It’s fairly safe to say that the Black Library’s ‘Horus Heresy’ range has lifted Warhammer 40K fiction (and probably fantasy as well) off the ‘tie-in’ shelves and firmly into the view of people like you and I. The ‘Horus Heresy’ books deserve all the good press they’ve been getting as well; you don’t get a lot more epic than a decade long, galaxy spanning war that has massive ramifications ten thousand years into the future. (Okay, the ‘Malazan’ books totally win on the epic stakes but you know what I mean...)
A large chunk of the reputation these books have garnered is down to only the top Black Library writers getting to work on them. These are the guys who know the universe, and its lore, inside out and have been turning out quality books for a number of years. And now there’s Aaron Dembski-Bowden; he hasn’t been around as long as the likes of Abnett, McNeil and Swallow but he’s swiftly proven himself to be bloody good at what he does and his meteoric rise through the ranks sees him about to turn out his first book for the Black Library’s flagship series. I’ve had a read and it’s good. Not as good as I was expecting though...
If you’ve been following the ‘Horus Heresy’ series, or following me while I follow the ‘Horus Heresy’ series, then you’ll know how the Warmaster Horus gave in to the temptations of the Ruinous Powers and declared war on the Imperium that he helped to create. That’s not the whole story though, there’s a pretty important gap (right at the beginning) that Dembski-Bowden is about to fill...
The Word Bearer’s Space Marine Legion is loyal to the Emperor to the extent that they worship him as a God, indoctrinating entire planets into a religion that has no place in the new secular Imperium. The Emperor chastises them for this and punishes them in such a way that the only course left open for them is to seek a new object of worship. The Word Bearer’s quest will see them conquer worlds in an unprecedented display of bloodshed. The quest will end in the farthest reaches of space where choices will be made that will shape the future of an entire galaxy...
Aaron Dembski-Bowden excels at writing Warhammer 40K fiction that is swift, sharp and utterly brutal. ‘Cadian Blood’ threw the terrors of the Warp at raw unaugmented humans. ‘Soulhunter’ shows it’s reader why they should be wary of the shadows at the edge of the Imperium when they see just what is ready to come bursting out in a flurry of claws. ‘Helsreach’ makes you live every single bloody footstep taken in the defence of a Hive City. Just three books and Dembski-Bowden’s reputation for turning out quality 40K fiction, of this nature, is pretty much assured as far as I’m concerned.
It’s a shame then that the ‘Horus Heresy’ books aren’t the sole preserve of these themes.
If you pick up a ‘Horus Heresy’ book then you can be assured of the military set pieces that make Black Library books great fun to read. What you also get though is a long and slow build up to a climactic event right at the end. Politics happen and characters are manoeuvred about the board as a result. The series itself is a jigsaw that gradually takes shape with each new book; each new book is that same jigsaw on a smaller scale. It’s a great exercise in world building that more than makes up for the fact that long term fans know full well how it all has to end. What it isn’t though is the ideal venue to let loose with the guns and attitude in the way that Dembski-Bowden likes to do best. Aaron is working on a different playing field now and, despite the overall quality of the book, it does show.
The bottom line is that Dembski-Bowden doesn’t have the time to really kick off with the explosions and mayhem; there are other things to be done first. To be fair, it’s all done very well. The world building and scene setting really grounds the reader in the setting and events like Lorgar’s meeting with the Emperor can really blow you away. That event in particular is awesome, fans will love it and even casual readers will be left in no doubt as to the sheer immensity of what is taking place. There are also moments that will have you doubting the essential ‘goodness’ of the emperor and shed new light on the fate of the Primarch Project. Or do they? You can never trust the wiles of the Chaos Powers...
The Word Bearer’s gradual fall to Chaos is recounted in great detail and given a degree of humanity with the introduction of characters that you want to see develop. It’s also interesting to see a particular planet of no great significance in the 31st millennium that will assume a far great role ten thousand years hence. A real fanboy moment there!
