Book 11 in Black Library’s Horus Heresy: Primarchs series, Ian St. Martin’s Angron: Slave of Nuceria explores a key moment in the early development of the World Eaters legion. Given lordship over a legion who in his eyes pale in comparison with the brothers and sisters he left behind on Nuceria, Angron demands that his sons remake themselves in his image by accepting the Butcher’s Nails. All his sons are desperate to earn his regard, but while some work tirelessly to re-engineer the Nails to be implantable into legionaries, others look to the future and fear for what will become of the legion.
It’s a story about change, about identity and brotherhood…even family. Unlike most primarchs, Angron essentially hates his sons; in his eyes they can never live up to expectations, and he simply can’t identify with them. It’s the story of why that’s the case and how the shame that his scorn instils in his sons affects them, and it cleverly contextualises a lot of the decisions he and his legion make. In order to do all of those things, it’s told via two interlinked narratives. In the ‘present’ of the story it focuses on Mago, Centurion of the 18th Company, who leads his brothers in a compliance action with fateful, unforeseen consequences [I can’t say more for risk of spoilers]. The ‘past’ of the story shows Angron as a youth on Nuceria as he’s forced to fight for the entertainment of the High Riders, and gradually bonds with his fellow gladiators.
The heart of this story is the conflict between the old legion’s values and Angron’s demands, as he reshapes the legion in his image. All primarchs change their legions, but here there’s a real sense of just how fundamental a change Angron made. The World Eaters (or War Hounds, originally) before Angron were VERY different to how we’re used to seeing them, and Mago embodies all that’s good about them, representing the values of honour, brotherhood and loyalty. His determination to save the heart of the legion gives the story a sense of weight far beyond what it would have had if the legion had been monsters already. Add to that the dawning realisation of what Angron might have originally been intended to be, and how different things could have been under other circumstances, and you’ve got the recipe for a powerful story.
It’s far less hopeful than most of the books in this series have been – Angron never had hope, beyond the chance to earn freedom (of a sort) that was stripped from him by the Emperor. That affected him in profound ways, and his story is really the tragedy of the Heresy in microcosm. It’s a fundamentally sad story of a character who could have been so much more than he was allowed to be, and it’s testament to St. Martin’s understanding and handling of the character that over the course of this book Angron and his legion become so much more sympathetic, relatable and multi-dimensional than you might expect. This is everything that a Primarchs novel should be, and delivers exactly what you want from a Horus Heresy book – a great story, and an eye-opening re-evaluation of what you thought you knew. In short, it’s an essential read for any Heresy fan.
Check out the main Horus Heresy reviews page on Track of Words.
See also: my Rapid Fire interview with Ian St. Martin talking about Angron: Slave of Nuceria
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