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: Fulgrim is more grim than fulfilling (more like a 2.5)
Summary: 3 Stars
As the latest addition or book 5 of the Horus Heresy I was very excited to continue reading how the 31,000 century turned half of the Emperor's sons against him. This title of the book is also the central character or Primarch of one of the 20 Legions of Space Marine. Fulgrim is the Primarch of the Emperor's Children (EC) Spare Marine Legion and is held in high regards with his fellow Primarchs and the Emperor himself.
The story begins with a very quick pace with the EC in battle with a strange alien race that makes its home on a mostly watery planet. But as the Emperor deemed death to aliens and heretics its is the job of the EC to cleanse the galaxy. During the battle McNeill does a cursory job of character development and at points you will find yourself wondering which Captain is in charge of which unit since he seems rather flippant to keeping with the Codex and the approved battlegear for each company. Also, one other thing I must point out is the rich descriptions of the terrain and battles are a nice point but in the following paragraph he ruins the pace and imagery by jolting the story back to the confines of the galactic fleets grimy corriodors with the trival story of two rembrancers who ultimately play little to the overall story, unless you enjoy the symbolism of art turing everything evil.
One of the previous reviews describes the arm pumping in the air and its true! I recalled after the third arm pumping that McNeill was grasping at capturing the mood of the battle turning in favor of the EC and has possibly come to a precipice in his writing. Another example of this is his failing to realize that Fulgrim would not have turned so quickly to better himself and allow Fabius Bile to experiment with the geneseed right under his nose. And the previous books had appearances of other EC like Eidolon and Lucius but neither of these characters played a large role in this book. It would have weaved a much richer and engrossing tale if those characters actions would have been more developed in this book than focusing on the rembrancer who defecates in her paint pot to get the right color of brown!
One part of the story I found extremely enjoyable was the part that was covered in an early book where Fulgrim links up with Horus and they walk into his chambers. In the earlier book you have no idea what occured both that they were in there for several days and when Fulgrim appeared he left immeadiately leaving Lord Commander Eidolon in charge of the EC assigned to Horus. McNeill did a good job of covering the discussion between Horus, Fulgrim and Erebus. YES! Eerebus! It takes only a few minutes to read that part and although it was nice to see how Horus was able to convince Fulgrim to support his heresy. On the flip side of the coin I wish that there was more of those moments in this book.
With the story ultimately leading to the events on Istavaan III and V the time line seemed very rushed to get this book to closure. The EC find themselves on the landing zone on Istavaan V and your witness to the LZ slaughter of the Iron Hands and Salamanders at least you think you are. Because at the end McNeill gives you the get out of jail free card and explains how several units were able to escape 6 Legions! Bah! In the end this book is a story of tragedy and traitorous actions. Primarch killing his own Space Marines, Primarch killing Primarch, Legions killings Legions, and a Slaanesh Demon taking shape outside the Warp and forever taking over Fulgrim.
If you are new to the Horus Heresy I'd like to tell you not to start with this book. If you have been keeping up with the other 4 books then this is such a quick read try and grab it at a discount store. Because it is under 500 pages for $8.99 its almost too much to pay and with the cursory character development I'd recommend waiting till this is in the bargain bin. But if your a die-hard, hard-core 40K fan and have $10 burning in your pocket than pick it up and enjoy a quick read that actually leaves you finding more holes in the Hersey story than the other 4 books.
Book Review: Interesting but a cold cup of tea nonetheless.
Summary: 3 Stars
I never understood how primarchs, made from the flesh of the Emperor Himself, could easily be seduced by chaos. Fulgrim's descent into a libertine is very progressive and McNeil does a good job showing the conflict ( I dont like how Fulgrim's decisions were not always his own and a daemon guided most of his actions. Nevertheless, McNeil does a better job showing the descent into darkness in Fulgrim then Horus did in "False Gods" Little sad when Solomon Demeter is kind of eased out of the story to show more Conflict with Ferrus Mannus. The Primarch of the Iron Warriors is a little depressing when it comes to his fighting prowess. He gets his arse pushed in twice and is a little quick to angry, to a point where in reminds me of Angron. McNeil spens a little to much time on the Hedonism of the Emperor's Children, but does a really good job explaining how effectively the chain of command corrupted the Children. Also with the tremendous losses of the Traitor forces at Istaan V and III its amazing how they can even go to terra and attempt a coupt' de ta. However, it is a enjoyable book and although no Galaxy in Flames, its good to see Saul again.Book Review: Formula getting old ...
Summary: 3 Stars
This is an engaging book, and, like many of the novels in the Horus series, it almost pushes aside the title of pulp literature, though not quite.
However, after five novels in this series, it's getting a little tiresome (and somewhat depressing) to watch these great characters fall over and over again. It's not really the author's fault, because, after all, it's the Horus Heresy, and anyone familiar with the background knows which characters are destined to fail and commit terrible deeds as they become corrupted by Chaos.
Even with that knowledge, it becomes a little disheartening to read about it in book after book, and one wonders how long the series can be sustained with this constant theme of failure.
40k is a dark universe, and that's part of what makes it appealing and sets it apart from something like Star Wars. Still, it's hard to constantly stare into the darkness without a little light to keep you going.
Book Review: Ferrus Mannus was more interesting.........
Summary: 3 Stars
Ferrus Mannus was more interesting and had more personality in this novel than Fulgrim. It felt a bit rushed, and in comparison to the other Horus Heresy novels was easily the worst [though it's still a decent read overall]. Unlike the other novels where humans that were mentioned actually played some role in the main plot, the humans in Fulgrim had minimal impact on the main plot. It was nice to see the corruption take root on a human level, but it seemed to be irrelevant when the novel ended. Fulgrims corruption was significantly under-done. Compare his corruption to that of Horus and there is a huge gap. Fulgrim's drive for perfection should have been his undoing, but in the end it ended up being his need to relieve himself of emotional pain?!?!Book Review: A major disappointment
Summary: 3 Stars
I was really let down by this book, after really enjoying the first 4 books in the HH series. Half way through the novel, I actually logged on to Amazon to see if anyone else felt the same way. Things picked up quite a bit in the second half to the point where I would still recommend 'Fulgrim', but the over-the-top dialogue, constantly recycled phrases and poor pacing make this the worst of the first 5 books by far. And as another reviewer mentioned, McNeill really needs to tone down the amount of 'punching the air' that his characters are doing. It almost seemed like the author rushed the manuscript out to the publisher without going back and refining his story...And as the reviewer hit the 'submit' button, he punched the air in excitement....