Despite all of this though, I came away with the feeling that Dembski-Bowden was constrained by continuity rather than being able to get on with what he enjoys the most. The ending is set in stone and he had to work with that ending in mind. As a result, his characters couldn’t have that spiky attitude that he does so well because it was more important to get the events sorted out first. There wasn’t the room for so much full on warfare as politics and philosophy had to be arranged just so... When things do kick off in that vein Aaron shows that he’s lost none of his ability to really show his readers what war is like in the 41st millennium (well, the 31st millennium this time round); I just got the feeling that he wished he’d been able to do it sooner... The book felt like it was going through the motions at times and the pace suffered as a result.
‘The First Heretic’ is an eye opening account of a key moment in the Imperium of Man and a book that fans will devour. I couldn’t help but think though that it was a book Aaron had to write in a certain way. He made the transition well, from how he normally writes, but I got the feeling that perhaps he wanted to do things slightly differently and in his own way. Perhaps ‘The First Heretic’ would have been even better if he’d been able to do this...
Eight and a Half out of Ten
6 comments:
"The ending is set in stone and he had to work with that ending in mind."
Wait! Does Horus die? What about the Emperor? He's okay, right? The ending (and the next ten millennia) are already determined for the entire setting.
Which then leads to: "his ability to really show his readers what war is like in the 41st millennium" 31st millenium, First Heretic is set in the 31st millenium. Considering that 10,000 years ago, we were still thawing from the Ice Age, it's not an insignificant amount of time.
"...his characters couldn’t have that spiky attitude that he does so well..." Probably because they aren't Night Lords. It was only really present in Helsreach, because Grimaldus was child-turned-weapon grieving for a father figure far from his brothers.
Also, the overall point of "a lot of politics / not much fighting" is couched as a criticism in the review. I'd call that an endorsement and thoroughly in keeping with the rest of ADB's oeuvre. Cadian Blood only had a handful of significant conflicts, but maintained the tension throughout: first as menace, then as revulsion.
Finally, wouldn't it do more good to have the review closer to release? This is still months out.
I don't really understand this review when it says things like:
"The bottom line is that Dembski-Bowden doesn’t have the time to really kick off with the explosions and mayhem"
The reason I don't understand you is because, for me anyway, this isn't what ADB is about. Yes, he does have some fight scenes in his books and yes they are very well written. This is because he is, in my opinion, a very good writer. But I never feel like the action scenes are what drives his story.
Ive not read cadian blood yet, so I can't comment on that. Hellsreach (which I dont particularly like or dislike very much, but thats not the point) to me, was a look at how space marines fight for a humanity that they are not themselves a part of. It shows them for the inhuman creatures they are and that's not always evident in loyalist astartes books.
In Soul Hunter, I found the best thing about that book to be the 'day in the life of a chapter that's slowly dying' vibe. Soul hunter is easily in my top 5 black library books exactly because of this.
There's a while mess of black library books that will give you gun porn galore. Some of it good, most of it mediocre. What sets ADB apart, for me at least, is that his books are more than that. Which is something only a few other Black Library authors manage on a regular basis.
So when I'll be reading the first heretic, and I will, I'll be looking forward to these bits that the review mentions as being forced due to constrains.
There's some good points here which I'll deal with in a piecemeal 'it's far too early and I want coffee' kind of way... ;o)
I thought the whole spiky attitude thing was something that ADB included in his work as a matter of course, didn't realise it was purely a Night Lords thing. I'll know better next time :o)
I guess this leads nicely into what I think ADB is about. For me, his books carry the spikyness into the whole setting, not just one legion of traitor marines. He does superb character development and scene setting but I always got the sense that he really lets fly when the bolt shells start crashing. I'd never say that he writes 'gun porn' but it's fair to say that he brings a truck load of energy to what is essentially the central feature of any 40K book, the war :o) These moments don't drive his books by any means but they are part of what make his books stand out for me.
For me, the format of the 'Horus Heresy' books meant that he couldn't do this (like he's done before) because of the constraints of the plot. These 'constraints' are still well worth visiting the book for but, to me, they were still constraints that meant ADB couldn't write the book that he's written in the past. That's not to say that he didn't do a bang up job this time round but it didn't work for me as a reader (at least not as well as his other books have).
And as far as the release date goes, it's not out until the beginning of November and that's only eight weeks away... ;o)
P.S...
Did I say 41st Millennium instead of 31st? Consider that edited accordingly. Dammit!
Way to stick to your guns Graeme.
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