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The Siege of Terra #10
The End and the Death: Volume III
Siege of Terra Book 8, Part 3
It all comes down to this final confrontation – the Emperor versus the Warmaster. The father versus the son. After 63 novels and a slew of short stories, omnibuses, audio dramas, and more – this is the End and the Death.
READ IT BECAUSE
The Horus Heresy series reaches its dramatic climax. After years of civil war, the Emperor and Horus clash aboard the Vengeful Spirit in an epic battle of blades, wits, and wills. See how the greatest conflict of the age plays out, and follow fan-favourite characters from across the saga as they desperately try to influence the outcome.
THE STORY
The Great Angel, Sanguinius, lies slain at his brother's hand. Terra burns as reality itself unravels, and the greatest bastion of civilisation teeters on the brink of annihilation.
Desperate defenders gather, banding against the rabid traitor hordes. The Hollow Mountain, host to the pilgrims of Euphrati Keeler, is one of the last redoubts held by the Dark Angels while the unclean host of Typhus lays siege. Malcador the Sigillite sits ablaze on the Golden Throne, trying to buy his master more time. But time is running out…
Guilliman races across the stars to reinforce the Throneworld. Will he return to ashes, where a Warmaster of Chaos has ascended to godhood, or will the Emperor have triumphed? And at what cost?
It all comes down to this final confrontation – the Emperor versus the Warmaster. The father versus the son. After 63 novels and a slew of short stories, omnibuses, audio dramas, and more – this is the End and the Death.
READ IT BECAUSE
The Horus Heresy series reaches its dramatic climax. After years of civil war, the Emperor and Horus clash aboard the Vengeful Spirit in an epic battle of blades, wits, and wills. See how the greatest conflict of the age plays out, and follow fan-favourite characters from across the saga as they desperately try to influence the outcome.
THE STORY
The Great Angel, Sanguinius, lies slain at his brother's hand. Terra burns as reality itself unravels, and the greatest bastion of civilisation teeters on the brink of annihilation.
Desperate defenders gather, banding against the rabid traitor hordes. The Hollow Mountain, host to the pilgrims of Euphrati Keeler, is one of the last redoubts held by the Dark Angels while the unclean host of Typhus lays siege. Malcador the Sigillite sits ablaze on the Golden Throne, trying to buy his master more time. But time is running out…
Guilliman races across the stars to reinforce the Throneworld. Will he return to ashes, where a Warmaster of Chaos has ascended to godhood, or will the Emperor have triumphed? And at what cost?
496 pages, Paperback
First published January 27, 2024
184 people are currently reading
1184 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 206 reviews
March 4, 2024
Boring, stupid and too long.
Way, way, waaaaay too long.
The Duel becomes a Dragon Ball proportions failure, it goes on and on and on and gets exponentially more boring as it drones on.
As always, the more descriptions of the Emperor are given, the less glorious and epic he becomes.
I was so incredibly bored after ten minutes.
Then it went on for several hours.
Also, I really can't express how I felt about Horus and the Emperor playing Magic the Gathering in the middle of the already too long duel.
I would have preferred something like Gandalf and Saruman, a duel of feeling, emotion and subtle magics, rather than hundreds of pages of stupid animé-style swordfighting.
Abnett tries a lot of old methods to get you engaged, like repeating the same sentence ad nauseam, but all his tricks are so worn out by now, I'm reminded that he never actually broke out of the pulp world.
Maybe I'm just jaded from 20 years of Dan Abnett screwing lore up for his own purposes and navel-gazing at his own works, narcissistically referring to himself and his characters every single chance he gets. Reminding us of all the characters he refuses to kill off.
Will Loken be dead this time? It had no impact on me, because I was already impacted *the first time* Loken was killed off.
It was an absolutely terrible attempt at reaching a full circle. And the repeat of "I was there" - oh fuck off, that line was brilliant - when the horse was alive and well and there were three Heresy books.
Now the horse is mostly beaten bone dust.
But Abnett thinks its high literature to repeat the same line - "see, its like a reference to myself!"
Also I MUST add: No one ever liked Samus. No one thought it was cool, no one wanted it in so many books, it scared no one and it's lines were beyond lame.
"Look out! Samus is here!"
C'mon man. I could do that better and English isn't even my first language.
All beautiful mirroring of Brute and Caesar is gone.
All relation to classic Greek tragedy is gone.
I definitely much prefer the original telling of this tale.
At least it's finally over.
Way, way, waaaaay too long.
The Duel becomes a Dragon Ball proportions failure, it goes on and on and on and gets exponentially more boring as it drones on.
As always, the more descriptions of the Emperor are given, the less glorious and epic he becomes.
I was so incredibly bored after ten minutes.
Then it went on for several hours.
Also, I really can't express how I felt about Horus and the Emperor playing Magic the Gathering in the middle of the already too long duel.
I would have preferred something like Gandalf and Saruman, a duel of feeling, emotion and subtle magics, rather than hundreds of pages of stupid animé-style swordfighting.
Abnett tries a lot of old methods to get you engaged, like repeating the same sentence ad nauseam, but all his tricks are so worn out by now, I'm reminded that he never actually broke out of the pulp world.
Maybe I'm just jaded from 20 years of Dan Abnett screwing lore up for his own purposes and navel-gazing at his own works, narcissistically referring to himself and his characters every single chance he gets. Reminding us of all the characters he refuses to kill off.
Will Loken be dead this time? It had no impact on me, because I was already impacted *the first time* Loken was killed off.
It was an absolutely terrible attempt at reaching a full circle. And the repeat of "I was there" - oh fuck off, that line was brilliant - when the horse was alive and well and there were three Heresy books.
Now the horse is mostly beaten bone dust.
But Abnett thinks its high literature to repeat the same line - "see, its like a reference to myself!"
Also I MUST add: No one ever liked Samus. No one thought it was cool, no one wanted it in so many books, it scared no one and it's lines were beyond lame.
"Look out! Samus is here!"
C'mon man. I could do that better and English isn't even my first language.
All beautiful mirroring of Brute and Caesar is gone.
All relation to classic Greek tragedy is gone.
I definitely much prefer the original telling of this tale.
At least it's finally over.
February 22, 2024
"How I became Autistic to save Mankind"
Well, this was probably as good as we could reasonably expect considering the circumstances. It was nearly an impossible task anyway, at least we are done now (I FUCKING HOPE). I had fun reading this, it flew by and was substantially less cursed with wierd decisions than the previous volumes, especially Volume 2.
The delicious weight and mad heft of a lot of the Watson-level hyperwriting deserves re-reading, I suspect the general construction will not.
SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT
The Emperors majestic Yu-Gi-Oh game against Horus was fun and fucking wierd. Abnett managed to take the volume to 11 so well done there. It was a stupendously long and ridiculous fight, as it should have been.
He resolves the 'multiple conflicting views of history' in the same way as Dembski-Bowden did in Echoes of Eternity; did a Custodian, a lone Marine, an Imperial Guardsman, stand over the Emperor to defend him from Horus? YES ALL FUCKING THREE ACTUALLY.
Likewise; will Cyrene or Katt become Moriana? YES BOTH ACTUALLY.
The massive tonal difference between Wraights view of the Imperial Faith and Abnetts wasn't even slightly resolved, but I didn't expect it to be. More deepened. Its a fundamental fault line in the Paracosm between Heroism and Tragedy so it can't really 'be' resolved. One way to attempt it might be through an actual 'Epistolary Novel' approach but this is meant to be the immediate draft of history apparently so no dice on that. (I do wonder what would have happened if they had let ADB, French, Wraight, McNeil and Abnett essentially put together an Epistolary novel of recovered in-person statements for the last book, probably a lot of pissed off fans but I would have liked it.
Likewise, Rogal Dorn, who was fit for a nervous breakdown before Abnett came back to writing him, is still basically fine after being tortured mentally for an infinite period of time. This is a bit of a disappointment as he was being set up well by other writers for essentially falling apart (as much as Dorn ever could) in the Scouring.
Abnett is as solicitous of his pets as usual. Grammaticus and Fo, two characters with little useful to do, both survive to the end. Grammaticus speaks his magic word. We never learn what that word actually *was*. (I guess there is still an Alpha Legion guy frozen in a car park under the palace somehow?)
The more I think about it the more I feel like degrading this down to three stars :‑P maybe I should just stop thinking about it and its like TENET; a vibes thing that's in disguise as a complex machine, but if you actually look at the machinery its not very good so just go with the vibes man.
Abnett had to write a chapter-length apologia/afterword explaining his writing choices, some of which he contextualises (the continual low-scale micro-narratives), some of which he contextualises but it doesn't really change the fact that they were maybe bad choices (Kyme outright telling him to just keep writing and not worry about length, the three books actually being 'one book', except you know one of those one books that you pay for three times across two years and read separately with months inbetween), and some he just doesn't mention at all; (the 'long companions' going all that way to hit Erebus with a box & die, the whole 'Dark King' intermission which honestly reads like Kevin Fiege teleported into the room & demanded Abnett started setting shit up for the 2050 Age of Sigmar style Post-Throne new-marketable-universe 40k). I guess John Grammaticus, Basilio Fo, and poor abused Samus will retuuuuurn... (-_-) zzz
I genuinely thought there was going to be a retard-off where Horus said "Ah ha, I was only pretending to be badly written this whole time to lure you into my trap!" and then the Emperor would go "AH HA! Well I was only pretending to be badly written so you would think that and then...."
But instead the Emperor made himself Autistic to save mankind. Thanks buddy.
Horus; "Look dad look, i CRUCIFIED SANGUINIUS" (凸ಠ益ಠ)凸
Emperor; "yes" （ ´_ゝ`）
A Host of Lesser Demonic Coping Spirits Summoned by my Overthinking;
- We must complete our CAUSAL LOOP oh wait actually never mind lets just put it off till later.
- Lokens death (deliberate downfeel ending or did Dabs just run out of ideas)
- Loken IS Samus! (why? this is dumb. Is this Abnetts attempt to somehow bring Loken into the 41st Millenium if he gets de-demonified? This is dumb)
- John Grammaticus LIVES (why?)
- No thanks for Graham McNeil in the extensive afterword (everyone else, including Henry Fucking Cavill, gets a thank you, IAN WATSON, the original damnescened groin hauberk of 40k fiction gets mentioned, cutting as McNeil, though less able, is much more of a successor to Watson than Abnett will ever be)
- Basilio Fo LIVES! (why tho? and how? and why?) they are taking the TERMINUS SANCTION to Titan! :-0 but Titan doesn't currently exist in realspace and won't be turning up for a while....
A chapter on my life closes with this book. No idea what that means.
The eMporERs dRERm Iz De8d! FINALLY FOR FOR REAL THIS TIME!
ITS OVER PEOPLE. I DON'T CARE WHERE YOU GO BUT YOU CAN'T STAY HERE!
(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞
☜(ﾟヮﾟ☜)
☜(⌒▽⌒)☞
PEACE!
Well, this was probably as good as we could reasonably expect considering the circumstances. It was nearly an impossible task anyway, at least we are done now (I FUCKING HOPE). I had fun reading this, it flew by and was substantially less cursed with wierd decisions than the previous volumes, especially Volume 2.
The delicious weight and mad heft of a lot of the Watson-level hyperwriting deserves re-reading, I suspect the general construction will not.
SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT
The Emperors majestic Yu-Gi-Oh game against Horus was fun and fucking wierd. Abnett managed to take the volume to 11 so well done there. It was a stupendously long and ridiculous fight, as it should have been.
He resolves the 'multiple conflicting views of history' in the same way as Dembski-Bowden did in Echoes of Eternity; did a Custodian, a lone Marine, an Imperial Guardsman, stand over the Emperor to defend him from Horus? YES ALL FUCKING THREE ACTUALLY.
Likewise; will Cyrene or Katt become Moriana? YES BOTH ACTUALLY.
The massive tonal difference between Wraights view of the Imperial Faith and Abnetts wasn't even slightly resolved, but I didn't expect it to be. More deepened. Its a fundamental fault line in the Paracosm between Heroism and Tragedy so it can't really 'be' resolved. One way to attempt it might be through an actual 'Epistolary Novel' approach but this is meant to be the immediate draft of history apparently so no dice on that. (I do wonder what would have happened if they had let ADB, French, Wraight, McNeil and Abnett essentially put together an Epistolary novel of recovered in-person statements for the last book, probably a lot of pissed off fans but I would have liked it.
Likewise, Rogal Dorn, who was fit for a nervous breakdown before Abnett came back to writing him, is still basically fine after being tortured mentally for an infinite period of time. This is a bit of a disappointment as he was being set up well by other writers for essentially falling apart (as much as Dorn ever could) in the Scouring.
Abnett is as solicitous of his pets as usual. Grammaticus and Fo, two characters with little useful to do, both survive to the end. Grammaticus speaks his magic word. We never learn what that word actually *was*. (I guess there is still an Alpha Legion guy frozen in a car park under the palace somehow?)
The more I think about it the more I feel like degrading this down to three stars :‑P maybe I should just stop thinking about it and its like TENET; a vibes thing that's in disguise as a complex machine, but if you actually look at the machinery its not very good so just go with the vibes man.
