| Title | : | Betrayer (The Horus Heresy, #24) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780857879189 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | 343 |
| Publication | : | First published December 1, 2012 |
The Horus Heresy: Betrayer is presented in an enhanced eBook format and includes exclusive internal illustrations by artist Karl Richardson.
Betrayer (The Horus Heresy, #24) Reviews
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Aaron Dembski-Bowden hit it out of the park when he wrote this book. The characters were all amazingly fleshed out and you "love" each and every one of them. Par Erebus. That guys a jerk! I cant wait to read his next novel!
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*WARNING THIS CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS*
My hear is broken. THANKS AGAIN WARHAMMER 40K FOR TAKING MY HEART AND RIPPING IT TO SHREDS. I read this book in under 24 hours and a day later I still get chest pain from how much it hurt me.
*Rant ended*
Once again my dear friends, well the rest of the girls where out watching "The Host" I was reading the "Betrayer".
Gawd, how do I even talk about this?
Well Lorgar and Angron are going on a big boy trip through Ultramars 500 billion worlds or something like that. Yeah, know screwing Ultramariens and burning worlds typical heretic thing.
Only as you can probably guess Lorgar is up to something, where as he has previously tried to calm Angron down, he know encourages it. (It's odd now having worked in a hospital I'm imagining some of the things we'd say to calm someone down said to Angron needless to say we'd all be dead.)
The story was brillient, Lorgar, Guilliman, Angron Argal Tal, Kharn+Lotar (They are the ship I have in my head so there names can't be seperated.) and that Motherfucker Erebus (Yes, THAT is his canon name now...) all made stunning apperances. I honestly can't say if I want to make passionate love with all the characters or kill them. (Fine line there, probably couldn't kill Erebus he's so fashionable.)
Some of the parts with the World Eaters where really enjoyable(mainly the part about the nails killing most psykers.) going through Kharn's mind was well done and a great way to see that side of the story.
Angron's conversation well fighting Guilliman was really good because I'd always thought all of that stuff....but no one would hear me say but as the blood god's son said it they kind of HAVE to listen.
Another great moment was when Lorgar brought up (yet another thing I thought off...and don't try and give me some crappy answer...)why couldn't the Emperor have helped Angron's ragtag army? Seriously, unleash the legion to war and he'd have a much loyaler son and one not so bent on his issues with what he felt was betraying his brothers and sisters.
Can we give Aaron around of applause for another book well done?
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Possibly the darkest, most tragic book in the series yet. And that is saying something.
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Holy fething shite!
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Blood... FOR THE BLOOD GOD!
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Following on from Butcher’s Nails and the events of Know No Fear, Betrayer is a novel exploring the war in Ultramar. Focusing the roles played by both Lorgar and Angron in crippling worlds who might come to the Imperium’s defence and the aftermath of their failure at Calth. However this defeat is not the greatest concern of the Word Bearers primarch. Angron is visibly becoming less stable by the day as the mental implants continue to drag his tortured into a perpetual blood frenzy. Worse still is that they are not only driving him insane, they are beginning to kill him. Determined to keep him alive, Lorgar focuses his efforts on saving his barbarous brother through corruption.
In many ways the novel is very similar to Graham McNeill’s preceeding title in this series Angel Exterminatus. You have two very different legions working towards the same goal, one legion being shown its downfall to Chaos entirely, a primarch ascending to a greater power and with it linking directly into a multitude of other novels.
However Aaron Dembski-Bowden goes about covering events of prior Heresy installments in a very different way. In this, much of what is seen makes you want to go back to re-read titles and look at them again with the revelations now known. Right in the first few pages there are scenes which seem to address a number of criticisms and fan objections to Battle for the Abyss and the actions of Magnus the Red. Nothing so extensive that it smothers the opening of a very good tale. Instead feeling like it’s addressing older flaws on short notice while managing to make them feel at least somewhat meaningful. These scenes never last more than a few pages at a time but on almost every occasion they offer new insights into events, characters and even the primarchs themselves. Best of all none of them ever feel like they’re betraying said characters, simply expanding upon what was previously told.
Atop of these revelations, the book carries directly on from what we were shown from First Heretic. The scenes featuring Lorgar, Argel Tal and other feel like they were direct extensions from their previous novel and have fantastic continuity with what came prior to this. There are certainly some eyebrow raising moments such as the decision to resurrect yet another character from the dead but it doesn’t feel like a decision beyond those attempting the act. It’s only the choice of having the act take place which feels wrong, not the fact the characters themselves are performing it. Furthermore the author manages to reconcile Erebus between both what we saw in First Heretic and the treacherous viper he is from the others. I don’t want to ruin it but how he is presented here and treated by his primarch is closest to the brief scenes of him from Anthony Reynolds’ Word Bearers trilogy.
