| Title | : | Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix (The Horus Heresy: Primarchs, #6) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1784966231 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781784966232 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 219 |
| Publication | : | First published January 9, 2018 |
Lord of Chemos and bearer of the Palatine Aquila, Fulgrim, primarch of the Emperor’s Children, is determined to take his rightful place in the Great Crusade, whatever the cost. A swordsman without equal, the Phoenician has long studied the art of war and grows impatient to put his skills, and those of his loyal followers, to a true test. Now, accompanied by only seven of his finest warriors, he seeks to bring a rebellious world into compliance, by any means necessary. But Fulgrim soon learns that no victory come without cost, and the greater the triumph, the greater the price one must pay...
Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix (The Horus Heresy: Primarchs, #6) Reviews
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The Palatine Phoenix is a novel as ambitious as its protagonist.
To summarise: Fulgrim seeks to conquer a world with only seven warriors accompanying him. Even for a primarch, that's pushing things. What this leads to is a wonderfully minimalist narrative that plays to Reynolds' strengths; where world-building, character and intrigue play far more of a part that out and out warfare.
What really drives this narrative is Fulgrim's feelings of inadequacy. Only ruling one world when found, he's thrust into a galaxy where primarchs found since have had more holdings to begin with. His own Legion's struggles with the geneblight that almost destroyed them has left its mark, with him constantly considering the "what ifs" had he been present. It's a small part of the background refrain, but it affects enough of the characters to flavour the story as it progresses.
Fulgrim wants to show himself as capable of not only standing on his own two feet, outside of Horus' shadow, but also of being better than the "blood and fire" attitudes his brothers hold towards the progress of the Crusade. He seems particularly incensed by Russ, whose jibes have made him strike out alone sooner than some expected.
The warriors he brings with him are a mix of old and new. As a huge fan of the Katara Xenocide aside in the FW background on the Emperor's Children, it was a joy to see Lord Commander Abdemon brought to life (NB: Please let Josh write a Katara Xenocide story). He's a stern but fair commander, personable if comparatively blunt; considering war his art and so sitting aside from the more cultured norm of the Third. He's by no means stupid, nor bland, nor one dimensional, but instead is compelling in his presentation.
Narvo Quin is similarly new; more of a brawler than his fellows, but glorious with an axe. A Terran who chafes against brothers old and new, he's a fiery presence. Flavius Alkenex is haughty and judgemental, "just on the bearable side of arrogant." Grythan Thorn is similar, a Chemosian with ambitions.
The familiar faces, or the known quantities, are interesting in their own right. Kasperos Telmar, far from the heights he will achieve in "Primogenitor" is the more argumentative side of arrogant, certain of his own opinion and dismissive of even his betters. He's a grating presence, constantly setting off the others around him, which works in the narrative. Crucially the interactions and banter between the warriors never feels forced, but has a natural flow for soldiers/brothers/rivals.
Cyrius is a name familiar to all who know the story of Lucius but outside of a spectral presence in "The Faultless Blade", this is the first time we've seen him as a character. An accomplished swordsman (well he'd have to be), he is far from the command he will hold, and is still learning the lessons that will see him through.
And of course, of course, Fabius comes along. Fabius looms large in the history and future of the Third but Reynolds never lets him outshine the primarch. Here Fabius is still finding his feet, chafing against the legion hierarchy and more concerned with his experiments in the aftermath of the blight. Nicknamed "The Spider", by his fellows, he does spend a lot of time dragging tidbits back to the centre of his web; though forcing him to leave it and engage may be more trouble than it's worth.
Rounding out the Imperial contingent there is Herodotus Frazer; a commander of the Imperial Army and immense skeptic of Fulgrim's plans, much more keen to rain down fire and blood. He's a bellicose presence, though enjoyable as things progress.
