Magnus the Red: Master of Prospero

Primarchs: The Horus Heresy, Book 3

By: Graham McNeill

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Lord of the mystical and uncanny, Magnus the Red has long studied the ancient crafts of sorcery. A psyker without peer, save only for the Emperor himself, he commands his loyal followers of the Thousand Sons Legion in the Great Crusade, though also vigilant for any lost knowledge they might recover from the remains of dead human civilisations.

Now, fighting alongside his brother Perturabo of the Iron Warriors, Magnus begins to foresee an approaching nexus of fate - will he remain true to their mutual aims or divert his own efforts towards furthering his own mastery of the warp?

©2016 Games Workshop Limited (P)2017 Games Workshop Limited

Excessive Excess

There's a decent amount of good stuff here, I enjoyed it for sure. But there were so many moments of such extreme that it could fill several books with an appropriate volume of tension. Between the hand-waving magic stuff and constant escalation of crisis, its teeth were made dull by the end.

Great story.

Graham writes perty the best. It was really cool seeing early crusade primarchs in action

Some weird voices

I found it strange that a primarch and some space marines have goblinish voices. The story was OK; there are some twists towards the end. Not too much to do with the Horus Heresy though.

The best...

Primarch(s) story in this particular series. It's almost as much Perturabo's story as much as it is Magnus's. and old Pert shines here.

Marvelous Magical Mischief!

Magnus has and will always be one of my favs and this book makes me love him even more. I also helped me understand Pertrabo and Forrix better along with Arhimen. These guys Betraying the Imperium is hard to believe more and more the more you know about them.

A Great Book

a great book about the Crimson King, Magnus the Red. Loved listening to it while painting minis

Amazing read

this book is fantastic for anyone who is a fan of the thousand Suns. and the performance is one of the best I've experienced.

Crimson King

It’s a good book overall. But I feel it could do more to elaborate on the details inside the story.

A phenomenal story for Thousand Sons and Iron Warriors fans

This was a wonderful look back to the early days of both the IVth and XV legions in their earliest days.

Magnus AND Perturabo, brotherhood and horror

This is a great book, if only it were a bit longer. If you are a fan of Angel Exterminatus, this novel stands as a bit of a prequel. Not a literal one, but a prequel in spirit. If you wish there were more books like AE, look no further, I'd say this is it. You get Perturabo, Forrix and what I refer to as the true main character of the IVth Legion, The Iron; that unique philosophy of strength that lifts off of the pages and into your being if you are a true fan.

But of course, duh, this story truly belongs to Magnus. But this is a Magnus I've never seen before. It takes place before the fall of either Primarch, and it's poignant to glimpse the humanity they had, as well as the seeds of darkness already present.

The story is extremely compelling. Just as you start loving it, you realize just how little of it is left. McNeill packed a lot of concepts and ideas into a 5 something hour audiobook. I think it easily could've been 8 and would've been even better than it is. As you listen, you'll find yourself rewinding to hear parts of it again. The book does suffer from moving a bit too fast. I'd say 90% of the fans that purchase this truncated story will listen multiple times. There's no way you can catch every nuance in one listening. It is unfortunate how short it is. It's also unfortunate that there's some inconsistencies in the character's voices. Keeble is a true master, but the way the HH series jumps around in time probably didn't allow him to nail down his characters' voices so that they're consistent across multiple books. It's a small matter, but you'll notice it if you've been following the franchise.

This is essential reading for both Iron Warriors and Thousand Sons fans. It's titled for Magnus and it is his story, but it's nearly just a much Perturabo's. McNeill is the master of literary heavy metal and this is one of his best.