Prospero Burns. A story that any 40k player worth his salt knows or thinks they know. As with many of the Horus Heresy novels we learn alot of the behind the scenes stuff that shaped the lore we see today. This one happens to be about my favorite Chapter of all time, the vaunted Sons of Russ...The Space Wolves
The Writing
Dan Abnett is the man. He not only writes in a way that lets you precisely picture what is happening but there are times where you can feel it as well. Abnett presents the Space Wolves as they have always been to me and more. You get into their thought processes and see how they look at the universe. You also get a better understanding as to where they stand in the orders of the legions. This to me was the best part as you really get the sense of this from the Codex. It is easy to draw the parallels between the two with how the Wolves play out on the table. Abnett lets you get into the mind of a Space Wolf. That is not necessarily a place you are gonna want to go.
The Story
This is where my heart breaks. For all the good info and viewpoints you get, the story does nothing for me. I will not give spoilers but I will say this. This was supposed to be the burning of Prospero through the eyes of the Wolves. I fails at this miserably in my opinion. It is some of the parts but quite frankly it does not go into alot of the needed details to make it as such. It does not coincide with A Thousand Sons until the last quarter of the book. The rest is a loose story that is a cheesy way of tying threads together that do not need to be tied together. It could have been done better in my opinion.
The Writing
Dan Abnett is the man. He not only writes in a way that lets you precisely picture what is happening but there are times where you can feel it as well. Abnett presents the Space Wolves as they have always been to me and more. You get into their thought processes and see how they look at the universe. You also get a better understanding as to where they stand in the orders of the legions. This to me was the best part as you really get the sense of this from the Codex. It is easy to draw the parallels between the two with how the Wolves play out on the table. Abnett lets you get into the mind of a Space Wolf. That is not necessarily a place you are gonna want to go.
The Story
This is where my heart breaks. For all the good info and viewpoints you get, the story does nothing for me. I will not give spoilers but I will say this. This was supposed to be the burning of Prospero through the eyes of the Wolves. I fails at this miserably in my opinion. It is some of the parts but quite frankly it does not go into alot of the needed details to make it as such. It does not coincide with A Thousand Sons until the last quarter of the book. The rest is a loose story that is a cheesy way of tying threads together that do not need to be tied together. It could have been done better in my opinion.
Final Rating
I am giving this book a 6.5 out of 10. Abnett can't write bad but this story just does not pair with A Thousand Sons like I think it should have. So much more could have been to make this happen. That being said I love my Wolves all the more. They are truely the badasses of the Space Marines.
Now if I could just play them as such.
3 comments:
I whole heartedly agree.
I was really looking forward to this book but yet it has nothing to do with the title until the last quarter or so of the book, the first 3 quarters felt like bad Anime filler.
Kind of like Legion by Abnett too. I'm getting the feeling he cannot write Astartes as fully fleshed characters.
I agree with your point of view a lot. I also wanted Abnett to show me what the SW are through their eyes, through a SW character. I did not need Abnett to tell me what the SW are through Kasper Hauser. I didn't really care for him much and he was the main character. Also this was the time to portray and flesh out Leman Russ - it did not happen - simply a tragedy. In my opinion in was a good book but a missed opportunity.
Thanks for the article Ninja! Very good. About 80% done with the book now - concur with your thoughts as far as I am through it.....
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