Audio Review // Sermon of Exodus by David Annandale

The Sermon of Exodus is a short story published in the War Without End. The cover image used is that of War Without End, as the Sermon of Exodus has not been released separately. A minor spoiler is that the Sermon of Exodus is a prequel to the events of Book 30, The Damnation of Pythos. It is annoying that it came out afterwards. This seems like a running issue with the short stories of the Horus Heresy series.

Title: Sermon of Exodus

Author: David Annandale

Fluff: In the wake of Horus' miraculous recovery on Davin, the Davinites begin an exodus to the stars, joining with the Traitor Legions, to whom they will offer the power of the Dark Gods.

Review

That is a short commercial fluff without any description, which sadly sums up the story. This was the most challenging audio story to listen to to date. I struggled to get into it, which was a real shame. I’ve enjoyed David Annandale stories in the past so to have this story fail so hard is a disappointment. It is a prequel to The Damnation of Pythos and provides some extra background for the events and characters, which would have been great to have before reading that novel (thanks, Black Library). It helps better explain the Lodges and their ongoing role within the traitor legions. But that is it for the highlights for me. The main character, Tsi Rekh, is the prophesied one who would lead the Davinites to more greatness in the eyes of the Gods (so much ego in the 30k, haha). But that never seemed to lead anywhere and just fell flat for me. I'm not sure what to say; it just left me feeling meh.

Ultimately, from a lore viewpoint, this is worth listening to. However, for enjoyment, I would move on to a different story. I appreciate you stopping by to read this, and I hope you will be back soon!