Unfortunately, we live in this one, and the fact is that we have a sprawl of plotlines that require resolution (or continuation) before we get to the fun stuff. We are resigned - resigned, perhaps, is not the most positive word, but an appropriate one, I think - to an entire book of character shuffling. We must finish our narrative sprouts before we get our just desserts. Working out the story he wanted to tell must have been the most difficult part of writing this for Dan Abnett, because we know what should be in this book and can even guess what should be in part two – the shields of Horus’ flagship are lowered, the Emperor, Dorn, Sanguinius and his Custodian Guard teleport aboard. A fight ensures.

With the war at this critical juncture, Sanguinius, primarch of the loyalist Blood Angels, braves the horrors of the Warmaster’s flagship, The Vengeful Spirit, with a single purpose in mind: to slay his brother Horus, decapitate the Heresy once and for all, and stop the forces of Chaos from taking Holy Terra. We’re not going to go into every little detail of the plot here. I can’t promise this will be spoiler free, but we’ll give it a go. So what is it about? “It’s the final hours of the Siege, the confrontation between the Emperor and Horus, which is immense. And it’s also obviously the fallout of all the other major events that are going on at the time. It’s the end of the Heresy era and the beginning is something new. There is a sense of history, pivoting in the most dramatic sense, and a lot of very important loose ends come together.” Dorn and Valdor in particular were vastly enjoyable. Sanguinius is not a character I’d written much of, but I had fun with him. He’s an extremely difficult character to write, and a challenge that I really enjoyed. And weirdly, I found an enormous sympathy with Abaddon and the situation he finds himself in – where he’s obviously completely committed to doing terrible things. He’s on his way to becoming something even more dreadful yet, but he almost alone among the Traitor forces is aware of what they’re sacrificing and he hates it! He wants to be the warrior that he knows, and to win by military means – but things are slowly slipping away.”This has nothing to do with the review but it’s my favourite relevant art. Horus and the Emperor, Adrian Smith. Credit: GW.

Warhammer Community: The (Beginning of the) End Is Nigh – The Final Siege of Terra Story Is Revealed (posted 31 August 2022) (last accessed 4 October 2023) Warhammer Community: Dan Abnett Interview – How to Start and Finish the Most Epic Series in Sci-fi (posted 8/6/2022) (last accessed 8/6/2022)Someone needs to make a list of all the plot threads that currently are lined up for this book, top of my head its basilo flo, loken, keeler, perpetuals, any meaning to the erebus/arda thing. Tho probably forgetting some/lots. There’s no substitute for experiencing the Siege of Terra series yourself because it’s a tale of such epic proportions, but before we reveal the final chapter in this story, let’s briefly catch up on the story so far. Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramar • Leman Russ: The Great Wolf • Magnus the Red: Master of Prospero • Perturabo: The Hammer of Olympia • Lorgar: Bearer of the Word • Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix • Ferrus Manus: Gorgon of Medusa • Grandfather's Gift • Perturabo: Stone and Iron • Malcador: First Lord of the Imperium • Konrad Curze: A Lesson in Darkness • Jaghatai Khan: Warhawk of Chogoris • Vulkan: Lord of Drakes • Sons of the Emperor • Corax: Lord of Shadows • Angron: Slave of Nuceria • Scions of the Emperor • Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter • Ghost of Nuceria • The Passing of Angels • The Abyssal Edge • Mercy of the Dragon • Lion El'Jonson: Lord of the First • Illyrium • The Revelation of the Word • Morningstar • Will of the Legion • Embers of Extinction • Alpharius: Head of the Hydra • Blood of the Emperor • Loyal Sons • Mortarion: The Pale King • Rogal Dorn: The Emperor's Crusader • Sanguinius: The Great Angel • Heirs of The Emperor

