Let's Read the Horus Heresy 33: Tallarn

The last Titan left on Tallarn bore the world’s new master across the dust plains.

 - The Horus Heresy: Tallarn, John French

I don't think it's a coincidence that some of my favorite Horus Heresy novels are the ones with barely a Space Marine in sight. Nemesis is the most prominent example, and I'd say I enjoyed Tallarn just as much, if not more. Or I mean technically this is an anthology, I think, but all the stories are by the same guy.

Later on in the book, some marines do show up, but at least they're interacting with non-marines a lot, and the Alpha Legion is also there, which is always fun. Tallarn is still mostly the story of people in tanks, on a planet turned to a toxic hell by virus bombardment, and that's what makes it so good.

The star of the show is definitely Tallarn itself. The sheer claustrophobia of driving tanks around a totally poisoned planet, where one tear in your protective suit means immediate, gruesome death, is powerfully conveyed and sticks with you. At first it's a mystery why anyone could possibly be bothered to fight over a place like this, but that gets turned into a plot point, which is satisfying.

If I'm honest, the plot itself isn't that great, but I was certainly entertained, and Tallarn goes on my Do Read list.

Let's Read the Horus Heresy 32: Master of Mankind

"Father."

 - The Horus Heresy: The Master of Mankind, Aaron Dembski-Bowden

We've encountered something of a rarity on our journey through the Horus Heresy: a decidedly mediocre Aaron Dembski-Bowden joint.

Master of Mankind takes us to the Webway, where the Custodians, Sisters of Silence and Machine Cult are fighting an endless horde of faceless daemons. Our protagonists are a pair of Custodians, who are very stoic and loyal, and make Imperial Fists and even Smurfs seem like incredibly diverse and fascinating characters. The only bright spot is Arkhan Land, who actually seems like a person.

On the other side we have Drach'nyen, who is, well, quite boring. Beyond that, the only named opponents at any point are a couple of traitor Titans. It's an interesting choice to tell an epic civil war narrative with absolutely no personality at all on the other side, and it's by far the biggest problem with the story.

We also get some space-operatic visions from Emps which one of the Custodians is experiencing. Sadly, they're also not very interesting, and I can't help thinking that Dembski-Bowden's abilities are being misused quite badly here.

Master of Mankind takes place in the Webway, and we're pretty definitively told that the Emperor's "Great Work" was securing access to the Webway, but then Magnus shows up and inadvertently lets the daemons in. Once again, it begs the question: why on earth did Emps not tell Magnus what he was doing? I'm starting to be pretty strongly on team Magnus Did Nothing Wrong, because so far, I don't understand why Emps didn't tell Magnus, or for that matter Horus, about the whole thing.

Overall, I have to say this is a very disappointing novel. If it was anyone else, I'd say it was all right, but when it's the guy who wrote First Heretic and Betrayer, and I just finished his Night Lords trilogy, I was definitely expecting more. Miss this and you won't miss anything.