What do you think?
Rate this book
The Horus Heresy #Novella
The Unburdened
A Horus Heresy novel
As the surface of Calth is consumed by fire, the caverns beneath the planet are host to vicious battles. Kurtha Sedd of the Word Bearers must set aside his doubts and embrace the darkness if they are to prevail.
READ IT BECAUSE
The Word Bearers side of the events from 'The Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth' sees Dark Apostle Kurtha Sedd seeking revenge on an old friend. But the star of the show is the insane Contemptor Dreadnought Sor Gharax, whose point of view sections will give you a whole new perspective on being trapped inside a walking tank for eternity.
THE STORY
Long considering themselves persecuted by the rest of the Imperium, the apostles of the XVIIth Legion have courted sedition, betrayal and even open heresy for decades. But for Kurtha Sedd of the Third Hand Chapter, the Word Bearers’ assault on Calth has proven… troubling. Drawn into the haunted shadows of the planet’s underworld, the Chaplain and his devout brethren must now put aside all other concerns and continue to wage war against the Ultramarines, no matter the ultimate cost.
As the surface of Calth is consumed by fire, the caverns beneath the planet are host to vicious battles. Kurtha Sedd of the Word Bearers must set aside his doubts and embrace the darkness if they are to prevail.
READ IT BECAUSE
The Word Bearers side of the events from 'The Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth' sees Dark Apostle Kurtha Sedd seeking revenge on an old friend. But the star of the show is the insane Contemptor Dreadnought Sor Gharax, whose point of view sections will give you a whole new perspective on being trapped inside a walking tank for eternity.
THE STORY
Long considering themselves persecuted by the rest of the Imperium, the apostles of the XVIIth Legion have courted sedition, betrayal and even open heresy for decades. But for Kurtha Sedd of the Third Hand Chapter, the Word Bearers’ assault on Calth has proven… troubling. Drawn into the haunted shadows of the planet’s underworld, the Chaplain and his devout brethren must now put aside all other concerns and continue to wage war against the Ultramarines, no matter the ultimate cost.
240 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2015
14 people are currently reading
477 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
August 10, 2016
Review also published here
Alright, people. You know the drill by now. This is a David Annandale story, so expect a large spiritual component.
Indeed, The Unburdened is all about Kurtha Sedd (first seen in Nick Kyme's audio drama Censure before being introduced as the antagonist in the Betrayal at Calth box set) and his spiritual journey towards becoming "unburdened".
It is also the flipside of Rob Sanders's The Honoured , which I would urge you to read ahead of this short novel.
The reason for that is mostly the framing of the plot. The Honoured follows a more structured and anchored progress, and each chapter starts with a Know No Fear-style timestamp. This book does not, but follows along the events in the other book, though its first chapter goes all the way back to the humbling of Lorgar and the Word Bearers, delivering a very different perspective to the one found in The First Heretic .
You will see a lot of overlap with The Honoured, but Annandale's book does not concern itself so much with the exact events, or the action. Instead, the WB's morale and faith are the pillars, as well as Kurtha Sedd's internal struggle. He is desperately trying to find his place again, especially after hearing that his old friend Steloc Aethon is leading the Ultramarines arrayed against him.
He has to cut himself loose from the things and thoughts wearing him down: Loyalty to the Legion, which abandoned him and his men on a dying world. Friendship with Aethon, who took part in tearing down the monument city of Monarchia, all those decades ago. And also his belief in divine retribution and the Emperor watching him.
Taken as that, I very much enjoyed The Unburdened. Unlike its plot-armor dripping counterpiece, this installment was very atmospheric, dark and esoteric. It put me right into Kurtha Sedd's mind, and growing madness. As such, I much prefer it to Aethon and co from Sanders' work.
But you can't really read this without the context of The Honoured without getting lost in the more action-packed sections from said book. The scope felt far more limited, more centered around the warband rather than the war as a whole. Where Aethon's company is aware of other traitor groups and generals in the underground network of Calth, Sedd and co are isolated, and it wears on them.
Overall, though, I would recommend this as a fine addition to the Calth saga in the Heresy. I'd say it is one of the best pieces in that story arc, and would heartily recommend picking up the Betrayal at Calth combo - though I would recommend waiting for a combined print copy, which is bound to happen sooner or later.
Alright, people. You know the drill by now. This is a David Annandale story, so expect a large spiritual component.
Indeed, The Unburdened is all about Kurtha Sedd (first seen in Nick Kyme's audio drama Censure before being introduced as the antagonist in the Betrayal at Calth box set) and his spiritual journey towards becoming "unburdened".
