Counter's got some work to do still in finding his narrative voice. My favorite parts were the Thousand Son, the World-Eater, and the trials in the Warp that they endured.
My only beef with the Thousand Son was the name 'Mhotep' brought to mind scenes from the Mummy where one hero, caught in a bind, started chanting EEEM HOOO TEP! EEEM HOOOO TEP! and all the zombies got a case of the stupid-chant.
Beyond that, the marines are all fairly one-dimensional (...on a level, I'll buy that marines may very well be pretty similar, and stereotypes have to come from somewhere. However, do not give me main characters that are flat like that). The Word Bearers have a guardsmen's stat line here, and it's kind of hard to swallow that their stupidity blew this attack like it did.
Capt_Forrix
· 1 year ago
Biggest problem I had was that somehow a laviathan of a battleship was taken down by a couple small frigate ships. Almost everything else in this book sucked too, the Ultrasmurfs lost even more respect from me ("is that possible???" "Yes!")
.1 stars out of 5, GIVE US MORE ABNETT! even more mcneill instead of this ****
Robert S. Paul
· 1 year ago
Actually, that's fairly standard naval tactics. For instance, pirates prefer smaller craft because they're faster and more maneuverable. And look at the USS Cole.
As far as the rest of the book, yeah, it sucked. I had a hard time remembering that this was taking place in M31 and not M41. And, as much as Descent of Angels blew chunks, at least it had decent characterization.
Forhekset
· 1 year ago
Descent of Angels was brilliant? Well, up until it fast tracked in the end like every other word-limited Black Library book.
abhinavjain
· 1 year ago
i agree... it was mildly interesting.... but it was too much of a history book.... then a SM action book.....
Space Machine
· 1 year ago
I'm still struggling to get through Descent of Angels. Anyone else think it's been wedged to fit into the HH series?
Sarpedon
· 1 year ago
It's definitely been wedged a bit, but I still think it's a great book. Coulda been better, but a keeper in my book.
no pun intended.
hiding in your closet
· 1 year ago
O_o what? are you kidding me? this was one of the best horus heresy books ever..... i dont quite understand (WTF) yours respectfully closet.
Artax
· 1 year ago
NO. Just freaking no.
Lord
· 1 year ago
My main comment is that this book could easily have been a 40k novel, with 30K chapters. there is nothing archaic, inocent or interesting about the book other than a few refences to Calth that tie it into the other Heresy books.
If you look at the first books, no one, not even the primarchs understands what deamons/the warp are. in this book, important characters seem to know everything possible.
Also there is nothing intersting about the weapons, squad organization, or chapters (other than world eaters & 1K sons being loyalist) that makes in similar to the theme of slow, mistaken learning of the other books. If you changed Mhotep into a librarian, and the world eaters into a similar 'good' chapter, than the book would be a classic 40K novel.
However compared to such gems as Horus Rising, Fulgrim, and Eisenstein, this book falls flat on its face.
I really hope that Ben Counter does not continue his shallow style of writing, and in my opinion, if he wrote about any other topic, he would not be able to be a writer.
Davy
· 1 year ago
i agree about htis being a 40k book..the loyalist marines felt too religious too..i know they didn't do anything overtly religious..but still...calling the word bearers heretics instead of rebels or traitors? yeah....>___>
the book felt really 40k
Chris
· 1 year ago
I agree with what you're saying. In the first three books and Fulgrim no one other than the Magnus and the Word bearers even have a clue about even the most basic concepts of Chaos and suddenly by this book (legion had this issue too) we have primarchs that seem to know tons about Chaos.
I distinctly recal Loken talking with the interex in the second book and they were SHOCKED that humans knew NOTHING of Chaos. Now everyone is an expert. Go figure...
Sarpedon
· 1 year ago
@ Lord: idk, the Soul Drinkers Omnibus was quite good. definitely not on par with anythin like Dan or Sandy or Graham, but it was a good series.
No lie though, he has gone down hill.
Eastwood
· 1 year ago
I have to agree. By far and away the worst Heresy book going. At least The Descent of Angels could claim to be set pre-Heresy. Dry characters, dry dialogue, a distinct lack of twists, it was a by-the-numbers Beakie book with very little in it that hasn't been done a dozen times before, and usually better. The only Beakie book I have had the misfortune to read that was worse was Iron Hands, which I generally hold to be as the worst Black Library book ever published. Thing is, Ben also wrote one of my favourite Black Library books, Daemon World. Which makes Battle for the Abyss even more galling, because he can do so much better.
A collosal letdown. At least it should be made up for by Mechanicum this winter.
reilly78
· 1 year ago
Worst book yet. Dull characters and unimaginative storyline. Please god let Abnett be writing the book about the Space Wolves assault on Prospero!
Forhekset
· 1 year ago
Check his blog, Abnett is writing about the Space Wolves as his next one.
Angelic_Despot
· 1 year ago
Finally! A review that I can relate to!
I haven't actually read this yet. I will do (I'm a die-hard Horus Heresy fiend), but I thought Galaxy in Flames was truly awful, and I'm expecting nothing better from Ben Counter this time around.
Every time I check Amazon and see glowing reviews of every single GW book a little part of me dies. I (much against my expectation) really enjoyed Horus Rising and thought it was surprisingly well written. It all went downhill from there. Though Descent of Angels was pretty good, just let down by the ending.
Note: I've just started on Legion, so I can't comment on that one.
Phil73805
· 1 year ago
Oh dear, I'm still reading Legion and it would seem that I have very little to look forward to. But even with a horrendous review I take heart because Descent of Angels received a similar response and I loved it! Here's hoping...
ChrisAsmadi
· 1 year ago
It's still better than Descent of Angels.
appa'Pgib
· 1 year ago
Yeah I have to agree here, with the exception of Skraal and Mhotep. I thought he did a great job of showing the barely contained rage of the World Eaters and how they used that for the Emperor, but also could easily have been swayed to go over. Mhotep also showed, I think, the essence of the Thousand Sons. The tragic "rock and a hard place" position they are in.
*small spoiler* nothing big I have one question though. "you know what we do with witches on Fenris"...uh really? so uh how do all the Rune Priests handle this?