And then there is Golconda Pyke. There's not enough that can be said about Golconda Pyke; Primary Iterator, diplomat, spymistress and general badass. Though advanced in years, she's still able to talk straight with Fulgrim and his lot. An old school Iterator, almost a Rogue Trader in demeanour (and through her skill in words and bringing worlds into the Imperium, is almost considered amongst its warlords), she despairs of the moderates who will follow after her; forced into a clean-up and education role as the duty of war becomes almost solely the domain of primarchs and legions.
These characters are hurled into a literally Byzantine web; though one which never feels overdone or too "Planet of Hats". Rather you get something of an impression of a planet of people who are very good at doing things very badly. Where even their plots have corroded to almost uselessness. The historical asides and flourishes are enough to provide flavour, but never to overwhelm; a nest of poisoners, plotters and revolutionaries, with suitably baroque punishments waiting in the wings.
The brevity of action and the focus on intrigue, move and countermove, serves the novel very well. Rather than being a gimmick, the self-imposed restriction allows the novel a slow burn, and a satisfactory ending. Ultimately it becomes almost a cautionary tale, about the dangerous recklessness of hope, the impossibility of utopia, and the cost the enemy can inflict on you despite your best plans.
As an aside; there are a number of interesting tidbits towards the beginning, especially regarding how many primarchs were found by the point of the novel (and quite interestingly who was amongst them), as well as an especially interesting interjection by one of them. I shall say no more.
I heartily recommend this book, which sits as one of the most entertaining, fluid and smooth reads of the Primarchs series thusfar. One which exemplifies Fulgrim's graces and failings, while remaining utterly true (and perhaps more incisive than before) as to what shapes the Third. -
"They all had their secrets, their hidden passions. What was a man but a tangle of secrets? Not that they were men. But demigods were as entitled to secrets as the mortals who worshipped them.
He flinched back from the thought. Worship was a taboo word in his father's kingdom. There was no worship, for there were no gods. No demigods. Only the Emperor and His sons, and the Imperium they would rule together."
Maybe more a four stars, but this pre-heresy tale of Fulgrim on a quest to bring a rebellious world into compliance with just seven astartes and one (soon to be in-famous) apothecary, lightly inspired by Xenophon's Anabasis main theme where a lean and disciplined army can defeat an army many times its size, totally blown my mind.
"He indicated Fireblade. 'I fear that I will be forced to draw this blade in anger. I fear that I will be forced to destroy what I desire only to save.' He swung a hand back, indicating Abdemon and Cyrius. 'I fear to unleash my sons, for their wrath, once stoked, is a fire which would surely claim this entire world. I fear all of these things, honourable patricians.'"
The author just nailed for good the Phoenician's character, apparently just a vain and arrogant peacock, but under that facade a master manipulative genius and, in the end, a child in a demi-god's body, a being able to break steel and lift mountains bare-handed but struggling to fight for position on his brothers and being worthy of his legion name, earned together with the right to wear the Imperial Aquila insignia after saving the Emperor's life from a deadly trap during the Proximan Betrayal, only at the cost of so many legionaries' lives that left the III crippled.
"'Eight, against the assembled might of a world,' Fulgrim said. 'Leman boasts of eight hundred. Horus, eighty. We shall show the wolves of Luna and Fenris both what true killers look like. Here, in this fire, shall we be reborn. Here, all old sins will at last be forgiven. All failures expunged.' He turned back, meeting Fabius' gaze.
'We approach the final ascent. Let us climb it swiftly, and with grace.'"
Just one of the most favourite Primarchs novels I've read, and I really hope to see sooner or later more books about Fulgrim's past on Chemos and the events of the Proximan Betrayal.
A great insight about the past of Fulgrim, and Fabius Bile too, before his fall of grace, a page-turning tale of war and betrayal, and a real must read if you are a fan of the Emperor's Children. -
Again, six books in I simply cannot say much more than I have already about The Primarchs books.
But I will...
Fulgrim leads his sons, just a handful of them to the world of Byzas. This challenge is a personal quest for the Primarch of the Emperor's Children chapter. His brothers, Russ, Guilliman, Ferrus Manus and the others have hounded the glory and awards handed down from their father, and yet Fulgrim feels inadequate, imperfect. He and his chapter are known for their pursuit of perfection and in the taming of Byzas, with only 8 of his legion, Fulgrim believes he will achieve that level of outstanding merit that his brother and father will finally see that his chapter is beyond doubt.
