World Famous Comics: Horus Rising (The Horus Heresy)
Horus Rising (The Horus Heresy)
By: Dan Abnett Publisher: Games Workshop Average Rating: Binding: Mass Market Paperback Label: Games Workshop Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 416 Publication Date: April 25, 2006
Product Description: After thousands of years of expansion and conquest, the human Imperium is at its height. His dream for humanity accomplished, the Emperor hands over the reins of power to his Warmaster, Horus, and heads back to Terra. But is Horus strong enough to control his fellow commanders and continue the Emperor's grand design, or will such incredible power corrupt him?
Talk, talk, talk... This is a good introductoin to the Horus Heresy novels detailing the iconic civil war of the Imperium that sets the stage for the entirety of the Warhammer 40K novels and games that have been published. As such when I started reading it I really wasnt expecting much. After all, there was no way this was going to be a simple trilogy, the setting has such scope and depth that would be nearly impossible. Another thing I was excited about was that it featured Dan Abnett, a favorite Black library author of mine, writing it.
I did enjoy many parts of the book. The action was fast paced, the character development (such as there is) was good and the plotting was solid as well. I did find two things that I found disappointing though.
The first was that it seemed like all the characters wanted to do was sit around and talk, and talk and talk and then, tired after all that talking, they would take a break and, well, talk some more. Then there would be a quick battle, only to be followed by more talking. Yet in all this talk there was, I felt, very little done to establish the background of the series. The rise of The Emperor, the establisment of the Empire took a back set to the Emperor's belief that religion is unessecary and only breeds violence and evil.
The second was the human civilization encountered in the second half of the book. I just could not accept that humans would evolve such a monstrosity where nobles had to have entire chiors accompany them wherever they went in order to just communicate with each other. It broke my suspension of disbelief Im afraid.
With all that said this book probably does deserve four stars just for it being the beginning of a titanic series detailing the origin of the Warhammer 40K universe. A little more action, a little less talk and a more believable civilization would have made it much more enjoyable for me.
Oh and what happens when Horus and the Crusdae meet this Human civilization? They stop to talk. Any tea and crumpets with your talk, Warmaster Horus?
Garviel Loken, the tragic hero This is a great work of genre fiction. It won't stand the test of time to be a great work of English; that may be a bad thing, in fact. Certainly, this is a wonderfully told story.
I just adore this book and the main character, Garviel. I suppose I could write a more literary review; however, I won't. Horus Rising is a well written story with a very engaging main character. Prior knowledge of Warhammer 40K is not necessary, and the book helps setup the entire universe that is to come. However, the real star is not the genre or Warhammer 40k. The star is Garviel Loken (who is "so straight up and down"): an honest and thoughtful main character who is faced with momentous decisions and in his stoic nature takes the path he can while remaining true to his ethics. Garviel Loken grows as a man and as a character throughout the book: starting out as a person the reader respects and growing into a hero.
Horus Rising is a fine novel. Likely, the book won't win any awards because it is 'genre fiction'; however, Horus Rising is such a well written novel that I would call this book: good science fiction.
This is a well written book, and I love Garviel Loken. Loken is a wonderful and tragic hero: a story worth reading.
--James
Excellent book I first got into the Warhammer genre by playing the PC game, and wanted to read some of the related material. The author is excellent and clearly has alot of experience in the science fiction realm. I would recommend this book to anyone who is into science fiction/futuristic combat. All action with VERY LITTLE romance thrown in.
And the Journey begins There really is no point in me repeating what positive things have already been said about this book--it's written by a great Author and for me personally, I was hooked into the story from page one. Purchase this book WH40k fans! I'm not sure if readers unfamiliar with WH40k will appreciate this series as much as WH40k Fluff addicts like myself.
Horus Rising, my first Warhammer book This is my first Warhammer book. I love science fiction and am glad that I started this series. Dan Abnett creates a very intricate and believable story with great character development and exciting action. He brings you into the action and holds your attention. This is a great read and is more than your basic military science fiction work. As someone who is new, I think that this is a good introduction to the Warhammer 40k Universe.
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