Tales of Heresy

The Horus Heresy #10

by Nick Kyme (Editor), Lindsey Priestley (Editor)

When Horus the Warmaster rebelled against the Emperor, the ensuing civil war nearly destroyed the Imperium. War raged across galaxy, pitting Astartes against their battle-brothers in a struggle where death was the only victor. But long before that, the Legions struggled with their identities and the demands of the Great Crusade. From battles with alien invaders to conflicts within a Legion, and even dealing with a wayward primarch, these stories show the battles fought as the Great Crusade draws to a close and the Horus Heresy begins...

This collection features stories of heroism and tragedy set during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy:

Blood Games by Dan Abnett
Wolf at the Door by Mike Lee
Scions of the Storm by Anthony Reynolds
The Voice by James Swallow
Call of the Lion by Gav Thorpe
The Last Church by Graham McNeill
After Desh'ea by Matthew Farrer

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k, Fiction, Fantasy, Short Stories, Audiobook, Anthologies

416 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 31, 2009

About the author

Nick Kyme (b. 1977) writes mostly for Black Library. His credits include the popular Salamanders series and several audio dramas.

Reviews

[Periklis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blood Games by Dan Abnett - 5/5 Excellent Custodes tale.

Wolf at the Door by Mike Lee - 3/5 Space Wolves versus Dark Eldar with a twist ending. A (thematic) prelude to the razing of Prospero storyline.

Scions of the Storm by Anthony Reynolds - 3/5 A Wordbearers tale. It follows the same formula of most Space Marines chapter stories. The chapter encounters an alien threat that exposes its morality, hinting at its future. Apart from that, we get to meet Lorgar for the first time.

The Voice by James Swallow - 5/5 A Sisters of Silence story. A sidequel of the Sisters storyline from The Flight of the Eisenstein. Swallow is probably the most cinematic author of the HH saga...

Call of the Lion by Gav Thorpe - 3/5 A Dark Angels tale, following Astelan from Angels of Darkness. Again the formulaic plot of alien encounter and chapter's exposure, yet, Thorpe writes great action and the inner dichotomy of the Dark Angels is really interesting.

The Last Church by Graham McNeill - 5/5 A tale from the Unification Wars' twilight days. The less you known before reading it, the more enjoyable it gets in the final lines...

After Desh'ea by Matthew Farrer - 5/5 A tale of the World Eaters. Great story about Kharn the Betrayer and Angron. From concept to execution, it accomplices great things...

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Dentro de las antologías de relatos relativas a la Herejía de Horus, quizá la más variada y completa.-

Género. Relatos.

Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Cuentos de la Herejía (publicación original: Tales of Heresy, 2009), con Nick Kyme y Lindsey Priestley como responsables de la edición, es una antología de relatos situados en distintos momentos y lugares de la Herejía de Horus en el universo de Warhammer 40.000 (30.000 en este caso, pero también algún momento anterior, muy anterior, en alguna trama) que nos permitirán conocer más sobre el primer contacto de Angron con sus Adeptus Astartes, sobre la labor de los Legio Custodes, sobre diferentes casos de asimilación de planetas al Imperio o, entre otros, un evento antes de la Gran Cruzada.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...

[Sud666 · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Tales of the Heresy" is a superb collection of short stories set during the early stages of the Horus Heresy. A masterful collection of wonderful stories. However, there is one caveat- do not read this book without a decent background, as the stories are best appreciated when you are fully aware of the background and lore of the Heresy and the key events of the Imperium. With that knowledge in your head, the nuances and true scope of these stories, in the context of the "History" of 40K, will become self-evident. Without such a basis, they are merely very good stories.

Blood Games- a wonderful little story of the Custodes and their exercise where members try to infiltrate the Imperial palace to test security. BTW the quote "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" ("Who will watch the watchmen?") is from the Roman poet Juvenal from his Satires.

Wolf at the Door- A great story about the Space Wolves fighting against Drukhari. The objective is to save a human world, but the ending is truly excellent and shows the true price of Compliance.

Scions of the Storm- A haunting tale of the corruption of the Word Bearers. I found this a particularily fascinating story with Lorgar speaking of the Lecticio Divinatus and presaging the Book of Lorgar.

The Voice- A good story about the Sisters of Silence and their mission to find a missing Black Ship stalled in the Warp. A great look into a little known group.

Call of the Lion- A Dark Angels tale. It highlights the difference in opinion and style between the Terran Dark Angels, and those that hail from Claiban. The coming of the Lion to his Legion has some interesting changes, as shown by the different color scheme as well as hints of units, that in time, will become famous.

