Throne of Light

by Guy Haley

We’ve reached book 4 in the Dawn of Fire series, continuing the journey of the Indomitus Crusade. Kor Phaeron, Dark Cardinal of the Word Bearers, is targeting the Imperium’s Black Ships. Can Inquisitor Rostov get to the Hand of Abaddon to figure out what’s going on? Can Fabian Guelphrain survive the attack of a Word Bearers fleet, and save the vital information stored on the world of Srinagar? Why has Fabian been sent to this frontline in particular?

As the main plot unravels, its discovered by the forces of Chaos that there is some vision of a star child. Who is this child? Why does it matter? Whatever it means, the Hand of Abaddon, Tenebrus, and the Word Bearers led by Kor Phaeron, know that they must find out and get to it before the Imperium. So, a fairly interesting and reasonable plot.

A book of two halves

The first half of the book is better – we encounter characters you know and moderately enjoy – Historitor Fabian is becoming a fairly interesting character, I think, sometimes slightly snarky, but also committed and clearly self-aware but still brave.

Strangely, not much really happens in this book. It’s as if the tension builds up, and there is a set-piece towards the end, but it seems to dampen all the tension and process that’s been created before it. I think it’s partly to do with the fact that once you’re finished reading, you ask ‘wait, did anything actually happen that affected anything?’ There wasn’t really much resolution or consequences for the plot. And, bear in mind, there is an Appendix notes on the crusade which should explain why it fits into the wider picture. I think it fails in this, not really creating much in the way of wider repercussions from what happens here. Fairly big spoiler here, so skip about 20 seconds if you want to miss it, but really, both sides are continuing to chase the vision, this golden child, and that is still the case when you’ve finished the book.

Having said that, some of the early parts of the book are good, with characters playing off one another well. Primaris Sergeant Lucerne’s relationship with Fabian is well done, and set up really well for future books. I’m looking forward to what happens with them. We also get a good look at the challenges Rostov faces – the mental weight he carries inflicting punishment torture and psychic inquiry providing some depth to this usually stern and unflinching character.

Zeal vs. Zeal

The Black Templars are portrayed as zealous as they are often mentioned to be – to the point of conflict or friction with other institutions. I fact, the Angevin Crusade, it turns out, has gone further, and how this unravelled was pretty interesting.

The Chaos forces are as you might expect. The Word Bearers are typically far closer to comic book villain compared to many antagonists, showing no remorse or variation in their beliefs, and I don’t necessarily see that as a problem as they are emblematic of the wholehearted embracing of Chaos.

The characters aren’t always done well though. The Xenos Cheelche, one of the companions accompanying Inquisitor Rostov, is obnoxious to the point of it feeling forced. Lacrante is bland to the point of being faceless. So although most of the characters are interesting and a strongpoint of this book, there are some misses for sure.

The book does a good job with tension, and although several threads are being followed – Rostov trying to figure out what is going on, Fabian finding himself and his Logos team sent to a world about to be attacked by a Word Bearers fleet and trying to figure out what Guilliman’s up to despite Lucerne’s tight lips, the Black Templars sections are great and feel quite unique. In fact, there are good, smaller set pieces here such as the Word Bearer Xhokol and his Khymera hounds or when the word bearers attack a Black Ship and we see the crew’s perspective at dealing with it

Final Score

For a lot of the reading of Throne of Light it was interesting, with good characters, some unique enough plotlines and developments and good tension. But it is anti-climactic and does suffer the problem of the Dawn of Fire series where, despite the series best efforts, it really does feel like it lacks gravitas. You come away from the book wondering why it felt like there was no real conclusion, even if the reading of it was pretty good. I can’t help but deduct a point or so for that, because although it was, for most of the book probably the most engaging book in the dawn of fire series, it comes away with a slightly bitter aftertaste. This detracts from some great scenes and encounters, the Black Templars, Fabian’s heroics and how characters play off one another. It’s worth reading for completion, but it’s also worth noting that none of the events really have much in the way of significance.

7/10