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So I thought that perhaps Horus (who kills the Emperor) and his army were maybe involved in a power struggle where they over threw their Emperor, but they really just found some rando guy and were like, eh, blow him to shreds. Loken’s company breaches the palace first and first Captain Abaddon challenges Loken to see who can find the Emperor first. Loken totally schools those automated turrets. What follows is a bloody hand-to-hand mech suit battle between veritable giants and normal sized humans. After three attempts to reason with the Emperor, the commander gives the order to ‘illuminate him’.
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So naturally, (after an entire company of our heroes was slaughtered), they lay waste to this Emperor. By chance, the 63rd Expedition runs into the Imperium, an empire ruled by an Emperor demanding fealty. But what gets me most about this one, is that the Emperor doesn’t even die in this chapter! (except he does) Anyhow, we are introduced to our main character Garviel Loken, Captain of the 10th company of the Luna Wolves as he recounts the story of the death of an Emperor. Now first thing’s first, this (and every following chapter) has 3 subtitles to accompany their number.
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ONE: Blood from misunderstanding, Our brethren in ignorance, The Emperor dies I’ve included a picture for your entertainment (I hope you can read this).
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Not only is this section labeled ‘Dramatis Personae’ it features all the unpronounceable SciFi names we’ve come to love and accept as a symptom of the genre. The first thing I would like to do is to point out the cast of characters at the beginning. So without giving too much away, onto the novel! This particular novel is written by Dan Abnett, a prolific author of both novels and comics. The Horus Hersey story line is based in the Warhammer 40K universe, a tabletop game where you battle against other players in skirmishes or all out war! ‘Horus Rising: The seeds of heresy are sown’ is the first of (as of 2014 at least) 28 novels (37 as of this month), following Space Marines as they battle their way through the 31st millennium. Today we are starting Hatchet’s Book Club! For the next 7(probably) weeks (try about half a year xp) we will be reading ‘Horus Rising’ the first book in a series based on the Warhammer 40K universe! This post will be a tad longer than the rest (apparently not) as I will be introducing the book and then talking about the first three chapters all in one!
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