Ruinstorm

Ruinstorm by David Annandale is the forty-sixth installment in the Horus Heresy series. The conclusion of the Imperium Secundus arc, it follows the Ultramarines, Blood Angels and Dark Angels as they navigate the Ruinstorm on their way to Terra.

Ruinstorm has redeemed David Annandale in my eyes. There are a number of factors working in this book's favour and they combine to make it a thrilling, page-turning ride that shows us what Annandale can do when he gives himself good material.

From the start the plot of Ruinstorm benefits from a powerful motive force; the inner drive of the primarchs Sanguinius, Guilliman and Lion El'Jonson to reach Terra launches the story into action and their distinct perspectives allow Annandale to maintain the pace by switching back and forth between them, meaning we never have to stop for contemplation or the traditional mid-part dip of the three-act structure. Ruinstorm doesn't linger unnecessarily either; at a bit over 300 pages it is significantly shorter than most other Heresy novels but still has time to conclude everything before the end.

Annandale's unique take on the grimdark pervades Ruinstorm just as it did The Damnation of Pythos, but here it benefits the story rather than bogging it down. Set right at the end of the Heresy, Ruinstorm shows us just how thoroughly prolonged exposure to the Warp has altered the galaxy within the Ruinstorm, providing suitably massive obstacles for the three mighty protagonists to overcome. Given the poor reception Damnation received I hoped that Annandale would wash his hands of it, but to his credit he has stuck to at least some of his guns and brings Madail back as the novel's main antagonist, this time showing it at its full power as a terrifying, space-faring high priest of the Chaos Gods capably of mutating worlds with its mere presence. Madail is a superb villain, and his defeat is all the more satisfying for it.

Ruinstorm is an excellent addition to the Heresy. It shows how the three legions of the Imperium Secundus reached Terra and reveals why only one of them was present at the Siege, but it is worth reading just on its own merits. We have read David Annandale at his worst, but now finally we can read him at his best.
  

Tallarn

Tallarn by John French is the forty-fifth installment in the Horus Heresy series. An anthology, it gathers together all four of French's Tallarn stories to provide an overview of the Battle of Tallarn.

Tallarn is a somewhat unusual anthology. Written entirely by one author with specific subject matter, it is much more focused than a typical anthology, but unlike the similarly assembled Corax, Tallarn does not tell a linear story. Instead it provides a mosaic-like view of the Battle of Tallarn, each narrative filling in some of the missing information until the overall picture becomes clear. This approach must have sounded good in theory, but in practice it makes for a somewhat dull reading experience.

Tallarn opens with Tallarn: Witness, a short story from the perspective of Tallarn's new governor as he tours the battlefields in a Titan after the battle is over. Structurally this was a good choice as it sets up expectations for the stories to come. However, the redundancy of its never to be seen again characters telegraphs a problem that plagues the rest of the anthology: without a single ongoing storyline, characters and plot elements have no room to develop, and so the structure of the book becomes as suffocating as the toxic air of Tallarn itself.

Tallarn: Executioner is the high point of the anthology. Set at the very beginning of the Battle of Tallarn when the loyalist Imperial Army are just beginning to fight back, it has the strongest characterisation and most compelling sequences. As a reader, I felt like I was right there in a claustrophobic tank with the rag-tag loyalist crew as they crawled through the toxic wasteland that used to be their home. Things end badly for them, but the self-contained story is just one piece of the overall narrative. 

Tallarn: Siren is the transition point between the major phases of the Battle of Tallarn, revolving around the efforts of both sides to secure the planet's last functioning astropath. It is a necessary and tightly written piece of the overall story, but as a former audio drama it comes across as bland on paper and lacks the atmospheric quality that made Executioner enjoyable.

Tallarn: Ironclad is the longest story in the anthology and brings the recently escalated Battle of Tallarn to an unsatisfying conclusion. Ironclad features perspectives from both sides and some of the anthology's best characters, and here there is actually room to give them all proper stories. Unfortunately, while their individual stories are compelling all they lead to is a vaguely confusing tangle of plotlines and an abrupt ending that doesn't answer any of the readers' questions or provide any meaningful resolutions. I was left feeling like this anthology was a waste of time, and that impression hasn't changed.