Horus Rising Review
 Horus
Rising review by Mr. M. R. Churchill
When I first became aware of Games Workshop's plans for the Horus Heresy range,
I greeted the news with some degree of apprehension. The planned assortment of
art books, collectible card games and accompanying novels visit an era in the
wonderfully wicked Warhammer universe that had hitherto been shrouded with veils
of mystery and couched in legend. These were the days when the Emperor of
Mankind walked amongst the stars and the Great Crusade liberated all of humanity
from foul aliens and oppressive tyrants. My initial response to the announcement
of the Horus Heresy series was simple - 'Heresy!'. It would be an act of
sacrilege to make graven images and scrawl little yarns about these sacred
times. How could a Primarch of the Astartes, a demi-god in battle-plate, fit
comfortably within the pages of a modern novel? By letting Dan Abnett write the
novel, that's how.
Horus Rising is the first of a trilogy of books that catalogues the final days
of the Great Crusade, and the infamous rebellion of Horus against his own
father, the Emperor of Mankind. It is set 28,000 years in the future, 10,000
years before most of the other Games Workshop science fiction stories. A
familiarity with Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe is pretty desirable
before reading this book - take a look at the company's website for a flavour of
the horrors to come in the far future. Horus Rising inverts many of the
preconceptions that fan-boys like myself have of the Warhammer 40,000 universe,
with in-jokes and foreshadowing aplenty to get the sci-fi Forums jangling. The
most notable revelation is that religion was banned under the Emperor's rule,
yet all Warhammer 40,000 fans know that he was revered as a god after his death.
It would seem that denying one's divinity is not sufficient to stop the
inexorable rise of worship. And paradoxically, though religion is banned in
these glorious days, the theme of faith resonates far truer in this book than in
most other Warhammer fiction. Martial force may triumph on the field of battle,
but 'hearts and minds' cannot be crushed so easily.
The Dramatis Personae at the start of the book reads like a who's who of
Warhammer 40,000, and I noticed with some excitement before reading the novel
that Primarch Sanguinius, First Chaplain Erebus, and Lucius of the Emperor's
Children would be making 'guest appearances'. Horus himself is a charismatic
presence, the Warmaster who dominates every page of text that he is in. Yet as
an immortal Primarch he is too big, too immensely big for the reader to identify
with, so we have Captain Loken as our guide through the novel, a straight
up-and-down everyman figure who possesses a fundamental decency and reassuringly
simple innocence.
But the book is more than a celebrity showcase to satisfy the fan-boys. There is
real story, character and themes here, amongst the discharge of boltgun shells
and laser fire. The book is undoubtedly and unashamedly the first act in a
tragedy. Warhammer artists skilled more with paint and easel than
word-processors shy away from the post-modern and are drawn to past glories of
the gothic and baroque. So too, no doubt, will this trilogy run - reading more
like a Greek tragedy than a post-Tolkien heroic quest. The concepts of loyalty
and duty feature strongly in Horus Rising - knightly loyalties that the Space
Marines have to their oaths, their legions, and their Emperor. These Space
Marines are grand figures, single-minded and determined. Yet by the end of the
novel the loyalties become unravelled, as doubt and reality assail their
superlative qualities.
Others have added their superlative praises for this book. Make no mistake,
these praises are deserved. Dan Abnett really is the master of Warhammer
fiction. 'For the Warmaster!'
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