Prospero Burns (15) (Horus Heresy)

Dan Abnett is, by far, the finest author of the Black Library. Not only is Abnett's work good for what some may snidely call tie-in fiction, it is just good hands down. Abnett has a real way of exploring the human condition under the stress of conflict we mortals can only begin to imagine. You can search for a Warhammer 40,000 book with better plot, character development, and action sequences than those written by Abnett but you will be hard pressed to find one. That being said I was a bit uneasy at the prospect of Abnett taking on a Space Wolves novel. Of all the original Astartes legions, the Space Wolves are near the bottom of my list as far as favorites are concerned. But, much like Aaron-Dembski Bowden was able to accomplish creating an endearing and sympathetic version of the Word Bearers, Abnett has taken the idea of barbaric space vikings and created something much much scarier. Prospero Burns is of a more narrow scope than most of the Horus Heresy novels to date. That's not to say that there isn't a fair share of epic conflict, but there is a greater focus on character. Those who enjoyed Abnett's Legion will find much to like about Prospero Burns. The story follows a man from Terra named Kasper Hawser. Hawser is a man dedicated to finding and conserving lost knowledge. He is easy to sympathize with, having come through personal hardships aplenty, and his desire to learn drives the plot. Some of my favorite aspects of the story were Hawser's flashbacks to Terra. These flashbacks give perspective of Terra during its golden age, with wonders and marvels that scream for a Unification Wars series after the HH series is finished. Some might despair at a mere human as the main character but I find it best to see the nature of the Astartes through the eyes of mortal. Through Hawser's eyes the Space Wolves are revealed as a much different legion than is most commonly accepted. The Wolves are not barbaric space vikings at all, but instead they show a compelling degree of strategy and stealth that most legions tend to avoid. I figured it would be difficult to depict the Wolves in a sympathetic light when it came to the destruction of Prospero. If you've read Graham NcNeill's A Thousand Sons, then you get my meaning. Somehow Abnett found a way to accomplish this however. The sack of Prospero is a tragedy for both legions and I love the image of the Wolves as grim executioners, the Emperor's ace in the hole. They take the responsibility for some of the toughest duties, duties that other legions would frown upon. I've read some complaints about deus ex machina regarding the plot but I don't feel like these complaints have much credence. The incident I assume these complaints refer to is hinted at during the entirety of the book, a minor thing that seems of no consequence until the final showdown. If anything I gave a little smirk when it finally hit me. Prospero Burns is a great novel. For Abnett to turn the Wolves into a force that even I can respect is no small accomplishment. This novel was well worth the wait and an excellent addition to my 40K collection. Highly recommended.

You know when you launch a new RPG and you want to build an axe wielding village burner without equal? But then you realize that in order to get your Strength, Dexterity and hit points high enough, you're going to have to dump a stat. ... and what stat do you usually dump? That's right, we all know you take that bucket of Charisma points, dump it into the toilet and pull the handle faster than you can say "Leonard Pyle is a great conversationalist". Then you end up with dialogue options during the game like "Gunnar Gunnarsonsonson no like Talk. Only talk to Axe. Axe like to drink blood. Short conversations." Yeah, that's pretty much the Space Wolves in a nutshell. They're planks of wood with a frowny face painted on them until it's time to kill something. Because of that fact, the story has to be chronicled by someone who is most decidedly not a Space Wolf. A human with very thin motivations to visit the home planet of the Space Wolves except for "Heyyyy man, it just seemed like a good idea, you know?" Not that this is a bad story. Far from it. I think Dan may have written something bad in his life... like maybe when he was an angsty teenager, but he hasn't written anything bad since. Either way, this is a great story and phenomenally written. Dan is a master of the Simile and highly proficient with Metaphors to boot. His description of scenes sometimes has me put down the book for a moment and go, "Ok, ok, that was damned good sir. Damned good." So, although the Space Wolves are probably the most boring group of beings in Warhammer 40K (My love of the Thousand Sons has nothing to do with this! They did nothing wrong!), except for maybe the Hrud, this book is still outstanding and I wouldn't skip it. In fact, I think it's a must-read of the Horus Heresy series.