I was disappointed, but I'm a die hard Heresy fan, so I'm waiting for the next one.
xNickBaranx
· 1 year ago
This does not sound appealing at all. I'll still read it but I'm not excited for it. And to anyone that liked Descent of Angels, I want to fight you. We're meeting at the flagpole and throwing down. As a 14 year Dark Angels player I was so incredibly disappointed I would honestly approve a book burning to erase Descent of Angels from the record. Some of the ideas early on in that book were interesting and then it became pure trash about when he went on his quest to fight the beast and complete his quest. Descent also gave us incredible lines like, "Despite her paralysis, she screamed!" Truly awful... and I'm usually the guy people accuse of being a stupid fanboy. Some of the other books in the series are great, but Descent was not one of them.
user7618
· 1 year ago
I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who is having trouble with this book. I am having a really hard time finishing this one.
knightwire
· 1 year ago
An excellent review and blatant statement of the book. When asked about the book by friends I have had a hard time elaborating why I did not like the novel to the degree of the other HH stuff.
I'll refer them here for any further explanation. :)
Thanks!
pixelgeek
· 1 year ago
This novel also suffers from the same problems that the Dark Angels book did in that the major issue you want to read about is left untouched at the end.
pixelgeek
· 1 year ago
I'd disagree that it is the worst of the series so far. I think Descent of Angles wins that.
I really don't like Counter's work that much. The exception is the first half of the first Soul Drinkers book which was actually quite good but since then he has really not advanced his writing skills a lot.
The vast depths of difference between this book and one of Abnett's is immense not only in writing skill but also in that Abnett does indeed create this rich, baroque Imperium that is filled with technology and unique cultures and it stands as such a great counter-point to the dead-end of the 40K Imperium.
THis book, as was mentioned, could have been a 40K novel.
Lord
· 1 year ago
I am glad someone agrees with me.
Forhekset
· 1 year ago
Why does everyone hate Descent of Angels? I thought that was one of the most stand out. Granted the end almost ruined it all, but only because it skipped over so much and cut the soul that the rest of the book had builded up.
abhinavjain
· 1 year ago
that is sort of true... but the whole bloody book is this one Knight and we see some really stupid and obvious stuff happening.... SW hate DA and vice versa right... lets name one of the villains in the book after SW!! what a miracle!! meh meh meh....
pixelgeek
· 1 year ago
> but only because it skipped over so much and cut the soul that the rest of the book had builded up.
That is rather the point of my dislike for it. I read 100s of pages of basic background material and then never got to the meat that I wanted to read. It was a monumental waste of time
Forhekset
· 1 year ago
Well the story of Caliban was awesome in and of itself. If only their planets transition into the Imperium and Space Marines was as lovingly detailed.
jabba
· 1 year ago
That's a shame, I just finished up Legion-which was great. But with so many authors-every book in the series can't be great.
coffee
· 1 year ago
The biggest problem with this book is that instead of providing the details of an established event in Heresy history, it decides to come up with an entirely new plot point, straight out of left field. You start the book thinking, "Yay, Battle of Calth!" but instead you get bait-and-switched into a cheesy, pulp sci-fi, "sink the battleship" book. I felt violated after reading it... like I just got boned by a used car salesman. I could handled the shaky writing if the actual point of the novel was what it should have been.
NallTWD
· 1 year ago
I dunno, I thought it was pretty good. Nothing really beats a Word Eater spitting in the face of chaos while reciting his allegiances to the Emperor. THAT was pretty badass.
I'd go as far as giving it a 7/10. It was a worthwhile read.
albertsevil
· 1 year ago
I disagree that this book was the worst in the series - that award goes to Descent of Angels. Abyss, does though have it's problems - the World Eater and Thousand Sons marines aren't really explored and i found myself constantly waiting for the twist that would show their loyalties when stretched but it never came! (Honestly thought they would end up snapping and killing some Ultramrines in the warp). 'The Word' (Logar style) is always mentioned but never explored and the fate of the Ultramarine forces wasn't mentioned. The book shows few new things about the 31st millenium, and those questions it raises are rarely answered. Yet i still thought it was a great read and it certainly made me turn the pages! It may not be up to the quality of the other Heresy books but it is worth a try.
maxim
· 1 year ago
The World Eater and the Son showed thier loyalties - to the Emperor. You may have missed a small piece of 40k fluff around the events of Istvann III, but the World Eaters were thoroughly divided in their loyalties. The Thousand Sons stayed loyal until the Wolves razed Prospero. These two characters were the only vaguely interesting characters in a generally disappointing novel. Much more 40k than 30k. Anyway... Who else thinks the Iron Warriors would have had infighting just like the Children, Wolves, Eaters and Guard??
Forhekset
· 1 year ago
Excellent review bigred. Couldn't have worded it better myself. 100% spot on.
Even though I hated it, I would lend even more credence to the display of the Thousand Son and World Eater, as it shows the iconic character of the sorcerers turning from the Emperor's judgement, as well as the lesser ones such as with the World Eaters brain implant. I think this was a very important topic to have addressed for the series and I'm glad it's in there. Surprisingly alongside the cliched Word Bearers villainy, and the Ultramarines absurb straight-backed, arrogant attitude, it shows us that there really is shades of grey in the Emperor's universe. Mhotep saved their lives repeatably without a second thought and the World Eaters captain was loyal to the end, even though technically, because they went against His word, they are ultimately traitors.
Besides that, I hated the damn book. What a wasted chance.
GSM
· 1 year ago
Well I'm sorry to say I have to agree with this review. Mr Counters work with "the soul drinkers" (which by the way I would highly recommend) is a great read. But then he puts us through this very under welming work. yes I'm a great fan of the HH series, and was really looking forward to this installment, but I have to say, this was very disapointing. As Bigred has written, there are some bright spots in the book, but these are few and far between. Mr Counter can do so much better, and with this series being such a pivitol part of what is now 40K history, I only hope this is just a bump in a very long road.
Frank
· 1 year ago
I agree. An awful book. And I'm a hardcore Ultra fangeek.
I also see a parallell with "Descent of Angels" (which I hapenned to like by the way) in that it really isn't a Horus Heresy book. I don't think I'm overly cynical when I see the Black Library telling Ben Counter "Rewrite this story so it takes place during the Heresy. And throw in some Ultramarines, we haven't written any books about them yet.
Just I can see the same guy in the Black Library telling MItchell Scanlon "Try to squeeze in a couple of chapters about stuff right before Luther fell and we can sell this as a Heresy book!"
Space Machine
· 1 year ago
I don't see why everyone is so surprised. Bean Counter is consistently awful. It surprises me that his books keep selling so well... at least, that's the only reason I can assume BL keep on giving him more work!
IMHO, the Horus Heresy should just be carved up between Abnett and McNeill.
Nightwing
· 1 year ago
The review is absolutely right! Battle to the Abyss is the worsest of all the Horus Heresy novels in my opinion. Abnetts Extras have more character depth and are much more elite than the Astartes in Counters novel. Authors like counter made the Ultramarines such a boring Chapter though they are really interesting AND Hardcore.
