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5th out of 30 books
—
24 voters
Fulgrim (The Horus Heresy #5)
It is the 31st millennium, and humanity is at the peak of its powers. As the Great Crusade, led by Warmaster Horus, continues to conquer the galaxy, Fulgrim, Primarch of the Emperor’s Children, leads his warriors into battle against a vile alien foe. From the blood of this campaign are sown the seeds that will lead this proud Legion to treachery, taking them down the darke...more
Paperback, 512 pages
Published
July 31st 2007
by Games Workshop
(first published July 2007)
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Well other teenage girls obsess vampires or werewolves and are busy making their babies, I was busy making babies with pre-heresy Emperor's Children. (I don't think I'd live through it all after heresy...or it wouldn't matter.)
OK that off my mind, amazing book! Possibly a few spoilers.
Things I liked:
1. Fulgrim's personality. Reminds me of my younger sister, only she's probably not gonna fall for a demon sword talking to her.
2. Fulgrim's fall to chaos was well done, I once had a warhammer 40k fr...more
OK that off my mind, amazing book! Possibly a few spoilers.
Things I liked:
1. Fulgrim's personality. Reminds me of my younger sister, only she's probably not gonna fall for a demon sword talking to her.
2. Fulgrim's fall to chaos was well done, I once had a warhammer 40k fr...more
Unfortunately for the Horus Heresy series this is where it really starts to repeat itself. While The Flight of the Eisenstein was just the same story as in the previous books, it was still fresh because it was the first time we really stepped out of the established characters and followed some one totally new who really comes into his own at the end of the story. The plot and the writing was also good enough for it to still feel new.
Fulgrim, however, feels very much like the same story just told...more
Fulgrim, however, feels very much like the same story just told...more
I really tried to like this book but for me it had a lot of things going against it. I've never been a big fan of Graham McNeill but I thought he did a good job with "False Gods". In Fulgrim nothing works for me. I think this book is about Fulgrim's fall into Chaos but since Fulgrim and the other Emperor's Children (with the exception of Saul Tarvitz) have been depicted as arrogant pricks in the previous stories they are not sympathetic characters. Without sympathetic characters this "fall from...more
A fascinating glimpse inside the Hedonist's Paradox. Beholding the madness spawned from a rapid acceleration of that phenomena is deeply disturbing, yet entrancing at the same time. Graham McNeill does a masterful job of revealing the pain and anguish of the characters as they find prior pleasures waning and the shock of onlookers at the twisting and contorting of those same characters' distorted sense of aesthetics. The use of art as a marker of each character's stability or descent into madnes...more
The perfect brother falls...
We have struggled for months to accomplish this task on our own when it should have been clear that we could not. In all things we strive to eradicate weakness, but it is not weakness to ask for help, my brothers. It is weakness to deny that help is needed.
Julius laughed and said, ‘Get some sleep, Solomon, you understand? Or did that crash scramble your brains too?’ ‘Sleep?’ said Solomon, slumping back onto the bed. ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead.’
(...) a truth that is tol...more
We have struggled for months to accomplish this task on our own when it should have been clear that we could not. In all things we strive to eradicate weakness, but it is not weakness to ask for help, my brothers. It is weakness to deny that help is needed.
Julius laughed and said, ‘Get some sleep, Solomon, you understand? Or did that crash scramble your brains too?’ ‘Sleep?’ said Solomon, slumping back onto the bed. ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead.’
(...) a truth that is tol...more
This book accomplishes a lot. It is epic in its scope and torrid in its style. It is an account of weakness, seduction, and depravity. It gives context to a great many things that will lead to a great many more things more terrible than these...
Fulgrim is really a tragedy. While striving for perfection, he and his legion are struck low by a subtle evil unbeknownst to them. What bothers me is that Fulgrim didn't understand the idea that perfection is a 'concept' not a reality; it is an adjective...more
Fulgrim is really a tragedy. While striving for perfection, he and his legion are struck low by a subtle evil unbeknownst to them. What bothers me is that Fulgrim didn't understand the idea that perfection is a 'concept' not a reality; it is an adjective...more
Well now... I enjoyed Graham McNeill's last outing in the Horus Heresy (False Gods), although found the pacing a little uneven at times. Fulgrim, for me, shows a writer with an enormous amount of confidence. McNeill has improved immeasurably on False Gods, and presents a novel that is truly epic in scope.
