Horus Heresy: Battle for the Abyss (Warhammer 40,000: The Horus Heresy)
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 | Product Details: Paperback 416 pages Release Date: 04 August 2008 Publisher: Black Library ISBN: 1844166570 Rating:   Sales Rank: 2065 | | Look for similar books by subject:
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| | Customer Reviews: After DOA I was dubious as hell, BUT... (23 December 2008)But what a lot of people seem to be forgetting (I think) are the following points. Not all Space Marine Chapters are supposed to be pathological killers, insane zealots or mindless killers. In fact most are supposed to be fairly standard. The Ultras in this novel exemplify the 'ideal' of the Space Marines (and add credence to the idea that the Ultras were the best Chapter to draw from for the 2nd Founding). Angels of Death who swoop down on the burning wings of Imperial truth. They're not boring. THEY ARE GENETICALLY ENGINEERED. No one complained when all the Terminators were the same (as in big ol' Arnie) because thats what they were supposed to be! The Space Wolves have been described as barbaric killers in some of the reviews of this book. HELLO???? Have you read the back story/details about Fenris. Shifting continents and all that, with big ships full of clans of BARBARIANS. The clues are in the names girls and boys. The interplay between the Wolf Guard and the Thousand Son was brilliant, and underlined the whole idea behind the Heresy. Brother against brother wasn't as surprising as all that, there were already frictions between the Primarchs and the chapters anyway (see also the Heresy novel (can't remember which one) where the Lion is quoted as thinking himself better suited for the role of Warmaster than Horus). The World Eater was true to form, letting the rage take him over that then transferred into him laying into an engine room full or Word Bearers and still taking more than one step before dying! Impressive! And lets not forget that all the members of the loyalists were under the thrall of the warp/psychic powers of the Word Bearers psykers (to a greater or lesser degree) hence the descent into barbarism for the Wolf Guard which I think I have also seen criticised in another review. It wasn't his fault! In fact the only reason this isn't a 5 star (for me anyway) are the Word Bearers in general. The Bearers of the Word. The Chapter to destroy the Imperium. The first to turn (still not sure why though). And they couldn't organise a booze up in a brewery apparently. Zealotry and faith (or anti-faith) may cover some of the shambolic behaviour, and arrogance some of the others, but if I was Lorgar, I would have been very unhappy with my kids... Not all bad....just mostly (04 December 2008)Despite what you may read elsewhere, BFTA is not a total disaster. Yes, it has very poor character development, yes it is riddled with tired stereotypes and cliches, yes its poorly edited, yes its not a patch on the first four books (I liked Fulgrim, worth the entrance fee for the opera scene alone). The final quarter of the book shows great pacing, however, and is genuinely exciting as it races towards the sadly obvious conclusion. Good writing in this genre, I think, is measured by 'movie moments' - scenes and set pieces where you can visualise the action in your head as it would appear on the big screen, with a worthy director and unlimited budget. Mhotep's struggle with his demonic adversary is one such moment, as is Cestus' journey through psyk-induced hell, Brynngar squaring up to Balenos (sp) for the second time...its just a shame that you dont care about these characters in nearly the same way you cared about Loken, et all. This series has really lost its way, and I do not think that this is the fault of the writers. GW, in true GW style, obviously sold a shed load of books to start with and realising they had a genuine cash-cow on their hands seem to be hell-bent on making the series last as long as possible, to make as much money as possible, and are probably putting pressure on its authors to churn out books as quickly as possible to keep the momentum going. I think BFTA is a good example of this - Ben Counter is not a bad writer, as he showed admirably with Galaxy in Flames, but this feels horribly rushed. In addition, as with the awful Descent of Angels, BFTA is very much a 'filler', that really does nothing to move the story on. There needs to be a strategic rethink on the whole series, as if things continue as they are, by the time the end of the saga is reached, there will be no-one around to care. Underrated (02 December 2008)This book deserves a lot better than many reviews may suggest. I was wary about reading it after seeing some of the reviews on here, but I am glad that I did. The book tells a very interesting story, and while it perhaps does lack the depth of some of the series' earilier novels, it is still a good read. Is the story entertaining? Yes. Could I put it down, especially in the last 150 pages? No. Therefore, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a good sci-fi story. Another disappointment... (29 October 2008)I found this installment in the Horus Heresy series very disappointing. As a previous reviewer rightly notes - the quality of the storylines and characters have deteriorated markedly since the first trilogy, which is a tragedy considering the wealth of source material available to the writers. The first three books were amazing. It was genuinely exciting to discover that a deep and detailed sequence of novels were in the making about a storyline that was previously delivered in scraps to me as a kid through White Dwarf about fifteen years ago. I devoured them in the space of a few days. It was genuinely tense wondering what was going to happen next. Following on from the early books Flight of the Eisenstein was quite good and Fulgrim was okay. Descent of Angels was awful and completely irrelevant. Legion was utterly baffling and then we get Battle for the Abyss. The characters are boring and shallow whilst the plot is formulaic and frankly quite dull. I was expecting some exciting showdown on a massive scale as the Word Bearer's assault Macragge with the Furious Abyss and demonic allies. Instead I get a plodding spaceship chase through space/warp/space/warp/space, culminating in the most powerful ship the galaxy has ever seen being boarded by half a dozen randomers, who manage to fight their way through half a space marine legion with nothing other than a few cuts and bruises before chucking a couple of grenades in the reactor. Bang. The end. Its probably a good job the Word Bearer's defected judging by the marksmanship and general inneptitude. What a bunch of ponces. I couldn't help but picture them like the hapless generic goons in Dr Evil's lair in the Austin Powers movies. I am not some uber nerd fanboy prone to critiquing minutia. I simply feel frustrated by the sliding quality of what should be a landmark series. The early books were of such quality that they might have acheived the rare accolade of expanding the readership beyond simply appealing to the usual Warhammer nerds. With the way the series is heading however they are likely to drive away even the captive fanbase. Ben Counter is obviously a great writer having produced the fantastic Galaxy in Flames so this only adds to the palpable disappointment. Maybe he is being restricted by GW's dictates? Come on guys - give us more of the first three books! This book is worth reading for those following the trilogy I guess, though don't expect too much... Adds little to the tale (23 October 2008)Most of my criticisms of this book have already been addressed by other reviewers. To those, I'd add that this book's worst failing for me is that it adds nothing to the overall unfolding of the heresy. We already know the Word Bearers are a traitor legion, and the attack on the Ultramarine's homeworld has been mentioned in 40K literature for years. The Word Bearers are an intriguing legion, previous novels have even hinted that they are responsible for corrupting Horus himself. Yet we learn nothing new about their motives or beliefs here, as they're portrayed as little more than two-dimensional moustache-twirling villains crying 'Curses! Foiled again!' as the squeaky-clean (and dull) Ultramarines foil their dastardly plot. The inclusion of a loyalist Thousand Son and World Eater isn't explored as much as it could be, and we learn little more about those legions too. I also suspect Counter sometimes forgets he's writing Warhammer 30k novels here; the characters go on rather too much about 'witchcraft' and 'things in the warp'. Abnett's books portray the marines of this millenium far better, as ultra-rationalists a far cry from the praying, superstitious denizens of the 40k world. | |
