Prospero Burns (15) (The Horus Heresy) Mass Market Paperback – August 26, 2014

Dan Abnett is, by far, the finest author of the Black Library. Not only is Abnett's work good for what some may snidely call tie-in fiction, it is just good hands down. Abnett has a real way of exploring the human condition under the stress of conflict we mortals can only begin to imagine. You can search for a Warhammer 40,000 book with better plot, character development, and action sequences than those written by Abnett but you will be hard pressed to find one. That being said I was a bit uneasy at the prospect of Abnett taking on a Space Wolves novel. Of all the original Astartes legions, the Space Wolves are near the bottom of my list as far as favorites are concerned. But, much like Aaron-Dembski Bowden was able to accomplish creating an endearing and sympathetic version of the Word Bearers, Abnett has taken the idea of barbaric space vikings and created something much much scarier.Prospero Burns is of a more narrow scope than most of the Horus Heresy novels to date. That's not to say that there isn't a fair share of epic conflict, but there is a greater focus on character. Those who enjoyed Abnett's Legion will find much to like about Prospero Burns. The story follows a man from Terra named Kasper Hawser. Hawser is a man dedicated to finding and conserving lost knowledge. He is easy to sympathize with, having come through personal hardships aplenty, and his desire to learn drives the plot. Some of my favorite aspects of the story were Hawser's flashbacks to Terra. These flashbacks give perspective of Terra during its golden age, with wonders and marvels that scream for a Unification Wars series after the HH series is finished.Some might despair at a mere human as the main character but I find it best to see the nature of the Astartes through the eyes of mortal. Through Hawser's eyes the Space Wolves are revealed as a much different legion than is most commonly accepted. The Wolves are not barbaric space vikings at all, but instead they show a compelling degree of strategy and stealth that most legions tend to avoid. I figured it would be difficult to depict the Wolves in a sympathetic light when it came to the destruction of Prospero. If you've read Graham NcNeill's A Thousand Sons, then you get my meaning. Somehow Abnett found a way to accomplish this however. The sack of Prospero is a tragedy for both legions and I love the image of the Wolves as grim executioners, the Emperor's ace in the hole. They take the responsibility for some of the toughest duties, duties that other legions would frown upon.I've read some complaints about deus ex machina regarding the plot but I don't feel like these complaints have much credence. The incident I assume these complaints refer to is hinted at during the entirety of the book, a minor thing that seems of no consequence until the final showdown. If anything I gave a little smirk when it finally hit me.Prospero Burns is a great novel. For Abnett to turn the Wolves into a force that even I can respect is no small accomplishment. This novel was well worth the wait and an excellent addition to my 40K collection. Highly recommended.

A great look into the world of superhuman space Vikings who battle a grand galaxy and history spanning deception, told through the eyes of an old man born again.

In all my time in and around 40k (and 30k), I never really liked the Space Wolves. Prospero Burns single-handedly lifted the veil of this notion from my eyes and revealed a faction that has a lot more beneath the surface than initially meets the eye.Where one thinks the tale might be a trite story of barbarians, Abnett crafts a compelling and interesting story. The Space Wolves might not ever be my favorite faction, but I certainly now have a new appreciation of them.

You know when you launch a new RPG and you want to build an axe wielding village burner without equal? But then you realize that in order to get your Strength, Dexterity and hit points high enough, you're going to have to dump a stat.... and what stat do you usually dump? That's right, we all know you take that bucket of Charisma points, dump it into the toilet and pull the handle faster than you can say "Leonard Pyle is a great conversationalist".Then you end up with dialogue options during the game like "Gunnar Gunnarsonsonson no like Talk. Only talk to Axe. Axe like to drink blood. Short conversations."Yeah, that's pretty much the Space Wolves in a nutshell. They're planks of wood with a frowny face painted on them until it's time to kill something. Because of that fact, the story has to be chronicled by someone who is most decidedly not a Space Wolf. A human with very thin motivations to visit the home planet of the Space Wolves except for "Heyyyy man, it just seemed like a good idea, you know?"Not that this is a bad story. Far from it. I think Dan may have written something bad in his life... like maybe when he was an angsty teenager, but he hasn't written anything bad since. Either way, this is a great story and phenomenally written. Dan is a master of the Simile and highly proficient with Metaphors to boot.His description of scenes sometimes has me put down the book for a moment and go, "Ok, ok, that was damned good sir. Damned good."So, although the Space Wolves are probably the most boring group of beings in Warhammer 40K (My love of the Thousand Sons has nothing to do with this! They did nothing wrong!), except for maybe the Hrud, this book is still outstanding and I wouldn't skip it. In fact, I think it's a must-read of the Horus Heresy series.