Shadows of Treachery: The Horus Heresy, Book 22

This came much sooner then expected and in better condition then expected!

This is another collection of Heresy short stories.I'm fond of the Dark King. I usually love Curze, and we get a short story with him.The Lightning Tower gets us some interplay between Dorn and the Sigillite.Corax gets his own story.One story about death and Sejanus at the end.A longer Night Lord story.Again, this is one of those that can be skipped, but I enjoyed. Worth the price of a cheap paperback.

I played warhammer 40k for years. You always got some short stories, in the rules and white dwarf,I have been getting all the heresy books,as they come out. Good stories about the Primachs

Most of the stories are telling the finer points of things that have already happened in the series. Fantastic book!

Another great extension of the war hammer galaxy and characters. I am actually happy I’m behind the publish dates of all the books.

Few of the stories are based upon earlier audio-dramas (which I very much reccomend) and a few other great stories that bring the Horus Heresy Era to life.Wish there were more available about the legions we really don't hear too much about like the White Scars, etc

As a follower of the Horus heresy books, I haven't missed one yet, and enjoyed this one too, features short stories by some of my favorite Warhammer40k authors.

I will review and grade each story in order but I believe as a whole the book is 3 stars but leave open to question whether it should be deducted 1 star for repeating already released material without no prior warning to a customer. Although it is my personal preference to have the text version of what were previously audio book versions it is nonetheless shady marketing practice by Black Library to include 3 of them here. The other over-arching criticism is that the Horus Heresy series (exacerbated by this book) keeps jumping about in the chronology of the Heresy itself. The stories here are all pre-Heresy or set at the outset of the declaration of the Heresy and it would have made more sense to have released this anthology much earlier.The first story, 'Crimson Fist' is my second favourite in this anthology. It starts with a memorable back story for the main Imperial Fists character and then leads into a Retribution Fleet being sent by Dorn that is trapped in the Phall System. It is a flaw though that the story does slow in pace whilst the reader waits for the inevitable trap to be fully sprung. Although readers of 'Fear To Tread' will be familiar with a beleaguered Space Marine force beset by warp storms and ill-equipped to deal with psyker threats in this pre-Chaos awareness phase, the story is nonetheless well told and involves an engaging mass-scale space combat. There also cut-backs to Terra where we see Sigismund and Dorn and a good surprise that shows the events that are the genesis of the Black Templars. However I did feel that these cut-backs, interlinking as they do with the events in 'The Lightning Tower,' slightly took the edge off the novelty of their telling in the latter story. I rate this as 4 stars.The 'Dark King' is an important story in that it tells of a pre-Heresy conflict between Dorn and Curze. It is important in so far as it is further setting the scene for Imperial tensions and lines of potential fracture. We have become aware through the series that the Space Wolves were created to combat other Legions and that they have in fact engaged in combat against other Space Marines prior even to the attack on Prospero. In addition, 2 Legions have already been obliterated and their Primarchs have suffered an unknown fate. Dorn tells Curze `Your way is not the way of the Imperium' - Curze whispers in reply `I think you might be right.' Although important, I felt the Primarchs lacked depth and the conflict was too overt and over-stated. I rate this as 3 stars.`The Lightning Tower' covers the work undertaken by Dorn and Singh to fortify Terra. It covers Dorn's anxieties about the threat of the Heresy itself (what drives his siblings to rebel) and also the aesthetic impact of the fortification itself. The defacement of the artistry of the Imperial Palace into a fortress is a metaphor for the diminution of the art and hope of the Great Crusade into what will become the militaristic and repressive social structures of the 40K Imperium. Although a very short story at 18 pages I rate this as 5 stars as Abnett covers thought provoking ground as well as providing greater detail to the Imperial Palace, Dorn and Malcador.The `Kaban Project' is pre-Heresy and is the prequel to `Mechanicum.' I believe `Mechanicum' to be one of the best Horus Heresy stories and I also enjoyed the Kaban machine in that work. I was therefore really looking forward to reading its back story. I was, unfortunately, disappointed. As a prequel it is actually quite poor if read in conjunction with `Mechanicus.' For example it introduces a character that is much better detailed in the main work and appears here half-described, robbing the originality of the character in the main work and also creating major repetition. I also felt that this story did not even live up to the promise of being the Kaban machine's creation story as it is half-created already and we are not given details of the source of the forbidden knowledge that led to its creation. I rate this as 2 stars.`Raven's Flight' tells the attempt to galvanise a rescue bid to save the remnants of the Raven Guard from Isstvan V. Having to avoid spoilers it sufficient to say Corax is well described even amongst the savage fighting scenes and it is one of the few times we see a Primarch fighting Space Marines. The unique character of the Raven Guard comes across well and this story fulfills an important link in explaining how some of the loyalist Legions survive Isstvan V. This is almost made the 4 stars grade but I ultimately rate this as 3 stars.`Death of a Silversmith' is pre-Heresy and is a good human interest story but arguably adds nothing at all to the Horus Heresy arc. It feels like a filler story and I rate is a 2 stars.`Prince of Crows' is a Night Lords story with some Curze back story. The Curze part is well told but I still think Curze seems one of the less convincing Primarchs and it is odd that the Emperor does not take a greater hand in steering him away from his `fear of authority' mantra which has already led to clearly negative side effects by the time of their first meeting. Sevatar's dry humour seems to be popular with other readers but I think it is his role as the acceptable anti-hero that is more problematic. Riding on the exterior of a fighter during space combat held on by his mag-locked boots during very high G manoeuvres feels comic book ridiculous to me and I am concerned he could become a wise-cracking super-Space Marine unless more sensitively handled in the rest of the Horus Heresy series. This is of course just a question of taste as the story itself is certainly well told. I rate this as 3 stars.