Abnett had to write a chapter-length apologia/afterword explaining his writing choices, some of which he contextualises (the continual low-scale micro-narratives), some of which he contextualises but it doesn't really change the fact that they were maybe bad choices (Kyme outright telling him to just keep writing and not worry about length, the three books actually being 'one book', except you know one of those one books that you pay for three times across two years and read separately with months inbetween), and some he just doesn't mention at all; (the 'long companions' going all that way to hit Erebus with a box & die, the whole 'Dark King' intermission which honestly reads like Kevin Fiege teleported into the room & demanded Abnett started setting shit up for the 2050 Age of Sigmar style Post-Throne new-marketable-universe 40k). I guess John Grammaticus, Basilio Fo, and poor abused Samus will retuuuuurn... (-_-) zzz
I genuinely thought there was going to be a retard-off where Horus said "Ah ha, I was only pretending to be badly written this whole time to lure you into my trap!" and then the Emperor would go "AH HA! Well I was only pretending to be badly written so you would think that and then...."
But instead the Emperor made himself Autistic to save mankind. Thanks buddy.
Horus; "Look dad look, i CRUCIFIED SANGUINIUS" (凸ಠ益ಠ)凸
Emperor; "yes" （ ´_ゝ`）
A Host of Lesser Demonic Coping Spirits Summoned by my Overthinking;
- We must complete our CAUSAL LOOP oh wait actually never mind lets just put it off till later.
- Lokens death (deliberate downfeel ending or did Dabs just run out of ideas)
- Loken IS Samus! (why? this is dumb. Is this Abnetts attempt to somehow bring Loken into the 41st Millenium if he gets de-demonified? This is dumb)
- John Grammaticus LIVES (why?)
- No thanks for Graham McNeil in the extensive afterword (everyone else, including Henry Fucking Cavill, gets a thank you, IAN WATSON, the original damnescened groin hauberk of 40k fiction gets mentioned, cutting as McNeil, though less able, is much more of a successor to Watson than Abnett will ever be)
- Basilio Fo LIVES! (why tho? and how? and why?) they are taking the TERMINUS SANCTION to Titan! :-0 but Titan doesn't currently exist in realspace and won't be turning up for a while....
A chapter on my life closes with this book. No idea what that means.
The eMporERs dRERm Iz De8d! FINALLY FOR FOR REAL THIS TIME!
ITS OVER PEOPLE. I DON'T CARE WHERE YOU GO BUT YOU CAN'T STAY HERE!
(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞
☜(ﾟヮﾟ☜)
☜(⌒▽⌒)☞
PEACE!
March 3, 2024
"They begin with grief.
They begin with warriors who have lost their reason and their way, who were once gods and are now men again, and who cannot begin to fathom the loss of the powers they commanded. Chaos has withdrawn its gifts, and the strength with which it blessed them. They lament. They grieve. They howl. They rage. They do not understand why their gods have abandoned them. They yearn for the certainty they have lost, and the cause that united them in their fury. It seemed so certain. It seemed so clear. Victory seemed so secure.
Wracked by that grief, they fight. Not for Horus. Not for the Old Four. Not for the future, or to bring down a hated foe.
They fight for themselves, merely to survive.
They are not alone in grief. At the foot of a golden throne, the last loyal sons of Terra kneel and weep.
But they do not say farewell, or offer eulogy.
For He still lives. He does not die. The Throne will sustain Him, and renew Him, and when His wounds are healed, He will rise again, and stand with them."
The Horus Heresy (2006 - 2024) is over.
Warhammer 40000 begins.
January 27, 2024
⁷"This end, then, is the end of dreams, this death the death of certainty."
It's hard to articulate what this series means to me. 18 years from start to finish, older than I was when book one came out. Thankyou for connecting dots, filling blanks and spawning decades more speculation. Thankyou for understanding that 40k (30k) isn't a setting to solve, to tidy up the loose ends and finish cleanly. Thankyou for letting me be there, there the day that the Emperor slew Horus.
It's hard to articulate what this series means to me. 18 years from start to finish, older than I was when book one came out. Thankyou for connecting dots, filling blanks and spawning decades more speculation. Thankyou for understanding that 40k (30k) isn't a setting to solve, to tidy up the loose ends and finish cleanly. Thankyou for letting me be there, there the day that the Emperor slew Horus.
February 13, 2024
The End and the Death is a hard one to review, and I've been mulling it over for a while now. I've already typed up multiple essay-length musings on the third part of the novel over at Bolter & Chainsword, and putting them together into a coherent whole would.... take a while.
That being said, I consider part three easily the strongest out of the trio. It's tighter, doesn't shift focus away from the events that really matter, that really excite, nearly as much as the previous two sections, and various scenes had surprisingly large emotional oomph.
However, it also cements the problems of the first two parts (and by extension Saturnine by being riddled with continuity problems; these start in the very first chapter/interlude of the book, get worse in the second, and the entirety of the climactic duel between Horus and the Emperor hinges on Abnett ignoring previously established plot points, character development and character arcs, particularly with regards to Horus in Wolfsbane/Titandeath/Slaves to Darkness.
In many places, Abnett made the characters fit the story he wanted to tell, discarding what aspects (a word he was particularly fond of this time) he didn't need or like, and at times dialing characters back to previous states (effectively to back when he last wrote them), without much if any regard to the intervening events that shaped them in other novels.
More glaringly, perhaps, is the way the book ends, or doesn't really end, its plotlines. Some of them simply serve as elaborate setup for the Abnettverse Inquisition climax Pandaemonium, to be picked up again at the author's convenience. Others get glossed over entirely - for instance, the retribution fleet never makes planetfall, the Khan never wakes up, Katsuhiro - one of the Siege-exclusive point of view characters of the first half of the series - gets to speak in one brief scene, completely replacable in all his mentions throughout the trio of books, never contributing anything of worth.
Meanwhile, we are being clobbered about the head with repetitions, both in terms of prose as in dialogue & catchphrases. Valdor especially got it rough, his speech often boiled down to a "damn you"-curse, where before he had been one of the most interesting characters around whenever he received the spotlight. His characterization directly contradicts other books he appeared in, as well - which is even more troubling as it looks like Dan isn't done with the character yet.
If I had to be uncharitable, I'd call many of the things that happen in volume three contrived, arbitrary and on the nose. References and winks at the audience are common - so much so that they get tiring, frustrating. If I told you not one but two characters from the same previously established group end up being supplanted by fakeouts before the book is done, you'd probably think the Alpha Legion is at their A game - but you'd be wrong. All that setup for them we had in volume two? Went nowhere, really. No, this is down to switcheroos.
