The Siege of Terra: Solar War

[bluntblade]

Interesting. Actually Amurael in Black Legion is described similarly, looking like Horus but black. Oh, and with horns.

[Demigod]

What I really did not like is how only the Ultramarines got a mention of the loyalist forces that are on the outside of the siege. The Ultramarines are again made to seem like an unbeatable force with the "We just need to hold on until the Ultramarines arrive". In Dreadwing , Johnson says that the Astronomicon has been gone for a while now so there has to be some warp "ritual" that blocked it , but then how can the Ultramarines even keep advancing.

 

I hope that in the next book Corax, Russ and Johnson will get a bigger mention. I would like to see Corax`es actions creating problems in the traitors rear and Johnson and Russ getting closer driving them to take more and more gambles. 

[DarkChaplain]

The Astronomican is temporarily blocked out by the traitors' actions at Beta-Garmon, creating a small scale ruinstorm effect. Since Beta-Garmon presents the most accessible gate/warp route for larger fleets to Terra, it's quite clever.

But between Beta-Garmon's climax and the Siege, we got the events of Slaves to Darkness playing out, and the Lion spends a long time after the Astronomican goes out trying to figure it out and hide it from his Legion. The mini-ruinstorm was only ever a temporary measure and would weaken with time, though.

So, I'd argue that Horus also has to hurry to keep the Astronomican covered up for long enough to delay the Ultramarines, because they'd be able to use it for navigating again eventually. Considering the Ultramarines also have been making smaller jumps and been waylaid along the entire route, it's not too difficult to believe that they can handle it, though again at the cost of time and the occasional displacement.

As for why the Ultramarines in particular... Because Corax is diminished to the max, harrassing the traitor legions from the back, but with little impact in a straight fight. The Lion and his fleet are heavily reduced and the Lion is unpredictable at the best of times, especially with Malcador being aware of trouble at Caliban - their only real recruitment home. The Wolves left on a suicide mission prior to Beta-Garmon, and have not been in touch or even sighted in months, with Horus obviously still alive and well. The Iron Hands are shattered, the Salamanders have a bit of a garrison at home and Vulkan is in the dungeons.

The last we see Corax and Russ, they're pretty much certain that their part in the wider war is over, and they can't do much about anything. Russ was barely back to consciousness as well. The Ultramarines meanwhile have the largest fleet, composed of their own and all manner of other Legions' smaller fleets, as well as traders and civilian ships. They are *the* counter force to pressure Horus from the back. None of the others control a remotely comparable force at this stage.

[Demigod]

The Astronomican is temporarily blocked out by the traitors' actions at Beta-Garmon, creating a small scale ruinstorm effect. Since Beta-Garmon presents the most accessible gate/warp route for larger fleets to Terra, it's quite clever.

 

But between Beta-Garmon's climax and the Siege, we got the events of Slaves to Darkness playing out, and the Lion spends a long time after the Astronomican goes out trying to figure it out and hide it from his Legion. The mini-ruinstorm was only ever a temporary measure and would weaken with time, though.

 

So, I'd argue that Horus also has to hurry to keep the Astronomican covered up for long enough to delay the Ultramarines, because they'd be able to use it for navigating again eventually. Considering the Ultramarines also have been making smaller jumps and been waylaid along the entire route, it's not too difficult to believe that they can handle it, though again at the cost of time and the occasional displacement.

 

As for why the Ultramarines in particular... Because Corax is diminished to the max, harrassing the traitor legions from the back, but with little impact in a straight fight. The Lion and his fleet are heavily reduced and the Lion is unpredictable at the best of times, especially with Malcador being aware of trouble at Caliban - their only real recruitment home. The Wolves left on a suicide mission prior to Beta-Garmon, and have not been in touch or even sighted in months, with Horus obviously still alive and well. The Iron Hands are shattered, the Salamanders have a bit of a garrison at home and Vulkan is in the dungeons.

 

The last we see Corax and Russ, they're pretty much certain that their part in the wider war is over, and they can't do much about anything. Russ was barely back to consciousness as well. The Ultramarines meanwhile have the largest fleet, composed of their own and all manner of other Legions' smaller fleets, as well as traders and civilian ships. They are *the* counter force to pressure Horus from the back. None of the others control a remotely comparable force at this stage.