The Last Church- This one is my favorite. It is a brilliant story about faith, belief and religion. In the Last Church left on Terra, after Unification, an elderly priest (the last religious leader left) waits to conduct his final mass. He gets an unexpected visitor named Revelation. Their conversation is truly fascinating. While the least "exciting" of the stories, it is by far the deepest. I loved the arguements used by "Revelation" and his explanation of the Priest's beliefs is poignant. Amazing story.

After De'shea- A momentous story covering an event I'd heard of- the moment when Angron is reunited with his Legion. This explains the events that leads Kharn to meet Angron and explains why the War Hounds were renamed The World Eaters.

This collection of top-notch 30K stories should appeal to all fans of this setting. Though, I do remind you- don't read this without context. There are many hints and nuances that only make sense in the grand scheme- that is something gleaned from the books, for bear in mind, that is techinically the tenth book.

[Vedant Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am writing this review for one and ONLY one story. The Last Church by Graham McNeill. Trust me, if you think 40K is all about swords ripping through flesh and bone, you're wrong, well not entirely, it has that in gushing, flowing torrents of hot, warm and sticky blood, naught for naught do we Khronates chant BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD (all CAPS DAMN YOU, KHORNE DEMANDS CAPS!!) but it also has this, a story where no one dies, and not a sword is lifted. This is a dialogue, pure and simple between only two people, its more like a fairy tale vibe than anything, if fairy tales had warriors made of Iron and a world gone to hell (and that's just the early days of 40K) but if you do wish to read something worthwhile that is surprisingly philosophical (for a setting where Chainswords YEAH! are a thing) read the Last Church, and if you dont feel sad, just a little bit sad at the end, you Sir, are doing Grimdark all wrong!! GM, Dan Abnett and Aaron Dembski-Bowden are the KINGS of 40K story writing, oh and for my two cents, FUCK. MATT. WARD. and now, time to kill some SPESS MEHREENS!! BLOOOOOOOOOOD FOOOOOR THE BLOOOOOOOD GOOOOOOD!!

[Nikola Pavlovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ove price su tu da nam priblize Warhammer univerzum. Neke su dobre i zanimljive dok su neke izrazito dosadne. Ali i one losije price otkrivaju nam po neki bitan detalj i treba ih procitati uprkos tome sto po meni ne drze paznju. Cetiri zvezdice za one bolje price, a izdvojio bih:

"Graham McNeill - The Last Church"
"Mike Lee - Wolf at the Door"
"Dan Abnett - Blood Games"

[Chris Berko · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't normally enjoy short story collections. I think I can count on three fingers the number of authors whose collections I liked. Stephen King had a few that were good, Night Shift and Skeleton Crew, Clive Barker's early collections were okay, and Tim Curran, who could release his grocery lists and I would love them. But other than those guys... nada. Which is why going into this collection I had low hopes and expectations. Warhammer 40K is my current literary obsession and I'm reading the Horus Heresy series according to the Black Library recommended reading order and since around book seven or eight I was kinda dreading getting to this one and I even thought about skipping it altogether. I'm happy to say I'm glad I didn't. Each story served a purpose and each one was enjoyable for their own different reasons. Like all collections some stories were better than others but overall I gotta say the quality was high and consistent.

Blood Games by Dan Abnett: 5 stars
Wolf at the Door by Mike Lee: 5 stars
Scions of the Storm by Anthony Reynolds: 5 stars
The Voice by James Swallow: 5 stars and my personal favorite, there are scenes in this one that are
downright chilling and the imagery is straight up horror movie
excellence.
Call of the Lion by Gav Thorpe: 5 heartbreaking stars
The Last Church by Graham McNeill: 5 stars
After Desh'ea by Matthew Farrer: 4 stars

Each story brought out a different emotion in me. There was disgust at betrayal and mindless slaughter, there was elation and excitement because of the explanations and action, there was fear and anxiety because of the claustrophobic intensity, and also times of complete satisfaction because while these stories may be short a TON of information was relayed through them. I am so grateful this series was recommended to me because I have really never read anything else like it. Thanks again, Gianfranco!

[Veronica Anrathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally found time to finish a couple of the short stories from this anthology that I skipped back in the day. Satisfied with most of them, here are a few thoughts.
1. Dan Abnett - Blood Games - quite entertaining. This short gives us some insight on how Custodians operate and train. I personally always love to get to know them better, so i appreciated the data given, even though the story itself could've been deeper.

2. Mike Lee - Wolf at the Door - one of the stronger stories here. Sadly, Space Wolves could've been replace with any other legion, the plot did not require their specific presence and did not show much of their unique traits. But overall, an interesting view on the boundaries that Adeptus Astartes were willing to break during the Crusade era and the fine line that can never be crossed. Loved the ending.

