False Gods: The Horus Heresy, Book 2

Finished the first book the other day and picked this one up right away. Couldn't put it down! Such a great story and excellently written. If you are a fan of the Warhammer series, this is a great read will have you further hooked in the series.

Where book one makes us like Horus and his follows, this books shows us how to distrust and despise them.

DislikesSlower openingToo many character introsSome pacing issues and rapid turns that seem rushedLikesWonderful midbookGreat action at timesLoved horus' developmentGood character development for some of the key players

As many of the older Horus Heresy and 40k books seem to be tough to get now, it was great to see the first three still readily available. It should be said that these reprints have a nice small crease in the covers put onto these new printings. None of my older Black Library have it and I had not bought any in a while so that was a nice little change to see. I like that.I always really liked the 40k prose, though there are authors I like more than others, Graham McNeill is one of the best at it. False God's doesn't disappoint at all. I remember the first time I read this book in 2009 when I had bought my first copy and I've gone through it five times since. It floored me honestly. Grim dark stories of a far flung future. Blood and guts, chop you in the throat and axe kick you when you're down violence. Betrayal on a scale to rival any other eternal universal doom inspired series. May not be for some but that's fine.If you like the prospect of diving into a universe that's brutally uncaring and will probably remind you all too often of the true nature of humankind in the best and worst ways, then pick up the series.TL:DR - Blood for the Blood God. Skulls for the skull throne. Khorne for the Khorne flakes. Buy this.

Good book

This was a book with a lot of action and was not drawn out with its content and conclusions. I cannot wait to continue the story line!

Love it

The second book of the Horus Heresy series, this time penned by Graham McNeill, is a ripping adventure tale that continues the story of Horus' inevitable fall. Garviel Lorken, the Company Captain of the Sons of Horus Legion and main protagonist from the first novel, now shares the stage with Horus himself in roughly equal measure. The supporting cast is too numerous to list here, but suffice to say, it includes many other canonical characters from Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K universe: Horus, Angron, Fulgrim, Magnus, Kharn, Abaddon, Fabius, and others.M. McNeill does an excellent job capturing the feel of the 40K background, excels at action scenes, and captures the epic scope of the Crusade and subsequent Heresy. You really feel the ground tremor as titans stride into battle, and quail before Angron's savagery as he charges into the fray. The enemies of the Imperium fight intelligent campaigns that reflect well thought out strategy, making them worthy foes.Gone, however, is the subtlety and delicate moral quandary of M. Abnett. Lorken's character growth, and that of some of the other characters, takes a back seat to Horus' tale and larger-scale conflict. This brings me to the two weaker points of the novel:1 - M. McNeill uses some clumsy plot devices at key points in the work. The Mournival (Horus' council of Captains) and some of the senior Sons of Horus act stupidly or ignorantly from time to time, even though it's been firmly established that they are neither. There are a few other instances where Marines "regress" from extremely wily to easily misled.2 - The biggest difficulty, however, is in the representation of the change in Horus. There are no slippery moral slopes filled with the excuses of expediency or necessity. There is no gradual or subtle descent, such as those displayed by M. Abnett's Inquisitor Eisenhorn. Instead, Horus takes the Warp induced visions of a man he admittedly doesn't even trust, and makes a decision without even checking the veracity of these mirages. As it's really one of the pivotal moments of the entire epic, it's disappointing that it doesn't receive the attention it deserves.These - although fairly significant - detractors aside, the book is a very engaging read, and M. McNeill's writing style holds the reader's attention throughout. The plot flows well, and one can't wait to begin the next chapter after finishing the previous.In short: a generally solid work with a few troubles for more discerning readers. However, any fan of 40K will easily get his money's worth on this ride.