| Title | : | Know No Fear: The Battle of CalthThe Horus Heresy #19 Hardcover (Warhammer 40,000 40K 30K Games Workshop) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 184970077X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781849700771 |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
| Publication | : | First published January 31, 2012 |
Know No Fear: The Battle of CalthThe Horus Heresy #19 Hardcover (Warhammer 40,000 40K 30K Games Workshop) Reviews
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Holy Shit, what a F'ing book!!!
The happenings in this book are no secret. We already know what happened on Calth, we just never got the details. We now have those details.
The first thirty percent of this book set the stage. We get to know everyone that is going to be involved and where they are and what they're doing. I think it is that foreknowledge of what happens that makes this part of the book so suspenseful, we as readers know what is coming and we can't do a damn thing. There is backstabbing and treachery and deceit but there is also heroics and camaraderie and triumph in equal measures. I also cannot remember the last time I read a book that literally had me cheering out loud on more than one occasion. There is some serious comeuppance for some mother f'ers in here that is about ten books in the making and well worth the wait.
Dan Abnett is an amazing writer and this is easily one of the better Horus Heresy books so far in the series. Five stars as this was a totally awesome reading experience. -
I really hate Dan Abnett. He pours so much reality into character and relationships when he writes that it rips you up when you finish a book. Abnett breathed new life in the Ultramarines for me in this book, a Space Marine Legion that I was quite happy to have had fleshed out so well by the masterful G McNeill in his Ultramarines series.
Know No Fear was a uniquely written book, with a coherent narrative throughout, but broken into stages of the Battle of Calth, and further sub divided by times during the battle. honestly, after having read D-Day by Ambrose recently this reminded me of that.
Because of the unique styling and what seems like 100s of characters it was hard for me to really invest early on. It took about 150 pages for me to kind of wade through all the new names and places and grasp onto who was going to be really important.
In the end though, like pretty much everything Dan Abnett writes, I was in love with the book as a whole and sad when I finished it. -
-Momentos García Márquez, a su manera.-
Género. Ciencia ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. En el libro La batalla de Calth (publicación original: Know No Fear, 2012), construido a partir de un archivo operativo y de los escritos del primarca Roboute Guilliman, nos trasladamos a Calth, planeta principal del sistema Veridian y parte de Ultramar, un sub-sector de la galaxia bajo la dirección de los Ultramarines. Allí, y por instrucción del Señor de la Guerra Horus, se concentra un enorme ejército que hará frente a los orkos desplegados en Veridian. La mayoría de las fuerzas son de Ultramarines y Guardia Imperial, pero también están llegando Portadores de Palabra. Lo que Guilliman y los demás desconocen, excepto los traidores entre ellos, es que la guerra civil ya ha empezado y que Horus prepara un golpe devastador en el planeta. Libro número diecinueve de la saga La Herejía de Horus.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/... -
Original Post:
http://thefoundingfields.com/2012/02/...
The Horus Heresy is one of my favourite novel series, and bar a couple of exceptions (Descent of Angels, Fallen Angels and Battle for the Abyss), I’ve enjoyed every single novel that the series had to offer me, from Horus Rising, the fantastic series opener, to Deliverance Lost, Gav Thorpe’s first entry of this mighty series, and the latest novel that is available in the series (in stores) to date. Know No Fear is the next novel on the market, released in stores, in March. However, for some reason, you can currently buy not only the eBook version, but also the paperback copy, and the much more expensive MP3 download of the novel.
Any long-term fan of Warhammer 40,000 lore will know about the Battle of Calth, the clash between Ultramarines and Word Bearers, and indeed – it has been one of the highly anticipated battles in the entire Horus Heresy, which also plays host to such incredible scenes as the Burning of Prospero, the Dropsite Massacre of Isstvan V, and the yet-to-come Siege of Terra. Well, as the sub-title explains, this novel is all about the Battle of Calth. Nothing else. So, you can expect Know No Fear to be a bolter-porn novel, right from the outset. Normally, I’m often on the fence about whether a bolter-porn novel will be any good or not before diving into it, however, with Know No Fear, there are a few notable reasons why I had extremely high anticipations of this novel. First of all, the obvious reason – is that it’s a Horus Heresy novel, and you’ve just read why I like them so much. Of course, any Horus Heresy novel that arrives at my door will get read sooner or later. Second of all, it’s Dan Abnett, who is my favourite Black Library author, and I’ve enjoyed every single novel by him so far that I’ve read.
