The Unremembered Empire

The Horus Heresy, Book 27

By: Dan Abnett

Narrated by: David Timson

Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

Far out on the Eastern Fringe, the realm of Ultramar stands alone. Having weathered the Word Bearers' attack on Calth and the subsequent Shadow Crusade against the Five Hundred Worlds, the Ultramarines primarch Roboute Guilliman now draws all loyalist forces to Macragge as he contemplates a new future for mankind.

With the arrival of more and more fugitives from the war that has engulfed the rest of the galaxy, all distinction between friend and foe is lost - isolated from Terra by fearsome warp storms, is Guilliman making a bid for power to rival even the renegade Warmaster Horus?

©2013 Games Workshop Limited (P)2013 Games Workshop Limited

Great book, but read others first

This book is great. It ties several existing storylines together very well. The voice actor does a fantastic job. But before you listen to this one, listen to, at the very least, Vulkan Lives, Prince of Crows, The Crimson Fist, The Iron Within (found in Age of Darkness).

Disappointing Abnett and 40k novel

This novel should have been an Oceans 11 convergence a star studded cadre of Loyalist Primarchs. You have the Lion, Roboute, Konrad Curze, and Sanguinious all converging in Ultramar thanks to a pretty ridiculous Mcguffin plot device revolving around the all too convenient genius of Iron Warrior turncoat, Dantioch. Reminds me of Belisarius Cawl, ugh. Of course develops an "unlikely friendship with rival legionary, Pollux, of the Imperial fists. It smacked of an all too easily arrived at trope.

I had this gut feeling that it was either going to be the best 40k novel or just fall completely flat due to the overambitious nature of the endeavor. From my point of view, it is the latter and is such a disappointment.

Abnett has a pretty good track record as the premiere 40k writer and has delivered the some of my favorite works of sci fi in Horus Rising, Legion, and Know No Fear. So what went wrong with this book? How do I put this? It's written in the format of a Hollywood slasher flick. *Spoiler alert* The plot essentially revolves around the Lion showing up to Mccragge with Konrad Curze as an unironic stowaway. Unwilling to confide to Roboute that the Night Haunter is loose aboard his ship, Curze inevitably escapes to wreak absolute havoc on Mccragge city just creating a deluge of awkward situations between the brothers and wreaks absolute HAVOC on homebase of the Ultramarines. Basically the Night Haunter is Jason and all the primarchs and their legions might as well be inept teenagers who are utterly incapable of doing anything to stop him or even slow him down. They are cannon fodder, Curze rips them all to shreds. It's sad and not very interesting. Especially demoralizing if you're an Ultramarines or Dark Angels fan, none of them look very good.

Curze just makes everyone look so incompetent, pretty much single handedly conquers the entire planet. Only slightly exaggerating, not by much. Makes my favorite primarch and his legion looks like absolute fools. Which I'm a little bitter with Abnett's handling of the Dark Angels. If you don't know how the Heresy ends it leaves you wondering how any of these bumbling idiots could hope to challenge the likes Horus and Abaddon. The Night Haunter is a ridiculous character, not really a fan of the whole 9 foot tall post human in power armor conveniently disappearing in every shadow.

I wish that wasn't the premise of the novel but there it is. I hated it. Maybe if the Night Haunter's fleet arrived with the world Eaters it just would have made so much more sense. The rest is kind of just melodramatic fluff dealing with Roboute's pedantic insecurities and the chiding candor of his surrogate mother figure, Tarasha Euten in an effort to squeeze in a "strong willed female voice". We have the continuation of John Grammaticus' arch which is probably the most enjoyable aspect of the novel.

Finally we the premise of the Imperium Secundus, which is ironically kind of an after thought, after the climax of Grammaticus' arc the Blood Angels arrive out of nowhere and the acknowledgement of Sanguinious is given about 15 minutes at the end of the book. It's very abrupt and jarring. The Lion and Roboute basically sit Sanguinious down and say, you're going to be our emperor and he's basically like: "ok, if you say so." It's so awkward and feels so vacuous. It should have been such a profound moment but it's delivered horribly.

This novel could have been so much more and is just a sadly missed opportunity on nearly all fronts. I wanted to like this book and by all respects I should have. I wonder what went wrong, it's such a qualitative deviation from Abnett's previous work it leaves me scratching my head.

Robot Girlyman's Worst case scenario.

