Dropsite Massacre - John French

[DarkChaplain]

To quote some of Horus's lines from the Warmaster audio drama, set after Isstvan V, Calth and Signus, the Dark Angels pushing back at Thramas, Alexis Polux and the Retribution Fleet escaping from the Iron Warriors at Phall:

 

"The fire is lit, and all that was is cast to the wind. We are committed – he and I, my brothers and our Legions. All humanity’s futures bound together in this circle of blood. We are all the storm now. The Imperium will fall and rise by my hand. Or fall, and fall, and fall."

 

"You would say that I listened too much to Alpharius and Lorgar – that a war fought with deceit is doomed to fail."

 

"I cannot control them or their sons, and they know it. Mortarion and Perturabo and the rest, they can all feel it. They all know that this war is no longer something that can be guided, only ridden out. But they never understood me. Not truly, and they understand less with each passing second. They doubt. They think that I have lost my way. I can see it in their hearts – the pettiness, the pride, the seeds of ruin driving them on, feeding the tempest. With such creatures must I remake the future."

 

Horus is coping in that audio short. He knows things have gotten off track in many ways, on many fronts. This is after he finds out in Aurelian that Fulgrim has lost himself to daemonic possession, too. Things are falling apart, yet he talks himself into believing he's still in control of something.

 

It also makes very clear that Isstvan V in particular has done one thing for him: It committed the traitors to his cause. There is no going back for any of the participants. For Magnus, perhaps, as he was still holding out on full commitment despite being part of the council post-Isstvan V. But not for any of the Dropsite Legions. He has ensured that none of them could stand against his war against the Emperor. They might on occasion be bothersome to handle, pursuing their own goals all the while, but they have to see this through with him. Any freedom and autonomy they might gain is only after Terra has fallen, if even then. They cannot afford to stand alone against the Imperium. Horus has chained him to the Heresy, and every Legion is bringing more to the table than it takes.

 

Alpharius, in particular, is a vital piece in his game. He cannot afford to lose his network of spies and infiltrators, not at this point. He doesn't know, and never can know, all that the Hydra is up to. But he does not need to so long as he gets access to their resources as far as he needs them. He knows they're holding things back, that they're running circles around everything, but it's worth the price. They're playing their part, up until the opening of the Siege.

[Fedor]

On 11/12/2025 at 5:38 AM, Krelious said:

I thought it was good but I felt the book kinda lacked here and there in terms of focus and cool stuff wasnt expanded on. It starts off with balance and even heavy focus on the traitors and then shifts to the loyalists who have kinda typical boring sections outside the Ravenguard and that Salamander Dreadnaught, the loyalist side is like hey something funny is going on lets keep building the tension until the thing we know is gonna happen happens and ultimately the big moment is done better in Fulgrim and Aurelian. 

 

The other issue is that Horus is said to have a mind on everything and that he encompasses the entire battlefield and on top of that you also have Perty there as well so how come neither one of them can figure out that the Alpha legion who are known to be duplicitous and masters of sabotage have actively worked to sabotage the complete annihilation of the legions and the secrecy of the  four traitor legions. There seems to be plenty of evidence or suspicions of what they have done. You would think Horus being as smart as he is would be watching them instead of blindly trusting the alpha legion to not be double agents or have ulterior motives not in his best interest.  Like oh gee you involve the Alpha Legion in space operations of capturing enemy ships and then nothing goes right with that including an explosion and collision, you would think maybe Perty would investigate that instead of doing nothing at all. 

 

I think ultimately the novel kinda suffers from Fulgrim existing and doesnt even try to tread the same ground which is a shame because maybe the fight between Fulgrim and Ferrus could have been described by witnesses from both sides or maybe even idk Maloghurst is watching it using binoculars or whatever, he seems to be the biggest wasted character as I feel if anything the narrative started off it seemed like he was the main character.

 

To me this book was pretty good but felt like someone went to a buffet that forced you to take one of every item they had and maybe thats 21 different things and 7 are really good 7 are okay and 7 are like whatever or crap. 

