Horus Heresy: Wolfsbane by Guy Haley (Warhammer 40,000 Novel Review)

As events are finally tied up and plotlines close off, this series is at long last moving toward an endgame. Khan has shown up on Terra, the Imperium Secundus has been dissolved and the Blood Angels are soon on their way there. Yet, there are a few big ones still yet to be resolved. Chief among these is the presence of the Space Wolves. Rather than being tied up at Prospero as the original lore inspired, Russ' group arrived back on Terra with time to spare. This is their final chapter within the Heresy, and offers something the series has needed a great deal of in recent years: Closure.

Synopsis:

Initiating one delaying action after another, the Space Wolves have not been idle since their arrival at Terra. With Khan's arrival, what little stood in their way is now gone and nothing has been left to slow down the Traitor Legions. Rather than wait for them, the Wolves decide to take the fight to them. This is it. For better or worse, the Space Wolves are set to gamble everything on a final opportunity to kill Horus Lupercal once and for all, and end this insanity before it reaches Terra's gates.

The Good

This is one of those books where you can very easily tell it's going to be a late series classic from the opening chapters. Rather than moving forward as so many previous books have, this one not only re-introduces some long forgotten figures but offers a glimpse into the history of the Great Crusade. The first among these is the meeting between Horus Lupercal and Leman Russ, directly after the latter has been found on Fenris. Through this we see Horus' initial thoughts, role and even jealousy of the apparent savage before him. It serves as an early look into the primarch offering some greater character examination, as he only has shades of the primarch we would see in Horus Rising. The scene equally serves both Russ, who is shown to already have a grasp of hiding guile behind barbarism, and the Emperor, who is a far cry from the cold, calculating tyrant seen in Master of Mankind or others. 

The introduction alone would have marked the book up by a couple of points, but it is immediately followed by the reintroduction of Garviel Loken to the saga. While he is only around for a short while, the scene offers a look at how the former Luna Wolf has changed. He is closer to his older self, less damaged than past depictions, but still carries clear scars from his experiences. While it's only a brief appearance, it allows him, Russ and a number of others to show how they have changed over the space of a few short years for better or worse. What is surprising is that almost every chapter is like this in many ways, taking far more time to delve into the quirks, strengths, and histories of those involved than other authors. While all novels have done this to some degree, Haley's efforts here are one of a relatively few which tries to do this to every single person involved. In doing so, it helps to offset the essential world building of the entire series with a few character studies before the end. Even Belisarius Cawl, young as he is, gets more than a few essential scenes to help truly flesh him out and show how dramatically he will change in ten thousand years. There's an essential spark which reflects his later life, a similarly self-assured arrogance, but little else.

More interestingly still, however, is how the book handles the Space Wolves. Prospero Burns is a contentious novel for many reasons, but at the time it was definitely needed. It granted the Wolves greater depth and curbed some of the more insane excesses that Edition's codex had brought about with some of its madness. Yet, an unfortunate downside of this was how many authors seemed to avoid or deride their more human qualities as a result. They were much more dour, grim and reserved, and lacked the bombastic joy we saw before. While the latter quality has started to make it back into more recent stories, this final chapter serves as something of a counterpoint to that depiction in the M32 era. All of them have regained more of the openly boisterous aspects they were originally known for. While it is never taken too far, and retains more of the general depth shown, it's built up as more of a core part of their culture and history over a guise they present to all outsiders.

Yet, for all the time taken to focus on the Space Wolves and their alone effort, there is a greater awareness of widespread events. For one thing, the book spends a significant portion of the opening showing the primarchs together again. Many of the loyalists have gathered on a single world for the first time in years, with Dorn, Khan, Sanguinius and Russ working together. While, frustratingly, they treat the Ultramarines as if they are equal to the entirety of the Imperium's remaining forces (to the point where it seems as if they can solo the Warmaster's entire battlegroup) it does at least address a few ideas. 

With additional Imperial forces still out there, Dorn is actively trying to communicate with them in order to buy more time or drive back the Warmaster's initial strikes. Through these scenes, there are some very good contrasts between the various legions and their leaders in how they operate. It's the sort of thing the Heresy definitely needed more of, and it offers a glimpse into what the later novels might offer. There's a definite effort to still make this book about the Wolves while also addressing the fact that few forces are isolated. As a result, it manages to maintain a broad scope without making Russ seem like a guest character in his own book.

