Vengeful Spirit

The Horus Heresy, Book 29

By: Graham McNeill

Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong

Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Once the brightest star in the Imperium and always first among his primarch brothers, Horus has dragged the Space Marine Legions into the bloodiest conflict that the galaxy has ever seen. While their allies wage war on a thousand different fronts, the XVIth Legion descend upon the Knight world of Molech - home to the ruling House Devine, and a principle stronghold of the Imperial Army.

The forces loyal to the Emperor stand ready to defy the Warmaster, but just what could have drawn Horus to attack such a well defended planet, and what might he be willing to sacrifice to fulfill his own dark destiny?

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

great!

Loved hearing Loken come back from the first couple of books and seeing how his character has been changed by what happened.

Unfortunately mixed

The parts with the Sons of Horus and the actual battle are the highlights of the book. Unfortunately there are a bunch of side plots (one in particular about an incestuous family) that really don't add much to the overall story. It helps if you listen to the short stories "Little Horus" and "The Either" as they both deal with the Dwell campaign which is mentioned heavily here as a prequel.

Needed Toby Longworth

I like Armstrong as a narrator and he does a solid job, but most all of these characters listeners have heard Longworth voice almost exclusively, so it doesn’t feel quite right.
The meat of the story is very good, but like some of Mcneil’s other works, there are parts that kind of drag or feel unnecessarily detailed and long. Overall, if you want a Sons of Horus story, I would recommend this.

great story

really felt like a great follow up in the story to bring you back to where it all started with Loken and the Horus

Good book, a few disagreements on performance.

First, the story. The story itself does not push forward the plot exactly, but the book is about character development for the overall universe. This book is meant to advance Horus, Loken, Aximand, and Abbadon as characters. It is meant to do some lore and world-building and set up the confrontation between Horus and Russ.

To that end it does fine. It leaves us with a lot of questions unless you have some pretty deep knowledge of the lore beforehand. This book requires external reading that is outside the main Horus Heresy Novels. That's ok...but it makes for a difficult read if you don't have it.

Performance...perhaps it is unfair of me but Loken was introduced by voice actor Toby Longworth in the original three novels. Garreth chose to make a very aggressive departure from the sound, cadence, and inflection of the original representation. That's fine, if it's a reboot or something, but it's not. You don't have to do an impersonation of Toby's portrayal, but honestly Loken sounded like Nemiel from Fallen Angels and I couldn't get over it. Tarik likewise, the entire character was different.

It's not just preference. Loken is "straight up and down" and Tarik is all quips and jokes. That's why the book references the humors of the mournival. Garreth changed the personality of those characters. I found myself impersonating their original voices over the top of him because it was too distracting. I mean...Loken sounded like a woman crying at one point...

Garreth, You did the voice and personality for the Lion and Luther...they were amazing. Not one character had those deep notes. No one had that barely contained violence. I know you can do better. Bror Tyrfingr was pretty good, you nailed that pretty well.

It doesn't matter how good the book is or not. If you're reading through the series you are required to read this book and there are no other performance options. If you are not reading through hebseries do not buy this as it is no where close to a stand alone novel.

Gareth Armstrong makes this one

The story feels a little bloated in places, but despite that I really enjoyed hearing Gareth Armstrong's voices. It was very easy to tell who was speaking even before the speaker is identified by the narrative. Worth the listen!

I’ve read all the books. This is among the best

Great reading and great story line.
A must read as it sets up several new characters and lays some foundation for Al and John

one of the best

I could not have enjoyed this story more. the narrator was top notch. the story was amazing.

A pretty good book, but I might be biased😉

A damn good addition to the heresy series, full of feelz.
Only thing that is bothering me is how Garviel Loken is alive, i remember that we dont see a dead body back in the 3rd book, but maybe i missed something or they dont really explane how they found him?

On a side note, as a Dane having the stories of H.C. Andersen be shown in 40k, and explisedly written in danish filled me with a national pride that i rarely feel,
Fuck yeah the things that denmark is most famous for is Vikings, one if the best poets/story writer in history AKA H. C. Andersen, a important Philosopher AKA Søren Kierkegaard, and we have one of the most socially equal countries in the world, FUCK YEAH WE RULE!
XD erhm its a good book😋

wow what a story!

absolutely loved this book! Garviel Loken is back in this story! so good! read now!