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jake_the_pirate's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
wiroju's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
septhus's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
Tl;dr: first time Alpha legion shows up & how they get involved in the heresy. Ultimately forgettable, except for the last few chapters.
Legion is a story that introduces the alpha legion and shows them being the sneaky fucks they are, and how they get involved in the heresy.
This is written (mostly) from the perspective of a couple of guardsmen that are in the middle of a pretty conflict on a desert planet, and dind out that the sneaky adaptes legion is operating there as well. We also see the perspective of a psyker spy that moves amongst the guard ranks, in order to get into contact with the Alpha legion.
Stories about the Guard are always +1, with some nice banter between them. Their perspectiv is a nice way to show off the impressivenes of space marines.
The spy himself, however, is written as a insufferable arrogant man, and kond of a Gary Stu, which I found to be kind of meh.
The book ends up being a mixed bag. The Guard and their perspective on the Alpha legion is enjoyable, but honestly, most of the book is also really forgettable. This because except the last few chapters the book does not matter in the grander scale of the heresy story.
Now, I'm not saying that every single book in the series should have a heavy impact on the grander saga. There is always room to explore sidestories and characters - that kind of is what the series is after the first 4 books anyways: 'what did X or Y do during the heresy?'.
The problem with this book is that it invalidates big parts of itself, by basically undoing the first 70% in the last 30%. Some spoilers ahead:In the last few chapters the initial conflict gets resolved by 'warp(magic) fuckery happens so we bail', the alpha legion learns about the impending heresy and the impact their role in the conflict could have, and then the entire guardsman army that gets introduced ends up dead as a cover-up so no one knows what the Alpha legion knows. Very alpha legion, sure, but most if not all of the introduced characters end up dead, so this makes most of the book sort of a waste of time?
Whats more, the actual death of the army takes only about 2 pages. It really is 'ok so now the point of the book is made, alpha legion attacks, everybody dies, the end'.
Also I think a mayor bit of the resolving of the plotline of spies spying on spies and the counter-spies trying to track them is handled messily and unclear, as it relies on some cultural stuff within the army which is never really explained all that well, which made it a bit confusing as to what was going on.
So yeah, nice to see the Alpha legion show up, Guard is always a +1, but most of the book invalidates itself.
I could've read the last few chapters and not missed anything really.
Legion is a story that introduces the alpha legion and shows them being the sneaky fucks they are, and how they get involved in the heresy.
This is written (mostly) from the perspective of a couple of guardsmen that are in the middle of a pretty conflict on a desert planet, and dind out that the sneaky adaptes legion is operating there as well. We also see the perspective of a psyker spy that moves amongst the guard ranks, in order to get into contact with the Alpha legion.
Stories about the Guard are always +1, with some nice banter between them. Their perspectiv is a nice way to show off the impressivenes of space marines.
The spy himself, however, is written as a insufferable arrogant man, and kond of a Gary Stu, which I found to be kind of meh.
The book ends up being a mixed bag. The Guard and their perspective on the Alpha legion is enjoyable, but honestly, most of the book is also really forgettable. This because except the last few chapters the book does not matter in the grander scale of the heresy story.
Now, I'm not saying that every single book in the series should have a heavy impact on the grander saga. There is always room to explore sidestories and characters - that kind of is what the series is after the first 4 books anyways: 'what did X or Y do during the heresy?'.
The problem with this book is that it invalidates big parts of itself, by basically undoing the first 70% in the last 30%. Some spoilers ahead:
Whats more, the actual death of the army takes only about 2 pages. It really is 'ok so now the point of the book is made, alpha legion attacks, everybody dies, the end'.
Also I think a mayor bit of the resolving of the plotline of spies spying on spies and the counter-spies trying to track them is handled messily and unclear, as it relies on some cultural stuff within the army which is never really explained all that well, which made it a bit confusing as to what was going on.
So yeah, nice to see the Alpha legion show up, Guard is always a +1, but most of the book invalidates itself.
I could've read the last few chapters and not missed anything really.
laminatedlemon's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
scott_floronic's review against another edition
3.0
Starts out strong, but felt a bit aimless towards the middle. Thankfully the ending makes it worth pushing through and finishing it.
peachy_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
josh94mac's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
belchie324's review against another edition
4.75
What the actual fuck Dan Abnett. Put babies in me you nasty nasty fucker. How dare you write a book this good?
thederplord's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
qwerqsar's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Not a particulary good book based on the Alpha Legion and the Cabal. Also it is the first book of the series with Grammaticus. The story is lackluster and the whole spy story elabes much to be desired. Not one of the strongest books that Dan Abnett has.