Fulgrim (Warhammer 40,000 Novels: Horus Heresy) by Graham McNeill
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Book Reviews of Fulgrim (Warhammer 40,000 Novels: Horus Heresy)
Book Review: Side-step but a great one
Summary: 5 Stars
I really enjoyed the way we were brought into Fulgrim's circle. I feel like my outlook on the 40K universe has changed with these bookd. I've actually started thinking about building a Chaos army for the 1st time after 10 years...Book Review: A very good tale of Fulgrim's fall but could've been longer
Summary: 4 Stars
The novel Fulgrim marks the 5th entry in the current Horus Heresy novels from Games Workshop's Black Library. It details the seduction and fall from the Emperor's grace of one of his Primarch sons. Graham McNeill, who has written one other Heresy book, returns to pen this tale of the Emperor's Children and their leader.
While I agree with the other reviewers in that parts of Fulgrim felt rushed or underdeveloped all in all Graham McNeill did a very good job in telling how one of the Primarchs gradually became seduced by the lure of Chaos. Fulgrim had always been one of the more interesting Primarchs in the Warhammer 40K pantheon in that his fall from grace was even more dramatic than that of Horus' own fall. McNeill did a great job in giving life to the character and personality of the Emperor's Children Legion. Their strive to be perfect in all things was their strenght and the battle against the Laer showed it, but it also showed how it was also their weakness and would lead to their inevitable fall from grace.
Fulgrim was a very quick read and in that McNeill did seem to rush certain subplots and characterizations. I disagree that the subplots involving the remembrancers were superflous. They were a necessary thread in how the Fulgrim and his legion were seen as not just superhuman warriors, but as patrons of the arts as well. But like all things when people strove for perfection it also leads to overindulgence and their love of the arts opened the legion and their Primarch Fulgrim into embracing hedonism as the way to perfection.
I do think the novel could've benefited from another hundred or so pages if just to bring more life to Fulgrim's brother Primarch Ferrus Mannus and his Iron Hands Legion. Ferrus Mannus and his no-nonsense Iron Hands made for a great counterpoint to Fulgrim and his Children, but with so many subplots going on in the book McNeill seem to have rushed and shortchanged the Iron Hands and their leader. Maybe they will get their own book (rumor has it that the Horus Heresy series will touch upon all the 18 known Legions and their Primarchs) down the line.
The final act of the book deals with the Battle of Istvaan V and McNeill has a way in describing the chaos and brutality of the battle between Astartes. The battle unfolded just exactly as described in brief in the Horus Heresy artbooks even down to the intervention of a behind-the-scenes manipulator which finally makes Fulgrim's fall complete. This last act alone could've taken up a whole novel all on its own and with some of the novels intersecting in certain events of the Heresy the battle may just get more detail in later books.
In the end, Fulgrim was not a perfect book from McNeill but it was still a very good entry to the Horus Heresy series. In fact, I would say that this book was better in showing how Chaos can seduce and turn one of the Emperor's own sons against him than how Horus himself was turned. While Horus was manipulated by outsiders, Fulgrim still had a chance to reject the lure of Chaos but had little will to do so. I can't wait for the next book in the series which will deal with my favorite legion and Primarch: Lion El'Jonson and his Dark Angels Legion.
Book Review: Horus Heresy, Book Five
Summary: 4 Stars
Like book four, book five begins before Horus's terrible massacre with viral weaponry on Isstvan III.
Primarch Fulgrim loves art, be they sculptures, paintings, music, or otherwise. Among his expedition resides the best each medium has to offer. Things are slowly changing. The pace of change quickens after Fulgrim takes a silver blade from his crushed enemies. With the touch of the hilt, Fulgrim begins to hear a voice, calling itself the Spirit of Perfection, within his head.
The Apothecary Fabius sways Fulgrim into allowing him permission to conduct experiments toward perfection. Fabius seeks to enhance the gene-seed of the Astartes. Many Astartes, such as Lord Commander Eidolon, Captain Marius Vairosean, and Captain Lucius, submit themselves to receive augmentative surgery. (This cannot be good.)
