In the thirty-sixth century, humanity has conquered the galaxy and colonized countless star systems. The Galactic Empire, modeled along Prussian lines, and the democratic Free Planets Alliance are at war, and the fate of every human being in the universe hangs in the balance.

A grand scheme for retaking Iserlohn is delivered to Reinhard, who with renewed determination seeks to become ruler of the galaxy, and fulfill the oath he made with a dear, departed friend. But what are the aims of Phezzan, the third force at work behind the scenes? Meanwhile, no sooner is Yang breathing a sigh of relief when Julian returns from his first combat mission than he is summoned to an inquest and departs for the capital of the Alliance. As if waiting for this opportunity to strike, however, the Imperial military's fortress appears right at the gates of Iserlohn. The battle between two gigantic fortresses begins!

You probably knew this review was coming. I preordered this book (and its predecessor) as far back as March, but since the paperback wouldn't reach me until sometime next week, two weeks after e- and audiobook releases, I went with the latter. Thankfully, Tim Gerard Reynolds is as delightful as always, so getting through this was easy. It helped that Tim's mix of levity and gravity perfectly suits the style of the series.

The Story:

"In the thirty-sixth century, humanity has conquered the galaxy and colonized countless star systems. The Galactic Empire, modeled along Prussian lines, and the democratic Free Planets Alliance are at war, and the fate of every human being in the universe hangs in the balance.

A grand scheme for retaking Iserlohn is delivered to Reinhard, who with renewed determination seeks to become ruler of the galaxy, and fulfill the oath he made with a dear, departed friend. But what are the aims of Phezzan, the third force at work behind the scenes? Meanwhile, no sooner is Yang breathing a sigh of relief when Julian returns from his first combat mission than he is summoned to an inquest and departs for the capital of the Alliance. As if waiting for this opportunity to strike, however, the Imperial military's fortress appears right at the gates of Iserlohn. The battle between two gigantic fortresses begins!"

The Review:

Endurance is the third part of Yoshiki Tanaka's Legend of the Galactic Heroes series. As such, please be aware that there'll be spoilers for the first two books here!

Compared to the first two books, I would argue that Endurance is the slowest. Both Dawn and Ambition had a good amount of action, big fleet movements and bloodshed. While this installment is hardly without those things, its biggest struggle takes place away from the battlefield surrounding Iserlohn Fortress. The fortress, as you might remember, protects the route between Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Aliiance, and is held by Admiral Yang Wen-li, who has taken it from the empire in a genius move. The empire, under Reinhard von Lohengramm's leadership, naturally wants it back, which is the main point of the book as far as empire and the fleet war are concerned.

Surprisingly, we see little of Reinhard in this book. With Siegfried Kircheis gone, the new de facto emperor is in a big slump. He mourns his friend, and struggles to surround himself with people he can trust unconditionally; nobody is able to understand his dream, his ambition, like Sieg did. It doesn't help that his sister, Annerose, has departed to live in solitude after news reached her. Reinhard is on his own, surrounded by selfish people and manipulators like Paul von Oberstein, who, in some ways, is responsible for Reinhard's loss. The only person who truly seems to care about the Golden Brat appears to be Hildegard von Mariendorf, who joined his side in the previous book.
Hilda's scenes here are relatively short, but set up a lot of things for future installments, and provide a possible love interest for Reinhard - something that he seems blind to. I enjoyed those scenes greatly, however, as they are well-executed and introduced some new warmth to a relatively cold state of affairs.

To stick with characters on the Galactic Empire's side, I was glad to see a few of them being developed further. The friendship between Mittermeier and Von Reuentahl, who by all rights should be bitter rivals, is palpable here, and Tanaka treats us to some genuine moments between them. We see glimpses of their upbringing, their personal lives and their own ambitions, making them far more than the genius admirals they have been presented as previously. Even Von Oberstein received a little bit of the same, giving him more depth. Generally, this reflects the entire book - character development stands front and center.

On the FPA's end, the novel makes it a point to get Julian, Yang's adopted war-orphan, into battle for the first time, piloting a Spartanian starfighter. Those scenes present a good part of the book's action, and show the nitty-gritty and misery of being a soldier below the command level. Of course, Julian is also a natural at it. Yang's discomfort and disapproval of his protégé's choice of career make for a nice bit of conflict here too, ending in a scene that is very comfortable and made me happy.

But eventually Yang gets recalled to the capital of Heinessen, to stand in front of a "court of inquiry" regarding his actions from the previous book. With no real legal authority behind them, this basically comes down to psycho-terror and a battle of wits, where Yang proves his defiance towards the FPA's government and the dangerous turns their "free democracy" has been taking lately. It is a heated part of the book that had me on edge, wondering when Yang would snap and burn all the bridges. If you haven't hated the FPA's government so far, now might be the chance to jump on the train!
Parallel to this ordeal, Yang's aide Frederica Greenhill proves herself worth her weight in gold. She's a delightful character full of strength and warmth, and I appreciate all her appearances so far. The baggage from the previous book sadly still looms its ugly head here, but just comes to show how strong Yang's aide is.

While this book is certainly slower and more reflective, giving the cast more chances to develop and grow, there of course is a big battle towards the end to look forward to. It is teased by the blurb already - the battle of two gigantic space fortresses! This part was damn exciting, especially with both Yang and Reinhard away from it, at least for the bulk of it. Yang's underlings have to step up their game and hold the fort, which also gives the recently defected Merkatz a chance to prove his mettle to his new comrades. Everyone, including Alex Caselnes, get to show off here for a change, and I loved that.

