Andy SmillieBesprekingen
Auteur van Flesh of Cretacia
Besprekingen
It is a story of Space Wolves laying ambush to Shattered Hands of Dark Eldar race when the latter start their invasion of Imperial hive city. Fighting is brutal but finally Wolves of Fenris manage to gain the upper hand ... or do they?
Ending is somewhat ... well lets say Lovecraftian.....
Interesting but may leave you scratching your head and going "huh?".
Even with looking some stuff up, I'm a bit hazy because I don't want to spoiler myself too much for the books I haven't gotten to but what do I think the story was? (Come on mate).
In the Imperium Secundus, the back up Imperium that was an extension of Ultramar, the Ultramarines' own small empire, governed by the triumvirate of Guilliman, Sanguinius, and the Lion with the Great Angel as Emperor, when the three Primarchs feared Terra had fallen.
Tensions and paranoia are out of control in this new Imperium, leaving the Sanguinary Guard, the new Emperor's winged custodians, refuse to allow their genesire to meet petitioners for fear of assassination. As an alternative, these vampirc cherubs come up with the most extreme and horrifying cosplay ever (though the details aren't made clearer in the audio drama), creating the Sanguinator, a proxy proxy Emperor, if you will.
So, the above is all context, and the extremely short story itself is the vague suggestion of not having the real Uinius receive audience, slices of Azkaellon vaguely taking care of the Sanguinator admin, and the Lion saying, he's not my brother, he's a very naughty boy, or something. I don't know.
The Blood Angels were never a 40K Chapter/ 30K Legion that grabbed me (before Smillie's previous audio dramas), not least because of Swallow's Rafen books (though he is redeemed in my eyes after binging Garro stuff, recently), so I was unaware of Sanguinator being a thing in 40K lore akin to Cypher for the Dark Angels and the Mysterious Stranger in Fallout, which might have made me more excited/ have a clue what's going on. With this in mind and it being on me that my read throughs have never made it as far as Unremembered Empire (this next time I'm doing the lot baybee and ensuring I don't only read this series back to back for my own sanity). Having said that, this was a Black Library Advent Calendar release and it's confusing as hell and is almost inconspicuous with what it doesn't reference.
The prose and performances are all good, but it is confusing and actually lacking in anything really happening, but everything being presented as incredibly epic and meaningful so it comes off boring and almost like they were scrambling for an advent offer.
I'll make an effort to reassess, once I've read Unremembered Empire, if I remember when that eventually is, but for now I can't really recommend this to anyone other than completionists as everything in here simply has to be contained somewhere else with more context and keeps in and makes more explicit the really fucked up aspects of the Sanguinator.
Following directly on from the end of the previous audio drama, with Azkaellon and Amit locked in ritual combat over their Primarch, Sanguinius sees the tragedies that lay in wait for the three of them. There is a glimpse of the aftermath of that fateful moment on the bridge of Vengeful Spirit and a vision of suffocating blood and powdered bone in a warped realm.
This is a very short audio drama, but the quality of the writing and performances, as well as the weight and sheer Horus Heresy-ness packed into it is phenomenal.
Is this narratively essential listening? No.
Is anyone going to turn down a look at that black, furious moment? Nope.
I absolutely recommend this and its companion piece.
Bookended by the musing of the Great Angel this is two stories that comes together exploring the duality of the IX Legion. These two aspects are demonstrated by two epic duels of cousins. Fighting for the title of the Imperium's Most Talneted Twink, in the red corner, Azkaellon of the Blood Angels, and in the purple corner, Lucius of the Emperor's Children. This is as much a battle of barbs, cool, and charisma that ends hilariously. The contenders for the Imperium's Most Brutal Bear are, in the red and black corner, Amit the Fleshtearer, and in the white, blue, and red all over corner Khârn the (eventual) Betrayer. This is an absolutely savage bout that made me think of Cassius Clay more than I expected it to.
This only got better and better, after I initially started rolling my eyes at another set of duels that didn't mean so much, but we they went on they meant more, the writing and performances were great, the duels did something new and interesting, and the way Smillie pulls the whole thing together is impressive.
This isn't the best audio drama out there and it's absolutely not essential, unless you are dedicated Team Edward or need to witness every moment with Khârn, and to a less extent that enternal prick, but it's a great story with an actual thesis, which is cool.
It says more about my memory and the amount I've been reading and listening to that I know I did listen and review this just over a month ago when I was just randomly listening through the Horus Heresy Audio Collections, before I actually felt inspired to complete the series.
It also says a lot about the quality of this audio drama and the the impact of the Razing of Monarchia and the Battle of Calth as events, and the Word Bearers and Ultramarines stories, including The First Heretic, Know No Fear, and Mark of Calth, especially, Calth That Was that listening to this within this context I stand by the rating and review I gave it when I was still marking the Horus Heresy on a curve. Admittedly, I'm also ridiculously invested and fangirling out now, so there is potential bias. Nevertheless, as an audio drama it is worthy of the score. Perhaps if I were purely reviewing the story itself I might go a touch lower, but it is a good one with impactful lines and events, as well as some really nicely, and surprisingly brutal and graphic battle scenes.