It is also the flipside of Rob Sanders's The Honoured , which I would urge you to read ahead of this short novel.
The reason for that is mostly the framing of the plot. The Honoured follows a more structured and anchored progress, and each chapter starts with a Know No Fear-style timestamp. This book does not, but follows along the events in the other book, though its first chapter goes all the way back to the humbling of Lorgar and the Word Bearers, delivering a very different perspective to the one found in The First Heretic .
You will see a lot of overlap with The Honoured, but Annandale's book does not concern itself so much with the exact events, or the action. Instead, the WB's morale and faith are the pillars, as well as Kurtha Sedd's internal struggle. He is desperately trying to find his place again, especially after hearing that his old friend Steloc Aethon is leading the Ultramarines arrayed against him.
He has to cut himself loose from the things and thoughts wearing him down: Loyalty to the Legion, which abandoned him and his men on a dying world. Friendship with Aethon, who took part in tearing down the monument city of Monarchia, all those decades ago. And also his belief in divine retribution and the Emperor watching him.
Taken as that, I very much enjoyed The Unburdened. Unlike its plot-armor dripping counterpiece, this installment was very atmospheric, dark and esoteric. It put me right into Kurtha Sedd's mind, and growing madness. As such, I much prefer it to Aethon and co from Sanders' work.
But you can't really read this without the context of The Honoured without getting lost in the more action-packed sections from said book. The scope felt far more limited, more centered around the warband rather than the war as a whole. Where Aethon's company is aware of other traitor groups and generals in the underground network of Calth, Sedd and co are isolated, and it wears on them.
Overall, though, I would recommend this as a fine addition to the Calth saga in the Heresy. I'd say it is one of the best pieces in that story arc, and would heartily recommend picking up the Betrayal at Calth combo - though I would recommend waiting for a combined print copy, which is bound to happen sooner or later.
April 26, 2016
Twin novel to Rob Sanders' "The Honoured", this counterpart shows the same story from the Word Bearers point of view, but while the previous book was almost non stop action "bolter porn" and armours description, here we have a better character development and a great starting flashback in Monarchia, where the immortal hate between Ultramarines and Word Bearers legions was born.
"The Unburdened" is a great tale of moral conflict and betray, a literal descent into darkness and David Annandale knows for good how to mix military science fiction with cosmic horror.
A very good addiction to the Calth war Horus Heresy storyline together with the previous book.
"The Unburdened" is a great tale of moral conflict and betray, a literal descent into darkness and David Annandale knows for good how to mix military science fiction with cosmic horror.
A very good addiction to the Calth war Horus Heresy storyline together with the previous book.
February 7, 2024
First time reading February 2024 as part of a Heresy Omnibus Project+ complete readthrough of the Horus Heresy series, as part of the Shadow Crusade II: The Underworld War Omnibus (https://www.heresyomnibus.com/omnibus...
My response to reading this, especially after really not getting on with The Honoured, has been the biggest shock of this readthrough and the second most surprising experience with the Horus Heresy series after L. J. Goulding managed to make me bawl my eyes out for almost a solid 25 minutes the first time Iistened to Malcador: First Lord of the Imperium. As a gal with a propensity for hyperbole it's difficult for me express that I am in no way overselling the way this book made me feel, especially in the powerful opening that left me mouth agape and as the book came to a close and felt a certainty that it as going to stick the landing.
The Unburdened is the sibling to The Honoured in the Betrayal at Calth duology released alongside the tabletop wargaming box set of the same name with models matching the descriptions and wargear of the central cast of the books. Where The Honoured followed the perspective of Captain Aethor and his Ultramarines seeking shelter, answers, and revenge for the devastation of Calth by the XVII Legion, The Unburdened centres on the Word Bearer Chaplain, Kurtha Sedd, from the razing of Monarchia by the XIII and the abuse his Legion faced at the *mind* of the Emperor of Mankind as they were shamed and forced to kneel in the dust of the ruins of the Perfect City before their God-Emperor and the Warriors of Ultramar responsible for the devastation, to taking the fight to the Ultramarines in the Underworld War in the arcologies feeling the fervour of Chaos and the fury of vengeance.
I don't want to belabour the point of comparing and contrasting these two books that have truly shown the joys of subjectivity in how people have responded to them and I have a review posted for The Honoured that I hope isn't too scathing, despite not having a good time with it, so I am just going to mention a few things up top and then purely focus on The Unburdened.