The latest four books represent a marked departure from the storytelling that was evident in the earlier Heresy books. Nemesis, Thousand Sons, First Heretic and Propero Burns all delve deeply into character development and the results of ambiguous decision-making, where the first 10 or so novels were simply means to explore exciting battle scenes and introduce the primary characters. The vessel by which Abnett chooses to present this story is initially frustrating and puzzling. For the first third of the book, you are kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop, as you learn much more about the narrator than you do the Space Wolves or the falling of Prospero. Ultimately, this adds a rewarding layer (or two) to the story and makes for a more comprehensive read. This novel deals much more with the motivations and composition of the 6th legion than it does the actual battle of Prospero, and creates sympathetic characters on all sides. The only thing keeping this from a 5-star rating on my end is that much of the first 150 pages or so seem to act as filler as opposed to background and context material. Once the story begins in earnest, the story is as captivating as it is intriguing, and does provide another enlightening chapter to the Heresy series.

Chaotic, complex, and simple at the same time. I hated it at the beginning and now know it as the best book in the series thus far!

Prospero Burns was worth the wait. I liked A Thousand Sons, it wasn't the greatest but the overall story was good. Prospero Burns is fantastic and as a quasi part two makes A Thousand Sons that much better. The tragic elements of the Thousand Sons Legion are somehow enhanced by the dutiful behavior of the Space Wolves. Abnett does a great job of showing and explaining the behavior of Leman Russ's sons, and you almost cannot help but feeling sorry for the Space Wolves while simultaneously feeling sorry for the Thousand Sons. If you have wondered at how the tragedy of Prospero happened, Abnett pulls off a great ending which brings together the two books. The ending left me wishing that something could have intervened to prevent the fall of Prospero. The best compliment I can give this book is that it is a 40k novel that makes you think and makes you feel for the characters, both heroes and "villains". Read this book for another great look at the Horus Heresy. The Space Wolves are expanded and made even more interesting, and the Thousand Sons complete their role as the well-meaning and tragic martyrs of the time.

"wet leopard-growl..." Dan Abnett has a knack. It's making the worlds his characters inhabit seem to come alive. Not just with the regular military sci-fi stuff, but with true, genre-defying literary greatness. So great that you'll finish the book and then go back and read some parts again just to get more of that storyline. Just as in the real world, it's hard to determine who's good and who's evil when everyone seems to have such great personal reasons and justifications for what they're doing. Again, Abnett takes on a tour of a military, violent world and it's crazy cultures through the eyes of decidedly normal people - in this case a regular everyday academic bureaucrat who just happens to have the wrong name and get mixed up in the wrong stuff by people using him to spy on others who use him to figure out what those people want to spy for and to show them that they have nothing to hide. It's violent. It's fun. It's a believable, internally logical and entirely consistent world. It's Dan Abnett. It's high adventure seen through the eyes of people that seem just like you and me. "wet leopard-growl..." "wet leopard-growl..." "wet leopard-growl..." "wet leopard-growl..." Awww, come on, mate. And replace every single mention of "the Wolves" in front of THEM with "Fenryka" or "Rout" or some other term.

This is Dan Abnett at the top of his game. The story is complex and the persons nicely described. This work is on the shelf next to Neal Asher and his legue

I couldn't hear about good chunk of the audiobook because the narrator kept grumbling his narration and then would raise his voice for dramatic events at sections which riled my ears because my volume would be amped to understand his mumblings... Despite the fact the narration was a little bland across the different accents and characters, I blame whoever edited this, because obviously they weren't taking into account how well the narration communicated on speakers versus headphones. The story was okay, it wasn't what I expected. I would have liked if they gave more insight on how the space wolves reacted and to the discovery of the thousand sons dabbling in chaos magic than what this was. the plot lost me at several points because I was waiting for it to circle back to the drama surrounding Magnus which it really saved to the last minute and not in the best way...