Once Fulgrim joins the Warmaster's treasonous plans, Fulgrim tries to coax Primarch Ferrus Manus to their cause. When Fulgrim fails battle lines are drawn. Fulgrim and Ferrus Manus stand on opposing sides. Only one can be allowed to live.
**** Author Graham McNeill simply skims over the battle on Isstvan III. After all, it has been told twice already from two different point-of-views. The previous stories focused on battles on planets or ship corridors. First these were against the Emperor's enemies. However, this one focuses on the corruption of art and the secret desires of Battle Brothers. No fights between reanimated Astartes this time. No, the dark forces of Chaos bring the blood and gore to the opera house this time. This, for me, is the best part of the book. McNeill brings the nightmare to vivid life before continuing the blood bath elsewhere. The book starts out slowly, but the pace picks up quickly. By the ending readers will find themselves holding their breaths and sitting on the edge of their seats. A great addition to the saga! ****
Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
Book Review: Tragic Beauty
Summary: 4 Stars
Seeing as this is the fifth book in what is going to be a long series, i think it is important to articulate the major break-up between the original trilogy (concerning the Mournival of Horus and the downfall of their legion) and subsequent releases. What followed that trilogy has so far been a set of stories that for all intents and purposes 'stand alone'. A trend that it seems will not be broken soon (The story of the tenacious and tragic legion of the Dark Angels is next in line).
Bearing this in mind, it is no stretch of the imagination on my behalf or on the behalf of any others that Fulgrim is by far the most intense and complete of the series thus far.
The tragic story of corruption this glorious legion suffers at the hands of excess has an almost operatic depth to it, and the storyline itself starts right back at the beginning of the series - running parallel along the events that took place in previous books, right up to and breaching the end of the malevolent and bloody battle that ended the original trilogy.
The small criticism i would make, however, is that the writer leaves a lot of description and detail sparse - left up to the imagination of the reader - a tradition that is becoming more and more prevalent in Black Library publications. It is necessary, i honestly propose, to make sure the richness of the universe is brought forward through clear and precise highlighting of thematically prominent detail. While not a problem within itself, underwriting is a well accepted form of suggestive literature, but i feel personally that all too often it is used to the effect of ease on the writer's behalf rather than the effect of suggestion itself - and i for one would enjoy a more focused and gritty experience in the books to come in this fantastic series.
Make no mistake, if this series has held your interest so far, this entry will reinvigorate it.
Book Review: Great 40k fiction.
Summary: 4 Stars
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and thats the central theme to "Fulgrim." While feeling somewhat rushed, this novel captures more of what makes the 40k universe as dark as it is. It shows corruption of the spirit, not in the fell swoop that Chaos seems to imply, but by degrees so small that you don't realize you've crossed the line until you've crossed three more.
This is made more tragic by the sheer innocence of the characters, Astartes included. When they're exposed to chaos in a raw, if well subdued form, they interperet it as beautiful. If the Emperor had made a standing order to blow up anything that remotely resemebled a place of worship, things would've gone far differently.
The interaction of the rememberancers is well done, and despite the inclinations of other reviwers, important to the progression of the books, because the overwhelming majority of the fleets weren't Astartes, they're a support staff of humans. Their corruption is also well described and deeply distrubing, with the painter adding her own blood to her paints to make the hues "just right" standing out in my mind in particular.
The only frustrating part to me is how easily Fulgrim is swayed by the sword he finds at the beginning of the novel. The primarchs were all supposed to be powerful psykers in their own right, even if they didn't use their abilities to the degree that Magnus or the Emperor did. Using a daemon possessed sword to influence a primarch stinks too much of a deus ex machina. The gradual fall due to his own pride and overamplified sense of self-perfection would've done the trick just as handily, and far more bitterly.
All told, very well done, in typical McNeill fashion, though it would've been another 5 star book if he'd had a bit more time to polish it.