A Thousand Sons

I love the Thousand Sons. I love Magnus. I love everything about this book, even the way it COMPLETELY OBLITERATED MY VERY WILL TO LIVE for a bit there. I've re-read this one in particular like three times already, because it's very detailed - I really like this author's writing style, and the fact that he clearly made an effort to make every single detail matter (the oils used in a ritual, when I checked my notes, actually super fit exactly what's going on, and my inner witch was very happy about it). A+++ all around.

There's something very consistent about most of these stories regarding chaos space marines: most chaos space marines had a very good reason to hate the emperor. Basically, the Thousand sons use psychic abilities to warn the Emperor of Horus' treachery and in response, the Emperor sends an army after them (that makes no sense and.....makes you really wonder what the Emperor is thinking). This also really makes you see why you'd support the Thousand Sons. If you're a Thousand sons fan or gamer, this is must-read material. For me, it was an interesting story but I didn't feel that I "had" to read this...since I have not connection with the Thousand Sons. I'm more of an inqusition guy. This is a Horus Heresy book so it takes place 30,000 years in the future not the world of Warhammer 40K....so this establishes and explains some of the mythology for W40K gamers. If you love space marines get this, if you love chaos space marines get this, if you don't know what a space marine is --- go read EiEisenhorn (A Warhammer 40,000 Omnibus) to get an introduction into the mythology of the warhammer 40k universe.

The bar continues to be raised on these HH books, despite the seemingly growing pressures to maintain canon and still not violate any of the prescripts concerning 40K. Despite juggling these knives already, McNeil manages to deliver on all accounts and tell a great story at the same time. The thousand Sons, struggling under a startup plagued by mutation and psychic developmental powers, is shoved into the political arena when they are accused of witchcraft. And despite an impassioned plea from Magnus, the primarch of the Sons, psykers are banned. Against the Emperors edict, they continue in their studies, hoping to avoid an even greater calamity. The problem continues to be the split between noble warrior and monster. Maybe its the perspective of the characters, but the problem that seems to arise in every book is that the characters are always rational, lucid, and compassionate, in at least the way life long soldiers can be. But when you change the group of characters, the view from the outside paints the same people as bloodthirsty, psychotic monsters who have more compassion for their bullets than any facet of diplomacy. But the story is solid, characters are fleshed out fairly well, and the politics balance against the constant combat nicely. The overall plot line could've been shorter, but the additional material is worthwhile.

First of all I just want to start out that I have been playing 40k on and off again for the better part of 13 years so I know a bit of the background story. Second of all I just want to say that this was a great read. In this book we explore the Legion that is the Thousand Sons and its Primarch Magnus. Though there is not alot of background given to them there is enough to give the reader an idea of where they came from. What more is that the book gives an idea of their motives and their ideas and you can really see how they were good guys caught up doing the wrong thing for the right reason. As a Chaos player as well as Space Marines you really can see the battle being waged between the two and you can imagine the awesome powers that the Thousand Sons can weild as well as the destructive powers of a primarch. All in all a great read although the only thing I did not care for was (and this is for all Horus Heresy books) the inclusion of civilian characters. If they were Imperial Guard folk that would be ok but really I don't care about their prospective just the ones who fought the war. Aside from that a great story especially for those who wish to dig a little deeper into the Horus Heresy and how it could have been prevented and the cost the ones who gave the first warning gave. So be sure to pick up A Thousand Sons and enjoy.

At its heart this story is a Greek tragedy. It shows the weakness of the Emperor and Primarchs Russ and Magnus. In the end I so wanted the Magnus and the Thousand Sons to be victorious as my perspective on the legion was very different. Along with his Mechanicum novel Graham has certainly put the Horus Heresy in a new light and I strongly recommend this book to any fans of the Warhammer 40K universe.. A Thousand Sons (The Horus Heresy) Horus Heresy: Mechanicum

I've been one of the more vocal critics on Mcneil's work of late, feeling that some of his heresy and sigmar and ultramarine books have fallen far short of some of his earlier works. But this one delivers. From the view point of the Thousand Sons Space marines, it delves more deeply into the minds of the primarchs like Magnus than any of the heresy books, which up this point have done a poor job of doing the Primarchs any justice in describing their powers and personalities. Forget the view from the Space Wolves, you see how to a great extent that the Thousand Sons were treated with great injustice and hypocrisy by the Emperor, Leman Russ, and Mortarion. Read this book and you'll see how the Thousand Sons were set up or allowed to fail from the very beginning. If you're wondering at that, let's just say the mutation problems started at the gene labs on terra, not in the times of Chaos just before the Rubric. Where before the Thousand Sons have been painted as villains, you see any thing but as their homeworld is viciously attacked by Russ, the Praetorians, and the Sisters of Silence. The courage Ahriman and the thousand sons show in defense of their homeworld has not been seen in this series since stand of Saul Tarvitz's loyalists. There are some questions though as how the Thousand Sons could be on the Planet of sorcerers all that time and yet have been named in accounts as being part of the attack on Terra as well as having battle with the Space Wolves on other worlds. But after you see the hypocrisy in the attack(like Wulfen attacking thousand sons for being mutant sorcerers), you will see Magnus' legion differently. The flew to close to the sun, but the thousand sons are now not revealed to be the villains they have been painted to be in the Space Wolves books. The Thousand Sons in the space wolves have become totally corrupted at that point and you're looking at a totally different group marines than the heroes that stand bravely in this book.