These two books couldn't be more night and day in terms of the issues I raised for my personal tastes with what The Honoured did and did not include. At its core The Honoured felt very much the box set tie in with a couple of impressive opening chapters, before becoming competent 'bolter porn' with a lack of depth and characterisation that lead me to believe the Betrayal at Calth books must have been a hastily put together pair of stories that were never seriously considered as being a part of the Horus Heresy series. However, contrasting the plastic soldiers of the Ultramarines, Kurtha Sedd's arc is beautifully enmeshed within the existing events and context of the Horus Heresy and Word Bearers, and the crozius and plasma pistol wielding Centurion has incredible depth and personality that make him feel alive. Out of nowhere this lost Son of Colchis (a planet none of the books, including with the same narrator, can decide on the pronunciation for. I had always heard and assumed 'Kolchis', but I'm starting to hear 'Kolkiss') appears, and save for Argal Tal, he's one of the most vividly realised and tangible Astartes I the series, let alone the Traitors or word Bearers. He joins the Lodge of the Sweet Precious Boys alongside Argal Tal and Khârn and the alumni, Lorgar, the Red Angel, and Night Haunter, fresh from the ritual hazing of being absolutely failed by your father and reforged in the crucible of the Primordial Annihilator.
The Shaming of the Legion at Monarchia utterly devastates Kurtha Sedd who is one of hundreds of thousands of dominoes that the Emperor set in motion that day. There is such a perfect through line and rhythmic cadence of the reverberations of that moment and those that followed soon after that echo throughout this story.
As somone with Complex Post Traumatic Sress Disorder with conversion symptoms so bad at time that I needed the use of wheelchair for a number of years, I can't express just how effectively Annandale writes about trauma.
"+Kneel.+
In the days that followed, Kurtha Sedd would know all the events of the Rebuke with perfect clarity. He would know every detail of the humiliation, and every syllable uttered. But he would know these things as if they had been reported to him. Their coherence was at a distance. His own experience of them was a raw, burning, slashing, bleeding maelstrom of injury and howling memory. In his lived experience, in the visceral, in the roar of his soul, there was no coherence.
Nor should there be. The Emperor forced the Word Bearers to their knees. What logic could exist after that?
The hours after the Rebuke were lost to him. They existed as fragments. There were impressions of ordered movement – his battle-brothers marching again, humiliation and lost purpose in their gait. There were the engine gales of one Thunderhawk after another taking off. No memory was complete. They were a blur of grey. Armour and ash and dust and faith all one, all vanishing."
There are so many wonderfully tragic scenes, reflections, and memories of Monarchia across the various novels, audio dramas, and short stories, but so little is considered about the Monarchians themselves, beyond the brief scenes of the Ultramarines making their demands and brutally murdering those who do not comply. The way Annandale writes about Monarchia and Kurtha Sedd's experiences brings the multiple horrors that occurred that day to visceral life:
"In the distance, to his left, he heard the clamour and lamentation from one of the vast refugee camps that had sprung up outside the city’s former boundaries. Millions upon millions of civilians had been displaced. The people had nowhere to go. Monarchia and fifteen other great cities were gone. None of Khur’s remaining centres had the means to absorb influxes many times larger than their current populations. And the nearest city of any size was hundreds of kilometres from Monarchia."
The souls destroying enormity of the event and its meaning are rendered beautifully:
‘Is this reason?’ Kurtha Sedd rasped, and for the first time in his life, he questioned the Emperor. ‘Is this truth? Is this justice? We brought this population into compliance for you. We taught them to worship you. They were guilty of nothing except absolute fidelity to your name. And so they must be punished in order to make an example of us. Are their lives meaningless, then? Their catastrophe unimportant except as a means to an end? You needed a Legion to kneel in dust, but first you needed the dust.’"
(I'm really going all on this one because I love it, so I'm taking a break and will come back to this later)
***
Initial Reaction:
After the first book of this duology I was not expecting this to pop out of the Warp, put a Vengeance Cannon against my head and absolutely blow my mind!
I truly cannot fathom why so many ratings and reviews for this are so tepid.
I've listened to around 40 hours of audiobooks and audio dramas covering Monarchia through the Battle of Calth and the Underworld War to Gage's Wild Ride and Kor Phaeron finding new digs, and this is absolutely up there with Know No Fear, Calth That Was, and The Underworld War, as well as having some of the greatest reflections and reactions to the razing of the Perfect City and the shaming of the XVII, a Son of Lorgar with enough depth, character, and emotion to rival Argal Tal, and just some of the richest and visceral touches and details around the rituals of Chaos and all things heretical.
I am flabbergasted that this literally did everything I said the last book lacked and eschewed everything I took issue with. I no way does this feeling like a rushed, unplanned tie-in to a box set.
