Betrayer

This is one of my favorite Heresy novels, if not THE favorite. You get to see the World Eaters from the inside in a way that makes sense, while simultaneously getting a glimpse at what it will mean to be a Chaos Marine from Argel Tal of the Word Bearers, why someone might make such a choice, and how they might feel about the laughter of mad gods. This book is also full of small story seeds that I suspect we’ll see picked up later in the Heresy. What a ride!

Wow

ADB really adds depth to some great characters that we know from the 40k universe in this chapter of the Horus Heresy like Khârn, Angron, etc. All of this great character development however is laid low a lack of development of the World Eaters and Word Bearers adversaries who only seem to be able to match the witty remarks of the main characters with "For the Emperor" or something equally banal. Sadly this is a trend is many of his books where the Imperial characters just seem like dolts who never really stood a chance in the conflicts through out the book and therefor makes this reader wonder why they should even care what happens since it's a forgone conclusion. This coupled with deus ex machina type events that repeatedly save the skins or various characters to allow them continue out wit and vanquish inferior adversaries. An example of this is when Angron adverts death by catching a titan's foot before it stomps on him and Lorgar. I know the primarchs are supposed to be mighty but even this beyond the point which imagination just gets silly. Kept reading however because the characters were compelling enough.