Conclave of Har Horus Heresy Novel Review: The Master of Mankind. By Aaron Dembski - Bowden

I’ll keep this review brief as The Master of Mankind generated a LOT of buzz when it came out and most people are very much aware of what the book is about and what it has to offer. While ADB novels are rightly treated as highlights each and every time we are treated to one, this was an exception, with TMOM being lauded as a masterpiece by many and Aaron’s portrayal of the Emperor in particular attracting a lot of attention.

Of course I had to patiently await the book coming out in paperback, and largely I have to say it was indeed worth the wait. However, whether or not the book was overhyped and built up by the furore on social media or perhaps my own expectations were raised too high, I failed to attain the nirvana like state of being that other readers have reported. So let’s get stuck into the The Master of Mankind.

One of the  first things to say is that in some ways this is one of the LEAST Heresy-like books you will read, at least in comparison to what has come before. Space Marines and Primarchs very much take a back seat as ADB  sets his sights squarely upon Terra and even at that a very specific area, the gate to the Webway and the Webway itself. In this respect it is very contained and focussed in its intent. The protagonists of the story are the Custodes and Sisters of Silence and given that they have not really been featured all that much in previous books APART from Aaron’s previous novels he is free to build upon his earlier work without obstruction and flesh them out to some degree.

I say to some degree as these mighty warriors are sadly devoid of any real character at all. Part of this is due to necessity. The Sisters of Silence are mutes and therefore by their very nature difficult to bring any depth to, the Custodes on the other hand are just wholly unlikeable and none of them are really given any space to endear themselves to us or anything in the way of development. Compared to the infinitely more numerous Astartes they come off as soulless automatons.

The biggest controversy over characterisation however is the Emperor himself, who given that he is the title of the book is also given curiously little page time. I imagine that the Emperor is a monstrously difficult character to write. Embellish Him too much and you risk destroying any mystery around the pivotal figure in Warhammer 40,000. Avoid Him too much and you are back to the perspective of the masses and there is little point in bothering at all. I must say in this respect ADB has done admirably as by the end of the book you have a lot more INFORMATION about the Emperor without feeling like you know him as a character, a difficult tightrope to walk. However, one thing that cannot be argued is that the Emperor will certainly not be viewed in the same way after reading this book. With regards to the Astartes and Primarchs, He is callous and unfeeling, even going as far as to refer to the Primarchs by number rather than by name. It is clear that He considers them little more than weapons or tools and indeed he remarks that He merely ALLOWS them to think of Him as their father and considers it a flaw built into their creation. It’s such a paradigm shift that one almost finds themselves rooting for Horus.

What the big E DOES care about is Humanity, as a whole, he is looking at the BIG picture and his Primarchs and Space Marines are merely something he uses as a means to an end. One could say however that the whole Great Crusade seems rather at odds with his grand plan for Mankind and kind of pointless but then, he is meant to be enigmatic. In addition the only warriors he does seem to show any paternity to are the Custodes, his ‘Ten Thousand’. Even going so far as to include one favoured warrior ‘Ra’ in psychic visions. This depiction of the Emperor is a bold move by ADB and though at times it does backfire he is to be applauded for taking on the character at all.

A large part of the narrative (and all of the action) is taken up by the conflict in the webway. Magnus’ folly has ruined the Emperor’s master plan for Humanity and ripped the webway asunder allowing the tides of Chaos Daemons and the Warp into what had previously been a safe haven. Indeed this book does illustrate adeptly the reason behind the Emperor’s fury and the true Magnitude of the damage wrought by Magnus’ ill-conceived attempt to warn his Sire. Still one cannot help but feel yet again, that the Master of Mankind could have handled things a little better with ‘Number Fifteen’ and perhaps had he done so could have saved himself a lot of bother.

I’ve failed quite miserably at keeping this brief haven’t I? Almost as badly as the Emperor failed at being a father. I shall attempt to be more succinct with the remainder of the review.

Suffice to say that while the battle rages on in the Webway between the invading Daemon horde and the Custodes (with one daemon, created from the first murder- a fascinating concept that is never really given its full due - in particular rampaging through all resistance and the opposing forces – even Titans) The Emperor is doing vital work himself comabting the forces of chaos in a titanic Psychic battle. Sadly it’s all a bit muddled and even though at the end of the book much is clarified and central parts of the lore are established and embellished upon, its all too frustrating in its shortcomings. The Engine battles are a definite highlight though.  