 

The amount of AL actually helping the loyalists to any great extent during the battle was probably not that large. It's just that we focused in on the ones Omegon had control of.

Edited November 13 by Fedor

[DarkChaplain]

It also helps reinforce Legion and other AL outings throughout the series, by making it clear that the Hydra is playing all sides, post-Cabal "recruitment". We see them abandoning their Cabal contacts in Deliverance Lost, and we have them play both sides vs the White Scars, but overwhelmingly, we've seen the Anti-Emperor faction in action, with little note given to the loyalist-branch of the legion's schism. It's nice to account for it here, since this is the earliest I believe that we see them in action after Legion, if we look at the timeline.

 

Slotting the novel in before or after Fulgrim, but before Legion, also feels sensible then, because new readers will likely have plenty of questions about the AL intrigue, and find the reasoning behind it in the AL novel soon following in release order.

[Bestkeptsecret]

Does not the Horus Heresy series have 52 books in total? I do not understand why we had to wait till the series ended to get the following revealed in the Dropsite Massacre. 

 

Spoiler

The creation of the Noise Marines in the Emperor's Children legion by the collaboration of Fabius Bile and the Dark Mechanicum's Sota-Nul using bio-engineered augmentations. It was briefly mentioned in the Siege of Terra novel Saturnine by Dan Abnett that the EC were creating a lot of high-pitched noise that punctured the eardrums of baseline Imperial Troops, but the actual creation of the Noise Marines was never touched upon in any of the 52 Horus Heresy books. I am not referring to the Laer throat graft that Eidolon got, but the non-commander Noise Marines.

 

Edited November 19 by Bestkeptsecret

[Malkydel]

40 minutes ago, Bestkeptsecret said:

Does not the Horus Heresy series have 52 books in total? I do not understand why we had to wait till the series ended to get the following revealed in the Dropsite Massacre. 

 

  Hide contents

The creation of the Noise Marines in the Emperor's Children legion by the collaboration of Fabius Bile and the Dark Mechanicum's Sota-Nul using bio-engineered augmentations. It was briefly mentioned in the Siege of Terra novel Saturnine by Dan Abnett that the EC were creating a lot of high-pitched noise that punctured the eardrums of baseline Imperial Troops, but the actual creation of the Noise Marines was never touched upon in any of the 52 Horus Heresy books. I am not referring to the Laer throat graft that Eidolon got, but the non-commander Noise Marines.

 

'Fulgrim' covers it with the Maraviglia. Marius, for example, is seen after it on Istvaan V, using the repurposed instrument-weapon. 

[DukeLeto69]

12 hours ago, Malkydel said:

'Fulgrim' covers it with the Maraviglia. Marius, for example, is seen after it on Istvaan V, using the repurposed instrument-weapon. 

The handling of such a major event in the HH in the original series was pitiful. You’d have thought a book dedicated to each major event was a no brainer rather than a sideplot in a book would have been clear in the memo!

[Bestkeptsecret]

16 hours ago, DukeLeto69 said:

The handling of such a major event in the HH in the original series was pitiful. You’d have thought a book dedicated to each major event was a no brainer rather than a sideplot in a book would have been clear in the memo!

 

