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The Horus Heresy #23
Angel Exterminatus
Perturabo – master of siegecraft, and executioner of Olympia. Long has he lived in the shadow of his more favoured primarch brothers, frustrated by the mundane and ignominious duties which regularly fall to his Legion. When Fulgrim offers him the chance to lead an expedition in search of an ancient and destructive xenos weapon, the Iron Warriors and the Emperor’s Children unite and venture deep into the heart of the great warp-rift known only as ‘the Eye’. Pursued by a ragged band of survivors from Isstvan V and the revenants of a dead eldar world, they must work quickly if they are to unleash the devastating power of the Angel Exterminatus!
416 pages, Hardcover
First published October 26, 2012
218 people are currently reading
2180 people want to read
About the author
Graham McNeill
210 books903 followersHailing from Scotland, Graham McNeill narrowly escaped a career in surveying to work for Games Workshop as a games designer. He has a strong following with his novels Nightbringer, Warriors of Ultramar, Dead Sky, Black Sun and Storm of Iron.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 254 reviews
April 28, 2013
Boom. Angel Exterminatus is book 23 of the HH series. Really? yep. And sadly, it was awesome. I am not saying the last 3 weren't good, but hey, in a series like this that has books that are so obviously awesome when you come across mediocrity for a while you start to wonder if it is all worth it. At least, I did. And then Angel Exterminatus kicks you in the nuts with a swift up thrust of honest to goodness fantastico.
Man, I love Perturabo, and I had no idea. He gets mentioned here and there throughout the 22 books preceding this one. His legionnaires have gotten more pages. If you haven't read Age of Darkness and the Iron Warrior story in there, you should, you REALLY should. But anyway, back to ole' Perbs. He is almost forgotten since the opening pages of the HH. He finally got voiced in Crimson Fist, but that was really the only time I remember him even speaking on the page. And I was underwhelmed. I never really "got" the IVth and what they were all about, especially with their Primarch. But this book, well, shit, it was awesome. Perturabo is awesome. The IV are awesome. I am really, really struck with the tragedy again of their fall from the Emperor. Once again, like Magnus, all of this could have been avoided. The IV, The Crimson King's Thousand Sons, and the XXth seem to be the best characters so far, because theirs have been the most heartbreaking falls to me.
This was a great book, and a great insight into a Legion that has here to for been really overlooked. All I ask of the HH series are three things. Firstly, give the Vth a novel of their own, boy do THEY deserve it. Second, a novel about what the hell happened to make Mortarion go the way he did, in detail like some of these others. And three, a trilogy about the conclusion of this craziness written by, Abnett, Dembski-Bowden, and McNeill.
That is all.
Man, I love Perturabo, and I had no idea. He gets mentioned here and there throughout the 22 books preceding this one. His legionnaires have gotten more pages. If you haven't read Age of Darkness and the Iron Warrior story in there, you should, you REALLY should. But anyway, back to ole' Perbs. He is almost forgotten since the opening pages of the HH. He finally got voiced in Crimson Fist, but that was really the only time I remember him even speaking on the page. And I was underwhelmed. I never really "got" the IVth and what they were all about, especially with their Primarch. But this book, well, shit, it was awesome. Perturabo is awesome. The IV are awesome. I am really, really struck with the tragedy again of their fall from the Emperor. Once again, like Magnus, all of this could have been avoided. The IV, The Crimson King's Thousand Sons, and the XXth seem to be the best characters so far, because theirs have been the most heartbreaking falls to me.
This was a great book, and a great insight into a Legion that has here to for been really overlooked. All I ask of the HH series are three things. Firstly, give the Vth a novel of their own, boy do THEY deserve it. Second, a novel about what the hell happened to make Mortarion go the way he did, in detail like some of these others. And three, a trilogy about the conclusion of this craziness written by, Abnett, Dembski-Bowden, and McNeill.
That is all.
October 30, 2016
One of the jewels of the Heresy! This look into the heart of Pertubo is a look into the heart of The Emperor and not to be missed! Stunning battles of ferocious nature and betrayals aplenty fill this story. Loved it.
January 17, 2023
I believe this is the first novel in the series where we get to know the Iron Warriors and their Primarch more intimately. It is a remarkable story, and it gave me a lot to think about.
With the theme of Grecian architecture of immense beauty, matched by efficient logistics worthy of the Roman Empire, I began to wonder if all the traitor Primarchs represent Utopias and Dystopias with no probability for existence. By way of explaining why it is them who fell for Chaos, and not the others, but that is a question for another time and place.
More specifically about this novel, we experience a new point of view to the Human Empire and their civil struggle. Perturabo is unique in his way of betrayal, I find. A mathematician, his regards for others are binary, and therefore there is no room for interpretation and compromise when he asks himself if he can trust the Emperor or not. Great builder that he is, he is no caretaker for the organic, though in the hearts of his hearts he, too, desires friendship, love and recognition.
Thus, the question of trust becomes a major point in this narrative.
As always, the deeper thoughts churned and chewed throughout the narration are optional, and one may as well enjoy the grand entertainment and supreme literary style involved in the creation of these narratives without regret. I admit to wondering sometimes what particular reason this one scene or another is playing, and other times things happen so fast that I feel to lose track of events - which is ironic, coming from a book. But these bumps never threw me off track entirely, the story continues smoothly at all times, and pieces fall together before long eventually.
So, all in all, a really magnificent step in the revolving process of the Horus Heresy.
With the theme of Grecian architecture of immense beauty, matched by efficient logistics worthy of the Roman Empire, I began to wonder if all the traitor Primarchs represent Utopias and Dystopias with no probability for existence. By way of explaining why it is them who fell for Chaos, and not the others, but that is a question for another time and place.
More specifically about this novel, we experience a new point of view to the Human Empire and their civil struggle. Perturabo is unique in his way of betrayal, I find. A mathematician, his regards for others are binary, and therefore there is no room for interpretation and compromise when he asks himself if he can trust the Emperor or not. Great builder that he is, he is no caretaker for the organic, though in the hearts of his hearts he, too, desires friendship, love and recognition.
Thus, the question of trust becomes a major point in this narrative.
As always, the deeper thoughts churned and chewed throughout the narration are optional, and one may as well enjoy the grand entertainment and supreme literary style involved in the creation of these narratives without regret. I admit to wondering sometimes what particular reason this one scene or another is playing, and other times things happen so fast that I feel to lose track of events - which is ironic, coming from a book. But these bumps never threw me off track entirely, the story continues smoothly at all times, and pieces fall together before long eventually.
So, all in all, a really magnificent step in the revolving process of the Horus Heresy.
December 23, 2023
A lot of ups and downs in this series, but Graham McNeill is usually one of the three safe bets.
I did not absolutely adore this book, but it provided some interesting developments about Fulgrim, the Eldar and the deeper Warhammer lore.
I'm getting more annoyed, however, that every book feels at least slightly like stalling and avoiding actually developing the narrative.
I did not absolutely adore this book, but it provided some interesting developments about Fulgrim, the Eldar and the deeper Warhammer lore.
I'm getting more annoyed, however, that every book feels at least slightly like stalling and avoiding actually developing the narrative.
June 12, 2023
Angel Exterminatus is about playing to your strengths. Reinforcing success rather than failure. Removing a problem from existence rather than solving it.
Just some bros doing some bro things
They howled with the hybrid monsters and the most desperate for sensation set themselves ablaze and laughed as the flames consumed them.
McNeill’s record with writing female characters is mixed and he has done best when writing them as men. He also doesn’t really get the more complicated concepts of excess, which didn’t really help when he wrote about the Legion that’s devoted to the Chaos God of it.
McNeill’s solution to the first problem is by having no female characters. The rest of them are dimly aware of a second gender, and beyond that might as well be an undiscovered country to them. There are elements of androgeny with Fulgrim and the Emperor’s Children, but it is played up as part of a freak show, so yeah, probably not a win for diverse casting.
McNeill’s second problem is dealt with by parody. The excesses of the Emperor’s Children now exist to provide contrast to the Iron Warriors and to hustle the plot along. We are not even close to halfway through the books of the Horus Heresy and the Emperor’s Children are done as a coherent threat, leaving their future narrative to be carried by individuals such as Fabius (utterly villainous yet somewhat compelling) and Lucius (shudder).
Look, neither of those problems are a “big deal”. It’s just funny that, 30,000 years into the future, 8 feet tall men, ethereal aliens and conniving demons are less outlandish than the pronoun “her”. Or that smashing gemstones to snort like lines of coke is now a “plot twist”.
Perky Perty
With the arrival of the primarch, the battle was over.
Perturabo seems like a hard guy to write. He is not that well depicted in stories written both before and after Angel Exterminatus. Perturabo is a mechanical mastermind who just wanted to build gigantic Lego playsets without the inconvenience of social interaction. Portraying him as anything other than an a**hole, is a problem, so to speak.
McNeill solves it, and not even by irony or dodging it. McNeill’s Perturabo is a villain, but captivating in his contrasts. A vicious force capable of honour. The details mans except when the detail is other men. Thinking he can control Fulgrim until he is outplayed, whereupon he draws upon an iron force of will honed by the thousand times the GOD-EMPEROR OF MANKIND told him “Just one more stream of unending enemies to conquer and you can go back to your Lego”.
