'Siege of Terra - The End and the Death Volume 1' by Dan Abnett

[Felix Antipodes]

Well, finally got through it.  To be honest, I had to stop, go off and read something else, then return to it in the right frame of mind.  Not Abnett’s fault; I just wanted to get to the end so bad it was effecting my interaction with the story.  All good the second time in.

Not going to pull this apart just yet (will probably do that after part 2) but will say I really enjoyed it for the most part.  Only real gripe was how some of the characters disappeared about halfway through.  No doubt they will reappear in Part 2, bigger and better plot wise.  I just found it glaringly noticeable even though I knew I was getting half a book.  Funniest bit was Horus explaining why he had so many personality changes (read author takes) throughout the series.  At least that’s how I took it 

Now to go and trawl through the previous ten pages to see what you lot thought of it.  Should be fun…

[Cactus]

I think whatever Ol saw in the palace is just one of those tantalising loose threads. Of no real consequence but fodder for years of debates. My headcanon is that it was a statue of somebody he knew that was an unlikely person to be memorialised by the Emperor.

[Sothalor]

Yeah, without the whole novel no way to know for sure, but when I read that section for some reason I thought that Oll caught a glimpse of himself in some statue or artwork, which would be the last thing he'd have expected given his last interaction with He Who Would Become the Emperor.

 

Like some kind of roundabout hint or indicator that the Emperor isn't as unsentimental as he appears or something.

[MarineRaiderII]

I just finished a slower 2nd read. I agree there was some padding and I have a theory about why that is. I think once it was decided to expand this 2 or possibly 3 books the editing basically stopped. He wrote 1500 pages or more and they were not going to do 2 750 plus books so he may have have been told to go back and ADD more to get it to 3 books. I am absolutely convinced it will be 3 now.

[Felix Antipodes]

27 minutes ago, MarineRaiderII said:

I just finished a slower 2nd read. I agree there was some padding and I have a theory about why that is. I think once it was decided to expand this 2 or possibly 3 books the editing basically stopped. He wrote 1500 pages or more and they were not going to do 2 750 plus books so he may have have been told to go back and ADD more to get it to 3 books. I am absolutely convinced it will be 3 now.

The very thought of this being extended to three books from two would have angered me no end until recently.  Now that I’m no longer on the FOMO train (missed the last LE) I’m sanguine about it and care not how many slices they cut the apple into 

[MarineRaiderII]

2 hours ago, Felix Antipodes said:

The very thought of this being extended to three books from two would have angered me no end until recently.  Now that I’m no longer on the FOMO train (missed the last LE) I’m sanguine about it and care not how many slices they cut the apple into 

I don't care about how many from the simple stand point I cannot stop at this point. I have read everything. What makes me angry, there were times over the past 5 years that it would suck if I died and I didn't get to read the last words of this stupid series and the fact they have dragged this out pisses me off to no end. I will buy the books just dont stagger them through the end of 2024!  I don't think my wife would appreciate having to read DA vocabulary lesson over my grave to fulfill my last testament ( snicker)

[Nagashsnee]

I am really hoping this ends by X mas this year, if they drag it out into 2024 i will be very disappointed ( but not surprised).  One part every 4 months is not too much to ask, and with the cover of book 2 already shown you never know. 

[System Sound]

I fully expect them to "reveal" the third part only when the second one goes up for preorder. Thus minimising the outrages and less sales due to it.

[Felix Antipodes]

4 hours ago, MarineRaiderII said:

I don't care about how many from the simple stand point I cannot stop at this point. I have read everything. What makes me angry, there were times over the past 5 years that it would suck if I died and I didn't get to read the last words of this stupid series and the fact they have dragged this out pisses me off to no end. I will buy the books just dont stagger them through the end of 2024!  I don't think my wife would appreciate having to read DA vocabulary lesson over my grave to fulfill my last testament ( snicker)

Mate, I know where you are coming from.  I still want to read the end of this (seemingly) endless saga before I shuffle off the stage (and I feel that might be closer for me than you  )

[DukeLeto69]

Whelps haven’t you been paying attention. The Horus Heresy will never end. It is the SFF version of Hotel California. You will never leave [insert maniacal laughter]

[Felix Antipodes]

Didn’t realise leaving was an option 

Edited March 15, 2023 by Felix Antipodes

[Dornfist]

On 3/13/2023 at 10:40 AM, EverythingIsGreat said:

Don't really want to turn this into "things I like least about TEATD" but Sanguinius' therapy session with Emp/Malc ("boohoo why must we suffer" with answers from Platitude Central) was probably the worst part for me.

