Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work

By Guy Haley

Belisarius Cawl is the main symbol of progress in Warhammer 40k. After years of stagnation and the Imperium grasping for a handhold of stability, it transpired that Belisarius Cawl was long working away in the background on a gambit to emulate the Emperor’s achievement in creating superhuman warriors to defend and save humanity.

A couple of years have passed since this book’s release, which tries to fill out some of the background of Cawl as one of the principal characters of Warhammer 40k. Personally, I’m glad the background has moved on, and although I don’t love everything about how it has done so, we’re here now.

Scythed by the Tyranids

In this book Cawl travels to Sotha, the ravaged homeworld of the Scythes of the Emperor, a space marine chapter almost completely wiped out by the Tyranids, who came to the planet through a genestealer infestation of the Pharos device. The Scythes of the Emperor have a tragic past which is explored in this book. The tragic dynamic works really well with the other characters in the book, as the Scythes seem to be hiding something. What could it be? It takes a while to find out, but it does make for an interesting plot point which I won’t spoil.

One highly frustrating aspect and something I’ve noticed across quite a few Warhammer books is that there seems to be about 100-200 pages of tedium before things start getting good. It’s almost as if the author hasn’t planned much to happen except for exposition in the first half of the book until events actually start happening. Sure, some tension needs to be created and characters introduced, but I really don’t know why the plot and/or action can’t develop more in the first half of this book and many others. It’s as if the author has fun writing what they want to write then realises halfway through ‘oh, I better start wrapping this up’. The first 100-200 pages are quite tedious involving some seemingly frivolous and meaningless activities.

This is in stark contrast to the latter portion of the book. When this book finally reaches its crescendo, it does get riveting. When Cawl discovers what has laid trapped within the Pharos, and reveals his plan to manipulate it and obtain the knowledge and secrets of the Pharos, or they encounter the strange visions imparted by the mountain itself.

Deus Ex Cawl

The problem with Cawl himself as a character is that he comes across arrogant and irritating. Some people don’t mind this, and it is clearly emphasized and played upon with other characters having to put up with him. But also his omniscience to get out of difficult situations can get a little formulaic. He is different as a personality though and does feel like a breath of fresh air at times, but I’m not really on the same page as commentators who say they like Cawl. Maybe I need to take the view of Friedisch, his erstwhile sidekick in the book, who notes that despite all his faults, Cawl is his friend. Like Friedisch, Cawl is the protagonist for the so-called ‘good-guys’ of the 40k universe. He’s our good guy. Cawl is trying to save humanity, destroy the chaos rift, and restore the Imperium to its former glory. It’s just tough to get behind him sometimes.

The other characters are interesting enough. Felix, Tetrarch of Ultramar has to place his faith in Cawl whilst being constantly irritated by him, but does a pretty good job. Alpha Primus, Cawl’s prototype creation of a primaris space marine, reveals the pains he has to endure due to his creation which provided an interesting side of this character. Thracian, the Chapter Master of the Scythes of the Emperor, endures torment at what the Tyranids have done and sees the potential hope and possibility that Cawl provides in potentially being able to recreate the Scythes’ homeworld, making for another interesting dynamic.

The book’s action isn’t delved into enough for my liking. The action sequences are quite sporadic, but they are helped by the tension towards the end of the book as things ramp up and Cawl’s plot is revealed. The action here feels more punchy and impactful as a result, whereas in the first half of the book when things seemed to be plodding along for the most part it felt like more action or events were needed.

Secrets within secrets

This book is great for 40k revelations though. Heavy spoilers here so skip to the end score if you want to avoid them.

There is justification for why Cawl is so brilliant, being a combination of three minds – Sedayne, Hester Aspertia and Cawl himself. He was also assisted by Guilliman by being given a device (the Sangprimus Portem) containing all of the knowledge of how the Primarchs were made. Cawl wanted to know the secrets of the Pharos but was prepared for what he would face – the c’tan shards power it, and in particular an especially complete shard – Zarhulash the Potentate. As a necron fan this book is well worth reading if like me you’re interested in the C’tan for all the interactions and discussion from a c’tan perspective of Zarhulash, of the Emperor and the necrons. For me, this was probably the strongest section of the book – exploring aspects of the 40k background, with tension and action ramping up and the plot coming to its conclusion. It helped undo a lot of the tedium of the first half of the book.

Final Score

This book is a tricky one to rate. It starts off too slow. It doesn’t delve into some of the antagonists such as the necrons or genestealer cult enough for my liking. It sometimes lacks action and has too much exposition. But towards the end, we learn lots about the Pharos, the Scythes, Cawl and his plans, Zarhulash and the C’tan, and the plot unravels to become tense and exciting at the end. It makes for a good read if you persist through the poorer first half of the book, but I think many will probably just read the spoilers and unfortunately not bother.

7/10