If anything, though, this book sets up a lot of opportunities for future disaster and glory. It has plenty of substance to entertain and make you think about the characters and events, but its full worth will become more obvious as the overarching plot progresses in the next few installments. Seeds are being sown, and everybody's endurance and resolve are tested greatly, and their directions might well change in the future.
Overall I believe this book is exactly what the series needed after the highly eventful first two installments. Time for the dust to settle while creating new openings to be explored.
While Endurance is relatively slow on action, it definitely had a big impact on how I view the series.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Vol.3: Endurance on Goodreads

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The war is over and mankind is saved. But when war ends, politics takes over, and one man realises that the High Lords who nearly doomed the entire Imperium must be culled. It is time for the Beheading to begin…

Across the length and breadth of the galaxy, humankind celebrates its salvation, and relishes the prospect of a return to peace. But the war against the orks has riven the political bedrock of the Imperium, exposing its rotten core. One man, one powerful man, decides he has the solution, and launches a campaign of destruction so terrible that thousands of years later his actions will still be viewed with horror.

It has been a tumultuous year for the galaxy. Over the last 12 months, Black Library has been unleashing the The Beast Arises series unto the world, releasing a new installment every month. With The Beheading, this era of sequential short novels has come to an end. Let's have a look at how Guy Haley handled the finale.

The Story:

"The war is over and mankind is saved. But when war ends, politics takes over, and one man realises that the High Lords who nearly doomed the entire Imperium must be culled. It is time for the Beheading to begin…

Across the length and breadth of the galaxy, humankind celebrates its salvation, and relishes the prospect of a return to peace. But the war against the orks has riven the political bedrock of the Imperium, exposing its rotten core. One man, one powerful man, decides he has the solution, and launches a campaign of destruction so terrible that thousands of years later his actions will still be viewed with horror."

The Review:

All things must come to an end, and as far as endings to novel series go, The Beheading is a great, if flawed one. The big issue I take with it doesn't even have anything to do with what it says, but with what it doesn't say. Beyond that, everything that's in here felt exceptionally satisfying to me. Haley most certainly was the right person for the job of seeing this series to a close.

With the ork threat of the Beast done and dealt with in Shadow of Ullanor, this final installment had the chance to fully focus on the terran politics, culminating in the Beheading itself. Drakan Vangorich, Grand Master of the Assassinorum, finally makes his move. Characters die in droves. Everything the series' most interesting aspects have been building up to come to a climax.

For the first time in the series, the action and orks take a backseat to intrigue, intricate schemes and tragedies caused by good intentions. For the first time in TBA, I actually felt sympathy for the High Lords of Terra, and saw them as more than lying bags of incompetence, and instead as flawed people. In hindsight, I wish there had been more of this kind of attention paid to Juskina Tull, Abdulias Anwar, Helad Gibran and the rest throughout the series. Even just the short scenes they received here, when Vangorich's grand plan is set into motion, gave a lot of character to the High Lords that went beyond petty squabbling and self-service. Well, in most cases, at least.

Most importantly, the chapters dealing with the High Lords showed the degree of ruthlessness and preparedness that Drakan Vangorich has going for himself. While he only takes the life of one High Lord in person, orchestrating so much misery in such an efficient way shows him as fully deserving of his title as Grand Master of the assassins. An assassin should always know and utilize the right tool for a task if possible, and Vangorich does so magnificently.
The role of Beast Krule, Esad Wire, felt very neat to me as well. My complaint in regards to his opposition to Vangorich's plans comes down to how invested he appeared in the last couple of books; I can fully buy the seeds of doubt Haley put into his head here, and applaud them, but it came as a bit of a surprise this late in the game. But then, the results were a hugely compelling turnout for the novel that I wouldn't want to miss out on.

Maximus Thane, victorious Chapter Master of the Imperial Fists, has some very impressive scenes as well, as should be expected. However, the meat of the book occurs in his absence from Terra, reclaiming what the orks had taken from mankind. After setting Terra supposedly in order, he departs, leaving tasks for all the High Lords, and establishing Vangorich as his Lord Protector to reign in his stead. Thane gives the High Lords a big verbal thrashing aboard the Phalanx, which, at last, gets some explanations as to its whereabouts. Those notes I felt were a bit shoehorned, late justifications for a big editorial oversight, but needed either way. The way the Phalanx is described here, however, was exciting and intimidating.
Thane's decrees also include plans for Ullanor, the fate of which fans will definitely appreciate. In many ways, Thane's actions here steer the way for the future we all are aware of.
There are even more big revelations made in regards to the Inquisition, and even the Grey Knights, and the effects of it all ripple back to the Horus Heresy itself. Plenty of connective tissue here, some of which will boggle the reader's mind. I certainly didn't see it coming, but it explains a few complaints I had about earlier books away.

The Fists Exemplar / Iron Warriors plotline involving Zerberyn and Kalkator also finally gets a big payoff, and justifies further secrecy about the Imperial Fists' fate. While I am saddened at the fate of another great character who has seen little love since The Last Son of Dorn, the whole plotline gave birth to some magnificent tragedy and fall from grace. Lots of emotion here, satisfyingly presented. The dynamism presented here really puts the poor showing in the previous book when it came to this plotline into even stronger contrast.

But now to my big complaint for the book: Timeskips kinda suck.
It was inevitably going to happen here, with pre-established lore making it clear that certain events were going on for a while before being ended. However, the way it happened here felt jarring to me. That's not something Guy Haley could have changed much, however - not with a Great Crusade occuring amidst the 100 year gap. No, I blame the editorial team and series planning for it.
Up until the timeskip, everything felt like it flowed naturally, logically and satisfyingly. After the jump, things took a bit of a dive. After some readjusting the final chapters still panned out well, but were quite abrupt. Seeing that this novel is a tad longer than the average novel in the series, it seems obvious that the author managed to squeeze out as much space as he could, but the series's direction definitely backed him in a corner here, giving too much to wrap up in one volume and in the end squandering potential for a greater scope and a more definitive end.

