Pariah review

Finally decided to sit down with the follow up to the Eisenhorn and Ravenor books, Pariah. Well at least that is what I am hoping this will be about.

When last I left the great Dan Abnett Inquisition part of the 40K universe; Eisenhorn was a rouge and Ravenor was “retired” by the Inquisition. Now her come Pariah to open all this up again as it is touted as an Eisenhorn vs Ravenor trilogy.

Alright here we are thrust into the world of one Beta Bequin. Who is a psychic blank, or pariah. See what he did with the title! She is studying to be part of an Inquisitorial retinue someday, or is she? Beta’s world goes all wonky when her school is attacked and her world turns into a whole bunch of cat and mouse meets cloak and dagger. She has friends who might be enemies. Strangers with and without candy after her. A creepy old man following her. A chorno gladiator (or it more than just that?) helping her. A psychic floating chair talking to her. A psyker with killer hair pins is after her. Wait who is she really? What are these killer dolls about? Look out Word Bearers are on the move! Plus she may be a clone of her long dead mom? Ho didn’t see that coming? What the feth is going on here? HOLY CRAP the last two pages are the payoff I was waiting for!

Pariah is the typical slow burn world build I have come to expect from Mr. Abnett. There is a lot of world building and then a big flourish at the end., and what a flourish! It is this slow burn that makes the book awesome. We all want the Eisenhorn/Ravenor explosions to start a.s.a.p. , but we all know that isn’t going to happen. Instead we get small meetings and glimpses of known characters to drag us through the book events with Beta Bequin. Pariah really feels like a comic book hero team-up told from a different point of view. We get the two heroes meeting and having a disagreement/fight. There is the real of a threat to both sides. Then the heroes go their separate ways for now. I can guess that eventually they team-up to stop a big old evil someone/something.

Pariah is full of twists and turns that are both good and bad. It follows all the hits you expect from Dan Abnett and the first of a trilogy. If there is a downside it is the reveal of Beta’s lineage too soon and the whole chrono gladiator pet/minion/friend thingy. However, there is more than enough coolness and good to outweigh the bad bits. Now I just have to wait for the second book which was supposed to be out last year. Plus after reading this I really want to dive back into the Eisenhorn books. I might have to dig them out and do that for now.