Spoiler

I remember reading the Fulgrim novel more than 8 years ago. As I understand after finishing reading the Dropsite Massacre, the difference between DM and Fulgrim in the description of the creation of the Noise Marines, is that the scenes in Fulgrim can be categorized under "the occult origins of the Noise Marines" and the description in the Dropsite Massacre can be categorized as "the scientific and technical origins of the Noise Marines". The Maraviglia scene in Fulgrim reflects daemonic influence combined with loud and sensuous musical performance and the effects of the exposure of the Emperor's Children to the Laer Temple, whereas the scene of the surgery described in the Dropsite Massacre falls under Transhuman augmentation and reflects the technical details of the Noise Marine as seen in the 10th edition launch miniature of the Noise Marines this year. In earlier years, the Noise Marine figure appeared with an electric guitar and artwork depicted a crazed and bizarre refashioning of musical instruments whereas the current Noise Marine has an elongated ranged weapon in his hand which is similar to the device described in the Dropsite Massacre novel by John French. We can only wonder what would be mentioned in the original Fulgrim novel if the author had been John French instead of Graham McNeil. Perhaps the initial group discussion among the writers conceived the Noise Marine weapon as a refashioned musical instrument taken from the Maraviglia performance. However, when they discussed how to conceive the Noise Marine for the 2025 EC release, they went for a more technical approach which would reflect the collaboration of Fabius Bile's mad scientist operation skills and the technical expertise of the New (Dark) Mechanicum. The intention of the Black Library team for the Noise Marine to appear as the result of surgical procedure rather than warp influence daemonic shenanigans maybe developed later on.

 

Edited November 21 by Bestkeptsecret

[Corinthus]

The book is fine, nothing amazing, but nothing awful either.

One thing that threw me off a bit was the author’s odd tendency to use they/them pronouns (bear with me, I’m not trying to start a political debate) when referring to legionaries. He’d write things like: “Mr. Salamander was attacked by a Death Guard legionary. Their blood sprayed out when Mr. Salamander pierced their armor. The Death Guard warrior kept moving, as if they were unaffected by their wounds.”

Is this a new trend among English-language authors? We all know Astartes are male, so what’s the point of using "they" here? As a non-native English speaker, it just feels strange to me.

[Taliesin]

I agree that it is weird, and certainly prefer that they dont do this.

Edited November 21 by Brother Tyler

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

They are allowed to keep trying to pry the door open.

 

We are not allowed to notice.

[Roomsky]

6 hours ago, Corinthus said:

The book is fine, nothing amazing, but nothing awful either.

One thing that threw me off a bit was the author’s odd tendency to use they/them pronouns (bear with me, I’m not trying to start a political debate) when referring to legionaries. He’d write things like: “Mr. Salamander was attacked by a Death Guard legionary. Their blood sprayed out when Mr. Salamander pierced their armor. The Death Guard warrior kept moving, as if they were unaffected by their wounds.”

Is this a new trend among English-language authors? We all know Astartes are male, so what’s the point of using "they" here? As a non-native English speaker, it just feels strange to me.

No, I'm not sure what's up with that. The use of singular "they" (excluding usage for queer folks) has been debated basically since people started using it for an undefined person. My best guess is that French is using it to refer to a non-character, like a legionary who will not be named / only exists to fill out a scene, but that's pretty out of the ordinary and I don't think is considered "proper."

 

Like, if someone's a complete stranger you might call them "they" even if their gender is obvious, but as above, isn't correct usage. Like:
"The mailman came by today. They left you a package."

 

The editors were asleep at the wheel, what else is new?

Also I'm like 6 chapters in and really enjoying it. Feels like an early-heresy novel they forgot to release (in a good way.)

[son of the forest]

10 hours ago, Corinthus said:

 

One thing that threw me off a bit was the author’s odd tendency to use they/them pronouns (bear with me, I’m not trying to start a political debate) when referring to legionaries. He’d write things like: “Mr. Salamander was attacked by a Death Guard legionary. Their blood sprayed out when Mr. Salamander pierced their armor. The Death Guard warrior kept moving, as if they were unaffected by their wounds.”

Is this a new trend among English-language authors? We all know Astartes are male, so what’s the point of using "they" here? As a non-native English speaker, it just feels strange to me.

Never even noticed. What i did notice was the use of 'gyre'. Felt like someone must have offered French a bounty for everytime he put 'gyre' into a sentence 

[Fire Golem]

DarkChaplain has basically said anything I’d say in a much better way than I’d say it but I really really liked this book. One downside is I’m now dreaming of a universe where the whole series had been this quality (and also I’m now wanting to do a Shattered Legions force, but that was bound to happen). It’s the first time I’ve really felt the full emotional weight of the betrayal at Istvaan V, rather than a more neutral event that happened in the heresy or the localised impact on specific characters (like Argal Tal in First Heretic). Definitely came too late but was well worth the wait. 