There wasn't even room here for a short epilogue detailing the rebuilding of the High Lords after Chapter Master Agnathio of the Ultramarines and co travel to Terra to crush the prevailing anarchy on the Throneworld. There wasn't room to let the dust settle, or to show Vangorich's transition from hypocritical mastermind to dishevelled, self-serving yet somehow tragic dictator. There wasn't room for Wienand to formally establish the Ordos, nor for the rebuilding of the Imperium after the Beast's death to take place.
I cannot imagine just how much content, how many ideas and concepts, Guy Haley had to disperse of during the writing of the novel. Not because of any failings of his own, but because this book should have been two instead. He was given an impossible task to fulfill yet still excelled at showing what he did, and getting the whole thing across as a grand finale. It has got to have been a frustrating process getting there, though...

I loved the book. It was a great finale, if short in certain areas. It did more than I expected and hoped for as it stands. It took up all the pieces and lined them up in a compelling way, while adding many easter eggs for fans of the franchise. The highlight of the assassinations were exceptionally cool, especially for their believability. The Beheading was the end the series needed, and I am thankful that it is Guy Haley's name on the cover. His great attention to detail and subtlety benefitted this one greatly.

The Beheading on Goodreads

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Roboute Guilliman, the Battle King of Macragge, leads his Legion, the mighty Ultramarines, in conquest of the galaxy as part of his father's Great Crusade. Faced with an alien empire, all his dreams of a shining galaxy of peace threaten to fall into ruin...

Long before the coming of the Imperium, the realm of Ultramar was ruled by Roboute Guilliman, the last Battle King of Macragge. Even after learning of his true heritage as a primarch son of the Emperor of Mankind, he strove to expand his domain as efficiently and benevolently as possible, with the XIII Legion Ultramarines as his alone to command. Now, facing a rival empire on the ork-held world of Thoas, Guilliman must choose his weapons carefully – otherwise his dream of a brighter future could be lost forever.

I was genuinely excited when Black Library announced Horus Heresy: Primarchs, a new spin-off series set to showcase the eighteen fathers of the Legiones Astartes. Despite its popularity, the Horus Heresy series has moved on from the point where authors could address the Great Crusade or Primarch origin stories, or tackle defining events. Primarchs is set to fill those gaps, like the honor duel between Leman Russ and Lion El'Johnson in Leman Russ: The Great Wolf. Fans have long wanted more of the kind, and now they're getting it.

Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramar is the first book in this new series, and it ticks all my boxes.

The Story:

"Roboute Guilliman, the Battle King of Macragge, leads his Legion, the mighty Ultramarines, in conquest of the galaxy as part of his father's Great Crusade. Faced with an alien empire, all his dreams of a shining galaxy of peace threaten to fall into ruin...

Long before the coming of the Imperium, the realm of Ultramar was ruled by Roboute Guilliman, the last Battle King of Macragge. Even after learning of his true heritage as a primarch son of the Emperor of Mankind, he strove to expand his domain as efficiently and benevolently as possible, with the XIII Legion Ultramarines as his alone to command. Now, facing a rival empire on the ork-held world of Thoas, Guilliman must choose his weapons carefully – otherwise his dream of a brighter future could be lost forever."

The Review:

Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramar is pretty much what I expected and wanted out of the Primarchs series. It offers a closer look on Guilliman, pre-Heresy, giving him time with his Legion before the events of Calth and Imperium Secundus - something that was sorely lacking up to this point.

First off, the book is structured in a very neat way. Each of the nine chapters is presented with an interlude, taken from Roboute Guilliman's treatises and reflections on war, cultural upheaval and morale. These interludes put an interesting spin on their chapters, as Annandale attempts to explore these disparate themes in the ongoing storyline. In my eyes, he succeeded in making the Primarch's actions consistent and sensible, and fully in line with his belief system.

Obviously, Roboute Guilliman is the star here. Unlike his pencil-pusher presence in the Horus Heresy series, with few actual personal engagements to speak of, here he kicks serious ork backside. He is a god of war, shown the way you'd expect a Primarch to act, slaughtering xenos and being a symbol to his Legion. If you've been bored of bean-counter Guilliman during the Imperium Secundus arc, this is for you.

This doesn't mean that the book isn't full of introspection on Roboute's end, however. He reflects on history-changing events such as the humbling of Lorgar and the Word Bearers at Monarchia, and the need to show his Legion that they are not just destroyers, but also creators during the Great Crusade. That is a theme that goes through the whole book, putting the Ultramarines in a tough spot.

The plot comes down to a simple premise: The Ultramarines are busy eradicating an ork empire around Ultramar, and on the brink of utter victory they come across an infested world which shows signs of human civilization. While no humans are still alive, Guilliman wants to preserve the remaining architecture and raise the world up as an example of human indurance and reincorporate their findings into the Imperium and resettle the planet.
This means that Guilliman compromises his Legion's heavy weapon usage and has no desire to utilize the Destroyer companies of the Legion, serving with the Nemesis Chapter. Unhappy with the divide between the heavily terran Destroyers and the rest of the Legion, and unsettled by the resentment they have for their idleness during the Great Crusade, the Primarch attempts to shake things up by appointing a captain from a different Chapter as their new Chapter Master, in spite of tradition and the Destroyers' prefered candidate.
Loyalty is questioned and disobedience considered, throwing a wrench or two in the campaign, on top of the greenskins' dominance.

The Destroyer forces within the Legion were relative latecomers to the Horus Heresy series; it is safe to say that ForgeWorld's work on the tabletop system were the driving force behind their inclusion. So to me, this novel did a good job rationalizing their relative absence from at least the Ultramarines and by extension other Legions, and shows very well just how contradictory the devastating tactics of the forces are when the Legions are supposed to bring worlds into compliance. It is difficult to bring worlds into compliance after you nuke them and poison the ecosystem for decades if not centuries to come. Guilliman's distaste is fully justified, and also echoes forward to Gav Thorpe's Angels of Caliban, where Lion El'Johnson lets his own Dreadwing loose on potential traitors and terrorists on Macragge.