Fulgrim is a noble amongst nobles and his sons know it. He arrives on Byzas and immediately he and his sons are poisoned during a dinner with the Hereditary Governor. Of course it does them no damage due to their superhuman constitution. n fact they find it funny and then the assassins come out. The Emperor's Children make an example out of them, and yet in doing so cement their reputation to this loss world of simply being another tyrant on a world run by tyrants.
Fulgrim launches into a many headed campaign of meeting the other wealthy landowners who enslave and work their menials to their deaths, exactly as his mother and father were worked to death on Chemosh, home of the Emperor's Children. Fulgrim justified and changed Chemosh to a beautiful and prosperous world, and so he shall with Byzas.
Several minor skirmishes break out and include the meeting of Fulgrom with the Sons of Sabazius, a legendary hero who was a commoner and yet fought the tyrants and restored hope to the menial population of the world. Fulgrim accepts no one's word to entreat with him, his vision and development of Byzas into an Imperium compliant world his only goal, above all things. He seeks to bring Byzas into the fold with not even a full squad of space marines, where his brothers would need hundreds or thousands of marines to do it.
Betrayal and war erupt and Fulgrim has to switch roles from the patrician and orator to the blooded warrior and monster to his foes to get the final blow dealt to bring Byzas back into the fold of the aquilla. And he does it with perfection, though his own judgement and practices are called into question from without and within.
This was a great book and another awesome entry into this series. I have up until this book despised Fulgrim for the foppish and petty Primarch that he is. What is depicted here is another facet of this character that is deeper and explains why he feels as he does and also shows the steps he followed to turn to Horus' side during the Heresy. There are many new things put to paper here about Fulgrim. He is the only Primarch that admitted to being wed to mortals, not once but several times, according to him. He outlived all his brides, as he said, and has not entered into bond aith another since the last one passed away. This gives Fulgrim a decidedly human trait and shows his need to be loved and adored and worshipped. His vanity is only eclipsed by his ego, and it is on display here. There seems to be a vein in these books where the truly special trait among the Primarchs is explained. Fulgrim's is his bladesmanship and speed. It is written here that he "moves faster than the human eye can follow", which makes him unique even amongst his brothers, for all their powers and abilities.
This was a quick read for me and I cannot wait for the next entry in the series! -
Pyke:
'And their philosophy?'
Fulgrim:
'What of it?'
Pyke
*sighed and picked up one of the books*.
""The search for perfection is a subtle drug. It draws the mind along circuitous routes, deeper and deeper into itself, until nothing can be seen except the ideal. Desire blinds one to purpose, and thus renders true perfection impossible."'
Fulgrim:
'But is attainment of the ideal not worth such a torturous journey?' Only through desire can perfection be imagined, and attained.'
Pyke:
'Some would say that the journey itself is more important.'
Fulgrim:
'Some have more patience than me.'
Pyke:
'Then you must ask yourself this - is the idea you seek worth the cost?' She hesitated. 'This could have all gone very wrong, Fulgrim. You were almost killed at Sabazius-Ut-Anabas, whether you admit it or not. You let your pride blind you, and walked into a trap designed to kill a demigod.'
'And I walked out again.' Fulgrim said softly. He didn't look at her.
'But Cyrius almost didn't. Corynth and his fellows almost killed him'
Fulgrim:
'Casualties are the price of victory.'
Pyke :
'And that is the very excuse those bureaucrats you so detest use to reason away the neglect of your sons. Their lives were spent like bullets, one after the next, to buy victory after victory. I thought you wanted to find a better way Phoenician.'
