The Horus Heresy


When I agreed to give tie-in fiction author Dan Abnett a shot, Mark Charan Newton sent me the opening chapter in The Horus Heresy sequence, Horus Rising (Canada, USA, Europe). I've been told that this is probably one of the best and most entertaining sequences of books in the entire Warhammer 40,000 universe.

True to my word, I'll be reading Abnett's Horus Rising as soon as I'm done with the latest Pratchett. Here's the blurb:

After thousands of years of expansion and conquest, the human Imperium is at its height. His dream for humanity accomplished, the Emperor hands over the reins of power to his Warmaster, Horus, and heads back to Terra. But is Horus strong enough to control his fellow commanders and continue the Emperor's grand design, or will such incredible power corrupt him?

Based on this novel, if I enjoy the storylines I might give the rest of the sequence a go:

- False Gods by Graham McNeill (Canada, USA, Europe)
- Galaxy in Flames by Ben Counter (Canada, USA, Europe)
- The Flight of the Eisenstein by James Swallow (Canada, USA, Europe)
- Fulgrim by Graham McNeill (Canada, USA, Europe)
- Descent of Angels by Mitchel Scanlon (Canada, USA, Europe)
- Legion by Dan Abnett (Canada, USA, Europe)
- Battle for the Abyss by Ben Counter (Canada, USA, Europe)
- Mechanicum by Graham McNeill (Canada, USA, Europe)
- Tales of Heresy by Kyme & Priestley (Canada, USA, Europe)
- Fallen Angels by Mike Lee (Canada, USA, Europe)

And the forthcoming:

- A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeill (Canada, USA, Europe)
- Prospero Burns by Dan Abnett (Canada, USA, Europe)

Speaking of which, there is a new trailer about these last two titles:



8 commentaires:

Chris V said...

mm I need to pic up that book sometime soon. Although I havent read the latest two book yet either.

Ryan said...

They are pretty entertaining, but I enjoy them as popcorn novels rather than, you know anything too profound.

As a series they have a really interesting sense of bouncing back and forth between characters and events - it is not entirely linear and I thought that was very interesting.

Anonymous said...

Love the work he does in comics.

Marvel's NOVA, Guardians of the Galaxy, War of Kings, etc...

Cecrow said...

Maybe you'll be able to figure out what the 40,000 is. I've always wondered, 40,000 what?

Adam Whitehead said...

It's the date (roughly). WARHAMMER 40,000 takes place in the 41st Millennium, or 39,000 years in the future.

Although, just to be slightly confusing, the HORUS HERESY books take place about ten thousand years earlier, so technically should be called WARHAMMER 30,000. Obviously they decided that would be too confusing and kept the existing franchise title.

Just to add to the confusing, recent novels and gaming materials set in the 'present' of the setting have indicated it's almost the end of the 41st Millennium, so whether that means they'll change the name to Warhammer 41,000 is unclear. Probably not.

Anonymous said...

Fantasy Flight Games are releasing a new version of the classic Games Workshop 2-player game Horus Heresy in March. Massive game in one of their coffin boxes (2' x 1' x 4-5" thick).

More here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=988

C.B.

RobB said...

Abnett's a terrific writer, I recently finished his first Gaunt's Ghost omnibus.

Anonymous said...

In general, I have been disapointed by this type of fiction. However, his novel Riders of the Dead is an exceptional fantasy Novel, and his Inquisitor trilogy is excellent Sci-Fi