Horus Heresy Primarchs #13 by David Guymer
The 13th Primarch novel (novella) takes us to the Dark Angels and their Primarch – Lion El’Jonson.
From the book:
Each primarch is an exemplary being, derived from the Emperor’s own genetic stock to embody a facet of His personality. Their powers are unfathomable, but only one of them is the First. Lion El’Jonson is the paragon of what it is to be a primarch. His Legion, pre-eminent for most of their long history, typify the virtues of temperance, pride, and martial excellency that the Lion embodies. They are the Emperor’s last line and final sanction. They are His Dark Angels.
Now, while the Emperor gathers His mightiest sons for an assault on Ullanor Prime, the Lord of the First instead draws his Legion to the farthest reaches of the known galaxy, seeking to subdue a single rebellious world. Is this but another example of the Lion’s infamous pride, or is there more afoot amidst that graveyard of empires that is the Ghoul Stars, more than the Lion will share even with his own sons?
One of my favourite things in the novella’s and books of the Horus Heresy is hearing about the different alien species the Emperor’s sons meet alien species that will never appear in a rulebook and will never have miniatures. This freedom allows the authors to explore alien species without limitation.
The enemies facing Lion El’Jonson and his Dark Angels are facing the Khrave who are able to take over the minds of weaker species… but in the Dark Angels – and The Lion – they may have finally met their match.
The Khrave are well written, spooky and scary and use psyker powers in some extreme ways – they definitely add peril to the book as the human elements of the Dark Angels fleet and Imperium army cannot be trusted to stand alongside the Space Marines – and so they must fight the enemy – and those members of the fleet/army taken over by the Khrave – on their own.
Guymer also throws in scenes between the Lion and the Emperor – it is always interested to read above the Emperor in these books – and this definitely adds flavour to the Dark Angel’s Primarch…
However the way they kill the Khrave – using weapons only they have access to – is characterful but always leaves the question ‘why not against Horus then…?’ and this is a question I found difficult to overlook.
Overall it’s a good book, with a well written and described enemy which is let down a bit by a disappointing ending.
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— Declan & Eeyore
