If you're only looking for the HH storyline...

skip this one. It literally has no impact on the greater story and the only reason I can think of why you should read it is because it's linked to a 40k book called "Warzone: Pandorax".

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Strong plot

Really enjoyed this tale of adventure and hardship of the iron hands legion, “flesh is weak”!

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Great book in isolation to HH! don't skip

Very interesting characters and the taint on chaos starts to be explored . This book does not add the the HH but I still found myself drawn to each characters struggle with chaos. Worth the listen

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An OK book but wouldn't be recommending it

As the title says this book was OK and had some interesting ideas that it ultimately didn't deliver on for me. I felt that no worthwhile conclusions were reached and that the characters and their motivations could have been further explored.

Overall the book didn't add anything to the Heresy storyline and left no interesting reveals or hooks to be picked up by later books. The characters were a bit too cliche for my liking although think elements could have been further explored like two Iron Hands having very different outlooks and opinions instead of the sergeant just giving up and deciding his captain must be right.

I was left feeling that there was no suitable conclusion to the story, as the struggle the characters went through and challenges they faced ultimately resulted in no notable change or worthwhile outcome. If your a fan of the Iron Hands you may still like this closer look at them and the action scenes are decent.

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1 person found this helpful

Better suited as shorter story

I dont often write my reviews but felt like I had to put some thoughts to text. I am listening HH front to back but this was a hard one to keep my attention on. Characters didn't feel fleshed out, but that could be because I was often passively listening. The story had its moments but for a lot of it I kind of tuned out. I feel like this could be a shorter novella instead of a full installment.

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not the best book in the series

i struggled to finish this book. Everything feels inconsequential. some leads are not followed up

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Horror themes and feels bleak

I enjoyed listening to this book and the performance was great as always.

The horror themes made for a welcome change to the usual black library books and at times I genuinely felt slightly unnerved whilst tucked up in bed. Definitely a great selling point of the book.

I enjoyed the story however it felt like the set up of the first portion of the book culminated in a rushed finish which was somewhat disappointing.

The characters must have appealed to me as I felt myself invested in their journey throughout. That said, some of the decisions made seemed a bit out of place and glaringly dubious.

Overall, I enjoyed listening but the plot is a bit bleak and sometimes hard to get through.

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Filler

Feels very much like a book for the sake of the iron hands getting a story in.. characters are uninteresting and does very little for the overarching story while also not being a particularly interesting or developed story in of itself

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Not important to Horus Heresy but still great.

A good standalone story. Doesn't move the Horus Heresy plot forward as other reviews have already stated, but it's a great introspection for Iron Hands fans. Sometimes it's good just to pause and reflect on the psychological effects the Drop Site Massacre of Istvaan 5 had on the shattered legions of the Iron Hands, Raven Guard and Salamanders. Particularly for the Iron Hands. Sowing the seeds for how that legion behaves 10k years later. I wasn't familiar with the author's previous works but I think he did a good job at character development. Huge props to Jonathan Keeble. Definitely turning into my go to narrator for this series of books. Looking ahead, I see he narrates more and more of the books moving forward. Great news. I would recommend not skipping this and to give it a go.

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An unexpected joy!

Going into this book if not heard anything about it, but from start to finish I was gripped.
The story is not a major plot advancement but it is enhanced by that fact.
The characters are unique and vividly detailed, each compelling the reader to know more about them and the book doesn’t let you down.

Jonathan Keeble is, as ever, a master at what he does and he enhances each character to the next level, especially Captain Atticus.

I know I shall return to this book again.

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