Review of Talon of Horus by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

And so my exploration of the Warhammer universe of fiction continues. Certain places on the internets seemed to agree that Aaron Dembski-Bowden is one of the better writers in the universe (of Warhammer, that is), thus it seemed appropriate to explore in that direction. Talon of Horus (2014) is likewise something mentioned by several internet voices, and so without any better guide, I jumped in.

Talon of Horus is a post-Heresy novel. Horus' insurrection against the Emperor is over. But the warband he whipped up in mutiny remains convinced of its mission. Enter Iskandar Khayon. Writing from captivity, he starts the tale of how the infamous Black Legion was formed to continue Horus' mission. Khayon a sorcerer with powers derived from Chaos, at his beck and call are demons and dark elves. Beings tethered to his will, he uses his diplomatic skills and outright threats to contact the former leaders of Horus' army in an attempt to rebuild the insurrection. He succeeds to some degree, and to some degree does not, his network of contacts more powerful than he ever thought.

Talon of Horus is an appropriate title. Literal and figurative, it captures the importance Horus' eponymous power glove—his handheld super weapon—plays in the story, as well as Khayon's role as pawn of Horus/Chaos in ensuring the rebellion against the Emperor rages on. While much of the book is dialogue and character interaction, a climax of sorts does occur in the latter fifth of the novel to, in effect, kick off the next two novels in the series.

For readers inundated with space marine stories looking for “racial diversity”, Talon of Horus features chaos and dark elves, each playing key roles in the storyline. Dembski-Bowden renders them appropriately aloof of human affairs, yet given their submissive positions, in need of interaction. The toys/tools at the author's disposal are deployed with effective voice.

In the end, Talon of Horus is an opening novel in a trilogy, and most often the reader can feel that. There is a lot of subtle but continuous stage setting, a lot of shuffling of pieces around the board, a lot of character establishment, a lot of motive explored, and minimal plot ground covered relative to what one expects the remainder of the series to hold. The action and excitement which occur are at small scale—not poor or weak, just more individual in nature. Conversely, it means the character stakes are high, which is good. The novel can meander, it can fail sometimes to be aimed at some palpable goal, and it can occasionally navel gaze. But overall the Warhammer pundits have it right. Dembski-Bowden's style is strong, delivering the subtly dynamic gravitas one hopes for reading in the universe. The next novel, Black Legion, is good to go.