In my opinion, the biggest draw of the novel is Guilliman's characterization and his interactions with his Legion commanders. It is a great book to give you a feel of his style of leadership, and how his famed pragmatism is contrasted by his idealistic streak. He rationalizes various decisions throughout the campaign, despite some doubts remaining, and is willing to make concessions for idealistic goals. He is utterly competent, but not infallible.
Additionally, he also reflects on a few of his brothers and their ideologies, especially Fulgrim's search for perfect warfare, or Angron's brutality. There are some good nuggets here that are as of yet untouched by the Heresy, and I appreciate them. It also shows his distaste of what the XIIIth Legion had to do on Monarchia, and the wounds that left for the Legion; we had plenty of examples of how it affected the Word Bearers, including Annandale's own The Unburdened, but the Ultramarines had little on that front, as the treachery of the sons of Lorgar almost immediately overshadowed it.

Readers shouldn't go in expecting big revelations, however. The war itself isn't vital in itself, and the stakes seem relatively low early on; they do shoot up sky high about halfway through, however, resulting in some big, bombastic scenes and massive risks to the Ultramarines. But the real worth is in Annandale's characterizations of established and new characters alike, and showcasing the spirit of the Legion. It feels like an Ultramarines book at the core, with interesting implications and well-handled characters that iconify the Legion's philosophy and way of war. That is all I wanted, and I am happy that Roboute Guilliman delivered.

Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramar on Goodreads

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A spiritual sequel to The Man In The High Castle, focusing on the New Japanese Empire, from an acclaimed author and essayist.

The Axis won WWII and now, in the late 1980s, the Japanese Empire rules over the western US states, their power assured by technological superiority (giant mecha, etc.) But when a video game emerges that posits a worldwhere the allies won, a game censor and an Imperial Government agent discover truths about the empire that make them question their loyalty.

This book has been on my reading list for most of the year. For some reason it always slipped my mind, until I ordered a print copy. But when I started it just this week, I ended up devouring and loving it.

The Story:

"A spiritual sequel to The Man In The High Castle, focusing on the New Japanese Empire, from an acclaimed author and essayist.

The Axis won WWII and now, in the late 1980s, the Japanese Empire rules over the western US states, their power assured by technological superiority (giant mecha, etc.) But when a video game emerges that posits a worldwhere the allies won, a game censor and an Imperial Government agent discover truths about the empire that make them question their loyalty."

The Review:

Earlier this year I decided to read The Man in the High Castle. The idea of what might have been had Nazi Germany and the Axis won World War II back then is an interesting one to me. Not only because I am german myself and see what effects, positive and negative alike, the outcome and ensuring stigma had and has to this day, but also because it would have been a domino effect for a lot of things in the world to take different routes. The United States of America would likely not nearly be as dominant in the world as right now, various wars would not have happened, or in a very different way, and ideological directions might have been shifted away from self-devouring capitalism into authoritarian kinds of socialism instead.
A lot of things would have been worse off, while some others might have seen more rapid developments, especially on the technological front.

United States of Japan tackles those points excellently. It builds upon The Man in the High Castle, runs further down that road, and provides a shocking thriller in a world dominated by fear, oppression and violence. Set around 40 years after the conclusion of the second World War and victory by the Axis, propaganda is rampant, and any hint of doubt in the japanese emperor's divinity or the regime may see you lynched and executed. Mechas are patrolling the streets of the United States, now belonging mostly to Japan, and every form of media is heavily censored and may even include bait for potential dissidents to swallow and get tracked through. It is a horrible world where wrongthink is punished excessively, and a simple accusation, no matter how false, can see your head on a spike.

Many of the rapid technological advances, such as the far earlier widespread adoption of mobile phone technology through "Porticals" and the Internet via the "kikkai", and virtual reality gaming don't serve to increase liberty but get perverted into methods of persecution and brainwashing. Even today, in our otherwise more enlightened age, voices are still popping up here and there claiming that video games, for example, make Gamers violent or sexist, but in the USJ, gaming is actually used as a way to shape public opinion on a grand scale, and indoctrinate children, teenagers and even adults.
Non-asians are regarded as lower class citizens and heavily scrutinized. While on the surface, everyone who worships the emperor is considered equal, erasing a lot real of sexism and bigotry from the USJ, the truth is quite different, and a single suspected traitor in the family can doom everyone related.
The many ways in which United States of Japan describes and visualizes actual fascism go beyond the wildest imaginations of easily-offended people on social media - and its success here is utterly terrifying.

Enter Beniko Ishimura, son of a mixed couple from the old United States of America. He was born not long after his parents were freed from the concentration camps for asians the Americans raised during WW2, yet seemingly gave his family up as traitors during his childhood. He is regarded well enough by his peers, but has a reputation for laziness and is locked in his position as a Censor of video games. When he is contacted by an old superior through highly questionable means, his hope of finally getting promoted is dashed and he is paid visit by agent Akiko Tsukino of the secret police.
Turns out said superior, general Mutsuraga, is accused of being a traitor and his contact with Ishimura tainted the latter's reputation. Beniko's life becomes a lot more complicated from here on out, as he sides with agent Tsukino in trying to expose Mutsuraga, who seemingly allied with the american rebels, the "George Washingtons", and even created a propaganda video game for them, depicting an alternate version history could have taken, had the Axis lost the war - our reality. With unsettled business between him and Mutsuraga, Ishimura is prepared to go the whole way and set things right.