I dearly hope they don't let him write another part of the Horus Heresy.
Matthew Rider
· 1 year ago
Well Im no expert on the horus heresy books, as I only own Fulgrim, (iron hands woo!) but it does seem like smurfs woudnt fit in with the whole deep storyline and characterisation that goes with the series.Theyre just way to noble and shallow.
Mac
· 1 year ago
This is the first Horus Heresy book I put down and wont be finishing any time soon. Utter rubbish and I hope that the Mechanicum novel by McNeill will correct this slight.
TPR Trewevas
· 1 year ago
I haven't finished the book yet, but I agree on its craplitude... it is still MUCH better than the feculent Descent of Angels (which I found to be singularly unreadable), but this is not saying much.
St.ben
· 1 year ago
I found it rather hard to put down, but mainly because I couldn't wait for the next passage about Mhothep. It felt like the rest was a chore and he was the reward. And that made the rest all the more hard to read. Decent of angels was pretty good and I can't wait to read the ending of the novel.
By the way, word on some podcasts is that Abnett and McNeil will both do the Prospero battle, one for each side.
Gothmog
· 1 year ago
I don't know about one star.
To me, it could very well have been the standard BL book, yes. BUT at the same time, it does give us an important story out of the heresy that we never would have know other wise. Why did the word bearers attack calth?
We always knew that Horus ordered it, but now we know that it wasn't suppossed to be the long epic battle that it ends up being, it was suppossed to be short, easy, and brutal.
I also really liked how it showed the Saturine Fleet. Gives us an idea of how, even within Sol, that man is still uniting and that the Imperium rises more out of a vast collection of alliances than anything.
Skrall and Mhotep were awesome. I wished Wsoric would have been explained better though.
And the action was what I have come to expect. The rolling broadside: awesome.
All in all, normal BL, but 3/5 for Heresy.
Now to go watch Guns of Navarone.
Dylan McManus
· 1 year ago
I have to agree whole heartedly that this book was the biggest let down in the entire Horus Heresy series. I have been picking it up, and putting it down since I got it, and have been disgusted the entire time. What a massive bomb on Black Library's part.
nurglez
· 1 year ago
I love the horus heresy, and i did read this book pretty much non stop to get to the end, but yes, i agree with this review, ben counter really isnt as great a writer as abnett or mcneil.
As for descent of angels, when i first read it i hated it, as it didnt touch on anything to do with the herey that i hadnt allready read at the back of the first chaos codex (summed up on 2 pages or so). however, rereading it, i did actually enjoy it as a book, just not really connected with the horus heresy.
I really hope we dont get too many of these books, set aside to milk the heresy for all its worth, I know they will milk it alot, but i hope that more stay true to characters and events we actually know about at the current timeline of the heresy as it is after fulgrim.
JV0508
· 1 year ago
Hmm I've very much enjoined the series so far and i'm deffinitly going to pick this one up, too. not looking forward to it too much though.
As for Descent of Angels. This book is like taking candy from a baby. It sets up caracters and places and just when you get realy excited about the story....... nothing it just ends and you go like what the hell! is there a sequel?
Mrrshann618
· 1 year ago
Actually this books was not that bad. YES the SM's were archtyped, fairly bland, yadda yadds. However I really liked the "atmosphere" that started to build as they were in the warp, Now I'm not saying he went the whole nine yards with a Cthulhu feel, but the "Wet slap of the man hitting the ground, you just knew he was dead." only to have that guy get up and waste a whole deck. It really put the "power" behind the demons.
I liked Mhotep, then again I'm always been fans of the 1k suns. While the characterse were fairly 2 dimensional, he was about a 2.5.
And to be honest, I really cannot stand Abnett. I've put down his books more than just about any other BL writer (He tends to write more than any other author, so naturally his have a better chance of being put down) Word Bearers turned Zealot, A cookie cutter villians go Zealots are not known for brilliant plans. So having the Word Bearers go "soft in the head" makes sense, thier victory is assured as long as they believe.
Ordnung
· 1 year ago
Descent of Angels was bound to do poorly as it followed on the heels of Fulgrim, arguably one of the best pieces of fiction Black library has churned out in sometime. I'm at page 110 of this one and I'm enjoying it, as I would probably enjoy a novel of Space Marines at a golf course goofing off anyways, but it is no hard hitter at all which is not good for this series. I thought Horus Rising, really the first 3 were all great. Flight of the Eisenstein was a sleeper and the first clue that this stuff was going to really drag, but Fulgrim was a step back in the right direction. Legion was just irrelevant, like Descent of Angels. They need to get this story on the ball with some good writing and some novels that get us to the siege of Terra already. They really only have one shot to put out the Heresy tale as a novel series so they need to sdtop frakking it up already.
Augie
· 1 year ago
Doe the title say "Battle of Calth?" No? Then why does everyone assume it must be Calth? I didn't like this book as much as I liked the Soul Drinkers, but I wouldn't call it the worst by far.
Horus, as a character, turns because he feels abandoned. Uh wow. Let's make a primarch, a god amongst men nearly, and then we'll forget to give the guy self-confidence? Although, I grant you, the character had to have some failing. But abandonment whilst on military campaigns is not abnormal. He's supposed to be a warrior. It makes me wonder who fostered the character and if anyone had ever served in the military or not.
"Descent.." was a disaster. While the background into the Dark Angels was very interesting, I do not think it should have ever been billed as a Heresy novel when it had, at best, only a tiny fraction. Construction of a legion was glossed over and we did not see anything as to what construction might have been like pre-Heresy.
"Legion" didn't expand the universe. It added a couple new characters and stuck on a "surprise" ending. That's not expansion. That's called selling. Until the last 10 pages or so, the book just had people running about trying to figure out what was going on, without a care about the audience. I'll grant the major revelation as to why the Alpha Legion broke is seriously interesting, but the rest of the book did not hinge on it.
"Fulgrim" blew. Fulgrim as a central character made no sense at all. First he's loyal, suddenly, he looks at a painting and changes. His entire turn takes only a few pages whereas Horus takes1.5 books and even then remains questionable. There is little, if any, cause as in other traitors, for Fulgrim to turn.
Angelic_Despot
· 1 year ago
I thought 'Horus Rising' was really good, but 'False Gods' had some major low points. And the turning of Horus was one of them. So, he's lying injured, and so Magnus is using illegal powers and trying to manipulate him...
But no more so than the couldn't-be-more-obvious Word Bearer. And at least Magnus is being consistent.
So why did Horus choose to follow the advice of Erebus over Magnus? No idea. No explanation given. And no reason why this brave, intelligent warrior would give up so easily and fall for something so obvious.
