The Talon of Horus (Volume 1) (The Black Legion)

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Ashur-Kai Qezremah, 'The White Seer' - XV Legion warrior, born of Terra. Sorcerer of the Kha’Sherhan warband and voidseer of the warship Tlaloc.

The Oath-Breaker: Khayon realises this is why Sigismund will never be convinced not to fight Abaddon. To Sigismund, loyalty to the Emperor is inextricable as breathing, and the fact the Traitor Legions broke their oaths to the Emperor means Sigismund will never listen to their reasons why they sided with Horus, no matter how valid.Fate Worse than Death: Being handed over to Nefertari is considered to be this, presumably because as a Dark Eldar, she can and will make your death as slow and drawn out as possible. Wow. Just wow. Jonathan if you're reading this, brilliant job mate. You did more than read this fantastic work of fiction, you read between the lines to deliver an incredible experience. I'm pretty new to audio books, most i've heard of them are dull retellings with little inflection. You've earned a lifelong fan.

Works about chaos Space Marines were never my forte. They would almost always be presented as total maniac wizards or blood soaked butchers. As audiobook the performance is superb - probably the best I have heard for the fantasy/sci-fi genre. The narrator really understands the characters and manages to give them each distinctive voices. So often I find the narration on these types of novels actually hurts the story. Not so here - I am very happy I listened to this as opposed to reading it. Wetware CPU: Itzara Khayon / the Anamnesis as the control core of the Tlaloc and later, the Vengeful Spirit. A sombre and deadly warrior, both indefatigable and remorseless in the fray, Sigismund was to onlookers less a mortal warrior but rather some unstoppable agency of the dark fates. This led none other than the Blood Angels' Primarch Sanguinius to remark of him he seemed, "...less my brother Dorn's champion, and more Death's himself..." Sigismund's skill was legendary, even among the transhuman warriors of the Space Marine Legions and none could match his instinctive talent for dealing death and finding the merest chink in his enemy's guard to exploit their undoing. Another thing is the side characters. Each and every single one of them were fleshed out in some manner and were both unique and interesting. There were points where I felt that perhaps they were too unique, pushing the boundaries of believability of the story, almost crossing into the Mary Sue area of things.Sense Loss Sadness: After Khayon's Mind Rape strips Telemachon of emotions, he mostly stands in one place and stares blankly at the walls when the sorcerer is not nearby, and compels him to be loyal to the man who allows him to feel again. His face was only marred by a scar from under his right eye that ran down his cheek all the way to his jawline. His eyes were coloured a bright, sapphire blue that matched the colour of the ocean. Leave No Witnesses: After the First Battle of Cadia, Khayon personally eliminates any surviving witnesses to Sigismund and Abbadon's duel, the Ezekarion having decided it was too dangerous letting anyone outside their ranks know how close Abbadon came to dying in that battle. Anthropomorphic Personification: The Solar Priest is a personification of the Astronomican's light and appears to Tlaloc's crew as a spindly man in a golden mask. He mentions another aspect of the beacon, called the Warlord, but we don't get to see it.

Blatant Lies: Sure, walking through the sorcerous gate is just like teleportation. It's not like you have to fight through scores of daemons and fight a tide on the way... Brown Note: The Talon of Horus, to anyone with psychic senses, due to the fact it was used to kill Sanguinius and mortally wound the Emperor. Khayon also notes that in its presence, Space Marines of the Blood Angels and their Successors are driven into berserker madness by proximity to the weapon that killed their Primarch. Rather than the usual 40k dynamic of some representatives of the Imperium of Man facing off against a heretical or alien threat, The Talon of Horus features a cast almost entirely drawn from the Traitor Legions, the notional villains of the Horus Heresy and setting as a whole.

Going into this, I had a few assumptions about what a novel focusing on the chaos space marines may look like, and I'm happy to say I was completely off the mark. I was NOT expecting the level of respect, honour, brotherhood, and even humour that I read. Sure, they are evil, evil in a universe where even the best examples of the "good guys" are comparatively evil by modern standards. The characters can be cruel, blood-thirsty, and hold little value for lives that aren't their own, or that of their fellow chaos space marines, but, in this novel they are made to be very easy to follow along with and root for throughout their journey. After only a few hours' worth of fighting both Mondus Occulum and Mondus Gamma were burning, and vast swathes of machinery and manufactorum capacity had been destroyed. The loss of such irreplaceable technology and knowledge would be felt by the Imperium for millennia to come. Like comets launching from the surface of Mars, the Imperial transports fled into the heavens. Astartes and Imperial Army vessels jostled in the sky in their haste to depart the crimson world. But the mission was successful and the Loyalist Astartes had secured a large number of the new marks of Power Armour in preparation for the oncoming campaign against Terra by the Traitor Legions of Horus. The Talon of Horus ends with Sigismund confronting Abaddon. Seeing that Abaddon is alive and Sigismund is nowhere to be found as of the present day, it's easy to see what's going to happen.

Valicar, ‘The Graven’ - IV Legion warrior, born of Terra. Guardian of the foundry world Gallium, and commander of the warship Thane. Sigismund, First Captain, Legio Astartes Imperial Fists -- Words spoken to the Templars at the First Gate to Terra Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Lampshaded and deconstructed as part of Khayon's explanation of Chaos Legions to the Inquisition. Despite the enormous power given by sorcery, god-blessings, daemonic allies, experience, and corrupted technology, Chaos Astartes are... well, chaotic and this has huge disadvantages - they have no formal supply lines, no dedicated manufacturing ability save for Dark Mechanicus forge-worlds that tend to serve single patrons or themselves, and very little ability to build, repair, or rearm their fleets within the Eye. This is all before you take into account that practically all Chaos warbands in the Eye of Terror have longstanding grudges or feuds with each other, and are usually fighting and stealing from each other. Khayon emphasises this by saying that the Chaos Legions can't even feed their forces because they don't have any real agriculture or food production.Dueling Scar: Abaddon is left with one across his face following his battle with Sigismund. According to Khayon, he still keeps it as both a tribute to a Worthy Opponent and a memento to the moment " the Great Crusade truly came to an end". Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Exploited by Khayon during the battle of Prospero, when he uses the fact that Space Wolves don't wear helmets to kill them.