I loved Ishimura's character. He is outwardly lazy, yet highly competent and intelligent. There are a lot of surprises spread out through the book, and while he may seem sleazy at first, my opinion of him rose further and further as his past experiences and reflection unravel the half-truths and outright lies of the regime. What may have been a highly entertaining revenge story instead turned into a complex, layered, innovative venture for justice. It is a novel of buried grief and false pretenses, of fear and underhanded resistance. The further you get, the more of an understanding you get of the deeper scars of all the major characters and their entanglements.

Agent Tsukino, too, was compelling and maybe showed the most growth in the cast. She goes from being a stern, impulsively dangerous woman in service of her emperor to becoming more self-aware, more righteous than self-righteous and, overall, more honest with herself. Her change from utter hardliner to developing a more open mind due to all she has to go through, from political persecution, scapegoating and violent torture, was a major draw of this book.
And yes, there is torture, and excessive violence. If you cannot stomach that, you'd best not touch the book. Everybody here suffers on some level, some psychologically, others in very real, very tangible and very shocking ways. Tieryas didn't pull any punches, and the first major torture scene hit me like a brick. I almost couldn't believe that he'd go through with it on this level, thinking it was an act, something he could write himself out of.
He didn't. As disturbing as the results were, they were impressively handled and, for all their cruelty, made the setting and characters feel much more alive.

The way the George Washingtons fully adopted a perverted version of christianity was stunning as well. Their utter belief in their god, with additions to and vile interpretations of biblical texts were bordering on mania. Their hot-blooded religious zeal contrasted well with the cold-blooded belief of the secret services acting in their god-emperor's name. It also showed that neither side's extremism is a good answer, and that all things can be turned to evil if only the justifications are strong enough in the perpetrator's mind.

Everyone here is haunted by elements of their past, whether it be Ishimura, Tsukino, Mutsuraga or the George Washingtons. Nobody is clean here, and everybody is trying to do something they believe is right. For team Ishimura & Tsukino, it is a long, hard road of cooperation despite mutual misgivings about one another, and one that shapes the novel just as much as the ghosts of the past and buried war crimes. If there's anything to take away from the book, it is that fanaticism and extremism don't solve anything and only cause further destruction and grief.

Straight-up references to The Man in the High Castle are relatively sparse. I spotted a few easter eggs here and there, but mostly the familiarity is down to the setting. United States of Japan is a spiritual successor to Philip K. Dick's work, bringing up similar ideas and themes, yet also mixing it up and adding a lot of substance and action. As much as I enjoyed Dick's novel, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at its conclusion, and I can certainly see it being too slow for a lot of readers. With USJ, it is almost the polar opposite: The book's pace is incredibly quick, spanning only a few days as far as the present-day plotline is concerned. There is more than enough action to keep blockbuster fans engaged. Plenty of intrigue and specks of new information keep you thinking and connecting dots, before everything becomes utterly clear in the end and blows up big time.

If nothing else, you'll get a kick-ass dystopian action thriller with all bells and whistles. But there is much more to United States of Japan; enough to make it one of my favorite and quickest reads of what 2016 had to offer. Give it a whirl and be amazed at what Peter Tieryas constructed here. It won't be pretty, but is highly compelling!

United States of Japan on Goodreads

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The Lord of Ravens, Master of Deliverance, Primarch Corus Corvax of the Raven Guard takes centre stage in a collection of works by Gav Thorpe that explore his campaign of vengeance against Horus' allies and his desperate attempts to hold his Legion together.

After Isstvan, after Deliverance, the Raven Guard still endure. Their primarch Corvus Corax has rallied countless warriors to his banner, striking back at the forces of the Warmaster on every front – from the degenerate hereteks of the Mechanicum to the cruel legionaries of the Sons of Horus, none shall escape his wrath. But although Corax has managed to stall the physical corruption of his own Space Marines, what of their spirit? And what sinister end must await those who dwell forever in the darkness?

Well, we've reached #40 in the Horus Heresy series now. Despite the naysayers in comment sections across the net, the series is definitely on its final approach to Terra - and Corax takes us close to it. In fact, it even goes beyond the Siege of Terra and shows us a glimpse of the Scouring-era Raven Guard, and their Primarch. This anthology wraps up the Raven Guard story arc started with Raven's Flight and Deliverance Lost, which I recently re-read and reviewed in preparation of this one.

The Story:

"The Lord of Ravens, Master of Deliverance, Primarch Corus Corvax of the Raven Guard takes centre stage in a collection of works by Gav Thorpe that explore his campaign of vengeance against Horus' allies and his desperate attempts to hold his Legion together.

After Isstvan, after Deliverance, the Raven Guard still endure. Their primarch Corvus Corax has rallied countless warriors to his banner, striking back at the forces of the Warmaster on every front – from the degenerate hereteks of the Mechanicum to the cruel legionaries of the Sons of Horus, none shall escape his wrath. But although Corax has managed to stall the physical corruption of his own Space Marines, what of their spirit? And what sinister end must await those who dwell forever in the darkness?"

The Review:

Corax is an anthology of three novellas and three short stories. With the exception of Weregeld, the exclusive final part to the Raven Guard story arc, I have read them all before, with somewhat lukewarm feelings on most. Re-reading them all so soon after re-reading Deliverance Lost, all in conjunction and without months if not years of wait between the installments, made me appreciate the whole thing a lot more than I did piecemeal. Every bit adds another piece to Corax as a character and the Raven Guard's struggles after the Dropsite Massacre. While not a sweeping, continuous narrative, the somewhat episodic nature of the novellas and shorts allowed Gav Thorpe to explore various defining elements of the Legion and their Primarch and keep piling up drama, before making it crash down on Corax in the finale.

I was contemplating just how to approach this review. With it being an anthology, reviewing the individual parts might be appropriate, but then I also think that a kind of strict separation would do the book a disservice. While yes, all pieces have been released individually over the years, they still form a compelling hole and carry character arcs throughout, and the satisfaction I got from it was in large parts down to seeing things flow from one to the next, whereas individually I wasn't sure about the novellas. So I am going to be all over the place with this write-up, trying to do both.