I absolutely intend to do more of a deep dive review because I have a lot to say and I truly think this book deserves the praise and recognition I think it deserves because I am positively giddy with how good this was and how happy it made me!
My response to reading this, especially after really not getting on with The Honoured, has been the biggest shock of this readthrough and the second most surprising experience with the Horus Heresy series after L. J. Goulding managed to make me bawl my eyes out for almost a solid 25 minutes the first time Iistened to Malcador: First Lord of the Imperium. As a gal with a propensity for hyperbole it's difficult for me express that I am in no way overselling the way this book made me feel, especially in the powerful opening that left me mouth agape and as the book came to a close and felt a certainty that it as going to stick the landing.
The Unburdened is the sibling to The Honoured in the Betrayal at Calth duology released alongside the tabletop wargaming box set of the same name with models matching the descriptions and wargear of the central cast of the books. Where The Honoured followed the perspective of Captain Aethor and his Ultramarines seeking shelter, answers, and revenge for the devastation of Calth by the XVII Legion, The Unburdened centres on the Word Bearer Chaplain, Kurtha Sedd, from the razing of Monarchia by the XIII and the abuse his Legion faced at the *mind* of the Emperor of Mankind as they were shamed and forced to kneel in the dust of the ruins of the Perfect City before their God-Emperor and the Warriors of Ultramar responsible for the devastation, to taking the fight to the Ultramarines in the Underworld War in the arcologies feeling the fervour of Chaos and the fury of vengeance.
I don't want to belabour the point of comparing and contrasting these two books that have truly shown the joys of subjectivity in how people have responded to them and I have a review posted for The Honoured that I hope isn't too scathing, despite not having a good time with it, so I am just going to mention a few things up top and then purely focus on The Unburdened.
These two books couldn't be more night and day in terms of the issues I raised for my personal tastes with what The Honoured did and did not include. At its core The Honoured felt very much the box set tie in with a couple of impressive opening chapters, before becoming competent 'bolter porn' with a lack of depth and characterisation that lead me to believe the Betrayal at Calth books must have been a hastily put together pair of stories that were never seriously considered as being a part of the Horus Heresy series. However, contrasting the plastic soldiers of the Ultramarines, Kurtha Sedd's arc is beautifully enmeshed within the existing events and context of the Horus Heresy and Word Bearers, and the crozius and plasma pistol wielding Centurion has incredible depth and personality that make him feel alive. Out of nowhere this lost Son of Colchis (a planet none of the books, including with the same narrator, can decide on the pronunciation for. I had always heard and assumed 'Kolchis', but I'm starting to hear 'Kolkiss') appears, and save for Argal Tal, he's one of the most vividly realised and tangible Astartes I the series, let alone the Traitors or word Bearers. He joins the Lodge of the Sweet Precious Boys alongside Argal Tal and Khârn and the alumni, Lorgar, the Red Angel, and Night Haunter, fresh from the ritual hazing of being absolutely failed by your father and reforged in the crucible of the Primordial Annihilator.
The Shaming of the Legion at Monarchia utterly devastates Kurtha Sedd who is one of hundreds of thousands of dominoes that the Emperor set in motion that day. There is such a perfect through line and rhythmic cadence of the reverberations of that moment and those that followed soon after that echo throughout this story.
As somone with Complex Post Traumatic Sress Disorder with conversion symptoms so bad at time that I needed the use of wheelchair for a number of years, I can't express just how effectively Annandale writes about trauma.
"+Kneel.+
In the days that followed, Kurtha Sedd would know all the events of the Rebuke with perfect clarity. He would know every detail of the humiliation, and every syllable uttered. But he would know these things as if they had been reported to him. Their coherence was at a distance. His own experience of them was a raw, burning, slashing, bleeding maelstrom of injury and howling memory. In his lived experience, in the visceral, in the roar of his soul, there was no coherence.
Nor should there be. The Emperor forced the Word Bearers to their knees. What logic could exist after that?
The hours after the Rebuke were lost to him. They existed as fragments. There were impressions of ordered movement – his battle-brothers marching again, humiliation and lost purpose in their gait. There were the engine gales of one Thunderhawk after another taking off. No memory was complete. They were a blur of grey. Armour and ash and dust and faith all one, all vanishing."
There are so many wonderfully tragic scenes, reflections, and memories of Monarchia across the various novels, audio dramas, and short stories, but so little is considered about the Monarchians themselves, beyond the brief scenes of the Ultramarines making their demands and brutally murdering those who do not comply. The way Annandale writes about Monarchia and Kurtha Sedd's experiences brings the multiple horrors that occurred that day to visceral life:
"In the distance, to his left, he heard the clamour and lamentation from one of the vast refugee camps that had sprung up outside the city’s former boundaries. Millions upon millions of civilians had been displaced. The people had nowhere to go. Monarchia and fifteen other great cities were gone. None of Khur’s remaining centres had the means to absorb influxes many times larger than their current populations. And the nearest city of any size was hundreds of kilometres from Monarchia."
