The Buried Dagger

The Horus Heresy, Book 54

By: James Swallow

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Horus Heresy Book 54

For long years, the Horus Heresy has ground on. Now, the Death Guard have been sent to begin the final battle. But Mortarion and his sons must face their gravest challenge first - for Nurgle has claimed them as his own, and he will not be denied....

After 54 books, the best-selling series is finally drawing to a close with a long-awaited story - the fall of the Death Guard into Nurgle's embrace as they make their way to start the Siege of Terra.

The skies darken over Terra as the final battle for the Throne looms ever closer.... As the Traitor primarchs muster to the Warmaster’s banner, it is Mortarion who is sent ahead as the vanguard of the Traitor forces. But as he and his warriors make way, they become lost in the warp and stricken by a terrible plague. Once thought of as unbreakable, the legendary Death Guard are brought to their knees. To save his Legion, Mortarion must strike a most terrible bargain that will damn his sons for eternity. Meanwhile, in the cloisters of Holy Terra, a plot is afoot to create sedition and carnage in advance of the Horus’ armies. Taking matters into his own hands, Malcador the Sigillite seeks to put a stop to any insurrection but discovers a plot that he will need all of his cunning and battle-craft to overcome.

©2019 Games Workshop Limited (P)2019 Games Workshop Limited

Conflicted in a good way.

I honestly am conflicted. the first 3 books of the entire serious are and always will be amazing. But I almost want to say this one was better then all others thus far.

A mess.

There is a good story in here, but it is wrapped up in so much endless tedium that I cannot be bothered to keep looking for it. I gave the book a final chance after a few days’ rest, but had to give up. Utter boredom. Enjoyed Swallow’s ‘Flight of the Eisenstein’, but all the material I have read by him since has been dull and uninspired.

Damn good

I need to write atleast 15 eyes, so I thought it was really good. The end

Great listen

A great read for anyone even remotely interested in Chaos. Mortarion is really fleshed out in a satisfying way and I really want to hear more stories involving him after finishing this. There's a side plot primarily involving Malcador that drags at points, but it ends in a very nice way. Overall, I'd highly recommend this to any Warhammer 40k fans.

way better than expected!

I am familiar with the author and his other books I'm also familiar with a Warhammer 40K universe.

this does not mean that all of their offerings are good. some of their books are mid-range or even not very good.

the books within the sub-series, The Horus Heresy, are generally of a higher quality.

this book is not only within the Horus heresy but also is one of the books close to its culmination.

although the cover character and his faction are not my favorites, the book unveils so much really useful information about the Horus Heresy that it is nearly invaluable.

the reader is excellent. Jonathan Keeble has repeatedly made himself one of the top possible black Library readers for their audiobooks.

although the author John French is usually known for his work with the 9th Legion, his work in this book was very good.

although this book very obviously deals with the Death Guard, the book less obviously deals with Malcador and his knights, this takes up nearly half of the novel.

I expected very little from this book, but derived a very great deal from it. I am very happy with the read.

Good story( sad- heartrending)

wow. I enjoyed this very much. Bern following the death guard since the Eisenstein took flight. And now its nearly at end. This tragedy within tragedies. An excellent performance. And a satsifying story.

Loved it

Wish it focused a bit more on the carnage the Chimeric plague inflicted on the death guard but other than that it's a fantastic book!

Great book

It was everything that I hoped it would. be, and more. Great book. Loved it!

Great Performance Doesnt save this one

as always, Johnathan Keeble does an amazing performance capturing the madness and groteque spirit of Demons and beings speaking through a layer of puss, mucus, and insanity.

However, neither the central story line or the Knights Errant story line in this book are very compelling. Theres plenty of foreshadowing and narrative hooks, but they fall pretty flat when the reveals come about. Especially in the Death Guard Storyline, the central character is neither relateable nor do his actions seem justified, he just kind of lets terrible things happen all around him, even though its seems pretty clear to everyone he is being manipulated.

It all gets worse that theres just a lot of grind to get to the reveals and not much build in tension to get there. by the time everything come to a head, I was so bored I was happy to have the end in sight and completely unsuprised or entertained by any of the conclusions.

The saving grace of the book is the fun body horror, colorful descriptions of mutation and rot. Fun to be sure, but cant cary the book when the descriptions fail to shock you 2/3rds of the way into the book.

Certainly not the worst Horus Heresy book but honestly would suggest skipping it.

Please stop with the silly voices

Seriously. the childish voices for the daemons made it really hard to enjoy. I want to actually understand what Typhus is saying without the narrator butchering the lines

Great!

Surprisingly sympathetic take on a traditionally unsympathetic faction. Great Nurgle voices too by the narrator!

Death Guard...ish

I did really enjoy this book. Read the book and got the audiobook. My only gripe is that its seems like two short stories just mashed together to save space and novels. The two stories had no connection at all. I got this book thinking it was the fall of the Death Guard but when the Death Guard are the "Intervals" it makes me think this was never ment to be the fall off Death Guard and more of the rise of the Grey Knights. There could have done so much more with the Death Guard but focused more on Garro and Knights Errents. In the end I just think this was miss labled and bodged together book to end the Horus Herecy book line.

A must have

Exciting, captivating and brilliantly voiced. Great story telling and great insight into how the death guard and grey knights began their joinery.

My my, what an ending

The end of the Heresy series is somewhat slow, cautious at first, dealing with Mortarion's history as much as his current role in preparing for the Siege of Terra. Its a long read but worthwhile, and after years of waiting we're finally given the coda to Flight of the Eisenstein. Don't go in expecting a series of battles and clever set-ups: this book is a fitting reward for those who've invested the years reading one of the greatest sci-fi series ever written. Slow burn, but worth savouring.

Poor quality recording

The first few chapters spend like they were recorded in the kitchen. there's an annoying tinny echo. The story and performance, however, are awesome.

simply amazing

The story , the narration , the pace everything is perfectly aligned for the final book of the hours heresy, the story revolves around Mortarion and Typhus along side a great side plot of malcador and his knights errant, we learn about the reapers past and why he hates the emperor and the complex relationship between him Typhus before the emperor came to barbarus and how the whole legion falls to chaos, worth the token and any serious GW fan or reader of HH needs this book

Great

A great story, goes a long way to explain the origins of the Death Guards dark fate.

awesome

very good start to the Solar war , fully recommend, brings a great insight into the DG

Mr Keeble plus Heavy Entertainment is needed

Excellently and expertly narrated by Mr Keeble. SFX, would make this novel superlative. Thank you.

One of the best

Really enjoyed this one , highly recommend. The book was well paced and very entertaining. Narrator was exellent again.