Fulgrim is structured brilliantly. We're shown the Emperor's Children before the fall - an exceptionally proud Legion searching for perfection in everything. There are strong characters showcase...more
Fulgrim is structured brilliantly. We're shown the Emperor's Children before the fall - an exceptionally proud Legion searching for perfection in everything. There are strong characters showcase...more
I am really having a hard time believing that so many people didn't like this book. While i can understand the perspective of others that said that this installment of the Horus Heresy series was "formulaic" and were otherwise disappointed in this book, i really think that this book is where the series evolves from a "shoot-'em-up" and intrigue-driven storyline, to unmask the truly sublime forces which are driving the entire Horus Heresy itself. Graham McNeill is at his very best here, being abl...more
"Fulgrim centres on the eponymous Primarch of the 3rd Legion, the Emperor's Children, as both the flamboyant, perfectionist Commander and his Space Marines fall into Chaotic corruption around the time Horus meets the same fate. As a result, a warning about Horus' imminent betrayal and the disaster that may follow – delivered by the alien Eldar to Fulgrim and his staff – goes unheeded. The Emperor's Children eventually become the "Chosen" of Slaanesh, a god of Chaos, while Fulgrim is slowly and u...more
Now that the main stage of the Heresy has been set, there's going to be a lot of going back-and-forth, Fulgrim is the first (and arguably, the worst) of a bunch of books that basically is all about how and why some legions fell to Chaos and sided with Horus.
As such it is fairly enjoyable, but it is clearly one of the weaker of this set of books (much worse than say, A Thousand Sons) the entire thing feels vaguely contrived, and unlike the Lorgar or Magnus there is no real pathos to Fulgrim's fal...more
As such it is fairly enjoyable, but it is clearly one of the weaker of this set of books (much worse than say, A Thousand Sons) the entire thing feels vaguely contrived, and unlike the Lorgar or Magnus there is no real pathos to Fulgrim's fal...more
The fall of Fulgrim, the Primarch of the Emperor's Children legion, is tragic and quite dramatic. It is a descent into madness driven by dark forces for a figure that was brilliant and good for starters. And like a good tragedy, you know that there is no stopping the fates once they get going.
Fulgrim is the Primarch of the Emperor's Children, one of the legions of the Emperor of Mankind fighting in the Great Crusade to unify the worlds of men. The Emperor's Children pride themselves in their pu...more
Fulgrim is the Primarch of the Emperor's Children, one of the legions of the Emperor of Mankind fighting in the Great Crusade to unify the worlds of men. The Emperor's Children pride themselves in their pu...more
Fulgrim is one action packed book with everything that you could possibly want in a Warhammer 40k novel. Primarchs, Xenos, Chaos Daemons and big battles. For me, this was an excellent book only slightly let down by not having a character that I can connect to.
McNeill does a good job describing the changes in Fulgrim as he is slowly corrupted by Chaos but due to the immense plot, not enough time is spent exploring the struggles that the Primarch goes through during his transformation. There are a...more
McNeill does a good job describing the changes in Fulgrim as he is slowly corrupted by Chaos but due to the immense plot, not enough time is spent exploring the struggles that the Primarch goes through during his transformation. There are a...more
After a near-perfect run up until now, the fifth book In the Horus Heresy begins to show some cracks, chiefly around Graham McNeill's biggest stumbling block; Characterisation. At a whopping 512 pages, this is a story which is in no hurry to be told which would not be a problem if there was a central character to cling onto, instead there's absolutely no-one to match up to the previous books' heroes so we're stuck with Fulgrim. For 512 pages.
The further problem with the Emperor's Children as a l...more
The further problem with the Emperor's Children as a l...more
Guilty pleasure.
This book is interesting in that it actually follows the plot from the point of a Primarch.
I believe this is the book with the Symphony/Death/Orgy scene. Damn, that was some vivid writing. That chapter will be burned into my mind forever.
Music so evil that it draws demons from the Warp that start killing everyone. Then everyone is so in awe by it that they start offering themselves up. People from the audience pick up the instruments from the fallen musicians to try to keep the...more
This book is interesting in that it actually follows the plot from the point of a Primarch.
I believe this is the book with the Symphony/Death/Orgy scene. Damn, that was some vivid writing. That chapter will be burned into my mind forever.
