Fulgrim

The biggest issue with this book is the style in which its written. The vocabulary is tiresomely pompous and extravagant, and it really detracts from the story. It seems like it’s written to seem like Fulgrim’s writing, which sounds cool in theory, but in practice it makes things feel drawn out and everything sort of loses it’s meaning after a while because every little thing is given so much attention.

And again, I understand why it’s done like that, to make me feel what the characters are feeling. The heightened senses of the Emperor’s Children lead’s them to feel numb to sensation. In that way, the writing is actually quite clever. But it’s just so painful to read.

David Timson’s reading in the audiobook only accentuates this. That’s not to say he did a bad job. He said what he was reading. If anything, he did too good of a job, adding an annoying exaggerated voice to the annoying exaggerated writing.

Also, the writing style doesn’t change when we get the Iron Hands’ perspective, which I feel that it should have. The writing style is annoying to read, but at least it fits the Emperor’s Children. In the Iron Hands sections, it has the added disadvantage of feeling out of place.

I will say this for ‘Fulgrim’ though, it gets better as it goes along.

‘Fulgrim’ documents the slow corruption of the legion and whilst at times, it is alittle less than believable, the book does a good job at instilling the reader with a sense of dread as we know where the legion will inevitably end up. I’ll talk abit more about this in my Spoiler Review, because there are a few moments that I feel do this especially well.

As I’m writing this, I only finished re-listening to it less than an hour ago and I have to say that the ending is pretty good. In keeping with the semi-musical theme of the book, it comes to a tantalising crescendo.

This also the fifth book in the series and so far, we’ve seen a civilisation be exterminated by the Imperium in every single book. This one is called the Diasporex and I think they’re pretty cool (though not as cool as the Auretian Technocracy). I haven’t actually read the next book in the series, but I’d be interested to see how long this civilisation killing spree lasts.

The Iron Hands sections are quite enjoyable. I have abit of an issue with the way Ferrus Mannus is introduced but I thought that the main Iron Hands POV, Gabriel Santar was quite compelling in ways that I’ll go into in the Spoiler Review.

All of the Astartes characters feel individual whilst still feeling like Emperor’s Children. Their motivations are believable, and I found myself growing rather attached to two or three of them. If you like Fabius Bile, the part he plays in this book is small but potent.

The human characters are less well done. The dialogue feels awkward and unnatural. And I get it, they’re artists, they’re eccentric and privileged, but they’re still people. As much as I wanted to, I found it hard to grow attached to the human characters in the same way I did with the Astartes and for the most part, I felt uninvested in their fate.

This book has a sort of tragic feel that I think works really well. Fulgrims fall feels very preventable and there are part where you think that maybe he could be brought back if only things had gone alittle differently. It all feels very sad, which I think it should.

We get a cool (if abit gruesome) look at the worship of Slaanesh in this book and I think Graham McNeill really nailed it. It’s very excessive and debauched and creepy, everything Slaanesh stands for. I think it’s a real strength of the story.

We also get a look at both Isstvan III and Isstvan V, so that’s a plus. For me personally, Fulgrim was my first look at Isstvan V and I was so excited, though it’s not as good a view of it as ‘The First Heretic’ gives you.

I’d say you should read this book if you like:

Slaanesh

The Emperor’s Children

The Iron Hands

Isstvan V

The writing style of this book definitely takes some getting used to but if you’re willing to stick it out, its quite enjoyable by the end. I’d say ‘Fulgrim’ is worth reading once and only once.

The Emperor Protects