‘False Gods’ – Graham McNeill (Black Library)

 

Page Count: 406 Pages

I told you that my ‘Horus Heresy’ reading is all over the place… While I’ve been reading the last book of ‘The Siege of Terra’, I’ve also been going back to the very beginning of the series for a little re-reading. Because as much as reading speculative fiction is about new adventures, it’s also about revisiting those old favourites. Go on, tell me that it isn’t ;o)

Anyway… We’ve seen the seeds of Heresy sown, lets see them take root and grow…

Far from Terra, the XVIth Legion continue in the Great Crusade as the 'Sons of Horus'. Putting the debacle with the Interex behind him, the Warmaster has become more withdrawn as he struggles to deal with the jealousy of his brother primarchs, and increasingly relies on the council of his advisors as he plans each new campaign. Noble captain Garviel Loken harbors misgivings about the clandestine ways adopted by many of his brethren, but when the Legion is sent to reconquer the moon of Davin, it is clear that Horus has a personal stake in the matter which may have clouded his judgement. With dark forces rising against them, have the primarch and his warriors been drawn into a trap?

If you know your ‘Horus Heresy’ then you’ll already know the answer to that last question. Even if you don’t, you can still take a pretty good guess and have a 50/50 chance of getting it right ;o) Lets just say that the events of ‘False Gods’ are inevitable and pivotal to everything that follows.

The good news is that Graham McNeill builds on the events of ‘Horus Rising’ in such a way that you can see what’s coming but still feel sympathy for the likes of Loken, trying to figure out what’s happening when it’s already far too late. And even though I knew what was coming, there was still that one moment where I still thought that it could go either way… Considering this was a re-read (and not the first one either), that’s a real testament to McNeill’s ability to control not only the narrative (in terms of dramatic affect) but also his handling of Horus himself. Add in all the ‘ship-board politicking’, and the impact of the growing belief in the divinity of the Emperor, and you have a book where there’s a lot going on, definitely something for everyone once you take the brutal scenes of combat into account as well.

The only way that ‘False Gods’ perhaps comes up a little short is that it has the misfortune of following on from a series opener written by Dan Abnett. And that’s not ‘False Gods’ fault… is it? I’ve got nothing against McNeill’s writing at all, it just comes across as a little more blunt, and straightforward than Abnett’s and while there’s definitely room for both styles in this series (McNeill absolutely captures the bluntness of the Astartes), I guess it’s a ‘personal preference thing’.

Either way, while ‘False Gods’ didn’t quite hit the heights of ‘Horus Rising’ (at least from where I was sat), Graham McNeill still gives us a more than solid follow-up that moves things in the right direction and adds enough uncertainty, to the inevitable, to keep things interesting. You can’t ask for a lot more than that really ;o)