Music so evil that it draws demons from the Warp that start killing everyone. Then everyone is so in awe by it that they start offering themselves up. People from the audience pick up the instruments from the fallen musicians to try to keep the...more
I must say, I was mightily disappointed with this book. Having been introduced to the Emp's Children in previous books, none of which were positive interactions, I do not see the wisdom in writing a book on a highly dislikable legion. I did not like or connect with any of the characters, and even those that remained loyal were still perfectionist pricks that you felt unable to feel anything for.
This book became very odd about halfway through. Dang that Laer temple, eh? The "stimulating" and "aro...more
This book became very odd about halfway through. Dang that Laer temple, eh? The "stimulating" and "aro...more
This is the only Horus Heresy book with compelling characters--human and posthuman---, a truly tragic story, and themes which keep pushing the story forward. If you don't like, or are not interested in the Emperor's Children, then you probably shouldn't read this. But if you want a story about a legion which turns traitor without a predictable self-victimizing reason, then you should enjoy it. Fulgrim is the best Horus Heresy book in my opinion, because it fleshes out the NSFW legion with seriou...more
So far this ranks as my favorite of the Horus Heresy series. I don't want to spoil any of the story but this story focuses on one of the Primarch's Fulgrim of 'The Emperor's Children' Legiones Astartes.
This book has it all; love that is lost, betrayal, deceit, byzantine intrigue, the lost lead guitarist of Motley Crue (ahem...excuse me, I meant Fulgrim), Ferrus Manus (who really should have a book of his own in my opinion) a wacked out-overly sensitive artiste and did I mention daemons? Oh...an...more
This book has it all; love that is lost, betrayal, deceit, byzantine intrigue, the lost lead guitarist of Motley Crue (ahem...excuse me, I meant Fulgrim), Ferrus Manus (who really should have a book of his own in my opinion) a wacked out-overly sensitive artiste and did I mention daemons? Oh...an...more
The first book of Games Workshop's Horus Heresy series to contemplate the rise and fall of one of the legendary Primarchs in the grim darkness of the far future, Fulgrim does not shy away from it's subject matter as the titular leader of the Emperor's Children Legion of Space Marines is slowly corrupted by the Dark Lord of Pleasures, Slaanesh. Graham McNeill does a superb job in conveying the horror that pure hedonism can lead to, with parts of the novel becoming legitimately disturbing to read....more
Fulgrim suffers from the same problem as "Fight of the Eisenstein" before it which is that it once again returns to the timeline prior to events in the 3rd novel of the series, so for half the book I did feel like I was covering old ground. However, once the corruption of the Emperor's Children kicks in, the story really takes off and I quickly forgave the re-hashing. The imagery was really well thought through and in some places very disturbing.
All in all, a good read. But one novel I would not...more
All in all, a good read. But one novel I would not...more
Speaking as a 40K fan in general, and a Horus Heresy fan in particular...
I really liked this book, and almost gave it five stars for pushing the boundaries of what I thought I could expect from sci-fi. Maybe that just means I don't read enough sci-fi, but even so. In the dedication, McNeill says thanks to friends for "keeping him sane during the long hours of writing the madness," or something like that. At first I thought he was just referring to crazy deadlines, but no...he wasn't.
Anyways, pra...more
I really liked this book, and almost gave it five stars for pushing the boundaries of what I thought I could expect from sci-fi. Maybe that just means I don't read enough sci-fi, but even so. In the dedication, McNeill says thanks to friends for "keeping him sane during the long hours of writing the madness," or something like that. At first I thought he was just referring to crazy deadlines, but no...he wasn't.
Anyways, pra...more
This is the weakest book in the Horus Heresy series so far. The writing style in general works well enough, but I was not getting pulled in with the characters at all — they seem somewhat bland and it is very hard to identify with them. Now, a lot of that is due to the fact that the Emperor's Children in general are a bunch of egomanical, elitist, arrogant bastards which McNeill does portrait quite nicely; the downside of that being that there is no real protagonist in the novel. The person one...more
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While formulaic and somewhat slow in getting to the meaty stuff, this book eventually becomes a good representation of the world of the Warhammer 40K wargame in fiction form.
Dealing with the Horus Heresy as first developed within that game system, the book tells of the downfall of and betrayal by the Emperor's Children, one of the Chapters of Space Marines that guard the galaxy against enemy incursions.