You shouldn’t like Perturabo. You’re not meant to like Perturabo… …but, he’s one of the very very few traitor Primarchs that (a) has a genuinely good reason join the Heresy (unlike Horus, Fulgrim, Magnus, Alpharius, Mortarion) and (b) doesn’t drive himself insane over it (unlike Conrad, Angron, Horus (again) Fulgrim (again)). He’s commonly held as the MVP of the traitor Primarchs, and Angel Exterminatus is the burnishing of his profile. Also, it’s always fun to watch Fulgrim get his faced smashed.
‘No, it was perfect,’ said Perturabo. ‘It was damaged during the fighting at Phall. It fell from a shelf and the mechanism was knocked out of alignment. If you listen closely, you can hear the variation in each cycle of its mechanical heart.’
Perturabo reached out and placed the Warhound on the workbench in front of Fulgrim. ‘I have no interest in your toys,’ he said.
‘Listen,’ insisted Perturabo.
Fulgrim sighed and leaned in close to the table, turning his head to listen. Perturabo’s hand flashed out and gripped Fulgrim’s hair. With sudden force, he slammed his brother’s face into the Warhound. The wondrous automaton shattered into a thousand pieces as Fulgrim’s head crunched into the pitted surface of the workbench.
Outside of Perturabo, the “Shattered Legions” gain coherence and mission lacking until now, and McNeill writes a well-paced, if cliched, story. There are also some call-backs/forwards(?) to McNeill’s Iron Warriors trilogy, which I assume people like.
It’s fun… …with the boys.
Just some bros doing some bro things
They howled with the hybrid monsters and the most desperate for sensation set themselves ablaze and laughed as the flames consumed them.
McNeill’s record with writing female characters is mixed and he has done best when writing them as men. He also doesn’t really get the more complicated concepts of excess, which didn’t really help when he wrote about the Legion that’s devoted to the Chaos God of it.
McNeill’s solution to the first problem is by having no female characters. The rest of them are dimly aware of a second gender, and beyond that might as well be an undiscovered country to them. There are elements of androgeny with Fulgrim and the Emperor’s Children, but it is played up as part of a freak show, so yeah, probably not a win for diverse casting.
McNeill’s second problem is dealt with by parody. The excesses of the Emperor’s Children now exist to provide contrast to the Iron Warriors and to hustle the plot along. We are not even close to halfway through the books of the Horus Heresy and the Emperor’s Children are done as a coherent threat, leaving their future narrative to be carried by individuals such as Fabius (utterly villainous yet somewhat compelling) and Lucius (shudder).
Look, neither of those problems are a “big deal”. It’s just funny that, 30,000 years into the future, 8 feet tall men, ethereal aliens and conniving demons are less outlandish than the pronoun “her”. Or that smashing gemstones to snort like lines of coke is now a “plot twist”.
Perky Perty
With the arrival of the primarch, the battle was over.
Perturabo seems like a hard guy to write. He is not that well depicted in stories written both before and after Angel Exterminatus. Perturabo is a mechanical mastermind who just wanted to build gigantic Lego playsets without the inconvenience of social interaction. Portraying him as anything other than an a**hole, is a problem, so to speak.
McNeill solves it, and not even by irony or dodging it. McNeill’s Perturabo is a villain, but captivating in his contrasts. A vicious force capable of honour. The details mans except when the detail is other men. Thinking he can control Fulgrim until he is outplayed, whereupon he draws upon an iron force of will honed by the thousand times the GOD-EMPEROR OF MANKIND told him “Just one more stream of unending enemies to conquer and you can go back to your Lego”.
You shouldn’t like Perturabo. You’re not meant to like Perturabo… …but, he’s one of the very very few traitor Primarchs that (a) has a genuinely good reason join the Heresy (unlike Horus, Fulgrim, Magnus, Alpharius, Mortarion) and (b) doesn’t drive himself insane over it (unlike Conrad, Angron, Horus (again) Fulgrim (again)). He’s commonly held as the MVP of the traitor Primarchs, and Angel Exterminatus is the burnishing of his profile. Also, it’s always fun to watch Fulgrim get his faced smashed.
‘No, it was perfect,’ said Perturabo. ‘It was damaged during the fighting at Phall. It fell from a shelf and the mechanism was knocked out of alignment. If you listen closely, you can hear the variation in each cycle of its mechanical heart.’
Perturabo reached out and placed the Warhound on the workbench in front of Fulgrim. ‘I have no interest in your toys,’ he said.
‘Listen,’ insisted Perturabo.
Fulgrim sighed and leaned in close to the table, turning his head to listen. Perturabo’s hand flashed out and gripped Fulgrim’s hair. With sudden force, he slammed his brother’s face into the Warhound. The wondrous automaton shattered into a thousand pieces as Fulgrim’s head crunched into the pitted surface of the workbench.
Outside of Perturabo, the “Shattered Legions” gain coherence and mission lacking until now, and McNeill writes a well-paced, if cliched, story. There are also some call-backs/forwards(?) to McNeill’s Iron Warriors trilogy, which I assume people like.
It’s fun… …with the boys.
November 4, 2012
There’s a problem which always strikes franchises after a certain amount of time – continuity lockout. It’s that specific point where a series is so deep into its storyline that any newcomers will likely end up lost or miss out on half the fun. As the 23rd book in the Horus Heresy series Angel Exterminatus is seriously affected by this, carrying on from not only several previous novels and short stories but entirely different series as well.
Taking centre stage are the Iron Warriors. After the destruction of a loyalist fortress, Fulgrim shows up trying to convince Perturabo to take part in retrieving an ancient superweapon from the Eye of Terror. Along with facing down an immortal army, a world which directly combats them and a ship full of vengeful Iron Hands conflicts begin to arise between the traitor primarchs themselves.
Both the biggest flaw and biggest strength was having Graham McNeill pen this book. His skill at individually handling multiple plot threads and his prior experience with both the III and IV legions pays off here with great characterisations. This book emphasises upon the legion as a whole rather than just the aspects of a few key characters and the primarch, and it’s all the stronger for it. This helped to present that rather than being the complete opposite of their modern selves as with the Thousand Sons and Emperor’s children, they’re just uncorrupted. There are visible signs of the familiar ruthlessness, hatred and bitter determination; but also honour, grinding loyalty, abilities as craftsmen as well as warmakers and a distrustful hatred for those corrupted by Chaos. The problem is that while they’re shown in this state and we see the exact turning point where they began to drop any remnants of nobility, they’re not shown having truly fallen. Instead McNeill is relying upon people to have picked up Storm of Iron if not most of his Iron Warriors series to contrast characters with their 41st millennium selves. So fans who’ve read those books will rejoice seeing Forrix and Kroeger being major characters but anyone who didn’t will be confused about glorified cameos given to the likes of Berossus.
Unfortunately the flaws which plague the Iron Warriors are nothing compared to the issues involving the Emperor’s Children, and especially the primarch himself. It’s not they’re badly written so much that the legion reached the end of its story with Fulgrim and there is little else to say about them. They’re mostly as a plot device and something for the Iron Warriors to work off of, lacking the narrative strength of their previous novels. This isn’t helped by an insanely goofy revival of Eidolon and McNeill’s decision to make Fulgrim’s twist reveal in The Reflection Crack’d completely true, removing the last mystery which might have helped further their tale.
Similar eyebrow raising decisions also crop up with problems which do not detract to the story specifically but feel out of place. These flaws are things which don’t which contribute anything to the plot and just awkwardly stick out such as McNeill only using the Ultramarines/ Guilliman whenever a favourable comparison to a legion/ primarch is needed. Along with the aforementioned glorified cameoing of characters, there are a number of visible discrepancies in the canon which seem to rewrite previous entries for no reason. The two major examples are the new origin of the Storm Eagle and the fate of a major character.
Another flaw in the story is the journey and objective itself. Say what you will about Battle for the Abyss but at the very least that made it clear that travelling through hellishly unstable areas of the Warp was an outright death sentence. In this however there’s next to no mention of difficulties, casualties or even troubles in their journey through the Eye. The angel exterminatus itself is almost forgotten until traitors actually reach the world it is held on. It instead takes a backseat to the character conflicts and exploration to the legions which, while for the most part excellent, isn’t what is advertised on the blurb.
Even after all that though it’s still worth reading. Both for the aforementioned aspects and ones I won’t talk about because they’d be spoiled in analysing them. Things like the earthshattering revelations in the final chapters, the presence of Fabius Bile and the involvement Iron Hands were not covered for this specific reason but behind the Iron Warriors they’re easily the best parts of the novel.
The book is undeniably more enjoyable if you have read the Iron Warriors novels, and Dead Sky Black Sun, but if you’ve not it will still keep you entertained for a couple of read throughs.
Taking centre stage are the Iron Warriors. After the destruction of a loyalist fortress, Fulgrim shows up trying to convince Perturabo to take part in retrieving an ancient superweapon from the Eye of Terror. Along with facing down an immortal army, a world which directly combats them and a ship full of vengeful Iron Hands conflicts begin to arise between the traitor primarchs themselves.
