Angron: Slave of Nuceria: Slave of Nuceria (Volume 11) (The Horus Heresy: Primarchs)

Product Information

Angron: Slave of Nuceria is published by Black Library, available from tomorrow as a Limited Edition hardcover, and due in May 2019 in eBook and ‘regular’ hardcover. We learn some very interesting details, notably where his name originated and potentially why he never utilises his surname (no, I can't reveal that due to spoilers). However, there should have been better ways to balance out a good mix of character development and action without letting the latter eclipse the former for one-third of the work.

Another notable problem stems from a few logical issues and quirks within the timeline, especially in relation to Angron. One of Batto's arms crashed at Mago's feet, the fingers twitching around the chainglaive they still held.The three black pages I mentioned before are Kharn getting the Butcher's Nails literally hammered into his brain and experiencing a violent psychotic break so atrocious we're not allowed to see what happens, and as the nails are installed and begin to rewire his brain the black pages start and end only when his slaughtering is complete. He saw flickering images and sensations, a lifetime of abuse and horror unravelling and turning back upon itself. It’s also been interesting to follow the heated dispute of Centurions Mago and Khârn, regarding their father and the future of their Legion, both of them certain they know exactly which path would better suit their brothers. This short novel delves deep into the origin of the traitor Primarch, although in a bit unorthodox way. Comparing with the Angron that was portrayed during his gladiatorial days, brotherhood was an integral part, similar to the brotherhood that was portrayed when the legionaries Phalanx advance, to prove that they really are his sons.

The combats in the novel felt almost meaningless (I won’t go into too much detail as it will spoil certain aspects) but every conflict just felt like a ‘nothing conflict’ and I found myself trudging through the pages rather than flipping through them with gusto. To Angron, the transhuman warriors under his command are so weak and worthless compared to the ordinary men and women whose resilience and bravery he’d so often witnessed – those who had fought beside him, bringing terrible retribution upon their oppressors, before the Primarch was snatched from them by a distant entity that denied the only true future both to himself and those he had suffered and fought with.I would not describe this book as a good entry to the 40k setting, but if you're already familiar with the events this is one of the better ones. That's also without getting into the issue of how the hell they pinned down/kept confined a demigod who could likely slaughter entire stadiums with just his fists. That being said, the parts outside of combat were interesting as they were the ones that dealt with the shift within the legion and how certain aspects, as you would imagine, were very resistant to Angron wanting to remake his son’s in his image. Of special interest to me have been the legends of those nine who would later go on to embrace the darkness (or is it primordial truth? The book shows us how the imprint of gene seed effect the Legion on the emotional level and how will the majority of them took some really drastic way to understand their gene sire.

Angron isn’t exactly beloved by the World Eaters but, amongst a legion of supermen, he’s the supermanliest of them all. While Angron isn’t exactly helpful with his leadership, the World Eaters are awful enough on their own.As for Angron's part, it's a lot more straightforward, and doesn't have much in it that you can't deduce yourself. The flashbacks of Angron’s childhood in the gladiator pits are truly awful and so upsetting to see how he was broken by the abuse he suffered.

At the same time, a group of legionaries desperate for their Primarch's acceptance are toiling to be as close to him as possible ala installation of the Butcher's Nails in the whole legion.While I enjoyed the read a good bit, the further I got through it, the more I found that something wasn't quite right. He may have what is hands-down the most on-the-nose Primarch name in history, but this book makes it clear that Angron gets angry(on) for some pretty good reasons.