Black Library’s Siege of Terra series reaches its halfway point with Saturnine by Dan Abnett, a 500+ page beast of a book in which secrets are revealed, big names start to fall, and the stakes – somehow – get even higher. Having taken Lion’s Gate spaceport, the traitor host marches on the fortifications of the Lion’s Gate itself while simultaneously driving at the Eternity Gate spaceport, stretching the loyalist defenders to breaking point. With battles raging on multiple fronts and resources dwindling, Dorn faces impossible questions of compromise and sacrifice, as he searches for a strategy that might tip the balance in his battle of wills and wits with Perturabo.
This is classic Abnett – the master of the multiple-viewpoint war story – with four major conflicts taking place intertwined with smaller, subtler subplots exploring recurring characters and setting up questions or concepts for future development. It’s an incredibly complex book packed with characters (the dramatis personae stretches to eight pages) but Abnett nails the pacing and variation, always knowing when to switch between narrative strands, when to throw the reader headlong into the action and when to pull back for little moments of calm and humanity. The series is really starting to pick up speed now, and the variation across the multiple viewpoints helps to hammer home the pace, scale and consequences of the siege. Major names are involved and getting their hands dirty in seriously big clashes, and while the loyalists might be on the back foot they’re actively working to strike back in various ways.
Events are shown through the eyes of wildly differing characters, from crowd-pleasing names like Abaddon, Loken and Sanguinius to newer characters both human and posthuman, cleverly using different styles of storytelling (for each character, sometimes for individual scenes) to maintain variety, interest and different angles. Most of the big clashes are shown from loyalist perspectives, and there are opportunities aplenty for the loyal Primarchs – Dorn especially – to shine. The traitor viewpoints, when they arise, are largely reserved for quieter moments of reflection or recrimination – Perturabo’s masterful control of the siege as seen through others’ eyes, or Abaddon’s drive to prove himself in spite of his father’s growing reliance upon the warp. For all the breathless, brutal battles there’s never a sense of action overload, helped by Abnett’s innate ability to find little details which bring characters and scenes to life, adding weight and emotion to the story.
What makes this book really sing is its perfect balance of both internal and external conflicts, mixing emotive personal drama and breathtaking action, carefully moving the narrative of the series forward while telling a powerful, compelling story in its own right. Think Necropolis, only bigger, more complex and – somehow – more impactful. For all the big fist-pump moments it provides – and there are plenty, some expected and some less so – it also poses intriguing questions of the Imperium’s future and history, made more complex and more tantalising by the reader’s knowledge of what follows the Heresy. Abnett also cleverly sows the seeds of answers to questions that fans have been pondering for a long time; in typical Horus Heresy fashion some might prefer straighter answers where none are given, or ambiguity where (apparent) answers are provided, but either way there’s a lot to consider. All told, it’s a beautifully constructed book, an incredible achievement even for an author as talented as Abnett, and an absolute must-read for any Heresy fan.
Saturnine was released in March 2020 as a Limited Edition hardback – the standard editions are due (Coronavirus permitting) in June 2020.
You can read a Rapid Fire interview with Dan Abnett talking about Saturnine here.
Check out the main Horus Heresy reviews page on Track of Words.
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