Both the biggest flaw and biggest strength was having Graham McNeill pen this book. His skill at individually handling multiple plot threads and his prior experience with both the III and IV legions pays off here with great characterisations. This book emphasises upon the legion as a whole rather than just the aspects of a few key characters and the primarch, and it’s all the stronger for it. This helped to present that rather than being the complete opposite of their modern selves as with the Thousand Sons and Emperor’s children, they’re just uncorrupted. There are visible signs of the familiar ruthlessness, hatred and bitter determination; but also honour, grinding loyalty, abilities as craftsmen as well as warmakers and a distrustful hatred for those corrupted by Chaos. The problem is that while they’re shown in this state and we see the exact turning point where they began to drop any remnants of nobility, they’re not shown having truly fallen. Instead McNeill is relying upon people to have picked up Storm of Iron if not most of his Iron Warriors series to contrast characters with their 41st millennium selves. So fans who’ve read those books will rejoice seeing Forrix and Kroeger being major characters but anyone who didn’t will be confused about glorified cameos given to the likes of Berossus.
Unfortunately the flaws which plague the Iron Warriors are nothing compared to the issues involving the Emperor’s Children, and especially the primarch himself. It’s not they’re badly written so much that the legion reached the end of its story with Fulgrim and there is little else to say about them. They’re mostly as a plot device and something for the Iron Warriors to work off of, lacking the narrative strength of their previous novels. This isn’t helped by an insanely goofy revival of Eidolon and McNeill’s decision to make Fulgrim’s twist reveal in The Reflection Crack’d completely true, removing the last mystery which might have helped further their tale.
Similar eyebrow raising decisions also crop up with problems which do not detract to the story specifically but feel out of place. These flaws are things which don’t which contribute anything to the plot and just awkwardly stick out such as McNeill only using the Ultramarines/ Guilliman whenever a favourable comparison to a legion/ primarch is needed. Along with the aforementioned glorified cameoing of characters, there are a number of visible discrepancies in the canon which seem to rewrite previous entries for no reason. The two major examples are the new origin of the Storm Eagle and the fate of a major character.
Another flaw in the story is the journey and objective itself. Say what you will about Battle for the Abyss but at the very least that made it clear that travelling through hellishly unstable areas of the Warp was an outright death sentence. In this however there’s next to no mention of difficulties, casualties or even troubles in their journey through the Eye. The angel exterminatus itself is almost forgotten until traitors actually reach the world it is held on. It instead takes a backseat to the character conflicts and exploration to the legions which, while for the most part excellent, isn’t what is advertised on the blurb.
Even after all that though it’s still worth reading. Both for the aforementioned aspects and ones I won’t talk about because they’d be spoiled in analysing them. Things like the earthshattering revelations in the final chapters, the presence of Fabius Bile and the involvement Iron Hands were not covered for this specific reason but behind the Iron Warriors they’re easily the best parts of the novel.
The book is undeniably more enjoyable if you have read the Iron Warriors novels, and Dead Sky Black Sun, but if you’ve not it will still keep you entertained for a couple of read throughs.
September 9, 2013
Angel Exterminatus had to be a good novel, partly due to the fact that it is the first new release of a hardback Horus Heresy novel. For those Black Library fans that still aren’t clear on how the new format will work, three months before the release of the paperback format, you will be getting Angel Exterminatus in Collector’s Edition. When Angel Exterminatus hits the shelves, it will hit them in a trade paperback format currently seen in the Space Marine Battles series. And then, six months after the trade paperback’s release, we will get the standard, mass market release format. With that in mind, I’m using the hardback, Collector’s Edition which I’m using as a basis for my review will be published three months before the paperback release. It will contain an author afterward (which obviously you don’t want to read until you’ve read the book), and four specially commissioned black and white illustrations by Karl Richardson. Now that I’ve got that cleared out of the way though, we can move on. Because Angel Exterminatus is one hell of a novel, that despite a couple of minor flaws, I believe will satisfy those that have brought the CE, as well as fans of not only the Iron Warriors, but also the Emperor’s Children, the Iron Hands and the Raven Guard.
Perturabo – master of siegecraft, and the executioner of Olympia. Long has he lived in the shadow of his more favoured primarch brothers, frustrated by the mundane and ignominious duties which regularly fall to his Legion. When Fulgrim offers him the chance to lead an expedition in search of ancient and destructive xenos weaponry, the Iron Warriors and the Emperor’s Children unite and venture deep into the heart of the great star maelstrom that haunts Perturabo’s dreams. Pursued by vengeful survivors from Isstvan V and the revenants of a dead eldar world, they must work quickly if they are to unleash the devastating power of the Angel Exterminatus!
So let’s start off with Angel Exterminatus’ strengths. It’s a great book, containing several action-packed moments in space and on dry land right the way through. You really get the feel, mainly due to the Primarch action, that this is certainly a Horus Heresy novel, and readers wouldn’t have it any other way. Perturabo and Fulgrim both have key roles in Angel Exterminatus, and this is the first real time that we get an inside look into Perturabo in this long-running series, and I’m sure it will delight fans who have been wanting a long-overdue origin story of the Primarch of the Iron Warriors Legion.
This is, despite elements of the Emperor’s Children and loyalists getting POVs to themselves, firmly an Iron Warriors novel. As McNeill has written about them before in the 40k Universe in his Ultramarines series (and the Iron Warriors Omnibus), he knows what he’s doing. We even get to see some characters that he’s written in the 40k Universe be explored in more detail in this novel. You don’t have to have read his 40k works to understand Angel Exterminatus, but the fan who has read both will get the most from this novel. The last page in particular is a welcoming treat for any Iron Warriors readers, but I won’t spoil it for you here, you’ll have to read it yourself.
Read the Rest of the Review: http://thefoundingfields.com/2012/11/... (Advance Dual Review with Lord of the Night)
Perturabo – master of siegecraft, and the executioner of Olympia. Long has he lived in the shadow of his more favoured primarch brothers, frustrated by the mundane and ignominious duties which regularly fall to his Legion. When Fulgrim offers him the chance to lead an expedition in search of ancient and destructive xenos weaponry, the Iron Warriors and the Emperor’s Children unite and venture deep into the heart of the great star maelstrom that haunts Perturabo’s dreams. Pursued by vengeful survivors from Isstvan V and the revenants of a dead eldar world, they must work quickly if they are to unleash the devastating power of the Angel Exterminatus!
So let’s start off with Angel Exterminatus’ strengths. It’s a great book, containing several action-packed moments in space and on dry land right the way through. You really get the feel, mainly due to the Primarch action, that this is certainly a Horus Heresy novel, and readers wouldn’t have it any other way. Perturabo and Fulgrim both have key roles in Angel Exterminatus, and this is the first real time that we get an inside look into Perturabo in this long-running series, and I’m sure it will delight fans who have been wanting a long-overdue origin story of the Primarch of the Iron Warriors Legion.
This is, despite elements of the Emperor’s Children and loyalists getting POVs to themselves, firmly an Iron Warriors novel. As McNeill has written about them before in the 40k Universe in his Ultramarines series (and the Iron Warriors Omnibus), he knows what he’s doing. We even get to see some characters that he’s written in the 40k Universe be explored in more detail in this novel. You don’t have to have read his 40k works to understand Angel Exterminatus, but the fan who has read both will get the most from this novel. The last page in particular is a welcoming treat for any Iron Warriors readers, but I won’t spoil it for you here, you’ll have to read it yourself.
Read the Rest of the Review: http://thefoundingfields.com/2012/11/... (Advance Dual Review with Lord of the Night)
July 22, 2015
This is another case of preliminary impressions from early in the book.
I've previously mentioned McNiell's tendency towards painfully florid verbiage in my comments on "The Reflection Crack'd", If anything, it's gotten even worse. He wasted ten to fifteen minutes with bruise purple prose to say "you are a dreadnaught now" to a character who hadn't been seen before and hasn't made his return yet. It has been so painfully boring that I'm beginning to doubt if there's even a short story's worth of content in this book. So much ink spilled over so little import just drives me away from the story, crushing any sembance of immersion and causing me to tune out what's happening. We're barely into chapter two and this book feels like it's dragged on for ages already.
In the first engagement, Perturabo stopped his whole legion to lay seige to a company of Imperial Fists who were garrissoning a fortification that they hadn't even built. The narration states that he did this to "humble" that legion. The problem is, when you look at the engagement what you have is a strategic humilation for the Iron Warriors, who get bogged down for a protracted period by a miniscule opposing force, take significant losses and burn through substantial amounts of munitions to take a strategically unimportant planet. They even admit that the fortification could have been wiped off the planet via orbital bombardment and the legion saved for less pointless endeavors if not for the petulent Perturabo wanting to get a scrap in with the Sons of Dorn. All it does is further validate the Emperor's decision to keep the Iron Warriors off the front lines and doing menial work. But you have to admire McNiell's brazenness at proving the Iron Warriors to be masters of seigecraft by showing that they are absolute crap at it.
