Horus Heresy: Legion by Dan Abnett
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Book Reviews of Horus Heresy: Legion
Book Review: Mr. Abnett saved the Horus Heresy series
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is a timely boost to the series. The last three books in this serie, "Flight of Eisentein", "Fulgrim" and "Descent of Angels"(worst of the lot) are simply too childish and have no story developement. This book offers suprisingly interesting perspective compare to other books, more from the eyes of non-space marines and yet introduce the Alpha Legion to readers very well. Go get this one!!Book Review: Loved learning all about the Alpha Legion. Good book.
Summary: 4 Stars
This book was really interesting on the vein of learning about the Alpha Legion, their primarch and the Imperial Army. Full of intrigue, suspense, sneaky behaviors... it was a pretty good read.Book Review: Abnett outfoxes himself
Summary: 3 Stars
*** PLOT SPOILER ALERT ***
Abnett is, as one other reviewer says, the best author that GW has in the Black Library talent pool. It's really no contest - his opening works in the Eisenhorn series are still without peer. He's got a feeling for characters and atmospherics that few authors out there can match. This book is a joy to read for aficionados of the 31st Millennium created by GW and BL. That's why I give it three stars despite the following criticisms.
The problem, however, one of execution: LEGION is really two books jammed together and the flow suffers because no one on the BL editing staff caught that tangle. Book A is a study of life in the pre-Heresy Imperial Army, and Book B revolves around the efforts of the Cabal to influence the Alpha Legion. Book A, however, has almost nothing to do with Book B, save for a few characters forced to form that bridge between the two. And these links are demonstrably artificial - a gaffe absent in Abnett's other works.
Book B is fascinating, and the twist at the end with the two paths laid out for Alpharius is a real treat -- it's far more subtle than most BL plot lines. But it left me wondering what the point of all the chapters on the Imperial Army had to do with anything.
The early books of the Horus Heresy series - to include Abnett's own HORUS RISING - made a dedicated effort to showcase the Space Marines while also using them as the vehicle for the plot. In LEGION, the Alpha Legion seems sinister and evil -- a conclusion that trades more on the fact that we all know they turn traitor than any actual deed in the book itself. So their secrecy comes off heavy handed - we never get any insight into why the Chapter behaves the way it does. At the end of the book, the reader is just as ignorant of their motives as before, save for some cliches about pragmatism. The contrast between the 'not going to tell you' approach of LEGION and the insightful works on the Dark Angels, Emperor's Children, and Luna Wolves is both marked and unsatisfying.
Book B is the real story we all paid to read. Instead, we read chapter after chapter on Imperial Army units - chapters that don't really move the plot at all. Book A has already been written by Abnett - the Ghost series - and I wonder if he didn't fall back on his comfort zone when looking for filler in LEGION.
And I reject the argument that LEGION was deliberately written to be secretive; that that somehow is the essence of the Chapter. Rather, I think the book we wanted to read just didn't get written.
So if you pick up a copy of LEGION, save yourself some reading and simply turn to the last three chapters, and read those.
Book Review: A Stand Alone Story?
Summary: 3 Stars
As a relatively recent member to the world of WH40K I was immediately swept up into the Horus Heresy series and haven't looked back since. I was however, surprised by the distinct lack of ties that Legion actually has to the last six novels in the series. The only reference to the Horus Heresy seems to stem purely from the cover of the book. The novel does feature some unforeseen twists and turns that I will admit, do make the reading enjoyable. However, I was constantly scanning the pages looking for some link or even a vague connection to the events unfolding around the Warmaster, making the enjoyment of this book somewhat diminished.
I am unsure as to how I want to rate this novel, Abnett does an excellent job in his representation of both the Alpha Legion and their Primarch as the most secretive and unknown of the Astartes. However the notion that this book was rushed and that Abnett should have made use of an extra hundred or so pages becomes apparent towards the last few chapters of the novel.
Personally, I would have preferred this novel published after the end of the Horus Heresy series as some sort of explanatory epilogue rather than just thrown in there the same way Descent of Angels was.
A decent read and one that can be easily read by those new to the series but in the end, Legion leaves readers with almost as many questions as answers.
Book Review: The "Fall" of the Alpha Legion
Summary: 3 Stars
Abnett's second contribution to the Horus Heresy series (he also penned the first instalment, Horus Rising) is this seventh book, which introduces the mysterious Alpha Legion of space marines and details their battle and ultimate alliance with Chaos, the same force that has turned many other legions into waging a civil war against the Emperor of humanity.
The above conceit could well have been portrayed as a short story rather than a novel, but Abnett is a capable writer and the narrative he weaves regarding the characters performing the Alpha Legion's espionage within the ranks of the Imperial Infantry makes for an engaging story set within the realm of Warhammer 40k, albeit largely unnecessary to the story's outcome.