"The Outcast Dead" (Horus Heresy series)

The Outcast Dead (Graham McNeil)

This was a disappointing book. The premise is gangbusters: An astropath - the psychics who can touch minds and are the only way of communicating faster than light over long distances - recieves a vision about the end of the Heresy, and a dirty dozen of space marines who were trapped on Earth when their legions went traitor have to bust him out of a Legio Custodes prison.
In execution, though, McNeil wastes a lot of time with two ancilliary plotlines that - spoiler alert - have fuck-all to do with the book's main plot. The result is that the book never really goes anywhere; Some shit happens, then it's over. It's a shame, too, because the early parts of the book exploring how the astropaths use shared psychic imagery when communicating (they can't send words, so they send visions) is really fascinating. The rest of the book, not so much. For Horus Heresy completionists only.

Grade: C