Customer Reviews
Meat on some old bones - By: Douglas Wright, 19 Sep 2008 
I have done it all with warhammer 40,000. I started with the old epic game, moved on to 3rd edition of the table-top 40k, even worked part timein a GW shop when i was at college. The thing that captivated me, made me sell my soul, was the rich background 'lore'. At least i thought so until this book hit me & sucked mein so much deeper! The horus heresy has always been a great tale, but to read about the time leading up to itin such detail like this really blew me away. The book its self is very well written, i had read the Gaunts Ghosts books before, so i knew the author wouldn't dissappoint. This book deserves to be read more widely & shouldnt be written off as a sci-fi section geek read.
I have gone on & read all the booksin the series, but with possibly the exception of 'Fulgrim', this one is the best.
top-notch sci-fi - By: Bert Heymans, 13 Sep 2008 Dan Abnett really does a suberb jobin kicking off this series. Very high quality writing & lush battlefield descriptions made this a pageturner for me. It's just genuine good sci-fi, plain & simple, you'll love it you're not afraid of some gore & a futurein total despair.
Note, I'm not a Warhammer 40K player & didn't know much, if anything, about the Warhammer universe prior to reading this.
Surprisingly good read - By: Dr. Joanne Cronin, 08 Sep 2008 
Up to now, my only exposure to the Warhammer 40,000 series has been via science fiction bookstores & games shops where you can purchase the miniatures. I had dismissed novels like this as pulp fiction. I'm glad to say that I was wrong.
This book, the firstin the Horus Heresy series, is set prior to the universe portrayedin the Warhammer 40k universe & the series promises fans the chance to learn the history behind the game. The book tells us how the Emperor of Man has retired from everyday life for a chance to persue his studies, & appoints Horus to act as Warmasterin his stead. The Imperium of Man is on a crusade throughout the universe, destroying cultures, alien & human alike, that refuse to accept their teachings. The Imperium have removed religion & superstition from their existence.
Horus actsin the Emperor's stead, assisted by his Astartes warriors, genetically enhanced superhumans. The Astaertes warrior Loken, one of the inner circle who advises Horus, fights a strange battle where a fellow soldier changes form. This begins to point the way towards the story for the remainder of the series.
The battles scenes are graphic, there is not doubting that, but the book is surprisingly richin content. The leading Astartes warriors, especially Loken, are used to add human feelings & touches to the story & the scene is cleverly laid for the nextin the series. Allin all it's a surprising good read.
Please read this review if you aren't a W40K addict - By: J. Duducu, 19 Dec 2007 
The problem with reader reviews on Amazon is almost every book ends up being a 4 or 5 star must read because the fans write the reviews. This doesn't tell you how the book really compares to other works. Let's face it we all know that most books produced are not 5 star masterpeices of art. So let me try & add some balance.
The writing is good & it is at times thought provoking, there is more here than blood & thunder. However the biggest flaw is the story telling. I got sucked into this series apparently without end so I am hoping you may be forewarned unlike me.
This is a first of a trilogy which by the end sets up the Horus Heresy. 3 books to get to the start of the story. Now what happens is interesting but that over a 1,200 pages to start a tale, that's longer than war & peace! So there is a LOT of filler here. For example at times you read several pages from the book the character is reading, is that necessary? There is a side story on a world called murder which admittedly does introduce new characters but is backstory turned into 100 pages. Indeed most of this book is background.
The real annoyance is the painfully slow progress of the story over 3 books. Just when you think the story may actually get out of 1st gear books 4 & 5 actually go backin time to cover many of the same events from a different perspective. It's a story line that seems to be going nowhere & yet I was first drawn to the books because I know what will happen at the end & at that will be a great book but I maybe an old man before they actually get that far!
So ignore the fan boy stuff. If you want to try some games workshop fantasy there are one off books to try but this is an over ambitious & badly thought through project to see how many books they can stretch the old "rise & fall" story for as long as they possibly can. If the whole thing had been condensed into 1 trilogy then this could have been something special as it is it is for hardcore W40Kers only who obviously don't mind spending a fair amount of cash on mediocre books.
Mediocre genre writing - By: Mat Bettinson, 08 Nov 2007 Looking at this from the point of view of someone who doesn't normally read commissioned genre books, I thought I'd give the Horus series a go since it seemed to get good reviews. Horus Rising is by no means terrible, but it utterly lacksin story telling or character. The author is a practitioner of writingin a professional sense but doesn't seem fully vested within it.
Vaugely familiar with Warhammer 40K I can only imagine how a true fan would approach this with every single paragraph essentially just ramming home the same tired themes. I grew tired of it quickly & longed for something else. The greatest crime, however, is the almost complete lack of story. This meanders gently, using up word after word, page after page telling you the same thing about the same characters over & over.
The combat sequences are few & far between & they're not terribly inspired anyway. I had little of the sense of majesty that the author was trying to portray by the repeated statement of W40K doctrine. I can't really see how after reading this novel I'd rest the rest. Other writers also offer this meandering style which has you fear no significant story will ever be told also, but then you'll enjoy the writing & care for the characters. Horus Rising is two dimensional, dull & lacks a plot unless you care to subject yourself, presumably, to the full six-book series. I do not.
To say there's better sci-fi authors out there would be putting it mildly. Do yourself a favor & read some classics you've missed before getting into this genre trash.
