Horus Rising (1) (The Horus Heresy)

This is my second trip into the Black Library and my first Horus Heresy novel. As a non player of the role playing games I got to admit I am becoming a huge fan of the novels. My first book (or collection) was the Ultramarines Omnibus volume 1 by Graham McNeill which was very good. Horus Rising is absolutely amazing. The story tells of the Luna Wolves expeditions during the Emperor of Man's crusade to travel the stars and reunite humanity under the banner of the Imperium of Man. Most of the story follows Captain Loken, a Luna Wolf recently promoted to be one of Warmaster Horus's council as he struggles with learning about chaos, the reasons for the crusade and it's ramifications. Along the way there is major battles, political intrigue, struggles of embedded reporters trying to remain objective, cover ups, plot twists, the struggles for identity, innocence lost and tragedy. I really enjoyed seeing the internal struggle that warriors who were created for war trying to find peace and come to terms with finding fault in the great Emperor's grand plans for the universe. The battle's were also well crafted and highly enjoyable. I recommend this book to sci/fi fantasy fans or fans of the series very highly.

Horus Rising is the first book in the Horus Heresy series. The Horus Heresy is the single most important piece of backstory in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, covering the Great Crusade led by the Emperor of Mankind to re-unite Earth with its lost colonies, the genetically engineered supermen who are the Primarchs and the first Space Marines, and Primarch Horus's promotion to the position of Warmaster to lead the crusade. I'll avoid any spoilers for anyone not familiar with the overall account of the Horus Heresy, but I will say that while I have read many books in the past, this is the first time in a long time that reading a book gave me an adrenaline rush on par with an action movie. Even if you are not familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 universe, if you love scifi and military books you will love the atmosphere given off by this story.

A very interesting look into the beginning of the Horus Heresy. The story is quite nice as it shows the Astartes before they became warrior monks and the citizens of the Imperium before everything went to Hell. There are some very nice passages in this. Mr. Abnett can capture the insanity of chaos very well.

I can't begin to explain how great Dan's writing is. The wording is incredible and the mental images are crisp. If you love sci-fi, give it a read.

Great

First thing's first... The Horus Heresy is going to be a huge series if you are going to dive in, it's over 30 books so far. On the plus side not every book is linear and the series does jump around a lot (It's not hard to keep up though) and this breaks things up enough to not make things too stale. The downside is that it's written by quite a few different authors some of which aren't as good as others. Dan Abnett is one of the, if not the best author of the lot of them, and so far Horus Rising is my favorite book in the list, and I am currently through the book Scars.
Horus Rising is straight forward enough, with the rise of Horus, Primarch of the Luna Wolves to the status of Warmaster of the Emperor's Great Crusade. It's a nice fast paced read with good action and a good cast that centers around a marine named Loken who himself has just been elevated to position within Hours' inner circle of advisers. Without going into any more of the story than that I can honestly say that I have recommended this book to everyone that I know that reads Sci-Fi, and so far everyone has seemed to enjoy it.

There is something twisted about this series. It exalts the ideals of empire that most thinking people of today find shameful in present times. Nevertheless it was fun to read.