Kev
· 1 year ago
The book a bit too... peripheral in setting to be as fitting a HH novel, although it was more involved than Descent of Angels which laboured too much on heavy handed brotherly betrayal and kept itself too far away from the main fight for its own good.
What I enjoyed the most about the book were the space battles. They expand on the battles in earlier novels to the nth degree, and made for exciting reading. I also enjoyed the portrayal of Mhotep, and therefore the Thousand Sons, as not being the evil sorcerers that they are in 40k, but noble self-sacrificing brothers of the loyalist marines (hopefully to be expanded upon later). It also provided a nice sojourn into warp space and details of the entities that reside there (and plenty of references to entrails being spilled, which is always neat!).
In terms of flaws, apart from essentially being a side story, the characterisation of the Space Wolf was a bit too Klingon - I had a hard time reading any of Brynngar's lines without hearing the voice of General Martok! I didn't have too much of an issue with the Word Bearers' characterisations as, while perhaps written a little cartoonishly, they were also given the excessive zeal and shown to have little regard for anything but personal advancement in the eyes of Lorgar.
Also, if you're rating it as a HH novel, then yes it doesn't deserve too high a score, but as a science fiction book set in the 40k universe it is actually a pretty good read.
Patrick
· 1 year ago
I would give it about 2 out of 5. One of the largest gripes is that Ben Counter seemed to just rush the last part of the book. While as said before suffering through the long, drawn out prose that was like reading the latest paper from your high school english teacher. He just ended some of the characters in a snap, just, oh they are dead attitude...even the ending was a snap ending with the climax.
I would have to say he was very stereotyped with the characters, but some of them did offer some interesting aspects of including the 1000 Sons and World Eaters. Some of the ironey is all the voilations that they all did to the Imperial creed would have had many of them banished or executed for their actions.
wolf breath
· 1 year ago
I'm about 3/4s the way through it, and it's hard work so far. Counter is doing the already stultifyingly boring Smurfs no favours. Skraal and Mhotep were potentially very good characters, it's just a shame that Abnett, McNeill, or even James Swallow, who I thought did an excellent job on Flight of the Eisenstein, didn't get to work on them.
The fluff isn't up to scratch either. In one chapter it mentions Brynngar's axe and the Rune Priest who forged it, in the next he's talking about throwing all witches in the ocean. Also, whilst travelling in the warp the crew of the Wrathful were able to look through view ports and see the Fireblade moving alongside them without their brains dribbling out their ears. Does anybody else think this runs counter to all GWs fluff on travelling in the Warp?
It's hard to decide which is worse, this or Descent of Angels. I'm reading it as fast as possible so I can move on to something good.
UltramarineFan
· 1 year ago
No, nearly all the books in the HH series mention marines lookin out of portholes inot the warp-the force field protects their minds as wall as the psychic in fluence of the warp can't get through to them. Also their stubborn refusal of sorcery and stuff probably gives them extra protection.
wolf breath
· 1 year ago
That may be so, though I doubt it, but Admiral Kaminska is certainly not a genetically enhanced super human and it was she who looked through the viewport. Later, when she's consulting with her Navigator, she looks at the warp via a mirror through a heavily filtered view screen. "To look at the warp,even filtered as it was, would be incredibly dangerous for her." Some continuity isn't a lot to ask.
UltramarineFan
· 1 year ago
I may be wrong but I swear i read about a rememberencer looking out through a porthole in one of the first three books
Ulthanesh
· 1 year ago
I'm just finishing Galaxy in Flames, and while I do like the story and plot development, I have to echo that Counter hasn't got the same grasp of 40K atmosphere other authors in the series seem to. The story moves well, but the characters dialogue isn't fitting for the universe. The speech is too modern and flippant - the characters whom I'd assume would be more prosaic and dramatic are reduced to mundane one liners.
Also, that Loken could subdue Kharn in so brief an encounter is ludicrous. The ending is very hurried - after building up Lucius' as this consummate, self-absorbed psychotic swordsman, he's hurried out of the book by another brief fight with Tarvitz and escapes out a hole in a wall? C'mon,..
I don't dislike Counter as a story teller, but he's got not grasp of vernacular and suffers from building a story up and whipping into an unsatisfying (and less believable) end.
UltramarineFan
· 1 year ago
Actually the word bearers could be called heretics as in Flight of the Eseinstein Garro is clearly swayed to belief of the empeor as a god so why wouldn't it happen in other legions? Also in Fulgrim the archivist guy says that a heretic is simply someone who believes something that opposes the main belief( at the time would have been Imperial Truth)
Joeb
· 1 year ago
I can accept that the Word Bearers are backstabbers. But I can't accept that they are so concerned with personal advancement that they allow a handful of smurfs to screw up a major, major attack. All because they're to busy being evil and cackling maniacally over the corpse of a power-hungry lieutenant.
I thought it was really odd that Skraal was disgusted by what was essentially an autopsy when he's killed thousands himself. That really rang false to me.
St.ben
· 1 year ago
Funny thing is, all those first time novel writers in the new Guardsmen series are quite good, while quite a few veteran writers kinda messed up their HH books.
And as a side note, aren't you glad BoLS already did a 30K campain, otherwise we'd be stuck with these snorefest characters. "Cestus may be a total bore and order any number of space wolf blood claws and world eaters to their death before ordering his own men to attack." "Zadkiel May act as a total moron and cannot kill anything that might kill him, therefore he has zero attacks and a Gretchin can kill him on a roll of a 3+" "Mothep can kill any daemon he looks at." "Skraal is a very confused young man, kills anything with a T3 in CC no matter if they're on his side or not."
You lot make up the rules for Brynngar and the rest, no more fun to be had beating a dead horse.
evernevermore
· 1 year ago
What I have to say about this is there a ton of gems that Counter seems to ignore or discard for boring characters. Uriel Ventris has already shown you can have an Ultramarine who is more then one dimensional but all the interesting characters in the book get killed off without being explored.
coydna
· 1 year ago
I thought the book was a major disappointment. While I understand every book isn't going to fit in with the heresy itself (descent started exploring how the rift in the dark angels grew, legion explained the workings of the alpha legion and how their chapter got pulled in), this simply appeared out of nowhere. The other books all had some grounding as to their situation/characters/timeline, but this seemed to just pop up. Before this book, no mention was made of the word bearers mighty ship or any other plans of the like beyond 'go get calth!' On top of this, Counter's characters are horribly flawed. While cookie-cutter in nature, I found them interesting to see their stereotypes developed. But then dialogue ruined this. This is perfectly illustrated when Mhotep (who up till this point is in classic "I banish thee to the abyss foul beast yadda yadda) turns to a daemon and says "Feeding time's over." It felt like a badly scripted action film. Imagine every character as Schwarzenegger and you'll see what I mean.
