Book Review – The Unremembered Empire

I’ve been reading the Game of Thrones series over the past few months, and haven’t made reading as much of a priority as it should be. Between these two obstacles, it’s been quite a while since I read a Warhammer 40,000 novel. That all changed last week, when I decided to pick up the Horus Heresy series where I left off before. I haven’t done book reviews for them, with an exception or two, but I have read straight through the series, and finished The Unremembered Empire, by Dan Abnett, this past week.

My general focus with this blog is to focus on the positive aspects of the hobby, but it is worth noting that I truly enjoy reading literature for its deeper meaning, and so will often have a string of criticisms included. Keep in mind as you read that it is not my intent to drag down the author or Games Workshop/Black Library in general. Rather, I will be looking at the issues raised by the books with a critical eye for depth and meaning.

All of that said, be warned in advance. Here be spoilers!

The Unremembered Empire picks up as the Ultramarines are trying to put the pieces of their legion back together, following the attack on Calth by the Word Bearers. Guilliman is agonizing over what direction to move, trying his best to keep the Emperor’s dream alive in spite of the terrible damage that has been done by the traitors. The Ruinstorm has the Five Hundred Worlds cut off from the rest of the galaxy, and Guilliman has to assume that he is alone.

All of that changes when Warsmith Dantioch, an Iron Warrior that chose to remain loyal to the Emperor, activates an alien artifact that draws friendly vessels to Ultramar through the use of some esoteric empathic technology. This draws the Lion and his Legion, who bring with them Konrad Curze, hidden away in the depths…

Much of the plot is centered around the distrust the legions face when dealing with one another. You and I look into the book and see neat, divided lines between the Emperor’s legions and Horus’s legions, because we know how it all played out in the end. For his sons lost in the middle of the war, such distinctions are nearly invisible. It makes for interesting reading, though some of the edge is lost because we do already know the ultimate outcome for each of the Space Marine groups.

That said, Night Haunter is a devious monster, who honestly ranks among the most intelligent of his brothers. He has the Dark Angels and Ultramarines at one another within a day of arriving in-system, and finds a rather inventive way to make it to the surface without being detected.

However, Mr. Abnett falls into the typical problem of displaying primarchs in the Heresy series. There is simply no set of rules in place determining exactly how strong they are. Without proper research (or world-building, when dealing with fiction), you end up with horses that can travel from New York to Atlanta in one day, simply because they need to for the story to work. It is much the same with primarchs, and Mr. Abnett is not alone in this conundrum. From his own work, to Graham McNeill, to Aaron Dembski-Bowden, they have all been guilty of some truly eyebrow-raising moments with their primarchs.

I don’t know what it is that makes me groan so much about a primarch slaying a flyer in melee combat. The very idea of a humanoid leaping into the air and catching an air superiority fighter makes me inner nerd start to grumble. I understand the desire to make the primarchs come across as “beyond humanity,” but it winds up coming across as lazy and stilted. You would think the Emperor’s sons would be intelligent enough to use ranged weapons!

Then you have the pilot of the poor vehicle that Night Haunter “commandeers.” This man should certainly be ready to die for the legion to which he is affiliated; with this high-value target standing on the cockpit, surely it is best to dive into the ground and perish in a glorious fireball, going down in history as the serf that slew a primarch? Instead, he follows Night Haunter’s orders, allowing the Night Lords boss to essentially drive via proxy.

Finally, I must take issue with the interaction of Vulkan and John Grammaticus, and ultimately with the idea of the Perpetuals in general. I truly hope Games Workshop has some ultimate end-game that makes this story arc relevant, because the idea of a bunch of Kenny McCormicks running around in 30k fluff seems comical at best, and strained at worst. Furthermore, it seems that they’ve been at every significant event in our last two thousand years of history, but then participated in nothing of note until the Emperor came along. I suppose those were the Perpetual equivalent to the ‘60’s in the United States…

Vulkan’s story has grieved me, and with his end in this book I’m left to wonder what was gained by carrying him forward in the story. The sacrifices made by the Salamanders seem like they would have meant so much more if he had died on Istvaan at the Dropsite Massacre. As it is, we are once again treated to a story where primarchs are exactly as powerful as they need to be to make the story work. We see Vulkan being slain by a mere Perpetual, which really hits home when you realize what that means. If, for example, it had been Sanguinius standing there, then the Blood Angels would have lost their primarch to a simple man.

The concept of The Unremembered Empire was interesting, as it showed Guilliman as a fallible, human soul that wanted so desperately to do the right thing. Gone was the hyperbole so commonly force-fed to readers of Ultramarines fluff, where they are incapable of making any mistake or losing any fight. In that regard, Mr. Abnett, I must offer you a heart congratulation. Nothing brings me back to an author like writers with legitimate foibles in their protagonists, and you are one of the few Heresy writers that have compelled me with a portrayal of the “good guy” primarchs.

Now if we could just find someone to write Sanguinius…