Over the last few books, the Horus Heresy series has stepped away from the “present day” of the Heresy to cover some important prequel events. The two books created a “bookend” of sorts; we looked at the I Legion under Lion el’Jonson, and the XX Legion, the last to be established, under Alpharius. The I Legion, the Dark Angels, will be loyalists during the heresy (though ultimately with an entirely separate betrayal within their own ranks–but that’s a story for another day), while the XX Legion, the Alpha Legion, will join the traitors–but with a twist (that I won’t spoil again here!).
Now, though, it’s time to step back into the action. We’ve seen the two great ambushes that Horus orchestrated to purge as many loyalists as possible from his ranks–the ambush at Isstvan III, and the Dropsite Massacre at Isstvan V. But there are plenty of loyalist legions left, and they won’t stand idly by while Horus comes for the Emperor. They, too, must be taken down if Horus is to win this war. There is perhaps no more loyal legion than the XIII Legion, the Ultramarines, under their primarch Roboute Guilliman–and so they become the target for the traitor XVII Legion, the Word Bearers under Lorgar. Lorgar, you will recall, is the first Primarch to fall to Chaos, long before Horus; it was his machinations that led to the fall of Horus at Davin. This is a Legion totally given to Chaos; and they have plans to destroy the Ultramarines before the alarm can even be raised. And thus we come to Battle for the Abyss, by Ben Counter.
Spoilers ahead! If you want a more spoiler-free review, with just my thoughts on the book, skip ahead to the last dividing line in the post.
The Furious Abyss
Hidden in the depths of the solar system is the moon of Jupiter known as Thule. This minor celestial body has been hollowed out by the Mechanicum of Mars, then converted into a massive, single-use shipyard; and hidden inside that shipyard grows a monster. The Furious Abyss is a new creation, an Abyss-class battleship, the largest ever constructed by the Mechanicum. Its engines are enormous, its armament unmatched–and it is entirely under the command of the Word Bearers legion. It is early days in the Heresy, and most of the galaxy is unaware of the treachery of the Warmaster and his aligned Legions, which include the Word Bearers. But they will know soon enough; for the Heresy is about to announce itself. The Furious Abyss takes flight for Macragge, the homeworld of the Ultramarines, to set an ambush that will open the way for an invasion of the entire system, and the destruction of the XIII Legion.
I need to stop here and talk about the Mechanicum for a moment. Since the colonization of Mars many thousands of years ago, the planet has been its own entity, sometimes even rivaling Terra. It is wholly given over to the pursuit of technology, hence the name of its ruling organization: the Cult Mechanicus, or the Mechanicum. They are a religious body as well as a political one, seeking oneness with their proclaimed god, the Omnissiah. Much has been written over the years as to whether the Emperor is also the Omnissiah, and I won’t get into that here–but it’s the pretext of that claim that allowed the Emperor to ally the Imperium with the Mechanicum rather than try to conquer them. This alliance is the reason the Emperor’s symbol is the aquila–the double-headed eagle, with one head representing the Imperium, and the other representing the Mechanicum. Since that day, the two have functioned as one, with the Mechanicum cranking out the ships, armor, and weapons that the Great Crusade requires. Mars’s influence also covers other bodies in the solar system, such as the shipyards around Jupiter, which explains Thule’s selection for the construction of the Furious Abyss. At this time, it appears that elements in the Mechanicum–all the way up to their leader, the Fabricator-General–have decided to throw in their lot with the traitors.
I could not find art of the Furious Abyss.
All art is of the related Gothic battleship,
from which the Abyss-class design was drawn.
The Furious Abyss–or just Abyss, for convenience–is captained by a Word Bearers admiral named Zadkiel, who is a true zealot indeed, and also quite paranoid. They aren’t called the Word Bearers for nothing; their form of Chaos worship is a dedication to the Word of Lorgar. They literally have scriptures that guide them in the pursuit of Chaos. As a symbol of this, the Abyss carries an experimental weapon, a plasma lance, in its prow–which is shaped like a massive book of scriptures.
The Fist of Macragge
Somewhere between Terra and Macragge, an Ultramarines cruiser called the Fist of Macragge sails the void, captained by Brother-Captain Hektor. The ship has been recalled to Macragge (or Ultramar, as the system is called–it also includes the planet Calth, among others, all under the jurisdiction of the Ultramarines) to muster for a campaign to liberate the planet Veridan from the Orks. On the way, it is supposed to stop at Vangelis Spaceport, a popular transfer point, to pick up a contingent of Ultramarines who wait to join the campaign.