 

But that is my issue I am not arguing that only one of those three forces ( Ultramarines, DA+SW, RG + Shattered Legions )  should be portrayed like the thing that is pressuring the traitors to quickly end the siege. Because all three of those forces separately are no where near enough to be a threat , but all three committing pressure from different axis  should be portrayed as the big problem for the traitors. The Ultramarines pushing on a vast front, the Dark Angels and Space Wolves going for a direct push towards Terra and Corax and the Shattered Legions absolutely decimating their back lines. " The Ultramarines are coming " for me simply does not give me an urgency feeling because Horus is shown as having an absolutely massive , very competent and powerful army yet he must win the fight fast because the Ultramarines are coming and they are somehow going to beat 7+ Legions with their primarchs there. 

 

Also I would have liked to see some psychological warfare going on with the traitors claiming they have killed some of the loyalist primarchs that are still alive or them lying that they have done things that they have not. Like was shown in Dreadwing with Corswain. 

[DarkChaplain]

But neither the Space Wolves nor the Dark Angels are pushing for Terra right now. The Lion is in denial about what's happening and refuses to either go to Terra or Caliban. He's drifting, trying to burn supply chains that none of the traitors care about anymore.

The Iron Hands literally abandoned the war after the death of Shadrak Meduson, before Vulkan even arrives on Terra. Whatever is left of them is negligible and drowned out by their allies (read: the Ultramarines that picked them up along the way) or went to join the muster at Beta-Garmon (as seen in Weregeld), and from there either died or maybe retreated as splinter forces at battle's end.

For the Salamanders, you can say that they're even less relevant in this war right now. Vulkan brought what, three dudes with him to Terra? Their Forgefather left with Vulkan's artifacts to hide them away, but the bulk of them were pretty much a garrison and they just had a bit of a bombardment from the Death Guard. Whoever was active in the war was likely working under Meduson, who went the way of the dodo.

 

The Space Wolves and Raven Guard left Yarant together, parallel to or possibly even at the end of Beta-Garmon. Neither force was doing well, both their Primarchs were in a bit of a slump, with Russ having lain comatose and rambling and Corax going near suicidal over understanding their nature as Primarchs. Seeing how the Thousand Sons were actually part of the forces under Abaddon at Yarant, we could actually speculate that this is after Slaves to Darkness, right after the muster at Ullanor where Magnus bows to Horus and openly aligns his Legion to the traitors.

There has been no encounter between the Dark Angels or Space Wolves as of yet. This entire plotline of them coming up behind the traitors is still inactive.

And even then, the traitors are covering their butts with staggered walls of Iron Warriors, who are shown to do a great job at keeping Guilliman delayed ever so slightly on every step of the way. And Guilliman's got strength in numbers and cohesion that neither of the other Primarchs out there share right now.

 

And as for why the Ultramarines are such a threat? For one, their fleet is absolutely massive and rivalling what Horus got under his command. The Sol system at this point is packed with ships and defensive bastions. Even just entering the system takes a lot of time and planning, and having that shaken up by another major force drop in right behind them, or tying them up at the last checkpoint before Terra? They'd have to divide resources so heavily, their assault on Sol would inevitably falter. The loyalists at Sol are already doing a good job keeping the traitors at bay in the opening stages, and taking a bloody toll for every sphere gained.

Right now, Horus is counting the most on his own veterans and the Iron Warriors. All the others are damn unreliable and even prone to infighting. Angron could barely even sustain his form in realspace before the Siege. Fulgrim wanted to leave the war behind and live in ecstasy. Yes, Horus has Primarchs and they'll do a great job on the ground, but for that, they'd have to reach Terra first. And we all know that they've got their own agendas to follow.

Compared to that, the loyalists on Terra along with the Ultramarines would cause them more than a headache.

[bluntblade]

Maybe those were a splinter force of Thousand Sons. FW fluff talks about Loyalists beside Khalophis' little band, and marines further afield who went Traitor.

[b1soul]

Post-Imperium Secundus, the UM are still a massive fighting force

 

After the triple whammy of Prospero, Alaxxes, and Yarant/the Wolfcull, the VIth is essentially a shattered legion

 

The Raven Guard have been shattered since Istvaan

 

The DA are still viable, but the Lion is not as reliable as Guilliman.

