Reviews

Лживые боги by Graham McNeill

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alcazarz's review against another edition

2.0

the first book had interesting world building and start of a story, but this book read more like the fan fiction it seems to be, with an unengaging plot and the characters felt a bit more wooden. I might skip the next 50 in the series..

shimons's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-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

sourrose's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated

2.75

Definitely a step down from the first entry in Horus Heresy. Still a decent plot, but the writing style isn't great, it's repetitive and on occasion plainly bad. The character development has horrible pacing, and some changes are made to the characters that feel completely out of left field. I understand that this is partly due to the influence of Black Library, but it absolutely made reading this book less enjoyable.

cr0wley25's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

jonocal's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

bogdanbalostin's review against another edition

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4.0

The quality drops a bit compared to the first entry in the series. I'm not talking about the syndrome of the middle book in the trilogy. Simply said, another author in a series introduces new directions and changes characters' personalities.

The plot is stronger than in the first book. Things are actually precipitating. But...

But Horus, man, what are you doing?

There are 2 major inconsistencies in this book related to the main catalyst, Horus Lupercal.

One, the jarring shift in personality from the rational, diplomatic Horus at the end of the first book to the angry, arrogant Horus at the beginning of this book. I mean, yeah, the explanation is that all this stress is getting to his head, but come on, the shift is too sudden.

Two, not really spoilers, since you all expect Horus to turn bad, but I'll put a spoilers tag because it's a scene from the book.

Spoiler

There is a scene that shows how two - let's say - guys try to manipulate Horus on the right thing to do. Kinda like a devil and an angel on his shoulders. Anyway, Horus is like "I don't trust any of you, I will do my own way". And then it turns out his way was the same thing the bad guys wanted? Huh? Like why you show us Horus understanding the manipulation. It made more sense to just show Horus being convinced in the first place.

Despite these glaring consistencies, it's a fast read, and as I said, the plot is moving things forward. And maybe the inconsistencies will get explained later on.

To be honest, reading this second book of pure action and evil powers, makes me appreciate the first book even more, so subtle in dealings with the topics of power, evil, religion, progress etc.

For my detailed review and thoughts about the series check https://balostin.com/false-gods-horus-heresy-2/