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Of Honour and Iron


Mellow

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In my opinion, it's better than Ashes of Prospero and War of Secrets. It shows a slightly darker side to Guilliman, though not overly so to ruin his character, and also some actions of fresh Primaris, and their shortcomings. The author is the same one who wrote the Lucius novel and the upcoming Angron Primarchs novel.

I've barely scratched Lucius: The Faultless Blade and I'm already hooked, or I would be if that hangar bay scene (you know the one) from A Lesson in Darkness hadn't already. Should be an entertaining read that injects the fire back into the Conquests series that the last ~2 smothered.

No new Primaris units, though it does show Inceptors fitting in a Stormraven.

 

Premise:

 

The story revolves around a small taskforce of Ultramarines sent to retrieve what is later revealed to be a cache of Life-Eater virus bombs left on the planet by Iron Warriors who had forced off the planet during the Scouring, and to relieve the Genesis Chapter garrison that is stationed there that has come under attack by the Iron Warriors seeking to reclaim their cache.

 

On Guilliman:

 

He seems to have a somewhat Fabius Bile mentality by the end of this novel, being willing to burn the current Imperium and rebuild it in the Emperor's image if necessary.

 

The story somewhat ties into the Guilliman Primarchs novel, with Guilliman's qualms over using bio-weaponry, though his opinioin seems to have changed since then.

'If I must use such savage weapons, then let it be so. If the galaxy must be razed, and its ashes used to regrow our kingdom, then I will do so. The Imperium that rises from the brink of annihilation shall truly be my father's realm, and not the rotting den of corruption time has made of it.


He has the skull of Marius Gage in his quarters, and speaks to it, referring to him as 'his favoured son'.

 

On Primaris:

 

While shown to be individually stronger than the standard Astartes, they are a bit like Custodes in that they try to fight individually, rather than as brothers, which has negative consequences for them.

They also seem somewhat glory-hungry, seeing their own legacies as more important than how their loss may impact their brothers.

The Ultramarines are initially repulsed by the Primaris, and it takes a hololith of Guilliman to convince them not to attack them instantly.

A dying Iron Warrior likens the situation to the Thunder Warriors, and asks the Ultramarines Chaplain how long he thinks it will be before they turn on him.

 

Also confirmed that Primaris do go through the 10th Company.

Does it state where Guilliman got the skull of Marius Gage? Last we saw him iirc, he was taking the Macragge's Honour into the warp, chasing Kor Phaeron, and the Macragge's Honour was reclaimed from the Red Corsairs within the first few years of the Indomitus Crusade according to The Armour of Fate, but didn't mention Gage.

Oh by the Emperor please have Guilliman start losing his marbles under the pressure of the loneliness of command (who wouldn’t?). And he becomes more and more unlike himself and it takes the return of one of his Loyalist brothers to knock sense back into him.

 

...the idea being that the setting should never have a single Mary Sue Primarch* around for long when there are fourteen others to tap into.

 

That might be the one thing that makes RG’s continued existence remotely worthwhile (IMO).

 

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I would say this about any single Primarch that was the only one returned. What makes Primarchs interesting is their brotherhood and how they interact with each other. So even if it was a Primarch I found interesting like the Lion or Khan, I would have similar feelings.

 

But having RG as the only one bores me to tears, most especialy b/c it’s Guilliman, but that’s another matter.

Guest Triszin

Maybe what its gearing up for is, Avtive tension that sometimes spills into combat between Guillimans Imperium and the esserechariy*sp.

 

where SoB are gearing up to be able to counter primaris marines and guillimans imperial truth hardliners.

 

and handle it kind of like a " Secret Wars" style scenario.

 

were there is a "secret war" that is happening randomly around the imperium for the "soul" of it

 

then the inquisition "cleans up" anyone who witnessed the combat?

 

THey will still fight together against outside threats, but when debate becomes anger and rage, and then violence the two sides have been known to attack each other?

This was an interesting novel, one part that really jumped out at me however is that the Ultramarines are depicted as fully buying into the Imperial Cult. One of the main characters is a Chaplain that is constantly praying to the God-Emperor and describing him as divine. None of the other Ultramarines find this odd, and follow along. This occasionally took me out of the story.

 

Also, a small nitpick: the banner on Black Library's website advertising the book incorrectly describes Helios as a Primaris marine. I'd brush this off, but this is the second time I've noticed a flawed description on their site within a short span of time (the first being the description of The Voice of Mars).

I am honestly glad they are showing that not everyone likes the Mary Sue Marines, I mean the Primaris. I despise them as a concept so anytime they get taken down a peg in official lore I am far happier then I should be.

 

I wouldn't really say they're taken down a peg. They're shown as faster and stronger than older marines, and their downsides in the novel are entirely due to inexperience. They still pull out some wins against more experience chaos marines and are shown as being full of potential.

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