Another switcheroo: Remember Ollie Piers, the conveniently named guardsman from Saturnine, who would lay the foundation for the myth of Ollanius the Pious in the final battle, by amping up a real event until it was myth-like, and that being the whole point of an entire major plotline in said Saturnine? Yeah, it's obsolete. Abnett pretty much made his own prior creation, which was already too on the nose, and made it redundant.
There's a lot of stuff like this throughout volume 3, and by extension the entirety of The End and the Death. Unearned character moments, moments that can only occur because the author-that-be can put the characters exactly where they need to be at any given moment, be that in the action or fridged in a desert for hundreds of pages.
Did I enjoy my time with the book? Yes, sort of, but only when I put aside the series' legacy of, what, around 64 prior works that made and shaped many of the characters used here. The climactic duel had impact, shock value and was far better handled than I would have expected going in. However, it also hinges on said contrivances, so when the initial "wow"-momentum faded, the aftertaste started feeling all the more bitter.
It's certainly a better book than the previous two parts, but even if I was to put them all together and examine them as a single work, the way the author asks the reader to, there'd be numerous discrepancies, uneven plotlines, loose ends and miscelaneous problems with the novel. For a book that tries to rival War and Peace in length, it's just too inconsistent and irreverent of other authors' character developments for me to be happy with.
That being said, I consider part three easily the strongest out of the trio. It's tighter, doesn't shift focus away from the events that really matter, that really excite, nearly as much as the previous two sections, and various scenes had surprisingly large emotional oomph.
However, it also cements the problems of the first two parts (and by extension Saturnine by being riddled with continuity problems; these start in the very first chapter/interlude of the book, get worse in the second, and the entirety of the climactic duel between Horus and the Emperor hinges on Abnett ignoring previously established plot points, character development and character arcs, particularly with regards to Horus in Wolfsbane/Titandeath/Slaves to Darkness.
In many places, Abnett made the characters fit the story he wanted to tell, discarding what aspects (a word he was particularly fond of this time) he didn't need or like, and at times dialing characters back to previous states (effectively to back when he last wrote them), without much if any regard to the intervening events that shaped them in other novels.
More glaringly, perhaps, is the way the book ends, or doesn't really end, its plotlines. Some of them simply serve as elaborate setup for the Abnettverse Inquisition climax Pandaemonium, to be picked up again at the author's convenience. Others get glossed over entirely - for instance, the retribution fleet never makes planetfall, the Khan never wakes up, Katsuhiro - one of the Siege-exclusive point of view characters of the first half of the series - gets to speak in one brief scene, completely replacable in all his mentions throughout the trio of books, never contributing anything of worth.
Meanwhile, we are being clobbered about the head with repetitions, both in terms of prose as in dialogue & catchphrases. Valdor especially got it rough, his speech often boiled down to a "damn you"-curse, where before he had been one of the most interesting characters around whenever he received the spotlight. His characterization directly contradicts other books he appeared in, as well - which is even more troubling as it looks like Dan isn't done with the character yet.
If I had to be uncharitable, I'd call many of the things that happen in volume three contrived, arbitrary and on the nose. References and winks at the audience are common - so much so that they get tiring, frustrating. If I told you not one but two characters from the same previously established group end up being supplanted by fakeouts before the book is done, you'd probably think the Alpha Legion is at their A game - but you'd be wrong. All that setup for them we had in volume two? Went nowhere, really. No, this is down to switcheroos.
Another switcheroo: Remember Ollie Piers, the conveniently named guardsman from Saturnine, who would lay the foundation for the myth of Ollanius the Pious in the final battle, by amping up a real event until it was myth-like, and that being the whole point of an entire major plotline in said Saturnine? Yeah, it's obsolete. Abnett pretty much made his own prior creation, which was already too on the nose, and made it redundant.
There's a lot of stuff like this throughout volume 3, and by extension the entirety of The End and the Death. Unearned character moments, moments that can only occur because the author-that-be can put the characters exactly where they need to be at any given moment, be that in the action or fridged in a desert for hundreds of pages.
Did I enjoy my time with the book? Yes, sort of, but only when I put aside the series' legacy of, what, around 64 prior works that made and shaped many of the characters used here. The climactic duel had impact, shock value and was far better handled than I would have expected going in. However, it also hinges on said contrivances, so when the initial "wow"-momentum faded, the aftertaste started feeling all the more bitter.
It's certainly a better book than the previous two parts, but even if I was to put them all together and examine them as a single work, the way the author asks the reader to, there'd be numerous discrepancies, uneven plotlines, loose ends and miscelaneous problems with the novel. For a book that tries to rival War and Peace in length, it's just too inconsistent and irreverent of other authors' character developments for me to be happy with.
January 30, 2024
You’re going to read this book regardless of what I write, and, if you’ve made it this far in the series you should. It’s not a very good book though. Not so much to any fault of the author, unless they were the ones solely in charge of turning one books content into three.
Where the previous two sort of handle this with interesting subplots and smaller characters, this one doesn’t, not really. Don’t get me wrong, the smaller characters and their stories are still there and still great, there is just a lot less of them. Instead we get a billion pages of a fight. Some of it is good, some of it isn’t and some you’ll need to do some Emperors Children drugs to understand.
I do think it feels a little more rushed than some of the others in the entire Siege of Terra series. There are some subplots that are interesting but never get much limelight, maybe they’ll get fleshed out in even more books? Anyway, I don’t think spending so many pages on a single fight is really a good book, even if it is supposed to be monumental. For me it made it less so.
I hope you disagree with me.
Where the previous two sort of handle this with interesting subplots and smaller characters, this one doesn’t, not really. Don’t get me wrong, the smaller characters and their stories are still there and still great, there is just a lot less of them. Instead we get a billion pages of a fight. Some of it is good, some of it isn’t and some you’ll need to do some Emperors Children drugs to understand.
I do think it feels a little more rushed than some of the others in the entire Siege of Terra series. There are some subplots that are interesting but never get much limelight, maybe they’ll get fleshed out in even more books? Anyway, I don’t think spending so many pages on a single fight is really a good book, even if it is supposed to be monumental. For me it made it less so.
I hope you disagree with me.
January 27, 2024
A strong 4 stars for this final volume of book 8. Lots of really great stuff in there, but lots to process too before I can be sure I really know what to think about it. And…this is the end of the Heresy. That alone means it’s going to take a while for everything to sink in.