3. Anthony Reynolds - Scions of the Storm - somehow i hardly remember much, even though i just read it recently, plus it is about one of my personal favorites - Word Bearers. It's just all blurry.

4. James Swallow - The Voice - like Custodes, Sisters of Silence have become a topic of great interest for me after reading ADB's Master of Mankind. They just fascinate me, so i appreciate any piece of information. A good one.

5. Gav Thorpe - Call of the Lion - along with Scions of the Storm, one of the weaker stories here. I feel like I still remember it only because I just finished it a few hours ago. I did not find the plot to be intriguing whatsoever, there was some dimension to the main characters, but not much. A miss for me.

6. Graham McNeil - The Last Church - this one I loved. The last priest of the last church on Terra meeting his Revelation. Not much to add, definitely worth reading.

7. Matthew Farer - After Desh'ea - read it multiple times before and will definitely reread again. One of my absolute favorites, the Primarch Angron reunited with his sons, then War Hounds, now World Eaters. This story lets us peek into Red Angel's past, the way he thinks and speaks of it, the way he views his newfound sons and Kharn specifically. Also the way a glorious moment for the legion turned out to be not that glorious after all. Highly recommend.

[Taddow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great collection of Warhammer 40,000 short stories- some are better than others (The Voice was great, as well as the story about the Space Wolves fighting the Dark Eldar). Overall a good read.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a short story collection I like to rate the story and then give an overall rating to the book itself. 4.5 stars

Dan Abnett - Blood Games ***** (Great author and who doesn't love a story about the Adeptus Custodes).
Matt Farrer - After Desh’ea ***** (Blown away. I had read Betrayer a few months ago and the juxtaposition of the final scene of it to this one is amazing. I never really liked Kharn in the tabletop game, but he is a really awesome character in these novels).
Mike Lee - Wolf at the Door **** (Really good. Space Wolves and Dark Eldar, plus a a good story to boot!).
Graham McNeill - The Last Church *****(It was good and go with your instincts. There is some pretty good Revelation and a good human look at the world after Unity).
James Swallow - The Voice *****(Sisters of Silence)
Anthony Reynolds - Scions of the Storm ****(Not my favorite Word Bearers story but still good.
Gav Thorpe - Call of the Lion*** (Sad to say. I love the Dark Angels chapter but this one was hard to place in the timeline for me. I did like the powerlessness that the Space Marines seemed to have here).

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Preface: I usually shy away from anthologies. Not that anthologies are inherently “bad” or anything…but it seems to me that the stories either grab you and then drop you off at the next corner, anxiously wanting MORE…or really just fail to snag you in the first place. Anthologies tend to cater to a wider variety of subjects/ interests and I know my own tastes tend to be more focused.

In spite of this, Tales of Heresy is focused enough to be fun for anyone interested in delving more in to the extremely popular Horus Heresy series.

Since each of the stories is independent, not really tying to one another in any way, I’m going to break down each short story within independently as well.

Buckle up!

Blood Games by Dan Abnett
Here we get a good taste of what the Custodes are all about. Color me impressed! Yes, as expected…the Custodes are BAD ASS. Compare an Astartes to an Imperial Guardsman. No contest, the Astartes is far superior in every way. I think the same can be said of a comparison of a Custodes to your average Astartes. Bold bastards they are! I don’t want to give away too much here, but think of a warrior so confidant in their abilities, and so much apart from the rank and file that even Primarchs are simply “Dorn” or “Horus” instead of the reverent “Lord Primarch” or something of that nature. (Perhaps this is partly due to the hypno-training and gene-seed of Astartes as well as being the almost genetic offspring of their respective Primarchs that instills that sort of reverence in Space Marines. Hard to say as the “mere mortals” of the series also tend to be of the same reverent mindset. I digress…)

It’s nice to see politics and scheming on Holy Terra itself amid this whole saga. Imagine the massive brass of someone willing to play politics on Terra while the Emperor himself is present.

Overall…good story! I did get a little lost toward the end when things shifted a bit; I was left wondering “what the hell just happened?” and had to go back and re-read a bit in order to grasp the plot shift.
Rating: 3 of 5

Wolf at the Door by Mike Lee
“Buveye, Wolf Lord of the Space Wolves’ Thirteenth Great Company and Commander of the 954th Expeditionary Fleet, descended the ramp of the lead Stormbird with his senior lieutenants and the champions of his Wolf Guard in tow.” That alone should be enough to get your blood pumping. It’s really great to see these guys in action in this period. This is one of the stories I’d love to see much more of. Honestly, I’m not a fan of the Space Puppies at all (a big Thousand Sons fan myself) but Mike Lee really has them DOWN!
I can’t WAIT for Prospero Burns.