In this book I finally take back my words about Fulgrim being an arrogant. His more like an insecure person that been given a burden that he almost can’t handle. He grow up on a planet that the nobility constantly slaves people to death yet he manage to take control of it and try to make it a better place. When the emperor took him, he suddenly given a task and just given less men and resource compare to his other brothers. He tried to make it better, but simply seeing other primarch accomplishments (especially Guilliman) making him think that his not doing enough and simply say that his jealous to them. Striving to perfection that he could never have, he to do what his brothers can with more men and time.
His going to take a planet for the emperium with only 6 marines, 1 aphotecary, an old yet wise advisor and him a Primarch, a child on a god’s body.
So did he accomplish what he wants?
No – well for me it’s a NO. He can simply bring a entire legion to him and the outcome will be still the same. He never thinks about the process only the outcomes. Just like Corynth said "His a child on a god's body". He do what he want and think of the cost. But the best part of this book that he personally admit his mistake and manage to learn something on it, making his outcome in Horus Heresy much more tragic. -
The Third Legion. During the Proximan Betrayal, a cohort of the Third sacrificed their lives to protect the Emperor. In thanks, The Emperor gave them the name of The Emperor's Children and they were allowed to wear the Imperial Aquilla as their personal Legion symbol.
In the "current" 40K universe, the Emperor's Children are amongst the most feared of Traitor Astartes. Servants of Slannesh, the decadent Emperor's Children seek pleasure in all its myriad forms. This was not always the case. This story takes place in 30K.
Flugrim, the IIIrd's Primarch, has come to Byzas to force it into compliance. A great look into the mind of the Phonecian before his fall. Fulgrim tries to blend politics, diplomacy and war into a combined plan. Showing his difference from his more violence prone brothers, Fulgrim seeks to make a name for his Legion and for himself. Yet, Byzas will have much to teach him about himself and his legion.
This is a story that shows what the IIIrd could have been, but the hints about their future are there as well. Their quest for perfection will lead them down a dark path. A path made all the more dark, since it did not have to be. But that is a story for another time.
A great blend of political intrigue, as well as a good look at what a conquered world faces in Compliance with the Imperium. Any 40K fan will enjoy this look at the Pre-Heresy Emperor's Children. -
Loved it! Fulgrim truly is one of the most entertaining Primarchs to follow and this story provides a proper portrayal of the Phoenician. We get to see earlier development stages of his personality, goals and ideas. A worthy match, lady Golconda Pyke, was a real highlight of the story. She reminds me of Olenna Tyrell, one of the best characters from A Song of Ice and Fire series, a wise, witty and truly fascinating woman. We get to meet a bunch of Emperor's Children we've never seen before, some of them could've used a bit more personality, but it's well compensated by an exciting glimpse on the younger days of Fabius Bile. A little saddened there were no Fulgrim/ Ferrus interraction, fingers crossed there will be some in Gorgon's book. I appreciate the bits of insight on Fulgrim's days on Chemos. Overall a very nice read, one of the stronger novels in the Primarchs series.
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Very happy with the Primarch’s series. Unlike the Space Marine Battles series which was hit and miss this series has been largely consistent in quality. Interesting side story about Fulgrim on the edge of oblivion because of the blight and how the Third was used in the crusade before his discovery. Enjoyable story with more discussion and plotting than action and explosion. I will say though, I love it when the BL library authors let the Primarchs be the demigods they are. There is a great climax of this story with just that sort of primarch action. Recommend.
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I didn't like this one. Predictable story, shallow characters and only brief sequences, where something thrilling happens. This story showed us who Fulgrim is, how he thinks and how he acts. I didn't like him either.
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Well thought out and interesting to the end. I dislike the Legion and the primary characters so that makes reading tricky. A little more convoluted than needed. But still a good story.
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"An oath to a fool was no oath at all"
Not the usual battlefield Warhammer read. Diplomacy and intrigue with small scale action.
Great Crusade era Fulgrim very different than the insane Daemon Prince of the Dark Imperium era. -
This is the first of the "Primarchs" series that I enjoyed. Wanting to prove the strength of his Legion, Fulgrim enacts a compliance with only himself, his Lord Commander (who is not Eidolon), and six legionaries. He is accompanied by Golconda Pyke, a KICK ASS OLD WOMAN who is in the employ of Malcador the Sigillite, and she is the best thing in the book.
Josh Reynolds prefers diplomatic and cultural scenes over bolter porn, which I do as well. There's still some good action amidst the politics, and a lot of insight into Fulgrim's past. -
So Prince Lotor decides to conquer a world with a token force of marines to showoff to the Emperor...
It's not a horrible story, but it takes a long time to resolve some relatively petty political maneuvering. In the end, it really doesn't tell us much about Fulgrim besides he's exactly what you thought he was before cracking open this book. -
I feel a bit embarrassed.
I’ve always looked down on concepts such as “fan-fiction” or “headcanon”. I’ve seen them as attempts to re-cast characters and stories in the reader’s own image, a claiming back of what the reader infantilely thought the author owed them.
Yet here I am, wanting to reclaim Fulgrim, the fanciest boy of the Primarchs in a panoply of amethyst and gold.
The main thread of Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix is that we have an insecure demigod with an undersized legion. He wants to prove he can do things a bit differently than his brothers and conquer a world with eight men:
Compliance was forged in fire and cooled in blood, they said. Skies of ash and fields of bone. Fire and blood. A monotonous philosophy, lacking in even the crudest artistry.
The story requires:
(a) Belief in the idea that massacring great swathes of your allied soldiers, both covertly and overtly, is a good way to make the rest fight better.
(b) That it is possible for you to infiltrate an alien society in a manner that is (understandably) elided over to identify and eliminate potential threats. This takes you about a month while you also deliberately leave large numbers of them untouched as part of your great plan.
(c) That you can set an elaborate trap that somehow attracts those that shouldn’t be, while simultaneously be completely ignorant of the concept of traps.
It does not read right when Fulgrim complains that:
The weight of it all sat heavy on his shoulders, and sometimes he wanted nothing more than to return to the fortress-factories of his you. He had been content then, and his strivings simple. It a seemed too big, these days. His every waking hour seemed devoted only to the difficulties of his new existence.
…when all his difficulties feel fake. He pretends his legionaries have personal quirks that might be problematic when they can, barring the Spider, be swapped out from scene to scene. After an apparent fright at the end he tells himself that:
I’ve accomplished what would have taken my brothers months and hundreds – if not thousands of warriors.’ It was a boast, but a truthful one.
…when 95% of the damage his opposition caused to his legion was flecking the paint on their armour. I like Fulgrim, he’s an interesting guy who’s often preening slightly or trailing his fingers across the hilt, but his assessments of the situation are, frankly, unbelievable. The author has fit a novel’s worth of scheming in a novella and it just requires too much suspension of disbelief.
So here’s my headcanon:
Fulgrim comes to a world that can only offer the most pathetic resistance to a demigod. He would be enough, let alone eight men, so there has to be a challenge beyond that.
So he fucks up, deliberately. Infiltrations and targeted assassinations by his associates? In fact, they are just random killings. Murder your own troops regardless of whether they were potential defectors. Pretend you’ve fallen into a “trap”, which you can disarm by just firing your gun. Then he pretends it was more difficult than he expected and he has learnt some valuable lesson.
The complaints by an apparent collaborator turned traitor:
This has never truly been about us, I think. We are nothing more than a - a test. A challenge.
…is then less about Fulgrim not doing things the “proper” way, instead it's exasperation that Fulgrim is constantly shitting the bed for a laugh. Fulgrim is magnitudes of order more powerful than any threat. His enemies are ants he lines up in some semblance of a threat before applying bug spray, setting them on fire, then stamping them out, while pretending to be inconvenienced by some of their ash he got on his shimmering boot.
Am I right? Almost certainly not. But it makes me happier with this book. -
You can read the full review over at my blog:
https://shadowhawksshade.wordpress.co...
