Nobody can convince me that it wasn’t a N**I salute. Disgraceful.

I’m thinking about combining the 15 years of Personal Training and my love of D&D into some D&D themed workouts…

Who’s in?

It’s probably that which has led to my career in content writing, my dreams of writing books and my love of D&D.

So, yeah!

I’ll pour one out for The Professor tonight as a thanks for igniting the spark of inspiration that has shaped so much of my creativity.

Thanks Prof

#tolkien #tolkienday

I was obsessed with that passage and I pinpoint that as being the moment I fell in love with reading and fantasy.

There is a direct through line of my first experience of Tolkien, to going to university to study Literature and then Fantasy Literature.

Hell, it’s the reason I want to write (…)

It’s Tolkien’s birthday today. At 9pm I will be joining many Tolkien fans with a toast to “The Professor”.

A little anecdote.

I remember being about 7 years old and I used to sit opposite the storeroom cupboard. On it, was a passage from The Hobbit where Bilbo meets Smaug (…)

A very handsome cat. He is very adorable and very demure.

Happy New Year! I did not expect to see my follower count over 400! Hi to all my new followers!

Here’s a New Years Cat from our celebrations last night.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Last working day of 2024 done. Phew!

Hopefully I can get some writing done over the festive period!

Books 1-3 of the Horus Heresy have been great! Not without flaw, but, what is?

It’s exactly what I expected and wanted from Warhammer 40k.

I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the work by the three authors. Not that I expected the works to be bad…

On to Flight of the Eisenstein

I’m giving Galaxy in Flames an 8/10. It was a great read and a great way to bring this arc to a close before we move to Flight of the Eisenstein.

It has made me want more, but, that is largely because I feel that there was more that could be added to this book.

Rather than try to correct or refine the clumsy ending of False Gods, Galaxy in Flames moves us along and straight into the action.

There’s not an awful lot of character development beyond separating the goodies and baddies, but it is enough to tantalise us to want to know more.

Yes, Ben Counter takes the reins to bring the opening trilogy to a close by providing a quick, action packed story to set the mass of Horus Heresy into action.

Indeed, Galaxy in Flames is the moment the pot boils over and the schemes of chaos are put into devastating effect.

Spoiler Free Review: Galaxy in Flames by Ben Counter.

Well… that was a fast read!

After the slight disappointment at the end of book 2, I was concerned that Galaxy in Flames was going to fall to the same issues.

However, Galaxy in Flames sticks the landing.

I’m already almost through the very short Galaxy in Flames. Listening to audiobooks on 1.5x speed reduced its length to being less than 6hrs. So I’ll be following up with that one, probably tomorrow.

I think I would give False Gods a 7/10 score. I think it delivered what it set out to do, but there was certainly some stumbling points, especially in the later chapters of the book.

I think McNeill did a great job with this book and was given a difficult and defining moment to write.

Unfortunately this does cause the later third of the book to feel a bit clumsy and heavy handed to move the plot along and hit the story beats.

Like I said, I think McNeill had a hard time with this, but did a good job regardless. Whilst I was dismissive of the corruption scene initially, I couldn’t think of a better way to do it myself.

This is by no way a judgement on McNeill’s ability as an author. Quite the contrary.

An author is given the task to corrupt the incorruptible and isn’t given a huge amount of space or time in which to do it.

I feel that the author also struggled with this, which is evident during the corruption scenes. Which I feel would go into spoiler territory if I expand on further.

Whilst the traitors scheme is very well presented. I felt the execution of the turning point for the series titular character was poorly done and broke my verisimilitude.

Although, in McNeill’s defence, I think this was going to be difficult regardless of what they did.

The opening chapters did not grab me the same way Horus Rising did. I first felt this with the Titan crew’s interactions at the start of the novel, which felt out of place and jarring.

The book quickly becomes a competent follow up as the plot develops and the traitors start to play their hand.

Spoiler Free Review: False Gods by Graham McNeill

Book 2 of the Horus Heresy is a confident and exciting sequel to Horus Rising. Whilst the characters feel very similar to book one, there are some notable style changes in the prose, as is natural when we change author.

“BUT WHAT ABOUT HER… LADY BITS?! AND STUFF… Yeah…”

I can’t wait to slay monsters as Ciri! Trailer gave me goosebumps!

Campbell’s witty response to this homophobe makes me want to enjoy some of their delicious chicken noodle soup right now! 🍜 🏳️‍🌈

Horus Rising:
You know you’re getting a franchise book - 40k ✅
It’s a thrilling, easy, linear read ✅
It’s a great introduction to the very complicated and vast lore of the 40k universe ✅
And it’s very tasty! There’s some very memorable moments and cool scenes! It’s a win ✅

A great cheeseburger!

I refer to books like this as “cheeseburger books”. You know what you’re getting with a cheeseburger. It’s easy to consume, has wide appeal, and is tasty! It’s not trying to be a “fine dining book” which is a bit more nuanced, complex and has a narrower appeal.

(…)

I gave Horus Rising a 9/10. Some may think “oh so this is comparable to the great works of fantasy/Sci-fi out there.”

Well, no, but it is a book that fulfils the brief very well. It knows its audience, genre and setting and leans into that.

(…)

Additional note: I listened to this on Audible and Tony Longworth is an AMAZING narrator which certainly helps!

Which can feel a little disappointing. Yet, I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into book 2 - False Gods by Graham McNeill.

Overall a cracking read and a great introduction to 40k for me, I’m invested and look forward to reading more Abnett as the Horus Heresy continues.

9/10

In that it really is a novel length introduction to the series and although some intrigue and curiosity is raised (and keeps the pages turning), it never really goes beyond that and we are left without a satisfactory conclusion with questions being answered… that’s saved for future books (…)

The book is very approachable to newcomers to the 40k universe, I found it very readable and not without nuance and skill from a very talented author.

The book suffers by its concept, in that it is the first of an ENORMOUS series of books which will encompass different authors (…)