This is a brilliant little tale of unconventional warfare, Astartes-Style! I loved “seeing” the Space Wolves covered in mud and grime. Mike Lee gets the Space Marines down and dirty and fighting a hit and run battle and shows that even Astartes are breakable. It’s a very gritty tale that finishes strong and true to the “Grim Future” we all love and expect.
Rating: 4 of 5

Scions of the Storm by Anthony Reynolds
A Word Bearers tale that starts a little slow, but finishes strong. The slowness at the beginning is forgivable as the author is setting the tone for what was to come, and the events preceding the story (The Emperor pimp-slapping Lorgar for his continued religiosity) are HUGE.

We get to see the exact shift from absolutely fanatic loyalist to dire traitor in one short story and it’s beautiful to see. You really get the depth of emotion and a feeling of dread from the actions and reactions of the Primarch Lorgar and those around him (Note: the BL team has done a wonderful job in demonizing First Captain Erebus. You can’t help but hate that guy.) Overall it’s good, a little battle-heavy but still a fun read.
Rating: 3 of 5

The Voice by James Swallow
I was very pleased to see the return of the Sisters of Silence and Amendera Kendel. This is a sneaky and solid piece that really catches you unaware. In my opinion it’s one of the strongest pieces of the anthology.
Swallow captures the creepy Ghost Ship feel as well as illustrating the animosity between two powerful women as well as their zeal in dealing with “Heresy”. Actually at this period, the very term “Heresy” carries religious overtones that would almost seem out of place…but knowing a bit of the pre-history of the Sisters of Battle, Ecclesiarchy and Ordo Hereticus…you can somewhat see this coming (and it’s a beautiful/ terrible thing to behold). I won’t spoil it for you…just read it.
Rating: 4 of 5

Call of the Lion by Gav Thorpe
This tale does a fine job of illuminating the tragedy of the First Legion and most of the other Legio Astartes to a greater or lesser degree: The Legions were formed up on Terra and later reunited with their Primarchs, creating a divide between the Old School and the often favored New Breed of Astartes. This is an underlying theme that bridges almost all the Horus Heresy Space Marine novels and it is played out rather clearly here. I think part of the reason the contracts between Old and New Astartes is so stark in the First Legion: Dark Angels is due to a bit of paranoia within their Primarch Lion El’Jonson.

Of course there is more than a bit of arrogance and hubris on the part of the Calibanite Captain Belath and a bit of almost mamby-pamby softness to the Terran Captain Astelan which wouldn’t feel as such if the story were longer and detailed more of the hard-earned temperance of the latter.

It’s easy to see where all this is leading (and while Descent of Angels is my least favorite of the series so far, I still enjoyed it, and am now looking forward to Fallen Angels.)
Rating: 3 of 5

The Last Church by Graham McNeill
You can’t help but feel for Uriah Olathaire in this short story. The entire thing is like watching a train wreck. To a certain degree you know what’s coming, but you are still affixed to the scene, unable to break away, drawn in to the emotional web of the author.

I cannot express the power of this short tale. I will tell you that not one bolter round is expended. Still the message is gripping (as a matter of fact I just got stuck re-reading it yet again as I was writing this.)
Rating: 5 of 5

After Desh’ea by Matthew Farrer
Kharn and the War Hounds (World Eaters) meet Angron, their Primarch. Honestly, it seemed like a tale of HULK SMASH versus Kharn “You are my Primarch, I won’t fight you”. Fans of the World Eaters will likely love it. I couldn’t get the image of a bat-shit crazy Incredible Hulk/ Angron out of my head. It fits: I can’t deny that.
Rating: 2 of 5

Overall, I enjoyed the anthology. It was a good smattering of tales from all over the Warhammer 40,000 universe, set in the period of epic civil strife known forever as the Horus Heresy.
Overall Rating: 3 of 5

[Daniel McGill · Rating 4 out of 5]

While at first glance it seems GW isn't advancing the main plot at an acceptable pace when you consider the shear scale of the story they really aren't doing too bad of a job, and so far all of the side trips have been at least entertaining. Decent of Angels seemed out of place before the publication of Fallen Angels despite the importance of the Dark Angels story in the time of the Heresy. Since Fallen Angels however I think the books' importance to, and place in the over all picture is more obvious.

Parts of Tales of Heresy are similarly important pieces of the puzzle that would be hard to fit in elsewhere but needed to be gotten out before the series got too much further along. The rest are interesting side notes lose ends or bits or characterization that also would be hard to fit elsewhere, serve to flesh out the size of the collection and which GW are probably afraid wouldn't generate as much interest (or revenue) if published at a time other then when everyone is waiting for the next book in this series.



