Flight of the Eisenstein (The Horus Heresy)

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With the release of the novel The Flight of the Eisenstein, this original story has been changed so that all the Space Marines aboard the Eisenstein are Death Guard except for Iacton Qruze; Macer Varren does not appear, while Saul Tarvitz escapes to Isstvan III's surface to warn the Loyalists of the coming bombardment rather than escaping aboard the Eisenstein.

I dislike Garro, I dislike his face, I dislike what he stands for. I especially dislike his face… did I mention that already?” – Love Gruglor”In the centuries since the end of the Horus Heresy, the Eisenstein has garnered a mysterious reputation and its current status -- whether it was truly destroyed or not by the Imperial Fists' fleet -- remains unclear. I The Solar War • II The Lost and the Damned • III The First Wall • Sons of the Selenar • IV Saturnine • Fury of Magnus • V Mortis • VI Warhawk • VII Echoes of Eternity • Garro: Knight of Grey • VIII The End and the Death ( Volume I • Volume II • Volume III) That’s really the main flaw that I found in Flight of the Eisenstein, for the rest of this book manages to still be enjoyable, for reasons that I’ve already mentioned. The action, certain aspects of the characters, and the plot are all entertaining. The tension is kept high throughout the novel and the pace is pretty fast. Garro was a stead fast character, and I really took a liking to him pretty immediately, and I really enjoyed his group of battle-brothers. Rahl, Sendrek, etc. even his housecarl was downright awesome in all of his scenes!

Our new hero of the Empire, Garro reminded me of the early Horus in some ways. Not a vengeful overlord so much as an intelligent leader. He really was a pleasure to meet and he confronted many wrongs in this story. Afterwards, Garro, Qruze and the Sister of Silence Amendera Kendel were approached by Malcador the Sigillite, the Regent of Terra, and told that the Emperor needed them to form a new Imperial organisation, beyond the boundaries of the existing Imperial bureaucracy, which would utilise "men and women of inquisitive nature, hunters who might seek the witch, the traitor, the mutant, the xenos." Under the Sigillite's own seal, Garro was tasked with finding 7 other Astartes from among both the Loyalist and Traitor Legions who were utterly devoted to the Emperor and His Imperium in body and soul. These Space Marines would become the Knights-Errant, several of whom would later become the Grey Knights Chapter of Astartes, the Chamber Militant of the Inquisition's Ordo Malleus. The Inquisition had been born in the fires of betrayal and heroism. The time required for Garro to get used to the cybernetic replacement for his leg meant that he could not be declared fit for combat duty on Isstvan III, where he would surely have been among the Loyalist Astartes caught in Horus' treacherous virus-bombings.After a certain amount of heavier reading in the last little while, I turned to something lighter. This is the fourth book in the Horus Heresy series, and it takes us away from the characters we have met thus far, perhaps because many of them are now dead. If you haven't read the first three books, or if you're not a fan of Warhammer 40k, then this isn't a book you'll enjoy. Kendel and the Aeria Gloris intercepted the Phalanx in the Sol System when it returned with the survivors of the Eisenstein aboard, taking Euphrati Keeler into custody as a psyker. Kendel guarded the survivors of the Eisenstein incident on Luna while they waited for their fate to be decided, leading her cadre into battle with the corrupted Solun Decius. [1c] Upon learning that Garro was unwilling to join the warrior lodge within the Death Guard, Mortarion decided to take Garro to the meeting with Horus at the initiation of the Isstvan Campaign as his equerry, in an attempt to ensure Garro's loyalty to what the soon-to-be- Traitor Legions were about to do in that benighted star system. Having witnessed the terrible massacre of Imperial forces on Isstvan III, Death Guard Captain Garro seizes a ship and sets a course for Terra to warn the Emperor of Horus's treachery. But when the fleeing Eisenstein is damaged by enemy fire, it becomes stranded in the warp — the realm of the Dark Powers. Can Garro and his men survive the depredations of Chaos and get his warning to the Emperor before Horus's plans reach fruition?

Nurgle's insidious power resurrected Grulgor, his dead Astartes and the ship's crew who had sided with him, creating the first Plague Marines. The ensuing battle between the infected Warp creatures and the Loyalist Death Guard aboard the ship resulted in the death of the vessel's only Navigator, Severnaya. Incredible, this series continues to astound and impress me. The care with which the stories have been crafted is much more than I could have hoped for. The events of 'The Flight' are equally as intense and emotive as they were in 'Galaxy in Flames' if only slightly diminished by the story being centred on a new cast, predominantly made up of The Death Guard. I have still yet to find a Space Marine Legion I can really class as my favourite, but the Death Guard certainly left a good impression upon me, particularly where Garro was concerned, as he was an engaging character. We also learn more about the Imperial Fists in Book 4, but I still really want to meet more of the Legions, which will be encountered in later novels.

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Finally unless you like OTT Chaos gross combat there really isn't much to the story beyond what was already covered in Galaxy in Flames, there was a moment of tension when Garro finds that others will not accept his report of traitorous activity, but this is resolved in a way that makes one question "why not start with the video evidence?"

All with the goal of warning those loyal to the Emperor. Yet having evaded the tragedy of Istvaan III doesn't make Garro and his crew free from all dangers, as they become trapped in the warp as they make their way. Some issues with the story; Death Guard and characterization, beyond Mortarion or Typhon, I actually found the character boring. Garro just doesn’t do anything for me. On the flip side, Gruglor is bloody hilarious, I kind of wish to see more of him. You’re not going to get brilliant personas from the Death Guard, but they were either dull and rigid or hateful and vengeful. The story is caught up with the far-reaching ramifications of Istvaan III as I mentioned and by extent the first three novels. It’s difficult for Flight of the Eisenstein to have room to tell its own story, as it does crossover a little too much with the previous novels imo - but this is to be expected. Severnaya ( Navigator) - Servernaya was the Navigator of the Eisenstein who suffered a mortal wound during the battle between the Loyalist crew of the ship and the resurrected Plague Marines of Ignatius Grulgor. The Eisenstein's shipmaster explained that the vessel's name meant "iron-stone" in an ancient language of Old Earth and that it had actually been named after two famous men of the Age of Terra. One had been similar in profession to a Remembrancer, and the other had been a scientist.My first problem with this story is the main character. Nathaniel Garro just feels in every way as Loken lite. Almost identical to the previous main character in every way except that Loken's natural disposition to question and consider lead to his position as a hero, whereas happenstance and fluke largely lead to Garro's actions. There is some effort made in the first act of the story to flesh out his legion in the same way the first trilogy developed the Luna Woves/Sons of Horus, but in FOTE the bad-guys are so obvious and obnoxious as to make any tension boring, this along with a metric tonne of plot armour the story didn't carry much compulsion. The Eisenstein was an Imperial frigate that served under the authority of the Death Guard Legion of Space Marines during the end of the Great Crusade and the start of the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium.