Лев Эль’Джонсон. Повелитель первого

The Horus Heresy: Primarchs #13

by David Guymer

Каждый примарх — уникальное создание, рожденное из генетического материала Императора и воплощающее разные аспекты Его личности. Все они обладают безграничными возможностями, но лишь один имеет право называться Первым. Лев Эль’Джонсон олицетворяет все лучшее, ради чего задумывались примархи, а его легион славится выдержкой, честью и непревзойденным воинским мастерством. Они — верное орудие Владыки Людей, Его непоколебимая карающая длань. Они — Темные Ангелы. В то время как Император собирает своих самых могучих отпрысков для нападения на Улланор-Прайм, повелитель Первого ведет свой легион к дальним рубежам известной Галактики, чтобы усмирить один-единственный мятежный мир. Что это — потворство своей печально знаменитой гордости? Или проклятое кладбище погибших империй, нареченное Вурдалачьими звездами, таит нечто такое, о чем Лев не готов поведать даже собственным сынам?

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k, Fiction, Audiobook, Military Fiction, Fantasy, Space

208 pages, Hardcover

First published May 26, 2020

About the author

David Guymer is a freelance author, PhD in molecular microbiology (which still comes in more handy than you might think), and tabletop warlord based in the Yorkshire East Riding. He has written for Black Library, Marvel, Aconyte Books, Asmodee, Mantic Games, Cubicle 7, Creative Assembly, and Mongoose Publishing.

Reviews

[Bastiaan Vergoossen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished Lion El'Jonson, lord of the first. Liked the book. The Lion is one of my favorite primarchs. One of the most interesting. You did a nice job on him. Some thoughts. Mild spoilers ahead. (My review for the author, David Guymer).

Again a primarchs novel by you I liked. I liked the Ferrus one, I like this one. I think you have a nice take on the Lion. On one hand, you expand on themes made about the Lion's personality by previous authors. Like the Lion's ruthlessness if necessary, as written by Gav in Angels of Caliban. The way he conquered the north on Macragge. Also his secrecy, with is off course a dark angels thing but also very much a Lion thing. Nature vs nurture. His youth on Caliban between monsters etc etc.
I liked the fact you added how his still loves his sons. He would sacrifice them if necessary (as he says in one short story by Gav, when he is prepared to sacrifice his legion to stop Guilliman if he is a traitor), he asks a lot of them and gives few compliments, but still, he loves them, he is proud of them and the achievements of the first.
One thing I didn't understand quit well. For the Lion duty has the first place, duty to his father and the Imperium. This is something you added to the Lion's story and personality. Not that this wasn't there already, but you made it even more important, more clear. More on first place. My question : the Lion isn't interested in the laurels of the Ullanor parade. He is more about duty. But isn't he also a glory hound / a glory freak? That's how I always saw him. Even in the old white dwarf article about the Lion and the wolf on Dulan, it is said only the Lion and Horus had more victories than Russ. I always imagined victories and numbers were important for the Lion. He wants to be NUMBER one, doesn't he ? He IS the first, but he also wants to BE the first? As the sick Horus says in false gods (Horus his opinion): Guilliman and the Lion both laughing when they hear the warmaster is sick. In the last part, on the Imperator somnium, do I understand correctly that the Lion is disappointed he ISN'T warmaster and that he shows this a bit, but not directly, towards the Emperor ? This is how I understand this scene.
I liked the whole Khrave story, how they operate, how they function, mislead, control. The santales story was also nice. Layers upon layers, organizations within organizations. Liked the fact how the first legion has special acces to weaponry because they are the first, as has been a story these last years.
Last question. I liked the fact the lion is a singular being in your eyes. EVERY primarch is a singular being. Perhaps the FIRST is even more singular. I have no problem with that. I always imagined the Lion as one of the 4 or 5 best primarchs, overall, as a general, organizer and warrior. But in your eyes, is he REALLY a more singular being than his other 17 / 19 brothers?