 

The significant known factor on the minds of defenders and besiegers alike is Guilliman.

[DarkChaplain]

On top of that, Sanguinius also knows for a fact that Guilliman's intentions actually were to catch up and attack from behind. The Lion stated his purpose as trying to divert the traitors by blowing up their homeworlds and infrastructure. "Oh by the way Rogal, our brother is going around exploding Chemos and Barbarus, only our other brother Roboute actually is still working his butt off to reach us." "For Throne's sake, Jonson... Guess we're on our own til Guilliman gets here"

[Kelborn]

Received my copy, yesterday. Bit sad that there's no map included in the hardback version. Gonna print it to have an overview.

Loving it thus far!

[Tymell]

I just finished this one myself, and I'll cast another voice for really enjoying it.

 

For me, it really picks up and takes off in the last third or so. Not that what comes before is bad or even mediocre, but until that point I was probably heading for a solid 8/10, good but not in my top 10 novels of the series, but after the ending section I think it has to go higher and break into that. The whole last section has a fantastic rollercoaster feel, I really couldn't put it down as everything took off, all these threads came together, the pacing is really on-point.

 

Even before that, it's still really good stuff. It does a great job of painting a picture of the big conflict IMO, of this on-going warfare. Right from the off, the battles begin, and it never really lets up, yet it never felt fatigued either. It felt similar to Know No Fear in that regard: you'd think the prolonged conflict would drag, but the quality of the writing (and the differing characters/perspectives) keep it fresh and enjoyable.

 

I also think it does well with the stakes and tension. We ultimately know (roughly) how it's going to turn out, and we also know it's only the first part of this particular story. Yet it managed to hold my attention, feel tense and maintain a sense of high stakes.

 

In spoiler territory:

 

Some will, I'm sure, feel some repetition in the whole "implanted Chaos" thing with Mersadie, since it's not that far from what we saw in Buried Dagger. However, while I did enjoy that at least somewhat in BD, I think it's handled better here. It fits rather than feeling contrived, and the book even explains how the initial implantation was for a more mundane purpose, but Chaos was able to exploit that later.

 

Samus is also very good here, he's at his most menacing and threatening.

 

Oh, and as some others have said, Abaddon is great in this. I loved some of the fleshing out of his backstory, and that his character is again more than just a rage-monster.

 

So yeah, I really liked it. It feels sufficiently like a complete book of its own, it manages to balance a huge conflict and a lot of characters well, and it ties back to some of the earliest stuff without just feeling like pointless callbacks and the like. An absolutely solid start to the Siege.

[Lord_Caerolion]

I just finished this one myself, and I'll cast another voice for really enjoying it.

 

For me, it really picks up and takes off in the last third or so. Not that what comes before is bad or even mediocre, but until that point I was probably heading for a solid 8/10, good but not in my top 10 novels of the series, but after the ending section I think it has to go higher and break into that. The whole last section has a fantastic rollercoaster feel, I really couldn't put it down as everything took off, all these threads came together, the pacing is really on-point.

 

Even before that, it's still really good stuff. It does a great job of painting a picture of the big conflict IMO, of this on-going conflict. Right from the off, the battles begin, and it never really lets up, yet it never felt fatigued either. It felt similar to Know No Fear in that regard: you'd think the prolonged conflict would drag, but the quality of the writing (and the differing characters/perspectives) keep it fresh and enjoyable.

 

I also think it does well with the stakes and tension. We ultimately know (roughly) how it's going to turn out, and we also know it's only the first part of this particular story. Yet it managed to hold my attention, feel tense and maintain a sense of high stakes.

 

In spoiler territory:

 

Some will, I'm sure, feel some repetition in the whole "implanted Chaos" thing with Mersadie, since it's not that far from what we saw in Buried Dagger. However, while I did enjoy that at least somewhat in BD, I think it's handled better here. It fits rather than feeling contrived, and the book even explains how the initial implantation was for a more mundane purpose, but Chaos was able to exploit that later.

 

Samus is also very good here, he's at his most menacing and threatening.

 

Oh, and as some others have said, Abaddon is great in this. I loved some of the fleshing out of his backstory, and that his character is again more than just a rage-monster.

