The First Wall
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4.4 • 126 Ratings
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- £5.49
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
Siege of Terra Book 3
The outer defences have fallen, and the walls of the Imperial Palace await the Traitors. Perturabo is determined to tear down the mighty edifices his brother and bitter rival Rogal Dorn has built – but first he must take the Lion's Gate Spaceport, so that his heaviest weapons can land…
READ IT BECAUSE
It's time for Rogal Dorn's defences get their real test – the attention of Perturabo and the Iron Warriors. The irresistible force meets the immovable object – and carnage ensues.
THE STORY
The war for the fate of mankind blazes on. Though the outer defences have fallen, the walls of the Palace itself remain inviolate as Rogal Dorn, the Praetorian of Terra himself, uses every known stratagem and ploy to keep Horus' vast armies at bay. In Perturabo, the Traitor siegebreaker, Dorn faces an adversary worthy of his skill. A terrible, grinding attrition ensues. The crucial battle for the Lion's Gate spaceport is at the heart of this conflict. With it in their possession, the Traitors can land their most devastating weapons on Terran soil. Dorn knows it must not fall. But with enemies attacking from within as well as without and the stirrings of the neverborn drawn to the slaughter, can the Imperial defenders possibly prevail?
Written by Gav Thorpe
Customer Reviews
Solid like its protagonists
This is 3 story arcs but the main one is perhaps the dullest. This is the Iron Warriors vs The Imperial Fists. They’re both bloody minded and strategic without much flair. Consequently the writing of their engagements tends to be fairly dry and tactical - more grinding battle report than rousing fiction. For those who love their war stories more like a breakdown, this will be more fun than it was for me.
Story arc 2 is the wars of faith, daemonic cults and Emperor worship coming to a head in an atheistic society. This was better than I expected as it becomes more of a horror-detective strand. Much more character and intrigue than simple bolter fire.
Story arc 3 is probably the one many won’t enjoy but I found pretty intriguing. Following a group of army conscripts from Africa to the Himalayas as they go to fight a war that’s not always seen the same way by the mortals. The twist is well telegraphed in advance but it was interesting to follow the lowly folks and not just endless space marine heroics.
Gav Thorpe isn’t my favourite of the Heresy writers but I think he took a few brave moves here with arcs 2 and 3. It’s a pity arc 1 drags them down but I don’t feel he cared that much how the big siege events were going as much as he did for the smaller insidious moments.
Slow
The main story is great, with the battle over the space port and the intrigue over religion inside the walls. The overall story arc advances nicely.
However there is an absolutely pointless storyline about imperial troops and a young girl rushing to get Terra that is boring, slow and ultimately goes nowhere. The key moment of this story could have been dealt with in a short aside paragraph- but clearly there was a need to fill around 80 pages with chaff.
The story continues
There are moments in this book which could easily not be there to make it faster. And I missed the reasons why Addaba people turned traitors (spoilers alert)
But in overall it is good book showing deeps and nuances of the battle of Terra. Good read.