False Gods: The Horus Heresy, Book 2

As many of the older Horus Heresy and 40k books seem to be tough to get now, it was great to see the first three still readily available. It should be said that these reprints have a nice small crease in the covers put onto these new printings. None of my older Black Library have it and I had not bought any in a while so that was a nice little change to see. I like that.I always really liked the 40k prose, though there are authors I like more than others, Graham McNeill is one of the best at it. False God's doesn't disappoint at all. I remember the first time I read this book in 2009 when I had bought my first copy and I've gone through it five times since. It floored me honestly. Grim dark stories of a far flung future. Blood and guts, chop you in the throat and axe kick you when you're down violence. Betrayal on a scale to rival any other eternal universal doom inspired series. May not be for some but that's fine.If you like the prospect of diving into a universe that's brutally uncaring and will probably remind you all too often of the true nature of humankind in the best and worst ways, then pick up the series.TL:DR - Blood for the Blood God. Skulls for the skull throne. Khorne for the Khorne flakes. Buy this.

This book dives deeper into the world of 40k. The battles described and what happens on Davin really pull you in. Each book gets better.

Spoilers:Horus' change from the first book to this one wasn't very convincing. He seems like a different person throughout, and McNeill fails to capture his essence from the first book. I didn't buy Horus as a super intelligent, immortal being here, he was more like a dramatic teen with daddy issues.Some of the storytelling makes up for this, however, and this was an enjoyable read overall.There were a fair few typos, but not enough to detract from the experience.

‘In the wake of such deceit and destruction shall we despair, or is faith and honour the spur to action?’

As I dove into 40k lore, I quickly found knowledge of events that are critical to know for understanding this universe. Even knowing such things, the suspense of False Gods left me questioning those very events I knew to be true. This was a masterwork in slow burn suspense, and the perfect sequel to Horus Rising.

Like watching film of 9-11, or the attack on Pearl Harbor, or the start of World War I. A haunting sense of imminent tragedy that we can see coming but cannot avert.To be honest, before I read this book and Horus Rising I was not really looking forward to reading the Horus Heresy novels. I thought I already knew the story, the characters would be flat caricatures, and much of the action would be like something out of a well-funded but completely derivative comic-book movie. I have come to expect great things from Dan Abnett and Graham McNeill, but I feared that even writers with their talent would be hard-pressed to make such a formula work.I am very happy to report that I could not have been more wrong. The plot is epic, in a quite literal sense; the rich and mysterious tapestry forming the backdrop for the action - the descriptions of the physical environments and the social, historical, and even mythological contexts in which the plot unfolds — is mesmerizing, horrifying, and heartbreaking all at once; and the central characters - Loken, Torgaddon, Karkasy [sp?], and Keeler in particular - are well-drawn and tremendously sympathetic. If you enjoyed the Eisenhorn, Ravenor, and Gaunt’s Ghosts series, you will love this book.

Book arrived pretty fast and pretty much as new.Haven’t read it yet but shopping wiseIt was a solid 10 out of 10 for meDefinitely buying again from seller.

Graham McNeill is one of the major innovators at The Black Library. His books are always filled with the kind of "fluff" that excites Warhammer enthusiasts and I consider him the speartip of Warhammer creativity.For the most part I am thrilled by his creative inventions. His descriptions of the various planets and societies are inspired and his descriptions of Chaos rituals are among the best in the Warhammer universe.I would have given this novel five stars but for some niggling complaints, which I am going to enumerate out of a certain frustration.My frustration arises from the following: (1) he usually employs multiple points of view (a practice endemic in Warhammer writing). This is not bad in itself but he employs short passages that break the flow of the writing and slows the narrative. Tolstoy uses multiple points of view but he lets the narrative develop and flow, allowing the reader to become involved in the narrative. Frankly, I want to be unaware of the change in point of view; I want to sink so deeply into the novel that I am living it. If a novelist shifts back and forth in short machine gun like bursts, it disrupts the narrative flow. This works in a movie; it doesn't work well in a novel. (2) He tends to use anachronistic expressions that distract from the narrative. For instance, twice Horus, the great Warmaster, says to his Mournival- "You are a sight for sore eyes." (3) Horus acts child-like over and over again (but so did Hitler and Stalin, you say), even spilling his guts to a journalist in an attempt to immortalize himself in print, when he thinks he is going to die.In addition, certain plot choices confused me. More particularly, I didn't understand the motivations behind the invasion of the Davin moon. For instance, why would the Legion transport Titans to the moon to battle an army of the undead, which they dispatch with a blow to the head? Was Horus' hubris such that he saw every battle as an insult to his pride and honor? Was it necessary to display the almost incalculable strength of the Legion against a rebellious brother? Or was it necessary to introduce the Titans into the plot? Additionally, at the end of the novel,why does Horus abandon the crusade to attack a potentially friendly world? Does he seek their technology or has Chaos already taken hold of him and he wants simply to kill and maim?Irrespective of these criticisms, I say bravo to McNeill. He took the threads of the Horus Rising and substantially raised the level of discourse.

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Chegou bem embalado e aberto como o primeiro livro que conprei.Estou lendo ainda, mas posso dozer q é ótima continuação do primeiro livro e ampliação da perspectiva do Loken.Recomendo a leitura.

Love all the characters and their interactions. I was invested in the story. A great fantasy read.

got the feeling I run into the best book series of all times, memorable characters and epic story telling.. I read through the first 3 books in just a week and already bought the 4th..

Este segundo libro se siente con un tono y ritmo muy distinto al anterior. Hay un cambio en la representación de los protagonistas e incluso la manera de contar la historia se siente menos profunda que el libro anterior. Sin embargo, el libro es bastante bueno, aquí la historia avanza a grandes pasos y se revelan verdades ocultas, vemos a Horus y a los miembros de "The Mournival" siendo cuestionados sobre su papel en la galaxia y el lado que escogerán en los próximos acontecimientos. Muy buena secuela y deja algunos guiños de lo que veremos en otros libros.