Review by Matt
“In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.”
10,000 years after receiving a mortal wound at the hand of one of his traitor brothers, Primarch Roboute Guilliman reawakens. Dark times have befallen the galaxy. Millenia after the civil war known as the Horus Heresy, the Imperium of Man struggles to survive. Tasked by his father, the Emperor of Mankind, to lead the Imperium out of darkness, Guilliman sets out on his quest to restore order and peace to the Imperium of Man. But as he sets out on his noble quest, a darkness looms in the realm of Ultramar, Guilliman’s home. Can the primarch hope to stem the tide of Chaos? Or will the Imperium fall to shadow?
This book has everything a 40k fan is looking for in a 40k novel: space marines, psykers, Chaos gods, fallen primarchs, laspistols. For those of you who have no idea what anything I just listed is, welcome to the world of Warhammer 40k! We’re happy to have you!
I am a huge fan of the 40k franchise. I will gravitate towards any book that even mentions space marines. I was fully aware that there would be a steep learning curve going into this book, but even I was unprepared for the deluge of lore. Because this is the first book in a trilogy, it is to be expected that a large amount of information will be thrown in the reader’s direction from the very beginning. The lore can be overwhelming to someone who does not know much about the setting. I have a good understanding of it, but still I found myself having to reread passages to fully understand what was going on at times. You need to go into this knowing that the author needs to bombard you with information for the rest of the trilogy to make sense. The action is slow in this one, but the payoff at the end is worth it.
That is not to say that this book is not enjoyable. We start in media res, and you immediately find yourself gripped by what is going on. That is one of this book’s strong suits. Even someone who may not know the full story of the Horus Heresy or the Primarchs will find themselves caring about Roboute Guilliman and his space marine legion as they are in the grips of a bloody battle on page one. When the action falls and the story moves on to slower aspects, I still found myself wanting to keep reading because there was layer upon layer of story getting added on. The characters are complex and there is enough action to keep the reader intrigued. The inciting incident takes place about midway through the story, and that is when the pace picks up significantly.
At the end of it all, you are rewarded for your reading efforts with a massive climax and an ending that leaves you wanting to grab the next book in the series just so you can find out what happens next. This book shows exactly why Warhammer 40k is the definition of grimdark and why Guy Hayley is one of the most prominent contributors to the Warhammer 40k franchise. I cannot recommend this book more.