[DarkChaplain]

Thinking about the book's final few chapters, I'm actually very happy with how it was handled, particularly the way Fulgrim was avoided, yet still bookending that in a truly horrifying way.

 

That scene of Orth being done and dusted, getting collected by Fabius, just to shut down upon seeing Fulgrim approaching, Ferrus's head in hand? It's gene-horror. The sheer callousness of that scene has real impact - and it's in large parts because we have not seen Ferrus' side of the battle. We last actually see/engage with Ferrus Manus before planetfall. He gives brief commands to begin the whole thing, and later, just before the actual dropsite massacre begins, he urges the Loyalists to chase the retreating traitor forces. But we only ever hear of him being engaged somewhere, Fulgrim having the honor of taking him on, and some of his sons trying to catch up.

 

We don't see what happens to Ferrus. We don't know about the duel with Fulgrim. We don't see how badly his Legion is being mauled. We don't see his hot head, or his conflict with his brother.

 

We only see the to this point thought impossible result of his death. Not just that, his body is being debased by Fulgrim and now Fabius - it wasn't even possible for the Iron Hands to secure his corpse. THIS MOMENT when Orth witnesses Fulgrim holding up the head? THAT'S the unthinkable, the unfathomable degree of the entire assault's failure. It's shocking. It's brutal. It's not foreshadowed in any real way. It comes entirely out of left field to the PoV character, and the reader (unless they are already familiar with the lore and/or Fulgrim).

 

Frankly, that scene at the end makes me wish I could read the early Heresy without prior knowledge and experience that fresh. It's this moment that makes me think Dropsite Massacre should actually be read before Fulgrim in its entirety.

 

This novel does not need to showcase the duel from another perspective. It's stronger for not giving us that mad dash to the Primarch's side, the logistical nightmare realizations, the pride and anger at Fulgrim's betrayal. Ferrus Manus's grave mistake becomes so much more in part due to his narrative absence after the battle begins. There is no justification as things go wrong, no regret, no doubt, only the sheer feeling of dread and resignation through other participants. Ferrus's failure is illustrated brilliantly throughout the entire second half of the novel, just to culminate in that scene. There is no taking any of this back, and the primary architect of the Loyalists' defeat, Horus aside, has paid the ultimate price, off-screen. Was it a heroic death? Was it shameful? Did he make an impact at all? We don't know. But he failed. For all his planning, down to the minute detail, he failed. He failed on a strategic level, a tactical level, and a personal one.

 

Not seeing this play out on the page here, and only being confronted with the grim result? It's brilliant stuff.

 

And while I'm at it anyway: That message tube:

 

That really got me, badly. That last scene. The entire second half of the book, you anticipate Astrea reading the message. She's only ever read the opening section of the parchment, before putting it back in the tube. We're reminded of it again and again. She carries it to the surface. She regrets doing so. She regrets not reading it, even as she's caught up in the biggest battle of them all.

 

....and then we merely get those opening sections, not even the full thing. Astrea is dead. Her hand sheared from her arm, still clutching the tube. Still only half-read. She never got to read the full thing, and neither do we, but it's extremely obvious that it's both very personal, very raw, and painful. We can infer certain things, but that is all. This plotline, this story, this personal story? All cut short, abrubtly ended, canceled, aborted halfway through, on the soil of Isstvan V.

 

It's the small things like this that make this book so worth existing.

Edited November 25 by DarkChaplain

[Ubiquitous1984]

On 10/29/2025 at 7:51 AM, DarkChaplain said:

I'm still not done, but I love basically everything about the book so far.

