simonmee's review against another edition
5.0
We all have our guilty pleasures. Chocolate almonds, The Life of Kylie, playing with Lego until your mid-twenties then starting again in your mid-thirties. We’ve all been there, I’m sure.
Super-powered characters who still manage to be losers are my guilty pleasure.
Angron = Angry = Mind Blown
”Hnng” says Angron as he bleeds from his scalp, his eyes and his mouth like a haemophilic Russian Prince.
Angron's contribution to pre-battle briefings is a distracted, snarling indifference before stalking off. Angron’s father has given him command over the World Eaters Legion, Space Marines that fight with tactics out of date since about the time of Caesar. Angron somehow makes them even worse at battle, with decimation being his go-to form of course correction. The denouement is Angron shoving nails in his own men’s heads to “improve” them, all the while moaning about how unfair it is that some of his Space Marines favoured sticking pointy things in one's enemies, not your own cerebellum.
And yes, we get to see Angron’s origins. Enslavement followed by a cavalcade of deaths of unnamed or barely named associates and erstwhile foes. Angron’s empathy causes him pain, until the nails his enslavers drill into in his head replaces that hurt with rage. However, view Angron’s struggles in context with his Primarch brothers, some of whom start in at least as difficult circumstances. Most make the best of their situations in one way or another. Angron can’t even get a slave out of a giant worm alive.
I love that Angron is a loser. It’s one of the enduring things about the Warhammer 40K universe that the major characters are dipshits, and Angron might be the dipshittiest of them all. Angron’s heritage makes him a demigod but he acts as an overgrown and dangerously violent child. While this is like his brothers, he’s far less successful at it, which makes it amusing. Angron being angrymight be a grade school level of characterisation, right down to his name, but it is consistent. It also fits well with the plot, which boils down to who must change: Angron, or the World Eaters.
Legion of Dumbasses
Angron isn’t exactly beloved by the World Eaters but, amongst a legion of supermen, he’s the supermanliest of them all. I can see why you might like to be more like your Dear Leader. Unfortunately, the World Eaters are terrible at gaining his love. You would expect a list of DRAMATIS PERONAE to contain some pretty key characters. Yet three of them blow themselves into space in the first twenty pages while homebrewing putting nails in their heads. That’s a special level of incompetence.
While Angron isn’t exactly helpful with his leadership, the World Eaters are awful enough on their own. They suffer serious losses against an enemy that walks up and puts their hands in your face. The World Eater's win, before spiking the football in the endgoal:
'Because this galaxy belongs to us,' hissed Khârn as he drew back his axe. 'And in our galaxy there is only war.'
…which comes off a lot less tough when you realise he’s saying this to a literal adult foetus.
The World Eaters are losers. They can’t work out how to please Angron until he requires full frontal lobotomy, which a portion of them pathetically rebel against. I don’t doubt World Eaters go on perform some outrageous feats of savagery during the Horus Heresy arc, but St. Martin knows their ruin is a given, even as one of their champions claim otherwise:
'You will fail,' hissed Mago through clenched teeth. 'Only ruin will follow you, and history will vindicate me.'
Khârn lookes down, his eyes never leaving Mago's as he raised his axe. 'No, brother, it won't. Because you will not be there to write it.'
Not everyone gets to be Ultramarines. Even the Ultramarines themselves get a lot of hate for always winning. Angron and the World Eaters are a hilarious group of losers, who go on to replace dissension with cannibalism. I love reading about a group of outrageously powerful human beings who are so obviously doomed to fail. It’s my guilty pleasure.
Nailed it.
Super-powered characters who still manage to be losers are my guilty pleasure.
Angron = Angry = Mind Blown
”Hnng” says Angron as he bleeds from his scalp, his eyes and his mouth like a haemophilic Russian Prince.
Angron's contribution to pre-battle briefings is a distracted, snarling indifference before stalking off. Angron’s father has given him command over the World Eaters Legion, Space Marines that fight with tactics out of date since about the time of Caesar. Angron somehow makes them even worse at battle, with decimation being his go-to form of course correction. The denouement is Angron shoving nails in his own men’s heads to “improve” them, all the while moaning about how unfair it is that some of his Space Marines favoured sticking pointy things in one's enemies, not your own cerebellum.
