Battle for the Abyss (8) (The Horus Heresy)

The Warmaster's treachery is revealed. When Ultramarine Brother-captain Cestus believes (rightly) that a ship has been destroyed he commandeers "The Wrathful" from the Saturnine Fleet and leads his brothers into battle. By his side is Captain Brynngar Sturmdreng (Space Wolf Legion), Brother-captain Skraal (World Eaters Legion), and Brother-sergeant Mhotep (Thousand Suns Legion). It is fast revealed that the Word Bearers are now in league with the warp. Fleet Captain Zadkiel and his fellow Word Bearers have a new ship named "Furious Abyss". The massive ship is more lethal than any before its time, sporting a deadly plasma lance. The loyalist Astartes must track the Mechanicum ship through the warp, battling all sorts of warp-demons along the way, in hope of stopping the treasonous Word Bearers from destroying the Ultramarines' home world. ***** Though most of the focus is upon Ultramarine Cestus, I found that Brynngar of the Space Wolf Legion kept stealing the spot light. (For those of us gamers that play the online game "World of Warcraft" I can easily describe Brynngar as a [huge] Dwarf Paladin or Death Knight, complete with a mighty rune axe.) As for the character Rear Admiral Kaminska, who had her ship commandeered without notice or logical reason, the author did an excellent job portraying the right amount of annoyance and duty-bound loyalty. This is the second time Ben Counter has impressed me with his incredible writing talent in this series. BRAVO! ***** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Many people don't realize the actual scope of the Horus Heresy, it took years for the plots to thicken and unfold. Many of the stories actually happen in the same time frames, so readers think "this book has nothing to do with the HH", or "I don't understand why this book ended with a cliffhanger". This is a "Historical" account of many events leading up and explaining what happened to lead up to, during and the final confrontation of the Horus Heresy. If you expect the story to end in 3 books, well perhaps this isn't the series for you. Personally I think it is a great concept. This book I liked alot as it showed the different aspects of several chapters viewpoints in the 40K universe, yet they stuck together and faught against chaos in the name of there beloved emperor.If you are true die-hard 40k reader buy this book.

Definitely a good read, a lot of action with good subplots. While the story was a good one, it seems that these books completely avoid the main events of the heresy. I would think a book about the battle between the Word Bearers and the Ultramarines along with the Primarchs would better support the storyline of the heresy. These side stories are good, but more attention should be paid to the main events.

I couldn't put this book down. Even if it hadn't been for the last two books in this series being lackluster, I would have still be transfixed, as I was, by this book. This book is basically non-stop action. I liked that the combat scenes in this book weren't drawn out -- there wasn't four pages of back and forth parrying and riposting and bolter shells. When it came down to it most one-on-one combats were swift and lethal. I enjoyed that change. I don't mind extended hand-to-hand combat scenes, but sometimes it can get repetitive. This book did not suffer from this. Battle for the Abyss does a good job of showing the budding mindset of the Chaos forces. The opulence, the arrogance, the blind faith, the intoxication of power, and the alliances with demons -- it's all shown here. The roots of the Legions turning against their brothers. The Imperial Truth and Light of the Ultramarines contrasted with the passionate religious zealotry of the Word Bearers. Very entertaining. For a very fast moving action novel the author does a good job of giving the main characters enough depth, exposing some interesting motivations and choices, to flesh out the story and make it robust without detracting from the pace. I'm glad the series has returned to this kind of novel and I can only hope that the next book in the series follows suit. This novel had made me long, once again, for the next release which seems like an agonizingly distant event.

As being someone who has gotten into the whole Warammer 40K and Dawn of War field, I like reading the books ealing with the Space Marines, chapter histories and such. I found the book very enjoyable. I read most in a couple of days - not wanting to put it down. Yes there were some slow moments, however; most was action packed. I have read the whole series to date. I am finding the "break off' books interesting in describing the times and the different organizations. The one that slowed me down and was dissapointimg was "Decent of Angels" Read the other reviews for what "Batttle for the Abyss" is about. My review is based on that I enjoyed it and would recommend it to friends.