February 7, 2024
Well, it is done. A 64 book, 18-year journey ends, with The End and the Death Volume III
It is very difficult to evaluate this book without reflecting on the Siege of Terra series, and the wider Horus Heresy series. I didn't fully grasp just how much in terms of plot, themes, characters and narrative had to be wrapped up in this final entry. Dan Abnett's concluding "trilogy" carried with it the weight of the entire saga. There is some neat symmetry to how it it ends, many of the characters and ideas established in Horus Rising make returns here.
All of the Siege of Terra novels come replete with interesting afterwords written by the respective authors. Abnett is very honest in this one, acknowledging how difficult the novel was to write. It really did open my eyes to how monumentally weighty this particular task was. While most novels follow the typical beginning/middle/end cadence, The End and the Death truly is one story. As such, the three volumes deserve to be read as one, rewarding the reader with a greater experience. Volume 3 serves as the "end" to this story, with a final showdown for the ages and a glorious epilogue. We all know how this story ends, but there is so much more to this book than that.
Abnett masterfully uses language to enhance the narrative. Much like the first two Volumes, different characters' passages are written differently, some in first, second or third perspective. No author in the Black Library group can balance multiple plotlines as skillfully or as distinctively as Abnett.
I have been reading these novels for my entire adult life; I was eighteen years old when Horus Rising was released. I can't quite believe the series is complete. This concluding entry was such a wonderful way to end it all. Despite the highest possible expectations, The End and the Death truly delivered.
Dan Abnett, you most definitely did "stick the landing".
It is very difficult to evaluate this book without reflecting on the Siege of Terra series, and the wider Horus Heresy series. I didn't fully grasp just how much in terms of plot, themes, characters and narrative had to be wrapped up in this final entry. Dan Abnett's concluding "trilogy" carried with it the weight of the entire saga. There is some neat symmetry to how it it ends, many of the characters and ideas established in Horus Rising make returns here.
All of the Siege of Terra novels come replete with interesting afterwords written by the respective authors. Abnett is very honest in this one, acknowledging how difficult the novel was to write. It really did open my eyes to how monumentally weighty this particular task was. While most novels follow the typical beginning/middle/end cadence, The End and the Death truly is one story. As such, the three volumes deserve to be read as one, rewarding the reader with a greater experience. Volume 3 serves as the "end" to this story, with a final showdown for the ages and a glorious epilogue. We all know how this story ends, but there is so much more to this book than that.
Abnett masterfully uses language to enhance the narrative. Much like the first two Volumes, different characters' passages are written differently, some in first, second or third perspective. No author in the Black Library group can balance multiple plotlines as skillfully or as distinctively as Abnett.
I have been reading these novels for my entire adult life; I was eighteen years old when Horus Rising was released. I can't quite believe the series is complete. This concluding entry was such a wonderful way to end it all. Despite the highest possible expectations, The End and the Death truly delivered.
Dan Abnett, you most definitely did "stick the landing".
January 27, 2024
A very satisfying conclusion to the longest running series in history. The work of all the authors and editors who have touched it over the years is really something breathtaking and to be marveled at. Well done, one and all, and thank you.
March 30, 2024
Men will literally read the entire Horus Heresy instead of going to therapy
January 29, 2024
I was there, the day Horus slew the Emperor.
This is a worthy final chapter of the Siege, itself an inevitable conclusion of the Horus Heresy. Grandmaster Abnett brings those numerous threads to a conclusion but not always clear-cut and literal. Some of it is groundwork for what we know from 40k including bits and pieces for the beloved "Abnettverse". What's important is that he added texture and depth to the events, placed them in a wider context of 30k and tied to seemingly disconnected details from previous books.
It's more rigorously edited than Volume II too.
This is a worthy final chapter of the Siege, itself an inevitable conclusion of the Horus Heresy. Grandmaster Abnett brings those numerous threads to a conclusion but not always clear-cut and literal. Some of it is groundwork for what we know from 40k including bits and pieces for the beloved "Abnettverse". What's important is that he added texture and depth to the events, placed them in a wider context of 30k and tied to seemingly disconnected details from previous books.
It's more rigorously edited than Volume II too.
October 10, 2024
I need to come back to this when I have some space, but my Oath of Moment to complete everything g and everything of the Horus Heresy this year, including all short stories, audio dramas, novels, The Primarchs, Characters, Siege of Terra, and Macragge's Honour, hell, I even read the ole Bill King and first mentions of the Horus Heresy in the old rulebooks, is complete.
I plan to do some retrospective and ranking stuff and revisit reviews that need finishing when I have the brain and inclination.
This novel is a perfect embodiment of this series; A bunch of it is pretty good, some parts are brilliant, occasionally you feel things (though I am deprived of my masochistic heartache and tears), but too much time is spent on logistics and punching.
I wish this was more like Prospero Burns or the Aaron Dembski-Bowden novels and I wanted to sob like Matthew Farrer's After Desh'ea never fails to make me absolutely blub multiple times, but this was C tier for the Horus Heresy, but Dan Abnett gets a A* from me for doing everything he could to land this tragically abandoned Hindenberg of a series.
As I said in my last update:
Look, Danny Boy had a Herculean, Sisyphean, Argal Talean task to complete a sprawling series that, through some combination of sales and Black Library decisions, got Old Yeller'd. He will forever have my respect for that, but this is a ways from Vol II, which is in turn a ways from Vol I, which is still a long way from Prospero Burns.
Multiple-part endings often suffer from the not enough/ too much time problem; pathos/ punching
I plan to do some retrospective and ranking stuff and revisit reviews that need finishing when I have the brain and inclination.
This novel is a perfect embodiment of this series; A bunch of it is pretty good, some parts are brilliant, occasionally you feel things (though I am deprived of my masochistic heartache and tears), but too much time is spent on logistics and punching.
I wish this was more like Prospero Burns or the Aaron Dembski-Bowden novels and I wanted to sob like Matthew Farrer's After Desh'ea never fails to make me absolutely blub multiple times, but this was C tier for the Horus Heresy, but Dan Abnett gets a A* from me for doing everything he could to land this tragically abandoned Hindenberg of a series.
As I said in my last update:
Look, Danny Boy had a Herculean, Sisyphean, Argal Talean task to complete a sprawling series that, through some combination of sales and Black Library decisions, got Old Yeller'd. He will forever have my respect for that, but this is a ways from Vol II, which is in turn a ways from Vol I, which is still a long way from Prospero Burns.
Multiple-part endings often suffer from the not enough/ too much time problem; pathos/ punching
February 13, 2024
This has to be the end! Please let this nightmare be over...
February 23, 2024
F**k Erebus!
January 27, 2025
A fantastic conclusion to a series I’ve been reading since I was 12 years old.
The characters conclusions all feel very solid and logical. Everything is tied up well to not leave any post-series sadness.