As for the battles, they’re competently written. While never feeling beyond anything we’ve seen in the past they’re certainly no worse than what we’ve encountered in ground engagements. Where the book seems to truly shine however is when it takes time to emphasise upon space warfare and duels between specific characters. Every time guns start firing in the void and one warrior singles out the other, you know some outstanding battles are about to take place.
Still, for all this praise I’m sure many of you are wondering about the opening statement.
Each of the Horus Heresy novels had the tenancy to do two things: Progress the story towards the endgame at Terra in some way and flesh out the legions. In Prospero Burns we learned of the Space Wolves’ outlook on life, in Legion we learned of the Alpha Legion’s role and methods, A Thousand Sons shone light on that legion’s culture, so on and so forth. Betrayer though? We learn nothing we didn’t already know of the World Eaters. Plenty about figures within the legion and a little more about Angron but not the legion itself. In what could be their one chance to shine in the Heresy they end up being constantly overshadowed.
It would be wrong to say they’re not integral to the plot but nor are they the focus of it or the ones in control. No that constantly goes to the Word Bearers and Lorgar, the acts and fates of who Betrayer constantly veers towards exploring over that of Kharn and his ilk. While seeing Argal Tal’s story furthered is a more than welcome addition, their presence really makes it clear that this is their story. The World Eaters are just there as an objective or have their veterans show just how big a joke the legion has become.
The World Eaters have consistently been written as berserkers to be unchained and let loose, but they’ve always been presented as an effective force. One with a high attrition rate, but that was usually put down to their deployment against foes dangerous enough to be completely annihilated. In this they seem to be written as dangers to themselves, especially in the invasion of Armatura, undisciplined and only achieving victory due to more controlled elements outside of the legion. Fine they’re attacking a fortress world, supposedly one amongst the best in the galaxy despite the lack of Dorn or Perturabo’s involvement, but they seem to be massacred in easily avoidable situations. Entire elite detachments abandon their posts and hundreds are cut down in situations you’d expect even semi-lobotomised killers to be smart enough to avoid. It feels especially wrong when they thoroughly outmatch their enemy a hundred times over both in numbers and firepower.
There is method to the decision to portray them in this light. Unlike other authors who come to mind, Dembski-Bowden isn’t writing this to beef up another legion to make them look more impressive. A very intricate plot revolves around internal decay involving Angron, his relation to the legion and the changes of the butcher’s nails. An extremely well handled an interesting one.
Dembski-Bowden has shown he is willing to display as many flaws as strengths within legions and resist treating them as being powerful beyond reckoning. Even emphasising those flaws when he sees it needed to enhance character or improve a tale. Were this a standalone tale I’d be praising this decision, but when following on from novels showing every other legion as an effective force it becomes a huge black mark against what should have been a much better book. The problem is this feels wrong in their one big chance to be the focus of a story, especially when next to the Word Bearers. Taking what should have been a display of a legion’s individuality and strengths as with all preceding novels, then limiting their presence and exploring how massive a failure they are.
If you’re after more Word Bearers action, insight into Angron or are interested in seeing older novels shown in a new light, look this one up. If you’re here to see worlds being eaten, re-read previous instalments like The Outcast Dead. -
Dragged out, unnecessary filler. Did not finish. Recommend skimming or finding a summary.
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This is another of me "as I read it" reviews, which may not turn out all that coherent by the end, but the impressions are unmitigated by the passage of time.
I had a conniption over the repugnance I felt through "Angel Exterminatus" and left the Heresy. There was only one problem - the fact that I own a copy of "Betrayer". These audiobooks aren't cheap, and I decided to carefully weigh whether I should listen to it. Points against - my word that I was leaving the Heresy and the continued degredation of quality from low and mediocre to just bad. Points in favor - Sunk costs and the fact that Aaron Dembski-Bowden has a decent track record so far.
I decided I would at least listen to what I'd already paid for.
EDIT - My decision to listen to Beytrayer has already yielded entertaining fruit. It's only a mistake in math, but it's a funny one. While the Traitors are on approach to a major World of Ultramar, Kharn states that there are a billion soldiers down there, of which a tenth are youths undergoing implatation and gene therapy.
This number makes me laugh.
Anyone undergoing implatation and gene therapy in the service of Ultramar is on their way to becoming an Ultrasmurf. Now, at the start of the heresy, the 13th legion was a quarter of a million Ultrasmurfs strong. A tenth of a billion is a hundred million (in short count countries like the US at least, it's worse in long count countries). It takes between four and six years to complete the implantation and gene therapy to make an Ultrasmurf (cite Lexicanum, creating a space marine). That means this world would be churning out between sixteen point six million and twenty-five million every year. To stay at a mere quarter million, the legion would have to be taking between 6666% and 10000% casualties every year. That is, they would have to lose the entire legion sixty-six to a hundred times every year, or once every four to six days. This would make the Massacre at Calth just another Tuesday for Guilliman.
