Wow. Dan Abnett is one of my favorite writers. He was able to write intrigue and secrecy in a way that had me questioning the very book I was reading. Best book in the horus heresy by far so far. ( )

Giving this a reread after a decade and I am pleased to learn that its better than I remember. Possibly the first BL novel to flesh out the Alpha Legion, a lot was riding on this book for us AL fanboys. Fortunately it delivers. The Legion are well-defined, their methods and behaviours not cliches. The humans are believable, the Cabal are alien. The plot is believable and well-paced, there's nothing here that can be cut. About as good as the wh40k universe gets! ( )

In my humble opinion, one of the best books Dan Abnett has ever written. He brings justice and detail to the idea of the 'Alpha Legion' in the 40k universe and his descriptions of their methods of war is exactly how I imagined them operating. The twists and turns and surprises of the story hold the readers attention from page to page. An exceptionally well written Sci-fi story and a must read for any 40k fan. A truly inspirational endeavour. ( )

My favorite of the Horus Heresy novels. It's more of a spy thriller, exactly what you'd want in an Alpha Legion novel. Barely scratches the surface of their secrets, but a good read nonetheless. ( )

This is a somewhat different approach to the Horus saga, as it focuses primarily on the Imperial army and what the reader would consider "normal" humans (as normal as humans of today could seem 30000 years in the future in regions far from here). The typical Emperor Astartes Legion is in more of a support role in this novel, and it took me about half of the book to adjust my thinking along those lines as the first six books was more of Legions' adventures literally thrown right in one's face. The basic premise: an alien race has the ability to forsee the coming Galactic Chaotic Civil War between humans and tries to implant a spy (John Grammaticus) into the Alpha Legion to warn them of the apocalypse in hopes the Alphas can prevent Chaos from ruling by helping to PROMOTE civil war and allowing Chaos to basically burn itself out quickly. This is a paradoxical twist that can be hard to digest for even dedicated Horus fans. I enjoyed the book, but here's hoping that future Horus novels further the saga more. ( )