isotope99
10-31-2011, 05:03 PM
Background
For those not up to date on all the books, here’s a quick potted history of the heresy so far:
Horus was the galaxy’s golden boy until he got stabbed by some alien bad juju stick. He got better, but not before going on a freaky acid trip, where he discovers his father (the emperor, who’s this mysterious god-hating wannabe god) is a hypocrite and a big fat liar. Now he’s acting out by partying late, smoking weed and genocidally murdering entire planets ( typical teenage stuff basically).
His brother supermen are either with him, against him, or with him AND against him (the Alpha legion are just confusing).
The emperor doesn’t seem to care very much and is still holed up in his continent sized basement trying to build the galaxy’s largest scale model railway. Magnus, chief wizard of the magic loving Thousand Sons, seems to be the only one that knows what’s going on but he’s not as smart as he thinks he is and is about to get grounded big time for breaking his dad’s toys.
Which brings us to the latest book in the series:
The Outcast Dead
First some factoids:
Author
Graham McNeill, most notably author of False Gods where Horus turns bad and A Thousand Sons, the Sons are pretty bad-*** in this book too (yay :D). Unfortunately, there is also a too much of the abstract dreamscape stuff we got in False Gods that weighs down a lot of the opening part :mad:.
Plot
The galaxy is burning. The Emperor's loyal primarchs prepare to do battle with Warmaster Horus and his turncoat legions on the black sand of Isstvan. Such dark times herald new and yet more terrible things still to come, and when Astropath Kai Zulane unwittingly learns a secret that threatens to tip the balance of the war, he is forced to flee for his life. Alongside a mysterious band of renegades, he plunges into the deadly underworld of Terra itself, hunted like a criminal by those he once trusted. In the face of betrayal, Kai must decide where his own loyalties lie and whether some truths should be buried forever.
The book starts out with some background exploring the early days of the heresy from the galactic switchboard that is the home of the Astropaths on Terra. Our ‘hero’ is trying to get back his psychic mojo in the face of some general distrust of his peers.
Their daily life is shattered by Magnus’ ill advised attempt to drop in on the Emperor that was talked about in a Thousand Sons, resulting in the ‘big secret’ hinted at in the blurb being implanted in the head of the main character.
We then jump to a Custodes prison where the supposed good guys are trying to extract said secret whilst keeping an eye on some of the space marines unlucky enough to be on Terra when their legions revolted and are now being treated as traitors through no fault of their own which irks them quite a bit (although borderline psychotic rage is the normal emotional baseline for the World Eaters).
Without giving away too much we get some cool prison break action and a chase through the slum city that has sprung up around the Imperial Palace and is ruled by a big bad gang boss with ties to the early pre-crusade history of the Imperium.
Action is pretty up close and personal, no army sized battles here.
Timeline
This book doesn’t move the heresy along any further. It’s set around the time of Istvaan V and the siege of Prospero.
Setting
Uniquely among the books so far, this whole story is set on Terra, in and around the emperor’s palace. Other stories have visited, but this is all set on the Emperor’s doorstep.
Characters
The main characters are the astropaths in the first part of the book, particularly Kai Zuldane, the little guy on the cover who’s nursing some deep trauma from having his ship destroyed by the warp and has been entrusted with a galaxy-shattering secret which is [censored by the spoiler police except be warned, it’s not quite as incredible as advertised].
The other main characters are the titular Outcast Dead, comprising one Thousand Sons guy who I think popped up in Prospero Burns, three World Eaters, a Lunar Wolf, a Death Guard and a member of the Emperor’s Children. Interestingly, this is the first book I am aware of where the space marines are forced to fight as men (or as close to men as they get) without their trademark weapons and power armour.
The Thousand Son and World Eaters are particularly good in this book, but the guys from the other legions are less interesting.
There are other characters, (including some more Custodes action and a handful of secondary Astropathic characters) but these are the main guys.
Thoughts, Good or bad?
It's slow to start, gets much better once the space marines take the stage.
The prison break is pretty imaginative and I ate up that part of the book, which could have made a cool short story by itself.
There is good characterisation of the Thousand Sons and World Eaters in particular, but I didn’t feel invested in the fate of any of the characters, compared to a book like Nemesis where I was really interested to find out what would happen to each assassin.
There are also some nice insights into the cold practicality of the emperor and what he'll do to achieve his vision for humanity (whatever that really is :rolleyes:).
Essential or missable?
So, should you buy this one?
Heresy fans will probably be getting every book anyway, but you could easily get by without it as it doesn’t drive the basic heresy story forward.
However, it is a good read once you get past the first part and into the second half of the book, where the outcast dead come into the story for real.
Overall, I give it 7.5 out of 10.