 

  Hide contents

Like, ANGRON trying to go for an "honorable" rebellion while making excuses for the Isstvan III virus bombing betrayal? Trying to argue for choice and freedom over being forced into submission yet again? HORUS actually coming in to beat him in a duel, then refusing to kill him, stating that Angron's war will never end, so long as the Emperor lives? And all that being seen through the eyes of a broken, uncertain Khârn, who feels like some part of him actually died on Isstvan III?

Ferrus being not just called out by Corax and Vulkan, but also showing his very human self-doubt, and even gratitude to his brothers for keeping him straight?

You could argue that, yes, all three Primarchs now are shown to commit to the mistaken strategy that led to the Dropsite Massacre... but it's the how and why that works. Ferrus made the plans, and the others begrudgingly prepared for their executions. But NONE of them felt actually right about it all. They're all struggling with it in their own way. In a sense, the real mistake is inherent in the entire response, from Dorn to Ferrus: They're up against Horus Lupercal. They could easily spiral into questioning their questioning of their questioning. They could run loops around the problem, delay, doubt, let Horus spread his influence as news of his betrayal actually makes its way across the Imperium. Horus's fleet is out-system, and they know it's going to come up against them, so a siege of Isstvan isn't as feasible as it ought to be.

Dorn isn't even considered, despite him sending a Retribution Fleet of his own after the fact... which got stranded and contained at Phall, for almost half a year. Guilliman is at Calth, Sanguinius at Signus, with no chance of them joining before any of this gets out of hand. Russ is at Nikaea, following his father's commands, perverted by Horus's meddling.

 But they've got reinforcements of their own in the presumed-loyal Legions, which could counter-pincer the traitor fleet. Just that they're actually traitors, too.

....and from their exchanges shown, there's little room for doubt based on the words exchanged that these Legions were indeed loyal to the Throne. Lorgar is as passionate about the Emperor as they'd expect. Alpharius actually gives sound advice to Corax, which, if followed and agreed upon from the outset by Ferrus, would've changed the war entirely.

 The traitors on the surface are tearing each other and themselves apart, mentally and physically. They've just committed atrocity at Isstvan III and this quiet time before the loyalist response is making them think. It's making them brood. It's making them question. All while inter-Legion feuds spring up, particularly between the sons of Fulgrim and Angron. They're all still pretending they're virtuous, that they are right, that they are justified in rising up against the Emperor. Horus most of all. But even as they perform their theater, high on their own beliefs, rot creeps in, cracks form, sanity frays, and doubt between the Traitors blossoms. They've already turned traitor once, there is no loyalty to count on for them anymore.

Their biggest threat at this juncture is actually time, not the bolter shells of the Loyalists. But on the other hand, time is also the enemy of the Imperium - the Great Crusade had made great strides, but we know there were countless worlds only barely sticking to compliance, numerous planets waiting for opportunities to rebel against the Emperor. News of Horus, the Emperor's brightest and best, would've emboldened them and given them a catalyst to rise up. Somebody to rally behind. Somebody to even reinforce at Isstvan, if given the chance. At this point, news about the Heresy is still fresh and raw. The Loyalists only had it at all in time to react was because of Garro and the Eisenstein. Letting it fester in public would've been ruinous to these past two centuries of conquest. The necessary thing was to beat it down and erase Horus the Rebel Leader from being a rallying point forever. To make an example of him, to show that rebellion is futile.

 Would a few days' worth of delay have made a difference? Probably not, not really. But weeks, months, of gathering forces, debating, doubting any course of action because they're up against Horus, sitting at Beta-Garmon or wherever, letting the traitor fleets do their thing relatively freely, Isstvan mostly uncontained? Likely ruinous. Besieging the Isstvan system for that long? With how long Astartes can go without breaking? Unlikely to work, might take years to grind them down, especially with how fortified the Traitors already were, making virus bombing Isstvan V as well kind of pointless. At the end of the day, they also needed to see the bodies of the traitor Primarchs to make certain that they'd no longer be a threat.