Lord
· 1 year ago
Can I just ask? what was your favorite Heresy Book so far? also, what was your least favorite? this applies to everyone.
UltramarineFan
· 1 year ago
fave-Flight of the Eseinstein- Particularly the Swallow shows how the loyal primarchs(rogal dorn in this book) deny any possibility of Horus being a traitor whereas they simply accepted it in previous fluff least fave-don't have one YET ( only just finished Fulgrim!!!!!)
Angelic_Despot
· 1 year ago
Here's my scoring for them (all that I've read so far) out of 10: Horus Rising: 8 False Gods: 5 Galaxy in flames: 3 Flight of the Eisenstein: 2 Fulgrim: 4 Descent of Angels: 6 I'm on Legion now. The first book had an interesting story and atmosphere, avoided concentrating too much on the very hard-to-describe primarchs, had mostly interesting characters and plot themes. Horus Rising kept the decent characters, but added some huge plot holes (like Horus falling into such an obvious set-up, Erebus being so damn-obvious, Horus choosing chaos for no particular reason, and Lokken having some really damning evidence against the Word Bearers and not bothering to do anything with it). Galaxy in Flames had no story line at all (they fight - end of story), no characterisation, nothing interesting happening. The loyalists hold out because they're brave. Not because they do anything intelligent, or have cunning plans, or because the plot twists and turns, but because they're 'good'. Flight of the Eisenstein didn't even have the benefit of using existing characters much. You could replace the name 'Garro' with 'Lokken' and not know the difference, except that Lokken was better written. The others had no character at all. The marine with the plasma gun, the marine with the power fist - that was all that distinguished them. Rorgal Dorn couldn't control his temper when told something he didn't like, so like a 6 year old child decided to hit Garro. But he can't have been that annoyed, because he only broke his jaw. (However, I did like the passage describing the very lonely, forlorn abandoned-ness that was the Eistenstien after they've blown the warp engines and are huddling around the only working (and warm) bit of the ship left. That bit was very nice.) Fulgrim at least had a bit more of a story to it, and some actual characters, even iif there didn't seem to be any reason for any of them falling for chaos. And if I perfectly hear again how perfectly the perfect Emperors perfect Children fight in a perfect battle because they love perfection, I'll kill myself. Descent of Angels was much better written. It explored the flawed nature of Lion El Johnson and his relationship with the chapter through 'lesser' characters that we could relate to. It was massively let down by the ending though, which went nowhere and told us nothing. I'm about a third of the way through Legion now, and quite enjoying it. It has characters, interesting settings, plot... It seems a bit peripheral to the Heresy so far, but the Alpha Legion are a pretty peripheral legion, so I've no objection there. Not everyone can be fighting at the deciding battle.
Lord
· 1 year ago
Personally, I liked
Horus Rising: 7 False Gods: 5 Galaxy in flames: 4 Flight of the Eisenstein: 5 Fulgrim: 8 Descent of Angels: have not read Legion: 4 Battle for the Abyss: 2
My main comment is that the first 2 books, and Fulgrim all show primarchs in a good way. In my mind they are the most intersting thing. I personally Loved fulgrim, especially the ending, but the info about the music, lucius, and the apothocary are all good to.
Drix
· 1 year ago
My biggest issue with the book is that it was, quite simply, predictable. I knew within the first fourth what the end result was going to be, for the most part. I mean, it does explain a side part of the HH and how the Ultras were saved and went on to become the largest Legion in terms of manpower after the Heresy, which I guess I wanted to know...? I just would like to know how much of these stories are the authors own and how much is controlled by GW/Black Lib. It was kinda neat to see more loyalist marines from the Legions that did turn to Chaos.
JV0508
· 1 year ago
Isnt that what HH is all about? reading about something you already know is inevidably going to happen. I mean i realy like the books but i dont know if id like them have as much without the context of the stories already beeing established. espacially in the first 2 books. you KNOW horus is going to turn you just want to know HOW and at which point
Drix
· 1 year ago
Um, true...but the HOW for most of the previous books were actually interesting. This book just doesn't have the twists and "wow!" moments most of the others have had.
Imperialsavant
· 1 year ago
Agree wholehartedly with bigred! this book was a BIG dissapointment to me & I only managed to read halfway through before I gave up & lent it to one of my gaming mates. My biggest complaints: Way too much "Hyperbole" in descriptions, Unappealing Characters, the Ultramarine Captain that "barked" his orders, The Space Wolf who acted like a Klingon from Star Trek, the nurotic Word Bearer etc. The Super Battleship that couldnt even pick up the Marines on their Auspex/Sensors as they approached the Space Dock, the rediculous effort to shut down the Plant at the other Space Station (they were going to Blow it Up to save the Station!) Emperors Teeth! Didnt they know that action would have Blown Everyone UP! After the great stories & characters from all the Books (except Decent of Angels) this one was a real let down. Hope the next few offerings are more like the first lot.
ArmouredWing
· 1 year ago
I'd definitely have given it a 3/5 as it was one of the easier reads of the series so far and not the worst by a long chalk. The worst? Well, Fulgrim is a contender as is Legion (and being a massive abnett fan it grieves me greatly to say that but credit where it's due so to speak).
Generally I'd have to say that the series as a whole has been more of a disapointment than anything else. The authors have continually missed the mark and even the better novels in the series (e.g. Flight of the Eisenstein) haven't been great. In fact there's only one book that would have scored a maximum of 5/5 and that was Horus Rising (Abnett at the top of his game!).
Stingray
· 1 year ago
I'm glad someone else thought this book was a pile of poo. I had to drag my way through it, and I took a break and read a couple of other books half way through. I only kept going in the hope of a big story arc reveal (a la 'Legion') that never came. The worst in the series so far. Very poor.
Sir Volkar
· 1 year ago
Battle For The Abyss was a total disappointment for me.
Not having read any other Black Library title, I was reticent to check out the Horus Heresy stuff, because I had a preconception of what the writing would be like - poorly produced pulp sci-fi for teens.
I quickly ate my hat after reading Horus Rising and followed this with a feast of 40k delights. These boys could seriously scribe! Spectacular stories, carefully crafted characterization and powerful prose that even had me checking the dictionairy once or twice. This was not what I had anticipated. I even used extracts from Horus Rising in a few of my lessons on creative writing to provide pupils with exemplary modern writing.