The ship never makes it to Vangelis. Instead, its proximity alarms sound as it suddenly encounters the largest ship any of the crew have ever seen. The Furious Abyss wastes no time; it immediately fires upon the hapless cruiser, testing its weapons. Hektor never gets a chance to learn the name of the ship that kills him–but he does manage to get the astropaths to send a warning.
Vangelis Spaceport
Let’s meet our protagonists! This story features a motley collection of Space Marines from various Legions, as well as Imperial Navy officers from the Saturnine Fleet, an older and storied fleet that is about to be retired. We have the Ultramarines who were waiting for the Fist of Macragge: Brother-Captain Cestus; his honor guard, consisting of Battle-Brothers Antiges, Saphrax, and Laeradis; and several unnamed squad members. There’s the VI Legion Space Wolves; it’s a small squad, led by Wolf Guard Captain Brynngar and his Battle-Brother Rujveld, and comprising several lower-ranked Blood Claws. There is a squad of the XII Legion World Eaters, Angron’s Legion (unaware that their Primarch and much of the Legion have turned traitor), led by Brother-Captain Skraal. And then there is a single representative of Magnus’s Legion, the Thousand Sons: the psyker Brother-Sergeant Mhotep, who serves as fleet captain of the ship Waning Moon. From the Saturnine Fleet, we have Rear Admiral Kaminska, captaining the Wrathful; her helmsmistress, Venkmeyer; and her Principal Navigator, Orcadus. The Wrathful will be accompanied by four escort attack ships; also, a Captain Vorlov, of the mothballed ship Boundless, will bring his ship and crew to join them..
All of the above are stationed at Vangelis Spaceport, awaiting various assignments. Cestus, Antiges, and Brynngar are old friends, having fought many battles together. The World Eaters, on the other hand, are looked upon cautiously by all others involved; their inheritance of their gene-father Angron’s renowned fury and battle-rage, makes them a bit suspect in everyone’s eyes. Mhotep keeps to himself until things kick off; and the Saturnine fleet staff–well, they’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Interstellar communication is a tricky thing. It can only be done via psyker, aka astropath; and astropaths are not known for transmitting text very well. They communicate instead in images and feelings, which must be parsed and interpreted. That would make things difficult enough; but when the message–no, the psychic death scream–from the Fist of Macragge comes in, it’s so overwhelming that a burst of power escapes from the receiving astropaths, damaging the station. Cestus, Antiges, and Brynngar leap into action to shut down the damaged main reactor; but in the process, Cestus gets caught in the psychic blast, and gets a vision of the projected course of the as-yet-unknown Abyss: Macragge. He knows, with a cold certainty, that the ship is going to attack Macragge. Worse, it is accompanied by a disturbance in the Warp that prevents communication; there is no way to warn either Macragge or Terra in time. Cestus will be forced to act.
A Desperate Alliance
Cestus calls a conference of all the available Astartes. Over their objections, he lays out what he knows: that the unknown ship has destroyed the Fist of Macragge; caused the inadvertent damage to Vangelis; and is en route to Macragge for some form of ambush. Then, he demands an alliance to stop the Abyss.
It’s a difficult thing to ask. One would be hard pressed to find a more disparate group of Astartes than the Ultramarines, Space Wolves, and World Eaters. It is made worse when, for reasons of his own, Mhotep arrives and volunteers himself and his ship and crew. Mhotep is a psyker, as is his entire Legion, and this does not sit well with Brynngar; the tension between the two will be an ongoing problem. (At this point the Council of Nikaea has already passed, and Magnus’s legion was censured for their sorcery; most legions still have their psyker Librarians, but the actions of the Thousand Sons are a step too far for many. It doesn’t help that Mhotep is here for reasons he determined through psychic divination.) But somehow, through sheer force of will, Cestus obtains the commitment of the others. At the same time, his honor guard is busy commandeering ships; and the flotilla they acquire happens to be that of Admiral Kaminska, who–in addition to the prospective mothballing of her fleet–is near retirement herself. She, too, will be a source of contention, as she simmers under Cestus’s command of her fleet; but the knowledge of the end of her career will drive her to give everything to this cause.
