Review of Prospero Burns by Dan Abnett

The events of A Thousand Sons shook the foundations of the Imperium. Secrets of the Emperor were revealed, a Primarch was killed, and vast amounts of loyalist and traitor forces clashed in the field at Isstvan V. A companion piece that both parallels the events of A Thousand Sons yet pushes ahead the HH storyline with its own designs, Prospero Burns by Dan Abnett (2011) offers yet another juicy chunk of multi-layered storytelling worthy to sit among the best the series has to offer.

Where the Horus Heresy series can sometimes feel like yet more space marines blasting away at yet more xenos species, Prospero Burns has a very different feel. Things begin on the ice planet Fenris where a representative of the Emperor has crash landed after being shot out of the skies by unknown forces. The local humans are primitive, however, and massive dangers lurk below the ice. Getting into a spot of trouble with a tribe, the man struggles to survive in the frigid environment. Things take a turn, however, when a seemingly magical warrior with incredible fighting skills drops from the heavens to rescue him. Taken aboard a starship, the man's life is never the same. More importantly, however, he learns that his crash landing on Fenris was never an accident. His role in the galaxy is yet to reveal itself.

While storytelling is solid and characterization is on par with the remainder of the series, where Prospero Burns truly shines is its motif, which is rooted in Northern Europe. Abnett borrows (not steals) elements from across the region to create a blend of pagan, Nordic, and Slavic culture that is not readily identifiable as any particular one. This is then overlaid on the novel's foremost Astartes Legion, the Space Wolves.

Going further with the motif and leaning toward theme, Abnett takes the idea of a skjald (bard, storyteller, skald, historian, etc.) and parallels it with Warhammer's remembrancers by rooting it in the plot as well as Warhammer history at large. The fact this also involves Chaos and erased memories makes for multiple perspectives on the idea of recorded history, and forms an excellent foundation to the novel.

For those who have read A Thousand Sons, Prospero Burns is, at least partially, an alternative viewpoint to that story. (It's the middle third of Prospero in which events conflate.) Abnett provides the Space Wolves' view to proceedings on Prospero, then offers readers an extension of the aftermath through the eyes of remembrancers and Space Wolves.