Unfortunately, Battle for the Abyss is exactly what I had expected. A predictable story with one-dimensional characters (okay, Skraal was interesting, although more time should have been spent confronting his inner and outer struggle for survival onboard the Abyss). But the thing that really got me was the prose itself. The level of repetition in this novel was dreadful! The Angel of the Emperor did this and the Angel of the Emperor did that. I've had fourteen year-olds produce fiction with a broader range of lexis than that on display here.
After the fantastic work of Abnett with Legion (that ending! :O ), this was a real let down (although not so much as the conclusion to Descent of Angels, which was just asinine!).
I would give this one a 1/5.
Orkistotle
· 1 year ago
I'd give it a 1.5 out of 5. (EE)Mhotep and Skraal were interesting characters. I also like the warp content and ship combat.
I really hate the term "swallow his gorge" and "his gorge rose." Way too much 'gorge' for me by Counter. I've noticed this in a lot of his books.
The other thing is more of a timeline issue. I remember some passage about taking several decades to build the Furious Abyss. Let's assume at least 40 years to build the ship. Add to that planning time for this whole 'blow up the moon' bit not to mention time to corrupt the Word Bearers from the top down then the Mechanicum. They could easily have been corrupted a century or two before Heresy. Yeah, I know that chaos is slow and meticulous infestation, but I really wish an editor would catch this type of stuff.
Does anyone think I'm off base on this?
RobK
· 11 months ago
I was going to give this thing 2 out of 5 stars....
I really was.
Then...Cestus threw his sword and killed somebody. I have a rule; whether it be movies, books or games. Anytime someone throws a sword, they lose points. Zorro, 2 of the most recent Musketeers movies, Conan the Destroyer. I tell you, it is an absolute indicator of the inability to think of anything original.
Ben Counter, you have failed. Report to the Chamber of Chastisement.
All Comments
Counter's got some work to do still in finding his narrative voice. My favorite parts were the Thousand Son, the World-Eater, and the trials in the Warp that they endured.
My only beef with the Thousand Son was the name 'Mhotep' brought to mind scenes from the Mummy where one hero, caught in a bind, started chanting EEEM HOOO TEP! EEEM HOOOO TEP! and all the zombies got a case of the stupid-chant.
Beyond that, the marines are all fairly one-dimensional (...on a level, I'll buy that marines may very well be pretty similar, and stereotypes have to come from somewhere. However, do not give me main characters that are flat like that). The Word Bearers have a guardsmen's stat line here, and it's kind of hard to swallow that their stupidity blew this attack like it did.
.1 stars out of 5, GIVE US MORE ABNETT! even more mcneill instead of this ****
As far as the rest of the book, yeah, it sucked. I had a hard time remembering that this was taking place in M31 and not M41. And, as much as Descent of Angels blew chunks, at least it had decent characterization.
but it was too much of a history book.... then a SM action book.....
no pun intended.
are you kidding me?
this was one of the best horus heresy books ever.....
i dont quite understand (WTF)
yours respectfully closet.
If you look at the first books, no one, not even the primarchs understands what deamons/the warp are. in this book, important characters seem to know everything possible.
Also there is nothing intersting about the weapons, squad organization, or chapters (other than world eaters & 1K sons being loyalist) that makes in similar to the theme of slow, mistaken learning of the other books. If you changed Mhotep into a librarian, and the world eaters into a similar 'good' chapter, than the book would be a classic 40K novel.
However compared to such gems as Horus Rising, Fulgrim, and Eisenstein, this book falls flat on its face.
I really hope that Ben Counter does not continue his shallow style of writing, and in my opinion, if he wrote about any other topic, he would not be able to be a writer.
the book felt really 40k
I distinctly recal Loken talking with the interex in the second book and they were SHOCKED that humans knew NOTHING of Chaos. Now everyone is an expert. Go figure...
No lie though, he has gone down hill.
The only Beakie book I have had the misfortune to read that was worse was Iron Hands, which I generally hold to be as the worst Black Library book ever published.
Thing is, Ben also wrote one of my favourite Black Library books, Daemon World. Which makes Battle for the Abyss even more galling, because he can do so much better.
A collosal letdown. At least it should be made up for by Mechanicum this winter.
I haven't actually read this yet. I will do (I'm a die-hard Horus Heresy fiend), but I thought Galaxy in Flames was truly awful, and I'm expecting nothing better from Ben Counter this time around.
Every time I check Amazon and see glowing reviews of every single GW book a little part of me dies. I (much against my expectation) really enjoyed Horus Rising and thought it was surprisingly well written. It all went downhill from there. Though Descent of Angels was pretty good, just let down by the ending.
Note: I've just started on Legion, so I can't comment on that one.
*small spoiler* nothing big
I have one question though. "you know what we do with witches on Fenris"...uh really? so uh how do all the Rune Priests handle this?
I was disappointed, but I'm a die hard Heresy fan, so I'm waiting for the next one.
I'll refer them here for any further explanation. :)
Thanks!
I really don't like Counter's work that much. The exception is the first half of the first Soul Drinkers book which was actually quite good but since then he has really not advanced his writing skills a lot.
The vast depths of difference between this book and one of Abnett's is immense not only in writing skill but also in that Abnett does indeed create this rich, baroque Imperium that is filled with technology and unique cultures and it stands as such a great counter-point to the dead-end of the 40K Imperium.
THis book, as was mentioned, could have been a 40K novel.
That is rather the point of my dislike for it. I read 100s of pages of basic background material and then never got to the meat that I wanted to read. It was a monumental waste of time
I'd go as far as giving it a 7/10. It was a worthwhile read.
Abyss, does though have it's problems - the World Eater and Thousand Sons marines aren't really explored and i found myself constantly waiting for the twist that would show their loyalties when stretched but it never came! (Honestly thought they would end up snapping and killing some Ultramrines in the warp).
'The Word' (Logar style) is always mentioned but never explored and the fate of the Ultramarine forces wasn't mentioned.
The book shows few new things about the 31st millenium, and those questions it raises are rarely answered.
Yet i still thought it was a great read and it certainly made me turn the pages! It may not be up to the quality of the other Heresy books but it is worth a try.
Even though I hated it, I would lend even more credence to the display of the Thousand Son and World Eater, as it shows the iconic character of the sorcerers turning from the Emperor's judgement, as well as the lesser ones such as with the World Eaters brain implant. I think this was a very important topic to have addressed for the series and I'm glad it's in there. Surprisingly alongside the cliched Word Bearers villainy, and the Ultramarines absurb straight-backed, arrogant attitude, it shows us that there really is shades of grey in the Emperor's universe. Mhotep saved their lives repeatably without a second thought and the World Eaters captain was loyal to the end, even though technically, because they went against His word, they are ultimately traitors.
Besides that, I hated the damn book. What a wasted chance.