The problems and plot holes have only gotten bigger and more blatant as the book wears on. I buy Fulgrim treating with an Eldar for the diversion of it, but the entire issue of how the loyalists ended up with an Eldar guide is completely unaddressed. It is as if he were hoping we wouldn't ask the question despite needing anything to distract the mind from the dreadful prose. The problems pile on when chronometers begin to misbehave while traversing the tendrils of realspace woven through the Eye of Terror. These paths, while also key plot points are a minefield of plotholes. The book states outright that they "didn't even need the Geller Field" meaning that these paths must be realspace and not warpspace - and that the vessels are not attempting to traverse them in the warp. That leaves them running on their sublight drives. The Eye of Terror encompasses a zone of space which contained dozens of Eldar worlds, thus its exterior extent must be hundred of light years across. Tendrils of realspace extending into this zone would still be governed by realspace rules, which means it would be impossible to quickly traverse the paths above or below on sublight drives, unless the destination world is kissing the edge of the eye. This can't be the case, because it is constantly described as being at the 'heart' of the storm. We know they can't be using warp drives because the emperor's children launch storm birds and boarding torpedoes.
Also, the fight with the Raven Guard and Lucius on the embarkation deck just seems to scream how unfit Astartes are for combat. Their actions scream that they're even more rock stupid than Ogryns. We have a character who is a known sniper in an elevated and undiscovered position who abandons his advantages to engage a swordsman with no ranged weapons in hand to hand combat. Lucius is a joke with no helmet and no ranged weapons. He should have been just a "boom, headshot" and dead. Instead, the Raven Guard decides to abandon every advantage he has to fight on terms favorable to Lucius. Even a child knows that catering to an enemy's strengths is a stupid idea, especially when you can easily strike their weaknesses.
And then there was the issue of inertia. Everyone on board the Iron Hands ship should be red smears on the back wall after the acceleration they generated to kill the Andronicus.
When the third legion intruded onto the story about the Iron Warriors, my snark had Perturabo ordering his warriors to gun down Fulgrim's degenerate carnivalia and saying "On second thought, that's a silly place". The book would have been orders of magnitude better if that had happened and the story ended there. I have stopped giving Heresey a Chance, and will be sending Dan Abnett a bill for the money I wasted on this tripe.
Last edit - I'm done.Every time I dare to hope it might salavage some semblance of the plot, the book instead jumps off into a tanget full of pointless depravity. I don't even mean some warped actions that have some plot relevence, I mean utterly pointless. No one would have noticed had the editors gone in and taken them out, and they don't even make sense in context. I think the author jas realized none of the editorial staff is going to do their job, and is throwing this crap in to see what will end up in print. The worst part of it all is that if it had simply been a story of Perurabo and the Iron Warriors in the war, it could have been good. The characters were there, the character of the legion was there, and the prose... well, the prose still stank, but that just needs an editor to call him out on it.
I've previously mentioned McNiell's tendency towards painfully florid verbiage in my comments on "The Reflection Crack'd", If anything, it's gotten even worse. He wasted ten to fifteen minutes with bruise purple prose to say "you are a dreadnaught now" to a character who hadn't been seen before and hasn't made his return yet. It has been so painfully boring that I'm beginning to doubt if there's even a short story's worth of content in this book. So much ink spilled over so little import just drives me away from the story, crushing any sembance of immersion and causing me to tune out what's happening. We're barely into chapter two and this book feels like it's dragged on for ages already.
In the first engagement, Perturabo stopped his whole legion to lay seige to a company of Imperial Fists who were garrissoning a fortification that they hadn't even built. The narration states that he did this to "humble" that legion. The problem is, when you look at the engagement what you have is a strategic humilation for the Iron Warriors, who get bogged down for a protracted period by a miniscule opposing force, take significant losses and burn through substantial amounts of munitions to take a strategically unimportant planet. They even admit that the fortification could have been wiped off the planet via orbital bombardment and the legion saved for less pointless endeavors if not for the petulent Perturabo wanting to get a scrap in with the Sons of Dorn. All it does is further validate the Emperor's decision to keep the Iron Warriors off the front lines and doing menial work. But you have to admire McNiell's brazenness at proving the Iron Warriors to be masters of seigecraft by showing that they are absolute crap at it.
The problems and plot holes have only gotten bigger and more blatant as the book wears on. I buy Fulgrim treating with an Eldar for the diversion of it, but the entire issue of how the loyalists ended up with an Eldar guide is completely unaddressed. It is as if he were hoping we wouldn't ask the question despite needing anything to distract the mind from the dreadful prose. The problems pile on when chronometers begin to misbehave while traversing the tendrils of realspace woven through the Eye of Terror. These paths, while also key plot points are a minefield of plotholes. The book states outright that they "didn't even need the Geller Field" meaning that these paths must be realspace and not warpspace - and that the vessels are not attempting to traverse them in the warp. That leaves them running on their sublight drives. The Eye of Terror encompasses a zone of space which contained dozens of Eldar worlds, thus its exterior extent must be hundred of light years across. Tendrils of realspace extending into this zone would still be governed by realspace rules, which means it would be impossible to quickly traverse the paths above or below on sublight drives, unless the destination world is kissing the edge of the eye. This can't be the case, because it is constantly described as being at the 'heart' of the storm. We know they can't be using warp drives because the emperor's children launch storm birds and boarding torpedoes.
Also, the fight with the Raven Guard and Lucius on the embarkation deck just seems to scream how unfit Astartes are for combat. Their actions scream that they're even more rock stupid than Ogryns. We have a character who is a known sniper in an elevated and undiscovered position who abandons his advantages to engage a swordsman with no ranged weapons in hand to hand combat. Lucius is a joke with no helmet and no ranged weapons. He should have been just a "boom, headshot" and dead. Instead, the Raven Guard decides to abandon every advantage he has to fight on terms favorable to Lucius. Even a child knows that catering to an enemy's strengths is a stupid idea, especially when you can easily strike their weaknesses.
And then there was the issue of inertia. Everyone on board the Iron Hands ship should be red smears on the back wall after the acceleration they generated to kill the Andronicus.
When the third legion intruded onto the story about the Iron Warriors, my snark had Perturabo ordering his warriors to gun down Fulgrim's degenerate carnivalia and saying "On second thought, that's a silly place". The book would have been orders of magnitude better if that had happened and the story ended there. I have stopped giving Heresey a Chance, and will be sending Dan Abnett a bill for the money I wasted on this tripe.
Last edit - I'm done.Every time I dare to hope it might salavage some semblance of the plot, the book instead jumps off into a tanget full of pointless depravity. I don't even mean some warped actions that have some plot relevence, I mean utterly pointless. No one would have noticed had the editors gone in and taken them out, and they don't even make sense in context. I think the author jas realized none of the editorial staff is going to do their job, and is throwing this crap in to see what will end up in print. The worst part of it all is that if it had simply been a story of Perurabo and the Iron Warriors in the war, it could have been good. The characters were there, the character of the legion was there, and the prose... well, the prose still stank, but that just needs an editor to call him out on it.
November 22, 2012
This book came out of nowhere... suddenly it was announced. Almost the same week it was released both in expanded e-book format, and in hardcover deluxe edition... and in a formula in which you could get both at the same time #win
It's an official Horus Heresy novel, this time featuring in the left corner the Iron Warriors and Emperors Children (both primarchs, Perturabo and Fulgrim included) and in the right corner a small remnant of the Isstvan V slaughter, a Raven Guard, a Salamander and a small host of Iron Hands.
According to an afterword by the author, the story started as a continuation of the Fulgrim storyline.
Warning: to step into this part of the story you must have finished:
- Fulgrim (duh!)
- (preferably) the first and last part of the Aurelian limited edition novella
- The first story/novella in The Primarchs, the one about Fulgrim
The things that happen to the protagonists in the Emperors Children storyline are nothing less than breathtaking.
But that's not even the real meat of the novel.
The Big Story is the one about Perturabo and the Iron Warriors. Consider this novel the official how-the-iron-warriors-fell-from-grace-and-into-the-maw-of-Chaos story. The character of Perturabo is beautifully rendered, instead of the dark brooding silent murderer he was in the first story of Shadows of Treachery (which is, by the way, also a prerequisite for this novel). We get to see the person behind the Evil Primarch, and I must say I was shocked to learn how and why and what is behind him. I'm boiling over with pure sympathy for the man !
The Iron Warriors, who by the time this novel plays out, are still only traitors out of necessity, come into contact with the Emperors Children that are by that time already depraved beyond recognition. The quest is to go to one of the main Crone Worlds of the Eldar to "gather an ancient and lost ultimate weapon from legends". A bit of background about Eldar, Emperors Children and Fulgrim will give the WH40K fanatic enough hints as to what the real quest is...
A small negative point to the story is that I found the part about the loyal Space Marines a bit too contrived... I'm imagining that the story could have done without them.
Also, as Graham McNeill is the author, he succesfully and spectacularly makes the connection to his own Iron Warriors: The Omnibus trilogy. How spectacular ? I didn't read the trilogy myself, but even I was trilling with fangasms throughout, and especially at the end of the novel !