 

So yeah, I really liked it. It feels sufficiently like a complete book of its own, it manages to balance a huge conflict and a lot of characters well, and feels like it ties back to some of the earliest stuff without just feeling like pointless callbacks and the like. An absolutely solid start to the Siege.

 

In regards to the spoiler, 

I think it works here because the majority of the novel works to show that her memories are affected, and hints that there's something weird going on, even if it's just something as "simple" as going insane after what happened, and the extended isolation. Buried Dagger came out of absolutely nowhere, there were no indications that anything was amiss. Solar War has Mersadie constantly blurring between seeing reality, and reliving a memory that she doesn't remember, and remembering Loken as an actual wolf, etc.

 

Edited to add: basically, it goes back to the idea of a good mystery story should always have hints at the end result. Pulling something out of absolute nowhere reeks of being a deus-ex-machina, that the author had no idea how to actually resolve it, so "screw it, he's a Chaos plant now" is thrown in as an attempt to resolve it. In Buried Dagger, there were no hints that there was any Chaos shenanigans going on, no mentions of missing memories under Calth, no out-of-character actions, etc. We're just suddenly told that "oh yeah, Erebus totes got to this guy, and had no idea what was going to happen, but perfectly set this all up to culminate at this exact moment, done on a whim because the Warp spoke to him".

Here, Mersadie is constantly doubting her own sanity, she's going between reality and hallucination almost constantly, she's meeting characters that nobody else notices, and all because she got a psychic vision at a time when the Warp is screaming, and it takes Malcador all his willpower to not go insane. When you look back, you realize how a more paranoid or cynical reader might have noticed it before, that, like Mersadie, we'd just hoped against hope that this might end well, if she could just deliver her message. The whole book worked towards setting that up as the climax of the story. It didn't feel like the author going "wait, I've only got 50 more pages to tie this all up, better have Mersadie be the anchor of a warp storm's worth of daemons."

 

We don't mind characters being revealed as other than what they'd been meant to be. We just don't like it seeming like they're just making stuff up to finish the novel quickly.

 

EDIT: Expanded a bit in the spoiler.

[godking]

One thing i also liked is that combat experience matters and giving some ganger space marine implants will not make him a good space marine.

 

That one son of horus pov character was almost killed by a a normal Terran officer.

[Roomsky]

The Siege of Terra: The Solar War

 

Here we are at last. The beginning of the end. The opening chapters to the final saga. The foreplay that announces your blue-balling will soon be over. If that weren’t enough, we’ve got a (mostly) all-star cast of writers behind the series, and noted Black Book contributor John French at the helm of the first to get all our ducks in a row. So after all the hype, how does it do?

 

It’s pretty good, yeah.

 

In some ways, French has been writing the sequels to Horus Rising as much as he’s been telling his own tales; Involving Loken, Abaddon, and Mersadie in the plot that, for the latter two especially, seems to engage more with Abnett’s material than those that followed. This isn’t to say French is ignoring what came later, but he’s using Abnett’s basis for these characters first and foremost, rather than necessarily holding them on equal footing, or choosing others of those foundations.

 

Abaddon comes out the best from this, giving a plausible explanation for his actions after Horus Rising, and with the bonus of smoothing the transition into the character we see in Black Legion. Here we see Abaddon as calculating, but with an extreme sense of martial pride. His idea of what a warrior should be and how they should act is quite narrow, and he responds negatively in the warrior’s way: violence. This is a very elegant solution to character who has been written as both coldly brutal and frothing at the mouth between books. 

 

More importantly, he has a childhood friend named Kars.

 

Loken doesn’t have a huge part, but his appearances work very well with Mersadie’s in what’s probably the book’s biggest theme carried over from the series at large. I’ll touch on that more with Oliton.

 

Having Mersadie finally do something after all this time was a bold choice, but one I’m glad took centre stage on the character side of things. While I think she had perhaps one too many scenes devoted to her, she’s a nice human grounding but not terribly exciting, it all goes into making the usual John French Twist Moment TM hit that much harder. All series we’ve had to put up with Malcador’s bull:cuss, his insistence on being opaque, cynical, and often downright murderous. And all this while we’ve reveled in the small victories of our protagonists, Loken or otherwise, and it’s always been a nice fist-pumping moment when someone calls the old man out for his dickery.