Thanks for any answers / new questions / or secrets (dark angels were talking about) you wish to share. Good book.

I will end with a beautiful Lion line from the end of the book: 'It is possible that the Imperium of my father will one day falter as you insist it must. As I still draw breath it shall not.' THAT is the Lion, the first.

[Titanfall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ein durchschnittliches Buch aber auch nicht wirklich schlecht

[RatGrrrl · Rating 5 out of 5]

March 2024 Read using the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project Reading Order (www.heresyomnibus.com), catching up with one I missed with the previous Dark Angels omnibussies, as part of my Oath of Moment to complete the Horus Heresy saga and extras.

Time moves on and I sometimes forget I ever read a book and reviewed it, even a month ago... Apologies to Mortarion and Annandale, but this one has both started to disappear in the details, but the impact crater like a Ork Rokk it left is going nowhere.

This is one of sadly few Primarchs books that I believe achieves the assumed brief of the series. I know some have, somewhat rightfully complained about the relative lack of the Lion in his eponymous book, but there are explicit and tangible elements of him here and, couple with them, his relative absence from his sons lives, their autonomy, and his own machinations and appearance in combat actually serve his character. There is a chance I'm being generous because this is a great book though.

One thing this book does without shadow of a doubt is, in my humble opinion, perfectly thread the needle and connect the secret orders and general sneakiness of Caliban pre-Imperium (and until the big bang) with the super duper secretive and clandestine nature of the Chapter in the Dark Millennium. Their Calibanite creed makes tbeir armoury and keeping the secrets of the Emperor from others an apt progression of guardedness that reaches apotheosis into neurotic paranoia with the Fallen. I found the I Legion to just make so much more sense after reading this and really appreciated seeing an early form of the Inner Circle in operation during operations.

The story itself is a fascinating and exciting one with some incredible writing. A psychological horror of insidious alien influence turning people into killing machines, corrupted by negative emotions and spiteful memories, and turned on one another on a planetwide scale that reminded me of Unity from Rick and Morty, though with the Horus Heresy gravitas and nightmarishness.

A truly solid work and definitely keeping good company at the top end of the Primarchs pool.

***

This was solid as the Rock!

I will write up more later, but this provides unique insights into the Primarch and esoteric and inscrutable elements of their Legion, as well as the Master of Mankind and his machinations, with a great story and one of the most epic and horrific xenos threats in any Dark Millennia with ample justification as to why it's not a known threat.

Brilliant stuff!

Through using the Horus Heresy Omnibus Project (www.heresyomnibus.com) and my own choices, I have currently read 21.41 Horus Heresy novels, 12 novellas, 59 short stories/ audio dramas, as well as the Macragge's Honour graphic novel, 11 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.

[Zare · Rating 5 out of 5]

I became fan of the First while reading excerpts from the black book about them. I have to say that after reading this book my level of respect for the First just went up.

They are the First legion in many ways. While rest of Legions are specialists by nature (Salamanders - the ultimate survivalists and sappers, Imperial Fists - fortification builders, Alpha Legion - the ultimate infiltrators and ambushers etc) Dark Angels were always the core - Legion made to cover all the angels and be capable to execute operations in all manner of ways, from special operations to engagement with "forbidden" weaponry. They are both masters of aerial and land combat utilizing tanks and heavy gunships and battalions of infantry but also very capable to use part of that force as a scalpel against specific target (human or not) through its various internal orders.

I have to admit that my head was somewhat dizzy with all of the internal teams within normal Legion organization and its hidden orders and sub-orders. But I think that this is just something that found its echo in Alpha legion at the later stage - while enemy is presented with the standard Legion forces he is constantly kept off balance because of specialized troops that might be working for months in his rear areas, shielded by anonymity provided by masses of "regular" troops. If captured no single Legionnaire can provide any additional information because everything is compartmentalized and on the need to know basis, one squad of infiltrators does not know that heavy rad weapons troop is using them as a cover in order to obliterate enemies HQ or provide point of entry for other Legion forces. Ordinary Legionnaire can be just that but on other hand can be master assassin, or specialist for fighting just that specific type of threat and thus with access to myriad of deadly tools that can destroy continents or even planets if required. one does not know if person in front of him is walking nuclear device.