Very recommended, but unfortunatly as we find ourselves deep, deep into the Horus Heresy series, at least the books which I noted as prerequisites are absolutely mandatory for this novel. And even then you'll probably miss some references and connections here and there
It's an official Horus Heresy novel, this time featuring in the left corner the Iron Warriors and Emperors Children (both primarchs, Perturabo and Fulgrim included) and in the right corner a small remnant of the Isstvan V slaughter, a Raven Guard, a Salamander and a small host of Iron Hands.
According to an afterword by the author, the story started as a continuation of the Fulgrim storyline.
Warning: to step into this part of the story you must have finished:
- Fulgrim (duh!)
- (preferably) the first and last part of the Aurelian limited edition novella
- The first story/novella in The Primarchs, the one about Fulgrim
The things that happen to the protagonists in the Emperors Children storyline are nothing less than breathtaking.
But that's not even the real meat of the novel.
The Big Story is the one about Perturabo and the Iron Warriors. Consider this novel the official how-the-iron-warriors-fell-from-grace-and-into-the-maw-of-Chaos story. The character of Perturabo is beautifully rendered, instead of the dark brooding silent murderer he was in the first story of Shadows of Treachery (which is, by the way, also a prerequisite for this novel). We get to see the person behind the Evil Primarch, and I must say I was shocked to learn how and why and what is behind him. I'm boiling over with pure sympathy for the man !
The Iron Warriors, who by the time this novel plays out, are still only traitors out of necessity, come into contact with the Emperors Children that are by that time already depraved beyond recognition. The quest is to go to one of the main Crone Worlds of the Eldar to "gather an ancient and lost ultimate weapon from legends". A bit of background about Eldar, Emperors Children and Fulgrim will give the WH40K fanatic enough hints as to what the real quest is...
A small negative point to the story is that I found the part about the loyal Space Marines a bit too contrived... I'm imagining that the story could have done without them.
Also, as Graham McNeill is the author, he succesfully and spectacularly makes the connection to his own Iron Warriors: The Omnibus trilogy. How spectacular ? I didn't read the trilogy myself, but even I was trilling with fangasms throughout, and especially at the end of the novel !
Very recommended, but unfortunatly as we find ourselves deep, deep into the Horus Heresy series, at least the books which I noted as prerequisites are absolutely mandatory for this novel. And even then you'll probably miss some references and connections here and there
February 24, 2024
February 2024 Re-Read using the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project Reading Order - Omnibus IV Shattersong (https://www.heresyomnibus.com/omnibus...) as part of my Oath of Moment to complete the Horus Heresy saga and extras.
I have such a strange, powerful ambivalence for Mr. McNeill. When he is good he's in the pantheon of the greater mon-keighs in the Black Library and when his ridiculous reference and Easter egg game is on point he's king of the nerds, but he can also be a little too...the worst aspects of Chris Nolan, and then there's his serious issues and warped ideas around sex, gender, and misogyny that come into play in some of this books. Fulgrim is a perfect encapsulation of all these elements.
Angel Exterminatus, hower, is pretty much the perfect Horus Heresy novel with all the different elements that makes this series special handled with aplomb. This is his Grimoire of Magnus Opus and an such a perfect time for him and the Emperor's Children and Fulgrim storyline to have their apotheoses together! His quality is evident in all his work, sadly often undercut by the points above, but this is him just shredding literal face-melting solos on stage in La Fenice!
My heart will always belong to the stories that make me care and them truly rip my heart out and make me sob, but this is truly top tier Heresy goodness.
My brain feels like Fabius has been playing with it, so I'm going to leave it there. Maybe I'll come back, but I doubt it. Just imagine me hyperventilating and fangirling got a few handfuls of scrolls worth of text.
Phenomenal novel is phenomenal.
Through using the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project (www.heresyomnibus.com) and my own choices, I have currently read 11 Horus Heresy novels, 5 novellas, 19 short stories/ audio dramas, as well as the Macragge's Honour graphic novel, 6 Primarchs novels, 3 Primarchs short stories/ audio dramas, and 2 Warhammer 40K further reading novels...this run. I can't say enough good about the way the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project suggestions. I'm loving it! Especially after originally reading to the releases and being so frustrated at having to wait so long for a narrative to continue.
I have such a strange, powerful ambivalence for Mr. McNeill. When he is good he's in the pantheon of the greater mon-keighs in the Black Library and when his ridiculous reference and Easter egg game is on point he's king of the nerds, but he can also be a little too...the worst aspects of Chris Nolan, and then there's his serious issues and warped ideas around sex, gender, and misogyny that come into play in some of this books. Fulgrim is a perfect encapsulation of all these elements.
Angel Exterminatus, hower, is pretty much the perfect Horus Heresy novel with all the different elements that makes this series special handled with aplomb. This is his Grimoire of Magnus Opus and an such a perfect time for him and the Emperor's Children and Fulgrim storyline to have their apotheoses together! His quality is evident in all his work, sadly often undercut by the points above, but this is him just shredding literal face-melting solos on stage in La Fenice!
My heart will always belong to the stories that make me care and them truly rip my heart out and make me sob, but this is truly top tier Heresy goodness.
My brain feels like Fabius has been playing with it, so I'm going to leave it there. Maybe I'll come back, but I doubt it. Just imagine me hyperventilating and fangirling got a few handfuls of scrolls worth of text.
Phenomenal novel is phenomenal.
Through using the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project (www.heresyomnibus.com) and my own choices, I have currently read 11 Horus Heresy novels, 5 novellas, 19 short stories/ audio dramas, as well as the Macragge's Honour graphic novel, 6 Primarchs novels, 3 Primarchs short stories/ audio dramas, and 2 Warhammer 40K further reading novels...this run. I can't say enough good about the way the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project suggestions. I'm loving it! Especially after originally reading to the releases and being so frustrated at having to wait so long for a narrative to continue.
April 3, 2013
This book comes to an abrupt and fairly unsatisfying end with characters spiralling in directions not really hinted at and certain plot points left unresolved or meaningless.
It feels like the last three chapters were pushed out to meet a deadline. While the first two thirds of the book is an interesting exploration of the Legions during the heresy... The endgame was not as well written.
Not McNeil's best.
It feels like the last three chapters were pushed out to meet a deadline. While the first two thirds of the book is an interesting exploration of the Legions during the heresy... The endgame was not as well written.
Not McNeil's best.
January 14, 2018
Sick of Fulgrim's stuck up jerkface? How about Lucius' cowardly sword-snobbery? Get ready to cheer on the Iron Warrior's Perturabo and a ragtag bunch of Iron Hands, a Raven Guard, and a Salamander... as they become nauseated with the mutation and debauchery of the Emperor's Children and then open up a siege cannons worth of whoop-ass on their hyper-painted discordant girlypants!
This. Book. Is. Great. Soooooo satisfying.
This. Book. Is. Great. Soooooo satisfying.
January 8, 2025
This was my introduction to Perturabo and it didn’t disappoint. This book answered a lot of questions and set the stage for some of the more depressing aspects of the 41st millennium post heresy. I always enjoy multiple plot lines in a single book and they were all well done here. This book is probably going to extend my “abridged” read of the Heresy by at least a few more books. Maybe this isn’t fair, but I deducted a single star because it almost felt like TOO MUCH happened. There is a lot to this book and by the end of it I was reeling. Overall, fantastic and definitely essential reading for the overall story of the heresy.
February 6, 2025
The Horus Heresy pēc kārtas divdesmit trešā grāmata aizsākas jau pēc galvenā Horusa nodevības notikuma uz Isstvan V planētas un ir diviem nodevēju leģioniem Iron Warriors (IW) un Emperor’s Children (EC) veltīta. Bet pirms Angel Exterminatus var pievērsties romāna nosaukumā iekļautajam sižetam IW un tās primarks Perturabo vispirms uz salīdzinoši necilas planētas Hydra Cordatus veic nelielu atriebības kampaņu pret Imperial Fists (IF) leģionu, kuras kontrolē tā atrodas vai pareizāk jau sakot atradās.
https://poseidons99.com/2025/02/06/gr...
https://poseidons99.com/2025/02/06/gr...
June 28, 2023
A fantastic book, Perty is literally me.
Overall just insanely cool and mostly well written despite the annoying reliance on short stories for certain plot points.
Defo showed Perty as the most understandable traitor and made the loyalists look so cool. Fulgrim fucking sucks.
Overall just insanely cool and mostly well written despite the annoying reliance on short stories for certain plot points.
Defo showed Perty as the most understandable traitor and made the loyalists look so cool. Fulgrim fucking sucks.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 19, 2023
Heavily features peturabo and fulgrim. Lots of good scenes between the two. Was a entertaining read and makes progress in the main story explaining a certain primarchs further fall into chaos ect.
October 14, 2024
‘You don’t know the things I dream,’ said Perturabo. ‘No one does, no one ever cared enough to find out.’
April 3, 2025
A great instalment to the Horus Heresy story. It fills in a good few gaps and has a few surprises on the way. Definitely recommend this one.
May 19, 2025
This book made me like Perturabo. Honestly, the fact that he would have stayed loyal if someone just told him that they loved and respected him is crazy and kinda understandable. Fulgrim... on the other hand, oh god. What is he doing? We really need Rylanor right about now. Anways, solid book!
