Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
There's a picture in the attic., 11 Jul 2007
The longest in the series so far, and the best as well, chronicling Fulgrim's tragic fall from grace. It is action packed, well written and exhaustingly detailed.
Strikingly it seem's to draw heavily on influences from "The Picture of Dorian Gray," from the descent into grotesque hedonism, the influence of a piece of controversial literature (although not the same piece), murders disguised by dissolving the bodies in acid and a picture, that has disturbing qualities.
It inevitably suffers in comparison with Wilde although it is by itself excellently written. It also suffers, unfairly, in that many will already know the end of the story (although this is by no means the fault of the author).
It is however, a gripping read, smooth, fantastically detailed and at times genuinely moving. If you are a regular visitor to the hall's of the Black Library then this is a must, and if you aren't familiar then this is as good an introduction as any.
My only real criticism is that the end feels a bit rushed (or perhaps compressed). The first half is given over to a meticulous account of the corruption, whilst the second half (in the same amount of pages) deals with a vast amount more. The result is a book feeling slightly lopsided.
This is a minor failing though and overall the book is excellent.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Best of the bunch so far, 14 Jan 2008
If you've read any of my other reviews you will see my biggest issue with this series is how rambling and poorly edited they are. Indeed the promised show down mentioned at the end of book 3 finally happens here at the end of book 5. But finally the promise of book 1 is realised 4 books later.
So here we have the fall from grace of Fulgrim. Now of all the Chaos Gods Slaanesh is always the most intriguing. It is the god of lust and decadence and while you can see marines falling for the bloodlust of Khorne (less so for the decay of Nurgle) the idea of a decadent fall sounds very human. After all how many warriors have been suckered by feminine charms and a comfy sofa rather than years on horseback fighting through the mud?
It's all done very well and very convincingly. With tiny hints and quirks at the start of the book being full blown perversions by the end. It also drives the story along (a bit) and has a satisfying ending (first one to do so). Definitely the high point.
The epic finale of the battle of Isstavan V is very well described and turns it into a real page turner. However the one thing that made me smirk is that while the blood and guts is all very explicit it suddenly gets rather coy when it comes to the matters of sex.
This is a shame if you're going to do a book about Slaanesh then I'm afraid you're going to have to talk as much about genitals as you are about guns but whether this is style was done not to scare younger readers (although apparently skinning people and using their skin as decoration on your armour won't given them nightmares) or whether the worries would be that it would lurch into the area of erotica- which would not be inappropriate considering the subject matter I don't know.
Overall the best written the most gripping and the most ambitious book so far.
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6 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pleasure for pleasure's sake., 16 Jul 2007
When I reviewed Graham McNeill's "False Gods", his previous book in the Horus Heresy series, I accused him of wasting the Primarch Fulgrim. Fulgrim only featured in one scene in "False Gods", but now McNeill has rewarded him with the longest single novel the Black Library has ever printed. Indeed, the scene that featured Fulgrim in "False Gods" is represented in this novel, with subtle differences as the story is explored from Fulgrim's perspective.
"Fulgrim" is magnificent. As a dedicated follower of Slaanesh, I feared that the depiction of Fulgrim's perfect space marine chapter and its descent into the worship of the chaos god of licentious excess could easily be bungled. Games Workshop has shied away from Slaanesh of late - for whilst bloody violence is accepted by society, sex is still taboo. McNeill, however. handles Fulgrim's fall from grace extremely well. Crowley, Wilde, and Blake all appear to be reference points for this highly literate Warhammer novel, in particular Blake who is present in paraphrase and also quoted directly at one point (suffice to say I will not bother to make myself explicit for the idiot). The whole vista of Slaanesh's depradations are on display in the form of one character or another, and there are some extremely impressive and wonderfully ornate set-pieces. This book has everything you'd hope for from a Horus Heresy novel, and is probably the best volume to date.
Since this novel extensively expands the character of Fulgrim from his depiction in "False Gods", I am hopeful that the previous book's two other Primarch cameos - Magnus the Red and Angron - will one day be gifted with a novel of their own by McNeill. And I hope they will be as good as this volume. McNeill strives for perfection in his writing as much as the eponymous Fulgrim does in his labours, and the results are worthy of much praise. Praise for the Prince of Pleasure! Pleasure for pleasure's sake!
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