Horus Heresy Primarchs #1 by David Annandale
The 1st Primarch novel (novella) takes us to the Ultramarines and their Primarch – Roboute Guilliman.
From the book:
Long before the coming of the Imperium, the realm of Ultramar was ruled by Roboute Guilliman, the last Battle King of Macragge. Even after learning of his true heritage as a primarch son of the Emperor of Mankind, he strove to expand his domain as efficiently and benevolently as possible, with the XIII Legion Ultramarines as his alone to command. Now, facing a rival empire on the ork-held world of Thoas, Guilliman must choose his weapons carefully – otherwise his dream of a brighter future could be lost forever.
Do like ‘Practicals’, or is your Google Search locked on ‘Theoreticals’? If you can answer yes to these questions then this is the book for you… but it does get grating. I get that this is how we know we are dealing with the Ultramarines, but it probably didn’t need repeating quite so often.
That gripe aside, Roboute Guilliman is on the Ork held world of Thoas where there are strange pyramids, which appear to have been built by humans before or during the Age of Darkness. The Orks just want to kill Ultramarines, but Roboute Guilliman also wants to answer the question of what happened to the humans who used to live on Thoas.
He has recently put a new Chapter Master in charge of the 22nd Chapter of the Ultramarines… someone from outside the Chapter – against the tradition established. In doing this he also sidelines the Destroyers which form a large portion of the 22nd Chapter. This decision causes descent within the Chapter, and his refusal to deploy the Destroyers causes additional friction.
The balance of the 22nd Chapter are left as rearguard against the Orks, and in fighting a Pyramid is destroyed… causing significant damage to the Ultramarines.
Annandale does a a good job of telling the story, and Guilliman comes across as a true combat beast, besting all the Orks that try to kill him, whilst investigating the reason for the lack of Humans on the planet. It is an interesting story — but I struggled too much with the ‘Practicals’ and ‘Theoreticals’!
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