Battle for the Abyss

The Horus Heresy, Book 8

By: Ben Counter

Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong

Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Now that news of Horus' treachery is in the open, a time of testing has come. Some Legions have already declared their allegiance to the Warmaster while the loyalty of others lies firmly with the Emperor. As Horus deploys his forces, loyalist Astartes learn that a massive Wordbearers fleet is heading to Ultramar, home of the Ultramarines.

Unless they can intercept the fleet and destroy the mighty battleship that has been sent to reinforce it, the Ultramarines may suffer a blow from which they will never recover.

©2008 Games Workshop Limited (P)2014 Games Workshop Limited

A long tedious journey to a fantastic climax

To put to words the first 7 hours of this book were alright. Hard to follow but fairly solid storytelling in some parts, but overall didn't do much to hold your attention. Characters during this time were interchangeable aside from a couple of notables. Unlikeable even which is a big deal. Even with the battle halfway through the story, it was still rather bland. That was until the ending. The ending kicked so much ass I can't go into detail due to obvious spoilers and well a lot happens. But for the last 3 hours of the book, the story and characters grab onto you and don't let go until the final lines of the book. Overall the ending really saved this book from being a loose 3 stars for me.

Good story

Like the story very much. Had the beginning I was looking for before the battle on Calph. Go Ultra Marines.

not the best but a good addition.

I'm not a fan of constant internecine fighting. the narrator seemed to struggle with some of the characters.

Interesting

Though I enjoyed it. It tries to be a cat and mouse story, but the suspense never got to where it needed to be.

love this series

loved it, took me a little longer to finish than some others but still incredible.

yes yes yes!

loved it people complain it's to "military" compared to the earlier two books, BUT that's why I like this series. tempo is good. and really adds depth to the universe

Do not miss this entry!

This book is never mentioned as one of the favorites or in the top 5 HH reading lists, but it should be in my opinion. Taking place literally in the first stages of the war, although a stand alone, it should be considered as part of the initial books to read. The story moves along at a steady pace and refuses to get bogged down. It is action packed from the first chapter through to the last. Character development is one of the best I've seen so far in the series, and the author shows off his ability to differentiate adequately between the astartes characters. The legions portrayed are some of the extremes in spectrum and without spoiling anything, this makes for some interesting scenes, indeed. The book also never spends more than a chapter describing the warp or the entities that dwell there. To me this is important to both keep the warp mysterious and to not get trapped in a word marsh of metaphors and literary techniques. This seems to happen too much in the books; It becomes difficult to follow the plot when the passages are too descriptive and concepts too complicated to tell with words. This author does a good job of finding the thin line to walk down to avoid this common trap Warhammer authors often fall into. Also I think its fair to mention that if space battles isn't your thing (battlefleet gothic) then I would give it one less star for you. The book, as the title implies, takes place almost exclusively in the void of space. This is not to say there isn't something here for all comers, though, because there certainly is. I believe this is a great installment to the series and should be read early on in the HH series. I wish I would have read this book years ago....

Decent enough

A good listen that took a bit to get going. characters were okay but a little hokey at times.

A decent listen

First of all, Gareth Armstrong had the best rolling R's you could ever hear! If you have no idea what i mean you'll find out within the first few pages! I skipped reading this book on paper before but I was glad to hear it in audio form now. Gareth Armstrong is an excellent narrator and conveyed the book excellently. Better than i could have imagined it.

The story on the other hand wasn't as great as I had expected but there were a few parts where I was completely invested. Other than that I really couldn't connect with the characters and I felt like I read this book before although I have not. it's one of those types of stories that is good but it feels a bit reused. Still a good read, though, if you like action and story flow, and I know I'd probably read it or listen to it once again down the line. I'm glad I didn't skip it again!

Great book

Great book, one of the best of Horus Heresy so far. Excited for what's next