Book 49 in the Horus Heresy series, Wolfsbane is a pretty-much-direct sequel to Vengeful Spirit and Wolf King, and also a lead-in to Weregeld from the Corax anthology. The Vlka Fenryka have returned to Terra, but are champing at the bit to take the fight to Horus. Sanguinius’ arrival in the Sol system prompts Leman Russ, against his brothers’ wishes, to take his battered and bloodied legion back to Fenris in an attempt to divine Horus’ weakness. Meanwhile in the Trisolian system, gateway to Beta-Garmon, a young and disruptive tech adept named Belisarius Cawl finds himself under unwelcome scrutiny from his superiors.
This pre-Siege of Terra period of the Heresy is remarkably congested as various story arcs conclude or merge, but it’s a crucial period for the series. There are big events happening or about to happen, but coverage of warzones like Beta-Garmon will have to come from elsewhere as Wolfsbane tackles the big questions of what prompted Russ to throw his legion at Horus, and what led to the Wolf King’s battered state by the time of the Battle of Yarant. It’s a book about why Russ chose to confront Horus despite knowing he couldn’t win, but also about Russ’ relationship with his brother primarchs, and with the implications of his own role. This is very much Russ’ story – there’s an intriguing pre-Heresy prologue from Horus’ perspective, and the big bad obviously shows up later on, but the focus is on the VI Legion.
Haley really gets under the skin of Russ and his Wolves with a fantastic, nuanced depiction of not just the primarch but also Bjorn, Kva, and the fascinating conflicts at the heart of a contradictory legion. Even his language reflects the natural poetry of the legion’s souls. It’s a natural continuation of the work Abnett and Wraight have put into the Wolves, exploring different elements of their character as both primarch and legion come to terms with the changes forced upon them by circumstance, and the role fate has in store for them. It’s also a first Heresy depiction of Cawl, who rather steals the show with a welcome dash of irreverence and humour. While Russ gets the lion’s share of the big moments Cawl definitely gets the best lines.
Haley’s taken a smart approach to this story, offering believable explanations of not just what happened but also why – and that applies to Cawl (who’s not simply crowbarred in but has a genuine purpose and backstory) as well as Russ. It’s as tightly plotted as you’d expect, but with a surprisingly sedate pace for much of the book as characters are allowed to develop and events unfold, gradually ramping up towards the inevitable grand clash. It’s not just the buildup to one big fight either – that’s actually handled relatively quickly, with the focus more on Russ’ journey (spiritual and physical) than big action scenes. This might not please all Space Wolves fans (once again, it’s not a big win for the VI), or indeed anyone who prefers the Heresy to stick to the ‘known’ facts…but there’s no denying it’s a typically smart and well written book that’s absolutely packed full of character.
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