Horus Heresy Primarchs #9 by David Annandale
The 9th Primarch novel (novella) takes us to the XVIIIth legion and the uniting of their warriors of Terra with those of Nocturne… with Vulkan they will become the Salamanders.
From the book:
As the Emperor marshals his armies to reclaim the galaxy for the glory of mankind, one by one his Space Marine Legions are reunited with their missing primarchs. The XVIII Legion are still waiting to find their true identity, unaware their own lord has been found. In the Taras Division, legionaries face annihilation as they take a last, desperate stand against a monstrous ork invasion. Meanwhile, on Nocturne, Vulkan has raised and trained a new force of warriors. Now it is the time for him to lead his sons into battle. Now it is the time for him to truly don the mantle of primarch, not only to save one half of his Legion, but forge a new, indivisible whole.
Part of the Primarchs (Horus Heresy) series sees the Primarch of the XVIII legion – the Salamanders – set forth from Nocturne to save his Terran warriors from the Orks. They have positioned themselves in the way of an attack moon, and there is no where to retreat to and so they stand to defend the last of the population of the Taras Division.
Annandale gives the Lord of Drakes some air-time in this quick paced novella, but most of it centres around the activity of the Terran soldiers of the Salamanders as they wait for the arrival of reinforcements that they know won’t come. The Orks are seemingly unstoppable and the Space Marines get ever more desperate – including re-routing a volcano — multiple times! (It wouldn’t be a birth of Salamander without diverting a volcano).
Vulkan does get a few scenes, but mostly fighting inside a Ork Moon, killing Warbosses and normal Orks with abandon – but unfortunately no peril – and so despite being purportedly about Vulkan this book – as with a few of the Primarchs series – is more about his legion than him. It’s disappointing, but not surprising – the series is becoming a bit pot-luck as to whether it is a story about the Primarch, or his legion.
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