Horus Heresy Book Club

It should go without saying that from this point on there will be spoilers. If you haven’t read Galaxy in Flames, and are bothered by spoilers, then come back later after reading it.

Galaxy in Flames is the third book in the Horus Heresy series, and the third in a trilogy of novels that revolve around the same cast of characters. It was written by Ben Counter, and I first read it when it came out in 2006. This is my second read-through.

A criticism that gets levied against Warhammer fiction is that it is no more than descriptions of battles, and amount to little more than narrative battle reports for $10.99 a pop (that’s Canadian, of course). This is pretty reductionist, but less so with Galaxy in Flames. Now to be clear, the battle scenes were good, and it’s hardly Ben Counter’s fault when so much revolves around the fight on Isstvan III. This novel carries forth my complaint from the last novel vis-à-vis the pacing of Horus’ downfall, and expands it into a more holistic problem I have: the pacing of the opening three books in general. Were the story of Horus’ downfall, and the battle of Isstvan III, kept at the pace Dan Abnett set with Horus Rising, it would’ve been a longer story, but a more even one. Sadly, I think poor Ben was left with the aftermath of Abnett and McNeill, and told to craft a conclusion out of it.

Our remembrancer friends are still here, though admittedly without Karkasy we’ve lost the soul of the group, and while Sindermann’s attempts to grapple with the Lectitio Divinitatus is worthwhile character development, it can’t sustain my interest in the humans alone. In a way, this is balanced by the conflict between the titan moderati later in the book, but is only related to the remembrancers by virtue of space marines not being the focus.

Saul Tarvitz remains my favorite character in the trilogy, which isn’t surprising, as he’s definitely written to be. Loken is (of course) the star, but Tarvitz takes more overtly heroic actions in this book by taking fate into his own hands and flying down to the planet to warn everyone. By the third book, it’s pretty much determined that Loken is at the mercy of the events surrounding him. A tragic figure to be sure. Before we leave Tarvitz for the moment, I do want to comment that his friendship with Lucius was very well done. We know Lucius is a psycho, we know he becomes even more psychotic in the intervening ten millennia, but I (at least) was engaged in the depiction of their relationship.

Before I conclude, I do want to comment more on the two moderati of the Dies Irae: Aruken and Cassar. I give praise to Ben Counter for writing tense and claustrophobic scenes on the bridge of Dies Irae as the two ostensible friends—though in retrospect, coworkers is more appropriate—grapple with what’s going on. Cassar’s conscience prevents him from going along with this slaughter, and he mutinies against Princeps Turnet, but he can’t win alone. He’s stuck in a stalemate with the princeps, and relies solely on Aruken to tip the balance in his favor (morality’s favor). Aruken cannot be relied upon, though. Once described as a sympathetic figure—he helps protect Keeler against Maggard—he turns on Cassar, unwilling to risk his advancement in the titan legions. He chooses the status quo, slaughter and all, over his fellow moderati. I don’t know if we see anymore of Aruken in any novels, so we may never get to see him grapple with the meaning of his actions. Though astute Black Library readers will undoubtedly be aware of Dies Irae’s fate ten-thousand years later.

In summary, I think it’s the weakest of the opening trilogy, though its well-written battle scenes, and tense standoff in the titan bridge keep it from being my least-favorite Horus Heresy novel I’ve read. Let me know your thoughts in the comments/replies of wherever I post this (Facebook or Mastodon). Next time I’ll tackle The Flight of the Eisenstein.

+++END TRANSMISSION+++

It should go without saying that from this point on, there will be spoilers. If you haven’t read False Gods, and are bothered by spoilers, then come back later after reading it.

False Gods is the second book in the Horus Heresy series, and the second in a trilogy of novels that revolve around the same cast of characters. It was written by Graham McNeill, and I first read it when it came out in 2006. This is my second read through.

