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A review by righteousridel
Throne of Light by Guy Haley
2.0
Mostly Fluff
I’ve often found myself mislead by the back-of-the-book, and have resolved to stop reading the marketing blurb before diving into a novel. Throne of Light appears to have its prologue on that back cover. I struggle to reconcile the small-minded continuation of the Indomitus Crusade that I read, with the epic-scale threat that should have been delivered.
The Dawn of Fire series has struggled to build momentum. The fourth book in the series is the first true sequel, bringing back lesser characters from previous novels and addressing the threat from Gate of Bones. In bringing together so many returning characters on Srinagar, the galaxy feels like a small place; as if there’s only one problem of note. This tunnel vision isn’t made any better by the lack of detail on other galactic threats, and despite the page count spent on side stories, those are often killed off in clumsy attempts to reinforce the grimdark atmosphere.
Honestly the biggest problem with Throne of Light is that it doesn’t accomplish anything. The threat on Srinagar revives some interesting old canon, but I struggle to recall where all the page count went. The space battle is perfunctory and the Space Marine defense is poorly visualized. Rostov’s cold-open seems to imply readers should have a deep emotional connection to him, when the Inquisitor and his team were a C-tier subplot from three novels past. Their detective work theoretically ties the novel together, but their performance is satirical at best, and utterly without suspense given the Inquisitor’s powers.
Throne of Light suffers from being a collection of B-plots. It, and the whole Dawn of Fire series, has failed to create and nurture charismatic leads. Equally, the authors have gone to great lengths to avoid an overview of the Indomitus Crusade, and I wonder if that’s because they don’t actually have any overarching guidance. The result is a middling book that is thoroughly skippable.
Even for WH40K fans... Not Recommended, with Reservations.
I’ve often found myself mislead by the back-of-the-book, and have resolved to stop reading the marketing blurb before diving into a novel. Throne of Light appears to have its prologue on that back cover. I struggle to reconcile the small-minded continuation of the Indomitus Crusade that I read, with the epic-scale threat that should have been delivered.
The Dawn of Fire series has struggled to build momentum. The fourth book in the series is the first true sequel, bringing back lesser characters from previous novels and addressing the threat from Gate of Bones. In bringing together so many returning characters on Srinagar, the galaxy feels like a small place; as if there’s only one problem of note. This tunnel vision isn’t made any better by the lack of detail on other galactic threats, and despite the page count spent on side stories, those are often killed off in clumsy attempts to reinforce the grimdark atmosphere.
Honestly the biggest problem with Throne of Light is that it doesn’t accomplish anything. The threat on Srinagar revives some interesting old canon, but I struggle to recall where all the page count went. The space battle is perfunctory and the Space Marine defense is poorly visualized. Rostov’s cold-open seems to imply readers should have a deep emotional connection to him, when the Inquisitor and his team were a C-tier subplot from three novels past. Their detective work theoretically ties the novel together, but their performance is satirical at best, and utterly without suspense given the Inquisitor’s powers.
Throne of Light suffers from being a collection of B-plots. It, and the whole Dawn of Fire series, has failed to create and nurture charismatic leads. Equally, the authors have gone to great lengths to avoid an overview of the Indomitus Crusade, and I wonder if that’s because they don’t actually have any overarching guidance. The result is a middling book that is thoroughly skippable.
Even for WH40K fans... Not Recommended, with Reservations.