‘Avenging Son’ – Guy Haley (Black Library)

 

Page Count: 520 Pages

I did say that things would be a little heavy on the Black Library side this week… :o) I’ll tell you what, tomorrow we’ll look at something that’s about as far away from the ‘Grimdark’ as you can get. How does that sound? Cool.

In the meantime though, lets hang around in that ‘grim darkness of the far future’ for a little longer…

Yesterday, I mentioned that I’d managed to finish a couple of books that I’d stalled on and ‘Avenging Son’ was one of those very books. Not for the reasons you might think though. Take a look at the page count here and then look at a few other books I’ve read recently, there’s your clue. You want another clue? Go on then… The lack of a comfy chair, just recently, may have also played a part.

One new comfy chair, and a free Saturday, later… ‘Avenging Son’ was all finished and ready to be posted about here. Lets do this.

This is the Era Indomitus…

A great darkness has befallen the galaxy, and the armies of Chaos are rampant. To survive, humanity must retaliate and take back what they have lost. By the will of the reborn primarch, Roboute Guilliman, is the Indomitus Crusade launched – a military undertaking that eclipses all others in known history. From the Throneworld of Terra does the Avenging Son hurl his fleets, their mission the very salvation of mankind.

As vessels in their thousands burn through the cold void, the attention of Fleetmistress VanLeskus turns to the Machorta Sound – a region under attack by a dreaded Slaughter Host of the Dark Gods. The success of the Indomitus Crusade will be determined by this conflict, and the desperate mission of Battlegroup Saint Aster, led by Space Marine Lieutenant Messinius. Even then it is but a prelude to the forthcoming bloodshed.

For in the 41st Millennium, there is only war.

It is my ‘curse’ to miss out on reading the longer Warhammer 40K series until they are far too expensive to collect in single volumes. Luckily for me, Black are making the series available again, in omnibus editions, and I’ve got a few of the later books waiting to be read (if I haven’t already). So… Watch me read another series slightly out of order and fill in the gaps ;o)

We can start at the beginning here though and… ‘Avenging Son’ ended up being one hell of a way to mark the opening of a series where things have never looked so bad for the Imperium and humanity as a whole.

Haley makes it clear, right from the start, that life on Terra has never been so precarious (with demons assaulting the walls of the palace for the first time in millennia) and we all know what happens if Terra falls… You’d forgive Haley for settling on his laurels with that opening but he proceeds to go on and show us that actually, it’s far worse. The galaxy has been split in two by the Great Rift, and no-one knows if anything is left on the other side. The forces of Chaos are a couple of void engagements from being able to strike at Terra itself. And while the Primarch Roboute Guilliman has returned and taken control; the state of the Administratum is such that the Crusade Fleets can’t do any good until people can agree which one leaves first… And if all that wasn’t bad enough, there’s something happening in the quiet spaces of the void that could be worse than all of the other stuff. Far worse...

It’s ‘another day in the life of the Imperium’, to be fair but Haley does an amazing job of really laying it on the line not only how pivotal a moment this all is but also the Imperium’s worst enemy continues to be itself. Nawra Nison’s journey is a fascinating opportunity to get a look at life in the depths of the Imperial Palace but it’s her ultimate destination that really pays dividends in terms of what Haley has to say about the Imperiums ability to hamstring itself through its own stagnant bureaucracy.

It’s not all commentary though. Haley sets up a number of plot-lines, that I assume will play out across the rest of the series, and does a fine job of giving the reader enough closure, that we don’t feel too cheated, while making it clear that there is far more to come. Add in some appropriately gripping fleet engagements and you have a book that purrs along in such a way that I couldn’t help but keep going with it.

And lets not forget the introduction of the Primaris Marines.

While there is a cynical part of me (and you too) that knows the pages of any Black Library book are the best kind of advertising space, for models, Haley puts the story first and really goes deep in terms of looking at these new players and what they may mean for the Imperium. The Primaris Marines could potentially win this war, if they and their creator can be trusted. Haley leaves us none the wiser, as to how this may go, but in the character of Areios, really shows us what’s it like to be a Primaris Marine, newly awakened into a galaxy at war, ten thousand years after his birth.

Everyone else has likely finished the series already but I’m pretty excited at the prospect of reading on. With ‘Avenging Son’, Guy Haley has kicked things off with a real bang and left others with a real task in keeping up. Lets see how the other books go…