The book opens up with a prelude cut out of Weregeld, the new novella. It takes the reader right into the action of the finale, showing us a gravely-wounded Leman Russ, his Wolves and the Raven Guard surrounded by Alpha Legion, World Eaters and Thousand Sons. Now you may ask how that comes to be (and so does Corax, at the end of this prelude), the Thousand Sons haven't officially joined Horus yet, after all, and Russ has barely left Terra at the end of The Path of Heaven. The answer is simple: Weregeld is placed later in the timeline than anything else before it, with Horus about to take the key system to attack the Sol System in force.
What exactly Russ was up to isn't elaborated on, but various hints were and are given which make me look forward to whatever Chris Wraight may be up to with him (since it is a safe bet he'll be in charge of the next, and potentially final piece of the Wolves' plotline before the Siege, given his track record).

After this damn exciting prelude, the book goes back to the start: Corax: Soulforge, here without the prefix. It is set maybe a year after the conclusion of Deliverance Lost, and Corax and his Legion are still raiding supply lines, ships and freeing planets that had fallen to the traitors. One such boarding action gets Corax, Branne and Agapito onto a Word Bearers ship, and shows the mad hunger for vengeance Agapito has been harboring since Isstvan V. Due to his actions, the whole thing almost goes bust, and he becomes a central figure to the plot afterwards. His need for vengeance is a focal point in Soulforge, and stands in for the Raven Guard's collective need to get back at the Traitor Legions.
While this Agapito character arc was fairly predictable in its outcome (him getting over it and getting his priorities straight again), it was nice to see the collective trauma of the Legion being addressed in a personal manner. It also reinforced the whole "attack, retreat, attack again" mantra of the Raven Guard - Agapito was all too willing to commit to a fight unto death, rather than using the guerrilla tactics the ravens and liberators of Lycaeus have been known for.

The novella itself leads Corax and Agapito to a Mechanicum world. A delegation of Word Bearers has seemingly come to turn the highest-ranking Mechanicum adept and instigated a row of despicable experiments attempting to merge daemon and machine. Yep, this is where we see the first Defilers making their way into the universe. I liked that it wasn't just the more recent Chaos machine breeds, but the iconic spider-legged monstrosities. They have been relatively overlooked in recent years, whereas they've always been something monstrous and cool in my eyes, and set the Chaos Space Marines of 40k apart from the loyalist Chapters' tanks.
Either way, Corax is hell-bent on stopping the Word Bearers and Archmagos Delvere, and allies with the loyal/undecided adepts to achieve victory. First contact is made through Corax running in on a secret discussion between the adepts, trying to figure out a course of action for their barge-city, and whether or not to recognize Delvere's leadership and the Dark Mechanicum as a whole. Corax joins in and convinces them that they can take back the planet, and subsequently assumes command of the barge-city of Atlas.

This part of the book mostly shows off just how much of a tactical genius Corax is, commanding disparate forces from multiple sources and maximizing the effect every piece in the game has on the outcome. He stokes a civilian uprising, distracts the opposing forces with his own legionaries under Agapito, and then swoops into the action himself for the deciding decapitation. While I can see complaints of Corax not being shown as kick-ass like other Primarchs who engage more in open combat, I felt that the rebel leader role of Corvus and his Legion's guerrilla spirit are well-presented here. Corax, despite his close combat gear, is more interesting to me as a tactician, overseeing the greater whole of a war rather than stumbling into the thick of it.

When he finally makes his move, it is to great effect, even though he does get a bit of a beating before the end. On top of that, he gets confronted with the nature of the Warp once more, and sees its corrupting influence first hand and at a larger scale than before. This causes new doubts and fears in the Primarch, returning the plot back to the mutated Raptors and his experiments in Deliverance Lost. While the Raptors themselves only featured in the first chapters of the novella, their increasing degredation is undeniable, and Corax draws obvious parallels with the Word Bearers since Isstvan.


After this novella follows the short story The Shadowmasters, featuring and, in fact, introducing the Mor Deythan, an elite part of the Raven Guard, based on legionaries that seemingly inherited Corax's ability to make themselves near undetectable. It is an infiltration-type story that supports Soulforge from the shadows. It isn't necessary to the overall plot but still a nice bit that connects the additions from ForgeWorld's Horus Heresy line to the ongoing Raven Guard plot. Originally this story was part of the Limited Edition of Soulforge, so I'm glad to see it in print for everyone now.


Next up is Ravenlord (which always bugged me for not having the Corax:-prefix of its predecessor), the second novella. Where Soulforge tackled the vengeance topic and the abhorrent experiments of the Dark Mechanicum and Word Bearers, this one deals with the Legion's paranoia post-Deliverance Lost, and has Corax issuing a call to arms to re-unite the scattered loyalist forces under his banner. It also makes dealing with the Raptor-problem unavoidable for Corax, as it throws the experiments Fabius has been working on in the meantime right in his face.
It also shows the measures of psychic screening that the Raven Guard adapted after Deliverance, with Balsar Kuthuri, who featured before, taking on the task of mind-reading and, surprisingly, encountering barriers around secrets in a Raven Guard force that seemingly managed to escape Isstvan V long after the Primarch.

Ravenlord kept me guessing. Like Deliverance Lost, it threw the possibility of a traitor among the ranks into the air, and tried to mislead the reader. It works to reflect the Primarch's own paranoia and distrust, even when reunited with one of his closest sons. Secrets and shame, arrogance and betrayal all factor in here. Corax, with his "I don't need a bodyguard" bravado from Raven's Flight, is walking on a knife's edge here, and even when support arrives his paranoia starts to make him run in circles, second guessing the intentions of his lieutenants.
In many ways this novella threw me back to the pre-Imperium time of Lycaeus, with Corax reminiscing about it and reconsidering his actions, decisions and the way he granted some of his early supporters absolution for unworthy deeds, in recognition of their services to him and the rebellion. To me that just showed that Corax is willing to compromise justice and integrity in a bid for a greater good, and that this may lead to further troubles down the road.

