I just finished reading the - I quote: "latest instalment of the best-selling Horus Heresy series" - or, which I would prefer to call it, "the latest stroke of genius by Dan Abnett", which is the sixth book in the relatively new and impressive cycle telling the story of the great civil war of the Imperium of Mankind in the 40k universe, taking place ten thousand years ago, which is known as the 'Horus Heresy', of course.

From my point of view, the humans in charge at GW Headquarters couldn't have picked anyone more suitable for starting this series (except maybe Alex Stewart, whom many know under his pseudonym Sandy Mitchell) as Dan Abnett, who - in a writer's galaxy of page-long descriptions of excessive bloodshed and rhetorical mediocrity - manages to create interesting, even lovable characters and neat stories, wrapped up in words and sentences that aren't repeated on every second page, and excels with it in a way, so that not even - more than debatable - 'authors' as Ben Counter are able to break the spirit he created.

Now he struck again with another novel in this very commendable series, breathing life into the often overlooked Space Marines chapter of the Alpha Legion. Again, it includes less battle and more story, though a bit too few of those adorable Space Marines, but all the other characters are well worth it (plus, it's the Alpha Legion - they're all in for stealth ^^). And again, he manages to make the Legionnaires look more human and on the other hand far from it at the same time.

For me, Dan Abnett has made the Space Marines (and their later-to-be 'heretic' counterparts) even more enjoyable, the same as Alex Stewart managed for the Imperial Guard with his Commisar Ciaphas Cain, lifting them from oh-so-superhuman-invincible-killermachines down to another level and at the same time to unknown heights as interesting and likeable persons and invididuals.

A definite must-read for anyone who's into the 40k universe or wants to get into it.

Tags: Alpha Legion Dan Abnett Horus Heresy Warhammer 40k Black Library Novel