I'll review each of the stories individually.



"Blood Games", is a great action adventure piece which shouldn't surprise anyone since it was written by Dan Abnett, but it also gives us our first look at the Adeptus Custodes and the effect of the war on Terra, and the effect of Terra on the War. It also shows some early signs of how the hugely bloated government machinery necessary to run such a large empire and the atmosphere of mistrust and jealously guarded but overlapping areas of responsibility lead to stepping on toes and eventually to the bitter rivalries and even out-right war between powerful factions within the empire which are possibly it's greatest weakness in the 41st millennium.



"Wolf at the Door" by Mike Lee Does a lot to show us the attitude and character of the crusade era empire in general and the crusade era Astartes in particular. How far they're willing to go, and where they are not willing to bend. The ending was very imperial. It's always good to see the Wolves of Fenris of course, and they have been absent from the series so far, but since there was nothing specifically Wolfish about this story I would have proffered it if they had taken the opportunity to use and flesh out one of the more obscure legions.



"Scions of the Storm" by Anthony Reynolds gives us our first first good look at Lorgar and the Word Bearers, and about time too since you could reasonably argue that this whole mess is their damn fault. The exact motivation for the attack is still not totally clear to me, though. Was it Lorgar destroying what he had intended as a gift for the Emperor who he has now turned his back on? Or was it truly done on the Emperor's orders as part of his quest to slip the chains of his godhood and eliminate religion entirely? If the latter as I believe, then it is indeed a defining moment for Lorgar who will now spend his worship, rejected by the Emperor, on others who will gladly accept it. (I'm sure there's a name for that particular Psychopathology)



"The Voice" by James Swallow is a tying up of lose ends, character wise with some familiar faces. The story shows how the prejudice and inflexibility of many of the Empire's pseudo-religious (for the moment at least, later they'll be clearly religious) important defenders goes a long way towards destroying any hope of an end to the eternal war.



"Call of the Lion" by Gav Thorpe could have been done as a pro-log to Fallen Angels. It shows how paranoia and prejudice on either the part of Lion el'Johnson or the Calibanite Dark Angels starts to further drive in the wedges that will ultimatly split the legion. It also brings in the character of Chaper Master Astelan, first introduced in the novel "Angels of Darkness", which you should read if you haven't, it's one of the best 40K books ever written.



"The Last Church" by Graham McNeil is chronologically the earliest story yet. It takes place before the Great Crusade has even reconquered all of Terra. The main body of the story is the attempts of a god to convince a priest of the uselessness of religion. The philosophical implications are obviously many and interesting and I'll leave you to explore them on your own. Many people fail to see the connection to the heresy since it takes place so long before the rest of the books but this is actually one of the most important elements of the over all story. The destruction of religion on Terra is the first heavy blow in the Emperor's war on the gods, to deny them the physical realm by not only cutting off the power of worship from their followers but attempting to end religious thought altogether and prevent them from recruiting new worshipers. The entire heresy is a return stroke by the ruinous powers for the blow we see struck in this story.



"After Desh'ea" by Matthew Farer Gives some much needed depth to the otherwise two dimensional Angron, Karn and the World Eaters. Previously they had been nothing but foamy mouthed berserkers intent on hacking up everything in front of them. Now at least we have some idea, as to why. In Angron's case, a thirst for revenge he can never slake and which is ultimately focused on the Emperor making him an easy convert. The religious awe with which most Astartes view their primarchs is well illustrated here and shows how even this crazy bastard was able to drag most of his legion into madness along with him.

[Dylan Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blood Games by Dan Abnett:
Blood Games gives us some much needed insight into how the Custodian Guard operates on Terra during the Horus Heresy. The short starts with a Blood Game, where a CG test the defenses of the Imperial Palace, and later goes onto an investigation concerning a possible spy on Terra. Really riveting stuff.
4/5

Wolf at the Door by Mike Lee:
This is a story following the Space Wolves, pre-Prospero, and it is mighty fun. The Wolf Lord of the Thirteenth Great Company finds a small world in a just found solar system and heads there for an easy compliance. Well, nothing in 40K/the HH works out well, eh?
It sounds to me like Dark Eldar attack the world, and it is great fun reading about the Space Wolves fighting off the Dark Eldar. The end really came as a surprise to me as well, and reminded me that the world is indeed grim!
3/5

Scions of the Storm by Anthony Reynolds:
An amazing short story following the Word Bearers before the legion had fallen to Chaos. We get to see some truly awe inspiring scenes of battle(I love assault marines) and we get our first real glimpse at Lorgar. I have been looking forward to reading about him, and I must say, it didn't disappoint!
5/5