 

Here though, we learn Malcador was right. A single, innocent party trying to do nothing but help and rage against her undeserved execution turns out to be the gateway for Samus to tear through The Phalanx as Horus’ plan to skip most of Dorn’s well-cultivated defenses with warp shenanigans comes to fruition (read: the worst possible time). I am in awe at how absolutely 40k this all is. Innocence proves nothing indeed.

 

Sigismund is of course old hat for French, and he’s as good here as ever. While a few events do come across as a bit contrived, it never gives the impression that Sigismund is the invincible juggernaut he’s always memed to be. Aximand’s cold manner of dealing with him was a good illustration of his weaknesses, and only makes his disarming of Little Horus all the more satisfying. Still wish he'd taken the bastard's head, though.

 

It’s purely personal preference, but I’ll admit I wasn’t a huge fan of how excruciatingly technical the titular Solar War came across as. I’m sure for many, the amount of detail that goes into precisely how the engagement at large went down will be everything they'd hoped for, but I would have personally preferred something more in the spirit of Tallarn. I say this now, because I think several interesting characters and plot points would have come across even better if some of the grand theatre story telling had been cut back a bit.

 

Sanguinius is nominally present, and while he and the IXth certainly have more books to shine in, I think it’s a missed opportunity he didn’t get the same sort of re-introduction we got to Horus, The Emperor, Malcador, Dorn, Jaghatai, etc. Layak is fine, but comes across as a supporting character in the narrative of a supporting character more than anything. I’m glad we got a big name loyalist loss in Jubal Khan, but I think he’d have benefited from a scene or two more to establish him as a proper foil to Abaddon. Lokan, Ahriman, and Aximand all have memorable scenes, but the latter two are glorified cameos. All well executed scenes to be sure, but more than a little stifled by all that plotting. If nothing else, I would have liked some of it to have been replaced with stressful strategium sessions to give even further texture to Su-Kassen and Dorn.

 

And man oh man, would I have liked just a bit more time with the Emperor’s psychic projection scenes. As always French nails every character’s voice perfectly, and the oft-squandered Emperor and Horus are pitch perfect here. The imagery of the Emperor as an old man warding off the night with a campfire was very evocative, especially with the abominations of chaos hiding in the trees just beyond sight. The last scene as the fire dwindles is just chilling. And the imagery used for Malcador, as a young man all in gold, is very intriguing and I'm wondering if that's going to go anywhere.

 

French’s writing is, as always, a treat. He has a wonderful way of making the universe feel rich and layered, and his characters come across as believably restrained in their quirks and flaws. I will say that he’s really not as skilled as Abnett when it comes to the flow of action, I’m sure I would have appreciated the amount of detail afforded the whole engagement more if it were the quality of Know No Fear. That is, of course, hardly fair, and I’ve never argued a book is weak purely because I would have liked a subjectively better author to handle it instead. 

 

While perhaps not French’s greatest work, I still prefer is excellent Slavs of Darkness, this may very well be his opus. For all my issues with it, the attention to detail on display here is very impressive. The cast is wide but well defined, the action pleasing, and as the beginning of the end it has just the right mix of familiar and novel elements. Both sides of the conflict are shown as very competent, and in the end it succeeds where it needs to most: building hype for the books to come while being satisfying on its own. My biggest issues largely come down to personal preference, but I can't help but feel they robbed the book of much of its potential.

 

 

TL:DR – Bretty Good

ANR: 8/10

[SkimaskMohawk]

Between Tallarn and Solar War I think that French is the best at writing macro scale engagements. You get to see swathes of the action that really set the scope of the respective conflicts and their various intracacies.

[Sandlemad]

Between Tallarn and Solar War I think that French is the best at writing macro scale engagements. You get to see swathes of the action that really set the scope of the respective conflicts and their various intracacies.

 

Even in Slaves to Darkness he seems to know when to add the appropriate number of zeroes for minor things.

[Wulfburk]

Finished reading the solar war

 

Loved it. John French makes justice to the biggest void battle in 40k history (probably?). I really liked all the back and forth views from the main strategists in both sides as the battle unfolded. Rogal Dorn's trick in pluto, with Sigismund and the explosion of that station, was quite thrilling. As an imperial fist fanboy, im quite glad that Dorn came out as quite a great strategist, as its clearly implied that if it wasnt that warp teleportation at the end, the traitors would've lost, -almost- even without the ultramarines on their backs.