The souls destroying enormity of the event and its meaning are rendered beautifully:
‘Is this reason?’ Kurtha Sedd rasped, and for the first time in his life, he questioned the Emperor. ‘Is this truth? Is this justice? We brought this population into compliance for you. We taught them to worship you. They were guilty of nothing except absolute fidelity to your name. And so they must be punished in order to make an example of us. Are their lives meaningless, then? Their catastrophe unimportant except as a means to an end? You needed a Legion to kneel in dust, but first you needed the dust.’"
(I'm really going all on this one because I love it, so I'm taking a break and will come back to this later)
***
Initial Reaction:
After the first book of this duology I was not expecting this to pop out of the Warp, put a Vengeance Cannon against my head and absolutely blow my mind!
I truly cannot fathom why so many ratings and reviews for this are so tepid.
I've listened to around 40 hours of audiobooks and audio dramas covering Monarchia through the Battle of Calth and the Underworld War to Gage's Wild Ride and Kor Phaeron finding new digs, and this is absolutely up there with Know No Fear, Calth That Was, and The Underworld War, as well as having some of the greatest reflections and reactions to the razing of the Perfect City and the shaming of the XVII, a Son of Lorgar with enough depth, character, and emotion to rival Argal Tal, and just some of the richest and visceral touches and details around the rituals of Chaos and all things heretical.
I am flabbergasted that this literally did everything I said the last book lacked and eschewed everything I took issue with. I no way does this feeling like a rushed, unplanned tie-in to a box set.
I absolutely intend to do more of a deep dive review because I have a lot to say and I truly think this book deserves the praise and recognition I think it deserves because I am positively giddy with how good this was and how happy it made me!
February 28, 2017
Certainly better than the Honoured.
February 11, 2017
This is the second of the novellas involving these add on stories to Betrayal at Calth, wherein the Traitor Legions attack the homeworlds of the Ultramarines. As The Honored covered this subterranean war between the remnant forces of the Ultramarines and the insidious Word Bearers Chapter, from the side of the Ultramarines, This books covers the Word Bearers side.
This tells the running battle as written in the previous novella, but the Word Bearers side of this conflict shows the slide into becoming The Unburdened, as in devoted and claimed totally by the Ruinous Powers. The Chaplain leading the Word Bearers, Kurtha Sedd was a close friend with th captain leading the Ultramarines fighting in this theater.
The words, Unburdened come into play very often in this book and a symbol and explanation of the behavior and decline into true evil for the Word Bearers. As an insidious evil, a true power of Chaos manifests itself to the chapter when finding the lower depths of the tunnels and caves beneath the planet, so does the chapter itself become unburdened with order and falls into the grips of Chaos.
Kurtha Sedd leads the remnants of his warrior on an almost fanatical campaign and loses many of his warriors, though the advent of a strange cult in the depths adds blood and power to his remaining warriors that strips them of any honor or conscience. The revert to martyrs and maniacal fanatics who have only two views: kill Ultramarines and get off the planet. They succeed at both, though the cost is high. They remnants of Kurtha Sedd's Word Bearers touch the Warp and succeed in truly becoming Unburdened by anything.
This was a great book and complimented the other half of this story very well. If you are a Horus Heresy reader, you have to get these. Excellent book!
Danny
This tells the running battle as written in the previous novella, but the Word Bearers side of this conflict shows the slide into becoming The Unburdened, as in devoted and claimed totally by the Ruinous Powers. The Chaplain leading the Word Bearers, Kurtha Sedd was a close friend with th captain leading the Ultramarines fighting in this theater.
The words, Unburdened come into play very often in this book and a symbol and explanation of the behavior and decline into true evil for the Word Bearers. As an insidious evil, a true power of Chaos manifests itself to the chapter when finding the lower depths of the tunnels and caves beneath the planet, so does the chapter itself become unburdened with order and falls into the grips of Chaos.
Kurtha Sedd leads the remnants of his warrior on an almost fanatical campaign and loses many of his warriors, though the advent of a strange cult in the depths adds blood and power to his remaining warriors that strips them of any honor or conscience. The revert to martyrs and maniacal fanatics who have only two views: kill Ultramarines and get off the planet. They succeed at both, though the cost is high. They remnants of Kurtha Sedd's Word Bearers touch the Warp and succeed in truly becoming Unburdened by anything.