One additional parallel to Alpha Legion is that First is not a "builder" Legion. They are not put in place to build conquered planets (like Imperial Fists or Ultramarines for example) nor are there in theater of operations because they can slug it through toxic wastelands (Death Guard) or are just psychos with axes and thirst for blood and terror (World Eaters and Night Lords). Sole role of First (as is with Alpha) is war and destruction of enemy - whatever that enemy might be. Once done First just moves on to new battlefield.

As such they are just extension of Lion, the most enigmatic of the Primarchs. Unlike Apharius and Omegon though, Lion is executing operations in a relatively simple manner, when direct confrontation is required he will strike in same way Ultramarines would. He is not trying to extend the conflict for artistic purposes. His goal is simple - identification and destruction of enemy, usually to the point where nothing is left of the enemy. What makes him specific is that he rarely does anything in a direct way, everything takes place indirectly through small movements in planning, that trigger specific orders to activate and plan their actions with cumulative effect resulting in combat actions where enemy dies by cuts of thousands blades.

To enable all of this secrecy is required, levels of knowledge split into inner circles so there is no single point of failure that might compromise the Legion's actions and open Legion to devastating blow. While he loves his sons, Lion is aware that fraternization with the forces might compromise the entire endeavor so he encourages his own troops to understand the power of knowledge and enforce the need-to-know within the Legion's secretive organizations. Does this create perfect atmosphere for subversive work? Definitely (Luther proves it), but also prevents the enemy from achieving full control over the Legion. While some parts might fall, the entirety will survive to continue the fight. I think First was based on some tenants that were predominant in the early days of the Imperium, where too public martial structure could be destroyed from within with time. As a matter of fact I would not be surprised that these were activities utilized by Emperor's forces to begin with so First was created in a way to ensure these weaknesses are taken care of.

Khrave are in this way near perfect counterpart to First Legion (Khrave actually act as Alpha Legion would) - enemy looking to unravel every enemy secret, infiltrating so deep that enemy is not aware agents are in their midst, and then strike in a way that would destroy the entire enemy contingent. But against the force that does not have true center such victory is hardly (if at all) achievable.

Very interesting book, lots of bits and pieces about the Legion's lore and Lion himself. At the end not much is revealed but I think that was the goal considering the Primarch and Legion presented here. Some comments say that First is presented here as best and that author might have over exaggerated a bit how First is mighty and capable. I would not agree because losses amount here, everything from star-ships to planetary defenses is in peril and lives are lost (just consider the final battle with Titans). I think that book perfectly illustrates the way Legion works, how its inner circles act and contribute to the main task at hand. I did not come out of it with image of First as The Legion, more of a Legion that is a force capable of executing actions it's sister Legions might not even know how to start with due to their specialization, and being able to survive even the most vicious attack on its infrastructure and survive and rebuild because there is just no single point of failure available to the enemy.

As is case with all the other books in the series, this is not so much book about Primarch but about the Legion he leads (and therefore becomes an extension of him).

Highly recommended for fans of W40K and Primarchs in general.

[Glyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read. It gives the Dark Angels Legion something it has long lacked. A true sense of purpose in the era of the Legiones Astartes and the Primarchs

There have been many Horus Heresy stories and novels dealing with the Dark Angels but they have always lacked a defined character. They were crying out for somebody to do for them what Dan Abnett has done for the Space Wolves and the Alpha Legion. A ret con to make them real. This book sticks with the hyper secretive knight errant in a Masonic lodge motiff suggested by the character of the Primarch and decades of GW fluff.