This book continues the direct story line from Horus Rising. First, we are introduced to Petronella Vivar—a noblewoman from Terra—and her entourage, including the surgically-induced mute Maggard. She thinks very highly of herself, and is supremely confident in her task to become Horus’ personal remembrancer. We then pivot to two crewmen of the imperator titan Dies Irae: moderati primus Cassar, and moderati pirmus Aruken. Afterwards we get a vignette of life on Davin, as lodge priestess Akshub watches the trails of light heralding the Warmaster’s drop pods descend from the sky, and revels in the fate that will soon befall her and her masters. It’s only at the end that Horus sets foot from the drop pod onto the surface of Davin, a world he conquered sixty years ago.

Davin is where his inevitable turn to Chaos happens. We know this, and have known this since Space Marine debuted in 1989. It’s here that we see what turns Horus and where many a reader expressed disappointment at how it was depicted, myself included (though not as fervently as others). It’s perhaps no slight on Graham McNeill, but instead on the fact that such a tale should have had more time to breathe. We should’ve been treated to a steady erosion of Horus’ will, or (my preference) a reaction to changing material conditions of the Crusade and the Imperium.

What we are given as reasons for Horus’ betrayal are his discontent at bureaucrats interrupting the Crusade—his Crusade—and demanding he institute taxes on conquered worlds. This, coupled with his failures to peaceably bring the Interex and the “False Imperium” into the Emperor’s realm beginning to seed doubt in his mind regarding his ability as Warmaster. To add to this doubt, the betrayal of Eugen Temba on Davin brings to the fore his guilt at assigning him the position, one Temba begged Horus not to assign him for fear of not being able to live up to the responsibility. Sound familiar?

I don’t have any trouble with that stuff, nor do I have trouble with Erebus’ (boo!) plot to use the anathame stolen from the Hall of Devices on Xenobia to wound Horus, leading to his fever dream in the Davinites’ fane to Chaos. In fact, that whole plot tells a lot about the astartes and their blind loyalty to their primarch. They love Horus so much that they would reject the secular edicts of the Emperor if only Horus could be healed. The Emperor’s science has failed. The primarch’s so-called perfect body can only be healed by the Emperor, and he’s gone back to Terra to work on projects he couldn’t even trust his sons with the knowledge of. The astartes that take Horus to the fane have already made their choice, no matter what happens to Horus.

My greatest issue is the dream in the warp that Horus has. I think it’s cool that Horus is tricked by being shown a vision of a future he helped create with his betrayal (very like the Chaos gods to do that). My problem is that Magnus reveals it all as a ruse by Erebus and Horus still buys it? I found that to be a let down. Throughout this book we’re given a little glimpse into Horus’ psyche. He fears the responsibly he’s given being the Warmaster, he’s frustrated by the Emperor’s absence and the bureaucrats appearance, and he fears what will become of him and his warriors at the Crusade’s end. Magnus’ appearance in this novel felt shoehorned in, his reveal feels inconsequential, and the dream felt like it should have been the beginning of Horus’ betrayal, not the end.

I think it would have been more compelling if the story showed a Horus wracked with self-doubt throughout the rest of the Crusade. Let the nascent Imperial cult grate on him more. Perhaps show more jealousy displayed by his brother primarchs, and have the vices of Imperial bureaucracy get ever tighter.

Some further stray thoughts: The moderati primus’ relationship to each other was cool. Maggard was also pretty cool, if not a little frightening. Petronella herself felt pointless; more like a Maggard delivery vehicle. The battle scenes in the swamps of Davin’s moon against the horde of Nurgle zombies was one of the better battle scenes I’ve read so far in the series (considering the fact that I’ve read the first twelve books as they came out). I think if there were ever a show or movie made of the first two Horus Heresy novels, a good actor to play Ignace Karkasy would be Michael Gladis.

Well, I hope you liked this review. If not, let me know through email, or in the comments/replies wherever I post this (Instagram, Facebook, and Mastodon). Next time, I’ll tackle Galaxy in Flames by Ben Counter.

+++END TRANSMISSION+++