Angron the Red Angel

[Krelious]

I thought the book was very good in terms of portraying a wide array of characters and perspectives it was very ambitious and entertaining, I thought it was a bit better than the Lion's book. I think my favourite part was the portrayal of that one insane world eater and his final redemption as I found the portrayal of his insanity to be very believable and significant. I also really liked the plot of Sotholax and Lotarra, how say misguided some world eaters like Sotholax are as Khorne or rather any devotee of one god will come to the horrible conclusion that being deeply immersed in a god of chaos is not going to result in uplifting you its about taking you down to the lowest you can go. Angron's beastial rage is the zenith and nadir of being the living epitome or avatar of a god of Chaos and that mindset is going to be reflected in the world eaters forever. They can never be honourable or competent warriors as they are really just a horde of blood mad dogs jumped up on warp juice to give them an edge and I feel like thats an overarching theme of the whole book that many characters take on from different angles trying to understand the nature of war, anger, and chasing glory/heroics. I think Telomane took the approach of giving up his anger in order to spiritually defeat Angron rather than seeking a material victory.  In this I think it proves that Sigismund was right in his approach of stoic detachment in fighting Chaos and why he beat Khârn. Overall I think its a message of there are no half measures or negotiations between good or evil. If you're evil you are going to be a slave, your mind is going to be gone, you are fundamentally going to be a degenerate in some fashion of how you fell from grace and the people who have fallen harder than you are going to be your masters. There is no true brotherhood in chaos only a collective constant striving towards deeper madness, a complete rot of the soul that becomes more pungent day by day. 

 

I think fundamentally regardless of the butchers nails, the World Eaters represent a warrior ethos that has lost sight of the purpose of war other than fighting for the sake of fighting, killing and shedding blood because its all they know. They are beyond the state of being barbarians even, they are just mad dogs chasing cars for no reason other than the car is moving. They are the finest death cult because their first victims are themselves.  

[Roomsky]

Ah, Guymer at his peak, how I've missed him.

 

Look, the man's written some bad stuff, and some more mediocre stuff, but when he hits he hits, at least for me. I'm honestly shocked how many Goodreads reviews for this are so negative.

Guymer takes the same approach here that he did to Kragnos, which is good because Kragnos is a great book too. Angron is present, but he's got one line (or more, depending on your reading) and doesn't do much besides kill things. You do feel his importance throughout, though; he drives basically every facet of the plot. I know many readers aren't jazzed about this kind of book but they've always worked for me; too much focus stops these characters from feeling larger than life.

 

Instead, like all of Guymer's "it's about the people surrounding the title character" books, the cast is brilliant. The Grey Knights are spot on, probably the best portrayal of them I've yet read. They're pragmatic, brutal, and steeped in centuries of tradition and mysticism. Yet their humanity does have opportunity to shine through: their choice to be friendly and candid with those they know are doomed to (eventual) death simply by meeting them was quite refreshing, and I loved Telomane's mixed feelings on Angron's past. Although, I'm sorry Guymer, but even a primarch duel can't make the Dreadknight seem bad-ass. Get my boy Telomane out of the mechanized baby carrier.

 

The traitors are fantastic as well. Kossolax embodies all the reasons why no traitor legion should actually be pleased to see their primarch again. Shahka is the conceptual extreme of a World Eater, a big ball of Hulk-like smash-ittude who needs to be literally restrained and forcibly moved to where his "allies" need him to fight before he starts team-killing. His conversations with his angel allow him to have depth while being a slavering monster, and his ending is wonderful. Leidis's ending is absolutely chilling, and he's probably the standout character for me. A renegade POV mingling with an OG traitor legion is so rare to see.

 

Also, Lotarra's my favourite human character, so it's great to see her place in the story. Really, Guymer impressed me as much as Brooks did in Harrowmaster with this book. You don't need to read everything this alludes to beforehand, but it's so rewarding when you have. Perfect example of a Black Library novel standing on the shoulders of giants.

 

The plot isn't all gravy but I think it's close. A few sections last a bit long but I honestly never got bored. All the POVs kept meaningful goals and commentary throughout, so even when the fighting was going on their character arcs were trucking along nicely. I get that some people struggle with Guymer's prose, he definitely has the densest of any author who releases with regularity these days, but I love chewing on it.

 

9/10 thank you Guymer for this gift please write Sapphire King now kiss kiss.