They were all wary of Horus, the master strategist. It was always unlikely that he didn't have something up his sleeve they didn't see. But that he had turned not just three other Legions, but FOUR additional ones already? One of them being the most obviously pro-Emperor guy in existence? Yikes. This was simply unthinkable - not just because four Legions turning was already such a big deal, but also because it'd have invited endless doubt between the brothers, tearing the Imperium apart from the inside even if they had been victorious. The ramifications of it were just too brutal to contemplate, especially while they were all still in shock, traumatized, grieving.

 The "mistake" was to actually believe that Ferrus might have been the only one who had been approached by the Traitors in recent days, which he considered a stain upon himself. Their mistake was not question whether their brothers were lying about not having been approached. But once that doubt creeps in, there is no longer any trust to be had in the galaxy. So they had to trust in something, and crush that doubt before it could fully bloom. Which, sadly, made Horus's plans succeed.
 

In summary:

The mistake of the Loyalists was to trust each other to still be true to one another.

This allowed the Traitors, who didn't trust each other and could only rely on one another to pursue their own ends within the schism, to put their own doubts and grievances aside while dealing with an immediate, external threat again.

But both were up against a wall, running out of time to keep things together.

We can argue in hindsight about which action would've been the better choice, having all the facts available to us, but in the moment, time was of the essence, and a commitment had to be made to head off other avenues of doubt... which, sadly, gave clarity of purpose to the flagging Traitors again.

I’ve just finished listening to the book (the only WH book I have given time to this year) and can I just say what an incredible post this is.  @DarkChaplain I absolutely love your posts on this website and the effort you put into them.  I really appreciate it!

 

Can I also massively praise Jonathan Keeble (narrator) yet again?  The guy is an absolute legend.   He’s the voice of Warhammer to so many.  He’s simply flawless.  I hope WHC one day writes about him, or interviews him.  He’s the single most influential ‘voice’ of warhammer and it’s always an absolute delight when I see his name listed as narrator of any 30k novel.

 

I see he is narrating Ashes.  Wraight and Keeble?  God damn that’s a combo I could die happy listening to.  

Edited December 8 by Ubiquitous1984

[Sun Reaver]

Almost through Part 4 of The Dropsite Massacre, and I haven’t enjoyed a Heresy book this much in years. I burned myself out during the Siege. I’ve been stalled halfway through End and the Death Volume II for over a year, and I’m a Sanguinius fan, so maybe I’ve just been subconsciously delaying the inevitable. But this book pulled me right back to why I fell in love with the Heresy when I first picked up Horus Rising. 

 

@BlackChaplain's thoughts encapsulate how I generally feel about the book, but I wanted to share my two cents, as well. 

 

I know some people side-eye the idea of revisiting Istvaan V this late, after the whole series is already finished. Honestly, I think it was needed. The original presentation of the Massacre always bothered me. The Loyalist Legions walk straight into what looks, from the outside, like a painfully obvious trap. And across the early books, their perspectives were scattered across limited editions, audio dramas, and side arcs. It was “good enough” once everything finally got collected, but it never had the clarity or cohesion an event of this scale deserved. Candidly, it felt like a chore trying to pull all those pieces together. 

 

I think French fixed that for me. I finally understand why the fleets moved the way they did. It’s a real operational plan, argued over by primarchs who are trying to end a rebellion before it spreads, while still trying to process the fact that their own brothers have turned on them. The book gives shape to the confusion and the speed of the moment. You get why people made the choices they made.

 

The pressure on Ferrus Manus feels is handled much better. He’s not an idiot, not a hothead, not a pawn. He’s trying to manage too much, too fast, in a situation no one in the Imperium has ever experienced on this scale. The shock and urgency is palpable. Things are headed out of control, and fast. For someone portrayed as so cold, I liked the vulnerability he showed when he questioned why he was propositioned by Fulgrim in the first place. I appreciated that depth compared to the "meltdown" it looked like he had in Fulgrim. 