It should have been a longer book, or maybe two. It certainly feels like a book that ADB had trouble writing (though I don’t know for sure) and the flow and construction of the book along with the strange characterisation are the main flaws that I identified.

That said, the writing itself, the prose and flow of the words is flawless and mellifluous and as always his work is a treat to read. This was not a book I struggled with at all and certainly not a book I could forget in a hurry. It is truly unique and though I had my problems with it I have to confess it was a brave and refreshing break from the norm that grounds and sets up a lot of the lore that we are already familiar with, almost acting as a prequel to many of the universe tenets that we accept as part of the background. I’m glad it exists and applaud ADB for writing it, I just wish perhaps that A: It had actually been written AFTER the Heresy concluded (as every other book in the series that I read is doomed to be compared to it ) and B: had actually been treated as Imperium Secundus, an arc of its own, rather than the one off that it so obviously is.

I shall summarise by saying this, The Master of Mankind is like a gourmet platter of unfamiliar and exotic food where some of it is sumptuous and mouth-watering and other elements are disappointing in comparison, at the end you are left wondering whether it really worked as a dish and yet are rather left wishing the time had been taken to make sure that there was more of it. At the same time I am forced to consider that maybe I have just been spoiled by conventional fare and maybe my palette is just not refined enough to appreciate it.

Utterly essential yet far from perfect. 

Conclave of Har Horus Heresy Novella Review: Sons of the Forge by Nick Kyme

I often wonder what the Salamanders would have been like had Nick Kyme not been their custodian in printed format. I must hasten to add, it is not only Mr Kyme’s work I think this about. What would a different authors take on Corax be like? How would Fulgrim have been portrayed by someone other than Graham McNeil? And so on. Nonetheless there is no denying that the 18^th Legion are claimed by Nick, along with their 40k counterparts, and he has now produced a series of books for both. Sons of the Forge, for better or worse now attempts to bring the two series together.

The first thing that you will notice is that Sons of the Forge is pretty big, twice the length of some of its predecessor novellas. Now this caused me some consternation as I have personally found that this particular author's quality of work diminishes the more pages he writes, with short stories and novellas (and his SUPERB Blood Bowl comic) being generally very good and his full length novels not so much. It’s not that his writing changes so much that his attention seems to wander and the plots and characters become rather fantastical and silly (and yes I say that even despite the giant alien monsters, walking fungi with guns and green skin, Egyptian Space Robots and other such craziness that permeates the 30k/40k universe) to the detraction of the overall narrative. Particularly with his Tome of Fire series which this book effectively serves as a prequel to. Hopefully this will be different and more like the scintillating Scorched Earth than the dolorous Deathfire.

The story begins with Vulkan commanding his Forgefather T’Kell to destroy all the artefacts he has created for fear that they could be captured and used to serve the enemy. Vulkan is accompanying the vast bulk of his legion to Isstvan V and with no small amount of premonition It would seem, senses that should he fail to return that his creations could be seized and subverted to Horus’s cause. Following T’Kells protestations he concedes to spare just seven. But that these are to be guarded at all costs. Thus ends the prologue which is basically a repeat of the short story ‘Artefacts’.

Fast Forward and it is after Isstvan and indeed after the events of Deathfire, Vulkan is dead, his body brought back to Prometheus and T’Kell knows that the remaining seven relics must be removed lest they be attacked and taken. To this end he takes the ‘Chalice of Fire’ (which along with its mounted defence laser ‘Eye of Vulkan’ is another relic itself) and goes off to hide the relics away, unwilling to destroy the last of his father’s work. He doesn’t go alone, instead taking a force of Salamanders that did not travel to Isstvan, ‘The Unscarred’.

Now, anyone who has read any of the other Salamander heresy novels will know that the they are an emotional bunch. Somewhere along the line I think the only way that Nick decided that he could portray they compassionate nature of the XVIII was to make them full of all the emotional frailty of humans. And so it follows that these particular Salamanders are WRACKED with guilt that they did not travel to Isstvan and fight and die with their brothers and father. It makes them feel like failures and lesser Salamanders for it. Add to this some frankly horrifying individual personality flaws and you have your usual Nick Kyme Salamanders. A band of damaged and defective misfits.

