Do I really need to say anything? Really, just look at who is writing it. By this point, even on his worst day Aaron Dembski-Bowden is still offering B+ and A- level material to read. Even when you wholeheartedly disagree with his views of the setting or depiction of events, the character drama and execution of many key ideas makes it a stellar story. The Black Legion is no exception here and, honestly, it's another extremely strong outing from this author.
Building upon what we were offered last time, this second book in the series offers up more than enough twists, introspective thoughts and historic conflicts to keep any fan happy. That said, it isn't without a few key flaws.
The Synopsis
Set years after the events which brought Abaddon to prominence once more, the Black Legion has incorporated multiple warbands into its forces. Gathering together the displaced sons of every primarch, it is slowly turning itself into the dominant force within the Eye. Yet, while he continues to build and expand upon his personal domain, Abaddon isn't without rivals. Another potential Warmaster, one who does not spurn the gifts of the Chaos Gods, stands in his way. At every turn Daravek, the Lord of Hosts, opposes him and seeks to claim the role of Chaos' right hand as his own destiny. Yet, as each of these warriors prepares to face one another in war, other minds are at work. As the Ruinous Powers attempt to force the two into a direct conflict, an oracle offering them a way to truly cement their power and claim dominance over the traitor legions.
That destiny awaited beyond them, outside the Eye of Terror, where a warrior king awaits the the traitor who escaped his justice centuries ago...
The Good
While Talon of Horus laid the foundations for the Black Legion to come into existence, we only see them acting as a true force within this book. While there is something of a time skip to have allowed them to go from a small force of depleted warbands to the largest united group in the Eye of Terror, you hardly feel as if you have missed a thing. The novel quickly catches you up on changes, new ranks and alterations (along with the new dynamic among the marines) but oddly enough without telling you too much about the past. While what is conveyed is enough, this leaves room for future stories to fill out the past and a much needed air of mystery to the legion for all that is depicted here. It's one of those odd events where we see everything and yet at the same time the book shows you so little that you still have many questions. Yet, somehow, it still manages to be satisfying.
The book handles many ideas, concepts and subjects in this oddly off-handed way, but it often serves to underline a number of points. For example, an early chapter features Iskandar Khayon commenting upon how the Black Legion celebrates its victories. This is in contrast to its more restrained loyalist counterparts, but also to offer a more distinct link to the older legions. Furthermore however, it also examines and displays how they react to failure, while at the same time building upon re-establishing the sense of brotherhood which was core to the previous book. There's rarely a point where it fully spells out anything, but even when it does, it's to more deeply examine the world in as few words as possible.
Khayon's commentary, as you might expect, remains a definite high point throughout the book. His opening monologue about the Ruinous Powers and his views on them quickly re-establish his typically grandiose,thoughtful and surprisingly human nature, which continues throughout the story. Often, especially during the quieter moments, his narration will paused to fully reflect upon how life has changed them in one way or another and of the state of the Eye. Unlike before a few of these aspects serve more directly as criticisms of the Black Legion directly, and yet for every time it does this he often comes back with an even greater strength to overshadow it. It helps to make him distinct now he has been offered the greater purpose he previously sought, while also allowing the tale to explore the Legion as it fully forms into the spearhead of the Black Crusades.
Interestingly enough however, Khayon's own direction and story here proves to be just as important as the major events he finds himself surrounded by. As you would expect from Aaron Dembski-Bowden, the character dynamics and personal stories take priority over the big events. The actual crusade itself is essential to the story, and the horrifically bloody battles you would hope for are there. However, as it's seen through Khayon's eyes, the story uses him to explore why the Black Legion remained standing. After all, the previous book established why it was formed and how Abaddon could so easily bring so many astartes together. This one then shows the sort of focus and drive which would keep them going again and again, waging their Long War to finally over throw Terra and claim the galaxy for themselves.
The actual character arc itself is largely defined through a few key scenes, but each is brilliantly handled. You can see it adjusting stage by stage, but you only truly realise its impact at the same moment Khayon does. This permits the story a great deal of legroom to add in a great many fascinating moments and environmental details (including a truly inspired moment involving Sangiunius) without it ever seeming to be truly broken up or disjointed. What's more however, it also allows you to re-read the book and pick out a few characters who came to the same revelation Khayon did well before his time. It's an interesting twist upon the usual story details we get, and it further helps to emphasize just why Abaddon is such an influential and keystone figure within the Legion.
Abaddon himself also remains a major part of the story. He is there from the very start this time, and we are offered many more scenes of him truly as Warmaster leading his crusade. As a leader, tactician and minister, he is given the same treatment as Yarrick in David Annandale's series - Building him up as a true legend and imposing figure of power. Unlike there however, Dembski-Bowden manages to fit in a few more humanizing moments without compromising this, which is a true skill unto itself. The story builds him up like a primarch but it manages to simultaneously display the man and the legend at the same time, until you can barely differentiate the two. The story even plays upon this quality a few times, especially towards the end. What's more, Abaddon himself even acts in a manner more akin to the Horus of old in this book,which adds another interesting layer to his character given the questions surrounding him.