Where Soulforge had Corax firmly on the path of vengeance, Ravenlord sees his doubt about everything he has done, every fibre of his nature, grow and almost consume him. He is haunted by his past, both of his life on Lycaeus and the Raptors experiment. Some people claim that Corax is just "emo", but I think differently. If Fulgrim, Ferrus, Angron, and even Horus have their vices, doubts and grudges, then Corax is in good company with his own struggles. He is as broken as all the rest, yet still getting back up for a greater good.

The vile experiments of Fabius and the Sons of Horus were nicely done here, and exemplified just how much of a risk this line of research poses to the Imperium. The "New Men" or "Astartes Superior" are brutal, and brutally efficient, and catch Corax off-guard. His own experiments might have led him to similar results, had he chosen to continue them. To the reader it also makes clear just how much of a cost the Primarch's arrogance had; without him losing the gene-tech to the Alpha Legion, these things would have never succeeded in the first place. While he himself is seemingly unaware of his own role in the matter, it shows him how close he came to his own corruption and loss of integrity.
On the flipside, the Raptors under Branne are confronted with the failed experiments in a very grim and regretful way, making them doubt their own origins and use to the Legion as well. While at the start of Soulforge, Navar Hef was doing relatively fine, his condition has worsened significantly here. They start to see the lie in Corax's attempts to integrate them as fully respected Raven Guard.

Other elements I enjoyed with Ravenlord were the overall structure, with each chapter being timestamped in relation to the "Day of Vengeance", Corax's attempt to free the war prisoners of Carandiru. It gave the whole plot a sense of scale, and made the planning stages more believable. It also gave room for the assimilated loyalist forces to join up and receive some training by the Raven Guard. To my delight, both Captain Noriz of the Imperial Fists and Arcatus of the Custodian Guard are back, though not the focus. Surprisingly, Arcatus has come to agree with the Primarch's decision of taking the war back to Horus, and plays a key role in convincing the loyalists to stick around. Seeing Soukhounou interacting with a youth on Carandiru, talking about the value and bravery of rebellion against oppressors also made me happy; the commander certainly received a lot of attention here, and as a Terran-born Raven Guard, these scenes made him feel more part of the Legion than I expected.

The relationship between Corax and his former bodyguard Gherith Arendi is explored nicely as well, giving us a lens through which to see the Primarch's mental struggles, arrogance and paranoia. I am not entirely certain, but this might also present the first occassion on which a Primarch has been called out for being an idiot in no uncertain terms. Arendi even highlights Corax's own hypocrisy, teaching his Legion to think and act independently, while forcing his own opinions and mistakes on them and rejecting their advice when he is clearly in the wrong. Had Arendi been around during Deliverance Lost, things might have turned out far better for the Legion - after all, every Primarch needs a naysayer, unafraid to object to their lord when needed.

My initial reading of this novella, on its own back in spring, left me a bit underwhelmed. But in context of everything else and with more awareness as to Corax's development from story to story, I felt it was rewarding and I kept wondering why exactly I didn't enjoy it that much back then. Corax takes a more active role in the fighting, gets whooped for his arrogant behavior and more problems and doubts are piling up, almost to breaking point. It is a good story that drives the tragedy of the ravens further home.


Before the final novella Weregeld, we have two more short stories to go through. The first is called The Value of Fear and presents a decent excursion following a Raven Guard supposedly "training" one of the loyalists Corax attracted in Ravenlord. It wasn't a world-changing story, but neatly played on the parallels between Night Lords and Raven Guard - something Corax has been contemplating since Isstvan V, where he faced the Night Haunter and fled. It is presented through an argument between both characters, on how to best flush out the traitors they're chasing. Their philosophies clash slightly, but the mesh of both turns out quite beneficial.

The second story is Raptor, originally released as an audio drama. It stars Navar Hef and his contingent of "Rough" and "Smooth" Raptors, investigating a Space Wolves ship in distress. The Wolves turn out to have made planetfall and are being bothered by the Sons of Horus, and prepared for a glorious last stand and suicide-bombing of their stronghold.
Here we get to see the Raptors' own abilities as Raven Guard in action, but also their problems with their suits, Hef's mounting speech problems and the fear they hold for being discarded or causing Corax ill by their mere existence.
Raptor is regretfully grim, showing Navar Hef making bad decisions out of good intentions, and causing a big problem for the future. It's a sad story about self-loathing and fear, and intolerance, and the hypocrisy of the Wolves regarding their own Wulfen.

With Hef being moved into place through this story, we can talk about Weregeld at last, the only new (but significant) story in this collection.

Weregeld is set many years into the Heresy, close to the Warmaster's strike on Terra, and starts out with the Raptors boarding a Night Lords ship, showing them as truly devolved. They are distorted creatures, and often losing themselves to their own bestiality. This is something that becomes more and more apparent through Hef, who is a truly tragic figure here in my opinion. Before long, he reveals his shameful acts to Corax, and as a result drags his entire brotherhood further into doubt and leads them to sacrifice. Hef, more and more, feels like an outsider, an inferior legionary, and in a way despises Corax's comforting lies. He longs for release, more than anything.

This tragedy and need for an end is prevalent with Corax as well, who descends further into nihilism as things come tumbling down. He seeks to continue his war of vengeance against Horus, yet is unwilling to commit his Legion to any large engagements. Cornered by a Night Lords fleet, he scatters his gathered forces instead of facing the threat, losing a commander's host in the process, and abandoning much-needed supplies. His commanders are appalled at Corax's indecision and avoidance of conflict, especially as he keeps turning down invitations from loyalist Iron Hands to join battle at Beta-Garmon, a vital system for Horus to take as it offers passage to the Sol System.

The Primarch's previous bravado is gone. He doesn't believe that Horus has been bled enough to stop him from reaching Terra. Everything is poised for the Warmaster's final assault, and Corax wants to stay behind the lines, pick off supply lines and the likes, rather than throwing his Legion away for lost causes like Beta-Garmon. He does, however, attempt to summon reinforcements, which reach him from as far as Deliverance.
A thousand new Raven Guard stand ready, as do Marcus Valerius and the Therion Cohort. We haven't seen Valerius since The Divine Word, set after Deliverance Lost. In said story, he found his way to the Lectitio Divinitatus, attributing his prophetic dreams to the Emperor. This is an important plot point here, though I feel more could have done with it. Valerius doesn't get as much attention as he would have deserved, and his involvement in the story basically adds the final nail in the Legion's coffin. At least Valerius's fate is going to be addressed in a short story later this year, as confirmed by Gav.

On top of it all, a delegation of Space Wolves arrive to meet with the Primarch, and ask about the Watch-Pack sent by Malcador and Russ to guard/observe Corax. This, of course, has never reached the Primarch, thanks to Navar Hef and co, and the latter feels obligated to confess his sins to his lord. While Corax plays it cool in front of the Wolves, he is clearly shaken by this new knowledge, confines the Raptors to their cells and decides to throw everything away, sending the non-Raven Guard loyalist elements home to Terra and travels to a system close to Beta-Garmon in a gamble to save his brother Russ from death at the hands of multiple Legions.

Weregeld really brings the whole Raven Guard arc to a close. It shows the end game of the Heresy, the loss of hope and morale, the spiralling fears and the result of all mistakes coming crashing down. It is Corax's darkest hour, his time of relinquishing all control and will to live. He wishes for a "good death", Wolves-style, and to purge his sins. He has come to very troubling conclusions about the Primarchs and his own connection to the Warp, and it takes some very touching, important scenes harking back to what we have seen in Deliverance Lost, to decide the Legion's fate.

In many ways, this novella is a crossroads for other plotlines too. Balsar Kuthuri's departure for Terra will likely see him join the Knights Errant, while the return of Noriz and Arcatus as well as the other "Long Shadows" will add some welcome diversity to the Siege of Terra when it arrives. Russ and co are obviously missing a piece to bridge their departure from Sol to where they are here, and The Crimson King might catch up the Thousand Sons for this one.
One odd thing stood out to me, though: The commanding officer of the World Eaters is named Delerax, who, as far as I remember, was executed by the Alpha Legion in the short story The Face of Treachery, which is set parallel to the opening chapters of Deliverance Lost. I wasn't too keen on his inclusion here, since it didn't really add anything and it was just a simple name-drop without facetime. [Edit: Gav just let me know via Twitter that it is a nod towards the Alpha Legion's presence, which makes sense. Guess poor Delerax was simply replaced ;)]

The worst thing I can say about Weregeld is that the ending was a bit abrupt, albeit reminiscent of Raven's Flight's escape from Isstvan V, which was also featured shortly in DL. The abruptness fit the story, however, and the prologue/epilogue combination wraps up a big plotline entirely while implying a lot for the rest of the Heresy.
Besides that, I was thoroughly engaged and satisfied with the novella. Corax finally loses control, Ephrenia gets a key role, the Raptors realize their inevitable fate, and all the secrets and lies from the story arc are revealed at last, resulting in massive character drama. There are more bits of information about the pre-Legion days, and the Wolves are shown as defiant even in doom. Heck, Gav even included the Spear of Russ and its meaning to the Wolf King!

One thing I am uncertain about though is the way an infested Night Lords ship is described, however. I took it as daemonic infestation, which makes sense in the scenes it appears (which is to say, it is wrapped up quickly), but Gav certainly dropped some hints and links to the Tyranids' coming. It doesn't feel like a Tyranid threat in any tangible way, though, so I consider these links more of easter eggs than anything else, until proven otherwise. [Edit: Confirmed as Not Tyranids by Gav. Put the pitchforks away!]

If The Path of Heaven showed the White Scars' weariness and grief, then Weregeld does the same for the Raven Guard. The way they express it is different, but very down to character of their Primarchs. It is the culmination of everything that has gone before, forming a logical conclusion to the story arc. Overwhelmed by his own failings and connection to the warp, Corax becomes a tragic figure full of misconceptions and pain, looking for a way out.
To me, Weregeld also presents yet another telling difference between Konrad Curze and Corvus Corax: Whereas the Night Haunter longs for his actions to be vindicated, for himself to be proven right by history and his enemies, Corax seeks to hide the results of his arrogance, and when everything goes belly-up, he seeks absolution. He realizes his failings and wants to atone, or at least escape them, whereas Curze owns them while also shedding responsibility by claiming that the Primarchs are puppets of the gods.

I have been talking a damn lot about Corax, the Primarch, haven't I? The reason for that is that in my eyes, Corax, like Deliverance Lost, appears as more of a character study spanning the whole Heresy. Where a lot of novels in the series make certain events, certain battles the narrative focus, with these stories I always felt that the Legion and their Primarchs themselves were the important point being explored, and the battles and warzones vehicles for further exploration. That is an approach that I wish other authors had taken with previous novels, rather than focusing overly much on the action. In Corax, the focus is clear and well-developed, and even if you've read the previous novellas individually, I would strongly suggest reading all three plus short stories in sequence with this book.

With the Raven Guard story of the Heresy firmly under wraps, I cannot wait to find out what Gav's next contribution to the Heresy series might be. After Angels of Caliban, I am honestly hoping for more Dark Angels...

Corax on Goodreads

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