The Talon of Horus (Volume 1) (The Black Legion)

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A sombre and deadly warrior, both indefatigable and remorseless in the fray, Sigismund was to onlookers less a mortal warrior but rather some unstoppable agency of the dark fates. This led none other than the Blood Angels' Primarch Sanguinius to remark of him he seemed, "...less my brother Dorn's champion, and more Death's himself..." Sigismund's skill was legendary, even among the transhuman warriors of the Space Marine Legions and none could match his instinctive talent for dealing death and finding the merest chink in his enemy's guard to exploit their undoing. As a result, Sigismund requested that he be allowed to remain by his Primarch's side. Thus, the command of the Retribution Fleet passed to the veteran Captain Yonnad. Though the Primarch didn't understand why Sigismund would make such a request, nevertheless, he had trusted his son and acceded to his plea without question. The Talon of Horus is now an icon of evil incarnate to the Imperium, causing terror in Imperial forces, except for the Astartes of the Blood Angels Chapter who are affected with an implacable hatred for the weapon that slew their gene-sire. Over the last ten millennia, Abaddon has tested the strength of the Imperium many times in the Long War, and with each victory his power grows. No Body Left Behind: Khayon kills Eyarik Born-of-Fire, a Space Wolves champion, during the Battle of Prospero by dismantling his body at the genetic level.

Character Development: It has been explained by BL authors that the named characters often are portrayed different, Depending on the Writer being in full effect. Abaddon however clearly is different from the Horus Heresy series, this due to his voyages through the Warp since Horus defeat. It is a bulky and somewhat crude, but very effective weapon prototype that gained widespread use at the time of the Horus Heresy. Two belts of ammunition are fed into the gauntlet from the right side and the howling faces of Daemons cover the casing ejectors. It is assumed that the Talon, used in conjunction with the Daemon Sword Drach'nyen, provides Abaddon with his ranged combat abilities and confers at least the same benefits as a standard Lightning Claw in melee. Affably Evil: Khayon is polite and civil to most people, including his captors and people he doesn't even especially like. In the case of the Inquisition, he is actually completely sanguine about being EXACTLY where he is and why.. Though the storyteller is phenomenal, yes, the book itself is fantastic too. Slowly, GW is filling in the gaps left in the fluff. It feels like Lord of the Rings, an epic quest to reach a goal with a rag tag group of heroes (villains) and you get a front seat to the action. Amazing storytelling coupled with just darn good writing. I mean, you really feel like you're a part of the quest to find the flagship "Vengeful Spirit" and it's evil captain. The characters are all likable (Telemacon and Gaia in particular being my favorites) and their motives all make sense. There's breaks in the fighting, sure, but each chapter is as interesting as the last, weather words are exchanged or bolter fire.

At the conclusion of the Horus Heresy during the Siege of Terra, Sigismund was chosen to serve as the first Emperor's Champion. Personally singled out by Rogal Dorn himself, Sigismund was bestowed with the high honour of serving as the personal champion of the Emperor. Though humbled by the honour, he was disturbed by only one thing -- it seemed wrong to him to obscure the sacred colours of his Legion. Foil: Thagus Darevek to Abbadon himself. Both have very similar aims and goals but wildly different outlooks on how to do it and why. Thagus welcomes the gifts of the Chaos Gods and is happy to go along with their schemes whilst gaining control of the remaining legions for the sake of power itself. Abbadon actively resists their temptations, and only uses their blessing out of necessity as part of his goal to unite the remaining legions under one banner to take revenge on the Imperium.

The prose was excellent, it was very well written. My biggest problem is that just... not much happens. Some apocryphal sources claim it is actually an antediluvian relic that was found deep on the planet Clthon, and was a product of Humanity's lost Age of Technology. Whatever the truth, the Talon played a dark role in the Imperium's history. During the Siege of Terra aboard his flagship Vengeful Spirit, Horus used his taloned claw to kill his own brother Sanguinius, the winged primarch of the Blood Angels Legion, and to mortally wound the Emperor Himself. Works about chaos Space Marines were never my forte. They would almost always be presented as total maniac wizards or blood soaked butchers.

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Hellhole Prison: The Eye of Terror, naturally, albeit a more literal example than most. Discussed at length by Khayon, who even calls it a "convenient hell to throw your enemies into" for the Imperial perspective.

Similarly, Khayon offhandedly mentions that after Legion Wars, there's little that may surprise a Chaos Astartes. Wow. Just wow. Jonathan if you're reading this, brilliant job mate. You did more than read this fantastic work of fiction, you read between the lines to deliver an incredible experience. I'm pretty new to audio books, most i've heard of them are dull retellings with little inflection. You've earned a lifelong fan. Gyre, a daemon, and Nefertari, a Dark Eldar Scourge. One would think that they'd hate each other, but Gyre has been forbidden to slay Nefertari (and doesn't show any particular inclination to want to anyway), and as a daemon, Gyre offers no sustenance for Nefertari. A friendship formed around not being able to kill each other could only happen in 40k. Sigismund led a squad of Templar Brethren that accompanied his Primarch in a boarding action to rescue survivors of the crippled Eisenstein, under the command of Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro, formerly of the Death Guard, who had brought word of Warmaster Horus' perfidy to Rogal Dorn following his treacherous actions during the Istvaan III Atrocity. Following these startling revelations, Dorn went into temporary isolation to take some time to absorb the gravity of such dire portents.In the opening days of the Horus Heresy when the Schism of Mars erupted, open warfare raged across the Red Planet between the forces of the Loyalist Mechanicus and the traitors of the Dark Mechanicus. Malcador the Sigillite, the Regent of Terra, charged the Primarch Rogal Dorn with a mission of vital importance -- to secure the forges of Mars. Dorn informed the Sigillite he would send First Captain Sigismund and four companies of Imperial Fists to carry out the task. The forges of Mondus Occulum and Mondus Gamma produced the bulk of the armour and weapons of the Astartes. He would have them strike there first and when they were in Loyalist hands, the Imperial Fists would push outwards and secure the others. Khayon: Some deaths resonate. They are more charged with emotion than others, and force a ruthless communion between slayer and slain. Few deaths resonate as much as cutting a man’s throat. There is no feeling, and no sound, quite like it. The wet gargles that try so hard to become gasps. The way the throat still aches to work, lungs quivering and straining for breath that cannot come. The ruthless, hateful intimacy of him dying in your arms. The desperate panic in his eyes, as his quivering limbs begin to collapse beneath him. The pleading within that panic, as the brain’s final functions scream that no, no, this cannot be, this is not fair, this cannot be happening. The limp, pathetic fury as he realises it is, and he is helpless to change it. It is done. He is dead. All that remains is for him to die. Abaddon also invokes this when asked why he disappeared after the end of the Horus Heresy: he states that Horus's death made the campaign to overthrow the Emperor and claim the Imperium (the only war that mattered in Abaddon's view) a failure, and he had no desire to embroil himself in the petty squabbling over territory and resources at the core of the Legion Wars. I find myself unable to describe any scene without adding more spoilers. The story is magnificently captivating, the new realisations about the WH40K universe are numerous; the finale blows your mind both with the adrenalin of the action, and the emotionality of the statements and conclusions being drawn.