Where it succceeds brilliantly is in the way Guymer handles that but mainly in explaining why the First Legion are diffeent from the other Legions, and why everyone in the Galaxy should be very afraid of them. Among GW fans the Dark Angels have long had a meme friendly reputation for putting their take on right above all else. Noted author Aaron Dembski-Bowden among others has ranted about the prevalence and how it gets the First totally worng; This book faces those memes down and shows the grim and utterly focussed and unforgiving nature of them.

Guymer handles Jonson well and convincingly demonstrtates his relationship with his Legion, mere mortals and his "father" the God Emperor of Mankind. The fighting is well described and most importantly the newly created "Khrave" xenos are a horrifying and dangerous threat. One worthy of pulling his Legion away from the Ullanor campaign for

[Ahmed Abdelmotal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not a Dark Angels fans or a Lion fan, not in 40k or in 30k. And still not a big fan now, I know the 40k memes about them but still nothing sparks interest in them for me.

The only thing that dragged my attention to them before was a short story that included Garviel Loken, who is one, if not my favourite, character from the Horus Heresy. At least before this novel. For me this breathed some life in the Dark Angels. The less said about the two Horus Heresy novels the better, they were bland and completely forgettable for me.

All that said, this novel breathed life into the Dark Angels for me. Their secretive nature depicted here is intriguing and convoluted in a way that is very much an Astartes sort of thing. The Lion's view on life and service to the Emperor is perfect for the nature of their universe, both, in the current era and in 40k.

It was a fun read from start to finish, and worth the money I paid for the book. One of the best books of the Primarchs series.

[Shortsman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It suffers from Guymer constantly telling the reader how awesome the I Legion is, and how they are totally the best and most badass legion of them all and no one even compares and they are just soooooo cool

[Troy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly this just wasn't interesting at all. I found it quite boring and hard to follow at times.

[Johny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good

[Mike Sheehan · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a bore.

[Chris Dennison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another fantastic entry into the Primarchs series and sheds some welcome light into the secretive Dark Angels and how and why they operate the way they do. There are a few revelations and plenty to enjoy in this book.

Well done Mr Guymer, you have done the Dark Angels and the Lion proud in your depiction of them.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just find Guymer puts too much overly complex description into his writing, which makes him difficult to read. He's had the same issue for me with other books written in the 40k universe. There was such scope to do something exciting with the Lord of The First... this wasn't it for me.

[Alasdair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another solidly alright Primarch book.

Like the others in the series, there isn't a huge focus on the Primarch himself, the Lion "The Final Solution" El'jonson.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This will be the fouriest four I've ever given a book. I'll explain--to put it simply I think this book wasn't really bound to as many constraints as timelines and other things might bind a warhammer book, but of course it still had to fit within the rules of the universe and restrictions of the Dark Angels army. With those conditions in mind it was a great book and a pretty entertaining read. Overall not quite to the heights of the Horus Heresy novels I've read but still well-written. I commend any book that can be action heavy and still entertain. Over the years I don't know if it was video games or movies but action, violence, gore, these things just feel like ashes in my mouth. It's typically not that exciting or meaningful. In this book, the action is superb, weighty, dynamic and tense!
I did greatly enjoy that I read via audiobook and one of my favorite readers of all time, Jonathan Keeble, held the vocal reins so to speak. He did an amazing job as always. I am familiar with him from Bernard Cornwell's Winter King (Arthur) series, as some may also know him from The Last Kingdom books (which I haven't read). So overall it was a great way to peer into the universe just for the pure fun side of it, and this book felt like a junk food treat. Not as satisfying as it could have been, but still well done and enjoyable. I can't even explain many of the plot points but Lion El'Jonson is a terrifying yet awe-inspiring leader of men and the chilling nature of what he is willing to do pales in comparison to hearing his conversations with the emperor himself, who commands the universe. Recommended!

