Thursday, July 31, 2008

Horus Heresy: Battle for the Abyss by Ben Counter


Vital Stats:
Page Count: 416
Era: Heresy (30,000)
Perspective: Ultramarines
Major Characters: [Inquisitor-text]Brother-Captain Cestus (Ultramarines), Admiral Zadkiel (Word Bearers), Wolf Guard Brynngar (Space Wolves), Mhotep (Thousand Sons), Skraal (World Eater),
Special Guest Stars: [Inquisitor-text]Kor Phareon (Word Bearers), Kelbor-Hal (Fabricator General of the Mechanicum)
Locations: [Inquisitor-text]Sol System, The Warp, Ultramar System

One Sentence Review: 30k meets the Hunt for Red October sans Primarchs.

A Few Musings: This is the first Horus Hersey book[Inquisitor-text] without a primarch in it. I want to start the review there because it is the books greatest strength and biggest weakness. The basic plot is[Inquisitor-text] that the Fabricator General of Mars has devised the largest warship ever created in secret. Granted to the Word Bearers, the ship The Furious Abyss leaves space dock around Jupiter to destroy the Ultramarines Legion. After the ship leaves dock it performs a shake down by annhilating an Ultramarines vessel. Brother-Captain Cestus, the protagonist, is waiting to return home with an honor guard retinue of Ultramarines on a nearby space station. When the aforementioned Ultramarine vessel does not arrive, Cestus deduces that something is afoot. This is confirmed to him in a vision and the death scream of the astropaths aboard the Ultramarine ship. Assembling other space marines on the station (World Eaters, Space Wolves and a lone and mysterious Thousand Son), Cestus pursues The Furious Abyss across the galaxy.

If this book had been set in the 40k era, it would have been better in my opinion. Unlike the recent Horus Heresy novels with dramatic reveals and very interesting characters, this novel felt a step backward for the series. It isn't a bad book, but just not up to the calibur of the others in the series. Counter is generally better with the "big concept" than the execution. His action is stronger than his characters. Also many of his characters fall into stereotypes with which we are very familiar.

Bolters (Out of Five): Two
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About This Website/Spoiler Policy

The purpose of this blog is to review Black Library books in the Warhammer 40k setting. Since November 2005 I have read nearly every Black Library novel (and short story) published in the 40k universe. Since Black Library has published many books (good and bad), I have done a lot of reading. The books are compelling and does credit to the incredible setting of Warhammer 40k. This blog is to chronicle my thoughts and my reviews of Warhammer 40k fiction.

My reviews are organized by giving a short synopis. I follow this with a one sentence review. This is kind of a "pitch" to you the reader as to why you would read the book. This is followed by some "musings" of mine of what I liked and disliked about the book. The final "grade" is a number of bolters. This is a general outline of how I felt about the book. Here are some examples,

Five Bolters - Exceptional 40k novel, would be considered great in any genre - Storm of Iron, Sabbat Martyr

Four Bolters - Very good 40k novel, any fan of 40k would enjoy - Ravenor, Horus Rising

Three Bolters - Good 40k novel, occassional Black Library readers should pick it up - The Traitor's Hand, Fifteen Hours

Two Bolters - Average to Below Average 40k novel, die hard Black Library fans will want to read - Rebel Winter, Dead Sky, Black Sun

One Bolter - Poor 40k book, everyone should avoid - Inquisition War, Lord of Night

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