Let me get something straight, I certainly don’t want to sit reading a bunch of mindless Bolter Porn about soulless automatons (kind of ironic given what happens later) but the Salamanders are just TOO much. I had a conversation a LONG time ago with Dan Abnett regarding Space Marine characterisation as I was writing some fanfic at the time and was struggling to individualise the marine characters. Dan said that it characterisation is driven by actions, that it is what a character DOES that sets them apart from each other and other chapters (This was a long time before the Heresy started!)

Batman said this too, ‘It is not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me’ and I’m sorry but if Dan ‘the man’ Abnett and Batman say it then it then that’s good enough for me. 

That said, the characters are a bit of a step up from pervious works. Well, most of the Salamanders are, the Sons of Horus are the worst type of ‘Diabolically Evil’ Two dimensional villain I have read since ‘Fear to Tread’ and the urge to shout ‘He’s behind you!’ when they appear is overwhelming such is the OTT nature of their antics. There is no depth or overriding motivation to their actions, it is simply nasty for nasty’s sake. As I have said the loyalists fare a little better,  Captain Obek of the Salamanders is a highlight as are a few of the others (Xen with his twin blades is memorable) but overall these Marines are far too psychologically damaged to be of much note. At least none of them are crying this time.

So anyway, the Sons of Horus are already at the vault where T’Kell intends to hide the artefacts and the vast majority of the book deals with them fighting in a progression of dull conflicts as the traitors try to gain access to the armoury in the vault. There are a few good scenes here and there but overall the interaction between the two fizzles rather than sizzles and the book starts to drag. It’s at this stage that a familiar and foreboding feeling starts to kick in, halfway through the book and there is noticeable lack of flow and focus. Certainly the narrative and construction could do with some tightening.

Things do pick up at the back of the book as the Shattered Legions make an appearance and Nick gets to write about the Iron hands for a bit. I actually think that he writes these a bit better than the Salamanders (probably due to the lack of emotions) as it happens. Included in this lot is a Raven Guard who is such an unstoppable ninja you do rather wonder how he hasn’t won the war all by himself.  This latter stage of the book is really rather compelling as the disparate ideologies of the Iron Hands and Salamanders are bought to the fore. I try to keep these reviews spoiler free but let’s just say the Iron Hands are hiding something. 

Of course this all comes to a head as all three factions and super black ninja clash. There are some excellent action scenes here  and it all gets pretty messy but at the end when the dust has settled you do rather get the feeling that nothing has really been achieved and no progress has been made to the overall goal. It’s a problem I had with Deathfire, lots of meandering and not a lot of result. An overall lack of focus.

And that sadly is a symptom of the books increased page length resulting in increased disparate threads and a tangible lack of focus, though as I have said, it is better than Deathfire. You just feel that he would be better handling just one or two of these plot points rather than being too clever and trying to tie everything together in a neat bow. I won’t even comment on the Aliens-esque epilogue.

Overall how do I feel about Sons of the Forge? Well, I don’t feel like it is a book that needs to exist and although it tries to tie into the overall narrative of the Horus Heresy it is the very definition of filler, serving as a link between sets of Salamander books and nothing more. Despite the good work that is done with the Iron Hands (an enduring story arc that commenced some time ago is resolved in emphatic fashion) little is done to advance the march to Terra at all, this is a side story in its purest fashion. In fact I wish more had been done with the Iron Hands as I found them to be a much better foil for the Salamanders than the Sons of Horus. To be honest the Iron Hand’s mission is actually more compelling than the Salamanders Quest which seems to go absolutely nowhere. At least not in this book, does that threaten  more of these stories, set mid timeline? Well, time will tell I guess.

At the end of the day it is typical Nick Kyme fare for the page length. If you really enjoy his novels then by all means pick this up and chances are you will enjoy it. If like me, you read his work with a sense of frustration as the highlights (which are in no short supply in Sons of the Forge) are overshadowed by the shonky characters and plot then I would advise more caution.