And, I’m quite glad to say, that Abnett not only met my expectations, but exceeded them. In fact, he exceeded them so much, that I’m going to go ahead and say it – Know No Fear might just be the best Horus Heresy novel yet. It was that awesome. I couldn’t put it down, and I spent most of the night reading it despite the fact that I knew I had to get up at 6:45am in the morning. I polished off the book in a couple of sittings, and as far as I’m concerned, the novel only had one flaw in it, and one that I find to be common about most bolter-porn novels that I’ve read.
The characters. In previous Horus Heresy novels (well, most of them) the characters have been pretty well developed and likeable. Heck, even Horus Lupercal, the arch-traitor (albeit before he turned renegade) was made likeable – something that I didn’t think would happen in a Warhammer 40k book. Ever. The Horus Heresy also gave us some fantastic characters such as Gavriel Loken, Saul Tarvitz, Nathaniel Garro, Argel Tal, but there was none in Know No Fear, no character that boasted depth, and no characterization. In fact, there’s only one character in the whole book who stood out from the others, and for me – that’s the censured sergeant Aeonid Thiel.
However, this didn’t really faze me as much as it probably should have, mainly because the action in this novel is possibly some of the most well-written of the Horus Heresy so far. The pacing is truly page-turning, and the battle-scenes are equally enthralling, as we watch loyalist and traitor alike to battle for Calth, in what, for Horus Heresy fans – will be a novel not to be missed.
Yes, even the most anti-Ultramarines Horus Heresy fan will enjoy this novel. Still have doubts? Go out and read it, and enjoy it.
Sure, the dramatis personae may be perhaps one of the biggest, if not the biggest, in the Horus Heresy so far. The action told across these pages will satisfy anyone who didn’t like Prospero Burns, Abnett’s last Horus Heresy novel, and there is no overuse of flashbacks or the phrase “Wet-leopard growl” to slow down the fast-paced action that you will find in Know No Fear.
There are even several enjoyable cameos that a Horus Heresy fan will be delighted to find in this book, a nod to Garro: Oath of Moment by James Swallow, as well as a nod to the first novel, Horus Rising, by the same author. Even Captain Ventanus, the 4th Company Captain that first appeared in Rules of Engagement by Graham McNeill, appears in Know No Fear. And, to top it all off – there’s even a reference to Jason and the Argonauts.
Verdict: 5/5 -
The 19th book in Horus Heresy series, and I think it's the best so far. That's not really surprising to me, it's written by Dan Abnett, and I find him to be one of the best writers that the Black Library has.
Know No Fear deals with the Battle of Calth, the epic battle between the XIII and XVII legions. The Ultramarines and the Word Bearers respectively. From the word go, this book is non stop, fast paced action. This is a huge, epic battle between two legions, and the book definitely expresses that. There is fighting on the ground, fighting on ships, space combat, and surrounding it all is the grievous betrayal by the Word Bearers. It begins with their sneak attack, and it so brutal, so overwhelming that it's almost impossible to see how the Ultramarines could survive, let alone retaliate. It's a roller coaster, and it's fantastic.
Dan Abnett does a wonderful job communicating his story. He is constantly shifting scenes. There is so much going on concurrently that you're never in the same place for more than a couple of pages. It does a lot to help show the huge scale of the conflict. There is also an abundance of characters, over 75 just from checking the dramatis personae at the beginning of the book. He uses them all, and he uses them well. By the end of the book you've come to know these characters very well indeed. A great read. -
After the relative disappointment that was Gav Thorpe's Deliverance Lost, the previous Horus Heresy book I read, I knew I could trust Abnett to bring the series back up to form. Know No Fear is simply stunning - intelligent, visceral and immensely compelling.
The depiction of the destruction unleashed by the treacherous Word Bearers on the Ultramarines is by turns jaw dropping and gut wrenching. Following the catastrophe through betrayals, massacres and atrocities is as heart rending as world shattering events, like this should be, (even fantastical fictional ones). The description at one point of a colossal dead starship dropping through the atmosphere to impact upon an inhabited cityscape was especially evocative.
The sneak attack on the heroic Ultramarines is so complete and effective that it was hard to see how they would prevail or even if they would prevail. As any 40k nut like me knows the basics of the outcome already, (as it is enshrined in the background of the 40k universe), it is a brilliant achievement to instill such uncertainty into the reader.