[Ross Cudmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story takes place during the Great Crusade, shortly after the Rangdan Xenocide. It is a brutal and bloody campaign that remains largely a mystery.

The Dark Angels are the first Legion. They experienced fighting on Terra during the tail-end of the Unification Wars before any other Legion. They walk among the stars as the first and carry themselves as warriors beyond equal. They are also secretive and clandestine.They hide information and only reveal what is absolutely necessary. There is a sort of arrogance to them that makes co-operation with other Legions difficult. These qualities of the Legion are a reflection of their gene-sire, Lion El'Jonson. This story seems to provide a bit of an explanation as to why the First Legion have taken on this persona and the nature of their role in the Great Crusade.

The Dark Angels face a Xenos threat called the Khrave, capable of infiltrating and controlling the minds of mortals. This foe hides in shadows and must be hunted down. From his earliest days on Caliban, the Lion played the role of predator and prey. And so he is intimately familiar with the nature of the hunt.

Overall I really enjoyed this novel as an exploration of the Dark Angels and Lion El'Jonson, in particular there are briefly interludes throughout the story, of meetings between the Lion and the Emperor that offer a tantalising look at the Emperor's philosophy and the Lion's nature. While the book doesn't actually spend that much time on the Lion himself, I think we learn a lot about him from the functioning of his Legion and the actions of his sons.

Many of the characters introduced in the story were new additions, such as Duriel, Forewright of the Ironwing, and Aravain, Librarian of the Firewing both of whom felt like great characters to flesh out the culture of the First Legion.

Farith Redloss is of the Dreadwing and appears numerous times throughout the Heresy in stories such as: The Unremembered Empire, Angels of Darkness, Ruinstorm, Dreadwing, and Luthor: First of the Fallen.

The secretive and clandestine nature of Calibanite orders and traditions is well depicted in the story, and it is easy to see how it descends into the neurotic paranoia of the 41st Millenium

Something I thought was interesting from a lore perspective, Chief Librarian Elikas on the topic of secrets stated: "I learned the importance of Secrets at the close of the Unification Wars." I wonder if this is a reference to the slaughter of the Thunder Warriors, as described in "Valdor: Birth of the Imperium."

Fun fact, Elikas did actually appear in the Heresy before this novel. He previously appeared very briefly in "Thousand Sons" at the Council of Nikaea, voting to preserve the Librarius.

[Maxwell Fujs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool how the secrecy of the Dark Angels was their salvation rather than their damnation in this story. The Lion is arrogant (as he should be) but deep. I wish there was some more character development with other angels... not like I could do any better, of course. The bad guys were cool too, and their final demise was incredibly spicy, probably one of my favorite parts.

Another little detail I enjoyed - the librarian who carried a sachet of herbs from Caliban. Just kind of a cool aside that shows a more human side of a transhuman. And that was a guy who had moustachES, so that's also an interesting thing - rarely do we see the quiet moments with space marines. That guy meticulously worked his facial hair, every day. Just kind of fun to see that.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 *

i had zero expectations going into this. i didn’t know what the primarch novels would be like but this was a super interesting read!

now i dont necessarily mean that as a 100% compliment. some of it was like “damn that’s cool!”, then other parts were like “meh. move on. guns go boom, i get it” (i’m not a fan of the bolter p*rn).
BUT - most importantly, this gave us a lot of info on the inner workings of the dark angels and the lion himself! and a lot of juicy lore info!
there was also a very interesting line about the mechanicum.. and considering where the ‘current’ lore is… we shall seeeee.

[Alon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good read, and definitely a page-turner but I was hoping to learn more about Lion himself. I don't know if the other Primarch novels similarly don't go into much detail about the Primarchs themselves since I didn't read any of the other Primarch books but I was hoping to get more than a few pages of scenes actually involving Lion. It gave a very nice depiction of the inner workings of the First but all in all, I was disappointed with the amount of personal involvement of the Lion in the book as well as it being VERY short. Quite an expensive book for only 190 pages.

