A small detail, almost inconsequential, but important nevertheless.
- The Horus Heresy: Angel Exterminatus, Graham McNeill
Fulgrim and the boys are back in town as they go on an adventure with Perturabo and the Iron Warriors, in a very McNeill book in both the good and the bad.
**
While I've quite liked McNeill's short stories lately, at the beginning of this book he's back to his Fulgrim self. We're treated to a lengthy description of a parasite creature emerging from an insect - only for an Iron Warrior to step on it.
Brutal proof – if proof were needed – that the living world existed with no thoughts of compassion, justice or mercy.
Yes, we get it, your values are showing again.
The action in Angel Exterminatus starts with the Iron Warriors attacking a fortress held by the Imperial Fists.
A commander could have all the planet-killing weapons at his disposal, the most sophisticated fortress, the most advanced countermeasures, but he still needed men of flesh and blood to cross that last scrap of open ground to get to grips with the enemy.
Yeah but why though. Apparently there are several Grand Battalions of Iron Warriors, with massive artillery and Auxilia support, not only besieging but actually storming a fortress held by a single company of Imperial Fists. For no reason. Yes, Perturabo is really pissed about the assault, but still, it's a total mystery why any of this would make any sense.
Luckily, once Fulgrim arrives, we're on firmer ground, and his theatrics and interactions with Perturabo are excellent. Perturabo even gets to be a character: we learn he's from Space Ancient Greece and he and his legionnaires love building things, and even harbor secret passions for archeology. This is the best part of the book by far, so I'd say anyone who's into the Iron Warriors will want to check it out.
For the rest of us, it's a slightly more mixed experience. The other similarity between Angel Exterminatus and Fulgrim is that they're both way too long. While the plot itself is pretty good, there are several side plots, most of which are kinda pointless, and the action starts getting repetitive and the whole thing just drags. A good editor would have cut something like a hundred pages from this.
The story is that Fulgrim recruits Perturabo to help him find some secret eldar super-weapons hidden in the Cygnus X-1 anomaly, or as Perturabo calls it, the Eye of Terror. Even this main plot could have been much more interesting; there's some early drama about using the services of an eldar to guide them, but McNeill never does anything particularly interesting with it. They're also being pursued by an Iron Hands ship and its slightly motley crew, which, again, is at times interesting, but ends up being a kind of an afterthought.
There's several things I like in this: Fulgrim, Lucius and Fabulous Bill all on a manic quest to just absolutely be the worst possible person they can ever be (they all still lose to Erbs), Perturabo and the peacable side of the Iron Warriors, and several scenes. The Emperor's Children are also just comically and suicidally evil at this point, so much so that I can't entirely figure out how they manage to survive as a legion. But on the whole, Angel Exterminatus is too long, too boring, and possibly worst of all, most of the action scenes are very forgettable.
**
So yeah, I'd say this is one for big Iron Warriors fans, and even they're going to snooze through most of the action scenes. I think I may need a bit of a break from all the Horus Heresying at some point, because it's starting to get a bit repetitive. Still, we'll see what's next.
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