April 2, 2013
Angel Exterminatus is a sequel of sorts to Fulgrim, although it focuses much more on Perturabo, the Primarch of the Iron Warriors, and how the two traitor-primarchs grudgingly team up in order to take control of a lost eldar superweapon. Obstacles includes distrust between the brothers, the defences of the eldar crone-world, and a rag-tag army of survivors of Isstvan V, seeking vengeance at any cost.
As usual there's a bit of repitition, and the story itself (including the prize) isn't all that interesting, with a twist you could see a mile away. Where it is interesting is in the character of Perturabo: He is not yet corrupted by Chaos, nor did he align with Horus due to some lofty ideal: He simply felt used and resented, and thought Horus was the one guy he could trust. For being an angry war-god who genocided his own homeworld he comes across as pretty sympatethic, the overwrought symbolism of the would-be architect being reduced to tearing stuff down as the consummate siege-expert is almost poignant at times.
As usual there's a bit of repitition, and the story itself (including the prize) isn't all that interesting, with a twist you could see a mile away. Where it is interesting is in the character of Perturabo: He is not yet corrupted by Chaos, nor did he align with Horus due to some lofty ideal: He simply felt used and resented, and thought Horus was the one guy he could trust. For being an angry war-god who genocided his own homeworld he comes across as pretty sympatethic, the overwrought symbolism of the would-be architect being reduced to tearing stuff down as the consummate siege-expert is almost poignant at times.
August 12, 2020
A fun look at some Eldar lore, Perturabo’s backstory, and more of Fulgrim’s madness. Another enjoyable installment in the Horus heresy series.
February 5, 2021
Ano, uznávám, že můj čtenářský deník začíná být trochu monotónní. Buď další McBain, nebo řada military sci-fi pro ty, kterým připadá Henleinova Hvězdná pěchota příliš pacifistická a sluníčkářská: Warhammer 40.000. Původně jsem si z tohohle světa vyzobával pouze Abnetta, ale nějak jsem to neukočíroval a zabředávám do něj čím dál víc – než jsem se stačil vzpamatovat, koukám, že jsem už u 23 knihy ze série Horus Heresy (ale tam jsem pár dílů zatím přeskočil, protože Poláci je už měli vyprodané a Polaris ještě nevydal). Na mou omluvu musím říct, že když jsme s tím začínal, myslel jsem, že to má těch dílů tak maximálně pět. To mám z toho, že nedělám průzkum.
Angel Exterminatus je zajímavý příspěvek, protože tentokrát se podíváme na temnou stranu síly. Dvě skupiny zrádců se spojí, aby našli tajemný elfský… tedy elderský artefakt, záhadnou supersilnou zbraň. Fulgrim a Perturab je asi stejný tým, jako by se spojil Caligula s Attilou Hunem. Je jasné, že tohle zrovna moc klapat nebude. A samozřejmě, objeví se tu i kosmická loď složená z přeživších z Istvanu V., která se soustředí na partizánskou válku.
Rozehrání je hodně zajímavé a je to pořád zábavné a velkolepé… i když samotný námět slibuje víc, než dokáže poskytnout. Máte tam planetu skrytou uprostřed kosmického víru, zbavenou veškerých bytostí, na ní podivnou stavbu, tajemné vize a věštby, záludné elderské průvodce, brutální pokusy na lidech, podivné vědecké experimenty… a ono z toho celkem nic zajímavého není. Ano dojde tu k pár zásadním událostem, je tu zajímavé prokreslení Perturaba, jsou tu i boje, ale čekal jsem trochu víc. Zvláště když jsem to četl po díle Fear to Tread, kde řádí monumentální démoni jako najatí. Tady to jde spíš nějak do vytracena, pokud někdo umře, tak se často zjistí, že to nebylo zase tak horké (nebo spíš studené) a spíš to otvírá dveře k dalším zajímavým událostem a možnostem.
Angel Exterminatus je zajímavý příspěvek, protože tentokrát se podíváme na temnou stranu síly. Dvě skupiny zrádců se spojí, aby našli tajemný elfský… tedy elderský artefakt, záhadnou supersilnou zbraň. Fulgrim a Perturab je asi stejný tým, jako by se spojil Caligula s Attilou Hunem. Je jasné, že tohle zrovna moc klapat nebude. A samozřejmě, objeví se tu i kosmická loď složená z přeživších z Istvanu V., která se soustředí na partizánskou válku.
Rozehrání je hodně zajímavé a je to pořád zábavné a velkolepé… i když samotný námět slibuje víc, než dokáže poskytnout. Máte tam planetu skrytou uprostřed kosmického víru, zbavenou veškerých bytostí, na ní podivnou stavbu, tajemné vize a věštby, záludné elderské průvodce, brutální pokusy na lidech, podivné vědecké experimenty… a ono z toho celkem nic zajímavého není. Ano dojde tu k pár zásadním událostem, je tu zajímavé prokreslení Perturaba, jsou tu i boje, ale čekal jsem trochu víc. Zvláště když jsem to četl po díle Fear to Tread, kde řádí monumentální démoni jako najatí. Tady to jde spíš nějak do vytracena, pokud někdo umře, tak se často zjistí, že to nebylo zase tak horké (nebo spíš studené) a spíš to otvírá dveře k dalším zajímavým událostem a možnostem.
June 25, 2016
I've been on somewhat of a Warhammer 40,000 reading binge of late. Or, more accurately, a Warhammer 30,000 reading binge as each of the five titles I've devoured in the past month has been set in the Horus Heresy event series. I'm a Warhammer 40k fanboy (I have the Imperial Aquila tattooed on my chest), but I'd taken a few year hiatus from the universe. Now I'm back with a vengeance and there is a surplus of new material to gorge on. The most recent Horus Heresy novel I've read, ANGEL EXTERMINATUS by Graham McNeill, is the 23rd book in a series that is currently on its 37th installment. The books are penned by multiple authors, and all of the books are connected by larger events and characters but not all are necessarily sequential. It's a truly impressive collaboration. It's been ten years since Black Library began publishing the Horus Heresy and a lot has happened since the opening trilogy. ANGEL EXTERMINATUS is perhaps most closely tied to the fifth book in the series, FULGRIM, also written by Graham McNeill. ANGEL EXTERMINATUS is also a prequel of sorts to several of Graham McNeill's books set 10,000 years after the Horus Heresy two of my favorite 40k books: STORM OF IRON, DEAD SKY BLACK SUN; one of my least favorite: CHAPTER'S DUE. In any case, ANGEL EXTERMINATUS is not the place for newbies to start.Read more...
Here's the synopsis lifted from Amazon...
Primarch Fulgrim leads his brother Perturabo in an attack upon a mysterious eldar world
Perturabo – master of siegecraft, and the executioner of Olympia. Long has he lived in the shadow of his more favoured primarch brothers, frustrated by the mundane and ignominious duties which regularly fall to his Legion. When Fulgrim offers him the chance to lead an expedition in search of ancient and destructive xenos weaponry, the Iron Warriors and the Emperor’s Children unite and venture deep into the heart of the great star maelstrom that haunts Perturabo's dreams. Pursued by vengeful survivors from Isstvan V and the revenants of a dead eldar world, they must work quickly if they are to unleash the devastating power of the Angel Exterminatus!
ANGEL EXTERMINATUS was the last book I bought from Black Library before I took my hiatus but I never got around to reading it. I'd love to go back in time and kick past-Nick for dropping the ball because it's a fantastic addition to the Horus Heresy. Of all the traitor legions the Iron Warriors have always had a special place in my heart (thanks solely to McNeill's STORM OF IRON and DEAD SKY BLACK SUN. Despite that I never considered Perturabo, Primarch of the Iron Warriors, to be especially nuanced. He's a siege specialist, a blunt instrument for hammering enemies into submission. Or so I thought. This book proved me way wrong.
The best thing about the Horus Heresy series has been the depth of characterization given to seemingly one dimensional ultra villains. Unexpectedly I've come to see the likes of Horus Lupercal, Fulgrim, Lorgar Aurelian, Alpharius, and Magnus for the tragic figures they are and empathize with them. That's not small feat given the depths of depravity they indulge in and the horror these characters inflict on the universe. With ANGEL EXTERMINATUS its Perturabo's turn for some subtlety and McNeill nails it. It turns out that the Lord of Iron isn't simply a destroyer. He's a creator, a builder of far more than forts and siege works. He's got a mind to rival the best and brightest Primarchs but is constantly underestimated by his father, the Emperor, and his brothers. Perturabo and the Iron Warriors aren't blunt objects for bludgeoning enemies into compliance but that is exactly how they have been utilized and it chafes.