Magnificent - and left me thirsting for more. -
There really is no one better at writing military science fiction than Dan Abnett, and there is something about the grim future of the Warhammer 40k universe that brings out the best in him as a writer. I've been trying to analyse what he brings to the genre, and, apart from a gift for storylines and tight dialogue and writing, I think he has a genius for conveying place, information and strangeness in a single, carefully chosen word. 'Scrapcode' is a good example. The computer chatter of the forces of Chaos, the word beautifully sums up its function and madness in two syllables.
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I wasn’t expecting a story about the Ultramarines to be interesting. Well played, Games Workshop, well played. Now I want to read about the Underworld War!
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I’m very proud of Prospero Burns, and wouldn’t have written it any other way, and I’m happy to take the criticism of those who wanted to see more shooty-death-kill in it. But I did want to write a massive dollop of unashamed action while cackling ‘Is this what you want? Is it? Is it? Well, be careful what you wish for!’
Five stars. Brilliant encapsulation of the “bolter porn” style. A classic for the ages. Etc, etc. Perhaps not the best book of the Horus Heresy, but genuinely in every conversation, and a testament to the variety of Abnett’s writing. It’s mainly an action story, but there are interesting psychological and horror elements to it.
I could explain all the reasons why this book is five stars. Instead, I am going to explain what this book is missing. Because Abnett is right, you should be careful what you wish for, even if it is a five-star book, above
Prospero Burns.
Impersonal
Know No Fear does try some moments of death and loss, but never really hits the right emotional beats. The closest is with the death of the Mechanicum’s Hesst, and how their partner Tawren copes with it in the context of what Hesst was trying to do. Their interactions and Tawren working through the loss in a catastrophic situation fits with the tone of the book.
It was why he kept going until the very last moment, Tawren now realises. It was why he wouldn’t leave his post, even when the scrapcode had maimed his mind. He had to finish. He was determined to finish. He was hanging on as long as he could to get it done.
It is totally reliant on scenes that move the plot forward, rather than reflection, but that’s fine and works relatively organically.
The problem is that is about it, and there’s a long list of inadequate portrayals. Trooper Rane’s mooning for his fiancé is forced, as it is merely a vehicle for the idea that monsters can disguise themselves as loved ones, while Ollanius Persson’s doleful widower personality is a hackneyed, rushed job. Thiel, who starts off as the most interesting Space Marine, is wasted in this book: He’s meant to have been censured for coming up with tactics for fighting other space marines but barely does so. Instead he’s the reader’s eyes with which to watch the amazingness of his Primarch as a warrior… …who is ok.
How many beings could measure favourably against him? Honestly? All seventeen of his brothers? Not all seventeen. Nothing like all seventeen. Four or five at best. At best.
…And I mean “ok” in that Guilliman the most developed character overall, with plenty of explanations about his perceived role… …but the emotional setpieces written for him are not memorable (even if one is on the cover). His confrontation with Lorgar is longer than the precursor
The First Heretic, but far weaker. Abnett deliberately puts a gap between them – there’s some good reasons for that in terms of how Lorgar has changed, but the cost is that we watch two people trying to chat over a bad phone line. As for Guilliman’s triumphant re-entry into the narrative by way of battling without a helmet in space… …cool for sure, but there’s plenty of cool primarch fighting scenes, with this being midrange.
Unsatisfying
Abnett’s well known crutch is to have a critical moment right at the end of a book, with a sudden resolution close to the last page. I don’t have an issue whether Abnett properly moved the pieces in place for that resolution because (a) he did and (b) if the actual climax is done well, I don’t mind too much, notwithstanding my complaint in
The Outcast Dead. It is just that it’s not quite long enough…
…the Betrayal at Calth is a major plot point in the Horus Heresy – the Word Bearers scoring a decisive victory over the Ultramarines. But, as Know No Fear is at pains to point out, the Word Bearers didn’t finish the job. The brief epilogue on the Word Bearer’s homeworld of Colchis is a nice coda to that point. I personally (and this is more preference than criticism) would have liked to seen a stronger response, a more expanded “counterattack”.
It’s a weak complaint, and more applies to Abnett generally where he, uh, finishes a little too quickly. In its defence, perhaps it is important that Know No Fear is generally a depressing story, in service to the wider Horus Heresy - we need our villains to be truly a threat.
Calth is dead. The XIII is crippled and finished. His ritual is complete, and it is entirely successful.
Five Stars
Five Stars. -
Oh man, Know No Fear. A truly amazing book. I think it is probably my favourite of any Abnett has written. Better than Legion(Which I LOVED) better than the Ravenor series(Which I loved even more than Legion). The pacing of the novel was superb, and the whole "mark" thing really made each and every scene so intense and heavy. Amazing work.
