The Master of Mankind

The Master of Mankind by Aaron Dembski-Bowden is the forty-first installment in the Horus Heresy series. Set in the Imperial Palace and the Webway, it follows Imperial forces struggling to hold back an endless tide of daemons.

A book featuring the Emperor by Aaron Dembski-Bowden. That sentence is enough to make Warhammer fans drool. The Master of Mankind promised to give us two things: war in the Webway, and a POV from Big E. It gave us both, but in constrained, disappointing ways.

I'll start with the big one. The main draw of The Master of Mankind was that it would give us a glimpse inside the Emperor's head. It gave us several, and all were fascinating, but they also came with the usual catch: all perceptions of the Emperor are subjective. Whether he is sharing his 'memories' with a Custodian Guard or consulting Arkhan Land on Angron's condition, the Emperor is as those speaking to him wish him to be. It's a neat way of handling the Emperor without actually giving readers any hard facts about him. We probably shouldn't have expected anything different, but it's a disappointment nonetheless.

The War in the Webway aspect of TMoM offers a different kind of disappointment. The struggle of the Emperor's forces to hold back the tide of daemons trying to invade the Imperial Palace is the driving force of the plot, but the actual battle gets less page time than it should. In fact, most of the first three-quarters of the book are devoted to a slow accretion of loyalist dregs gathered for a battle that takes far too long to come. When it comes it is everything you could possibly want out of the Emperor wading through an army of daemons, but it doesn't quite justify the long slog to get there.

The Master of Mankind is excellently written and offers some great new characters (see the aforementioned Arkhan Land), but in terms of plot it has little more to offer than some scheming amongst the Mechanicum. It is a book given over to concept above content, that reaches for greatness but doesn't live up to its potential. It is a well-presented exercise in what could have been.         

Shattered Legions

Shattered Legions, edited by Laurie Goulding, is the forty-third installment in the Horus Heresy series. It contains ten short stories focused on the 'Shattered Legions', the remnants of the Iron Hands, Salamanders and Raven Guard that survived the Isstvan V Dropsite Massacre, as well as the novella The Seventh Serpent.

Meduson by Dan Abnett covers the events that led to the legendary Shadrak Meduson becoming warleader of the Iron Hands in the aftermath of Isstvan. Abnett characterises Meduson perfectly, giving us a rewarding insight into the Space Marine who made himself a myth as he struggles against Iron Hands politics and the self-destructiveness of his own hatred for the traitors.

Unforged by Guy Haley is a brief story about tragedy amongst the loyalist survivors on Isstvan V as his characters from Strike and Fade fall prey to an ambush by their own oblivious battle-brothers.

Immortal Duty by Nick Kyme follows the account of a censured Iron Hand legionary relating his actions boarding a World Eaters' ship during the space battle above Isstvan V.

Grey Talon by Chris Wraight follows Iron Hand Bion Henricos and White Scar Hibou Khan as they prosecute traitors from their eponymous ship, eventually linking up with Shadrak Meduson and his forces.

The Keys of Hel by John French is a sequel to his previous short story Riven, following a group of undead Iron Hands as they attack a space station held by the Death Guard.

Deeds Endure by Gav Thorpe raises the question of preserving life versus battlefield pragmatism as the commanders of a joint Salamanders/Iron Hands force differ over the way in which they should attack a World Eaters' bastion.

The Noose by David Annandale follows Captain Khalybus of the Iron Hands as he plays cat-and-mouse with Emperor's Children ships pursuing his own, ultimately luring them into an ambush.

Unspoken by Guy Haley is a longer follow-up to Unforged, following a mixed Iron Hands/Salamanders force from the perspective of the mute sole survivor of the friendly-fire ambush. They attack a traitor-held astropathic relay station only to find Alpha Legion infiltrators posing as Iron Hands battling loyalist Alpha Legionnaires.

The Hand Elect by Chris Wraight follows Clan-Father Jebez Aug of the Iron Hands as he travels to a loyalist forge world to be healed of grievous wounds and grapples with scheming within the Iron Hands to replace Shadrak Meduson as warleader.

The Either by Graham McNeill tells the story of Sons of Horus captain Tybalt Marr who was tasked with hunting down Shattered Legion survivors after the Dropsite Massacre. It shows the battle from Meduson from his perspective and takes his story forward to Dwell, where he is reunited with his Legion and makes hunting Shadrak Meduson his sole duty.