Dan Abnett delivers a fantastic conclusion to many characters that he first introduced in Horus Rising.
The characters conclusions all feel very solid and logical. Everything is tied up well to not leave any post-series sadness.
Dan Abnett delivers a fantastic conclusion to many characters that he first introduced in Horus Rising.
Read
March 5, 2024It's part good and part bad. I just really don't agree with the plan to drag it out in excruciating detail no matter how justified it seems. But it is executed well.
Don't recommend, but I guess those who will read it will read it anyway.
Don't recommend, but I guess those who will read it will read it anyway.
February 8, 2024
Kind of wild to FINALLY be finished this series. Out of every book in the series, really there were only two that I didn't like, and luckily this finale is NOT one of those.
A completely wild and epic showdown between the Emperor and Horus did NOT disappoint, with my only criticism being that Abnett may write a little too human of an Emperor. Then again we have been kind of spoiled with Bowden's interpretations of the gold plated ahole.
Was it worth reading over 60 books in this series? Yeah...I'd say it was.
A completely wild and epic showdown between the Emperor and Horus did NOT disappoint, with my only criticism being that Abnett may write a little too human of an Emperor. Then again we have been kind of spoiled with Bowden's interpretations of the gold plated ahole.
Was it worth reading over 60 books in this series? Yeah...I'd say it was.
January 28, 2024
Only in death does duty end.
All I can think at the end of this is two things.
1. How much I want more. (Yes, I know, lucky me, there is roughly 600+ more if I really want)
But I want more of this, I am left with a lot to be desired from certain perspectives and interactions. Rumours do lead to believe there will be a sequal series of the rebuild.
But while a vast majority of this book had me hanging on every word, and I was worried that a third or more of it would be like the lord of the rings ending after ending after ending, this left me feeling like it was unfinished.
But there is much more to tell, and I look forward to what they do.
And
2. And most importantly, and a little bit louder for all those at the back.... FUCK.... EREBUS.
It will take time to process more properly and maybe a reread of it all.
But it was great, just missing something.
All I can think at the end of this is two things.
1. How much I want more. (Yes, I know, lucky me, there is roughly 600+ more if I really want)
But I want more of this, I am left with a lot to be desired from certain perspectives and interactions. Rumours do lead to believe there will be a sequal series of the rebuild.
But while a vast majority of this book had me hanging on every word, and I was worried that a third or more of it would be like the lord of the rings ending after ending after ending, this left me feeling like it was unfinished.
But there is much more to tell, and I look forward to what they do.
And
2. And most importantly, and a little bit louder for all those at the back.... FUCK.... EREBUS.
It will take time to process more properly and maybe a reread of it all.
But it was great, just missing something.
February 16, 2024
It is 'an' ending. Too many unresolved plot points for my liking.
Abnett did wonders with his writing, however, it felt catered towards his darling characters.
After reading it twice, and having some time to reflect on it, I am not satisfied with this conclusion.
Abnett did wonders with his writing, however, it felt catered towards his darling characters.
After reading it twice, and having some time to reflect on it, I am not satisfied with this conclusion.
August 25, 2024
I could write for days on all the countless missteps made in the last three books to this series and how poorly a job Abnett has done ending this series even bearing in mind how difficult a task it was. But I won’t.
I’ll instead flag the sheer utter vacuousness of the 2 current top rated 5 star reviews of this book as evidence of how low a bar was set by those who almost mindlessly consume and praise this. These people had already decided ahead of time that this book was going to be a five star because they are fan boys/its abnett/it’s the end of the series etc. and it shows by their inability or unwillingness to even attempt to articulate what is good about this book….did you know there are people out there who think rise of skywalker is a 5 star movie….?
The second thing I will say is I can clearly remember the betrayal of Argal Tal, I remember the khan taunting mortarian, the epic battle between Angron and sanguinius, the genius of the writing in flipping the script in the kharn v sigismund battle, the taming of angron by perty, when perty shoves fulgrims head into his desk, the last discussion between valdor and russ, Dorns anger and then forgiveness of his son sigismund,…I could go on and on. So many great character moments, so many amazing battles and duels.
Books I have reread and will read again, things I think about when cycling or doing chores.
And when it comes to Horus killing Sanguinius, the final battle of Horus and the emperor…without exaggeration or hyperbole I remember virtually nothing. That’s what little an impact it had on me. I remember some of it being written in second person, I vaguely recall tarot cards being used in the battle? I genuinely can’t remember anything else, and that I think is the most damming thing I can say
Not only did these last two boos end poorly but so so sadly forgettably…20 years to tell a story and make it less memorable than how it was first told in a single paragraph in the 90s. Would be funny if not so tragic
I’ll instead flag the sheer utter vacuousness of the 2 current top rated 5 star reviews of this book as evidence of how low a bar was set by those who almost mindlessly consume and praise this. These people had already decided ahead of time that this book was going to be a five star because they are fan boys/its abnett/it’s the end of the series etc. and it shows by their inability or unwillingness to even attempt to articulate what is good about this book….did you know there are people out there who think rise of skywalker is a 5 star movie….?
The second thing I will say is I can clearly remember the betrayal of Argal Tal, I remember the khan taunting mortarian, the epic battle between Angron and sanguinius, the genius of the writing in flipping the script in the kharn v sigismund battle, the taming of angron by perty, when perty shoves fulgrims head into his desk, the last discussion between valdor and russ, Dorns anger and then forgiveness of his son sigismund,…I could go on and on. So many great character moments, so many amazing battles and duels.
Books I have reread and will read again, things I think about when cycling or doing chores.
And when it comes to Horus killing Sanguinius, the final battle of Horus and the emperor…without exaggeration or hyperbole I remember virtually nothing. That’s what little an impact it had on me. I remember some of it being written in second person, I vaguely recall tarot cards being used in the battle? I genuinely can’t remember anything else, and that I think is the most damming thing I can say
Not only did these last two boos end poorly but so so sadly forgettably…20 years to tell a story and make it less memorable than how it was first told in a single paragraph in the 90s. Would be funny if not so tragic
November 17, 2024
He stuck the ending.
It's really difficult to write this review of the final book in a series about toy soldiers pew pewing each other because it's been going on so damn long.
20 years. I was reading book one when I met my wife. I read one of these on honeymoon.
And now it's done.
The book itself does everything it needs to, paying homage to the series, and the wider lore of the setting. There are thousands of hidden references, none of which are lampshaded. And that "heroic epic" writing style really creates the gravitas a series so daft doesn't deserve but has somehow earned.
I'll read all three back-to-back at some point, see how it works as a whole, but for now...
The pinnacle of pulp sci-fi. No notes. Five stars.