This is one of those stories that adds some depth and flavour, absolutely not being necessary for those just wanting the essentials, but one unique thing it does have going for it is a Ultramarine below the high command of the Primarch and Chapter Masters giving their opinion and rationale for the Emperor and the Ultramarines actions at Monarchia:
"You should take it as a compliment the Emperor has gone to this much trouble to set your Legion back on the right path. A Lesser leader would not have shown such restraint"
Which is going to be a big yikes and continuing to absolutely hate the Ultramarines as a whole, while enjoying some of their stories and absolutely appreciating and even being a fan of individuals within the Legion/ Chapter. But as a whole the Lord of Ultramar and his Sons are, frankly, vile, good times fascists.
"A compliment? Restraint? When you scar a man Ultramarine, when you leave him with a such a remembrance of his misdeed, you leave him to think on two things. His transgression and your transgression against him."
I enjoy the above quite as a reflection of oft the repeated aphorism about the Ultramarines, "If you must fight an Ultramarine, pray you kill him. If he is still alive, then you are dead."
I'll never understand how the Ultramarines manged to justify their actions to themselves, beyond 'just following orders', and how they didn't think it would cause a resentment that would fester until it came to a head.
Good audio drama is good the below review also stands.
***
A great audio drama of the vaunted restrained and tightly directed variety that shows the Emperor's attempts to be the worst dad in the galaxy bear more fruit.
This is a classic example of the standard Horus Heresy device of a dual narrative of the present and a moment from the past that significantly impacts the current situation. In this story, we have the Ultramarines backing up the Word Bearers against a colossal Ork Waaaaaghband and their huge Boss in the present and the eponymous hubris at Monarchia, which saw the Ultramarines brutally shame the Word Bearers, at the behest of their Emperor, for actions deemed heretical, long before that word was being thrown around.
This is a quick, easy listen that is well written and performed, largely focusing on the Ultramarines taking on Orks with some decent action and, as much as I enjoy the very silly Cockney Orks, a much more apropos monstrous and scary portrayal of Orks for the Horus Heresy. The story of Monarchia and its reverberations down the years is a fascinating one I don't wish to spoil, as I don't wish to speak about the specifics of the end, beyond how effective this story is at building up to the crescendo and how it relates to other things happening during the Great Crusade at this time.
I first read this as a short story in one of the anthologies in the main Horus Heresy novel series, I believe quite some time before Know No Fear, Mark of Calth, etc. really ramped up the Ultramar Kerfuffle, so I remember this really hitting different. It might have even been in the same collection as After Desh'ea by Matthew Farrer, my favourite Warhammer short story by a long way, acting as a one two punch of why the Emperor is his own and his children's worst enemy.
I have read and reviewed so many Warhammer stories now that I have locked myself into a bit of a grading on a curve situation that I don't really apply to other things, and I know I am influenced by the great production and fundamental and extremely significant lore moments in this story, so your mileage may vary.
Flesh Tearers are a particular interesting chapter of space marines. Most Space Marines are unique in some way but they are still "normal". Most of the time we learn that Space Marines are almost inhuman but almost every story written by space marines we get the exact opposite. They are humans, with feelings (even if hardened by all they have to pass) and moral situations that, well make them human.
With the Flesh Tearers we get something more interesting than that. This tale begins right after the end of Horus Heresy and the separation of the Blood Angels and creation of new chapters. In here we follow Amit, a previous captain of the IX company of Blood Angels that was granted the honour of founding a new chapter. This chapter has a anusual amount of marines succumbing to the Black Rage which makes them the more interesting.
This tale begins as they engage the orks in a primeval world. But even before the deploynment begins things start to wrong but Amit, the chapter master, says that they must kill every Ork and overcome that obstacle. With his forces depleting after the crusdade they were dealing they had no homeworld to draw new recruits. Instead they recruited from worlds they save from the clutches of Imperial enemies.
In this tale we follow a couple of characters as they deal with their own moralities and problems. We follow Amit, the chapter master, Zophal the Chaplain of the Black Company, Barakiel, Scout Cassiel, Mamied, Manakel and other space Marines but also Tamir one of the leaders of Cretacia many tribes or even the Shipmaster Neta.
Very interesting book where you can learn a bit about this space marines. I should read Fear to Tread because for what I read, Amit's shame is told there.
"Even we have our limits, brother. Through as with all truths, there are those who would cry this false. The ignorant of humanity believe us to be gods, worshipping us as divine beigns of impossible power, who bring hope and terror in equal measure. but there is no mercy in our hearts, brother. Salvation does not run in our veins.
But the Rage, the Rage knows no limit. Some think we clad the damned in black to mourn their passing. But that is to misunderstand our purpose. We are angels of fury and violence. We are wrath and we are death, and nothing more. In the last moments of life we embrace the darkness, for there is no light after death, no forgiveness, only the blackness of rage and the absolution of death.
For only in death does duty end."
Excellent short story - I especially like the twist at the end.
I won't give away any spoilers - will just say Dark Angels legion is the best.
Highly recommended.
Excellent short story - I especially like the twist at the end.
I won't give away any spoilers - will just say Dark Angels legion is the best.
Highly recommended.
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I won't give away any spoilers - will just say Dark Angels legion is the best.
Highly recommended.