Feat of Iron

The Horus Heresy #Novella

by Nick Kyme

At the height of the Great Crusade, Ferrus Manus leads his Iron Hands in battle alongside the Salamanders and Death Guard on an alien-held world. But when he is cut off from his brothers and sons and lost in the darkness, can Ferrus Manus reign in his aggression long enough to heed a warning that could change his dark destiny?Written by Nick Kyme. This story is also available in The Primarchs, book XX of the Horus Heresy series.

Read it because
Ferrus Manus' early exit from the Horus Heresy series robbed us of the chance to see him in action much... and this story remedies that in spades.

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction, Novella, Audiobook

102 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2012

About the author

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

Reviews

[RatGrrrl · Rating 5 out of 5]

April 2024 Re-Read using the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project Reading Order Omnibus XII The Truth of Iron (https://www.heresyomnibus.com/omnibus...) as part of my Oath of Moment to complete the Horus series and extras.

I have been waiting to say more about this because I was seriously tempted to read it again to bookend The Truth of Iron omnibus because I enjoy it so much and it's such a lynch pin for when I think about the Horus Heresy when I'm not reading it. For some reason, my memory amalgamated this with the opening trilogy and it was Loken experiencing this, but the imagery and allusions always stayed with me.

While the Promethan Sons are proving that even the nicest of the Imperium's best are still a bunch of genocidal fascists who hammer and burn first, ask questions later, the Iron X were getting their augemetic mitts on the Aeldari Exodites in the desert. Ferrus Mannus is plagued with omenous dreams and gets to experience his own personal nightmare 4D mythological extravaganza version of the Acuity, while his sons are confronted by the weakness of Iron.

Let's get this out of the way. For all its surrealism and meaning, is this incredibly explicit and heavy handed with its allusions, metaphors, and symbolism? Absolutely! But, subtly is hardly the realm of the backstory for Space Nazi Yahtzee! Also, I just think this is such good fun and, however blunt and obvious some of the references and moments are, it's written and handled really well.

I have hypoaphantasia, which means I don't really have any kind of visual imagery in my head. I can imagine things and recall them, but I describe it as being words and vibes that come together to convey the visuals. You know how in the Matrix they can eventually just look at the green code and see the Matrix? It's like that. I mention this because my hypoaphantasia hasn't always been as pronounced and the image of the underground cavern with the two separated eagles of the Aquila* is one that has stayed with me for many years.

*Just a shout out to all the Black Library authors and how none of them have any agreement on how words are pronounced, even with themselves. Aquila is a big one for this, as is Charnabal Sabre (https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Char...), which I swear my beloved Jonathan Keeble found like six different ways to pronounce it during one story or novella.

There's just such a ludicrously epic mythological tone to this story and that's one of my favourite things about this whole saga and time period. You get some in 40K still, but mythos and legends have become like Archaeotech and Storm Eagles. Not only that, the action with the dessert bug riding Exodites is pretty awesome and fun, while the Iron Hands augemetics making them try to kill themselves and each other is genuinely quite brutal and harrowing, and then Ferrus' Day Off is a something else!

I know this isn't necessarily contending got the best Horus Heresy novella, but it will always be one of my favourites and one I can always return to, which is funny as Promethan Son didn't do much for me when I reread it a few omnibussies back.

I just think it's neat!

***

This is so annoyingly good that I had to stay up later than intended and must sleep, but this is ridiculously epic mythology, overt and omenous allusions, and mix of mystery, action, and tragedy I absolutely want from my Horus Heresy!

I am flabbergasted this is rated so low and will be intrigued to check out some reviews and catch up with my own tomorrow.

Through using the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project (www.heresyomnibus.com) and my own choices, I have currently read 21.41 Horus Heresy novels, 13 novellas, 60 short stories/ audio dramas, as well as the Macragge's Honour graphic novel, 13 Primarchs novels, 4 Primarchs short stories/ audio dramas, and 2 Warhammer 40K further reading novels...this run. I can't say enough good about the way the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project suggestions. I'm loving it! Especially after originally reading to the releases and being so frustrated at having to wait so long for a narrative to continue.

[Matt Argueta · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one has some interesting moments and gave alternate perspective to the events on One-Five-Four Four, but honestly wasn't sucked into this one

Given other depictions of Ferrus Manus, I felt this one painted him too much as a blinded warmonger that blatantly refused to acknowledge the reality of what was unfolding around him. Maybe that was the intent, but either way, made him feel rather uninspiring and the narrative didn't serve much more than to show that he continued headstrong into his demise

The closing lines of this one set up for something more with the "...other who will listen, one who was lost.", but otherwise I feel that much of this could have been truncated and still gotten across the key points

[Arnis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primarks – būtne, kura ir ne tikai skaistāka, spēcīgāka, gudrāka un visādi citādi pārāka par parastu mirstīgo, bet arīdzan pār superkaravīriem astartes. Viņiem šie superkaravīri būtu jāiedvesmo uz varoņdarbiem, uz Diženā Krusta kara un cilvēces reiz kolonizēto planētu atkalapvienošanu ar cilvēci, bet ne visi Primarki, reiz izkaisīti pa Visumu, ir vienās domās, ne visi Primarki ir vienlīdz lojāli Imperatoram.

https://poseidons99.wordpress.com/202...

[Tyler H · Rating 2 out of 5]

If all of the battle scenes had been stripped out, and only the parts with Ferrus’s disappearance were included, this would make for a good short. Unfortunately this book will force you to sift through mostly boring, inconsequential filler in order to get a few pages of interesting insights.

[Alfonso Martinez · Rating 2 out of 5]

malo y aburrido. ¿Por qué me hago esto a mí mismo? Completar la Herejía de Horus es ya una obsesión y si tengo, ocasionalmente, que remar, como dicen los argentinos, en dulce de leche para encontrar, de nuevo ocasionalmente, joyas, que así sea.

[Eric Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s probably a better book than I rated but this legion and Primarch just aren’t my thing. Seemed like an interesting enough story though.

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story by the numbers. Lots of foreshadowing and a few mysterious nuggets. My problem with it, no real sense of urgency and it felt drawn out. It just didn't make me excited to read.

[Thomas Langley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent but not great. I would've liked a bit more from it.

[Ross Cudmore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately not the most compelling story. Ferrus Manus, Primarch of the Iron Hands is killed on the battlefield of Istvaan V in the book "Fulgrim" but we never really had time to come to care for him, the focus was more on the degradation of Fulgrim. This was a chance to make more of Ferrus than just a plotpoint and I don't think the story succeeded in that. Ferrus remains kind of boring. His main character trait is that he is unreasonably stubborn, and there isn't much to endear the reader to him. The action was fun but I didn't grow to care much for the Iron Hands.

[Dylan Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here we see the other side of the battle at 154-4, featured in Kyme's novella Promethean Sun, only we get to see it from the Iron Hands perspective. Getting to see the Iron Hands' culture and beliefs was interesting, as Ferrus died fairly early in the series(by the end, only 1/10th!) and getting to see who Ferrus was and how he shaped his Legion was interesting. I am extremely excited to see what Angel Exterminatus has to offer, as it has been brought up a few times now. Though the novella was interesting, it was a bit difficult for me to get into.

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the sections describing Ferrus Manus and the Eldar, but the battles were too protracted and a bit boring. The novella explores in a wonderful way the Iron Hands' philosophy. But I would have preferred a bit less battle scenes and more focus on the relationship between the Medusa's sons and ordinary humanity.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was pretty good

As the headline declares, that was a pretty good look into the old iron bois, do get to see enough of them.