beorn_101's review against another edition
3.0
This was my second time reading Mechanicum. The first time I really enjoyed it, this second time around I thought it was good, but not phenomenal.
There is a lot to like here. Mechanicum focuses on the tech people of Mars, rather then the Space Marine legions. We get a lot of amazing insight into Titan pilots, knights, and even the tech adepts of Mars. This was refreshing, and provided some really cool moments.
The best bits of the book were from the perspective of the Titan pilots; however, the book itself has 3 separate story arcs happening that sort of intertwine together, with mixed results. None of the perspectives given are completely terrible, but not all of them are equally as interesting.
I think the setting of Mars itself is compelling, they are a people allied with Terra, rather then seeing themselves as part of Terra. They are essential to the war effort, but also feel separate.
Perhaps my biggest problem with the story is it jumps around a LOT. Its tough to go from the perspective of a pilot of a Titan, worried that there is about to be a battle between Titan legions, then to jump to a adept of mars who is doing tech experiments, and then to a knight pilot hunting a rogue AI. None of these are bad storylines, but none of them quite gel or feel fully fleshed out. They are supposed to give perspective of how the Horus Heresy effected all parts of Mars, but I feel like because of this you are only getting brief snapshots.
This particularly hurts the characters, most of which don't feel fully fleshed out.
Overall, this was a fun story, and a nice break from Space Marines, but not as amazing as I remembered it.
There is a lot to like here. Mechanicum focuses on the tech people of Mars, rather then the Space Marine legions. We get a lot of amazing insight into Titan pilots, knights, and even the tech adepts of Mars. This was refreshing, and provided some really cool moments.
The best bits of the book were from the perspective of the Titan pilots; however, the book itself has 3 separate story arcs happening that sort of intertwine together, with mixed results. None of the perspectives given are completely terrible, but not all of them are equally as interesting.
I think the setting of Mars itself is compelling, they are a people allied with Terra, rather then seeing themselves as part of Terra. They are essential to the war effort, but also feel separate.
Perhaps my biggest problem with the story is it jumps around a LOT. Its tough to go from the perspective of a pilot of a Titan, worried that there is about to be a battle between Titan legions, then to jump to a adept of mars who is doing tech experiments, and then to a knight pilot hunting a rogue AI. None of these are bad storylines, but none of them quite gel or feel fully fleshed out. They are supposed to give perspective of how the Horus Heresy effected all parts of Mars, but I feel like because of this you are only getting brief snapshots.
This particularly hurts the characters, most of which don't feel fully fleshed out.
Overall, this was a fun story, and a nice break from Space Marines, but not as amazing as I remembered it.
cutlassmeatmouth's review against another edition
3.0
Honestly pretty boring for the first ~300 pages. I was excited to read this because I play Mechanicum, but there wasn't as much Mechanicum as there ought to have been, it was just humans. But it did provide a little insight into how Adepts interact with each other, which is pretty cool. They no longer search for physical clues to people's meaning, but they read it in their electrical field.
The whole book was building up to a titan battle and then it was a 3/10 battle at best
The whole book was building up to a titan battle and then it was a 3/10 battle at best
thewargrave's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-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
4.0
gabe_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Really fun, and had absolutely loads of lore and background and fun titbits. I really liked Adept Zeth and pretty much everything that went on with her. I loved seeing the corruption spread over Mars, though felt they didn’t spend much time on how the schisms were slowly growing before the scrapcode. I loved how the three cities held out, the Titan battles, the Knights, it was great. I thought the stuff with the void dragon was interesting. It was nice seeing the perspective of the Heresy from a non-Astartes perspective, and to jump back in the series.
jackb's review against another edition
4.0
A very good instalment, probably the best since the initial trilogy. A good balance of plot and action. I've been waiting to know more about the mechanicum and what had become of mars, and I was not disappointed.
itcamefromthepage's review against another edition
4.0
A fantastic exploration of the hellish landscape of Mars in the Warhammer universe. Dark, foreboding, and epic. The destruction of knowledge combined with the destruction of nature just sums up the worst of humanity.
The characters in this one are extremely well drawn and interesting to follow.
Plus there are a bunch of cool giant robots fighting...so you can't get much better than that.
The characters in this one are extremely well drawn and interesting to follow.
Plus there are a bunch of cool giant robots fighting...so you can't get much better than that.
revolution666's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5