Speaking of which, Russ himself gains a few interesting new revelations when it comes to his actions. A number of these openly and subtly relate to Norse mythology and its tales, setting up Russ as a combination of Thor and Odin in each one. While this could have easily been heavy-handed, what helps to significantly counter this is how it's very effectively dressed up in Heresy era iconography. Much of it surrounds the spear that Russ seems to hate so much, and the imagery conjured by it as he claims the weapon as his own. Unless you have a particular obsession with mythological tales, it's the sort of thing you won't notice first time around if at all. Add to that a few remarkable revelations surrounding Russ and Fenris itself, and it grants the reader some fantastic insights into the figures who make up this universe.

At least the first two thirds do. Once you get into the last bit, some growing flaws become very evident.

The Bad

Many of the negatives unfortunately only become apparent quite late on into the story. It's the final third where so many become evident, and while there are certainly a few issues prior to that point, it's there where it loses many points. Up to the actual battle itself the novel was shaping to be another Betrayer. A story so good that, even with my own criticisms of how it handled the World Eaters, the content remains a gold standard for much of the series. Yet, it's as if one approach was traded for another in the final moments and as a result of this it fails to fully mash together. In fact, it's as if the finale of the book itself was something the story only dealt with as a necessity.

Much like the aforementioned Prospero Burns, we are given a great deal of insight into the overall legion but from its source this time. Yet, as was the case there, this largely sacrifices the premise in order to accomplish this. When Horus himself shows up and the whole final battle begins, it's remarkably underwhelming. While the grand scale of it works and there's plenty of descriptive bolter porn to enjoy, there's not enough of an emotional link to it. Why? Because the Wolves are clashing against the Sons in overwhelming odds, and it just feels like another grand scale battle. 

The title of the book is Wolfsbane, this is featuring Lupercal himself fighting the Emperor's Executioner. These are two of the oldest primarchs, two of the Imperium's best commanders, a man who was expected to be second only to the Emperor himself against a warrior whose duty it was to kill any of them if they truly turned traitor. The opening establishes a link, and yet it then does nothing with it outside of Russ' own thoughts. Compare this to Praetorian of Dorn's treatment of the Dorn-Alpharius relationship. You have constant flashbacks comparing and contrasting the two, building their relationship and displaying their differences even as the main events play out. This means that their final battle carries so much weight. Here though? You have an excellent introduction which is never fleshed out. Short of a brief exchange between the two, there's never enough here to deliver on what the novel seemed to promise.

Many of the developments and promising ideas are sidelined or even outright abandoned in favour of a huge scale conflict here, and this leaves many sub-plots being quickly tied up. Usually by putting a bolt into the head of the character who it followed. This isn't true of everyone, but the overall response to resolving many ideas seemed to focus on outright murdering those it followed. There's the George R. R. Martin way of pulling abrupt deaths, and then there's just using murder to quickly wash one's hands of the finale. An obvious consequence of this is, unfortunately, throwing the Space Wolves under the proverbial bus. They fail, a move everyone expected, but why they fail undermines their very intended role within the Imperium. It does more damage to Russ' character than any other part of this series, and completely undermines his intended role within the setting. To give you some idea of just how poor a show this is, it would be like having Guilliman lose a battle due to him failing to account for logistics. Plus, even without that, this is yet another crushing defeat for the Space Wolves, which goes past "justified for story reasons" into "the primarch's actual name is Leman Worf".

This isn't even down to mishandled descriptions or writing. It's simply that the ideas driving them were horribly mishandled. Like so many things covered, the idea was good but the execution left a massive amount to be desired.

The Verdict

This one is very difficult to put down to a single score, as it both shows Guy Haley's talents at their best and worse. There are shades in here both of Pharos and Death of Integrity in its story structure, starting with the former and gradually shifting toward the latter. The final act of the book is truly where everything comes apart, and while the intentional goal is obvious, the means used in order to actually get there are unfortunately quite questionable. Even without getting into the fact that the Space Wolves are presented as losing yet another battle (marking them as just behind the Iron Hands in terms of their mistreatment), the reasoning just doesn't work. Even if what is implied might permit them victory, in the long run, does stem from this too much was sacrificed in the name of what was intended to be a clever twist.

The book is by no means poorly written, and Haley does still show plenty of the same skills we have come to know him for, but the actual plot itself is where it falters. The moment Horus himself is added into the mix, it upsets much of the excellent work done with Russ himself. Because of this, it seems as if it's baiting fans of this legion to have some hope before yanking the dog's chain. No pun intended. While it is worth it for its better qualities, you may wish to take a brief look at a synopsis of basic events before picking up the hardcover version. If you feel you wouldn't wholly enjoy it, wait for the softcover version or pick up a copy from a library instead.

Verdict: 6.3 out of 10