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm only giving this 2 stars because I actually managed to finish it and I've tried to read worse books in my life.

This was a very stale read. Guymer is playing with far too many key characters here for such a small novel with unnecessary and derailing levels of irrelevant detail that, far from drawing you into the scene, seem to push you out of it.

I nearly gave up on this one but just about saw it through. The book has a lot of interesting ideas floating around in it but nothing anchors anything for the reader.

[AA_Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book isn’t so much about the Lion as it is about the First Legion. Descent of Angels and Fallen Angels in the main Heresy Series give us plenty about pre-Imperium Caliban and lots of the Lion, but this book gives us the first dedicated look at how the Dark Angels operate as a unified body of Terrans and Calibanites. I assume informed by the forthcoming Forgeworld Black Book, we get a great insight into how the disparate Wings of the Dark Angels function and how their early roles influence their collective psyche and approaches to the Crusade.

That’s not to say that this is just a dry treatise on battlefield roles and catalogues of weaponry (though we do see plenty of cool toys, with many more alluded to); we also get a great Xenos antagonist and a gripping story too. It’s really interesting to see how the Lion operates with a full(ish) Legion to call upon and no restrictions from his brothers (as we see in Angels of Caliban).

Really very good indeed.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Rounded up.

This was a great introduction to the Lion (who doesn't seem like a very niiiice guy) and had a really cool plot but we get kind of lost in terms of the human elements of the story. We get a cool setup about everyone basically becoming zombies but then don't get any more POVs from those infected characters which made the second half of the book not as interesting.

Still I enjoyed it and am now interested to see Lion's return in 10th edition.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always loved the dark angels, easily one of my favourite legions since I first got into Warhammer.

I really liked the authors take on the Lion. He brings a lot of the familiar from other authors as well as building on those same ideas with some extra nuance.

The enemy the Krave were a fascinating foe for the dark angels that helped the author tell more detail on the secretive ways of the legion.

It was a little action heavy for me, though I see why that was the case for this story.

[Derek Swanson · Rating 1 out of 5]

A wasted opportunity

This story is about the ridiculously overpowered Godlike Khrave and The Lion plays only a small part in it.

Colossally disappointing. Jonson is the greatest Primarch and deserves such better writing than this and a much richer and more complex story than mere lame mind control (again) of the poor helpless humans.

Anyways if you wanted to understand the xenos race Khrave read it, but look elsewhere for really good Pre Heresy Dark Angels writing.

[Ronan Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great - establishes one of my favourite 30k Legions and lays the groundwork for their culture of suspicion and secrecy in 40k. Whereas a lot of the Primarchs series struggle to balance or even ignore their actual Primarch, this balances it very well, even though I prefer that the book be about the actual Primarch on their own like Curze or Russ. Anyways, as a big Dark Angels fan it was good to see cool space knights in action against a very creative enemy.

[Chris Delo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truthfully I couldn't give a shit about the dark angels before reading this but this book makes them pretty interesting. Secret societies within secret societies, all built to accommodate alien genocide. To emphasize: the very first legion the emperor created was the one that persecuted genocides. Heavy shit.

[Michael Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

While nominally about the Primarch of the first legion, this was more about the Dark Angels. I was expecting a bit more on Lion El'Jonson but this focused more on the actions of the legion with a war with the Khrave. While entertaining, it didn't do much to advance his backstory.

[Paul McClenaghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a long time Dark Angel player this was a must read for me. Well worth the read and the final line in the conversation between El'jonson and the Emperor sums up just how highly his father thought of him.

[Stefan Koepeknie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adds much to the Dark Angels lore.

[Lewis Millar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining read if you're fond of the Space Marines of Warhammer 40k, solid enough prose and the enemy the Dark Angels Legion faces is relatively unique.

[Aled · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very brief review. I like the story, the secretive Dark Angles and their primarch Lion El’Jonson. Didn’t find David Guymer style of writing easy to read.