This was a great book and complimented the other half of this story very well. If you are a Horus Heresy reader, you have to get these. Excellent book!
Danny
February 13, 2019
Following the XVII Legion's censure at Monarchia, Kurtha Sedd was sad. He massacred an entire church full of loyal Imperial citizens, citizens he had sworn to protect. He wasn't sure why he did it, so he was sad. Lorgar, primarch of the XVII Legion, said Lorgar's daddy doesn't love them anymore, and that made Kurtha Sedd even sadder! And then there's the possibility that the XIII Legion might not all die on Calth, oh no. In fact, the Ultramarines may have turned the tables on the Word Bearers, and that made Kurtha Sedd saddest of all!
The Word Bearers worshiped the Emperor as a god. Even though they no longer worship Him, Sedd can't help it: he still believes that the Emperor is watching his every move. He is a bearer of Lorgar's word, not the Emperor's. That isn't going to change even though the legion abandoned him and his unit on Calth. Word under the street is that Sedd's old friend, Steloc Aethon, is leading the loyalist survivors. Everywhere he turns, Kurtha Sedd is surrounded by the ties that bind him to the past. He wants to break free, but he can't, because men are trash and he is nothing if not a manly man. Kurtha Sedd is right and everyone else is wrong. They have to be wrong.
I read this book before its twin, The Honoured by Rob Sanders, because I didn't want to end on a sour note. I wanted the XIII Legion to win and the XVII Legion to lose, and I was looking forward to the Ultramarines making the Word Bearers pay for their treachery. I realize now that I made a terrible mistake, and this will not end well.
The Word Bearers worshiped the Emperor as a god. Even though they no longer worship Him, Sedd can't help it: he still believes that the Emperor is watching his every move. He is a bearer of Lorgar's word, not the Emperor's. That isn't going to change even though the legion abandoned him and his unit on Calth. Word under the street is that Sedd's old friend, Steloc Aethon, is leading the loyalist survivors. Everywhere he turns, Kurtha Sedd is surrounded by the ties that bind him to the past. He wants to break free, but he can't, because men are trash and he is nothing if not a manly man. Kurtha Sedd is right and everyone else is wrong. They have to be wrong.
I read this book before its twin, The Honoured by Rob Sanders, because I didn't want to end on a sour note. I wanted the XIII Legion to win and the XVII Legion to lose, and I was looking forward to the Ultramarines making the Word Bearers pay for their treachery. I realize now that I made a terrible mistake, and this will not end well.
February 21, 2016
Oh man does David Annandale deliver again! The mirror story to Rob Sanders "The Honoured", this novel follows Kurtha Sedd, and his wonderfully terrifying Word Bearers. The story starts on Monarchia(?), with an alternate views on the humbling of the Word Bearers. The view from Kurtha Sedd was extremely interesting, and really started the whole feel of the book. While there was definitely action, the focus was very much so on Sedd and his walk into darkness and the glory of Chaos. It was extremely well done, Kurtha Sedd's inner battles between his old faith, his new faith, and his comrades/the legion was a real treat to read. Annandale really captures the cosmic horror in this one just as he did in "The Damnation of Pythos, only this time, we had the glory of reading from the traitors perspective. Really Damn good stuff, and it leads into Nick Kyme's "Censure".
It's a shame too, because Sedd is a Damn good character.
It's a shame too, because Sedd is a Damn good character.
December 30, 2015
The second in the set of Black Library books released to coincide with the new Betrayal at Calth game, The Unburdened is the companion piece to Rob Sanders’ The Honoured and sees David Annandale delving into the darkness once more to tell the Word Bearers’ side of the story. Set primarily on Calth at the very beginning of the Underworld War, it actually takes things back much further to begin with, to Monarchia and the humbling of the Word Bearers by The Emperor and his XIIIth Legion. We meet Kurtha Sedd at a turning point in his life, taking his first steps on a path that will lead him to Calth and a fateful confrontation with Captain Aethon of the Ultramarines, a man he once called friend and brother.
Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...
Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...
November 19, 2015
Starting slowly with the usual bolter porn, this book turned quickly to a pretty nice horror story, showing how a Word Bearer Chaplain continues his path into the arms of Chaos Undivided. Especially Chapters 13 and onwards are a very beautiful read if you are into chaos yarns.
February 10, 2016
The emperor is watching, whether he cares for what he sees no one can tell.
