Old Earth

The Horus Heresy, Book 47

By: Nick Kyme

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Reborn in body and spirit beneath Mount Deathfire, the primarch Vulkan gathers his most trusted sons and prepares for the final part of his journey. 

The Legions shattered at Isstvan V have stalled the Warmaster’s advance across the galaxy, but fresh cracks are spreading through the alliance between the Iron Hands, Salamanders and Raven Guard, along with mysterious rumours of the return of Ferrus Manus. Haunted by a sense of destiny unfulfilled, Vulkan must choose between joining their war of vengeance against the traitors and following his own barely understood path all the way to the Throneworld itself.

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

Several HO hum short Stories

I was disappointed with this short story collection. Even though A lot of the stories were a continuation of earlier tales that Jonathan Keeble has read, his character voices were all different and the overall writing of the stories was subpar they were just boring. I think he is an amazing reader and his voice is awesome the accents he used were just different and the plot lines of the Heresy story jumped all over the place. I expected to take another step toward the gates of Terra instead it felt like this book was two steps back

Easily one of the more entertaining 40k books.

I listened to this audiobook in hopes of learning more about Salamanders and Vulkan, particularly after the events at Istvaan. You do learn some about them but not much. The story itself is quite good though and I especially enjoyed the Iron Hands arc and all its zaniness. The narrator does an absolutely fantastic job and I'll gladly listen to any other audiobooks read by him. He goes to great lengths to do voices, proper voice acting and is an overall joy, barring a few select characters that seem almost forced (particularly Aug and the Great Unclean One near the end of the book).

This story managed to hold my attention entirely and I almost finished it in 2 days while working. Great read. Highly recommended.

Underrated

Okay so I’m a bit biased. Salamanders were my first army as a kid, before I even really knew how to make an informed choice on what I wanted to play - and they turned out to be the ones I would’ve picked anyways. My second army that I collected was Eldar. So the idea of a Vulkan/Eldrad book was obviously very appealing.

That said, I genuinely thought it was pretty good. Yes, some of the characters were flat. No I’m not sure I needed so much Iron 10th stuff along the way. But given where the universe is now in the 41st Millennium and Eldrad’s work to awake Ynnead, watching him twist fate 11,000 years earlier - presumably to set events on a course that could lead to the creation of the Ynnari - is pretty dope.

The series generally lacks character and personality. The Primarchs and factions are intended to be living manifestations of their play style and the existing cannon limits some decision making. That said, Vulkan is the exception. The author does a passable job showing his compassion (more telling than showing at times, though) but this ultimately represents one of the biggest changes to the traditional HH narrative (along with the stuff about the Alpha Legion). It’s good. I liked it. Just a shame the other Vulkan novels were not as good.

Lots of plot holes, and very unfocused

I've been reading the Horus Heresy since 2006, I've read all the main novels and most of the short stories. I haven't been a fan of Kyme's Salamanders books. I've found them to be riddled with plot wholes and inconsistencies, but since I've devoted so much time to this series and am a completionist, I read this and found alot of the same problems I had with Vulkan lives and Deathfire.

For starters this isn't just a Salamanders book, Shadrak Meduson and the Iron Hands along with their shattered legion allies take up almost half this book. If you haven't read the anthology Shattered Legions you will probably get nothing from this story. Meduson is all over the place sometimes cold and logical other times flying into a rage and throwing out all sense. The rest of the Iron hands, for lack of a better way to put this, suck. They are selfish cowards looking to hide from the fight and plotting to gain power. Their gambit to overthrow Meduson as Warleader is one of the dumbest, most nonsensical things I've read in the Heresy so far.

I have a job were I can throw on head phones while I work and spend a lot of time on the road so I have the time to listen to all the HH books. if you have to budget you're reading time I highly recommend skipping this one and finding a synopsis on the internet if you're curious about what happens.

Awesome 👍

Finally got to enjoy this great book. So can I assume that if Vulcan would recover from the Emperor's Fail-Safe device that the notion extends to the emperor himself?

Good listen

A lot going on here iron hands and vulkan fans gets the story of him moving forward on to terra

Good, but drags at points

Keeble does an amazing job with his voice work, and his performance helps cover some of the points in the book that drag on. Kyme, as is often the case, drags at points in the book but overall this is a fun Salamanders novel that helps build toward the Seige of Terra

needs more salamanders

was a good listen but too much iron hands stuff. I realize Vulkan comes back and that's a big deal but that's pretty much it. picks up at the end when Vulkan is in the Webway though!

A great perspective into the Broken Legions

As always, Jonathan Keeble was masterful. This book had a great deal of what's best in the heresy, Demons, Primarchs, and plans going awry. I would listen to this one again.

fantastic just oddly long

it was great just weirdly long. there were several points int he book where it seemed like it was basically over. yet the story continued?

Slow but welcome addition

I like Vulkan and while his Legion does tend to be stereotyped a little, one can never get enough of the Lord of Drakes. Old Earth is essentially a journey home - padded out with the return of Meduson. Two fairly slender threads each slowly but expertly woven to reveal the final fates of both Shadrak Meduson and Vulkan as he makes the journey back to Terra.

What keeps the story from true greatness is the addition of Eldrad Ulthran. I'm happy that the markers are moved in place for certain characters but all they did was to slow the pace of the novel and as a result its skewed. What should have been a one-two gut punch at the end is smoothed out by the addition of the Eldar - its like the heavy, soulful dialogue that always cuts into the finale of every season of Supernatural. Sometimes you just have to obey the story.

Ultimately the book completes the saga of the Shattered Legions and Vulkan. The latter in particular is finally given a role in the run-up to the final assault on Terra and while his particular story is rather rushed at the end, it is still one hell of an ending.

tense and interesting

My first real audio book. generally listened on My way home from work. it was a great story for those interested in the salamanders and to an extent iron hands. as usual the background and descriptions put you right at the scene and the narrator brings this to life with excellent storytelling and plays each part well.

Mighty Vulcan!

I loved this entry. I’ve found Vulcans story highly entertaining throughout and this was a great final to it, I’m genuinely sad that I’m finished and will definitely listen to it again. I also really like Marek so the fact he was a big part of the book kept me really engaged as in previous Horus books I find sometimes when they deviate from the main storyline it can be hard to keep track of what’s actually going on.

One of the best books in the series

Beautifully written, easy to follow, furthers the story in a perfect way and leaves you wanting more!

fantastic book

loved this book, certainly one of the better ones in the series for sure (and I'm a fan of nearly all the books)

A bit all over but over all good

Goes round the houses and is two books in one really but has a satisfying conclusion. Nick Kyme started as my least favourite author in this series but he’s got better as they went on.

this book is all over the place.

I found it hard to find the 'groove' of the book. So many things were going on and way to fast. as there where almost no standard human characters in the book it is hard to relate to the transhumans. They were written unbelievable with their jokes and quirks.
But I found the last four chapters enjoyable (hencectge two star score), I kind of wish he would have fleshed out those story arcs more. Johnathan Keeble's performance was excellent and kept me listening to the end.

Didn't have a clue what was going on until the end

Great reading as usual. Pretty poor writing. It's a shame so many of these stories are not written very well. Feels like filler.

A great book for Salamanders

I enjoyed this book more than soke of the recent stories in the heresy series. This offers a further insight into Vulcans motivation and his purpose whilst following the storyline of Medusan to a interesting turn! Certainly worth a listen

How many times Vulcan

I did find keeping up difficult. I did not find a character to contact with.