I was okay with that scene: not so much Sanguinius' shpeel of why he he has to go with the Emperor lol. I understand why Dan Abnett made the chapters short but a little more screentime between the Emperor and his two most loyal sons would have been nice since they haven't talked for the past 7 years. Oh well.

 

 

 

[Dornfist]

3 hours ago, DukeLeto69 said:

Whelps haven’t you been paying attention. The Horus Heresy will never end. It is the SFF version of Hotel California. You will never leave [insert maniacal laughter]

Good lord please no. This means Tzeentch is pulling the strings at GW and making us suffer eternally just like he is endlessly tormenting Magnus and his Thousand Sons. For real though, why can't we wrap this up by 2024? Aside from the "High Overlords" wanting every last cent.

Edited March 15, 2023 by Dornfist
Accidentally published post without finishing sentence.

[Urauloth]

Almost done with this, reserving proper comments until I finish it, but while I like it a lot I never want to hear the word "Astartesian" ever again. "Astartesian flesh" is the most egregious use of it, because you could easily say "Astartes flesh" (the same way you would say "human flesh" or Ratling flesh") but our raconteur felt the need to cram his new word in here like he's giving an unearned push to a wrestler the crowd doesn't like.
He's done this before, too: Partway through the voyage of the Armaduke in Salvation's Reach and Warmaster he abandons the use of the word "battleship" and refers to a battleship exclusively as a "kill-ship" instead. There's no explanation for this, and it's described as a battleship prior to the switch. It's quite jarring.

Anyway, considering how Abnett already deployed almost every obsolete and archaic word that can be dredged up from the catacombs of English thesauruses in this book already, I'm absolutely certain there was no need to add a new one.

 

That's enough complaining from me - it's easy to rush a comment out over a minor irritation that stands out from an otherwise good experience, which is probably part of why online feedback trends toward the negative. If there's a sharp piece of grit on a terrific waterslide, that's what people are going to hear about first.

 

Oh yeah! The Death Guard? Nailed it. Wish they were in the book more.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Urauloth
Typographic errorcide

[Moonreaper666]

Two things

 

Spoiler

The words use indicates there are still lots of Traitor Marines even by the end of Vol 1. At this rate most of the Traitor Legionnaires would survive the Siege which explains why there are hundreds of thousands of HH veterans post-heresy

 

Spoiler

The Warp really has some impressive feats in this book. Guilliman's fleet is worth :cuss: against the empowered Vengeful Spirit

 

[Dornfist]

14 hours ago, Urauloth said:

Almost done with this, reserving proper comments until I finish it, but while I like it a lot I never want to hear the word "Astartesian" ever again. "Astartesian flesh" is the most egregious use of it, because you could easily say "Astartes flesh" (the same way you would say "human flesh" or Ratling flesh") but our raconteur felt the need to cram his new word in here like he's giving an unearned push to a wrestler the crowd doesn't like.
He's done this before, too: Partway through the voyage of the Armaduke in Salvation's Reach and Warmaster he abandons the use of the word "battleship" and refers to a battleship exclusively as a "kill-ship" instead. There's no explanation for this, and it's described as a battleship prior to the switch. It's quite jarring.

Anyway, considering how Abnett already deployed almost every obsolete and archaic word that can be dredged up from the catacombs of English thesauruses in this book already, I'm absolutely certain there was no need to add a new one.

 

Can't agree more with Abnett all of a sudden dropping "Astartesian" on our laps lol. I thought it was so weird to have a new word for our "30k vocabulary" in the penultimate book of this long series haha.