It's really difficult to write this review of the final book in a series about toy soldiers pew pewing each other because it's been going on so damn long.
20 years. I was reading book one when I met my wife. I read one of these on honeymoon.
And now it's done.
The book itself does everything it needs to, paying homage to the series, and the wider lore of the setting. There are thousands of hidden references, none of which are lampshaded. And that "heroic epic" writing style really creates the gravitas a series so daft doesn't deserve but has somehow earned.
I'll read all three back-to-back at some point, see how it works as a whole, but for now...
The pinnacle of pulp sci-fi. No notes. Five stars.
March 1, 2024
The 2 last books of TEatD have 100 pages of content and 1100 pages of silly procrastination.
January 30, 2024
"I was there..."
The End and the Death is a smidge shorter then the last two volumes, but reads like an even shorter book as it races through the final moments of the Siege and the truly titanic clash between the Emperor and Horus. Being both the final book in the series, but also the volume that completes the first two volumes of The End and the Death, this book had a lot to do and was, I think, successful. Looking back at the first two volumes, there are so many subplots that felt less important at the time that were suddenly central to the overall story and the switches in point of view feel less jarring now that everything was funneling towards the end. I truly was engaged in every point of view this time around and feel like the ground laid before was justified here.
I've mentioned my history with the Heresy throughout my Siege reviews, so I figured I'd revisit that briefly. I was reading these when they were first releasing (Horus Rising came out a year after I graduated from high school...) before falling off. Then, nearly halfway through the Siege I started bouncing around and reading the highlights while (mostly) keeping up with the releases. For the people who have been there from the beginning and have read all 50+ titles, I can only imagine what it is like to be here at the end. It is momentous enough even as a casual reader of the Hersey and, even still, incredible to be witnessing such a foundational moment in 40K history.
I think Dan Abnett's work is truly impressive and, as I've mentioned before, I'm glad he's the one who had the chance to tackle the end. Does everything make sense? Perhaps not. Are there still mysteries to be resolved? Well, who knows if they'll ever be resolved. A little mystery is a must, after all. I'm just glad I can finally say that I was there...
Some spoilery thoughts below:
The End and the Death is a smidge shorter then the last two volumes, but reads like an even shorter book as it races through the final moments of the Siege and the truly titanic clash between the Emperor and Horus. Being both the final book in the series, but also the volume that completes the first two volumes of The End and the Death, this book had a lot to do and was, I think, successful. Looking back at the first two volumes, there are so many subplots that felt less important at the time that were suddenly central to the overall story and the switches in point of view feel less jarring now that everything was funneling towards the end. I truly was engaged in every point of view this time around and feel like the ground laid before was justified here.
I've mentioned my history with the Heresy throughout my Siege reviews, so I figured I'd revisit that briefly. I was reading these when they were first releasing (Horus Rising came out a year after I graduated from high school...) before falling off. Then, nearly halfway through the Siege I started bouncing around and reading the highlights while (mostly) keeping up with the releases. For the people who have been there from the beginning and have read all 50+ titles, I can only imagine what it is like to be here at the end. It is momentous enough even as a casual reader of the Hersey and, even still, incredible to be witnessing such a foundational moment in 40K history.
I think Dan Abnett's work is truly impressive and, as I've mentioned before, I'm glad he's the one who had the chance to tackle the end. Does everything make sense? Perhaps not. Are there still mysteries to be resolved? Well, who knows if they'll ever be resolved. A little mystery is a must, after all. I'm just glad I can finally say that I was there...
Some spoilery thoughts below:
June 12, 2024
Here we are: after Horus has sacrificied trillions of lives - not to mention trees and Black Library authors - in his quest to overthrow his 'father' (noble objective, questionable methods), he finally gets his big confrontation with the Emperor of Mankind.
This being Warhammer 40,000, the final confrontation is a one-on-one, personal combat, eschewing allies, space lasers, battleships and nuclear artillery in favour of proposterous melee weaponry; talons, magic swords and a really, really big mace.
Abnett and co have stripped away countless side characters in the previous volumes and those who remain are largely the correct ones, old faces from 20-year-old opening books bringing their stories full circle and mysterious presences whose previous page count could only possibly be justified by the idea that they'll do something important eventually. These second-order stories pay off well and thanks to carefully placed maguffins do play important roles, but the whole thing is just too long. We didn't need the Big Final Fight to take place across almost an entire novel, and we certainly didn't need to pause the combat for a metaphysical game of Magic The Gathering, thus drawing the whole thing out even further.
Fans will find plenty to stimulate further debate in all the old, unresolvable questions of chaos vs order, and whether it is better to protect people from death or tyranny, but in truth very few points are made here that haven't been made already. Exhaustively so. It was almost certainly impossible for The End and the Death to live up to decades of expectation, but aside from the beautifully crafted emergence of the Imperium's new arch-antagonist I'm afraid this one fell disappointingly flat.
This being Warhammer 40,000, the final confrontation is a one-on-one, personal combat, eschewing allies, space lasers, battleships and nuclear artillery in favour of proposterous melee weaponry; talons, magic swords and a really, really big mace.
Abnett and co have stripped away countless side characters in the previous volumes and those who remain are largely the correct ones, old faces from 20-year-old opening books bringing their stories full circle and mysterious presences whose previous page count could only possibly be justified by the idea that they'll do something important eventually. These second-order stories pay off well and thanks to carefully placed maguffins do play important roles, but the whole thing is just too long. We didn't need the Big Final Fight to take place across almost an entire novel, and we certainly didn't need to pause the combat for a metaphysical game of Magic The Gathering, thus drawing the whole thing out even further.
Fans will find plenty to stimulate further debate in all the old, unresolvable questions of chaos vs order, and whether it is better to protect people from death or tyranny, but in truth very few points are made here that haven't been made already. Exhaustively so. It was almost certainly impossible for The End and the Death to live up to decades of expectation, but aside from the beautifully crafted emergence of the Imperium's new arch-antagonist I'm afraid this one fell disappointingly flat.
February 10, 2024
It's...okay. But the culmination of 15 years and almost 70 books shouldn't be just "okay".
Oll, Gramaticus and their whole storyline had little reason to exist to begin with, and after their quest, seemingly being to tell Big E to chill out, appeared to thankfully have ended in Vol 2., they are back with a few chapter (one of which interrupts Horus and the Emperor coming face to face for the first time, off all times to cut to these 2) realizing they somehow forgog about part of what they had to do and have to go back...It's ridiculous,
and feels like filler on a book that's already 3 Vols. and 1800 pages long. Don't even get me started on how they went back on Ollanius Piers, a much more engaging and interesting backdrop for the old legend of the guardsman protecting the Emperor.
