Theoretical: Some interesting ideas to work with.
Actual: Completely bland propaganda.

I'm want to be honest about being in a foul mood and genuinely not meaning any disrespect to Guy Haley. I hated this story. It probably deserves two, possibly even three, stars for the general competency of the writing, but I stand by my one because I had such an unpleasant experience reading it and I think it is emblematic of, while not necessarily the worst example of, everything I can't stand about Games Workshop and the Black Library, which this collection and the Horus Heresy in general are largely good at avoiding -- Imperial propaganda. The fact that the emotional depth is painfully shallow and the details are practically non existent certainly don't help. Being boring is one of the worst things a Black Library story can be, but being the literary equivalent of the justifiably criticised poster idolising Robute Guilliman that went to stores for his return to Warhammer 40K is definitely up there. (Yes, the poster is essentially a piece of in universe Imperial propaganda, but you have to actually know that context to take anything else away beyond, as charming and thoughtful as they may be, genocidal demigods of a fascist galaxy-spanning empire in which incalculable civilians, let alone combatants, die every day, are angelic vaunted heroes worthy of respect and awe.)

The story follows an Ultramarine Captain at an event on Macragge where Guilliman is honouring the bravery of those of his mini empire within an empire. Mr Rowboat is is there with his brothers, Sir Gawain and Griffith, the Dark and Bloody Angels, for no real reason it seems. Our Captain, recalls the battle against the Word Bearers and their Possessed Titan that lead to his being honoured hear, has a pint with a Librarian, remembers his dad, and pulls some sass with his Primarch and the Green Knight, before walking away like a badass™.

Look, I'm losing steam and I'm still without ADHD meds so here we go!

Corvo is both a cookie cutter Ultramarine, meaning he has as much personality as the expunged legions, and also somehow has big, generic not like other girls™ energy, because dad, sass, and not having a library pass. By which I mean, he's a bit shitty to the Librarian who is guarding the three fucking Primarchs and mentions the recent Night Lords' assassination attempt, not to mention Calth and the entirely nondescript battle our boy just came from, he still remembers his dad and has his family crest on his heraldry, but he'll never tell, and is a sassy little minx to the triumvirate of Primarchs in ways that would have seen anyone else executed in the spot or at the very least censured -- he refuses to re-up his oaths to the Emperor in an understandably jumpy environment, whips his fucking sword out, and is disrespectful directly to the Lion's fucking face, disobeying a direct order, walking off with 30 Marks to Mars blasting in his ears!

It didn't need to go down like this. I was never an Ultrasmurf hater, but I was definitely incredibly bored with them being the face of 40K for so many years with no personality beyond stoic Roman dudes. But The Mark of Calth and Know No Fear utterly power washed that indescript lack of flavour off the Sons of Macragge, genuinely making me care very much about the blue bois. I don't know whether it's standing in the shadow of Abnett and Dembski-Bowden, which is a deep and dark shadow to be fair, or what, but there is completely nothing to Corvo and the Ultramarines...or really anthying!

The World Eaters (it was World Eaters and not Word Bearers in this one, right?) [I'm genuinely not being cute. I don't remember or care enough to look it up] are a roiling mass of fanatics and enemy combatants. Could literally have been represented by any character model. Just an army of mindless Hollows, Tarnished, and Blood Drunk Hunters. Nope they have too much detail. The enemies and the combat are meh and there is a Dark Powers damned Possessed Titan in play and even that is barely interesting somehow. I will say that some of the bestial descriptions and movements of the Titan are the best thin in this story, but they are so few and far between. Also, what kind of Titan is this? I'm not quite as much of a nerd as I am embarrassing myself to be in this review, but I am aware, and every single other Warhammer and especially Horus Heresy story is aware, that Titan's come in specific classes that denote their size, shape, weaponry, etc. and that scale and size difference is colossally different! I assume it's a Warhound due to how it landed and was taken down because imagining this story with an Imperator takes it into ludicrous Attack on Titan scale. Maybe it's class is unrecognisable now (though the size would still be obvious), but even that isn't mentioned. It's just a weird, generic Titan.

The good idea of the Daemon Titan, generically conceived, and poorly relayed, is the word all the way through this stick of rock story and that word is, "Meh".

The story also has an opening interaction between our cerulean centurion and a presumably civilian woman that, while it is by no means the worst misogyny in the Horus Heresy (looking at you my problematic faves Abnett and McNeil with Grammaticus' weirdly virulent slut shaming and Lucius the Sigma's bioessentialist chauvinistic bullshit [actually, fuck that McNeil is off the fave list for just how disgustingly misogynistic Fulgrim, the novel, is]), utterly screams cishet white dude writer that made me cringe really hard, and wonder whether any other sdxualities, beyond heterosexual, exist in the Imperium and what that says and how it never coming up says about GW and BL...

Honestly, seeing the Ultramarines doing a celebration, while the Horus Heresy is taking palace, with three Primarchs, and a Daemon Titan in action was something I didn't know I needed, and absolutely could and should have been so very much more interesting and just better. The thing is Haley has shown many times he's capable of more than this, so it's an extra shame.

Yes, I've gone hard and been mean. The Butcher's Nails of C-PTSD convulsions and chronic pain are singing, and ranting about a shitty story has been cathartic, but I genuinely don't actually have a grudge against Haley, I don't think he's a bad writer, and I don't think the problematic elements are there in purpose or from any malice. I'm sorry. Let's both do better. ( )