And yes, we get to see Angron’s origins. Enslavement followed by a cavalcade of deaths of unnamed or barely named associates and erstwhile foes. Angron’s empathy causes him pain, until the nails his enslavers drill into in his head replaces that hurt with rage. However, view Angron’s struggles in context with his Primarch brothers, some of whom start in at least as difficult circumstances. Most make the best of their situations in one way or another. Angron can’t even get a slave out of a giant worm alive.
I love that Angron is a loser. It’s one of the enduring things about the Warhammer 40K universe that the major characters are dipshits, and Angron might be the dipshittiest of them all. Angron’s heritage makes him a demigod but he acts as an overgrown and dangerously violent child. While this is like his brothers, he’s far less successful at it, which makes it amusing. Angron being angrymight be a grade school level of characterisation, right down to his name, but it is consistent. It also fits well with the plot, which boils down to who must change: Angron, or the World Eaters.
Legion of Dumbasses
Angron isn’t exactly beloved by the World Eaters but, amongst a legion of supermen, he’s the supermanliest of them all. I can see why you might like to be more like your Dear Leader. Unfortunately, the World Eaters are terrible at gaining his love. You would expect a list of DRAMATIS PERONAE to contain some pretty key characters. Yet three of them blow themselves into space in the first twenty pages while homebrewing putting nails in their heads. That’s a special level of incompetence.
While Angron isn’t exactly helpful with his leadership, the World Eaters are awful enough on their own. They suffer serious losses against an enemy that walks up and puts their hands in your face. The World Eater's win, before spiking the football in the endgoal:
'Because this galaxy belongs to us,' hissed Khârn as he drew back his axe. 'And in our galaxy there is only war.'
…which comes off a lot less tough when you realise he’s saying this to a literal adult foetus.
The World Eaters are losers. They can’t work out how to please Angron until he requires full frontal lobotomy, which a portion of them pathetically rebel against. I don’t doubt World Eaters go on perform some outrageous feats of savagery during the Horus Heresy arc, but St. Martin knows their ruin is a given, even as one of their champions claim otherwise:
'You will fail,' hissed Mago through clenched teeth. 'Only ruin will follow you, and history will vindicate me.'
Khârn lookes down, his eyes never leaving Mago's as he raised his axe. 'No, brother, it won't. Because you will not be there to write it.'
Not everyone gets to be Ultramarines. Even the Ultramarines themselves get a lot of hate for always winning. Angron and the World Eaters are a hilarious group of losers, who go on to replace dissension with cannibalism. I love reading about a group of outrageously powerful human beings who are so obviously doomed to fail. It’s my guilty pleasure.
Nailed it.
ehachers's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Slavery, and Violence
trackofwords's review against another edition
5.0
Book 11 in the Primarchs series, this explores a key moment in the early development of the World Eaters legion. Given lordship over a legion who in his eyes pale in comparison with the brothers and sisters he left behind on Nuceria, Angron demands that his sons remake themselves in his image by accepting the Butcher’s Nails. All his sons are desperate to earn his regard, but while some work tirelessly to re-engineer the Nails to be implantable into legionaries, others look to the future and fear for what will become of the legion.
It’s far less hopeful than most of the books in this series have been – it’s a fundamentally sad story of a character who could have been so much more than he was allowed to be, and it’s testament to St. Martin’s understanding and handling of the character that over the course of this book Angron and his legion become so much more sympathetic, relatable and multi-dimensional than you might expect. This is everything that a Primarchs novel should be, and is in short an essential read for any Heresy fan.
Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2019/02/25/angron-slave-of-nuceria-ian-st-martin/
It’s far less hopeful than most of the books in this series have been – it’s a fundamentally sad story of a character who could have been so much more than he was allowed to be, and it’s testament to St. Martin’s understanding and handling of the character that over the course of this book Angron and his legion become so much more sympathetic, relatable and multi-dimensional than you might expect. This is everything that a Primarchs novel should be, and is in short an essential read for any Heresy fan.
Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2019/02/25/angron-slave-of-nuceria-ian-st-martin/
talian1201's review against another edition
Great read. Loved the way the author handled the characters. It is about time Angron got his own novel.
grimmauxillatrix's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
If you want to see how even the most aggressive, hostile character can have good, deep character development, look no further than this book. It's clear that the author really took the time to get into the characters heads to really develop and explore who they are. I knew how it would end, but the book kept giving me hope that it wouldn't end that way, that the pre-written fates of the characters would change somehow. If you know who Angron and Kharn are, it would be strange to think about crying for him, but I cried for them and their fates while reading this book. I will absolutely read it again when my heart has healed from the pain the book put me through.
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