Horus Rising: Anniversary Edition
(Dan Abnett)Horus Rising is the first book in the Horus Heresey series, which fills in the long-ago backround of the setting (the books take place around 32,000). I found this to be fascinating stuff, a look at a period of time that has always remained off-camera until now. The book starts with the sentance "It is a time of legends," and they're not kidding; This is when the Emperor of Mankind is still personally leading his race, along with his 18 clone-sons. The shit hasn't started going down in this book yet - Horus is indeed still Rising, and has not yet started his Heresy - but I found this pretty gripping all the same. Getting a look at Horus before his fall makes what's coming all the more tragic, and there's plenty of Space Marines blowing shit up and killing giant spiders to make sure you're rarely bored. I'd say "never", but the parts of the book dealing with the Remembrancers - embedded journalists, basically - are deadly dull. In "A Thousand Sons," the Rememberancers are both interesting charecters, and skillfully used to give another viewpoint of the important events that are happening. Here, neither is the case, and 15 pages of a poet wandering around a city getting drunk is just as deadly dull as it sounds. Luckily, these parts don't make up much of the book, but they do succeed in killing the book's momentum when they appear. That aside, the only other thing to look out for is the introduction, which I recommend skipping, as it includes both the regretable phrases "Oh bazinga" and "awesome sauce". As always with the Horus Heresy series, this may not be the best starting point for a n00b looking to start reading books from this universe, but there's no excuse for missing it if you're already a fan.
W40k Nerd Grade: A-
Normal Citizen Grade: C+
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