Angel Exterminatus review

I skipped this novel in the chain of the Horus series, mostly due to the fact that I loathe the new Black Library big books. Why they are making large sized paperbacks instead of regular size is beyond me. Anyway, I waited until it was released in regular paperback size so I don’t look like a grandparent reading some large print novel.

Graham McNeil is the author and he returns to the Iron Warriors. Storm of Iron was the 1st 40K novel I read and it is personal favorite of mine. I was excited to see what he would do with Hersey era Iron Warriors and their moody (a reoccurring theme) Primarch. This is a Heresy novel, but it is also a Storm of Iron prequel; and I was very pleased with that.




Here we have the Iron Warriors being asked by Fulgrim to aid him on a quest. He has befriended an Eldar and knows where a cache of legendary Eldar super weapons are housed. These weapons will help Horus turn the tide and conqueror Terra. He needs Perturbo’s help to lay siege to the planet where they are housed. A planet that lies within a giant colorful rift in space (the one we all know and love). Perturbo agrees and off they all go to find these weapons.

Simple and easy right? Well of course not. See there is a small band of Iron Hands that survived the Drop Site Massacre and are following the Emperor’s Children. They are out for some revenge even if it costs them all their lives. They too have an Eldar buddy and he knows where the traitors are heading. Away they go to get some revenge on Fulgrim. This of course leads to some brother on brother conflict and that is good fun!

Along the way we get a look at how far and fast the Emperor’s Children have fallen. The Word Bearers might be the first heretics, but the Emperor’s Children embraced the ruinous powers the fastest and with no hesitation. They are in deep with Slaanesh (pun intended) and there is no hope for their recovery.

Upon reaching the Eldar croneworld, it gets very interesting as an army of wraith constructs stands in the way of Fulgrim and Perturbo. They just have to survive that, some animosity, and then find the Angel Exterminatus. All this and more comes to a crazy crescendo like the majority of the Horus Heresy novels.

This is another great Graham McNeil story that balances the action with the character drama. A great read and even better if you have read/ like Storm of Iron. Actually, I think I’ll probably read through that again. Since my brain is both “iron within and iron without” at the moment.


A usual listing of neat-o events...................

The official naming of the Eye of Terror and who names it. I was surprised by this.

Perturbo wields Forgebreaker, the giant hammer of Ferrus Manus?

Perturbo gets some much needed attention.

We get to see what Fabius Bile is doing in his crazy lab.

Big changes are happening to the Emperor’s Children. Changes that I had previous questions about.

Lots of foreshadowing throughout the book and that is always fun!

Lucius gains one of his trademark weapons and we see a look into his in game moniker.

Those pesky Eldar are interfering again, and it makes for a great plot twist.

There is a ton of Iron Warrior stuff that ties into Storm of Iron.

Hydra Cordatus is taken from the Imperial Fists by the Iron Warriors, but when was it lost?

Forrix and Kroeger previously known from Storm of Iron are here and are big players.

A Warsmith is born.

Kroger goes through the change.

There is even a look into who Honsou really is and it leads a bit of a head scratching moment.