Easter Eggs
There are a couple of lines in the book that Lost Legions and 6th Ed Fluff direction conspiracy theorists will no doubt want to take a look at. ;)
For those not up to date on all the books, here’s a quick potted history of the heresy so far:
Horus was the galaxy’s golden boy until he got stabbed by some alien bad juju stick. He got better, but not before going on a freaky acid trip, where he discovers his father (the emperor, who’s this mysterious god-hating wannabe god) is a hypocrite and a big fat liar. Now he’s acting out by partying late, smoking weed and genocidally murdering entire planets ( typical teenage stuff basically).
His brother supermen are either with him, against him, or with him AND against him (the Alpha legion are just confusing).
The emperor doesn’t seem to care very much and is still holed up in his continent sized basement trying to build the galaxy’s largest scale model railway. Magnus, chief wizard of the magic loving Thousand Sons, seems to be the only one that knows what’s going on but he’s not as smart as he thinks he is and is about to get grounded big time for breaking his dad’s toys.
Which brings us to the latest book in the series:
The Outcast Dead
First some factoids:
Author
Graham McNeill, most notably author of False Gods where Horus turns bad and A Thousand Sons, the Sons are pretty bad-*** in this book too (yay :D). Unfortunately, there is also a too much of the abstract dreamscape stuff we got in False Gods that weighs down a lot of the opening part :mad:.
Plot
The galaxy is burning. The Emperor's loyal primarchs prepare to do battle with Warmaster Horus and his turncoat legions on the black sand of Isstvan. Such dark times herald new and yet more terrible things still to come, and when Astropath Kai Zulane unwittingly learns a secret that threatens to tip the balance of the war, he is forced to flee for his life. Alongside a mysterious band of renegades, he plunges into the deadly underworld of Terra itself, hunted like a criminal by those he once trusted. In the face of betrayal, Kai must decide where his own loyalties lie and whether some truths should be buried forever.
The book starts out with some background exploring the early days of the heresy from the galactic switchboard that is the home of the Astropaths on Terra. Our ‘hero’ is trying to get back his psychic mojo in the face of some general distrust of his peers.
Their daily life is shattered by Magnus’ ill advised attempt to drop in on the Emperor that was talked about in a Thousand Sons, resulting in the ‘big secret’ hinted at in the blurb being implanted in the head of the main character.
We then jump to a Custodes prison where the supposed good guys are trying to extract said secret whilst keeping an eye on some of the space marines unlucky enough to be on Terra when their legions revolted and are now being treated as traitors through no fault of their own which irks them quite a bit (although borderline psychotic rage is the normal emotional baseline for the World Eaters).
Without giving away too much we get some cool prison break action and a chase through the slum city that has sprung up around the Imperial Palace and is ruled by a big bad gang boss with ties to the early pre-crusade history of the Imperium.
Action is pretty up close and personal, no army sized battles here.
Timeline
This book doesn’t move the heresy along any further. It’s set around the time of Istvaan V and the siege of Prospero.
Setting
Uniquely among the books so far, this whole story is set on Terra, in and around the emperor’s palace. Other stories have visited, but this is all set on the Emperor’s doorstep.
Characters
The main characters are the astropaths in the first part of the book, particularly Kai Zuldane, the little guy on the cover who’s nursing some deep trauma from having his ship destroyed by the warp and has been entrusted with a galaxy-shattering secret which is [censored by the spoiler police except be warned, it’s not quite as incredible as advertised].
The other main characters are the titular Outcast Dead, comprising one Thousand Sons guy who I think popped up in Prospero Burns, three World Eaters, a Lunar Wolf, a Death Guard and a member of the Emperor’s Children. Interestingly, this is the first book I am aware of where the space marines are forced to fight as men (or as close to men as they get) without their trademark weapons and power armour.
The Thousand Son and World Eaters are particularly good in this book, but the guys from the other legions are less interesting.
There are other characters, (including some more Custodes action and a handful of secondary Astropathic characters) but these are the main guys.
Thoughts, Good or bad?
It's slow to start, gets much better once the space marines take the stage.
The prison break is pretty imaginative and I ate up that part of the book, which could have made a cool short story by itself.
There is good characterisation of the Thousand Sons and World Eaters in particular, but I didn’t feel invested in the fate of any of the characters, compared to a book like Nemesis where I was really interested to find out what would happen to each assassin.
There are also some nice insights into the cold practicality of the emperor and what he'll do to achieve his vision for humanity (whatever that really is :rolleyes:).
Essential or missable?
So, should you buy this one?
Heresy fans will probably be getting every book anyway, but you could easily get by without it as it doesn’t drive the basic heresy story forward.
However, it is a good read once you get past the first part and into the second half of the book, where the outcast dead come into the story for real.
Overall, I give it 7.5 out of 10.
Easter Eggs
There are a couple of lines in the book that Lost Legions and 6th Ed Fluff direction conspiracy theorists will no doubt want to take a look at. ;)