 

This is a perfect start for the series, and i guess unlike most, i also really loved Mersadie's plot throughout the novel. Im really glad to return to characters from the original trilogy, Loken, Mersadie, Keeler...

 

And on Alexis Polux...

the book confirms that the imperial fists in the solar system know that Alexis Polux is alive, but half a galaxy away.... I still dont know why the heck didnt he come with Sanguinius... and what the heck is he doing... I hope we get a short story, or a novella, following him.

[Indefragable]

Finished the audiobook.

 

In short, read @Roomsky's review above and I'm more or less of the same vein. A couple additional thoughts from me:

 

-Like the underverse stuff in Wolfsbane, the psychic projection stuff with Malcador, Big E, and ***spoiler!!!!! Horus!!!*** were the best part for me. The "residual self image" aspect of it ala The Matrix is a phenomenal touch. Malc as the golden-clothed youth, the Emperor as a cold old man trying to stay warm by a dying fire, and Horus as ....well....Horus.

 

-Mercedes Olliton did get a tad too much screen time. There was a useful narrative thread here, pulling the reader along from one metaphorical rampart to the next to give the "average" person's perspective on things. As a personal touch, I think this could have benefitted a bit more from a Hobbit-esque view on things, where the reader actually has far less idea of what's going on and these poors sods find every conceivable place of refuge alight with war. But again, that's more of a "what if" than anything inherently wrong with the story.

 

-Jubal Khan is the biggest miss for me. The Mountain vs the Viper analogy is apt and serves as the best template for how that goes down. It would have been better if Jubal Khan was someone we actually saw more of in previous HH novels, or had more exposition in the novel itself. If it had been Shiban Khan, there would have been much more emotional impact and understanding of what was lost. Instead, we are told rather than really shown why losing Jubal was a big deal.

 

-...so what exactly happened to the V Legion "Falcon Fleets" after Jubal goes down? Not sure it's ever explained...do they go poof?

 

-I think the best part of the novel is that it gives a sense of the major strategic zones of the solar system, why they are important, and what the game plan was for each.

--Pluto: "outer gatehouse" guarded by Sigismund

--Jupiter: "inner gatehouse" guarded by Helbrecht

--Mars: blockade force commanded by Camba Diaz (I kept hearing it pronounced as Cameron Diaz....lolz) that at once pins the Dark New Mechanicum in place on the planet and acts as another bastion that must be fought to get to Terra

--Luna: pretty much the most defended planetoid in the galaxy. And it's just a shadow of Terra

-Terra: good luck trying to breach it

....and as such, the overall narrative is a bit like an older war movie where you get a sense of all the action happening simultaneously. And why it happens simultaneously is part of the intrigue.

 

-there are multiple juicy bits about non-"logo" parts of the 40k universe included as well. It's not all just Legion vs Legion stuff and some of the best parts are about the other people and factions that live and die in this dire universe. With a single paragraph, French whets the appetite with the intrigues of the Jovian Void Clans and how there's an entire Game of Thrones level of sophistication to their world...yet they are just one spoke on the wheel of the Imperium and simply another speedbump on the road to Terra. Likewise, one of my favorite tidbits is how the IV Legion rounded up several bulk haulers worth of sedated gangers and criminals and sent them as an assault force against a moon. They pump the ventilation systems with sedatives while in transit, them pump them with combat stims just before they land, then they gas them to death once the moon is taken. Such a brutal, efficient, automated, and utterly expendable means of conquering. It gets a single mention in an almost casual way, as a sample of the "side dishes" going on. The Legions tend to get the spotlight, but just like how Thermopylae had only 300 Spartans yet up to 5000 other Greeks behind the scenes, so too are there untold millions of little horrors happening throughout the invasion of Sol.