As Bigred has written, there are some bright spots in the book, but these are few and far between.
Mr Counter can do so much better, and with this series being such a pivitol part of what is now 40K history, I only hope this is just a bump in a very long road.
I also see a parallell with "Descent of Angels" (which I hapenned to like by the way) in that it really isn't a Horus Heresy book. I don't think I'm overly cynical when I see the Black Library telling Ben Counter "Rewrite this story so it takes place during the Heresy. And throw in some Ultramarines, we haven't written any books about them yet.
Just I can see the same guy in the Black Library telling MItchell Scanlon "Try to squeeze in a couple of chapters about stuff right before Luther fell and we can sell this as a Heresy book!"
IMHO, the Horus Heresy should just be carved up between Abnett and McNeill.
Authors like counter made the Ultramarines such a boring Chapter though they are really interesting AND Hardcore.
I dearly hope they don't let him write another part of the Horus Heresy.
Decent of angels was pretty good and I can't wait to read the ending of the novel.
By the way, word on some podcasts is that Abnett and McNeil will both do the Prospero battle, one for each side.
To me, it could very well have been the standard BL book, yes. BUT at the same time, it does give us an important story out of the heresy that we never would have know other wise. Why did the word bearers attack calth?
We always knew that Horus ordered it, but now we know that it wasn't suppossed to be the long epic battle that it ends up being, it was suppossed to be short, easy, and brutal.
I also really liked how it showed the Saturine Fleet. Gives us an idea of how, even within Sol, that man is still uniting and that the Imperium rises more out of a vast collection of alliances than anything.
Skrall and Mhotep were awesome. I wished Wsoric would have been explained better though.
And the action was what I have come to expect. The rolling broadside: awesome.
All in all, normal BL, but 3/5 for Heresy.
Now to go watch Guns of Navarone.
As for descent of angels, when i first read it i hated it, as it didnt touch on anything to do with the herey that i hadnt allready read at the back of the first chaos codex (summed up on 2 pages or so). however, rereading it, i did actually enjoy it as a book, just not really connected with the horus heresy.
I really hope we dont get too many of these books, set aside to milk the heresy for all its worth, I know they will milk it alot, but i hope that more stay true to characters and events we actually know about at the current timeline of the heresy as it is after fulgrim.
As for Descent of Angels. This book is like taking candy from a baby. It sets up caracters and places and just when you get realy excited about the story....... nothing it just ends and you go like what the hell! is there a sequel?
I liked Mhotep, then again I'm always been fans of the 1k suns. While the characterse were fairly 2 dimensional, he was about a 2.5.
And to be honest, I really cannot stand Abnett. I've put down his books more than just about any other BL writer (He tends to write more than any other author, so naturally his have a better chance of being put down)
Word Bearers turned Zealot, A cookie cutter villians go Zealots are not known for brilliant plans. So having the Word Bearers go "soft in the head" makes sense, thier victory is assured as long as they believe.
Horus, as a character, turns because he feels abandoned. Uh wow. Let's make a primarch, a god amongst men nearly, and then we'll forget to give the guy self-confidence? Although, I grant you, the character had to have some failing. But abandonment whilst on military campaigns is not abnormal. He's supposed to be a warrior. It makes me wonder who fostered the character and if anyone had ever served in the military or not.
"Descent.." was a disaster. While the background into the Dark Angels was very interesting, I do not think it should have ever been billed as a Heresy novel when it had, at best, only a tiny fraction. Construction of a legion was glossed over and we did not see anything as to what construction might have been like pre-Heresy.
"Legion" didn't expand the universe. It added a couple new characters and stuck on a "surprise" ending. That's not expansion. That's called selling. Until the last 10 pages or so, the book just had people running about trying to figure out what was going on, without a care about the audience. I'll grant the major revelation as to why the Alpha Legion broke is seriously interesting, but the rest of the book did not hinge on it.
"Fulgrim" blew. Fulgrim as a central character made no sense at all. First he's loyal, suddenly, he looks at a painting and changes. His entire turn takes only a few pages whereas Horus takes1.5 books and even then remains questionable. There is little, if any, cause as in other traitors, for Fulgrim to turn.
But no more so than the couldn't-be-more-obvious Word Bearer. And at least Magnus is being consistent.
So why did Horus choose to follow the advice of Erebus over Magnus? No idea. No explanation given. And no reason why this brave, intelligent warrior would give up so easily and fall for something so obvious.
What I enjoyed the most about the book were the space battles. They expand on the battles in earlier novels to the nth degree, and made for exciting reading. I also enjoyed the portrayal of Mhotep, and therefore the Thousand Sons, as not being the evil sorcerers that they are in 40k, but noble self-sacrificing brothers of the loyalist marines (hopefully to be expanded upon later). It also provided a nice sojourn into warp space and details of the entities that reside there (and plenty of references to entrails being spilled, which is always neat!).
In terms of flaws, apart from essentially being a side story, the characterisation of the Space Wolf was a bit too Klingon - I had a hard time reading any of Brynngar's lines without hearing the voice of General Martok! I didn't have too much of an issue with the Word Bearers' characterisations as, while perhaps written a little cartoonishly, they were also given the excessive zeal and shown to have little regard for anything but personal advancement in the eyes of Lorgar.
Also, if you're rating it as a HH novel, then yes it doesn't deserve too high a score, but as a science fiction book set in the 40k universe it is actually a pretty good read.
I would have to say he was very stereotyped with the characters, but some of them did offer some interesting aspects of including the 1000 Sons and World Eaters. Some of the ironey is all the voilations that they all did to the Imperial creed would have had many of them banished or executed for their actions.
The fluff isn't up to scratch either. In one chapter it mentions Brynngar's axe and the Rune Priest who forged it, in the next he's talking about throwing all witches in the ocean. Also, whilst travelling in the warp the crew of the Wrathful were able to look through view ports and see the Fireblade moving alongside them without their brains dribbling out their ears. Does anybody else think this runs counter to all GWs fluff on travelling in the Warp?
It's hard to decide which is worse, this or Descent of Angels. I'm reading it as fast as possible so I can move on to something good.
Also their stubborn refusal of sorcery and stuff probably gives them extra protection.
Also, that Loken could subdue Kharn in so brief an encounter is ludicrous. The ending is very hurried - after building up Lucius' as this consummate, self-absorbed psychotic swordsman, he's hurried out of the book by another brief fight with Tarvitz and escapes out a hole in a wall? C'mon,..
I don't dislike Counter as a story teller, but he's got not grasp of vernacular and suffers from building a story up and whipping into an unsatisfying (and less believable) end.
