Re-Listen February 2024 as part of a Heresy Omnibus+ complete readthrough of the Horus Heresy series, as additional to the Shadow Crusade II The Underworld War (https://www.heresyomnibus.com/omnibus/vi-shadow-crusade-ii-underworld-war):

So another return within the context of the Ultramarines and Word Bearers galactic Red vs Blue a month after I first heard this and the other recent few, as they are all in the Treachery and Betrayal Horus Heresy Audio Collections.

It's worth noting that the review below is almost certainly the most passionately negative I have ever given of anything on any platform. It's also worth noting that over the course of my finally taking on the challenge of completing the Horus Heresy again, after many previous attempts, getting as far as Vulkan Lives, which was actually complete and up to date at the time, I have Swallowed my pride and recognised James Garro's quality as a writer, something I had doubted and kept with me, after a younger me had a bad time with the Rafen books many bad moonz ago (honestly, at this point they are on the list to return to, but that list is very long, and once this series is done, I will be taking a break or at the very least reading a lot of stuff that isn't Warhammer again), I pulled a total 180° on the negative perspective and review I gave Gav Thorpe's Honour to the Dead, after realising I was bringing stuff to the text that wasn't there and wasn't really engaging with what is there, especially within the context of Calth, and I embarrassed myself very recently after jumping the gun and getting foiled by Audible not labelling sections and chapters on many of their anthologies, being very confused and not positive at all about Graham McNeill's Calth That Was, after thinking it was a short story and reading only a chapter, before discovering it's a whole novella and upon completing the many, many more chapters, it's actually one of my favourite novellas, at least of the more ensemble and action-focused ones.

I was wrong about all those things and unreservedly apologise and I was wrong here too.

Wrong about the negative things I said a it Honour to the Dead, as previously mentioned and corrected on a further review, and wrong about being able to see the humanity in Guilliman and the Ultramarines as a Legion/ Chapter. Some individuals are cool and many stories are great, but the Warriors of Ultramar and the Last Battle-King of Macragge are nothing more than the personification of the way a fascist or any other authoritarian monster fantasises about who and what they are.

The wise, benevolent dictator is an oxymoron. Wisdom does not lend itself to authoritarianism and there is nothing benevolent in a dictator.

Besides these points, I stand by the review below.

This story is a stain on the Horus Heresy and an absolute embarrassment to Black Library, Games Workshop, and everything that lays at the core of Warhammer 40K.

The Warhammer TV animations get the whole satire of empire and colonialism with the Imperium as a system being a nightmare. I don't understand why everyone has such willful ignorance around Guilliman and the fash propaganda they do with him.

Also, this is the most painfully Radio 4 afternoon drama performance in any Black Library audio drama.

The fact there is no counter, equivocation, or any suggestion that this story isn't supposed to be taken at positive face value and that the concept of giving back a stolen cultural artefact to its people, after assaulting their sacred place of worship and murdering the people there isn't seen as some unbelievably privileged, crassly naive, and narcissistic manifest destiny bullshit is fucking worrying.

This is not just bad, it is perpetuating and normalising harm.

***

Thanks, I not only hate it, but think this might genuinely be the single worst Warhammer 30/40K story I have ever read.

Is it as ridiculous as quick change and gymnastic Terminators? No. Is it as painfully dull and lacking and sense of factional differentiation and character, like a lot of 40K Blood Angels books? No. Is it as grossly puritanical and misogynistic, getting into really fucked up bioessentialism? No (Dan Abnett's Legion and Graham McNeil's Fulgrim still have the worst moments I've read in otherwise great books. Also, shoutout to William King's Trollslayer that used women as treasure and used sexual assault as a plot device sooo many times in one story collection to put me off the acclaimed series).

What it does have is something I called out in my review of the, otherwise brilliant and by all accounts an actual sweet guy, Gav Thorpe's Honour to the Dead - A total missing the point of what Warhammer 40K always was, a parody of imperialism, fascism, and tyranny. But, while Thorpe's, disappointing audio drama was a poorly written and directed mess that played had Space Marines depicted as the fucking Avengers--the Imperium's Mightiest Heroes (with no caveats), Illyrium strays so far from the original premise that it actually becomes apologia.

Look, I like the Ultramarines as much as the next person who has read Know No Fear, Mark of Calth, and has a fondness for Sergeant 'Fred Durst' Thiel, despite the quality of his many audio dramas, and Guilliman is portrayed as a sympathetic enough character at times for me to have some regard for him, more as the unfortunate son of a golden gestalt of hubristic prehistoric psykers, and father of untold millions of children across his Legion and empire, than for the Greco-Roman fascist demigod he is. So I was intrigued to learn more about Roboute and hear the the last tale his adopted mother had to share...

The framing story is Word Bearers coming to kill Rowboat's mummy, while a last Ultramarine does his best to keep her safe. She wishes this son of Ultramar to hand over a fancy bracelet and remind her son of its significance, so she tells him a story that seems to conflict with what is taught in the history books about how Guilliman 'dealt with' a group of tribes who refused to bend the knee and become a part of their burgeoning empire. Essentially, he was more 'cool' about their subjugation...

I understand that in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war and these are grimdark tales about bad people and people doing bad things. Sometimes we empathise with their experiences and actions, but ultimately the whole thing is a nightmare and pretty much everyone is evil, cruel, misguided, and/ or driven by an insatiable need for control, conflict, or to consume. Garviel Loken of the Lunar Wolves is the first Astartes the Horus Heresy presents the reader as a heroic and sympathetic figure, despite the genocidal actions he is party to. I love that guy and can acknowledge his good and bad, as well as the universe in which he finds himself. A good writer and narrative perspective will never completely ignore, play down or excuse the horrific things he does as part of his duty. I think Abnett and do a good job of that through first few books of the Horus Heresy series.

This story could have been a perfect chance to present the monstrous, bloody, inhuman darkness that lays in the heart and creation of a Primarch, alongside the intelligence, wit, care and love they are capable of, given the appropriate environment and opportunity. It somewhat gestures towards this, but utterly undercuts itself in the process because there is an underlying acceptance and justification of colonialism and oppression within the narrative. To be clear, this is not simply because the story is largely voiced by Imperial autocrat who does believe, but rather because of the way Darius Hinks writes the story and the portrayal of the things within it.

The mother witnessed the son commit a horrific atrocity that is a war crime that is entirely inexcusable, even within the story. She sees him as a monster and is scared. This really started to do the thing! But, rather than kill everyone, her demigod son challenged and embarrassed their best, as if there is any actual honour, parity, or goodness in this, and freely hands back the bracelet stolen from his beaten opponent's people by his family's oppressive empire. All of this showed her that he was a good boy really and a compassionate genius, not a monster at all. The real monsters are coming for them in the present.

This story straight up engages in Imperial, colonial, atrocity, and war crime apologia, without any real counter of consideration. It's, franky, fucking disgusting and offensive on its face, and a perfect example of Warhammer, particularly around the depiction and portrayal of Guilliman, has become. I think Hinks, Black Library, and Games Workshop should all be ashamed. ( )