Betrayer

Betrayer by Aaron Dembski-Bowden is the twenty-fourth installment in the Horus Heresy series. It documents the Shadow Crusade, following the World Eaters and Word Bearers legions as they invade the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar.

Betrayer is Aaron Dembski-Bowden's first Heresy novel since The First Heretic and here Argel Tal returns, prosecuting the Shadow Crusade at Lorgar's right hand. This time, however, Tal is not the main character. That distinction goes to Kharn, Captain of the World Eaters Eighth Assault Company and equerry to primarch Angron. Kharn is infamous in the fortieth millenium as an unstoppable Chaos beserker and champion of the Blood God Khorne, but in Betrayer we see him ten thousand years earlier, having turned against the Imperium with the rest of his legion but not yet fallen into blood-soaked madness. In fact, the Kharn Dembski-Bowden writes is the most human of the World Eaters, restrained and clear-thinking when not lost to the Butcher's Nails and concerned by the degeneration of his primarch and legion. His friendship with Argel Tal also serves to humanise both characters, making likeable, complex protagonists out of a butchering marauder and a Chaos champion sharing his soul with a daemon.

Dembski-Bowden also creates a batch of engaging secondary characters for Betrayer, from Lhorke, the Contemptor Dreadnaught who was once Legion Master when the World Eaters were still the War Hounds, to Lotara Sarrin, the fearless commander of the World Eaters' flagship Conqueror who is unafraid to shoot a Space Marine captain in the head for dereliction of duty. Dembski-Bowden is a genius at crafting engaging and, simply put, cool characters; he is to character creation what Dan Abnett is to world-building. The secondary characters in Betrayer help push the action along and deepen the plot, and this is fortunate because if there is one area in which Betrayer falls down, it is plot. It doesn't really have one.

The first half of Betrayer is taken up entirely by the Battle of Armatura, a heavily-defended Ultramarines world. The action is relentless and varied, making this part of the book an absorbing read, but the battle only seems to occur as a way to facilitate a few really cool scenes rather than to serve a larger purpose in the story. Angron emerging from the rubble of a fallen building to brace against a descending Titan leg about to squish Lorgar into paste is an unforgettable moment, but overall the first half of the book contains little plot development. The action slows down somewhat after this to allow us more time with the characters, but by the time the traitors reach Angron's previously unknown homeworld Nuceria little more has happened than Cyrene Valantion's resurrection, Kharn requisitioning Angron's old axe and Erebus manipulating Argel Tal with hints of a prophecy. The climactic battle on Nuceria brings the story to an apocalyptic finale with a duel between primarchs and the transformation of Angron into a daemon prince, but is underscored by the death of a excellent character as Erebus murders Argel Tal to further the Chaos Gods' agenda. As if we didn't hate him enough already.

Overall Betrayer is an excellent read, gripping and pulse-pounding with some of strongest characters ever written for the traitor legions. By the end we are left feeling that a lot of things have happened, but unfortunately there isn't much sense that those things mattered. Betrayer suffers a little bit from middle-of-the-trilogy syndrome, but like The Two Towers or The Empire Strikes Back it remains an excellent story.                

Pharos

Pharos by Guy Haley is the thirty-fourth installment in the Horus Heresy series. Set on Sotha at the edge of the Imperium Secundus, it follows the defenders of the Pharos as they seek to protect the beacon from a surprise assault by the Night Lords.

Pharos is the first novel-length foray into the world of the Heresy by Guy Haley, who has previously only written short fiction for the series. A relative newcomer to the Heresy Haley reveals both skills and shortcomings in Pharos, which is at times a gripping story of defiance and survival, at times a lukewarm siege narrative rendered down to a handful of action scenes. And do not be fooled by Alexis Polux posing dramatically on the cover - this is very much a story of Ultramarines versus Night Lords, with a smattering of other characters there to fill in the margins. Those who came hoping for the three loyalist legions of the Imperium Secundus teaming up to deal the traitors some pain will be disappointed. Those who came looking for interesting characters and a pivotal new chapter in the civil war will not.

Pharos is a story set well into the timeline, detailing events that have sprung out the series as it expands rather than anything mentioned in the background canon. This rollicking tale follows the varied defenders of the Pharos, an alien beacon used by Roboute Guilliman for communication and travel within his Imperium Secundus, as they defend the mountainous device against an opportunistic attack by a fleet of Night Lords led by Krukesh the Pale. Despite the Heresy series now being over thirty novels and anthologies long most of its installments need only a general understanding of the setting to read, but Pharos is set so far into the series those who have not read at least The Unremembered Empire would be lost. While many of the books in the series have short stories that set them up the shorts are usually not required reading, but in the case of Pharos I felt the absence of A Safe and Shadowed Place, The Laurel of Defiance and Heart of the Pharos, all of which provide background on important characters.     

Speaking of characters, Pharos is very much an ensemble story and this proves to be a double-edged sword. By providing us with point of view characters from every camp Haley is able to weave a multi-layered narrative that explores multiple perspectives, but also dilutes his plot and leaves less room for important scenes that glue the action together. The story of Oberdeii and the other Ultramarine neophytes who escape from the orbital station and are left stranded on Sotha has massive potential, but the scouts disappear into the forest partway through the story and do not play a large role in its conclusion. The unlikely friendship between Imperial Fists captain Alexis Polux and loyalist Iron Warriors Warsmith Barabas Dantioch is a similar goldmine, but we see little of their time together and less of their actions to defend the Pharos. Among the Night Lords the relationship between blood-brothers Kellenkir and Kellendvar and the tensions among their villainous commanders are both given enough page time, but sometimes distract from the siege of the Pharos, which is not covered in much detail. One of the few plotlines that does receive enough attention is that of the human soldiers led by Mericus Giraldus who get caught up in the invasion. Mericus is a likeable character who injects much needed humanity into the story, and his horrific death at the hands of the Night Lords left a bad taste in my mouth.

Overall Pharos is a good book, exciting and action-packed enough to carry the story through to its universe-damning conclusion. Issues with focus break up the narrative, but at the end of the day there is just enough here to satisfy.