Customer Reviews
Very good, but not its Predecessor. - By: Daniel J. Burns, 20 Oct 2007 
This is where the traitor legions tear their loyal parts off & become a "stronger legion".
The story is well writen & fast pacedin Ben Counter style. It portray's the Isstvan III massacre & ultimately has a sad ending. It does have lots of battles though & is certainly worth the read, although some how it didnt leave me as emotionally effected by the end unlike its predecessor, but more than the first volume.
In my opinion it wasn't the best of the original trilogy but did point mein the right direction for other black library publications (in terms of author). 5 stars!
Epic stuff! - By: TazDev63, 03 Aug 2007 Backin the 80's I was mildly interestedin Warhammer 40K, buying the odd White Dwarf now & then. Then I recently came across The Horus Heresy articles on Wikipedia & was absorbed. I searched for the novels on Amazon, & was amazed to find not one but five books & two on the way.
Having read the first two books, `Galaxyin Flames' is well written & continues the corruption of Primarch Horus, mostly through the eyes of Garviel Loken, 10th Captain of the Sons of Horus. As his suspicions grow, so does the danger. With devastating consequences, Horus's corruption to the Warp Gods is apparent.
The bigger picture of the Imperium of Man, the Primarchs & their respective legions become clearer as they begin to divide & some become possessed by the Entities of The Warp. Plenty of fast action & horror make this a great sci-fi story and, with the first two books, one epic event.
If you are unfamiliar with the 40K universe, then I highly recommend the wikipedia web site or the Gamesworkshop site for some indepth background, you will be `illuminated'!
Looking forward to `Fulgrim', `Descent of Angels' & finally, `Legion'
Good read, but in a different class to the two previous titles. - By: Richard Hall, 25 Feb 2007 
Horus rising had the searing characterisation & scene-setting that Dan Abnett is rightly known for.
False Gods had the nuanced plot that McNiell has shown to be his forté.
However, you get the impression that, as pointed outin a previous comment, that Ben Counter was broughtin too early. Yes, he handles action with the panache typical of Black Library releases, butin terms of plot & character development, he seems to be far outclassed by Abnet & McNeill. Yes, it probably didn't help that he had to work with already established characters, & yes, I dont think that this means that he is a better or worse author, but the differencein style between the first two books & the third is pretty jarring.
And what's with the guy making the seemingly unilateral decision to change 'Istvaan' to 'Isstvan' ?
Great, cannot wait for the next - By: Gary Holroyd, 04 Jan 2007 Following on from the excellent Horus Rising & False gods, Galaxyin Flames leads you straight into the action with the Battle of Istavan III. The battle is excellently portrayed & betrayal is fully woven into the story. Having know part of the story already, the story of lucius is well constructed as you would always be wondering what is going to happen next. One of the main problems as many people have already mentioned is that the characters aren't fully developed, you dont get so personal with Horus as you did with False Gods, which is a great shame.
Not quite up to the same standard - By: Me, 17 Oct 2006 
Good, but not quite up to the same standard as the previous books. There's a certain "something" missing. And the title is a bit melodramatic.
Dan Abnett got off to a great start with Horus Rising & Graham McNeill carried onin the same style with False Gods. With Galaxyin Flames Ben Counter had a tough act to follow & with the characters now "fixed" on their path he had limited flexibility to develop them, especially since the action is limited to one planet where Abnett had the freedom to move between three different worlds. However, I don't think he was the right Black Library author for this book. I've read the Soul Drinkers & Grey Knights books & so I think he might have been better off writing at a later stage. (I think William King (the Space Wolf series) would have been a better choice given the restrictions.)
Some of the key characters (e.g. Erebus) that McNeill had made efforts to establish are relegated to the background & Loken, the core character is not as strongly portrayed. Horus also probably needs more time on centre-stage. His fall is documented, but not quite as well as it could have been. To be honest I'd blame this on McNeill - he had a good opportunityin False Gods to describe Horus's deathbed biographical narrative (and thoughts) to Petronella; Counter could have built on that - & he is clearly reliant upon what the other two have establishedin this book.
The composition & action is pretty good, although there are a few inconsistencies - the main one I spotted was the virus bombs supposedly annihilating all life on the planet on one page, but then we find a few billion people alive to be burnt upin the subsequent firestorm later on... oops!
Perhaps I'm too much of an Abnett fan; it's not that bad. In any case I look forward to the next instalment, Flight of the Eisenstein.
