Corax

Corax by Gav Thorpe is the fortieth installment in the Horus Heresy series. An anthology, it collects all of Thorpe's Raven Guard short stories and novellas into one volume, ending with the original novella Weregeld which brings the story of the Raven Guard within the Heresy to its conclusion.

*Note: Corax contains the novellas Corax: Soulforge and Ravenlord, which have already been reviewed elsewhere on this blog. Links are provided in the places where they would sit in the anthology.

Corax opens with the novella Corax: Soulforge, taking the reforged Raven Guard into the thick of the Heresy for the first time since the attack on Deliverance. The novella is followed by The Shadowmasters, a micro-story originally found on the inside of the dust jacket for Corax: Soulforge. The Shadowmasters is set during the same final battle from the novella and follows a squad of Raven Guard Mor Deythan commandos as they carry out a mission that aids the loyalist victory.

The story takes a darker turn in Ravenlord as Corax and his followers confront the darkness within their own Legion, and this mood prevails throughout the rest of the anthology. The Value of Fear is a simple short story in which a Raven Guard sergeant and a loyalist Night Lord who has joined his squad exchange battlefield banter while pursuing a fleeing foe, but Raptor confronts the issue of Corax's mutated sons by placing them alongside another example of Astartes gene-seed gone wrong, the Wulfen of the Space Wolves. The Raven Guard discover the Space Wolves holding out against Sons of Horus in a remote keep and assist them in destroying the foe, but knowing that the Wolves' mission was to assess Corax's loyalty and report back to Malcador, Raptor leader Navar Hef decides to kill the surviving Wulfen to keep the Raptors secret and his primarch safe.

Corax closes with the original novella Weregeld. Set at the very end of the Heresy, it follows Corax and his ragtag army of Raven Guard survivors and loyalist allies as they decide what their last actions in the war might be. Increasingly fatalistic and guilt-ridden over his creation of the mutated Raptors, Corax leads his forces to the aid of the Space Wolves on Yarant III, where Leman Russ lies badly injured and comatose while his men fight a last stand against Sons of Horus, Thousand Sons and Alpha Legion. Deciding on death in combat, Corax joins the suicidal last stand but at the last minute is reminded of his greater duty to the Imperium, ordering a retreat. Later, after the Heresy has ended, Corax confronts his failure and puts the mutant Raptors out of their misery, finally ending the sad, heroic sage of the Raven Guard in the Heresy.

Corax provides a fitting ending to the Raven Guard arc, carrying the series closer to its looming finale. The stories it contains were originally presented in a number of different formats and this makes the anthology and the overall Raven Guard narrative feel disjointed, and part of me wishes it could have been tied up with a second novel. However, it is the nature of the Raven Guard to be overlooked, fighting against all odds and doing their duty without need of recognition. Weregeld brings their guerrilla campaign against Horus through its darkest moments to a suitable conclusion, leaving nothing left but one final, famous word.

Nevermore.

Mechanicum

Mechanicum by Graham McNeill is the ninth installment in the Horus Heresy series. It chronicles the civil war that erupts on Mars following the revelation of Horus's treachery.

Mars, the Red Planet. Named for the god of war, homeworld of the mighty Mechanicum who supply the ships, arms and armour required for the Emperor's Great Crusade. It is an evocative setting, and Graham McNeill brings it to life in his third Heresy novel by exploring the events leading up to and during the Schism of Mars from four different perspectives. First there are the mighty Adepts themselves, both loyalist and traitor, then there are the men of the Legio Tempestus Titan Legion and their smaller cousins, the Knights of House Taranis. Last but most importantly there is Dalia Cythera, a seemingly ordinary girl from Terra recruited by Adept Koriel Zeth for her eidetic memory and intuitive knowledge of machines. The stories of these four groups intertwine to form the plot of Mechanicum, providing a deep and enjoyable insight into Mars' darkest days.

Mechanicum is one of the few Horus Heresy books not to heavily feature Space Marines, and while this might not have made it the best choice of story to write so early in the series, it does allow it to explore a number of different perspectives on the technological society of Mars. The key to the story is Dalia Cythera, who is saved from execution on Terra to work for Adept Koriel Zeth, Mistress of the Magma City. Zeth's atheism and opposition to the hidebound traditions of the Mechanicum mark her out as an opponent of Fabricator-General Kelbor-Hal and his coterie of traitors-in-waiting, and the revolutionary work she undertakes with Dalia's help is doomed never to be realised. As tensions rise on the red planet, Adept Regulus returns from Horus's side to finalise his pact with Kelbor-Hal, who opens a forbidden vault and unleashes malignant scrapcode across Mars. Protected by her upgraded networks, Zeth and her allies Ipluvien Maximal and Fabricator-Locum Kane only make themselves targets, and both the Legio Tempestus and the Knights of Taranis garrison the Magma City in preparation for the storm. Vastly outnumbered by the corrupted hordes of newborn Dark Mechanicum, the loyalist triumvirate goes down in a blaze of glory with only Kane surviving, evacuated to Terra by the Imperial Fists to become the loyalist Fabricator General.

While the majority of the characters meet their ends in the final battles of the Schism of Mars, the same is not true for Dalia and her band of friends. A latent psyker, Dalia pursues her visions of the Dragon of Mars into the Noctis Labyrinthus even as the red planet is engulfed in civil war, ultimately discovering the Void Dragon's prison. Dalia becomes the Dragon's new guardian, fulfilling her destiny even as the rest of Mars falls to the traitors.

Mechanicum is an excellent book, sure to please servants of the Mechanicum and unaugmented fleshlings alike. It weaves human emotion through its narrative of destruction and loss in a technical world, triumphing as a solid entry in the Heresy series.

Limited-edition novella review: Cybernetica 

Cybernetica by Rob Sanders is the tenth limited-edition novella released as part of the Horus Heresy series. It follows Dravian Klayde, a Raven Guard Techmarine turned Knight-Errant, on a mission to traitor-occupied Mars.

Cybernetica opens with a rare glimpse into the world of the Techmarines, as Dravian and his fellows await the ceremony that will grant them their full rank. Disaster swiftly strikes when the Schism of Mars erupts and Dark Mechanicum forces attack the Techmarine barracks, leaving Klayde the only survivor after a dramatic fight scene. Escaping Mars with the evacuating Imperial Fists, Klayde then brings the story to Terra, where Malcador has recruited him into the ranks of the Knights-Errant. Klayde listens in as Malcador, Rogal Dorn and Fabricator General Kane debate the fate of Mars now that it is held by traitors, and Klayde and Malcador come up with a plan to release an imprisoned tech-heretic and his army of sentient robots to wipe Mars clean of life. Klayde infiltrates enemy held Mars and carries out his mission, but ultimately fails thanks to the opposition of Aulus Scaramanca, a former comrade from the Techmarine barracks who survived the attack and was converted to the Dark Mechanicum.

Cybernetica is an interesting and well-written novella with plenty of action and a frankly cool main protagonist. It disappoints, however, by failing to resolve its own storyline and creating yet another loose plot thread in a series already full of them. Read it for Klayde and the awesome battle scenes rather than the plot.