March 19, 2023
I desperately wanted to like this one but I think I came into it with the wrong expectations. I was hoping to get a sequel of sorts to the good but plot armour heavy 'the honoured' but instead I got a very introspective look at the antagonist with little to no continuation of the story. We get to learn more about his motivation and his character but it's possible to have too much introspection, especially if the character doesn't REALLY develop. I honestly could not tell what was going on in some chapter and this was really bad in the latter half of the book where it feels like having a fever dream; kudos if this was what the writer was aiming for, but it's really not satisfying to read.
I'm really disappointed by this one and would recommend that, if you liked its counterpart, be wary of reading 'the unburdened' as it really soured my experience with the twin novellas.
The only reason this gets 2 stars is because of the *excellent* opening
I'm really disappointed by this one and would recommend that, if you liked its counterpart, be wary of reading 'the unburdened' as it really soured my experience with the twin novellas.
The only reason this gets 2 stars is because of the *excellent* opening
August 9, 2025
"Trust. Loyalty. Brotherhood. The belief in these concepts and the need for their reality were chains, wrapped so tight around his chest and throat that he could not breathe. They trapped him. They pushed down on his soul, crushing instead of freeing.
This book serves as a companion to "The Honoured". The two books focus on the Underworld War for Calth. This book focuses on Kurtha Sedd of the Word Bearers dealing with trials of faith and morale amongst his brothers.
Humiliated and broken Kurtha Sedd was disillusioned following the Word Bearers admonishment upon Monarchia. Worse was the sight of his once friend Steloc Aethon. While Sedd was forced to kneel, the Ultramarines watched over them like jailors. Raw visceral hatred errupts from the Emperor's rebuke of his most faithful Legion. Something gross, rank, and vile grows from this moment.
The most zealous of the Word Bearers were sent to Calth, those whose hatred consumed them. Kurtha Sedd was among them. He alongside his brothers were forced down into the underground to survive after the solar storms irradiate the surface.
This is a spiritual journey through the underworld, of sacrifice and how the past shapes and chains us. It is esoteric and occult and tonally bitter and grim.
I thought Annandale created something very atmospheric here. His writing is dark and unsettling, reminding me of some great work he did with the Warhammer Horror Imprint.
Also fun little bit of lore, Kurtha Sedd was created to represent the Chaplain Model in the Betrayal at Calth box set, and Captain Aethon of the Ultramarines to represent the Cataphractii Terminator Captain.
This book serves as a companion to "The Honoured". The two books focus on the Underworld War for Calth. This book focuses on Kurtha Sedd of the Word Bearers dealing with trials of faith and morale amongst his brothers.
Humiliated and broken Kurtha Sedd was disillusioned following the Word Bearers admonishment upon Monarchia. Worse was the sight of his once friend Steloc Aethon. While Sedd was forced to kneel, the Ultramarines watched over them like jailors. Raw visceral hatred errupts from the Emperor's rebuke of his most faithful Legion. Something gross, rank, and vile grows from this moment.
The most zealous of the Word Bearers were sent to Calth, those whose hatred consumed them. Kurtha Sedd was among them. He alongside his brothers were forced down into the underground to survive after the solar storms irradiate the surface.
This is a spiritual journey through the underworld, of sacrifice and how the past shapes and chains us. It is esoteric and occult and tonally bitter and grim.
I thought Annandale created something very atmospheric here. His writing is dark and unsettling, reminding me of some great work he did with the Warhammer Horror Imprint.
Also fun little bit of lore, Kurtha Sedd was created to represent the Chaplain Model in the Betrayal at Calth box set, and Captain Aethon of the Ultramarines to represent the Cataphractii Terminator Captain.
January 18, 2018
Unpopular opinion here. I liked The Honoured more than The Unburdened. Even though Word Bearers is one of my favorite legions, unlike the Ultramarines, one of the most entertaining for sure, I struggled to enjoy this story from Kurtha Sedd's perspective. I feel like even though we've learned a little more of his background, he was unable to become relatable in the slightest. There was some reasoning behind his actions, but we haven't seen enough of it. This book was unable to humanize him. This is the main problem for me, when Steloc Aethon had so much soul, The Honoured was more about bolter porn than spiritual torment. On the other hand, here I read Sedd's thoughts, beliefs and struggles, but just could not feel them. Oh well.
October 18, 2025
Not super memorable, but adds some extra narrative to the events of Calth.
This follows a contingent of Word Bearers that remain on the surface of Calth following the events of Know No Fear. While the beginning of the story adds some depth, giving backstory to a Chaplain as he recalls the defamation of his Legion at Monarchia and his coping (terribly) with his lost faith, the remainder of the story just felt like a drawn out and gratuitous decent into Chaos. One could argue that that's the entire tragic point of the Word Bearers story, but reading through this one felt like somewhat of a slog without alot of depth to the core ensemble.
