Works about chaos Space Marines were never my forte. They would almost always be presented as total maniac wizards or blood soaked butchers.
This book portrays the Chaos Space Marines in a way that gives them more depth - they are portrayed as warriors disappointed in their Primarchs (now foul Chaos Daemon Princes using their genetic sons as cannon fodder in internal squabbles) and forces of Chaos in general.

United by hatred towards Emperor and Human Empire, small party of Chaos Marine warbands will become a crucial element in creation of Black Legion, Chaos Legion to be led by Abaddon, unique force that will raise from the ashes and destruction of Legion Wars and present unique danger to the Imperium because they will march with a single goal in mind - destruction of Imperium.

Entire story is told by Iskandar Khayon, Thousand Son's warrior who surrendered to Inquisition in order to tell them that Black Legion is coming, force that might have more things in common with human warriors of old than with suspected half crazed, demonically possessed Space Marines, drooling and mindlessly hurtling themselves against the enemy. He comes to tell the story of his own involvement with the Black Legion, as a herald o horrors to come, as a herald of Imperium's doom.

Khayon is a warrior with unique skills recognized by Abaddon. What Abaddon offers is purpose, start of formation that will unite all Chaos Marines and remade them into weapon with a single goal - finishing what Horus started. To achieve this he needs command cadre and Khayon is identified as one of them, warrior, soldier, able to lead and inspire his troops.

Portrayal of this selected few, Warp beasts, nightmarish aliens and cyberpunk settings of the Dark Mechanicum and dark AI used to control fantastic space battleships in battle, together with image of Chaos Marines as self destructing warriors left roaming the region of utter madness, without any goal, killing each other in name of this or that Chaos force and serving as mercenaries, while looking for what they are all missing - feeling of belonging, of warrior brotherhood as provided by Legions of old, and most importantly full scale warfare they crave against worthy opponent ...... all of this and more is shown so vividly in this book. Even what might be considered civilian governors in the madness of the Eye, various fixers, all of this breaths life into the setting and shows that, no matter how far they have fallen, heretics still need some structure in their life, and, although mental stability is not something they can be associated with, they do try to keep some degree of order to be able to live and prosper (if someone sees anything prosperous in binding with Warp entities). And when this focus is used for war, Imperium truly has reasons to be afraid of what might come its way.

Wont go into any more details but .... let me just say Fabius Bile also shows up here, and what a cameo.

Highly recommended, excellent W40K novel, I am now on lookout for the sequel. ( )

A fantastic read; a great story from the early days of the Imperium showing what happened after the Horus Heresy and the rise of Abaddon. Exciting, satisfying, and with multi-dimensional characters. Inspired me to want to kitbash or convert some minis to create these characters on the tabletop! ( )

This is without doubt the best Warhammer 40k novel I have ever read. I say this not just because I'm a Chaos player (the book is all about Chaos if the title didn't give it away) but because the whole novel is an example of a perfected writing style that holds the reader page after page.

Aaron's trademark humour and pacing is evident throughout, as well as his deep understanding of 40k lore, mixed in with his own takes on aspects of technology, culture, language and motivation. Each character, however major or minor, is given form in deep yet easily understood descriptions. From the biggest battle scenes to the briefest moments of intimacy, everything combines in just the right way in this epic tale.

A must read. ( )

This is without doubt the best Warhammer 40k novel I have ever read. I say this not just because I'm a Chaos player (the book is all about Chaos if the title didn't give it away) but because the whole novel is an example of a perfected writing style that holds the reader page after page.

Aaron's trademark humour and pacing is evident throughout, as well as his deep understanding of 40k lore, mixed in with his own takes on aspects of technology, culture, language and motivation. Each character, however major or minor, is given form in deep yet easily understood descriptions. From the biggest battle scenes to the briefest moments of intimacy, everything combines in just the right way in this epic tale.

A must read. ( )