Also getting to see the Word Bearers from the perspective of the loyalists was awesome. The betrayal was perfect, the way they carried out the attack was jaw-dropping-ly amazing. I mean, I love the Word Bearers, but I never thought they could orchistrate something on THIS large a scale. It was perfect. The novel, quite literally, could not have been better. We get to see the Word Bearers in all their glory, doing their thing. The army regiments on both sides doing theirs*. The Ultramarines being absolutely MURDERED, which is always a plus.
And the stars of the novel, Lorgar and Girlyman were extremely well done. Drawing on The First Heretic, it was awesome to see Girlyman's side of the feud.
Great novel, and I cannot wait for the stuff that follows it! Like the Unremembered Empire, Maccragge's Honour, etc.
* I love that Abnett makes the human characters actually human. The server being in love with her boss was awesome, though that was probably just the romance lover in me lol -
Quite nice read. Bit pissed off how "quick" the Ultramarines' counterstrike was wrapped up in the end. I mean come on, 90% of the book Dan does his best to make you hate the Word Bearers with all your heart and then we get so little "revenge"? :(
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Dang every time Guilliman is in a book he gets better and more human and a good boy. Along with a stand bearer good boy. Abnett covers the story of the betrayal at Calth in a way that really humanizes the Ultramarines and their primarch in a good way. A solid addition to the HH lineup.
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A fantastic read. Definitely in my Top 5 for the Horus Heresy and across all of Black Library. Ultramarines. Everyone loves to hate them. The "golden boys" of Games Workshop. Template for all Codex Chapters. Ultra-smurfs. Vanilla marines. Dan Abnett puts that to the test and knocks it out of the park.
Roboute Guilliman and his Ultramarines are the very model of efficiency. They think in terms of practical experience and theoretical knowledge, balance the two then act. They also have a big blindside. The are true believers in the Emperor, the crusade and their brother legions. They drank the kool-aid and never even consider the possibility of deception and betrayal. They pay for this. Bigtime.
The Word Bearers Legion sets up an elaborate trap and the Ultramarines take the bait. Hook, line and sinker. I can't express how apocalyptic the effects are without spoiling the story.
As always Dan Abnett takes a potentially bland subject and characters that are quite literally two-dimensional and breaks them down. He hurts them. He pushes them till they make mistakes. The Golden Boys show actual flaws, make bad decisions, and show their weaknesses in ways the reader doesn't expect and it really makes you have an appreciation for the protagonist and associates in a way never done before. The author made the perfect supermen seem...real. You need to read it to see what I mean. It's really amazing.
The antagonists as well really shine. BIG names. There are some fantastic reveals in this one.
There are tertiary characters that are also revealed to be core to the heresy itself and how it plays out. No more on this lest I spoil it. It's HUGE.
Overall, I loved this book. Blew my socks off. Perfect? No. I got lost in some of the carnage, but really, it's pretty damn close to perfect for the subject matter. This is a MUST READ.
Artwork by Neil Robertson is of course stellar. -
This is a fairly simple, yet entertaining book: Basically one huge set-piece battle as the Word Bearers tries to get revenge for the stuff at the beginning of The First Heretic, and thus attacks the Ultramarines.
It's basically balls-to-the-wall action, with everything a good 40K arsenal has: Giant robots, spaceships, computer hacking, daemon summoning... The works. It features incredibly improbably stunts (ROBOUTE GUILLIMAN CAN BREATHE IN SPACE!) and simply unequalled amounts of sheer testosterone in that particular way that only 40K can do. It's basically superhumans having a big punch-up. If that's your thing you'll like this, if you expect y'know... Character development, or characters who aren't eleven-foot tall power-armored psychopaths wielding fully-automatic rocket launchers and swords made out of chainsaws, this isn't your thing, there's other stuff that is, even 40K stuff that is. (different from this I mean, not neccessarily your thing, because 40K is an acquired taste)
The battle opens with Betrayal, and there's some genuinely good scenes of shock and confusion, as people who you never thought would betray you (despite you having publicly humiliated them earlier, yeah, no one said Space Marines were bright) do. And then compound the betrayal by kicking every puppy they can see as hard as they can, while crossing every moral line faster than... Something very fast.
It's good (well, this is 40K, so relatively speaking, they're still space commie-nazi-feudal knights) against evil (and note that despite the earlier description of the Ultramarines, there's no moral ambiguity whatsoever, yeah, the Word Bearers are just that horrible people :p) -
The story is elevated beyond it's simplistic premise by the author's unusual stylistic choices.
