so much for what is to come further down the line. It also gives us a great view of how he struggles to fit into this new, expanded world, and the clashes of his personality and his role.

 

He wants to be isolated and uncaring of others, but he can’t, not truly, not any more. He knows he needs allies, even if such a thing doesn’t come naturally to him at all. He has no doubts about the dangers of the warp and the reality of the threats there, despite this seemingly contradicting the Imperial Truth he is now sworn to spread. He feels bound to the Emperor, his father, yet clearly hates the secrecy and manipulations He employs. The Jaghatai we see here is driven and honourable, but reclusive and stubborn. He is honour-bound to others and to the Imperium, but the Chogorian in him has a clear distaste for it and seems happiest when riding free. The ending even seems to imply that, had the Heresy not broken out, he may have distanced himself even further from the Imperium. Certainly this is mentioned earlier in the book as a possibility if they pushed him too hard or tried to use him as a pawn.

 

While his interactions with his brothers are few, I found them particularly interesting. Jaghatai clearly recognises Magnus’ arrogance and disagrees with him on the dangerous nature of the warp. We see the same interaction with Horus we saw in Brotherhood of the Storm, but now with a clearer look (though Yesugei’s eyes) into Jaghatai’s reluctance and concerns, casting this scene in a new light. And while the view of the Khan as someone who doesn’t work well with others was maintained, I found it interesting that if anything, he seemed to get on best with Sanguinius. Hoping we see more of that during the Siege.

 

For me, this is an easy contender for the best of the Primarch books, though it’s tricky to compare it to my other favourites so far. Lorgar took a more unique approach and was more of a pleasant surprise. Perturabo did so much work for a Primarch who really needed it. Jaghatai Khan’s Primarch book is less of a surprise, but at the same time that shouldn’t be taken to lessen its quality. It’s still a superbly paced and well-written piece, and while we've already had good looks at this Primarch before, I come away from this book feeling I've seen further development and fleshing out of his character.

 

If anyone hasn't read any of them yet, I feel this, Brotherhood of the Storm, Scars and Path of Heaven would make for a cracking series to read through back to back.

[b1soul]

A HH WS omnibus will be pure quality

 

...and Jaghatai Khan becoming an epic, bloody version of Warner Bros Tasmanian Devil was one of the coolest way to highlight a Primarch's prowess

[Orwell84]

A HH WS omnibus will be pure quality

 

...and Jaghatai Khan becoming an epic, bloody version of Warner Bros Tasmanian Devil was one of the coolest way to highlight a Primarch's prowess

 

If you have Adobe Standard and your HH books in PDF format, you can manually create a White Scars omnibus, or for that matter any HH omnibus you like. I put all the WS novels and shorts into a single PDF, so I can read all of them sequentially without having to go digging through other PDFs. Ditto with merging French's Tallarn anthology and three related shorts published elsewhere. It is a bit fiddly, but worth the effort for the stories / authors you really like that are spread across half a dozen files.

[DukeLeto69]

I vowed never to buy a Primarchs books because 1. I wanted them to focus exclusively on time before HH and cover Great Crusade or even before and 2. They have proven to be of variable quality and 3. As an OCD collector if I stared I would have to buy them all anyway!

 

However, based in this thread I may just have to buy this one and pretend to myself it isn't part of a series!

 

TBH I liked Scars but didn't love it. While it was a good read I didn't really get the love most folks on here had for it. However, I loved Path of Heaven which was easily one of the top five HH books for me. Interestingly (to me) it wasn't the White Scars stuff I liked best but rather some of the insights into Navigators and warp travel that Wraight peppered into the story...loved it!

[Guest]

Finally got my Jaghatai on :)

 

Yup really enjoyed it... ties so nice with the others. ill be sad if this is the last White Scars book by Chris... I do hope we get a book at the space port on the Siege of Terra,

 

From the start I was so indifferent to the Scars now I love them.

[Kelborn]

It was already confirmed that we'll get a Siege White Scars novel as the conclusion of their HH story arc. :)

[Lord Lorne Walkier]

 

 

- Confirmation that the SoH had a full-on librarius project before Magnus/Sanguinius/Jaghatai's codification. They might not have sued their psykers in battle but it was there, and only fell by the wayside with Horus's political ambitions. That too was neatly done, the Khan trying his best to win Horus on the pro-psyker side but realising that it would never be as soon as they had a warmaster who had to remain studiously neutral.

 

The book was a good read but this is the major reveal for me.  Was nice to see Hastur Sejanus but he was not all that remarkable.  The fact that the Luna Wolves had Librarians is a bomb shell.  Up till now their lack of them has been used to shoot down my long held belief that some one like Loken could have been a Repressed Psyker   The LW / SoH Lib seemed to be suffering form some kind of mental Trauma at the end of the book.  I always thought that Horus mind wiped them around Nkaea.  The only other clue about a Luna Wolf Librarius is in the history of the Mournival.