This novel provides a nice little insight into the Pale King and adds some depth the the Horus Heresy. Back in the present Mortarion tells the woman how this debate with himself about his methods is done. I felt he did an excellent job on writing the Death Guard, Mortarion and especially the antagonists. The ending really adds an element of tragedy to his story and much like my other favourite books in the Primarchs series, it leaves you with this tantalising thought of "What If?

David Annandale is the author of the Warhammer Horror novel The House of Night and Chain and the novella The Faith and the Flesh, which features in the portmanteau The Wicked and the Damned. A few really keen moments where we get a peek at Mortarion’s personal character flaws and the beginning of his descent into treachery. You can feel the passion he puts portraying scenes of frozen panic, and especially the scenes of combat from both sides' perspective. We don't actually get to learn much about the leader of the Death Guard that we didn't already know, but we do get to glimpse fan-favourites Garro and Typhon in their earlier days and, through the framing device, get some insight into Mortarion's relationship with Sanguinius and Horus.Everyone takes a varying amount of some drug that keeps the population docile or makes the overseers more aggressive. Also this "The Imperium, but even more swarm-like and worse" is in a few of the novels in this series so maybe they all have the same origin.

The Primarchs series of Novels is, I think, intended to shed light on their nature and that of their Legions. She asks to serve him and he gives her a name and its revealed it is the woman from the epilogue that needed those augmentations from the phosphex and radiation injuries and he thinks of her as a student and proof his methods are correct. This society was discovered by the ship Manifest Unity (pretty awesome 30k ship name) which was destroyed. Mortarion's inferiority complex over being unable to overthrow the tyrant of his homeworld is developed here.Banish all thoughts of mercy, because mercy is the plaything of the coward and the lie of the tyrant. For all those who love to read great crusade era stories and especially those who love to read pre heresy traitor legion stories, this book is for you. After his force gets wrecked while he crawls back to the surface he meets some psyker mutant in the sewers that taunts him how he is in denial about a psyker himself. I’m not sure if I’ve merely selected the wrong ones, or if maybe the questions I have about the primarchs are so niche and weird that the series doesn’t touch them. While I’ve read The Buried Dagger, I’ll be honest that I don’t love the “he had no choice” answer offered.

It's kind of funny that this homicidal maniac Primarch is entirely justified in intent, and had he reduced collateral damage, would be laudable for it. To be fair, the morality discussion that played out between Mortarion, Sanguinius, and Horus was a very interesting read.High levels of radiation, everything is poisoned, blown up and there are literally hills of bodies next to the spires on the planet with people crawling over them.