Every few sentences is something unexpected, a reveal, a smart piece of foreshadowing - the author uses metaphor to describe violence and battle in the most massive and visceral ways.
He uses poetic phrases that can only exist in an epic sci-fi setting. He creates words and concepts in order to describe the physics and the atmosphere of futuristic war in impossible detail. It brings the universe to life.
The writing seems to lose steam in the second half of the book and the narrative devolves into genre convention and silliness.
It coasts on the first half though, which is incredibly evocative storytelling.
The thought that the author's descriptive flair consistently inspires is, "... That is so fuckin' badass". -
"Lorgar of Colchis. You may consider the following. One: I entirely withdraw my previous offer of solemn ceasefire. It is cancelled, and will not be made again, to you or to any other of your motherless bastards. Two: you are no longer any brother of mine. I will find you, I will kill you, and I will hurl your toxic corpse into hell’s mouth." - Roboute Guilliman
Know No Fear tells the story of how the world Bearers almost kills the entire Ultramarine legion in the biggest backstab event that turns the planet of Calth into an inhabitable planet. If you wanna read some ultramarine action, this is the book for you. -
Know No Fear is VERY different to the usual styler for Dan Abnett. Full of turns, twists, and the occasional suprise.
I suggest reading this book directly after Battle for the Abyss. You lose nothing in continuity, but gain a little in the actual Heresy, as it unfolds, rather than Legion jumping if you follow published order. Saying that, you could also read The First Heretic Before ALL other Horus Heresy books, as I believe that sets the Series up correctly.
Any other Ideas on reading order? -
Brilliant! What a great book. There are so many 'oh shit' moments in this book I stopped counting. Abnett's storytelling prowess is phenomenal. I don't usually say this, but, JUST READ IT. You will not be disappointed!
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What a heart wrenching book. I don't even like the Ultramarines but this was just devastating to read.
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What a ride! I started off very roughly here, since I personally can hardly think of any two legions I care less about than the focused-on Ultramarines and Word Bearers. Dan Abnett continues to show his mastery, however, as I was deeply gripped in (once we got through the "introductory" 100-150 pages of establishing the HUGE cast of characters this book utilized) and just couldn't stop reading from then on! The initial timestamped sections seemed a very silly Ultramarine affectation, but eventually added a ton of weight and gravitas to how quickly things were happening when the real destruction started.
Books like this one and Mechanicum before it make me deeply thankful that I am choosing to read every book in the series and not just the ones about "my" Legions. -
This may be the most iconic Horus Heresy book so far: betrayal, rivalry, bitter combat, devastation, and a whole lot of Space Marines. I think when people go into the Horus Heresy series, this is probably wat they're expecting, probably what they want.
I loved the start. There's a palpable sense of tension running through the early chapters as things ramp up to an inevitable collapse. I liked the early-middle, when the levee breaks and everyone tries to grapple with the ramifications of an upended universe. I... didn't love the latter parts. I've said it with other Warhammer fiction: when a significant portion of a novel is dedicated to over-the-top violence, it can get tiring. There's only so many times you can describe combatants getting eviscerated before you put your hands up and say "Yep, I get it."
That said, this is a well-structured, well-written novel. There's good setups and payoffs. That early rising tension is fantastic. There's a satisfying narrative arc throughout. Dan Abnett knows what he's doing. And honestly, when you're writing the story of the Battle of Calth, there's never not going to be a ton of bloody battle scenes. It even needed a lot of them to drive home the scale of the tragedy. But... I've always preferred the meta-narrative "pieces on a Regicide board" parts/novels to the ground-level "man shoots other man" ones, and this is primarily the latter. -
As Warhammer 40k and Horus Heresy books go this one is not only good but crucial to getting the full picture of the lore. It's a little short on character but long on plot, lots of action, and Abnett even manages to make the Uktramarines interesting protagonists. If you like these books, don't skip this one.
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Ripped off- can't believe Kor Pharon could bring a Primarch so low. Guilliman should have barely felt Kor's pathetic warp attack! Good ol' Rowboat was able to survive being voided without a helmet though which was DOPE. 3/5 stars because it was aaite but I was sickened by Gulli being brought down.
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This should have been what Prospero Burns was not. Damn
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Look any book that makes Ultramarines cool is good in my view. I'm a Dan Abnett fanboy through and through.
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Yet another pleasant WH40k novel. Not to spoil it too much I'll just say there was one superb part with tons of things happening page after page written in a very vivid and attention-grabbing way. I'll definitely continue with Warhammer 40k novels and Dan Abnett.
