Primarchs Book 17, by Chris Wraight
The Primarchs stride across the Horus Heresy as giants (both litteral and metaphorical), being the centre piece of many of the books – although often at a distance or through the eyes of others. The Primarch (Horus Heresy) series brings stories from each of these giants and gives more background for each of the Emperor’s children.
From the book:
“I have always been the master of wretches, and have learned from that. I am a wretch myself, a non-standard. To purify and to transform – that has been our gift.”
Sanguinius, the very image of an angel, has chosen to obscure the origins of his Legion, and prevents outsiders from setting foot on his home world. A remembrancer attempts to discover why.
The 17th instalment of the Horus Heresy Primarchs series offers a glimpse of the Blood Angels Legion – and its celebrated primarch – from the outside, as we peer into the shrouded secrets of its past.
Regular readers of my blog posts on Woehammer will know that Blood Angels are ‘my’ chapter. When I started with my copy of Space Marine and didn’t know what I was doing, or any of the history the picture of Sanguinius, the Emperor and Horus really captured me… you know the one:
So, I follow a Chapter who’s Primarch dies at the beginning of my journey — yes I am that kind of wargamer!
This addition to the Primarch series follows the actions of a disgraced remembrancer who is assigned to the legion to write about The Great Angel and his legion. Unfortunately this means that the story of Sanguinius is a story about the remembrancer… As Sanguinius appears in a lot of the stories of the Horus Heresy, especially the Siege of Terra, there may not be many new stories for him, and this reads like the authors who plan the Horus Heresy series ran out of ideas for him.
Which is a shame – so unlike Konrad Curze’s book there is not enough of Sanguinius within his eponymous book. I was left wanting a lot more of Sanguinius, Baal or the Blood Angels and was disappointed overall. Maybe it would be a good introduction to Sanguinius for those who want an introduction, but I’m not convinced it is good for even that.
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— Declan & Eeyore