It becomes even easier to sympathize with Perturabo when he is juxtaposed with Fulgrim, his brother and fellow conspirator in Horus's civil war against the Imperium. Fulgrim was once one of the few brothers with which Perturbabo shared a thread of camaraderie, someone who understood Perturabo's own dedication to perfection -- but that was long ago. Those who read FULGRIM will know that Fulgrim and his legion, the Emperor's Children, have fallen far in their worship of the Chaos god Slaanesh. Perturabo is disgusted by the devotion of the Emperor's Children to the pursuits of the flesh and their degrading discipline. When Fulgrim approaches Perturabo with a quest to obtain alien super weapons, Perturabo fully expects he is being deceived in some manner but the prospect is tantalizing enough to secure the support of the Iron Warriors.
One of my few complaints is how linear the quest is. Fulgrim meets up with Perturabo at Point A. Perturabo agrees to join the hunt for these alien super weapons. There's a brief diversion when the fleets of the Emperor's Children and Iron Warriors encounter and engage a lone loyalist ship that is attempting to prevent the traitors from gaining access to these weapons that could allegedly put a swift end to the war. The Emperor's Children and Iron Warriors arrive at Point B and discover what they sought. The end. Of course there's betrayal and revelation along the way, punctuated with plenty of ceramite-rending, skull-crushing action. The final battle is another complaint of mine. The alien enemy that the Emperor's Children and Iron Warriors square off against make for much less interesting combatants than the loyalist space marines.
Complaints aside there is a ton to love about ANGEL EXTERMINATUS from McNeill's portrayal of Perturabo to the continued downward spiral of Fulgrim and his legion. The ragtag band of loyalist space marine survivors of the Dropsite Massacre on Isstvan V were a nice addition. It was good to see the loyalists finally give back as good as they got and the lone Raven Guard space marine Nykona Sharrowkyn sold me on a legion I've never much cared for. It was cool to see the return of characters from FULGRIM and even cooler to read the origins of Iron Warriors from STORM OF IRON and DEAD SKY BLACK SUN. It's clear from the writing that McNeill enjoys writing the Iron Warriors and I hope that Perturabo will feature in another novel before the Horus Heresy draws to a close.
Recommended Age: 16+
Profanity: Nothing too severe
Violence: Lots of bloody, gory, glorious space marine combat
Sex: None
Nick Sharps
Elitist Book Reviews
Here's the synopsis lifted from Amazon...
Primarch Fulgrim leads his brother Perturabo in an attack upon a mysterious eldar world
Perturabo – master of siegecraft, and the executioner of Olympia. Long has he lived in the shadow of his more favoured primarch brothers, frustrated by the mundane and ignominious duties which regularly fall to his Legion. When Fulgrim offers him the chance to lead an expedition in search of ancient and destructive xenos weaponry, the Iron Warriors and the Emperor’s Children unite and venture deep into the heart of the great star maelstrom that haunts Perturabo's dreams. Pursued by vengeful survivors from Isstvan V and the revenants of a dead eldar world, they must work quickly if they are to unleash the devastating power of the Angel Exterminatus!
ANGEL EXTERMINATUS was the last book I bought from Black Library before I took my hiatus but I never got around to reading it. I'd love to go back in time and kick past-Nick for dropping the ball because it's a fantastic addition to the Horus Heresy. Of all the traitor legions the Iron Warriors have always had a special place in my heart (thanks solely to McNeill's STORM OF IRON and DEAD SKY BLACK SUN. Despite that I never considered Perturabo, Primarch of the Iron Warriors, to be especially nuanced. He's a siege specialist, a blunt instrument for hammering enemies into submission. Or so I thought. This book proved me way wrong.
The best thing about the Horus Heresy series has been the depth of characterization given to seemingly one dimensional ultra villains. Unexpectedly I've come to see the likes of Horus Lupercal, Fulgrim, Lorgar Aurelian, Alpharius, and Magnus for the tragic figures they are and empathize with them. That's not small feat given the depths of depravity they indulge in and the horror these characters inflict on the universe. With ANGEL EXTERMINATUS its Perturabo's turn for some subtlety and McNeill nails it. It turns out that the Lord of Iron isn't simply a destroyer. He's a creator, a builder of far more than forts and siege works. He's got a mind to rival the best and brightest Primarchs but is constantly underestimated by his father, the Emperor, and his brothers. Perturabo and the Iron Warriors aren't blunt objects for bludgeoning enemies into compliance but that is exactly how they have been utilized and it chafes.
It becomes even easier to sympathize with Perturabo when he is juxtaposed with Fulgrim, his brother and fellow conspirator in Horus's civil war against the Imperium. Fulgrim was once one of the few brothers with which Perturbabo shared a thread of camaraderie, someone who understood Perturabo's own dedication to perfection -- but that was long ago. Those who read FULGRIM will know that Fulgrim and his legion, the Emperor's Children, have fallen far in their worship of the Chaos god Slaanesh. Perturabo is disgusted by the devotion of the Emperor's Children to the pursuits of the flesh and their degrading discipline. When Fulgrim approaches Perturabo with a quest to obtain alien super weapons, Perturabo fully expects he is being deceived in some manner but the prospect is tantalizing enough to secure the support of the Iron Warriors.
One of my few complaints is how linear the quest is. Fulgrim meets up with Perturabo at Point A. Perturabo agrees to join the hunt for these alien super weapons. There's a brief diversion when the fleets of the Emperor's Children and Iron Warriors encounter and engage a lone loyalist ship that is attempting to prevent the traitors from gaining access to these weapons that could allegedly put a swift end to the war. The Emperor's Children and Iron Warriors arrive at Point B and discover what they sought. The end. Of course there's betrayal and revelation along the way, punctuated with plenty of ceramite-rending, skull-crushing action. The final battle is another complaint of mine. The alien enemy that the Emperor's Children and Iron Warriors square off against make for much less interesting combatants than the loyalist space marines.
Complaints aside there is a ton to love about ANGEL EXTERMINATUS from McNeill's portrayal of Perturabo to the continued downward spiral of Fulgrim and his legion. The ragtag band of loyalist space marine survivors of the Dropsite Massacre on Isstvan V were a nice addition. It was good to see the loyalists finally give back as good as they got and the lone Raven Guard space marine Nykona Sharrowkyn sold me on a legion I've never much cared for. It was cool to see the return of characters from FULGRIM and even cooler to read the origins of Iron Warriors from STORM OF IRON and DEAD SKY BLACK SUN. It's clear from the writing that McNeill enjoys writing the Iron Warriors and I hope that Perturabo will feature in another novel before the Horus Heresy draws to a close.
Recommended Age: 16+
Profanity: Nothing too severe
Violence: Lots of bloody, gory, glorious space marine combat
Sex: None
Nick Sharps
Elitist Book Reviews
July 15, 2025
Angel Exterminatus is another brilliant look into the minds of the traitor legions. Honing in on Perturabo’s jealous, jaded nature, and his willfulness to ally himself with one of the most psychotic legions. There is so much good dialogue coupled with a healthy serving of action in this book, and they both compliment one another so well. One moment two characters will be having a philosophical debate on the state of their own faction, and the next there will be a blood pumping chase scene detailing the remnants of Istvan V fleeing the scene of an assassination attempt.
There is a lot of great writing here, and my only main complaint is that Graham Mcneil seems to over-write or over-describe certain sci-fi props or vistas. I know this sounds like an ironic hang up given the scope and overall business of the setting, but I can’t let it go. Me being stubborn aside, it didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book, and I think it is one of the better Horus Heresy novels I’ve read in recent memory.
There is a lot of great writing here, and my only main complaint is that Graham Mcneil seems to over-write or over-describe certain sci-fi props or vistas. I know this sounds like an ironic hang up given the scope and overall business of the setting, but I can’t let it go. Me being stubborn aside, it didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book, and I think it is one of the better Horus Heresy novels I’ve read in recent memory.
March 1, 2017
So many things to say about this book.
First, I would like to mention my history with the Horus Heresy Novels. I was a big fan of the first 5, especially Fulgrim. I had no interest in reading it, based on previous depiction of the Emperor Children's, and Graham McNeil story won me over. After that, it's been a long and painful journey for me. From "Descent of angels" to "Tales of Heresy" I went from "disappointed" to "giving up" on the Horus Heresy. I stopped reading these for a few months, until I came across a cheap copy (I kidd you not. I bought a GW product cheap) of "A thousand sons". this Novella was incredible, and made me realize I should not focus on the reading order since the timeline is doing so many back and forth, and just read the books about the legions and characters that interests me.
Hence why I chose Angel Exterminatus. I did not know much about the Iron warriors, and the few things I knew about Perturabo was his reputation of being the lamest Primarch. Like, all the worst human traits seemed to characterize Pert' (Yeah, after reading this novel, he's "Pert'" to me. Shut up, you don't know him like I do. He is different when his friends are not around). I owe an apology to Pert', because he is now my Favorite Primarch.
Anyway, Spoiler free review from here.
So, what to expect about angel Exterminatus ? First, it should be known that the iron warriors are not the sole Focus of this book. The whole cast of "Fulgrim" comes back, crazier than ever. Last but not least, a ragtag crew of Iron hands, accompanied by a lonely Raven guard and a Salamander Apothecary right out of Isstvan V plays the role of troublemakers in this story. The story shifts frequently between their point of views, offering a lot of diversity to the story.