 

So we have a good Lion book and a good Angron book. When do we get the good Lion vs Angron book? I'm not even sure which author I'd prefer to write it, I enjoyed this better than Son of the Forest but I've also read Lord of the First. Do we risk crap for the chance at greatness?

Edited October 12, 2023 by Roomsky

[cheywood]

Finished this up earlier today. It’s a well written, engaging story that builds on past works featuring its eponymous character. I’m not necessarily as high on it as some fraters, but I’d agree this is Guymer at his best. Well worth reading for those who like the 12th and the Grey Knights. 

How do you tell a story about a character whose essential tale has already been written, and written nearly flawlessly at that? It’s a tough question to tackle, and one Guymer decides to approach by deflection, making the book more about those characters caught up in Angron’s gravity than the Lord of the Red Sands himself. We follow various World Eaters and learn of the way rage shapes them at their various steps along Khorne’s path. The cast is relatively small and well-developed. The writing is perhaps Guymer’s best, and the plot, while not especially memorable, follows on well from ADB’s work. It didn’t provoke much in the way of contemplation from me, but I was satisfied throughout. 

7.5/10 - to taste

[LemartestheLost]

Read this book earlier in the year and enjoyed it. The plot was decent, but there could have been more. I thought the Grey Knights were written well, but not as well are the World Eaters themselves.

 

On 10/16/2023 at 11:59 AM, cheywood said:

How do you tell a story about a character whose essential tale has already been written, and written nearly flawlessly at that? It’s a tough question to tackle, and one Guymer decides to approach by deflection, making the book more about those characters caught up in Angron’s gravity than the Lord of the Red Sands himself. We follow various World Eaters and learn of the way rage shapes them at their various steps along Khorne’s path. The cast is relatively small and well-developed.

 

I completely agree with frater cheywood here, Guymer did a great job by deflecting and not giving Angron much dialogue. We already know that Angron is a frothing berzerker, so why beat a dead horse? Insight into how the World Eaters from 30k AND new traitors following Khorne react to the mayhem of the gathering of such a large force and the return of the Red Angel himself gives a new, fresh perspective without tiring out a trope. 

 

To me, this book has massive similarities to Sanguinius: The Great Angel that we got from Chris Wraight, and I love that book to death. Considering I thoroughly enjoyed Wraight's approach to so lauded a character, I'm not surprised to be finding myself giving Guymer high marks for this work as well.

 

Score: 8.5/10

Must Read for World Eaters enjoyers.

Edited November 25, 2023 by LemartestheLost
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[GenerationTerrorist]

Finished this book last night. I really enjoyed it.

 The supporting characters are so brilliantly done, that I felt a lot of empathy towards Shahka and Leidis at the end.

Even though, as a sane person, you should probably not feel anything for them. They are just caught up in stuff that has gone wildly out of their control. It is beautifully written.

[Scribe]

On 2/7/2023 at 1:35 PM, RedFurioso said:

Please explain

  Hide contents

Shaska's state... Is he Possessed? I mean, how he got this ability to enlarge his body and grow wings...

 

 

I think he's a Daemon Prince.

[Krelious]

On 11/24/2023 at 9:51 AM, GenerationTerrorist said:

Finished this book last night. I really enjoyed it.

 The supporting characters are so brilliantly done, that I felt a lot of empathy towards Shahka and Leidis at the end.

Even though, as a sane person, you should probably not feel anything for them. They are just caught up in stuff that has gone wildly out of their control. It is beautifully written.

Edited November 27, 2023 by Krelious
I'd like to delete the post because I forgot I posted in the thread before.

[Sothalor]

I really liked this one.

 

Great characterization with strong juggling of disparate character viewpoints, factions, competing agendas, hindered desires, and lost souls.

 

This continues to reinforce my opinion that one of the strongest ways to depict Primarchs is to maintain a little narrative distance from them, to show their outsized influence and effect on the more merely-human characters in their orbits and caught in their wakes.

 

And I love that here we have a meditative, deliberately paced character study (of multiple people at once, at that!) that so adroitly takes the force of nature that is one of the Primarchs and uses it to explore various angles, worldviews, and relationships.

 

Between this, Ferrus, and Lion, Guymer has proven one of the most adept authors at using the Primarchs to delve into underlying realities of the fundamental human brokenness at the heart of the setting.