[Petitioner's City]

It seems a petty thing to complain about, when actually it's very useful. We don't actually have an adjective for "marine-y", so it is good to have one as a neologism. 

 

Also you all might appreciate this interview, even if it is going back to book 1!

 

 

[phandaal]

"Astartesian" sounds like a term for fancy cheese or expensive bottled water.

[EverythingIsGreat]

Good day,

 

If we can momentarily put aside comments about Abnett’s artisanal onomatopeia (I have a dictionary open in another window), there are several things that may have TEATD plot significance:

 

1. The whole Titan-hiding/birth of the Inquisition thing. Since this happens before Malcador’s ascension and the boarding of VG, there may be several TEATD plot-armor-strengthening points in this future telling

 

2. What is the big picture here? In years past, the Emperor’s (surreptitiously expressed) ultimate goal seemed to be the becalming of the Warp to its pristine pre-Chaos state. Obviously this can’t happen. It would mean the end of Warhammer 40K as a business venture, at least as it is currently presented (so is GW aligned with Chaos? Heh)

 

3. Cue the Alpha Legion as more plot armor? When was Alpharius found exactly? Was his “chance” encounter with Horus’s expedition a ruse? Was he flung off-Terra even? Were the Alphas doing various things before even the Crusade started? There’s a lot of material to plot here that would retro-explain continuity/logic gaps.

 

4. To move the whole venture forward, the DK/YK angle can work nicely. Apart from bridging 30K/40K is alligning the reintroduction of Primarchs etc. (can an Emperor-like character be far behind?) blazing the trail (businesswise) for WH50K.

 

Also, isn’t it wrong to say that anything can be “stolen” from the Warp. It’s not like anyone there has copyright, or am I mistaken?

[lansalt]

5 minutes ago, EverythingIsGreat said:

When was Alpharius found exactly? Was his “chance” encounter with Horus’s expedition a ruse? Was he flung off-Terra even? Were the Alphas doing various things before even the Crusade started? There’s a lot of material to plot here that would retro-explain continuity/logic gaps.

This is all explained in Alpharius' primarch novel

 

Edited March 17, 2023 by lansalt

[EverythingIsGreat]

2 minutes ago, lansalt said:

This is all explained in Alpharius' primarch novel

 

I read it and agree that it offers some hints and explanations. I was wondering if that was the full extent... It doesn't seem BL and GW like to put in place fixed plot-related barriers to development.

[tgcleric]

I'll just say I appreciate the way Dan Abnett uses stylistic flourishes to enliven and diversify povs and stories. One of the many reasons his Inquisitor series feels fresh after all these books. Clearly he enjoyed writing in a more baroque style with his Bequin novels. 

 

I, unsurprisingly, enjoyed that element in this book. It's nice when the prose actually feel like 30k. 

[Moonreaper666]

I think Valdor and Dorn will witness Ollianius Pius use Enuncia against Horus, at the cost of his life. This is one reason Valdor becomes a Radical Inquisitor post-Herrsy

 

Bequin will use Enuncia to kill Valdor at the cost of her life

[Aramis K]

On 3/14/2023 at 11:41 PM, Cactus said:

I think whatever Ol saw in the palace is just one of those tantalising loose threads. Of no real consequence but fodder for years of debates. My headcanon is that it was a statue of somebody he knew that was an unlikely person to be memorialised by the Emperor.

 

I imagined it was a statue of Oll himself that he noticed - an indication the Emperor wasn't holding a grudge against his former warmaster - something that might come up later. Not much basis for that, just what I assumed as I read it.

[wecanhaveallthree]

26 minutes ago, Aramis K said:

 

I imagined it was a statue of Oll himself that he noticed - an indication the Emperor wasn't holding a grudge against his former warmaster - something that might come up later. Not much basis for that, just what I assumed as I read it.

 

I mean, tens of thousands of years of 'not holding a grudge' is probably a stronger indicator than a statue in some backroom.

 

But then again, the person responsible for literally ruining the Primarch Project is apparently allowed to just kick around on Terra without any issues, so the Emperor seems to be a live-and-let-live kinda guy.