I'd say this one is good to give more depths to the fallout at Calth, but likely not a must-read for HH.
This follows a contingent of Word Bearers that remain on the surface of Calth following the events of Know No Fear. While the beginning of the story adds some depth, giving backstory to a Chaplain as he recalls the defamation of his Legion at Monarchia and his coping (terribly) with his lost faith, the remainder of the story just felt like a drawn out and gratuitous decent into Chaos. One could argue that that's the entire tragic point of the Word Bearers story, but reading through this one felt like somewhat of a slog without alot of depth to the core ensemble.
I'd say this one is good to give more depths to the fallout at Calth, but likely not a must-read for HH.
January 28, 2025
This book was unexpectedly great. I didn't expect to care so much about the aftermath of the battle of Calth. This story is about a chaplain Word Bearer who has religious doubts and convictions about following the chaos gods but mostly because he knows he's a bad person to deserves to die but he doesn't want to do that.
August 28, 2021
This was an up and down affair. The exploration of Sedd, a Word Bearers chaplain with faith issues, is very interesting but the story kind of floats about and then doesn't really end.
I haven't read the companion volume, The Honoured, yet so I may be missing something there.
I haven't read the companion volume, The Honoured, yet so I may be missing something there.
November 17, 2024
I feel this should have been read before The Honoured. I like Kurtha Sedd as a character. But some of the over lapping could have been better. Aethon was barely around wich was fine but still had little to do with the story. Still a fun romp. Just dissapointing reading after The Honoured
September 18, 2022
I absolutely love hearing the same events from.different perspectives eith explanations of motives and thoughts.
Really good hand in hand with The Honoured
Really good hand in hand with The Honoured
August 3, 2023
Quite fun.
May 23, 2024
Excellent, work well as a companion to The Honoured and it's focus on the thoughts of the Word Bearers makes for a fascinating novella.
May 4, 2016
Kraftmikil saga í Warhammer vísindasögu-fantasíuheiminum sem þróast hefur upp úr spilakerfi og er orðinn æði viðamikill. Áhugaverð spil þótt ég eigi sennilega aldrei eftir að spila nokkuð af þeim. Hvað um það. Þessi vísindasögu-fantasíuheimur hefur fengið að þróast sögulega og gerist í fjarlægri framtíð. Ég greip í þessa sögu sem gerist í bókaflokkinum "Horus heresy" þar sem helsti herforingi og arftaki einræðisherra jarðar gerir uppreisn og herflokkar jarðar snúast hver gegn öðrum.
Trúarbrögð og ofstæki eru mjög fyrirferðarmikil og í raun lykilatriðið í þessari sögu. Eftirminnileg sögupartur og leiklestur í stærri heild.
Trúarbrögð og ofstæki eru mjög fyrirferðarmikil og í raun lykilatriðið í þessari sögu. Eftirminnileg sögupartur og leiklestur í stærri heild.
October 2, 2016
At least better than Know No Fear, for sure. This follows one Word Bearer (Kurtha Sedd) from basically the beginning of The First Heretic through a bit beyond the end of KNF. Sadly, the first few chapters are the best of the bunch, and the character arc is PRETTY similar to the arc of the main character in TFH, but overall, still, decently enjoyable seeing a bit from the Word Bearers' side during the Calth incident.
Also, having a main character named "Kurtha Sedd" probably seems OK on paper, but the audio book version is very confusing because I kept thinking, 'wait, what did he say?' Just something to keep in mind if you're a writer out there.
Also, having a main character named "Kurtha Sedd" probably seems OK on paper, but the audio book version is very confusing because I kept thinking, 'wait, what did he say?' Just something to keep in mind if you're a writer out there.
January 5, 2016
Okay, maybe if you read this first before its sister volume, it might have been better. But as it is, its the exact same events as 'The Honoured' but told from a fractionally different point of view.
Does this constitute a valid standalone novel? I think not.
Does this constitute a valid standalone novel? I think not.
August 4, 2016
Good grief. Everything that ends up on Calth and becomes uninteresting. Story starts fine and the Word Bearers are genuinely interesting. But once you get to Calth, urk.
November 7, 2023
Far too preachy.
March 25, 2024
Had some cool parts but overall pretty pointless. Admittedly I'm probably burned out on the Shadow Crusade at this point. Excited to go check on the Space Wolves now.
Read
April 3, 2018Honestly, having read The Honoured first (this book being the other side of the battle), I hated it. The time lines and plots just did not sync up, parts were missed from one to the other.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews