Audio Review // Vengeful Spirit by Graham McNeill

A bit of a change of pace this week. I recently found myself struggling to want to read a Horus Heresy novel (maybe I went to hard reading them). So I decided to take a break and read some xenomorph-themed books. But not wishing to lose my momentum, I instead turned to Audible for aid.

Title: Vengeful Spirit

Author: Graham McNeill.

Listening time: 15 hrs and 11 mins. Audible affiliate link so I can get a little kickback.

Fluff:

On the planet of Molech, the Titan Legions go to war against the armies of Horus.

Once the favoured son of the Emperor of Mankind, the name of Horus has become a curse to the loyal defenders of the Imperium, and a rallying call to the traitor forces tearing across the galaxy. While their allies wage war on a thousand different fronts, the XVIth Legion descend upon the Knight World of Molech & home to House Devine and their feudal levies, and a principal seat of Imperial military power. Just what could have drawn Horus to attack such a strongly defended planet, and what might he be willing to sacrifice to fulfill his own dark destiny?

Review

Finally, the Heresy story arc moves forwards. It is a very small, dull step, but it is a step. There seems to be four storylines all happening at once and the story jumps between all of them. This for me I find distracting and have complained in the past about this series doing this, and it caused me to have to relisten to parts as I got lost between characters. I do wish we didn’t have to rely on this tactic. Could have had the book broken into four parts that then merged for the fifth and final section to show how the stories all concluded.

Up first was the Loken story - Loken (back from the dead sands of Isstvan) leads a squad of Knights (see the collected Garro stories - which annoyingly comes later unless you read out of sequence), as they infiltrate the Vengeful Spirit. Their goal is to mark a pathway for Leman Russ' Space Wolf forces to follow, allowing the loyal son the chance to execute Horus. Full of death and action, with a few part-time characters from other stories getting some page time. This is more a prequel to a future novel and should have been its own short story. This is a good solid section of the book.

Then we have the House Devine Story. It involves a character I loved hating, and his story is hard to explain without giving away too much. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book, but once more could have been written as its own short story and would have been a great one.

The third arc is Primarch Horus' story. The attempt to rediscover his forgotten past. He knows he has visited Molech with the Emperor, he knows something important had happened...but what? Turns out we officially get the story behind how the Emperor got his epic powers. Though interesting at times, I found this arc of the storytelling a bit dull. Sometimes I liked Horus and his sons, whilst other times I was just waiting for Loken once more. He didn't seem impressive at all and has lost a lot of his spark of the earlier books. This section of the book was “Meh” to be honest.

Then the last arc is made up of everything else in between, we have another perpetual character appearing with another dull story to tell (I’m not a fan of these characters, it feels like a forced way of having a normal human surviving in a galaxy where they should be dead). We also have small groups of Ultramarines and Blood Angels, that seemed rather flat and lifeless and didn't really improve the story in any meaningful way. Then the Deathguard are also involved but seem to have become just whipping boys of the Sons of Horus, what the heck? A lot of unneeded filler that could have been left out.

I am glad I chose to listen to this book, not sure I could have read this one, without being utterly confussed. I am also not sure if I missed something whilst listening, as I see a lot of positive reviews of this book, but I just don't get sadly.

As always, I thank you for reading. I hope you will take a moment to let me know what I am missing and will join me again soon.