Echoes of Eternity

by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

This book 7 in the Siege of Terra Horus Heresy Series.

With the falling of the Ultimate Wall, and the Bhab bastion, the defenders gather to the Delphic Battlement, the last stand before the traitors are into the palace, where they can summon daemons and the fight is effectively over. So, the defences are falling, and one last fight is on the cards. But how good of a read is it?

The first section of the book is predominantly exposition. The walls that have fallen, what’s left and where the battle is at. This really helped set the scene for the book. The second portion of the book features some callbacks, to the Emperor finding Sanguinius and to the gladiatorial pits of the World Eaters as they fight alongside the Blood Angels on the Conquerer. It develops some of the relationships between these factions well, and is a sizeable diversion that makes sense in terms of setting up the character arcs. The latter sections really accelerate the story, with the final part being mainly action oriented. The book is the largest so far in the series: I’m reviewing the hardback version and it clocks in at 522 pages.

The ground was infected. He was careful where he trod, moving around patches where the earth was plagued with calluses and warts, keeping clear of rippling pools of un-water that stank like cancer. Who had known that marble could sweat pus? Who would ever have guessed that soil could bleed? Pp.73

The characters are so many and varied in this book, it’d be spoiling a lot to reveal them all. But Sanguinius and Angron feature heavily, as do Amit, Vulkan, Magnus, Kargos of the World Eaters, Arkhan Land, Zephon and more.

When it comes to characters, Aaron is a master of parallels. We saw him do it most effectively in The First Heretic, but here he plays characters off well against each other, and not just with human and space marine. Inzar and Kargos have echoes of Kharn and Argel Tal, with a close relationship despite being very different. The obnoxious Arkhan Land and heroic Zephon contrast well as an unlikely duo and create tension and diverse perspectives before the final assault. It helps to create depth within the action and story, and this is a theme throughout.

Some themes are ones we’ve seen before: the contrast between the Imperium, a totalitarian state that stubbornly refuses to see its own ignorance, and imposes what it wants regardless of other beliefs, and chaos, embracing the truth even if it’s something you’re better off not knowing, is explored within some of these reactions. Arkhan Land is a prideful character, where he has disdain for everything around him, but finds himself becoming sentimental towards the end. The relationships are used to explore some of these themes, such as in the following quotation:

“I am always correct” Land retorted. “But what’s this? You fear I’m correct? I thought your kind knew no fear’. His thralls had bound Zephon’s long hair back from his face, but he brushed a stray wisp off his temple. He kept gazing at the blurred silhouettes, far away in the ash. The horde was out of the range of the wall guns for now, but within every defender’s head was a silent countdown.…”We know fear”, Zephon said softly. “We are merely conditioned to overcome it.” (Pp.307)

This is the mastery of Aaron’s writing. He manages to blend good story and themes whilst developing characters well, and I think these combinations are when his writing is at its best.

Part of greater schemes

The book was intended to portray the lives of the bystander – an analogy I’ve stolen from the foreword is that Aaron didn’t want to write from Alexander the Great’s perspective, but those around him. Aaron mentions in the afterword how he could have written his book from the perspective of Sanguinius, but that that would not have done justice to the common imperial citizen caught up in all of the chaos. I think his reasoning and approach works well. I imagine for the final two books much of it will explore more of the Emperor and Horus, and so to avoid focussing on the key players avoids too much repetition, even though my preference for many of the other books in the series would have been to have more focussed characterisation and exposition.

Echoes of Eternity becomes quite exciting at the end. There are several duels involving Primarchs that are brilliant. I don’t want to spoil anything, but one recurring encounter between two Primarchs was woven really well, away from the main battle, and Sanguinius really is the star of the show, even at moments such as his speech before the final assault.

I don’t find areas to be hugely critical about in Echoes of Eternity. Some of the build up works well, but perhaps there is a bit too much building up, a common complaint of mine in this series. Yet to change it might weaken some of its stronger elements, such as developing Amit and Kargos, and then their coming across other characters. Similarly a white scars moment seemed shoehorned in, when it could have been given more provenance. However, other moments, such as the apparent insignificance of the Hindarah was built upon really well, without saying too much on the matter.

Raw deal

The emotion in the book does stand out. At times, it is especially bleak and grim, or – even horror-like in its descriptions. Moments with the Blood Angels rites – if you have the misfortune to be aware of such things – come to mind. It helps immerse you in the book, perhaps more so than any other book in the series. Some descriptions can be quite brutal, or even a bit morbid.

Aaron keeps you guessing. Perhaps some of the action until the end fights could have been explored more. Surprisingly the blend is much more towards characterisation than action, which does occasionally happen in Horus Heresy books. I also wasn’t sure some characters had as much gravitas or were as interesting as the time spent on them, such as the thralls, whereas others such as Zephon, were extremely nuanced. Some of this is surely down to personal preference though, and its undeniable that Aaron weaves the contrasts and different characters responses to situations well.

Final score

With exciting fights, a blend of interesting characters that play off against each other well and a book that keeps you guessing even when you think you know how everything ends up, this is a brilliant sci-fi thriller. Definitely one of the best in the series and a great set-up for the finale.

9/10