So, the Horus Heresy has ended, and a few of you are likely asking questions. To get the big one out of the way first: Yes, the previous novels will get a look. I just need to get them out of storage or for life to sit down, shut up and start behaving for once in its miserable existence.
More appropriate questions are more likely along the lines of how this series will be treated. Will it be a simple continuation of the Horus Heresy? What will be changed in the build-up to the siege itself? Is there a major shift in character arcs or new developments which will radically alter the dynamic of the war?
The answer is yes to all of the above. The Solar War is a new start of sorts, but it feels very much like a continuation of the old series under a new label. How that influences it is something which will be heavily commented upon below, along with how it executed a few of its ideas.
The Synopsis
The enemy is at the gate. With the end of the long war across the galaxy and countless pyrrhic victories on both sides, Horus Lupercal now assaults the birthplace of humanity itself. With the full might of the Traitor Legions at his back, he throws everything he has into this effort, making one last roll of the dice to cripple the Imperium. Yet first, he must win the war in orbit to start besieging the ground.
The fortress which the Solar System has become buckles under the constant fighting, as enemy fleets stream into the surrounding space. Rogal Dorn and his forces meet them, move by move and fighting their bloody engagements at every turn. Yet Chaos rarely engages in a truly straightforward battle, and its key to victory lies with someone who was there at the start of this all. Someone who sits alone in a prison, silent and unheard...
The Good
There's one very good part to cite right off of the starting gate, and that relates to escalation. While this is something of a double-edged sword (and we will get into that) the book doesn't simply start big and stay big. It doesn't read like some overly huge event that you cannot keep track of, and some might have expected that. However, that likely would have been a mistake as you need to keep raising the stakes to keep things interesting. As such, the book shows the opening shots and has some very engaging fights at key points, but it's nothing which will dwarf (or seem on the same scale) as the Siege of Terra itself. After all, the last thing anyone wants with a fifteen-year series is for the finale to feel like a let-down. This at least leaves it room to build toward something far more epic.
Another definite point in its favour is how it handles certain characters and their dynamics. John French was someone who managed to juggle between the various traitor primarchs expertly in his previous book, and he handles the main players remarkably well here. This is evident with the opening, where Horus himself is in strong form and we get a very sinister echo of something from Horus Rising in his actions. Yet even without this, Khan and Dorn both manage to be given some very interesting character bits which sheds some further light upon their characters even in this new series, and how they understand one another. This builds somewhat toward confirming a link between the two primarchs that had seemingly been retconned out of existence, but it works well here. Remarkably, even when French finds an excuse to throw Ahriman into the mix very early on, he makes it work in that you can see him starting to head down the path we will see him take much later on.
There's also a major benefit in terms of Chaos itself, as the book does feel as if it is trying to dabble with greater things at many points. This relates largely to choice, fate and life-changing decisions more than anything else, along with how each can be so easily manipulated by greater powers. On its own it makes for a very well handled and fittingly thematic choice for this series, as this is ultimately the culmination of so many mistakes and fateful decisions. It even works somewhat better when you consider just who it focuses upon in these moments and how it deals with their psyche.
Interestingly, the story also keeps you guessing as to where it will go next and how things will pan out. We know what the ultimate fate of this conflict will be, as this is the Siege of Terra after all. You know that the enemy fleet will reach Terra and besiege it, so French works around this by weaving other stories into the narrative. This has a few problems we will be getting into on the next point, but it does help to sidestep the predictability which would otherwise be evident within the tale. By offering new narratives and individual chapters to assist with character development, you at least have something more to keep you hooked as the traitors fight their way to the Throneworld.
All of this would be usually great and make for an excellent book. However, that doesn't quite benefit this particular novel for the reasons we delve into below.
The Bad
This is going to sound like an odd criticism above all else, but I do not think that John French was the right person for this book. A follow-up book or second installment, certainly, but this one is somewhat incoherent because of his typical focuses. Really, think about any of French's novels for a moment and think about what makes them work: Small scale character action, individual moments of extreme violence or very broad depictions across single battlefields, the bizarre secrets and hidden details of Chaos, colourful character histories which unfold over time, and roving journeys which cover great distances. Some of this The Solar War was able to offer, but others are at odds with its overall intended role. It doesn't feel like a war so much of the time as a series of major deciding points which are typically set outside of the main conflict, or adjacent to it.
You'll notice very early on that the novel itself typically tries to find ways to skim over the broader details of the war in favour of smaller character moments. The fall of the outermost worlds is something we see little of from any firsthand perspectives, and it instead shows them first from a war room on Terra and then a group of fleeing refugees. These work as supplementary pieces very well, but it lacks the core of some more definite ship-to-ship fighting to keep things interesting. Even when it begins to pick up steam, the actual story keeps focusing on other areas. We learn more about a major Admiral commanding the defense, the dynamic of the primarchs and even one or two examples of skirmishing. However, the broader "war" in question is told almost entirely through statistics and labeled battlegroups. This could have worked even then, but it lacks the same punch or detail that people like Graham McNeill, Dan Abnett or to a lesser degree Andy Clarke would deliver on. As such, it is simply unfulfilling.
Another problem that the book suffers from is that there's little in the way of a real reintroduction to the story. With so many previous plots being brought to a close, characters killed off and sagas simplified toward the end of the Horus Heresy, it seemed as if this could be a sort of jumping on point for readers. It's a whole new series, and while there is some need to generally cover past events or incorporate ongoing character development, it could have started with something that was easy to follow or keep track of. Instead, much of the novel carries on as if it's just another Horus Heresy novel, and offers little in the way of recaps, introductions or proper explanations for a few major developments here. Several of these are clearly written with reader familiarity in mind, and that can be offputting. Even as someone who has been reading this series and keeping up to date with it, I kept feeling as if I was missing something when something was abruptly introduced to the story.
Finally, the overall event is remarkably inconclusive. It doesn't feel like a chapter in a larger event so much as something which just trails off. You can certainly see where it stands in the larger scheme of things, and how it will lead into later tales. However, unlike the books of the previous series, it doesn't feel like a small part of something greater which leaves you satisfied by the end. It's not even that it doesn't close out events for certain characters, but the way in which the book dabbles so heavily in broadly thematic concepts and intangible ideas makes you think "Wait, is that it?" by the end.
The Verdict
Overall, The Solar War is just okay at the end of the day. It's certainly not due to a lack of effort on John French's part, nor even a lack of ambition when it comes to its themes. However, it simply doesn't quite get across and fully connect its myriad of stories, themes and ideas. All too often it seems to want to avoid the more material elements of the naval conflict itself and focus much more on the immaterial machinations of the Warp and the advantages this offers the Traitor Legions, along with small character moments. The problem is that this never fully connects and it means that more than a few events end up feeling as if they are out of focus, or the story is being told through an oddly skewed vision.
Some people might well like this more, and I personally feel that how much you enjoy French's writings will heavily influence your enjoyment. As such I encourage you to read a few more reviews before making your mind up and buying this one. However, even as someone who liked this author's previous works, this one just didn't feel nearly so engaging as his other sagas. As a result, I ended up liking its themes and ideas much more than the actual novel itself.
The Verdict: 5.5 out of 10
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