For the first time we see Custodes for what they are - secret army tasked with two most difficult tasks - defending the Emperor and keeping the darkest secrets in the universe. But they are not infallible. In communication between their various cadres they show very little patience and understanding even for their own comrades in arms if they see their duty or authority is questioned. Valdor as always is Titan in its own right, and here it seems that he is beginning to eye the Legions in a same way as Thunder Warriors - tools whose usefulness is more and more under question. Although they seem like automata, Custodes are much, much more and it shows - they scheme, play power politics and are identified as a very powerful force that has lots of influence on Terra. But can it be trusted, especially with the ever growing influence? In the time when everything is turned on its head, can any of the very powerful segments of Terran government and military be fully trusted? The Emperor gains power from humanity’s worship, becoming stronger than a primarch, but never attains the god-like power He stole from Chaos

What would however definetly improve the book is bit of shuffling and cutting of scenes, putting them to the volume II, putting some of them closer. Moving the ending. But first, a little warm up – the covers of Volumes I and II. The first featured the Emperor on the Golden Throne biding his time, the second his angelic son Sanguinius facing off against the Warmaster on the Vengeful Spirit … so what’s next? Still book is great and if you liked the ones before you will enjoy it. Characters are awsome, story is very solid. I have to point out the superior writing technics Abnett uses. He proves himself again and again as god tier author. There is one scene, I dare to say rival Edgar Alan Poe.ToW: What’s next for you, now that this is finished? Can you tell us anything about what you worked on next, or what you’ve got lined up (whether that’s BL-related or otherwise)? We’re going to try and do this without spoilers – but if you haven’t read the End and the Death Part 1 at least, you may find some things spoiled for you a little. Where necessary, there’ll be a drop down box for very spoilery content. Open that at your peril!

ToW: You’re dealing with a huge number of characters and arcs, here – did you go into this knowing who you wanted the main POV characters to be? Or did they develop over the writing process, in which case how did you go about choosing them?

This weekend, the eighth – The End and the Death: Volume I by Dan Abnett – will be upon us, closing out the series in a multi-part spectacular. It’s one of the most important narrative events in Warhammer history, and to make sure you’re all caught up before the awe-inspiring climax, we’ve put together a guide to the major moments. ToW: The End and the Death feels entirely appropriate as a title, but did you consider any other titles for this book? ‘The Emperor Must Die’, maybe? Dorn and Valdor in particular were vastly enjoyable. Sanguinius is not a character I’d written much of, but I had fun with him. He’s an extremely difficult character to write, and a challenge that I really enjoyed. And weirdly, I found an enormous sympathy with Abaddon and the situation he finds himself in – where he’s obviously completely committed to doing terrible things. ToW: At what point did you realise you were going to need to break this story into multiple parts? And are you allowed to say whether there will be one more volume, or two?

Warhammer Community: The (Beginning of the) End Is Nigh – The Final Siege of Terra Story Is Revealed (posted 31/8/2022) (last accessed 31/8/2022) It is The End. After more than 20 years of gripping novels the final moments of the Horus Heresy are in sight. Hundreds of characters have fought tooth and nail to reach this epic conclusion, and many millions more lie dead in their wake as worlds burn across the galaxy. Book is very readable, very cinematic, main story chapters with lots of [what author calls] fragments sections in between. In these fragments sections we are given scenes from the battlefields, civilians escaping the city battlefields, we see actions of Abaddon and his troops, Horus' POV (which is hilarious) and finally Neverborne's thoughts and reactions on the Horus' progress. Chapters are relatively short so pacing is pretty fast. All in all very well organized, with only downside being author's use of some more exotic dictionary that made me scratch my head for a while. A perfectly fine novel that could have used some significant editing and the surgical removal of several of the sub plots that primarily serve to ensure everyone’s favourite characters are mentioned at least once. There’s definitely a really strong Warhammer novel in there somewhere, and if the viewpoint characters had been restricted to Loken, Corswain, Sindermann, Malcador, Horus, Sanguinius and Oll we might have found it. Instead the tour round minor characters detracted severely from the pace of the novel. “Oh, here we go, Fafnir Ran is killing things again” was not the enduring takeaway I expected after Johnathan Keble (who puts in the usual hard yards as the audiobook narrator) spoke his last. These scenes would be better left to a short story compilation than trying to squeeze them into a mainline novel.

DA: I did, and ‘Vengeful Spirit’, but that was taken 🙂 I like the simplicity of The End and the Death, and the sinister overtone, as it is an ominous quote, from the daemon Samus, from the very first book, Horus Rising. Three stars because it isn't bad enough to warrant being given two stars in that it's a mostly an enjoyable read however it has problems. The Emperor and Malcador discovered Malcador could use the Throne and not immediately die some time after first finding it, so Malcador takes the throne while The Emperor goes to meet Horus. Malcador dumps all of his final instructions and thoughts out onto his chosen agents telepathically before sitting the throne