Very much a standalone tale - Rated 
This is the weakest of the books so far in the series, by no means bad, just weaker than its predecessors.
Descent of Angels suffers from a seemingly rushed ending just as one or two other Heresy novels have. It's also a bit of mystery as to why the slegde hammer ending plays out as it does, as a great deal is seemingly left unsaid, though the hints are there in the run up of course.
It was certainly a change in pace and style from Fulgrim.
A disposable and unexciting addition to the series. For completists only - Rated 
After the intoxicating, decadent 'Fulgrim' comes 'Descent of Angels'. The story focuses on The Dark Angels, starting with a history of their home planet, Caliban, and a story that explores their culture before they are met by The Imperium.
One a positive note, the basic premise means 'Descent' avoids being another story about torn loyalties and a slide into corruption. So it's a real shame that it also seems irrelevant to the ongoing Heresy story, and marred by unlikable characters and storytelling that feels crushingly dull and slow at the start, and frustratingly rushed towards the end.
The greatest problem is that almost all of the action takes place on Caliban before The Imperium shows up. There's a whole universe developing, and the reader is required to read about a backwater planet, and worse, it's not a very interesting planet. An attempt to meld a cliched medieval culture with high technology doesn't seem to mesh, since the 'olde worlde' seems very tired and unimaginative. Although the planet-wide quest to rid the forests of beast has a parellel with The Imperium's Crusade, events move a stultifying pace, punctuated with infrequent action scenes that don't match those in previous books for excitement or drama.
Another flaw is that the book doesn't follow a major character, though the Primarch who is in the story, the rubbishly named 'Lion El'Johnson', is such a humourless, glory-seeking dullard it's hard to imagine how tedious such a tale would be. I found myself wishing the story followed the history of an exciting chapter like the hard-drinking, party loving Space Wolves, not a bunch of pious, boring olde worlde knight wannabes.
For 14 or so chapters, the dull tale of Lion El'Johnson's quest drags on, before The Imperium arrive and indoctrinate the planet, making everything that came before that point in the story utterly irrelevant. Although there are the seeds of interesting ideas in this section, as some people desperately wish to resist the process of assimilation, these are swiftly swept aside, without closure, as the book enters it's final few chapters.
The setting for a full story is established here, and the book threatens to get interesting as The Dark Angels are assigned to oversee the compliance of a planet of passive-aggressive beureacrats. It's better than it sounds, but the promising tension, mystery and drama are again washed away by what feels like an urgent need to wrap the book up as quickly as possible, meaning that a potentially good ending is ruined by the fact it's rushed through far too quickly. When you consider a lot of the tedious opening scenes crawl along for far longer than is necessary, this flaw in the pacing is unforgivable.
The potentially interesting exploration of Psychers and the mistrust they evoke among the other battle-brothers is never fully explored, and the final pages really left me thinking that Lion El'Johnson is one of the most ungrateful, foolish and unsympathetic characters of the series. And that includes Horus, Fulgrim et al.
A poor addition to the series, there's nothing to recommend about 'Descent'.
Waste of time - Rated
Im sure Mitch Scanlon is a skilled writer and the delivery of this book is perfectly acceptable. The issue is simply that it isnt a Horus Heresy book, it doesnt deal with the Astartes Legion in questions role within the saga, it doesnt spend any real time with Dark Angel's upper echelon but instead details in great depth the pre-Imperial existance on the dark angel world and this is not what anyone who has been following the series wants at this point, it comes totally away from what could be considered an ongoing narrative to place an utterly unrelated pointless and rather boring 'coming of age within a military order' type story that we have all read a hundred times. Massively disappointing to people who are following an ongoing story.
Horus Heresy, Book Six - Rated
Set on the planet of Caliban. No one knew where Lion El'Jonson came from. He was found, naked and alone, in the most deadly region. Within a year he had not only learned the people's language, but had become super intelligent. Caliban was a world in which humanity resided far from the top of the food chain. The Lion had risen quickly in the ranks of the Order. It was the Lion that swayed the masses into killing all the mighty beasts of Caliban. Section-by-section those beasts were to be forced into extinction. It would take over ten years to complete.
Zahariel and Nemiel were cousins. They were admitted into the Order, long before the age of ten, while still children. The two cousins had healthy competitions between each other that helped them strive to better themselves. Yet as they grew up they could not help but begin to feel a bit of strife when the other won. Zahariel was an idealist and caught the eyes of those in the higher ranks more often than Nemiel did. Once all the great beasts were taken care of, as well as a brief war between orders, Caliban would change forever. All knew this; however, none even dreamed that the biggest change would come from the stars in the form of the Imperium.
*** This story begins as if a grandparent were telling a story to his grandchild. The prelude is several pages long and the narration seems to wonder a bit too often. Three quarters of the book is on Caliban, before the Astartes even show up. The focus is mainly on the boy named Zahariel. I witnessed much of this story from his point-of-view. I saw his events from as young as age seven. The character of Primarch Lion El'Jonson is seen through Zahariel as well, so I found myself subjected to the boy's overwhelming awe too often and it eventually became irritating to me.
The Imperium enters late in the story. Soon gaps of time began to pop up. It made the Dark Angels (Lion's Legion) section feel rushed and the ending felt anticlimactic to me. All-in-all, this story is a good read, but nothing special. ***
Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
A struggle to get through - Rated 
Descent of Angels: Pt. 6: Loyalty and Honour (Horus Heresy)
Am a big fan of the series and like many others on here found this to be the worst read of the bunch (up to and including Mechanicum). The series started so well but it took me ages to finish this one and at times it really did feel like a chore to do so!
|
