This predominantly curt, laconic prose conjures in the reader’s mind the metallic tang of blood and clash of weaponry, as Angron fights brutally time and again, the bloodthirsty song of the Butcher's Nails spurring him on, while his legionaries attempt to reforge themselves in their stern, scornful father’s image.

And this is the tale about how the XII Legion chose the path to damnation too, embracing their father’s path and hammering the Butcher’s Nails inside their skull. More curiously still, there are multiple arguments made in favour of the Nails even by sane members of the legion, some of which are fairly compelling. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform.Angron somehow makes them even worse at battle, with decimation being his go-to form of course correction. Enslavement followed by a cavalcade of deaths of unnamed or barely named associates and erstwhile foes. For the XII Legion, once the War Hounds and now the World Eaters, the line between strength and flaw is almost impossible to separate. This is the first book from the Primarch series that I have read, since he fascinated me the most after his appearance in the first trilogy of Horus Heresy. He's a furious rage monster, but lacks many of the more human quirks which he supposedly lost over time.

Takes a look at the angriest of all the primarchs and really makes a effort to in a way humanise him. Anyone who always assumed Angron is little more then a drooling maniac will really be surprised when reading this book. However, view Angron’s struggles in context with his Primarch brothers, some of whom start in at least as difficult circumstances. This serves to compare and contrast each state of the legion, but curiously it is left up to the reader as which was truly better.Plus, this leads to one of my favourite visual displays of them taking hold that I have seen to date, where the page itself runs red with blood over the descriptions. At the same time, a group of legionaries desperate for their Primarch's acceptance are toiling to be as close to him as possible ala installation of the Butcher's Nails in the whole legion. Angron isn’t exactly beloved by the World Eaters but, amongst a legion of supermen, he’s the supermanliest of them all. These ‘Primarchs’ novellas are a mixed bag; at the beginning it felt like they may not give much more insight into the Primarchs themselves, but would deal with slightly different aspects of the Space Marine Legions in the Great Crusade era, and for some of us, that felt like enough.

Much like Mortarion and - to a lesser degree - Vulkan he is one of those figures who ultimately has shown up in no shortage of books, but has often been left playing second fiddle to other characters. It makes for the dynamic and downfall much more tragic, as it makes it clear that if any one of the things leading up to this had failed, the World Eaters would have likely avoided their fate. This book tells both the story of how the XIIth legion fell to the butchers nails, and the story of how Angron gets his own infamous implants. It shows why he was one of the best suited to their inclusion, and how certain minds much more easily adapted to the enhanced aggression than others.Since very young, Angron was captured by the noble houses of the planet he landed on and was enslaved as a gladiator for the entertainment of the masses. They employ the usual tactic since their Warhounds day by advancing on the enemy using the strategy of Roman Phalanx but found that the enemy is not a pushover as it seems, even if they are weaponless. It’s also been interesting to follow the heated dispute of Centurions Mago and Khârn, regarding their father and the future of their Legion, both of them certain they know exactly which path would better suit their brothers. Theirs had been the true bonds of blood – blood spilt together upon red sands for decades and later in a meticulously-planned rebellion – while the former War Hounds are just a poor replacement, at best.