A review by porge_grewe
The End and the Death: Volume III by Dan Abnett

adventurous dark funny hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

"This is MY end... and MY death!"

This book is the epitome of the two series it ends (the Horus Heresy and the Siege of Terra): big, overwrought, campy, gothic, dumb fun. The majority of this book is two big blokes having a punch up while Dan Abnett casts around for new ways to make the fight sound metaphysical and important (what does "bleeding years" actually mean, though?). This is not just a punch-up - This is a punch-up throughout space and time! The entire history of the species has been leading up to this punch-up! And after this punch-up... Nothing will ever be the same again.

Bless it. Bless this delightful, stupid series.

All that said, Abnett fumbles the ball a bit on the setting - It is always hard with these books to get across that, while the things the Imperium are fighting are terrible, the Imperium is itself also a horrific dictatorship, and Abnett comes down a bit too hard on this just being a tragedy of a good man whose plans for the galaxy failed - Warhammer always has to walk that Judge Dredd tightrope, and this book falls a bit too hard on one side.