Avenging Son

By Guy Haley

The Dawn of Fire series, of which Avenging Son is the first book, is aiming to be the next Horus Heresy series. I wonder if I would have set out to read all of the main numbered novels in the Horus Heresy series – at 54 books (or 62 books if you include all of the current Siege of Terra also) had I known how many would be in it.

The books in the Horus Heresy series are of variable quality – unsurprising, when penned by so many different authors and including so many books. But more modern Warhammer perhaps lacks the mythos of the Horus Heresy. Long-time fans were excited that finally the events of the Horus Heresy were getting looked at in detail. Space Marines aren’t all there is to Warhammer, but it’s hard to deny that they are a principal part of the story and appeal, and the Horus Heresy is the story which sets them against one another and ends the Emperor’s dreams of continued unification and progress.

Games Workshop would love for Dawn of Fire to emulate the Horus Heresy. One where die-hard fans want all the short stories, anthologies and supporting material, and a series where even non die-hard fans begin buying many more books than they probably intended. The problem is, I think it may struggle to do that, particularly if the quality of the book remains at the level of Avenging Son.

You see, we know that the return of the Primarch, the Pariah Nexus, the Great Rift have all happened, and Dawn of Fire is supposed to be the series that takes the story further or at least acts as a conjunction of these myriad events. But these are some of the exciting events, and they have been mainly covered in the Rise of the Primarch supplement, or novel series and books such as Watchers of the Throne, Indomitus, Dark imperium and more. That doesn’t mean that Dawn of Fire could not have exciting events too – but I feel this first book lacks the exciting plot points of these other books. Really, Avenging Son takes us to the Imperium’s response after Dark Imperium and some of these other events. Ok then, some filling in and exciting events need to occur for us to build interest to move things forward, but instead this book seems to have been to written to set things up. But hasn’t that happened already?

Confused under fire

That’s the principal problem with this book – it doesn’t fill in what happens next. We have a lot of auspicious, dangerous and unexpected events happen, but they’ve all just happened before and outside of this book, and the events here seem – routine. Instead, the aim is perhaps Guilliman’s Primaris marines being introduced and pushing back, but it doesn’t even really focus on that. In fact, I’m not really sure what the focus is meant to be. It seems confused. So let’s cover why it seems to have a lack of focus.

Firstly, this book covers far too many different characters and smaller events. Who or what is really important, and why? I suspect some of this will be answered later in the series, but we have no way of knowing who we need to follow because the book jumps around too much. I understand that this is to introduce them for later, but it doesn’t make for good reading here and now, and that’s never a good feeling when investing the hours to read a book. We know Belisarius Cawl is a seminal figure from the Rise of the Primarch supplements, but then he only pops up briefly here. We focus far more on Messinius, a White Consul who Guilliman tasks with an important quest and more autonomy, which is presumably indicative of his passing the torch to the newly-created Primaris marines. Or Fabian, an official of the Administratum, who is an interesting and humorous character. But then there are also Lacrante, Areios and several other characters I could name and speak about, some of which seem to pop up and then disappear. It’s a lot to cover, and it means some really aren’t covered adequately. Messenius and Fabian were introduced well, namely because it felt like their personality was developed well and there was enough time devoted to them for this to happen. This was not the case for several of the others such as Lacrante or Nawra.

Secondly, the plot of this book simultaneously does not matter and does. Guilliman, the Indomitus Crusade and the Primaris Marines are the event of the moment, but the chaos incursion of the Crusade of Slaughter which happens in this book cannot succeed because it would effectively undo everything. So, we essentially know that it cannot work. Of course, one could say this is often true for science fiction, but I can’t help but feel the approach could have been different here. Say, by focussing on the politics between the Administratum, Navigators, Guilliman and Mechanicum and/or issues with resources, or the Primaris Marines. Personally, I think it’s a poor excuse to say there’s too much to cover – an interesting plot and characters can be carried through despite all of the surrounding material. If anything, it provides background material to use and is the opposite of a handicap. Creating a good plot within the confines of the surrounding wider 40k background, and focussing on some characters who are important to the plot, rather than just introducing them for seemingly no comprehensible reason, would be far more effective. Instead, it feels like you’re being led on for the duration of an entire book to see stay tuned for what happens next. Which is never a good feeling.

Bickering Bureaucracy

So what does Avenging Son do well? It does highlight some difficulties of the Indomitus Crusade. It does navigate fairly well all the different interactions between various Imperial factions without becoming tedious, it’s just that the book made it very difficult for itself even if it doesn’t do a bad job of including all of this.

In terms of the characters Messenius is dry on first impression (as most white consuls arguably are) but then is developed well and an interesting character to follow, surprisingly likeable. Fabian, likewise, is interesting but given his absence for a good portion of the book feels like he was still under-utilised. The parts where he does feature, are sometimes humorous and I am keen to see more of him.

Guilliman does feel and act as a primarch which is not the easiest thing to achieve. But we are repeatedly given evidence that he is humble and likeable then received mixed messages. His office is sparse and the equal of someone far lower in seniority than him. Or he jokes about how people act around a primarch, but then also he talks down to someone and plays the ‘I’m a primarch card, so would you dispute me?’ This might be intentional, to show that it is not his true character but instead that he just plays the politics when necessary, but it didn’t really feel intentional to me. As a result he comes across slightly haughty which I don’t believe was the aim. On the other hand it might just show that there are several sides to him, in which case readers will probably find my criticism harsh.

Guy Haley has written better books than this, but despite the issue with the story, plot and some of the characters, he is still good at writing descriptions and the book definitely feels as if it takes place in the 40k universe. You do feel the gravitas of what’s going on, the power of the Space Marines, the unexpected events related to the Pariah Nexus and the warp. The action sequences were serviceable too, with good descriptions, I just don’t think they were particularly momentous.

The first narration of the audiobook was quite poor, making Guilliman and the space marines sound comical and has thankfully been replaced and updated.

Final Score

Avenging Son fails because of the choice of approach. It’s not the worst book I’ve read, but it does feel disjointed and like a stop gap. It has a problem that, as the first book in the series, some of the material will likely be relevant later, but you’ll have trouble remembering if it is something particularly specific, simply because there are so many little things going on. And you’ll also prefer to rush through this and get onto the next, which is probably good advice. We don’t know how much the events here matter, but they don’t exactly make for a good book in of itself.

4/10