Over the last week I have been reading the “Dark Imperium” novel by Guy Haley. Warhammer 40k novels are generally pretty mixed – and this one is no exception. The storyline follows Roboute’s return to Ultramar to confront the Mortarian-led Nurgle incursion.
By far the most interesting character in the book is Robby G himself. I went in very negative on the guy but found the depiction of him led me warming to him as a character. This is pretty much because he pretty much confirms the whole basis of the Heresy, that the Imperium is a lie and claims to the Rotting Corpse’s divinity are false.
I particularly liked the passages where Guilimane said the whole construct of Father and Sons was a myth. The Emperor saw the Primarch as no more than tools (in the most literal sense) and allowed them to call him “Father” only so he could employ them more easily.
The biggest downer for me was Mortarian. We are used to Nurgle Daemons being portrayed as cartoon characters with little depth. However I felt that Haley’s characterisation of the Death Guard Primarch was very uneven. Just when it felt we were going to get a deeper insight, the story waded back into the shallows.
Overall, I enjoyed it but really only for Roboute. And I never thought I would say that!
"This is pretty much because he pretty much confirms the whole basis of the Heresy, that the Imperium is a lie and claims to the Rotting Corpse’s divinity are false."
ReplyDeleteExcept that the visions of the future that Erebus showed Horus to push him toward the Heresy were visions of the future that actually resulted from the Heresy. No one really knows how things might have turned out if the Emprah had been able to stick around longer outside the golden throne, and perhaps even more so, how they would have turned out if Magnus hadn't blown up his webway project.