As with the last book review this is posted in full on http://thefoundingfields.com/ and this is simply a preview. If you want to see it in full then please follow the link through to there.
If there’s one thing which can be truly singled out from Chris Wraight’s stories it’s the themes he repeatedly uses when focusing upon space marines: The flaws of their traditions and influences of their homeworld, and the fracturing of their alliances. Wrath of Iron, Battle of the Fang, Blood of Asaheim, all featured these present within the focus chapters (and in Fang’s case also its traitor legion). While they have often worked in different ways and affected the protagonists in varying degrees, they were all core parts of each book’s plot. Going just from the first Episode of Scars, they seem to be themes which will be feature prominently in examining the legion.
Making up the first seventeen pages of the Horus Heresy novel, Scars: Episode I is an introduction to the legion and its recruits. Not just those from Chogoris but those recruited from Terra and divided among the legions astartes, forced to adapt to the traditions and mentality of their primarch as they are effectively phased out of the legion. The book explores this through two such recruits from differing origins, Tamu of Chigoris and Haren Svensellen of Skandmark (Terra) as they are recruited by members of legions and undergo the arduous tests to become astartes.
Emphasising upon the presence of Terran marines within the legions is a good move and in the short page count Episode I conveys a good deal of information. What little we’ve seen of their existence was only briefly touched upon in Flight of the Eisenstein and Betrayer, even there being more a personality quirk than an emphasised trait. Stark contrasts are made between the initiates just by showing their experiences in points in their lives, from the methods of their recruitment to their choices and even basic training.
Making up the first seventeen pages of the Horus Heresy novel, Scars: Episode I is an introduction to the legion and its recruits. Not just those from Chogoris but those recruited from Terra and divided among the legions astartes, forced to adapt to the traditions and mentality of their primarch as they are effectively phased out of the legion. The book explores this through two such recruits from differing origins, Tamu of Chigoris and Haren Svensellen of Skandmark (Terra) as they are recruited by members of legions and undergo the arduous tests to become astartes.
Emphasising upon the presence of Terran marines within the legions is a good move and in the short page count Episode I conveys a good deal of information. What little we’ve seen of their existence was only briefly touched upon in Flight of the Eisenstein and Betrayer, even there being more a personality quirk than an emphasised trait. Stark contrasts are made between the initiates just by showing their experiences in points in their lives, from the methods of their recruitment to their choices and even basic training.
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