Horus is handled rather poorly, being described as "too terrible to behold", despite which characters keep confronting him and looking him in the eye. Only Gramatticus acts even remotely scared enough...just before sending him flying like a ragdoll. The big fight drags on and reaches anime levels of ridiculous, and Horus keeps getting fooled like a saturday morning cartoon villain. The old four reacting scared at the dagger, like they somehow failed to see it before, is absurd. Abnett seems to love finishing a section or even a chapter with a line suggesting Horus killed the Emperor (only for the fight to continue), but it loses all shock value after the first time.
Horus having feigned his amnesia/insanity throught the whole series is a miss for me, specially when we see the extent of his powers, no reason for him to act when he was nowhere near any loyal forces, and it ends up coming too much like they couldn't make up their minds wether Horus was himself or just a meat-puppet for Chaos until they had to give an answer, and had written themselves into a corner by then.
Finally, it seems to lack closure, we never see Guilliman and the remaining primarchs reaching Terra and their reactions to loss. An important part of the story missing, which makes the ending feel rushed despite how damn long tEatD is.
Despite my criticisms, it's not bad, some issues are just being carried over from previous books so there was little this one could do about it, and it was an ok read despite some tedious parts...but in the setting-defining final showdown between gods, having tedious parts at all is a letdown, and the book failing to properly explore the aftermath is a shame.
Oll, Gramaticus and their whole storyline had little reason to exist to begin with, and after their quest, seemingly being to tell Big E to chill out, appeared to thankfully have ended in Vol 2., they are back with a few chapter (one of which interrupts Horus and the Emperor coming face to face for the first time, off all times to cut to these 2) realizing they somehow forgog about part of what they had to do and have to go back...It's ridiculous,
and feels like filler on a book that's already 3 Vols. and 1800 pages long. Don't even get me started on how they went back on Ollanius Piers, a much more engaging and interesting backdrop for the old legend of the guardsman protecting the Emperor.
Horus is handled rather poorly, being described as "too terrible to behold", despite which characters keep confronting him and looking him in the eye. Only Gramatticus acts even remotely scared enough...just before sending him flying like a ragdoll. The big fight drags on and reaches anime levels of ridiculous, and Horus keeps getting fooled like a saturday morning cartoon villain. The old four reacting scared at the dagger, like they somehow failed to see it before, is absurd. Abnett seems to love finishing a section or even a chapter with a line suggesting Horus killed the Emperor (only for the fight to continue), but it loses all shock value after the first time.
Horus having feigned his amnesia/insanity throught the whole series is a miss for me, specially when we see the extent of his powers, no reason for him to act when he was nowhere near any loyal forces, and it ends up coming too much like they couldn't make up their minds wether Horus was himself or just a meat-puppet for Chaos until they had to give an answer, and had written themselves into a corner by then.
Finally, it seems to lack closure, we never see Guilliman and the remaining primarchs reaching Terra and their reactions to loss. An important part of the story missing, which makes the ending feel rushed despite how damn long tEatD is.
Despite my criticisms, it's not bad, some issues are just being carried over from previous books so there was little this one could do about it, and it was an ok read despite some tedious parts...but in the setting-defining final showdown between gods, having tedious parts at all is a letdown, and the book failing to properly explore the aftermath is a shame.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 29, 2024
The end and the death.
I am not sure what to say. This exceeded my expectations, and so much more.
Abnett continues to amaze me with his superlative writing style. Even though I thought EatD 2 was a drag, this was much more refreshing and extremely fitting to finish off on.
The Siege books have changed my outlook on writing and on wargames. Heresy will never be the same for me. Even an 8 year war can be so chock full of discovery.
Erebus will get what he deserves.
Rann, still alive after all this time? Insanity.
And BASILIO? What the hell is that guy up to now that he's been running around for the past 10k years?
Looking forward to the inevitable Scouring ...
I am not sure what to say. This exceeded my expectations, and so much more.
Abnett continues to amaze me with his superlative writing style. Even though I thought EatD 2 was a drag, this was much more refreshing and extremely fitting to finish off on.
The Siege books have changed my outlook on writing and on wargames. Heresy will never be the same for me. Even an 8 year war can be so chock full of discovery.
Erebus will get what he deserves.
Rann, still alive after all this time? Insanity.
And BASILIO? What the hell is that guy up to now that he's been running around for the past 10k years?
Looking forward to the inevitable Scouring ...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 9, 2024
This is kind of a review of the whole series, which is mostly good fun and entertaining. From a strong foundation, it does get lost in the minutiae sometimes, and there’s whole character arcs you could cut with very little impact to the story, and plenty of characters that are dropped or barely feature.
The ending is strong, and feeds into the next series which I’m actually looking forward to, as there’s a lot to fill in and develop.
Overall, probably closer to a 3.5 for the whole series, but rounding up seems fair. I could never give a higher score to a book series that features an ancient character who’s pretty much called “Old Person”.
The ending is strong, and feeds into the next series which I’m actually looking forward to, as there’s a lot to fill in and develop.
Overall, probably closer to a 3.5 for the whole series, but rounding up seems fair. I could never give a higher score to a book series that features an ancient character who’s pretty much called “Old Person”.
February 18, 2024
A near perfect ending to the series. I cannot honestly bring myself to even half spoil a single part of it for others by mentioning any particular segment, but I found myself constantly delighted by how it tied up character threads and the overarching plot as a whole. So often I find books such as these are so occupied with bringing an end to the narrative that they fail to hit the mark as a novel along the way, but this piece, as with it's earlier parts, found the time to dig deep into the nature of the conflict and draw from it a hundred small moments to make it a full sensory experience. I don;t know where we go from here, but wherever we go I know I'm following!
December 4, 2024
This is it - the end and the death of the Horus Heresy series, the end of an era that has lived on in the lives of many fans for almost two decades. It ends similarly to how it began; over 17 years after the remarkable Horus Rising, Dan Abnett gives fans a fitting send off, generally delivering on expectations and tying up loose ends.
Through all the highs and lows of the series, many fans will be rejoicing at the idea that the end has finally come. With this end comes a sort of beneficial void that will be filled with other reading endeavours.
Through all the highs and lows of the series, many fans will be rejoicing at the idea that the end has finally come. With this end comes a sort of beneficial void that will be filled with other reading endeavours.
July 2, 2024
18 years and 64 books later and it's finally over. It's been an uneven series of highs and lows, paced incredibly unevenly and clearly stretched out to continue selling miniatures...
...that being said the highs are still very high for fans of the material and it does justice to the most important event that defines the world.
...that being said the highs are still very high for fans of the material and it does justice to the most important event that defines the world.
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