The End and the Death: Volume I

The Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra, Book 8

By: Dan Abnett

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

Length: 18 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Siege of Terra Book 8, Part 1

The arch-traitor Horus Lupercal's forces have bombarded Terra and the Imperial Palace lies in ruins. With the Emperor's dream in tatters, he seeks only to rob Chaos of its ultimate victory...

LISTEN TO IT BECAUSE

It's the beginning of the ultimate conclusion to the Horus Heresy, and hope still remains for the Loyalists! The Emperor plans a gambit that could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat – but at what cost?

THE STORY

There is no way out.

The walls have fallen, the gates are breached, and the defenders are slain. It is the end and the death. After seven brutal years of civil war, the Warmaster stands on the verge of victory. Horus Lupercal, once beloved son, has come to murder his father. The Emperor, a shining beacon of hope to many, an unscrupulous tyrant to others, must die. The lives of uncountable numbers have been extinguished and even primarchs, once thought immortal, have been laid low. The Emperor's dream lies in tatters, but there remains a sliver of hope.

Now, at the final hour of the final day, the Emperor rises. With him come his Angel, his Praetorian, and his Captain, all determined to enact terrible vengeance. Yet the hope is slim, for the Warmaster sees all and knows all, and the ultimate victory of Chaos is at hand.

There is no way out.

©2023 Games Workshop Limited (P)2023 Games Workshop Limited

Not impressed so far.

I have eagerly awaited each book in this series. Being a 40k fan for many decades, I am well versed in the story and lore, yet still wanted to hear each book with excitement. So far I feel like this is a ploy to sell more books by breaking it up into two pieces. After just the first few hours I have heard the same boring one person monologues about the same thing about 5-6 times. And now expect this to continue for another 10 hours of audio tales. Throughly disappointed so far. Will I finish it, yes. Will I get the next, yes. But only because I still want to hear the tale, not for it’s quality or content.

One of the best books in the 30K setting.

I listened to this book in two days while doing inventory at work. It kept me engaged through nearly 2 12 hour shifts in a row. The pacing was excellent which is important for listening to audiobooks for long stretches of time. I like the Warhammer setting as silly as it can be much of the time, and the quality of WH books can vary wildly, and I wouldn't recommend a large number of them to people who weren't already aware of what they would be getting into. That being said, I didn't feel like I needed to reach for my confirmation bias in order to get the most out of this book. Were it not for the fact that prior knowledge of many different character arcs is really encouraged in order to get the most out of the story it would join a handful of other books that would be engaging even for people who would normally not be interested in fully diving into the setting. I am looking forward to part two, and I have complete confidence that Abnett will finish this era well.

wow

Jonathan Keeble is a wonderful narrator and his narration just exemplifies how wonderful this story is. The twists and turns it goes through keep you guessing even though I know the broad strokes of what is supposed to happen the details and events makes me wonder if what I think I know is going to happen doesn't. I am gonna listen to this again right away.

Breaking the 4th Wall

An... interesting narrative choice where characters talk to us (?) . Waiting for the emperor to start monologuing...THAT would be interesting. So far I'm withholding judgement, but I'm feeling nervous that the writers are going to retcon critical portions off the lore.

Glad they gave this one to Dan

A lot of people are going to complain this jumps around so much but it has to. So many side stories have to be wrapped up. Dan made the argonauts group finally pop. I hated reading about them. I just wanted space marine and Titan fights. But Dan can use his words to make just about anything interesting . Alot of curve balls in this book setting up for the next one obviously. I think much of our speculation will be wrong once everything is said and done.

Masterpiece!

It's just a fantastic book! I can't wait for volume 2 to see how it all ends. Big round of applause to Dan Abnett

A must read for 30k fans

There is a really good surprise with this book, and its not even the biggest or coolest moment.

Absolutely incredible!

Please do yourselves a favor and listen to this, it’s so great and sheds so much light on the emperor and his humanity, good intentions.

A fitting ending for the heresy

“You’ve defeated me…you really are the warhammer 40,000…..”

I was a fan of this book, DA really wrapped up many of the storylines nicely and clearly has a good mind for writing characters with differing points of view without them being clunky. Another great aspect of this book is seeing the emperor through malcadors eyes (is he seeing him how he wants to see him just like everyone else?) which shows Big E as a man who cares which is a fun final turn from Master of Mankind being custodes perspective of E being cold and calculating

epic setup for the end of a very very long journey

absolute abnett banger following the story of several key characters with stories beginning to finally interweave.

some of the action was difficult to follow, but overall great start to the end of it all.