 

-...but that being said, I would have liked just a bit more "chessboard" expose on the grand pieces of the board. For example, we're told that the V Legion ships are organized into "falcon" fleets to cover the Z axis of the solar system and the the IX Legion ships are hanging out around Mars...but that's about it. A bit more depth would have been appreciated. I think more information is held back from the reader to provide more impact/punch when things are revealed, but not everything has to be a surprise. Everyone in the galaxy (both in-universe and reading the book) knows that Pluto is going to fall. But how and when and exactly why is what makes it so fun to read and one of the best parts of the story.

 

-The important of Luna in the coming narratives will be interesting to follow.

 

-I bet that the two children from Mercede's arc will prove symbolic of the Horus Heresy overall: of the innocence that is utterly abandoned and despite every effort to guide and shield them, all those who try end up worse off. Grimdark to the end.

 

-Overall, I think what I liked about it was that everything felt plausible which is the hallmark many of the better HH stories (especially my oft-mentioned favorite, Path of Heaven). Few actions seemed contrived or our context or simply there to drive the plot forward. The actions on both sides made sense and were within a certain context. Even some actions/events that could be seen as deus-ex-machina have enough setup and plausible context that it comes off quite well*

 

 

*certain planetoids are detonated by the Loyalist has a 40k-size booby trap. It would be seem implausible if not for the fact that French spends time talking about the very specific techniques and manner in which they were rigged to blow. Essentially, it works not because of the idea of sabotage catches the traitors off guard, but rather because the Alpha Legion's job was to report all such attempts and the loyalists were able to "sneak" the sabotage attempts past the AL infiltrators they assumed had to be there. I was smiling to myself thinking about the Alpha Legion officer in charge of making sure nothing was rigged pulling a Captain Piett face when things go "boom"

 

 

I, too, give it an 8/10 for being solidly good, but could have really nailed it with just a bit more salt or paper to taste.

[b1soul]

Woulda liked Jubal to have done great things at the Siege, but I think his early death would've worked better had he actually been developed more. As it is, his death just feels a premature and lacking any impact. Abaddon killing Rann would've had more punch IMO. The effect it would have on Sigismund etc.

[Fire Golem]

Woulda liked Jubal to have done great things at the Siege, but I think his early death would've worked better had he actually been developed more. As it is, his death just feels a premature and lacking any impact. Abaddon killing Rann would've had more punch IMO. The effect it would have on Sigismund etc.

Rann is the Chapter Master of the Executioners after the Heresy, so that couldn't have happened. 

[Morovir]

Similar problem with Shiban, he has already been written as being on Terra when the traitors first make planetfall, so nothing could have happened to him either.

[Indefragable]

 

Woulda liked Jubal to have done great things at the Siege, but I think his early death would've worked better had he actually been developed more. As it is, his death just feels a premature and lacking any impact. Abaddon killing Rann would've had more punch IMO. The effect it would have on Sigismund etc.

Rann is the Chapter Master of the Executioners after the Heresy, so that couldn't have happened. 

 

 

I think....

 

...they were a bit painted into a corner in the sense that the only "major" non-primarch characters left in the V Legion at this point were Shiban and Jubal....and for a multitude of reasons, it's clear that Shiban is our main guy for the WS.....so they were "forced" to use Jubal in this situation.

 

Just a shame because we never truly get to understand what the Lord of Summer Lightning really means as far as reputation goes.

 

 

[SkimaskMohawk]

The thing with jubal is that

 

his death doesn't matter to the falcon fleets. Their whole thing is being highly independent outriders; his death mattered to abbaddon being competent and someone to be feared. Up until now he's just been that guy who turns really scary later, but at the same time barely beat a guy with a chainsword while in terminator armour. French basically did his best to develop Abe's heresy character...after the heresy series effectively ended.

[b1soul]

The Lord of Summer Lightning was used twice, once to make Sigismund look good and once to make Abaddon look good. A bit of a shame he never gets a chance to shine before being offed.

[Tymell]

The Lord of Summer Lightning was used twice, once to make Sigismund look good and once to make Abaddon look good. A bit of a shame he never gets a chance to shine before being offed.

 

While I do agree that Jubal Khan didn't get anything like as much "screen time" in the Heresy as would've been good, I also don't think it's accurate to say he was used simply to "make others look good". I didn't get that feeling from Templar or The Solar War.

[JH79]

Another White Scars character I've been itching to see something of is since his encounter with Little Horus is Hibou Khan... does anyone know if he is likely to make an appearance again during the Siege?