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I’d say that ‘Flight of the Eisenstein’ is a good story told relatively poorly.
A lot of interesting things occur but I feel that it lacks substance overall. The way Garro was written was a big problem for me. A lot of really impactful things happen to him over the course of the story, but we don’t really get enough of a sense of how he felt about it. I ended up finding it difficult to relate to Garro in this story and at times, his lack of emotion dehumanised him in my eyes, and I was tempted to dislike him because he didn’t seem to feel sad when he definitely should have. That might sound strange if you haven’t read it yet, but I have a feeling you’ll know what I mean when you do. I understand of course that Garro is meant to be stoic, and he definitely is presented as such. But, there’s a difference between being stoic and being heartless.
Another POV character in this book is Kaleb Arin, a human servant in service of the Death Guard. His portions of the story contain an appropriate amount of feeling and it makes me wonder why Garro wasn’t given the same treatment, especially since this book’s main purpose is to introduce him as a pivotal character in the heresy. Kaleb is an interesting character and his POV gives interesting insights on what its like to be a human living among astartes. It’s something we don’t get to see very often, and I really enjoy it. The human POV’s were the highlight of ‘Nightlords: Omnibus’ for me.
Some of the characters in this book seem alittle weird and don’t really fit with the doer stereotype of the Death Guard. It’s a certain dilemma that I think most writers encounter when they focus on a single legion. The legion has a certain defined personality, but how can all of the characters within that legion fit with that personality and yet still feel different to each other? Like their own people? For example: The Luna Wolves are supposed to be hot tempered and thuggish, but the main Luna Wolf we know, Loken, really isn’t.
I thought the difference between Saul Tarvitz and Lucius was an example of this being done right. Both strive for martial perfection, but in different ways and for different reasons. In ‘Flight of the Eisenstein’, the characters are all really different from one another and as a result, only two or three of them actually feel like Death Guard. This is a pretty minor gripe overall but there are a few scenes throughout the book where a lot of them get together and talk that just feel weird and out of place.
There are other characters in this book who are portrayed in a way that I thought was abit off, but I won’t say who in this spoiler free review.
The budding Imperial Cult also features in this book and while it’s not terribly handled, I think other writers have done better. The budding Imperial Cult isn’t something that really interests me but that’s probably because of the way its written by many writers. Not to get too political, but you can understand why a team of mostly atheist writers would struggle to write about people being compelled to faith. The Ecclesiarchy of the 41st millennium is a giant and corrupt organisation who have the full support of the Imperium, so seeing them as a small group of faithful men and women meeting in secret during the Horus Heresy seems to kind of defeat the point that they serve in the wider story.
I felt that this book was a lot longer than it needed to be and it can feel like it’s dragging on, especially around the middle. Some story elements probably didn’t need to be in there at all and I feel didn’t really fulfil the purpose they were included for. The writing gives just abit too much detail and makes the book long, despite a comparatively small amount happening in it. I especially think that, with the length that this book is, more time could have been spent telling us about the character’s feelings. It may sound like I’m putting too much emphasis on this but Garro really does feel like abit of an empty shell in this book.
Garro is one of my top three favourite Space Marines, but it is not thanks to this book. The ‘Flight of the Eisenstein’ is a pretty pivotal moment in the Heresy and it’s a good story despite its shortcomings. It’s probably worth reading/listening to once, but I doubt it will become a favourite that you listen to over and over.
The Emperor Protects