A brilliant edition to the Horus Heresy detailing the Imperium Secundus, Guilliman's attempts to keep the Imperium alive in the event that the original should perish. A well read novel with a total of 5 primarchs interacting and multiple interesting sub plots which tie together nicely with the coming of Curze. Definitely worth a read if you like Ultramarines or John Grammaticus. I was thoroughly entertained by Abnett's writing. Also worth a read if you are interested in Vulkan's fate and the Pharos.

Great book, definitely read the next book! "AOC"

Great book, I really enjoyed it! Unfortunately I read Angels of Caliban first so I kinda knew where this book was heading. Don't make the same mistake I did!

what a great book, do no skip this one

another great book with many primarchs, and vital pieces for the whole storyline. konrad curze a beast, guiliman, the lion, vulkan, sanguinius, and john grammaticus

the characters sold this story

I enjoyed the drama and apprehensive behavior as a result of the horse heresy. I love the way the lion and the avenging son play on each other. the highlighting of distinctive characteristics. this is probably one of my favorites depictions of the Lion and Gilliman.
Conrad was a treat and I'm always down for a story about the cabal. I would recommend

Primarch-Palooza Presents Perfectly Postured Politician-Kings

Probably one of the best stories so far in the Horus Heresy series and fabulously narrated. The subplot of John Grammaticus ever deepens and the Avenging Son must summon all of his strength and courage to keep the idea of an Imperium of Man from becoming just a faded memory.

good, but...

why oh why does the space wolves talk with an Italian accent?
I'm Norwegian, and to me it just sounds silly. like monty python Spanish inquisition silly.

A nice Horus Heresy novel

I enjoyed the story and the Perpetuals and Cabal storyline is something I like reading. I am generally not a fan of the narrators for Black Library novels. That remains my primary sticking point with the novels.

This novel covers the Ultramarines and what is happening during the Ruinstorm. The Ultramarines are the focus along with representatives of several other Legions. It is a direct sequel to both Vulkan Lives and the short stories and novellas detailing the fight between the Dark Angels and Night Lords. It also picks up the thread following Angel Exterminatus so, yes, Sanguinius makes an appearance but a small one.

Defiantly a favorite

Well written, suspenseful, and defiantly had me on edge several times. I think this is one of the best in the series and I really would like to read it again.

Paced like an action movie (or several)

There is a lot that happens in this book and it seems strange that so many storylines could progress simultaneously without messing up the pacing, but somehow it works! It's greatest achievement must be making Rowboat Girlyman a genuinely likable and "non-marysue" character. A great read if you are a fan of Conrad Curze, The Lion, Vulkan, Space Wolves or the 30k Universe's version of James Bond!

One of the best books in the series so far

Excellent story delving into the character of multiple primarchs. Gripping from start to finish. We'll worth a read

Best heresy book for a while!

A definite highlight of the series so far! Abnett writes Guilliman and the ultramarines brilliantly

One of the best

in my top 5 Horus heresy books. performance was great. Jam packed with action from primarchs, as my favourite books all seem to be.

Good glimpse in the Ultramarines

Important part in the Horus heresy and a well written one. If it is your first contact with the Ultramarines maybe you will be disappointed because of the small battle scenes but you get to know them well. I enjoyed it a lot.

Best HH book I've read thus far,

It's definitely my favourite book thus far in the HH. There is so much going on in this book that it's exciting didn't want it to end...

owel, onto the next book in the HH series.

Unforgettable!

One of the best HH I've read so far changed my mind about Roboute Guilliman he's top tier. However, the undisputed star of the book is the deranged Konrad Kurze.

5 primarchs! HH moves apace in wonderful fashion

Dan "the man" Abnett does it again.
he is the undisputed champion of the Black library and for good reason.
this is a great tale moving the heresy on and with a great cast of 5 primarchs no less!
get it down you if you know whats good fir you.

Never judge a book by it's cover

I was expecting a story about Primarchs, I got a story about Primarchs, just not the Primarchs I wanted or expected from the cover of the book!
Story was fine if you are wanting more insight into the Demi Gods of the heresy, which I always like.
Narration was well done but some of the accent choices for characters from the game put me completely off but that's just a personal expectation of the characters.
*Spoilers below*
Biggest issue is simply that Sanguinius wasn't in the book for more than a few minutes. Got all the Guilliman you could ask for along with the other Primarchs but the one I was really into wasn't there. I understand that I could have looked into the blurb a bit more but I often find that it spoils too much of the story. I guess I learned my lesson on this one.

Dont miss this one out!

One of the quality stories from the series. Full of action and surprises and nicely written without too much over-description.