Despite the large cast, the star of the Story is Pert'. He is depicted as a very flawed individual, with a near limitless potential hindered only by his character. Because Pert' is needy, jealous, and overall frustrated to never have been recognized as the equal of his brothers. His sole reason for siding with Horus is the feeling of acceptance and forgiveness he found with him. This fact is brought up many times during the storylines, as our primarch often wonders what could have happened if things had turned out differently. And in the middle of this mid-life crisis, while still ridden with guilt and shame about failing to defeat his nemesis (R.Dorn) during their latest confrontation, he is contacted by his brother Fulgrim to go on a quest to redeem himself in the eyes of the warmaster.
Let's be fair : Fulgrim does everything he can to steal the show here. The craziness started by the end of "Fulgrim" is now full on madness in this book, his whole legion now being corrupted and perverted to obscene levels. And even though our Iron warriors are depicted like badasses from the first page, the feeling of danger coming from the Emperor's Children is ever present. Fabius Bile, in particular, appears as a constant threat to anyone approaching him. Even by the E.C standards, Fabius represent absolute Nihilism. He does not respect anything or anyone, only his craft matter in his beady little black eyes.
Tension builds quickly between Pert' and Fulgrim, to a point where a chasm clearly appears in the traitor legions ranks : Some are still firmly anchored in the real world, still thinking about politics, conquests and such, while others are already completely lost to chaos and the warp. Between "A thousand sons", "legion" and this book, it's important to note how much these traitorous legions fall to chaos are real dramas. Space Marines are rumored to be emotionless war machines, but half of the legions would not have defected if the Emprah (blessed be his name and his ô so golden perfection) had actually paid any attention to his sons feelings.
Even though the book features plenty of actions, the best parts are actually the psychological elements involved between all characters. Pert' and Fulgrim are trying to outwit each others to trick or see through the tricks of the others (Until Pert' lose patience and just punch him a thousand times in the face), the Iron warriors leadership keeps fighting internally for a promotion (Guys, you're not getting paid, so just quit it), while the E.C tries to corrupt everything they touch with their sticky hands. They even got an Iron warrior warsmith on LSD and drunk at some point.
The only issue I had while reading this book, is that the characters from the IW and EC are so colorful that the Iron hands looks boring in comparison. Sure, their engineer almost blew up their ship twice, and the Raven guard is a cool stealthy assassin with a jet pack (Take that Bobba Fett ! Buy some huge pauldrons if you even want to compete) but most of the time their appearances felt like it stopped the story short. Like a cloud of flies swarming two titans.
Still, the last act of the story is epic, depicting one of the most important event of the Horus heresy brilliantly. Characters dies, some others evolve for better or worse, but nobody ends unscathed. And by the time you reach the last page, you want even more.
That's also a strong point of this novel. Characters have arcs. for exemple, Kroeger starts as a soldier, then a warsmith, learns his new place within his legion, and end up set up on the path of a Khornate berzerker. And that goes for most secondary characters of this novel. This might looks like something obvious, but not all novellas take the time to craft real characters and have them mature throughout the story. Especially Primarchs, whose characters seems so set in stone.
Is that too long ? I lost track. Anyway,this is definitely a must read for any 40k fan. I would only advise to read Fulgrim beforehand to fully enjoy the story and it's cast.
First, I would like to mention my history with the Horus Heresy Novels. I was a big fan of the first 5, especially Fulgrim. I had no interest in reading it, based on previous depiction of the Emperor Children's, and Graham McNeil story won me over. After that, it's been a long and painful journey for me. From "Descent of angels" to "Tales of Heresy" I went from "disappointed" to "giving up" on the Horus Heresy. I stopped reading these for a few months, until I came across a cheap copy (I kidd you not. I bought a GW product cheap) of "A thousand sons". this Novella was incredible, and made me realize I should not focus on the reading order since the timeline is doing so many back and forth, and just read the books about the legions and characters that interests me.
Hence why I chose Angel Exterminatus. I did not know much about the Iron warriors, and the few things I knew about Perturabo was his reputation of being the lamest Primarch. Like, all the worst human traits seemed to characterize Pert' (Yeah, after reading this novel, he's "Pert'" to me. Shut up, you don't know him like I do. He is different when his friends are not around). I owe an apology to Pert', because he is now my Favorite Primarch.
Anyway, Spoiler free review from here.
So, what to expect about angel Exterminatus ? First, it should be known that the iron warriors are not the sole Focus of this book. The whole cast of "Fulgrim" comes back, crazier than ever. Last but not least, a ragtag crew of Iron hands, accompanied by a lonely Raven guard and a Salamander Apothecary right out of Isstvan V plays the role of troublemakers in this story. The story shifts frequently between their point of views, offering a lot of diversity to the story.
Despite the large cast, the star of the Story is Pert'. He is depicted as a very flawed individual, with a near limitless potential hindered only by his character. Because Pert' is needy, jealous, and overall frustrated to never have been recognized as the equal of his brothers. His sole reason for siding with Horus is the feeling of acceptance and forgiveness he found with him. This fact is brought up many times during the storylines, as our primarch often wonders what could have happened if things had turned out differently. And in the middle of this mid-life crisis, while still ridden with guilt and shame about failing to defeat his nemesis (R.Dorn) during their latest confrontation, he is contacted by his brother Fulgrim to go on a quest to redeem himself in the eyes of the warmaster.
Let's be fair : Fulgrim does everything he can to steal the show here. The craziness started by the end of "Fulgrim" is now full on madness in this book, his whole legion now being corrupted and perverted to obscene levels. And even though our Iron warriors are depicted like badasses from the first page, the feeling of danger coming from the Emperor's Children is ever present. Fabius Bile, in particular, appears as a constant threat to anyone approaching him. Even by the E.C standards, Fabius represent absolute Nihilism. He does not respect anything or anyone, only his craft matter in his beady little black eyes.
Tension builds quickly between Pert' and Fulgrim, to a point where a chasm clearly appears in the traitor legions ranks : Some are still firmly anchored in the real world, still thinking about politics, conquests and such, while others are already completely lost to chaos and the warp. Between "A thousand sons", "legion" and this book, it's important to note how much these traitorous legions fall to chaos are real dramas. Space Marines are rumored to be emotionless war machines, but half of the legions would not have defected if the Emprah (blessed be his name and his ô so golden perfection) had actually paid any attention to his sons feelings.
Even though the book features plenty of actions, the best parts are actually the psychological elements involved between all characters. Pert' and Fulgrim are trying to outwit each others to trick or see through the tricks of the others (Until Pert' lose patience and just punch him a thousand times in the face), the Iron warriors leadership keeps fighting internally for a promotion (Guys, you're not getting paid, so just quit it), while the E.C tries to corrupt everything they touch with their sticky hands. They even got an Iron warrior warsmith on LSD and drunk at some point.
The only issue I had while reading this book, is that the characters from the IW and EC are so colorful that the Iron hands looks boring in comparison. Sure, their engineer almost blew up their ship twice, and the Raven guard is a cool stealthy assassin with a jet pack (Take that Bobba Fett ! Buy some huge pauldrons if you even want to compete) but most of the time their appearances felt like it stopped the story short. Like a cloud of flies swarming two titans.
Still, the last act of the story is epic, depicting one of the most important event of the Horus heresy brilliantly. Characters dies, some others evolve for better or worse, but nobody ends unscathed. And by the time you reach the last page, you want even more.
That's also a strong point of this novel. Characters have arcs. for exemple, Kroeger starts as a soldier, then a warsmith, learns his new place within his legion, and end up set up on the path of a Khornate berzerker. And that goes for most secondary characters of this novel. This might looks like something obvious, but not all novellas take the time to craft real characters and have them mature throughout the story. Especially Primarchs, whose characters seems so set in stone.
Is that too long ? I lost track. Anyway,this is definitely a must read for any 40k fan. I would only advise to read Fulgrim beforehand to fully enjoy the story and it's cast.
May 24, 2025
Absolutely outstanding focus on Perturabo here, making a real intro for the Iron warriors and a fantastic story at making you really care about just how good at this they're. Fulgrim is so fun I only wish we got more from his side of the veil. Only real issue is I wanted more? 3 full factions here and I feel it's very much leaving most without a satisfying end, but that almost works too as its fitting for iron hands and warriors.
April 12, 2019
An amazing look at the friction and unpredictability inside the traitor legions, specifically between the Primarchs Fulgrim and Perturabo. This book moved a furious pace and as the Primarchs are, completely unpredictable. Absolute must read for fans of the series and the heretical Primarchs specifically.
May 21, 2025
More of a book from the point of view from Peturabo, I mainly read for the ascension of Fulgrim. Some good lore and inside into Peturabo’s relationship with Fulgrim and the difference between the 2 legions and how low Fulgrim has sunk. Some good battle scenes, didn’t enjoy as much as Fulgrim.
February 20, 2019
Perturabo, the mighty fedora, is a good boy? I don't know how to deal with this. And dang it Fulgrim, just dang it.
November 3, 2021
THE BEST Horus Heresy book for real this time with actual stakes and a fantastic story, my boy Perturabo also gets out of his habit of being written terribly with some great character development in this one. Honestly if you're going to read one heresy book, this one is the one to chose.
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