"The First Heretic"

"The First Heretic" (Aaron Dembski-Bowden)

Now this is more like it. After Mechanicum and Nemesis wandered off in interesting if sometimes slightly questionable directions, this book takes a long look at the Word Bearers legion, actually the first legion to turn away from the Emperor and begin worshipping Chaos (thus the novel name). The book begins with a bang as as the Ultramarines, led in person by Papa Smurf himself, land on a planet brought to compliance by the Word Bearers and find the population worshipping the Emperor; The population is foricbly evacuated and all the cities are destroyed by orbital bombardment as a lesson for Lorgar, Primarch of the Word Bearers, not to worship the Emperor like a god.
Well, this works too well, as Lorgar begins his long, gradual, and tragically understandable journey down the dark and crooked road to embracing the ruinous powers of Chaos. This is the real beginning of the heresy, with events 40 years before Horus' betrayal setting the stage in grand fashion. I'm kind of perplexed as to why it took 15 novels before this vital backstory was filled in, but I can't complain about how it's done; The author is skillful enough that at times I found myself rooting against what any sane observer would class as the good guys, and instead hoping the chaos-mutated, demon-possessed abominations that the Word Bearers let themselves become will come out on top. It may sound weird, but I think this is actually the most emotional of the Horus Heresey novels so far, and I mean that in the best possible way. The positives keep on coming: Rowboat Girlyman, Primarch of the Ultrasmurfs, gets knocked right on his ass in the first few chapters; The pivotal and much referred-to but never before seen (that I've read) Drop Site Massacre is finally detailed; Primarchs like Corax and Cruze who have yet to see the spotlight are given some screentime.
My one and only complaint about this book is that this probably should have been the fifth in the series after Flight of the Eisenstein; I'd recommend reading the original trilogy, Flight of the Eisenstein, and then this book - just make sure you have enough time set aside because you won't want to put any of them down.

Grade: A+