Obviously every Warhammer 40,000 tale needs a big battle or three thrown in, and we get just that. Several times over in fact. However, the narrative goes out of its way to give a distinct flavour to the fighting on each occasion. This isn't simply a matter of a duel contrasting to a big army clashing either, as the opening fight proves to be one of the most creatively terrifying uses of telepathy in the setting to date. The others, meanwhile, vary in nature several times over, from viewing events through the eyes of a dead man to watching a full scale fleet battle play out. Interestingly however, like the points cited above, some of the strongest moments stem from how much it doesn't tell you. There are hints constantly used here, suggestions to allow your mind to build a bigger and better picture of events alongside the descriptions, and manages to often work out for the better. You see, while we do get some of the moments which do emphasize the sheer scale of vast forces engaging one another, the book doesn't bog itself down with them. Instead, it offers just enough to get the message across, before letting the reader's mind do the rest of the work.
This is even used in the final duel the blurb advertises, with Abaddon finally clashing with Sigismund. We are only granted brief moments of the battle, enough to show off each warrior's skill and establish events over several pages. Yet, much of the fight is passed over at several points to focus upon the larger conflict at hand. While at first this might come across as cheap, skipping out on the fight it advertises, the story makes up for it with Abaddon's later comments and flashbacks to the final blow. It's certainly a very unconventional take on this sort of storytelling, but it actually manages to work out for the best here.
So, that's the positives, now onto a few of the problems of the book.
The Bad
Oddly enough, a few of the "bad" elements which worked in Talon of Horus' favour are still at play here. The narration is still very unreliable but is carefully used to show the author's take on the setting and excuse a few questionable points. This might have been dialed back somewhat to give a more flawed (if still more optimistic) view of Chaos, but it is still present. With that being said however, the bad stems largely from how the book unfortunately steps back from a few key strengths of its predecessor.
Talon of Horus itself focused largely upon the very seed of what would become the Black Legion. It was extremely character driven, and much of the engagement with the book stemmed primarily from seeing those characters interact. It gave a look into what life was like within the Eye, how it had adapted, evolved and certain groups had progressed. It showed how so many clashing individuals could be used to forge a true brotherhood again, despite some extreme differences. Plus, and it has to be said, while Khayon might have been the protagonist, his counterparts remained key to the story, with remarkably well fleshed out backgrounds.
The reason I am making such a key point of this is that, for the most part, the book pushes them away. In order to focus much more upon the bigger scale conflicts, events and Abaddon himself, this is heavily dialed back. Lheor, for example, has only half the impact he and presence he offered in the previous book, while Telemachon and Ashur-Kai lack the same connection to Khayon we had previously. This is hardly to say that their moments are badly written, but there's and odd distance and fleeing nature to their scenes I would not have expected from this tale. Much of this is certainly done to also make room for the secondary characters being established here, but in this early stage there isn't enough to offer a real opinion on them. While I might have criticized Betrayer for turning the World Eaters into the "joke legion" people pass off as a useless non-threatening entity, Dembski-Bowden nevertheless did an excellent job fleshing each of them out. No matter who had only a few pages or paragraphs to them, they offered a strong and often fascinating insight into their nature. Here, that's sadly not the case.
Now, this isn't to say that I do not want to learn more about the new characters, far from it. The likes of Moriana and Vortigern in particular are figures which hold serious promise for future tales thanks to their presentation and a few very strong moments. That said, many others seem to be little more than window dressing, Telemachon's second in command offers little to the story beyond perhaps one argument with Lheor while many others perhaps only have a single page or two where they really start to stand out. It's clear that the book is starting to set them up for bigger things, but that doesn't mean it doesn't still feel like a step down from its predecessor.
This same feeling unfortunately carries over to the main villain as well. Daravek is set up to be this counter or dark mirror to Abaddon, and he is clearly a definite threat. That said, we end up seeing so little of him, and his life is ended so abruptly, that he lacks the impact you would expect of such a figure. As a result, he comes across as a cunning and skilled Chaos Lord, not someone who could have been a figure to launch the endless Black Crusades against the Imperium.
Perhaps more so than anything else however, there is this clear sense of the book failing to reincorporate or use what is initially set up. Like everything else here, this is likely being done to set up for things later on down the line, but it's hard not to note how a number of secondary elements seem to lead to nothing or are left largely undeveloped. The characters are the most obvious ones here of course, but you also several major game-changing elements which simply show up and then disappear within one or two chapters. Perhaps the best example of this is Faylech, a former member of the Death Guard, who is noted to have a history with Daravek. There is initially one brief conversation between the two to suggest they have a history (and it features one of the book's funniest lines) but rather than fleshing out either character it's simply forgotten within pages of it coming up. As a result, rather than being anything truly substantial, these become more something to help build upon Khayon's commentary and serve as a entertaining secondary detail.
The Verdict
The Black Legion was always going to face an uphill battle to live up to its predecessor's expectations. This was always going to be the second blow to reinforce the series' potential and start truly expanding upon some of the Legion's own mythos. It does indeed accomplish this, and many of the concepts it deals with in terms of what drives the Black Legion and the hardships earned in setting themselves up as a dominant force do pay off. It's largely the fact that it was forced to abandon several key elements which made Talon of Horus such a spectacular work which brings the score down a few pegs.
However, this is still an extremely strong story which expands upon a keystone event in the universe's timeline, and it offers great insight into certain key questions. The story plays with the old lore and even keeps a few rumours alive, it sets the groundwork for new tales to follow and best of all it offers a fascinating (and brilliantly unreliable) look into Chaos. Any Warhammer fan should definitely give this one a look and, if you have yet to pick it up, Talon of Horus as well.
Verdict: 8.7 out of 10
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