It’s a small fleet of seven ships that departs Vangelis: The Wrathful; its four escorts, Fearless, Ferox, Ferocious, and Fireblade; the Boundless; and Mhotep’s Waning Moon. The ships set off in pursuit of the Fearless Abyss, hoping to catch it before it can reach the Tertiary Coreward Transit, a major route through the Warp.
Meanwhile, Zadkiel sharpens his weapons, in the figurative sense. He deals with a young and ambitious Word Bearer named Ultis, whom he begins to shape into a weapon to hurl at his enemies–both to defeat his opponents, and to remove a potential rival. He is interrupted when the Abyss’s sensors detect the approaching fleet.
First Engagement
Perhaps things might have gone very differently in this book if Cestus and his people had known about the Heresy. As it is, they will hold back at first, unable to believe that other Astartes could have turned on the Ultramarines. But the message had made it clear: These were Word Bearers, brother Astartes. It seems impossible to believe. Nevertheless, Cestus sends in one of the escorts to make first contact, with Mhotep’s ship following along.
Zadkiel refuses to answer any hails; but he chooses instead to make contact with Mhotep, hoping to bring the psyker over to his side. The attempt fails; and the Abyss opens fire. The Fearless is destroyed in the first salvo, and the Waning Moon is struck and damaged. Cestus gives the order to engage and destroy–to break the Abyss in two.
As the battle heats up, Zadkiel releases the first of many unexpected weapons. Torpedoes strike the Waning Moon, but they seem to do no damage–until they begin chewing through the hull. Once penetrated, they explode inside the ship’s armor. A chain reaction begins that will ultimately scuttle the ship–but for now, it holds on and continues firing.
The Abyss weathers the attack, returning fire, but taking no decisive action; and so the Boundless launches fighters and attack craft. It looks promising–until the attack ships’ crews begin to turn on their pilots, killing them and causing the ships to crash against the Abyss’s hull. It suddenly becomes clear that this battle isn’t just conventional; it includes a psychic attack from the Word Bearers, driving crew members to turn on their own.
The escort ships move in to attack, and it seems the Abyss is just going to allow it–until the giant book that comprises the ship’s figurehead begins to open. It reveals a massive gun barrel–an experimental plasma lance. The weapon fires, shearing off the rear third of the Waning Moon, and setting the ship into its death spiral.
No one has ever seen such a weapon in action, but Cestus has heard of it, though that is little help now. Mhotep, having survived the blast, is unable to contact the Wrathful; but he manages to escape his dying ship in a life pod. The Abyss turns its attentions to the Boundless, which is already suffering damage; at Kaminska’s direction, Vorlov breaks for an escape via Warp. That leaves only the Wrathful, Ferox, Ferocious, and Fireblade in action. The Abyss launches fighters–something that typical doctrine says that no ship can do, when also bearing such monstrous onboard weaponry–and begins overwhelming the escorts. At last the squadron must disengage; but the Ferox is unable to escape, and is destroyed. Many of its crew escape in life pods. The Ferocious dies next, its bridge destroyed and its command crew dead. The Abyss pulls away, heading for Warp, but it takes time to intercept and destroy the Boundless on the way; it softens the ship up with more hull-breaching torpedoes and magnetic pulse torpedoes, then finishes it with the plasma lance.
The Wrathful fakes an escape, to hide their pursuit of the Abyss. As the crews of the Wrathful and the Fireblade regroup, they take a moment to gather strength and make repairs. They collect lifepods, including Mhotep’s. Further, they try again to contact Terra and Macragge, only to find something horrible: Not only is contact impossible, but the Astronomican–the Emperor’s psychic beacon that enables Warp navigation–has vanished! It appears obscured by Warp storms, which seem to have arisen at the worst possible time. Nevertheless, they follow the Word Bearers into the Warp.
Cestus takes this opportunity to reinforce his coalition and his authority. The various dispositions of the Astartes, as well as Kaminska, are beginning to wear at the bonds between them. Nevertheless, he manages to hold things together–for now.
Aboard the Abyss, we get a glimpse of how the psychic attack was carried out. The Word Bearers employ supplicants: mutated psykers whose powers are reinforced through suffering and the Warp. With the supplicants, they can bend the Warp to their needs, and set any number of tactics in motion. However, doing so is strenuous, and in each effort, some supplicants die. Three have been lost already. Zadkiel doesn’t care; it’s a worthy cause, in his eyes. And he now employs them a second time: He launches some into the void, where their psychic death scream has an unprecedented effect: It collapses the Tertiary Coreward Transit entirely–with the pursuing ships inside.
Through the Warp
The Warp is always dangerous. There is always a risk of psychosis, mutation, and even death when passing through it. Worse, if the ship’s Gellar fields collapse, things out in the Warp can get inside. With the collapse of the Transit, the first risk became reality, and crewmembers began to suffer and die. As well, contact with the Fireblade was instantly lost. As the crew struggled to restore order, Cestus and his men debated how to deal with the Abyss–if they can even catch it. At the same time, he is forced to negotiate rising hostilities between Brynngar and Mhotep.
Kaminska’s navigator, Orcadus, explains the situation with the Transit. The Warp is like a wilderness, crossed by (mostly) stable and safe roads; but now the road they were on has vanished, and there is only wilderness. The only option is to follow the Abyss as closely as possible–but it will be neither safe nor easy, and dangerous things live in the Warp.
Things come to a head with Kaminska, as she finally rebels, verbally at least, against Cestus’s seizure of her authority. However, to her great surprise, Cestus admits his error, and apologizes. Thereafter, the Admiral recommits herself to the cause. However, before they can proceed any further, the Gellar field blinks–and something finds its way in.
Aboard the Fireblade, the crew falls victim to Warp psychosis–and something worse. We don’t get to see the full damage here, but we next see the ship coming in to dock with the Wrathful. Kaminska allows it, against her better judgment–something is off, here. Before the Wrathful’s crew can respond, they find themselves swarmed with daemonic presences, manifesting inside the ship. The crew mounts a defense, but it falls on the Astartes to do the dirty work; and they do, taking the battle down to the docking level. However, this is a battle against the Warp, and arms alone won’t prevail; and so Mhotep forces the other Astartes out of the dock, stating he will seal it from inside and activate its auto-destruct sequence. Mhotep strips the illusion off the entities, and finds them to be all extensions of one creature, which has completely possessed the Fireblade. He brings his full power to bear, and banishes it back to the Warp. Mhotep survives, though unconscious, but it is revealed to Brynngar that he only did so via “sorcery”. To keep the peace, Cestus is forced to confine Mhotep to a cell.
Second Engagement
While the damage to the Abyss was not substantial, it *was* substantial enough to require some work before pushing on to Macragge. Only one suitable shipyard lies within range–the shipyard at Bakka Triumveron. It’s here that the ship would be at its most vulnerable, a fact known to both Cestus and Zadkiel–but, Zadkiel thinks they’ve lost their pursuers. Cestus presses the advantage and sets an ambush.
The shipyards are a ring of orbital platforms around the planet, each with its bubble of atmosphere. The loyalist marines come at the Abyss from its blind side, which means crossing a section of the ring on foot. They deploy in squads that quickly get separated; their goal is to fight their way to the ship and board it before it can take off again. Along the way, the World Eaters, in an attempt to stoke the fires of their combat rage, kill a number of civilians.
Let’s talk Space Marines for a second. Although all Astartes have the same basic design, the legions vary in the specifics of how their genetics play out; each Legion’s genetics are based on their own Primarch, who differs subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) from the other Primarchs. This means that sometimes a Legion’s geneseed–the organs that alter their genetics and make them into Astartes–will have a flaw that affects their capabilities, behavior, or both. Add to this the fact that the Primarchs are a varied bunch of people, with vastly different leadership styles, and one Legion suddenly doesn’t look much like the others. With the World Eaters, Angron’s Legion, the consensus seems to be that their geneseed wasn’t truly flawed; but it did tend to push the World Eaters to be angry, brutal, and relentless, much like their Primarch. Then, as well, Angron was raised as a slave in the gladiator pits of Nuceria, and was implanted with a terrible piece of old technology called the Butcher’s Nails. This brain implant made him even more brutal, subject to terrible rages that made him almost unstoppable in battle. Upon becoming Primarch of the World Eaters, he reverse-engineered the device and had nearly all his Astartes implanted with it–making them also prone to such fury and rage. That rage is powerful, but also feeds on violence; and so, when the World Eaters kill the civilians here, they consider it to be an acceptable action in order to be ready before they reach the Word Bearers–but it’s going to come back on them later.
In the end, the battle outside the Abyss is short but brutal. One important Word Bearer–Baelanos, Zadkiel’s second in command–gets crushed; he lives, and is recovered by his fellows, but is badly injured. We’ll come back to him later. Of the loyalists, only one–the World Eater captain, Skraal–makes it aboard the ship and survives. He is forced into hiding inside the guts of the ship, hunted by the Word Bearer Reskiel, Zadkiel’s third in command. The other World Eaters are killed; most, but not all, of the other loyalists make it back to the Wrathful as the Abyss launches again. Notably, Cestus’s friend and second, Antiges, is killed–but Brynngar manages to take a prisoner: the young Word Bearer, Ultis.
While all this is happening, the Word Bearers are preparing their next strategem: They are rousing someone named Wsoric.
Toward Macragge
Brynngar’s men attempt to torture and interrogate Ultis, but with no success. With no choice left, Cestus is forced to release Mhotep to psychically interrogate the Word Bearer; this decision is nearly a breaking point between Cestus and Brynngar. Mhotep also warns Cestus about the sentient beings of the Warp, before going to deal with Ultis.
While this is going on, the Wrathful comes under attack by Warp entities again; and one of them finds a way inside, possessing a man on the ship’s lance (i.e. energy cannon) decks. The resulting creature begins killing everyone on the deck. Cestus and his remaining honor guard attack the creature; quickly afterward, Brynngar and his men join them. After a few more deaths, they are rescued by Mhotep, who–having broken Ultis–now comes and uses his powers against the beast. He no longer has reason to hide his power from the others, and so he uses it freely here. As soon as it is vanquished, he passes out.
Aboard the Abyss, Skraal has an encounter with Zadkiel, who tries to tempt him to change sides, castigating him for his slaughter of the innocent civilians; but Skraal resists the temptation, and flees deeper into the ship. Over the rest of the Warp transit, he will lose his sense of time, and very nearly his sanity, as he tries to stay alive. Eventually he discovers Antiges’s remains, and learns they have been used for the sacrifice that will summon the Warp entity, Wsoric. He watches as the apothecaries use the remains for divination, determining that the mission is still unknown to Macragge.
Brynngar has finally had enough of Cestus’s sanction of Mhotep. He challenges Cestus to a duel for control of the expedition. It’s a tight battle, and Brynngar clearly has the advantage; but in a clever trick, Cestus manages to win, much to the relief of everyone watching. Later, Brynngar agrees to submit to Cestus, but warns him to keep Mhotep away. It seems Cestus has won the battle, but lost a friend. Shortly thereafter, Brynngar has a vision of his youthful trials on his homeworld; and Mhotep wakes up.
Mhotep uses his powers to push the information he gained into Cestus’s mind. Cestus considers it a violation, but, ever the pragmatist, he will use the information anyway. He learns that the Word Bearers plan to destroy Macragge’s second moon, Formaska, sending fragments to rain down on the surface. This will keep the planet and its fleets busy, while the main force of the Word Bearer fleet destroys the muster point at Calth, thus eliminating most of the Ultramarines before turning back on Macragge itself. At Macragge they will use virus bombs to kill anything still living. Mhotep reveals that he came here because he had traced his destiny to this point, and knew he had to be here to resist the traitors.
As the Abyss presses toward Macragge, a warp storm strikes the Wrathful, the first sign of Wsoric’s presence.
Formaska
As the Wrathful fights through the storm, Cestus calls a final conference and reveals the Word Bearers’ plan. He and Kaminska make a plan–but it will be the final plan. It is unlikely anyone will walk away from this fight.
The Abyss leaves the Warp near Formaska. The Wrathful follows shortly thereafter as the Abyss prepares to bombard the planet. The two ships join battle, and the Wrathful is quickly crippled; but it launches shuttles toward the Abyss. The plan is to get in through the Abyss’s open torpedo tubes before they can be closed–and this close, it has a chance of succeeding.
Most of the Astartes, and a few of Kaminska’s guardsmen, make it aboard. (Mhotep is not among them–we’ll get back to him.) The Astartes begin fanning out through the gun decks, destroying what they can–but they know it won’t be sufficient. With the final battle at hand, Zadkiel pulls out all the stops; he sends Reskiel and a number of the Word Bearers to intercept the loyalists, and then releases the remaining supplicants to lead a psychic attack. Cestus still intends for now to destroy the cyclonic torpedoes that would shatter Formaska. One of his battle-brothers, badly wounded, sacrifices himself to set off the detonator that will destroy the cyclonics.