The Voice by James Swallow:
The Voice:
A great short showing us what the Sisters of Silence have been up to, and it was awesome getting to see them again!
I really didn't expect such violence and hatred from the Sisters. But it really added another layer to them that I can't wait to see more of.
I hope they have some more SoS in the future!
Maybe even a full novel!
Though not an audio drama ;p
4/5

Call of the Lion by Gav Thorpe:
A good Dark Angels short story. I like that they are really showing that the DA are getting some frayed edges and not getting along super well. The story itself was somewhat boring at times, but there were a few great scenes sprinkled throughout the story.
3/5

The Last Church by Graham McNeill
An amazing short story, told from the unique very point of a preacher set shortly before the Great Crusade.
The insight into the religious during the Unification Wars was awesome, as was seeing the big man himself. Definitely the highlight of the anthology, and another gem from Graham McNeill.
5/5

After Desh’ea by Matt Farrer:
Here we get to see Angron's fateful reunion with the War Hounds, and most notably, their captain of the 8th Company, Kharn. For the first time, we get to see the real innermost thoughts of Angron. We get to see how we speaks(or roars, to be accurate), how he acts, how he thinks, and everything glorious about the Lord of the Red Sands. As a World Eater(and War Hound) fan, this story was truly amazing. Finally getting actual prose to the meeting of Angron and his Legion is remarkable, and to have it done so well to boot is even more amazing. I cannot wait to see more of both Kharn and Angron in the things to come!
10/5

[Carol Zafiriadi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Now, we already know how useless anthologies are to the main HH storyline. But some are more entertaining than others.

The bad part is that countless such short stories are fillers, B-movie-like, mainstream and too pulpy. By the time you reach the half of this book, the hype would've gotten killer, mainly because 3/4 of it is just Legions threatening to whoop the asses of non-compliant worlds and, of, course, they end up bombarding the shit out of those non-compliant worlds.

BLOOD GAMES - Custodes playing Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible by attempting to infiltrate their own guards in the Imperial Palace.

WOLF AT THE DOOR - Space Wolves go *woof woof* and exterminate a planet that refused compliance after both parties fought side by side to repel xenos LMAO

SCIONS OF THE STORM - Word Bearers exterminate yet another planet, but this time it's the traitor Lorgar exterminating an Imperial-devotee world because Erebus is..well... Erebus

THE VOICE - The first amazing short story of this anthology. It shows how cool, yet double-sided Sisters of Silence can be.

CALL OF THE LION - Super dumb and useless short story. Another piece of evidence that no matter the author, every single Dark Angels story/novel is downright retarded and pointless.

THE LAST CHURCH - AMAZING short story taking on a religious and philosophical dialogue between the priest of the last church on Terra and Daddy E Himself.

AFTER DESH'EA - Daddy E does a shitty move and lets Angron's sisters and brother die on Nuceria. Angron of course manifests daddy issues and the entire story is just him screaming like a schizophrenic while moshing and playing kick-the-ragdoll with Kharn who, poor man, tries to convince Angron into accepting him and the War Hounds as his gene-sons. Mildly entertaining if you know the backstory.

-------------------------------------------------------
Overall, this anthology kind of sucks, save for two amazing stories, namely THE VOICE and THE LAST CHURCH. You can easily find and read them separately. If you do so, then don't bother with the rest of this book.

[Steven Poore · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend noted that maybe ten books into one of the longest running wargaming tie-in fiction series isn't the best place to just, y'know, dip in. Especially if your Warhammer lore knowledge is roughly equivalent to your knowledge of computer programming.

(The punchline to that joke is that my knowledge of the latter is pretty Basic. I'm here all week.)

I dunno, I've read the first quartet of the Horus Heresy, and I managed to not get too lost. I figured that a collection of shorter stories might help slide a relative noob back into the field.

Some of the tales here are, predictably, more lore-expansion than actual character-driven stories. They do rely on a basic knowledge of the first books of the Heresy to some degree, and on Warhammer lore in general to varying degrees. The best here assume that you know nothing and, indeed, need to know nothing more than what is told. Dan Abnett opens up with an Earth-set espionage hunt that sets a high bar. Graham McNeill dares to get didactic with religion and morality yet still deliver a great tale. Wolf At The Door by Mike Lee is an extended campaign highlighting the absolute darkness of the Crusade.