I know the explaination is that Kharn got the numbers wrong because he's got nails driven into his brain, but I find the Guilliman Meat Grinder explaination funnier.
EDIT 2 - I've finished Betrayer, and it was actually worth the time spent. But with the losses the Ultrasmurfs took throughout, it seems like the "Whole legion once a week" loss rate might actually be accurate.
While not rave-worthy, if it had been the baseline instead of the heights of the Heresey, this series might not have made me so cross. -
One of my favorite reads in the the series so far. Dembski-Bowden has proven himself time and again to be a powerful writer, skilled with imagery and language and full of powerful psychological insights. He does in this book what seems impossible, he makes Angron a sympathetic character.
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At first the book did not get to me, perhaps I have read a bit too much warhammer 40k of late but in addition it might have also been my disinterest for Lorgar and the wordbearers and dislike of Angron and the worldeaters. Up until this book they always felt like one dimensional characters but Aaron changed my opinion on this. He made both legions and primarchs interesting to me, I started to feel bad for Angron and get what Lorgar was trying to achieve. But more importantly he also gave enough attention to regular space marines and humans. Now it is up to someone to finally convince me that Roboute Guilleman isn't such a bland character, I will be really impressed if someone can achieve this.
One remark though, for all his writing talent and character building I feel as if Aaron has a specialty that he can't shake off. Tragic characters, primarchs that are mentally broken and at ill ease with their legion and legionnaires that are melancholic. When comparing his nightlords novels to this one, you can't ignore the similarities between Konrad and Angron's tormented minds and Talos linked to both Khârn and Argel Tal even if Talos was more developed and complex as a character. Regardless, this was an excellent book that I will proudly place in my collection but I do hope the author has another literary trick up his sleeve. -
Excellent. Dark. Sad.
This novel was really good, but hey, it is more about the success of the non-loyal forces and not the Imperials.
Erebus, once again, the largest of the c-bags, EVER, makes an appearance in this book. He was not in it for more than 20 pages in total and yet he made me so angry I had to put the book down a couple of times to calm myself down.
The Primarchs are much more powerful than I thought they were. MUCH more physically powerful than I had imagined at this point. I mean, look at the death of Ferrus Manus, it seemed almost easy in the novel Fulgrim. But here, here we see Lorgar take a Vulkan Plasma blast to the FACE and live. And Angron catch a Titan's foot and hold it in place. I was shocked.
The battle between Roboutte and Lorgar was wonderful...especially with Lorgar seeing it all coming apart and finally feeling bad about it. BUT BUT BUT, being saved magically by Angron a second time, at the cost of the justice I so want to be thrown on Lorgar's head was infuriating to me, and ultimately with the death of another major character, why I when I finished this novel I was depressed and angry. Especially with the next book being a compilation novel that is a prequel to this story.
FINISH THIS SERIES. -
Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus!Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus!Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus!Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus!Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus! Fuck Erebus!
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I went into this thinking I was not going to like it. I am not a World Eaters fan at all. By the end I really felt for Angron and Kharn is a great character. In truth I would give it 4.5 stars and not 5 because at times things were drawn out more than necessary and others were really rushed. There are also a lot of open threads to be wrapped up. Though this book at some great new characters like Lotara and more Eternals.
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I got to witness the ongoing corruption of the World Eaters. I was given a better appreciation of the struggles of Angron and his ruination. I appreciated the friendship between Kharn and Angel Tal. There is more than enough savage, firey action in this book. I was surprised at how much Lorgar developed further into his role as the Arch Priest of Chaos, especially regarding the power under his control. I especially appreciated what happened to Erebus at the end of this book.
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Fun installment with lots of backstory regarding the War Hounds/World Eaters and in particular Angron. Man, what a messed up Legion. They, more than perhaps any other legion I’ve read about this far (well, except the Night Lords) seemed the most doomed from the outset. Wasn’t entirely sure where it was going, but then when it did, I can’t say I was surprised.
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The book builds to a terrific crescendo much like the song Lorgar conducts throughout the novel. Certain characters get a satisfactory conclusion, others not so much, but that doesn't detract from the quality of the story. Kharn is the standout character for me and I'd recommend this to anybody wanting to learn more about this compelling chosen champion of Khorne!
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BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!
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Again in this series we get the continuing story of the Horus Heresy told from the vantage point of 2 Primarchs, this time Angron and Lorgar.