Not all of the Space Marine Legions created equal in the same way that not all the Primarchs were created equal. Each had different strengths and weaknesses and that created a brilliant tapestry for the tale of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy to be woven upon. I’ve read and reviewed three of the Primarchs novels before, and each has been rather instructional about the characters of these superhuman demi-gods. Demi-gods who wrote the history of the Imperium in blood, whether as brothers united or as enemies. It has been a wild ride so far and with the release of the latest, it doesn’t look like that’s going to change in any way.
Josh Reynolds’ Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix is his first full-length feature in the Horus Heresy series, and the off-beat nature of the Primarchs mini-series certainly suits him well. Here, we see a Fulgrim well before the events of Graham McNeill’s Fulgrim, at a time when the Emperor’s Children are still recovering from their genetic defects and their Primarch is still looking to carve out his own victories. It presents a very different viewpoint than we’ve seen before, and ends up being one of the best Fulgrim stories we’ve seen to date, and we’ve seen some golden ones by Graham.
The history of the Emperor’s Children during the Great Crusade is one of great tragedy, matched perhaps only by the Thousand Sons, for both legions suffered from debilitating issues with their gene-seed before their Primarchs were discovered. As such, Josh taking us back in time to a point where the Third Legion took its first steps out of the shadows of other Legions to strike out on its own was a perfect choice, so to speak. It is a wonderful opportunity to see how Fulgrim’s personality took shape in those early days of the Great Crusade and how he changed and affected his sons and the culture of the Third as it would later develop.
One of the really enjoyable things about Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix was that it had a cast of mostly new characters. Apart from the Primarch himself and the infamous Apothecary Fabius Bile, none of the legionaries we see are ones I recall reading about before, and the same goes for the “civilian” characters we see, particularly the Primary Iterator Puke, who was as delightful as only Josh Reynolds’ best characters can get. The mix of personalities was fun to read about, particularly Lord Commander Abdemon, the senior-most warrior of the Third and practically Fulgrim’s equerry. There’s a lot of play and counter-play to all the characters and I enjoyed reading the ups and downs of Fulgrim’s past. The novel shows how his hubris can both aid him and take away from his accomplishments. Josh is particularly insistent throughout that Fulgrim’s desire for perfection is a flawed goal and that he is too caught up on the destination itself rather than exploring where he is at that point in time and why. This extends down further to his sons, such as Abdemon, Narvo Quin and others, even Fabius Bile. -
The Primarchs is a series dedicated to the eponymous sons of the Emperor. There's a bunch of them already and this one dedicated to Fulgrim is my first contact with the series.
The book deals with the conquest of Byzas which was the first planet brought into compliance by Fulgrim and his Legion without the participation of any of his brothers.
This is a very atypical Warhammer novel. There is precious little action, rather it is a much more introspective read into Fulgrim's personality and his relationship with both his warriors and his brothers. It is rather flimsy taken by itself, but in the larger context of the Horus Heresy lore it serves as an added bit of background to Fulgrim's actions later in the chronology as well as setting the stage for the philosophy followed by the Emperor's Children.
I would not recommend it for someone not already neck deep into 40k lore, but for those of us who are already invested in this Universe and familiar with its stories it is a good enough read. Deciding on a rating is difficult since there's not a lot wrong with the book but not a lot good either. It's a pleasant way to spend a bit of time but it is entirely unremarkable. It would give it a 3.5 if I could. -
An interesting political thriller that digs in some of the early facets and events of Fulgrim.
The Palatine Phoenix was, surprisingly, a very political and contriving read that shows you a different way of conquering: Through diplomacy, or rather, intimidation. It has a small cast but memorable enough that you understand their actions and motives. Sadly, not a lot going on with the Astartes characters, but you do get plenty of scenes with Fulgrim and understand his though process.
I don't really have any issues with this novel when it comes to its narrative and storytelling, but my main issue is probably the lack of expectations met: I was hoping to read a story about the early days of Fulgrim, his rise in power and him being found by the Emperor. Instead, we only get various flashbacks about it without any of the real juice. This story is supposed to be a pivotal event in his development, yet it feels like just another tale in the grand scheme of the Horus Heresy series.