Surprisingly then, a mid-series collection you can actually dip into between other books.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best stories in my opinion were Wolf at the Door, Scions of the Storm, and the best of the collection, The Voice.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ve had this on my bookshelf for years and never read it, but as im now trying to build some semblance of understanding of the HH, i thought id blitz it. A pleasant surprise to be sure: the general standard of short stories was quite high. Abnett's of course is great, and Mcneil's 'the last church' is very clever, GW giving us an all-too-rare insight into terra in the age of the emperor ascendant. The other stand out for me was 'After Desh'ea', another canonically important story detailing Angron's 'introduction' to his own legion. McNeil and Farrer show that 40k stories dont all need to be action-focussed, with great character building and scene setting, and strong writing and dialogue.

The fly in the ointment for me in this collection is James Swallow's 'the voice'. The idea is great and the scope and imagination for the piece are definitely there, but it just dragged for me. The Sisters of Silence are a difficult group to get right at best, and i felt he missed the mark here. Flipping between using characters' first and last names was also endlessly confusing, and there were several moments where i was wondering if Swallow had gone a bit rogue canon-wise. I just felt it lacked the punch or hook of the other stories.
A strong collection overall, well worth reading both for enjoyment and for HH universe-building.

[Frank Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each of these short stories was great, I thought they were all a bit "slow burn" but they all led to some interesting reveal. We even get to meet the Emperor in one of these which is a first for the series.

[Lean Ramos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo mejor "La última Iglesia"

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Modern Warhammer short stories tend to be better than long-form. These were all pretty good

[Jason Ray Carney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an intriguing anthology of short stories set in the Horus Heresy world. Some of the tales take place before the events of the first three novels in the series, i.e. the main narrative of the Horus Heresy; others stories take place after these events. "Blood Games" takes place on Terra in the Emperor's Palace Region. "Wolf at the Door" features the Space Wolf Legion and their efforts to save a world from itself. "Scions of the Storm" features the Word Bearers Legion and the censuring of their fanatical Primarch, Lorgar. "The Voice" is about the Silent Sisters and their encounter with a creepy warp spawn. "Call of the Lion" is about the Dark Angels and some internal tensions in command during the Emperor's Crusade. "The Last Church" (my favorite story--very philosopbical), is about the spiritual dimensions of the Imperium of Man before the Heresy. "After Desh'ea" was an intriguing introduction to Angron, the Primarch of the World Eaters Legion. I prefer the novel length stories but this was a great change. It was a fun read and a good way to explore otherwise unexplored elements of the overarching Horus Heresy story.

[Mitchell Bird · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back to the Heresy after my Mistborn break. I finished Tales of Heresy by various authors. This is my review and thoughts over the work as a whole. Please comment your thoughts and whatnot that you have over the work.