While characterizations, plot points, and details are nothing to crow about, the book itself...more
Dealing with the Horus Heresy as first developed within that game system, the book tells of the downfall of and betrayal by the Emperor's Children, one of the Chapters of Space Marines that guard the galaxy against enemy incursions.
While characterizations, plot points, and details are nothing to crow about, the book itself...more
Not bad for the fifth book in the series, gives a complete into what went on in parallel with Fulgrim, whom we have only seen appearing and disappearing in the events of the original trilogy, despite the fact that he is the second major Primarch next to Horus.
The book in itself is longer than the previous ones and covers almost three times as many campaigns than the previous ones. Luckily they did not linger too much on the events of Istvan IIIrd and it continued the story to reveal the full ext...more
The book in itself is longer than the previous ones and covers almost three times as many campaigns than the previous ones. Luckily they did not linger too much on the events of Istvan IIIrd and it continued the story to reveal the full ext...more
This really should have been a great book. Unfortunately, it suffers from a number of problems including inconsistent plotting & character development - sometimes characters vanish for a huge span of time & come back entirely changed for no readily understandable reason - & McNeill's characteristic stylistic issues - which could be so easily fixed by decent editing.
That said, the story is fascinating & survives these issues. I recommend The First Heretic for a better executed ve...more
That said, the story is fascinating & survives these issues. I recommend The First Heretic for a better executed ve...more
Quite simply, knocked Horus Rising off the top spot for me without a doubt.
Epic book all the way through that created a complete picture on the slow, unnoticed corruption of one of the most loyal of the Astartes legions.
A book i actually travelled to London for to get a month early and signed by Graham McNeill himself, I could not put down and almost finished on the train journey home. It is that good.
Epic book all the way through that created a complete picture on the slow, unnoticed corruption of one of the most loyal of the Astartes legions.
A book i actually travelled to London for to get a month early and signed by Graham McNeill himself, I could not put down and almost finished on the train journey home. It is that good.
Interesting to know the story of Fulgrim and how easily he was swayed to Chaos and how weak he ultimately was.
I still think its ridiculous how often the Emperors Children are mentioned in the whole HH and also how rarely they are defeated which is biased and shitt all they seem to do is fuck up loyallists and never get thwarted if i wrote a HH book id have a Legion come after them and fuck them up.
I still think its ridiculous how often the Emperors Children are mentioned in the whole HH and also how rarely they are defeated which is biased and shitt all they seem to do is fuck up loyallists and never get thwarted if i wrote a HH book id have a Legion come after them and fuck them up.
Although not a continuation of the main storyline, (more a different viewpoint of past events) Fulgrim gives a more detailed insight into the changes that happen to the Emperors Children legion as they pledge their cause to the Warmaster.
I found it quite chilling to read how the legion goes from perfection striving to Chaos crazy in such great detail. The descriptions on the slight changes that happen to some of the main characters are very well written and really give you a sense of how quickly...more
I found it quite chilling to read how the legion goes from perfection striving to Chaos crazy in such great detail. The descriptions on the slight changes that happen to some of the main characters are very well written and really give you a sense of how quickly...more
I like the plot, the setting and the action, but the writing style is really starting to get on my nerves. I've mentioned this in previous reviews of volumes in this series, but the constant use of superlatives is really getting on my nerves. It makes the writing melodramatic and over the top. If everyone is perfect and everything is epic, then nothing is. Good thing these are quick reads.
Fulgrim is weak. Both the book and the character of the same name. The plot only advances because of idiot characters.
That said, it's still an interesting look into the Universe of Warhammer 40,000, and how the Grim Darkness of the Far Future comes to be.
If you're not a fan of the 40k Universe, or not invested in the series, I recommend a pass on this one.
That said, it's still an interesting look into the Universe of Warhammer 40,000, and how the Grim Darkness of the Far Future comes to be.
If you're not a fan of the 40k Universe, or not invested in the series, I recommend a pass on this one.
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Hailing from Scotland, Graham McNeill narrowly escaped a career in surveying to work for Games Workshop as a games designer. He has a strong following with his novels Nightbringer, Warriors of Ultramar, Dead Sky, Black Sun and Storm of Iron.
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“You fuss too much over making the "right" choice Gaius. All we need do is make a good choice, see it through, and accept the consequences.”
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