Book fifty-one in the Horus Heresy series, John French’s novel Slaves to Darkness is a rare beast – a Heresy novel focusing entirely on unambiguously traitor perspectives. As Horus is brought bleeding from the surface of Beta Garmon to the Vengeful Spirit, Maloghurst issues orders to gather Horus’ brothers together. While Lorgar and Perturabo are tasked with finding and controlling their daemonic brothers Fulgrim and Angron, Maloghurst calls on all of his political nous and accumulated power to steer the overall campaign in Horus’ absence. With Abaddon away chasing the Wolves, Maloghurst is left clashing with what remains of the Mournival.
While technically featuring eight traitor Primarchs (only Curze is absent), Lorgar and Perturabo get the most page time of the Primarchs. It’s actually a trio of legionaries who provide the main viewpoints, however – Maloghurst, Iron Warrior Volk and Word Bearer Zardu Layak – with the narrative (largely) split into three across their perspectives. Maloghurst will be familiar to most readers, while Volk (likewise Argonis) is recognisable from Tallarn: Ironclad and Layak gets his Black Library debut after previously appearing in Forge World’s Tempest. French does a great job handling a lot of characters, both old and new, building on what’s gone before whilst demonstrating the changes that they’re all going through – intentional or otherwise.
The three narrative threads are woven in together nicely, each chapter rotating through multiple strands, which works to build both pace and tension as French carefully curates the ongoing story. All is certainly not well in the traitor camp, and the focus here is on the fragility of the alliance Horus has forged, what motivates each of the different parties and how they view the ongoing war. It’s not quite as complex and twist-filled as some other of French’s books but it’s still carefully plotted and paced with a few surprises along the way. It’s difficult to say too much more for risk of spoilers, but there’s a lot to enjoy as French explores the realities of the war for these characters. On which note it’s worth mentioning that while this is mildly spoilerific if you haven’t yet read Wolfsbane, it’s not an ironclad prerequisite.
Ultimately it’s a story which boils down to one thing – control, whether in terms of the warp, other characters, or ongoing events. There are some intriguing parallels between the traitors as we see them here and the loyalists we’ve seen elsewhere, but it’s clear that there are profound cracks in the traitor alliance as various characters work to turn the situation in their own favour. Maloghurst’s attempts to control the Primarchs and his fellow Sons of Horus in Lupercal’s name, the choices both Lorgar and Perturabo make in response and the ways in which they interact with their much-changed brothers – it’s all fascinating, conflict-ridden stuff, and while Horus himself isn’t really centre stage, his presence looms large throughout. By the time the events in this book take place, the traitors will be set for the final approach to Terra; how they get to that point is very interesting indeed.
Check out the main Horus Heresy series page on Track of Words.