The chaos of the siege doesn’t help the second half of the book. Everyone’s had an approach to the immense scale of these final hours in one way or another – the Solar War added literal space to numbers, Saturnine slammed through hundreds of overlapping viewpoints at a rapid pace, Echoes nailed the conflict to a single, burning point. The End and the Death attempts to do it all, and for all of the skill on show in writing different voices and perspectives, it’s where the novel creaks and breaks. We’re told rather than shown the preposterous scale of the conflict. It feels less apocalyptic and terrifying than the masterwork that was Saturnine because it loses the key focal point to show the desperation we’re told is present. Chapters of “Fragments” – single paragraph or even single line vignettes – are supposed to show us the full extent of the siege, and sometimes do this to great effect. Others, unfortunately read like some of the early attempts to establish the Stormcast Eternals as viable protagonists, all nounverbers at the placenames against the adjective verbnouners. There’s just too much context. We know the world is on fire, but seeing every single flame detracts from the inferno. It is The End. After more than 20 years of gripping novels the final moments of the Horus Heresy are in sight. Hundreds of characters have fought tooth and nail to reach this epic conclusion, and many millions more lie dead in their wake as worlds burn across the galaxy. The traitors make their landing in The Lost and the Damned by Guy Haley, swarming Loyalist lines with hordes of cultists, conscripts, and mutants in a bid to overwhelm the mighty Aegis shield dome protecting the Imperial Palace. After weeks of bloody battle, the weight of the traitor assault – combined with a ritual conducted by the Thousand Sons – exhausts the Aegis and the Palace itself lies open. Ahriman alone can kill a dozen Custodes without breaking a sweat. The Loyalists will need a lot of Librarians to delay him. Same with Typhus. The Emperor, a shining beacon of hope to many, an unscrupulous tyrant to others, must die. The lives of uncountable numbers have been extinguished and even primarchs, once thought immortal, have been laid low. The Emperor's dream lies in tatters, but there remains a sliver of hope.In Warhawk , Jaghatai Khan pulled off one last outlandish gambit to buy time for the beleaguered defenders by riding to face his brother Mortarion in deadly combat. And in Echoes of Eternity , Sanguinius will face off against the daemon general Ka’bandha and the Warmaster’s horde in one desperate last stand. Zograt the grot receives an unexpected boon from the Bad Moon in Bad Loon Rising by Andy Clark, as the power of the Clammy Hand gives him just the boost he needs to ascend from the grim depths of grotdom. Together with his troggoth companion Skrog he embarks on a quest to become the greatest Loonboss the Mortal Realms have ever known – a mad aspiration, but one that just might be within his reach. It took me two years to write the whole thing. It was literally the biggest thing I’ve ever done, the most formidable challenge, because there’s so much expectation attached to it”, he adds. “I loved it. I was almost sorry when it was over and there was nothing left to write – but I had to have a good long lie-down afterwards…” Warhammer Community: The (Beginning of the) End Is Nigh – The Final Siege of Terra Story Is Revealed (posted 31/8/2022) (last accessed 31/8/2022) But at the whim of a Warmaster fallen so far from grace, the Dark Gods will not make Sanguinius’ task an easy one, and as the war edges towards its explosive, bloody conclusion, events are about to unfold that could either save humanity, or plunge it headlong into an eternity of darkness.

I think a list of unresolved plot threads would be very beneficial so we can have a meaningful discussion on where we expect book 8 to lead. If we can get a comprehensive list together then I will update the original post to include them. The centrepiece of part two is Sanguinius vs Horus. And that is very different in every respect to the centrepiece of part three, which is Horus vs the Emperor. There was a very deliberate attempt on my part to make sure those things didn’t just become just more of the same.” The End and the Death is the final, torturous step on the road the Great Crusade began. With the empire contracted to a single planet, the dream of the great work lying in ruins, the full fury of the Space Marines exhausted and turned inward to purge and scour the homeworld itself, you can’t help but see the beating heart of the novel as Dan Abnett. Not the Emperor, not Horus, not Malcador. Dan. Terra burns as reality itself unravels and the greatest bastion of civilisation teeters on the brink of annihilation.I was looking forward to returning to characters like Loken – who obviously has got to be in it because he was there at the start – and Jon Grammaticus. But as is ever the case, when you’re writing a character, you bond with them in a weird way and they become a favourite. So I loved writing Malcador and other characters who I’ve never really had the same level of time to spend with.