Legion (7) (The Horus Heresy)

Dan Abnett never fails to hit the mark in his 40k novels. Only he could make a dubious Legion such as Alpha appealing to those with a sense of honour.

This is by far the best Horus Heresy novel to date. Aside from highlighting Dan Abnett's skills as a storyteller once again, this book shakes the history of the 40k universe down to the core in an unforeseen way. As a huge fan of the Alpha Legion (whose activities this book includes) I was overjoyed with the twists, turns and exploits involved in this novel and couldn't stop smiling once i'd finished it. 5 stars, no question.

I was introduced to WH40K via the 'Realm of Chaos' and 'Rogue Trader' books back in the early 90's. When I read the first book of this Horus Heresy series, written by Dan Abnett, I was immediately struck by that same feeling I had first reading the original texts. The latest book 'Legion' does a fine job picking up after two disappointing books in the series. The Horus Heresy story was already such a rich and tasty foundation for any story teller, it is unfortunate that lesser authors like James Swallow were allowed to cheese it up. Had Dan Abnett written the whole series I am convinced we could have had a scifi novel-series work of art, rather than just a very popular series among 40k fans. That is the short-sighted viewpoint of GW to want to continue to rape it's current and small fan-base with a never ending series, rather than reach out to all scifi fans with a solid story - oh well. I would recommend to anyone reading the first three books and this one.

Dan just comes in and hits one out of the park again IMHO! He does a wonderful job of portraying the mysterious Alpha Legion without over exposure, so as to keep their secretive image intact. He focuses on their scheming, ploting and spying with Imperial officers being the pawns in the delicate game being played throughout the book. Dan also clearly shows us at the end why the Alpha Legion choose the path they did in the last few chapters. IMHO Dan covers all bases while weaving a good story. This is a good read which redeems the series after the awful "Decent of Angels" book which seemed to drag on and then quickly wrap up with very little answered. *****WARNING SPOILER!!!!******** *****WARNING SPOILER!!!!******** *****WARNING SPOILER!!!!******** *****WARNING SPOILER!!!!******** *****WARNING SPOILER!!!!******** *****WARNING SPOILER!!!!******** *****WARNING SPOILER!!!!******** IMHO the Alpha Legion was tricked into making the wrong choice. They were played by the xeno lead Cabal who basically pointed out the "violent tendency of humanity" when they had their meeting with them. Take a look at the last thing John says in the book as another source of evidence to my view. *****WARNING SPOILER!!!!********

Dan Abnett sets his sights on the Alpha Legion and the Imperial Army in this Pre-Heresy novel. That's a very important fact to remember when reading this superior work. As is the fact that not all is revealed and you will be left scratching your head at the end of Abnetts' latest masterpiece. Abnett once again unleashes an amazing cast of characters that are more then just stock action heroes. Characterization is one of the strong suits in Abnetts arsenal and he puts it to full use here in regards to Imperial Army officers and spies. The Alpha Legion itself is kept in the shadows. We get glimpses of their character but no more then that. Their modus operandi is touched upon as is their mysterious Primarch. Legion delivers as promised on the cover, secrets and lies. Beyond that, an excellent read.

This will not endear me to the Warhammer faithful, but, the only reason I was drawn into the WH universe was because I was intrigued by this book called Horus Rising by a guy named Dan Abnett--truth is I wouldn't have had any interest if I had realized that it was part of a game oriented book series, I'm sorry, but there you go. Having since read a number of his books, and some by other Black Workshop authors, I have come to realize how lucky I was to have picked up that first DA book. I have become convinced that mr Abnett is better than, not just his fellow writers (though they are all competent, some more some less ), but the material itself. Don't get me wrong, the WH40K universe is... fun, but it isn't much more than that--except when Dan takes control. Dear mr. Abnet: Please have more faith in yourself! I consider you equal to the likes of Neil Asher and Iain Banks. I beg you to move on to creating your own worlds, I for one will be there to buy them with all enthusiasm.