Also in Fulgrim the archivist guy says that a heretic is simply someone who believes something that opposes the main belief( at the time would have been Imperial Truth)
I thought it was really odd that Skraal was disgusted by what was essentially an autopsy when he's killed thousands himself. That really rang false to me.
And as a side note, aren't you glad BoLS already did a 30K campain, otherwise we'd be stuck with these snorefest characters.
"Cestus may be a total bore and order any number of space wolf blood claws and world eaters to their death before ordering his own men to attack."
"Zadkiel May act as a total moron and cannot kill anything that might kill him, therefore he has zero attacks and a Gretchin can kill him on a roll of a 3+"
"Mothep can kill any daemon he looks at."
"Skraal is a very confused young man, kills anything with a T3 in CC no matter if they're on his side or not."
You lot make up the rules for Brynngar and the rest, no more fun to be had beating a dead horse.
least fave-don't have one YET ( only just finished Fulgrim!!!!!)
Horus Rising: 8
False Gods: 5
Galaxy in flames: 3
Flight of the Eisenstein: 2
Fulgrim: 4
Descent of Angels: 6
I'm on Legion now.
The first book had an interesting story and atmosphere, avoided concentrating too much on the very hard-to-describe primarchs, had mostly interesting characters and plot themes.
Horus Rising kept the decent characters, but added some huge plot holes (like Horus falling into such an obvious set-up, Erebus being so damn-obvious, Horus choosing chaos for no particular reason, and Lokken having some really damning evidence against the Word Bearers and not bothering to do anything with it).
Galaxy in Flames had no story line at all (they fight - end of story), no characterisation, nothing interesting happening. The loyalists hold out because they're brave. Not because they do anything intelligent, or have cunning plans, or because the plot twists and turns, but because they're 'good'.
Flight of the Eisenstein didn't even have the benefit of using existing characters much. You could replace the name 'Garro' with 'Lokken' and not know the difference, except that Lokken was better written. The others had no character at all. The marine with the plasma gun, the marine with the power fist - that was all that distinguished them. Rorgal Dorn couldn't control his temper when told something he didn't like, so like a 6 year old child decided to hit Garro. But he can't have been that annoyed, because he only broke his jaw. (However, I did like the passage describing the very lonely, forlorn abandoned-ness that was the Eistenstien after they've blown the warp engines and are huddling around the only working (and warm) bit of the ship left. That bit was very nice.)
Fulgrim at least had a bit more of a story to it, and some actual characters, even iif there didn't seem to be any reason for any of them falling for chaos. And if I perfectly hear again how perfectly the perfect Emperors perfect Children fight in a perfect battle because they love perfection, I'll kill myself.
Descent of Angels was much better written. It explored the flawed nature of Lion El Johnson and his relationship with the chapter through 'lesser' characters that we could relate to. It was massively let down by the ending though, which went nowhere and told us nothing.
I'm about a third of the way through Legion now, and quite enjoying it. It has characters, interesting settings, plot... It seems a bit peripheral to the Heresy so far, but the Alpha Legion are a pretty peripheral legion, so I've no objection there. Not everyone can be fighting at the deciding battle.
Horus Rising: 7
False Gods: 5
Galaxy in flames: 4
Flight of the Eisenstein: 5
Fulgrim: 8
Descent of Angels: have not read
Legion: 4
Battle for the Abyss: 2
My main comment is that the first 2 books, and Fulgrim all show primarchs in a good way. In my mind they are the most intersting thing. I personally Loved fulgrim, especially the ending, but the info about the music, lucius, and the apothocary are all good to.
My biggest complaints: Way too much "Hyperbole" in descriptions, Unappealing Characters, the Ultramarine Captain that "barked" his orders, The Space Wolf who acted like a Klingon from Star Trek, the nurotic Word Bearer etc.
The Super Battleship that couldnt even pick up the Marines on their Auspex/Sensors as they approached the Space Dock, the rediculous effort to shut down the Plant at the other Space Station (they were going to Blow it Up to save the Station!) Emperors Teeth! Didnt they know that action would have Blown Everyone UP!
After the great stories & characters from all the Books (except Decent of Angels) this one was a real let down. Hope the next few offerings are more like the first lot.
The worst? Well, Fulgrim is a contender as is Legion (and being a massive abnett fan it grieves me greatly to say that but credit where it's due so to speak).
Generally I'd have to say that the series as a whole has been more of a disapointment than anything else. The authors have continually missed the mark and even the better novels in the series (e.g. Flight of the Eisenstein) haven't been great. In fact there's only one book that would have scored a maximum of 5/5 and that was Horus Rising (Abnett at the top of his game!).
Not having read any other Black Library title, I was reticent to check out the Horus Heresy stuff, because I had a preconception of what the writing would be like - poorly produced pulp sci-fi for teens.
I quickly ate my hat after reading Horus Rising and followed this with a feast of 40k delights. These boys could seriously scribe! Spectacular stories, carefully crafted characterization and powerful prose that even had me checking the dictionairy once or twice. This was not what I had anticipated. I even used extracts from Horus Rising in a few of my lessons on creative writing to provide pupils with exemplary modern writing.
Unfortunately, Battle for the Abyss is exactly what I had expected. A predictable story with one-dimensional characters (okay, Skraal was interesting, although more time should have been spent confronting his inner and outer struggle for survival onboard the Abyss). But the thing that really got me was the prose itself. The level of repetition in this novel was dreadful! The Angel of the Emperor did this and the Angel of the Emperor did that. I've had fourteen year-olds produce fiction with a broader range of lexis than that on display here.
After the fantastic work of Abnett with Legion (that ending! :O ), this was a real let down (although not so much as the conclusion to Descent of Angels, which was just asinine!).
I would give this one a 1/5.
I really hate the term "swallow his gorge" and "his gorge rose." Way too much 'gorge' for me by Counter. I've noticed this in a lot of his books.
The other thing is more of a timeline issue. I remember some passage about taking several decades to build the Furious Abyss. Let's assume at least 40 years to build the ship. Add to that planning time for this whole 'blow up the moon' bit not to mention time to corrupt the Word Bearers from the top down then the Mechanicum. They could easily have been corrupted a century or two before Heresy. Yeah, I know that chaos is slow and meticulous infestation, but I really wish an editor would catch this type of stuff.
Does anyone think I'm off base on this?
I really was.
Then...Cestus threw his sword and killed somebody. I have a rule; whether it be movies, books or games. Anytime someone throws a sword, they lose points. Zorro, 2 of the most recent Musketeers movies, Conan the Destroyer. I tell you, it is an absolute indicator of the inability to think of anything original.
Ben Counter, you have failed. Report to the Chamber of Chastisement.