Flight of the Eisenstein (The Horus Heresy)

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As the book goes on, we're treated to glimpses inside a fascinating society, great battles and a tense chase before things really start to get nasty. Nonetheless, my complaints were relatively few, and Swallow does a good job of showing us the inner turmoil of these warriors who are faced with situations they never thought they might face. It was with some horror that I started this book and realised that I'd never actually read a Black Library novel by James Swallow, my experience of him thus far restricted to a few Blood Angels short stories and his Star Trek novels. In den ersten Bänden freundeten wir uns mit Garviel Loken, Capitain der Luna Wolves, spätere Sons of Horus, an und lernten seine bedächtige, souveräne Art zu schätzen.

Spoilers->Rogal Dorn could have been explored more but it was not really necessary to the story (I just love the lore). This continues to be a mythic foundational narrative with avatars of archetypes playing their parts, but with a level of individuality and immediacy that I love from these kinds of works.When Garro is rescued, Rogal Dorn’s rage and denial of Horus' uprising initially caught me off guard, as it might for someone in Garro’s desperate state pleading for help, but it then evolves in a natural way. This is written from a different perspective this time; that being from Battle Captain Nathaniel Garro of the 7th Company from the Death Guard. James Swallow is best known for being the author of the Horus Heresy novels Fear to Tread and Nemesis, which both reached the New York Times bestseller lists, The Flight of the Eisenstein and four audio dramas featuring the character Nathaniel Garro.

Having witnessed the terrible massacre of Imperial forces on Isstvan III, Death Guard Captain Garro seizes a ship and sets a course for Terra to warn the Emperor of Horus' treachery. A bit of a slower pace with this one as we get to see events from the previous book from a different perspective. So it's fair to say that I didn't know exactly what to expect, but as you can undoubtedly infer from the star rating, I wasn't disappointed. Really fun battles, and I only wish we got to see more pre-heresy Death Guard because they seem like such a bad-ass legion!

Along similar lines I was bothered that FOTE began before the events of Galaxy in Flames, which is not immediately a problem, however knowing that the Eisenstein is going to get away doesn't really justify 60% of the book's page time to essentially repeat a large chunk of Galaxy in Flames from a slightly different perspective.

In a vast galaxy where instantaneous communication is impossible, you place your trust in your brothers who have campaigned with you, meaning claims of betrayal are difficult to process. The narrator goes pretty much overboard with the acting; half the Death Guard (even in their uncorrupted state) sound like zombie orcs, there are some that speak like Gollum (Kaleb, most notably), and some are so posh (Voyen maybe), that such an acting could only fit an arrogant playboy like Fulgrim.However, the book itself benefits from having a smaller dramatis personae from Counter’s first novel in the series, or at least once the action reaches the Eisenstein. Capace di dubitare di se stesso e di rinascere dalle sue ceneri, Nathaniel, diverrà il Campione di tutti i seguaci dell? Once our main cast are aboard the Eisenstein, however, the story takes off like a rocket and I read through it at such a rate that I was able to finish it within a few days. Keeler and the gang are back, but don't take centre stage, nonetheless they're used well as background characters - there to keep the plot moving but not stealing the limelight. I enjoyed this book for what it was, a dose of light Warhammer 40k with a good section of carnage that the Space Marines do best.

This book was no different, with a lot of overlap with Counter's book but standing alone in a way that didn't having me reach for it to refresh my memory. Following the battle the Legion travel to the Isstvan system, ostensibly to crush a rebellion by the people of Isstvan III.The story was nothing special, there were some interesting bits of lore, but in my opinion, Graham McNeil does a much better work at describing the corruption a Chaos. Those of you who read the first three of the serie will read it just to follow the story line and you won't be disappointed. Some issues with the story; Death Guard and characterization, beyond Mortarion or Typhon, I actually found the character boring.