 

I loved how fragile Horus' alliance felt. He's prepared, yes, but barely holding his brothers together. They're suspicious, resentful, and about two seconds away from tearing each other apart unless he gives them something to focus on. The knife-edge tension was great. It reminded me of the early Heresy books where the tragedy felt grounded, not cosmic.

 

The book did what I wanted it to. It fills in the gaps and adds more color. I agree that it is essential reading moving forward. This book gives Istvaan V the narrative weight it always should have had.

I’m not even done yet, and I’m already getting that old spark again. If it keeps this up, it’s going to end up being one of my favorite additions to the series. Plus, I love Ingo Pech so his scenes felt like the cherry on top.

[Roomsky]

Dropsite Massacre - John French

 

I have complicated feelings about this, but for the most part I really enjoyed it. Maybe it's the cape comic fan in me, but I never think it's too late for a bit of course correction. Black Library hasn't let chronology affect their release order in the past, why start now?

 

This is a book for the fans, and being a fan myself, I really appreciate it. I've always thought of French as someone who brings dignity to the characters and events he covers. His versions of established characters are intelligent but deeply flawed; he doesn't write the raging man-babies I always hate primarchs turning into. He's one of the best choices when it comes to course-correction, and I think that holds true here. Isstvan V was drowned out by the FerrusxFulgrim soap opera? None of that here, this is a grinding, enormous siege, with a scale so large we don't even see Vulkan get hit by a nuke or Ferrus get decapitated. Ferrus blunders into an obvious trap like an idiot? He knows it's a trap, but his MO (crush the enemy quickly with overwhelming force) is a reasonable way to invalidate it. Horus fell to being pure evil too quickly? Not so, he's still wrestling with the things that need to be done; Chaos has infected him, not overwritten his personality.

 

This book is a missing puzzle piece, and I hope we get more like it. In addition to the above, all the legions present get a good showing. Angron trying to warn the loyalists is brilliant. Khârn's journey foreshadows his eventual resurrection on Terra, and gives him another parallel to his father: "you have the chance to lay down and die. Will you take it?" Heresy Abaddon remains at his best under French's pen, straightforward but not stupid. Aximand is conflicted yet extremely competent. The Alpha Legion add hiccups to the plan in believable ways, instead of by offscreen magic. French, once again, takes a project that sounds like wheel-spinning and does nothing of the sort.

Also very appreciative it's not just 300 pages of battle. There's planning. There's organization. There are plots within plots, and there's self-reflection in-between the fighting (all things I crave in a battle book.) Then, at the end, it truly comes across as a massacre than another phase of the fighting. Very little time is spent on proceedings once the loyalist "back up" reveals its true colours. The Alpha Legion's machinations add the necessary complexity to a military action, rather than undercutting that this was an enormous, unambiguous blow to the Imperium. All that remained was a mad scramble for survival.

So, why the complicated feelings?

 

Like I said, this is a missing puzzle piece to the Heresy. Why, then, is it being released in a different format? This is ostensibly a tie-in to a new ruleset, no black spine with gold lettering, no Neil Roberts artwork; it's marketed a pseudo-standalone and it's not even remotely that. Kaedes Nex and Exodus are pointless if you don't know about the Forgeworld Black Books. Half the cast is Heresy novel series characters with 0 introduction or arc within the story itself. I liked it because I know who these people are. What would a new fan get out of this, seeking an entry point into the novels? A confusing soup of people they've never heard of with no arcs (and in Pech's case, no apparent motivation,) except Khârn, who's dealing with being run over by a tank or something. This isn't helped by there not being a consistent through-line character. Khârn is the closest thing we get, and he disappears for vast swathes of the book. I wouldn't have minded this truly being a book about Horus, Emperor knows he could use more of those.

 

So, uh, yeah. Well-written fanservice for better and for worse. It's impressive, it's fun, it corrects a lot of issues and brings exciting new elements to the table. But I think I'd only revisit it if I was going through the series again, rather than on its own (something I'm happy to do with many other Heresy books.)

To Taste, in my opinion. Potentially an essential read for the Heresy as a series, though.