The Talon of Horus (Volume 1) (The Black Legion)

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Chaos Space Marines have always been favourites of mine and given the talent of Aaron Dembski-Bowden, not only for writing them but bringing them to life and fleshing them out, I was most eager to read this. The details of what happened in the 10,000 years between the end of the Horus Heresy and the present timeline of the Warhammer 40,000 universe and the activities of the Traitor Legions in that time has always intrigued me, and it's a subject that's quite murky in terms of lore, so this book piqued my interest in giving a bit more illumination to that. Telemachon: That had nothing to do with me. That was Lord Fabius and his laboratory ilk ranting about the promise of cloning. My warband goes nowhere near their domain, and we share none of their passion for genetic perversion. Making such morally dubious protagonists compelling while not shying away from, or offering excuses for their questionable views and decisions is not easy, but Dembski-Bowden pulls it off admirably here.

ADB again succeeds in portraying traitor marines in such a way that you symphatise, no matter the horrors they willingly inflict upon their victims. Also, this character is that interesting, together with his retinue that even the "real" main character, the current bearer of The Talon of Horus, becomes a bit boring. Ceraxia - Mechanicum Adept, born of Sacred Mars. Governess of the foundry world Gallium, and Lady of Niobia Halo. Foil: Thagus Darevek to Abbadon himself. Both have very similar aims and goals but wildly different outlooks on how to do it and why. Thagus welcomes the gifts of the Chaos Gods and is happy to go along with their schemes whilst gaining control of the remaining legions for the sake of power itself. Abbadon actively resists their temptations, and only uses their blessing out of necessity as part of his goal to unite the remaining legions under one banner to take revenge on the Imperium. Telemachon strives for more than just raiding and the Emperor's Children's rampant indulgence, but hides it beneath a literal and figurative mask of contempt. Two Girls to a Team: The only female members of the Villain Protagonists ensemble are Gyre and Nefertari.

Buy The Talon of Horus by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Falkus Kibre, ‘Widowmaker’ - XVI Legion warrior, born of Cthonia. Chieftain of the Duraga kal Esmejhak warband, and commander of the warship Baleful Eye. Former commander of the Justaerin.

It is a bulky and somewhat crude, but very effective weapon prototype that gained widespread use at the time of the Horus Heresy. Two belts of ammunition are fed into the gauntlet from the right side and the howling faces of Daemons cover the casing ejectors. It is assumed that the Talon, used in conjunction with the Daemon Sword Drach'nyen, provides Abaddon with his ranged combat abilities and confers at least the same benefits as a standard Lightning Claw in melee. Leave No Witnesses: After the First Battle of Cadia, Khayon personally eliminates any surviving witnesses to Sigismund and Abbadon's duel, the Ezekarion having decided it was too dangerous letting anyone outside their ranks know how close Abbadon came to dying in that battle. Sigismund's will was Dorn's, and through his primarch, the Emperor's. Dorn had trusted him, and Sigismund had squandered that trust on pride and superstition, not unlike those who now rebelled against the Emperor. Shamed, Sigismund offered his blade to his gene-father to take his life, but the primarch refused. He would retain Sigismund as first captain, but none would ever know of what he had done. Dorn would not allow Sigismund's fear and pride to sow doubt in their ranks. His shame would be his to bear alone.Dieser erste Band beschäftigt sich vor allem mit ersterem, also der Gründung und vor allen Dingen der Entstehung der Idee hinter der Schwarzen Legion. Abaddon taucht persönlich erst spät im Roman auf, die von im personifizierte Ideen der Einigkeit im Hass und der Bruderschaft unter Verrätern zieht sich jedoch durch die gesamte Erzählung. Shout-Out: It's uncertain whether it's deliberate, but Sargon is the name of one of the gods in The Eye of Argon. A third original element is the fight around Horus’ body, the demise of his Legion, once the most powerful of all. The attempt of the Emperor’s Children to gain supremacy and resurrect him, thanks to the skills of the infamous Fabius, makes up the core of the narrative of this first volume of the trilogy. Not Me This Time: The Inquisition attempts to pin a load of aliases and crimes on Khayon whilst he is in their custody. It should be noted that he doesn't deny committing acts of mass genocide but that he mildly resents being accused of things he didn't do.

But with all that said, there were some issues with this book, beyond the before mentioned toeing of the Mary Sue line. My biggest has to do with the clone of Horus. It is mentioned time and time again in 40k fiction that the primarchs were to the space marines as the space marines are to normal humans. This can actually be seen in the current release of the primarchs in the game itself. Yet in the confrontation with the cloned Horus in this, the way everything plays out not only downplayed the primarch (maybe a cloning flaw?), but also made him sized the same as Abaddon in his terminator warplate, which shouldn't have been the case. Most people wouldn't have noticed this, but it really took me out of the story. High Marshal Sigismund, using his last breath to curse Abaddon the Despoiler after being torn in two by the Talon of Horus Collector of the Strange: Abaddon has a wide collection of trophies from his centuries-old pilgrimage, from the talon of Horus to the skull of a giant serpent creature.We will spend our lives fighting to secure this Imperium, and then I fear we will spend the rest of our days fighting to keep it intact... In the far future, there will be only war."