•I’m doing this a little different from my other reviews. Since this is a collection of short stories I’m going to state a couple thoughts over each story and give them their own individual review and score. I will then talley up the scores and give the work an average based off of this.
•Blood Games by Dan Abnett
—I enjoyed this work, but I felt like it needed to be longer. The look inside the Custodes culture was cool, but I felt like Abnett tried to shove a little too much into the slot he was given to write. I really feel that it would have worked a little better as a novella instead of a flat out short story.
—The Custodes were really cool though. I haven’t seen much of them at this point so getting something where we focus on them was refreshing.
Final Score: 7/10
•Wolf at the Door by Mike Lee
—I had a lot of issues with this work. The core concept was neat, but the execution was lacking. I didn’t like the fact that somehow twelve Space Wolves somehow kicked the ass of an entire Dark Eldar raiding fleet, and only took fairly minimal casualties. This would have been a lot better if we saw almost all the Wolves die off to show just how serious this was.
— The end parts with the civilians being bombed after the Wolves’ victory. Why did the Wolves even bother in the first place? They had every chance to slowly bring them around to their side, but told them to fend for themselves and then when they grew a spine they punished them for it. I could keep going, but I have other stories to review.
Final Score: 3/10
•Scions of the Storm by Anthony Reynolds
—I actually really liked this short. Lorgar had fallen by this point, but this was us getting to see him turn the rest of his Legion. This was something new to see as we really only had seen Erebus in action and a Legion fully fallen with no abridging story. So, it was cool to see Lorgar slowly using his ways to get his sons on board for the Heresy.
Final Score: 9/10
•The Voice by Janes Swallow
-I also really enjoyed this story. We had seen the Sisters of Silence a little bit in Flight of the Eisenstein, but this in depth look was fascinating. The premise was chilling, the story gripping, the characters were entertaining to read, and overall it was a good time. If the horror stories they are coming out with are like this then we are in for a treat.
Final Score: 9/10
•Call of the Lion by Gav Thorpe
—In comparison to the previous two stories this was a sharp drop in quality. I disliked nearly everything about this short. The way the Dark Angels handled the situation, the plot, the characters, I personally didn’t much care for the story overall. I don’t have much to say over this one so I’m going to go ahead and score it.
Final Score: 2/10
•The Last Church by Graham McNeill
-I had listened to this story before, but getting to read it in print was amazing. It’s no surprise that McNeill is my favorite heresy era author. Once again, I can say he hits it out of the park. I love this story and it offers a fantastic look into the Emperor himself. Plus, I love that McNeill made an effort to really make a culture and history that didn’t revolve around events that happened in real life. He has 28,000 years to play with and he did.
•I do want to talk about the actual conversation the priest and the Emperor shared since I know that causes some debate. Looking at it philosophically the arguments they make are riddled with holes and errors. However, this is still a story so I understand why this still read like a story and not a philosophy text book. If they actually debated like philosophers and used philosophical theory no one would have read this short. That’s just my thoughts though.
—Emps drinking scotch and geeking out? Also a fantastic moment.
Final Score: 10/10
•After Desh’ea by Matthew Farrer
—This was a nice look into one of the events that shaped Angron and his role in the Heresy. I will say, I wasn’t as much of a fan of what appeared to be one giant hissy fit in killing his captains. It kinda fit the character, but it still feels like a waste.
—The ending was a little weird because it felt like Angron had some sort of admiration for his sons that we know he doesn’t. He calls them “little brothers” like he did to the gladiators he fought with, and honestly it felt kinda weird.
—I’m going to put this comment here because I don’t want to sound like I hated the story when I actually enjoyed it. The explanation of his culture and how guilt ridden he feels for leaving his people is heart wrenching. I thought it was a good look into his backstory and motivations overall.
—Now for the comment that will spark the war. This story confirmed a thought I had about Angron for a hot minute. Angron has a very in-depth and well written backstory, but he’s still a fairly flat character beyond that. He’s interesting to dissect through the lens of Desh’ha, but beyond that I’ve yet to see anything that gives him further depth beyond a reliance on, “my childhood sucks.” If you strip away that then his character has next to no redeeming or likable aspects to him. I hope to see them push the character forward as we move along the Heresy.
Final Score: 9/10

Overall Score for the Work: 7/10

Next I will be reading and reviewing Mike Lee’s Fallen Angels. I have mixed feelings heading in since I had such mixed feelings over Descent of Angels. I’m still hoping it will impress overall and I can find my next favorite Heresy book.

[Jake Samuels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewing an anthology of short stories is a little odd, but I'd say the best way to go about it is to consider each story individually and in terms of how it fits into the anthology. Essentially a microcosm of how I'm reviewing the entire series. Tales of heresy is pretty good. There are some stories that are really good (blood games, the last church and after Desh'ea are fantastic), though the others range from good to average.

There isn't really a clear theme with these stories, they don't tie into each other in a way I can determine. It feels more like these were just put together for the sake of convenience rather than any attempt at a continuous narrative, which is a shame as we'll see some great examples of that later in the series.

[Joshua Loiselle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed these short stories. Honestly refreshing from the longer books and nice to get insight into the past and lesser known factions or characters. I really enjoy the story with Angron, it’s easy to paint him as a mindless beast but to see his anger comes from the emotions of not being able to control and not be there for the death of his friends and family. Loved the cliff hangers too at the end of each short story!

[Max Falcon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The voice, The Last Church and After De'sha take a safe collection into a great one. A peek at the sisters of silence was really well done, seeing the immediate aftermath of Angrons "rescue" was fascinating and sad. The last church is such a nice glimpse at the unity era of Terra, the hypocrisy of the emperor on full display but with such conviction you really wanna believe it can work.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il y a quelque nouvelles très intéressantes comme "la dernière église" ou celle sur l'origine d'Angron et des World Eaters. D'autres sont plutôt moyennes. Dans l'ensemble c'est un recueil sympa et intéressant pour les fans et ceux qui lisent dans cet univers de temps à autre.

[Efraim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed bag, as for most short story collections, but I think the shorter format works really well for the 40K universe. I liked all the stories to various degrees even if unhappy endings start to become a bit predictable in this universe lol

[Scott Steves · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly wasn't sure i would like this due to the short story component, but i can say i was very surprised at how much I did. Adds context to people you read about as well as letting you hear about less portrayed characters. Definitely worth it.

[Seán · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great stories that give snapshots from across the galaxy as the beginning of the Heresy is felt by different factions.

[Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the short stories in this book are fantastic! One of my favorite books in the series so far!

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a pretty solid anthology. Call of the lion was a notable weak spot, but the others, namely after desh'ea, the last church, and blood games are real standouts. Wouldnt skip it.