It's a fun read and has memorable scenes, particularly the political intrigue, but it fails to actually show you the depths of Fulgrim. By the end of the novel, you really don't learn anything you already did not knew. -
Having only read the first two books in the 50+ HH books a couple of years ago, I decided to give it a go at reading the entire HH series in chronological order. Starting with the "Last Church" audiobook set in 30,800. I am using
https://sites.google.com/site/tymells... as a guide on which books to read in chronological order.
Having no idea who Fulgrim and the emperors sons are before reading the book, I must admit that I quite liked the book. I didn't find it difficult to follow. However I did find it helpful to look up in advance of reading the book
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com to give an overview of the characters.
The book takes place around 30,850-30,860, after Fulgrim has been reunited with his legion. The book focuses around Fulgrim and a handful of the Emperors children making Byzas compliant in 1 month in order to outdo the other fellow primarchs. It does set the stage nicely for Fulgrims obsession with perfection. The story has a couple of twists and turns resulting in the near death of Fulgrim. Overall an entertaining read but felt a bit light on the action.
The audiobook version was very well read and the voices for the characters are well done. -
For this, the sixth book in the Primarchs series, we see the primarch of the Emperor’s Children embark upon his first solo compliance mission, to Twenty-Eight One, or Byzas. Though ostensibly welcoming of the Imperium, Fulgrim knows he must still work hard to bring Byzas and its people to compliance. Stung by perceptions of him and his legion, he sets out with just seven of his sons to demonstrate his methods and prove his worth to his brothers.
Reynolds has done a great job of telling an interesting, exciting story while illustrating the core concepts of Fulgrim and the Emperor’s Children, with the added bonus of exploring the fascinating non-military side of compliance. It might not be what you expect, but it’s a really smart and effective story that’s a must-read for Heresy fans and 40k fans alike.
Read the full review at
https://www.trackofwords.com/2018/01/... -
Fulgrim is the Primarch of my favorite traitor space marine Legion, the Emperor’s Children. It is so sad to read about them pre-heresy and compare them to how far they have fallen in the current lore. I guess that’s the point. In this novel, Fulgrim is generally likeable and his legionnaires are intensely proud and competitive with the bad seeds for the future already in them. There is some philosophical musings about perfection and desire without being navel gazing. The novel clearly demonstrates transhuman over human fighting superiority and Fulgrim seems like he could find a roster spot on the Avengers. It was a short, fun read.
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This is perhaps a very harsh 3/5 rating. This book was nearly a 4 for me, but was just missing something to it.
I liked the fact it was not just drawn out bolter fire scenes, however the politics of the story could have been more interesting. I mostly enjoyed the scenes with Fulgrim and his legion, especially the interactions between Fulgrim and Fabius. I think more of that dialogue could have made this a 4/5 for me but the heavy focus on the compliance of the world was the main focus of the book sadly.
I did enjoy this book to an extent, it had a lot of potential, I just wish the areas that were done well we got to see more of! -
This was a fantastic character driven story, that really delved into what makes the Primarch Fulgrim tick. Also, all of the characters within were extremely well written and made me want to know more about them, especially Fabius the Apothecary and Iterator Pyke. No one within the story felt left out, and everyone worked to bring the piece together.
This is definitely up there with my favourite Primarch novels that I've read so far.
I would definitely recommend this book if you're a fan of the 40k universe, or just have an appreciation for epic sci-fi stories. -
The pride of Fulgrim almost gets the best of him, almost being literally engulfed by his pursuit of perfection.
One of the better primarch novels in terms of showing the strength and skill of a primarch, but for all these books, I would have preferred (similar what they did on Lorgar's book) a peek into their past, what influenced them to be what they are. -
Worth your time. My eyes would widen when the Primarch or his Legionaries would describe relishing something sensory given their future choice in deities. It was an interesting story and I like the continued emphasis on the faults of the Emperor's sons in these Primarch series books.
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Great novel. Big fan of Joshua Reynolds. Hope to see him work more with the Emperors children.
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Into a nest of toothless vipers, no one can resist compliance.