At that moment, the supplicants strike. Cestus finds himself in the midst of a long, repetitive vision of hell, in which he fails, over and over again. Brynngar also suffers a vision, in which he is fully a wolf–and unknowingly, he kills his own “pack”, his Blood Claws. Meanwhile, back on the crippled Wrathful, Kaminska orders her crew to evacuate, but the bridge crew requests to go down with her and the ship. Kaminska accepts, and honors them, but it is cut short when the Helmsmistress, Venkmeyer, falls ill. Kaminska realizes that a daemon has possessed her, and tries to kill her, but it is too late.
By the time Mhotep frees himself from his cell, the ship is weirdly vacant. He arrives at the bridge just in time to see Kaminska die at the hands of the daemon in Venkmeyer’s body. The creature erupts from Venkmeyer’s form, and becomes a massive, scorpionlike creature–this is Wsoric, fully manifested at the behest of the Word Bearers. It has gorged itself on the crew, and has grown powerful–but Mhotep is ready for it.
Brynngar shakes off his vision and is horrified by what he has done; but he stays focused. He finds himself in the weapons lockers, where he encounters Baelanos–who is midway through the transformation into a dreadnought. Dreadnoughts in 40K are oversized suits of armor, in which an otherwise mortally wounded Astartes is permanently sealed (or “entombed”, as they phrase it), in order to keep fighting. They are long-lived and powerful–but Baelanos is only halfway there, and his armor isn’t sealed or complete. Brynngar engages him.
Cestus survives and escapes his own vision, defeating his own doubts and fears. He fights his way through another squad of Word Bearers, and manages to reach the armories. But before he arrives, Baelanos is about to kill Brynngar–until Skraal, somehow still alive, manages to finish off the would-be dreadnought.
As Mhotep’s battle with Wsoric carries him throughout the failing Wrathful, Cestus, Brynngar, and Skraal restock their weapons and head for the Abyss’s reactor decks. One round of cyclonics has been destroyed–but there are still options left to the Word Bearers, and the only chance is to destroy the ship. And the only way to do that is to blow up the main plasma reactor–much as nearly happened to Vangelis station.
Final Engagements
On the bridge, Zadkiel’s high priest, Ikthalon, attempts a coup, but is killed for his trouble. At the same time, the loyalists reach the reactor deck and engage the Word Bearers there, preventing the ship from activating its engines. Zadkiel sends Reskiel to intervene. Skraal turns the tables on Reskiel’s men, hunting them one by one and ripping them apart. He kills Reskiel, and rejoins Cestus and Brynngar to head to the main reactor. The losses prompt Zadkiel to take the matter into his own hands, and he heads down to lead the defense.
Mhotep is dying of his wounds. Wsoric exults in his supremacy, insisting that there was no chance of Mhotep killing him–but, that was never the plan. Mhotep reveals that he only intended to wound Wsoric badly enough to stop him from sustaining his presence in realspace, sending him back to the Warp. He sets off his remaining grenades, inflicting the final damage that sends Wsoric back; he is caught in the explosion, but lives long enough to watch Formaska approach as the dead Wrathful crashes.
At the enormous main reactor, Zadkiel arrives just before the loyalists can head inside. Skraal buys time by attacking the Word Bearers, though it will be suicide. Just outside the radiation shield, Cestus asks Brynngar for his remaining grenades; but, knowing it will be a one way trip, Brynngar hits Cestus and stuns him. He asks his old friend to avenge him; then he takes the grenades and goes inside.
Above, Zadkiel kills Skraal–but not before Skraal cuts off half of Zadkiel’s gun hand. Zadkiel goes to take the others, though it is too late…inside the reactor, Brynngar primes his bombs, and then leaps into the reactor core.
The explosion begins a chain reaction through the entire reactor network. Zadkiel, knowing his ship is going to die, runs for the shuttle bay to escape. There he meets Cestus, and the two fight their final duel. Even now, throughout it all, Zadkiel–zealot to the end–tries to convince Cestus of the rightness of the traitor cause; but he fails. With a final blow, Cestus cuts off his head. Then, at last, he awaits the destruction of the Furious Abyss, and his own death, knowing he has done his duty and completed his mission.
That was a long summary!
Battle for the Abyss is no longer than the other books we’ve seen (or at least not much longer); but it crams an amazing amount of action into its pages. There’s no careful setup here, no backstory; it barely delves into the progress of the Heresy at all. Instead it leaps into the fray, guns drawn and chainsword whirring, and never stops, right up to the final lines.
The obvious downside is that one cannot start here. You’ll be utterly lost if you do. Who are the Word Bearers? Why are they traitors? Why does no one know what’s happening? How did we get here? You’d have no idea! But, we didn’t start here, and so we can appreciate this story for what it is.
The other important point is that this is only half a story. The overarching story is the battle for Macragge and Ultramar, the planet and system of the Ultramarines legion. But, that battle happens in at least two parts: The attack of the Furious Abyss on Macragge itself, and the attack by the rest of the Word Bearers fleet on the Ultramarines muster point at the planet Calth. We only get the barest glimpses of the attack on Calth–actually, all we get is some of the lead-up to that battle. We’ll have to wait for another time to find out what happens there. This is emphasized by the book’s ending; when Cestus dies, the story ends, because it’s strictly told from the point of view of internal characters (who, spoiler, are all dead by then).
Cestus is a true soldier of Ultramar, through and through. Space Marines are known glory-hounds, regardless of their Legion; it’s a major motivation for them. Cestus carries out his mission, knowing it will be fatal to everyone involved, knowing full well that no one will ever know their story, that no glory will accrue to their names, because there’s no one left to carry the word of their exploits. He does it anyway, and never flinches. In so doing, he pulls together some very disparate warriors, and somehow makes a unit out of them. He dies knowing his only consolation is seeing his homeworld safe–not a small thing, no, but very lonely as consolation goes.
I wouldn’t want every book to be like this. I don’t think that dropping us in with no context, nothing to link to the larger narrative, is always the best tactic. It works here, though, and that is enough for me this time.
If we’re looking for a comparison from outside the 40K fandom, I’d go with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. You have the same tale of a ragtag group of warriors, full of conflicting motivations and secrets, taking on themselves a one-way mission to save millions of lives from a massive, spacefaring, technological threat. You can carry the comparison all the way down to the one character who is visibly supernatural in nature, and the final battle against the enemy’s leader. None of the protagonists survive–they’ll never even know for sure if they were successful, because elsewhere, the battle still rages. But they know, before they die, that what they’ve done will give their people a fighting chance. It’s a thing of beauty, if horrifically tragic!
One thing I love is the way the various Astartes here are portrayed. The Ultramarines and the Space Wolves will remain loyalist, so we’re glimpsing them in their prime, via their representatives here. We get their differences highlighted while still seeing the camaraderie and companionship they feel. Then there’s the Thousand Sons, represented by Mhotep, and the World Eaters. Those legions will ultimately be traitors–in fact, the World Eaters already are; it’s just that this squad is isolated and doesn’t know it. So, we get an exceedingly rare glimpse of them as loyalists, before their fall. I especially loved seeing Skraal, the World Eater captain, having his internal struggle against both the temptation to heresy, and his own impulses. We don’t often get to see World Eaters be true heroes (or so it appears, anyway), but Skraal is every bit a hero, no matter how much he scares the hell out of Cestus and the others. As for Mhotep…well, the topic of psykers in 40K is always going to be complicated, and this is no exception. But he’s an honorable man, and determined to stand against corruption, and soon enough that quality will also be in short supply among his legion. We’ll take it while we can get it.
If I were rating these novels–and again, I’m not–I wouldn’t put this one near the top; but not because it’s bad. It’s just that this book is not a very general sort of book–it’s very targeted, very precise. I certainly enjoyed it, but again, you wouldn’t start here, and you need the background of at least the opening trilogy in order to understand it. I have to take a few points off for that. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad book, and I definitely enjoyed it; so, if you’ve read everything up to this point, absolutely make sure you don’t miss this one. Besides, we still have the second half of the story to tell!
Next time: We’re going to divert a bit and start looking at the supplementary series, the Primarchs of the Horus Heresy series. These short novels, one to each Primarch (or almost all of them, anyway) are intended to shed more light on the Primarchs and how they became who they are. I’m not going to tackle them in order–they aren’t in chronological order anyway–but rather, as a Primarch rises to prominence in the Heresy series, we’ll pick up his Primarch novel. We’ll begin with Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix, by Josh Reynolds. And when we get back to the main series, we’ll pick up with book nine, Mechanicum, by Graham McNeill! See you there.
The Horus Heresy series, and other Warhammer 40,000 novels, may be purchased from the Black Library, or from many booksellers.
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