The interplay between the 2 is interesting and the evolution of their roles and beliefs in the continuing rebellion makes the next books that much more important. Cannot wait to start the next one. -
I think if your a fan of the word bearers and world eaters then you will enjoy this. It heavily follows those 2 factions and features its 2 primarchs a lot. Features a little bit of guilliman and ultramarines also. If not a big fan of those factions then it can be skipped while going through the horus heresy series as it doesn't do much to advance the story.
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gud buk
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Epic journey... I almost feel ..
Bad for angron? -
I super, really love this one. I think one of the best things of the Horace Heresy is the loose trilogy that starts with First Heretic, goes to Know No Fear, and ends with this one. I love the World Eaters, I love the characters and the characterization of the Space Marines in this one, and I dearly love the ending.
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Hot damn that was a good book!
I'm a traitor lover at heart when it comes to 40K, and getting to see Lorgar and his Word Bearer's story continue, as well as a much more in-depth look at Angron, the World Eaters(not HIS World Eaters), and the Warhounds was awesome. ADB did a really fantastic job with this one, making this the 6th five star review for his work(out of 7 titles).
Angron and the World Eaters/War Hounds were amazing, and seeing their thoughts, when they aren't lost to the Nails, was awesome. They are a truly terrible force to behold. In both senses that they are terror inspiring, and shadows of what they could be if they had any unity in their wars. But they get the job done, with horrendous losses and enough blood to scare any slasher fan.
Another thing I found to make this book go above and beyond, was how it delved into Angron's pained past. To Deah'ea, where Angron and his brothers and sisters died. Very interesting to see both the past, and his return to the past. As well as his awakening, and humbling of the rowboat.
The Word Bearers were equally amazing in this one, as they were in The First Heretic and Aurelian. Seeing the divide in the Word Bearers was awesome, as some looked at Chaos as a "doing what needed to be done" outlook, while others reveled in it. Though at the end, there was a few question I had that went unanswered. Perhaps these will be addressed in later books, or maybe I just don't want to know the answer so I blocked it out :p
P.S. I love traitors, but I fucking hate Erebus. -
Betrayer is one of the best in the series so far, it uses the previously successful formula of exploring the origins and motivations of a Primarch and the relationship between him and his legion during a defining period in the Heresy and no one needed that treatment more than the often one dimensional Angron and the World Eaters. That exploration started in After Desh’ea and Lord of the Red Sands is well fleshed out here.
Lorgar and the survivors of First Heretic continue their development from the events of that novel and the novella Aurelian, including a painful realization about the nature of his rivalry with Guilliman, who arrives on stage just long enough for a brief three way Primarch smackdown. Otherwise the Ultramarines despite being the main antagonists in the battle sequences have maybe a paragraph of dialog between them, the real plot takes place between and within the Primarchs and Astartes of the Word Bearers and World Eaters legions particularly Karn, Argel Tal and those few who still think of themselves as War Hounds.
Erebus returns to reclaim the title of cunt supreme from Fabius Bile and there are some excellent action sequences including ones with Titans, starships and the Legions' mortal followers keeping the pace up and holding everything together. -
I love The Horus Heresy. I don’t think I will ever get around to finishing it. I gave it a good run. At one point I believed I’d get so far as continuing at least all the way to Betrayer. No doubt every installment is fantastic, well written and exciting. I just lost the fire to finish it all the way through. There are too many publications coming from Black Library in the same way there are too many movies produced by Disney/Marvel. I’m happy for these authors, the series itself and the fact that it’s kinda` like guaranteed, good-quality science fiction that we all have come to know. You guys just have to go on without me.
I’ve still got a handful of 40k novels left to read, but they’re old school. I’m talking Gaunt’s Ghosts, Path of the Eldar and maybe a few more. It’s just time to move on.
And for anyone out there who is interested and likes the Warhammer 40k universe…Well, you can’t really do much better than this.
I was trying to hold out to Aaron's next book but it wouldn't feel right to skip some of the series...What a dilemma. -
A good book but I'm sick to death of the favoritism and authors biased attitude to the traitors when are the loyalists going to actually kick some ass like they really should be?
A few dumb bits like an imperator being neutralized by a pack of warhounds without the latter running out of ammo.
The ultramarines seem uncharacteristically incompetent at void war and fighting off gun fodder like the world eaters and where do the traitor legions get their seemingly never ending amount of astartes from?
Too many things I would have changed about this book but still entertaining none the less. -
Aaron Dembski-Bowden is quickly establishing himself as one of the best authors in the lineup. His novels on chaos have proven to have all the magic ingredients: multi-dimensional characters, epic scenes, unexpected plot twists, intrique and mystery, imagery and more.
Like his nightlords series, this is another one that is not to be missed.
