Customer Reviews:
 Tradgic... in a good way! October 20, 2007
Daniel J. Burns (North West)
This is the big one. The one where you know who turns sides. The whole transformation to traitor is an intriguing and thoroughly worthwhile read.
It introduces one of the ruinous powers of chaos and well.
Again full of sinister plots and betrayals, a fantastic read.
The one reason why it wouldnt get 100/100 is because McNeill seems to put too many storylines running parallel to one-another. This made me frustrated at times, but the fact that other than this the book is amazingly well writen and engrosing I couldnt think twice about putting the book down.
I genuinley felt sad after this book, which shows I had been drawn into an emotional bond over the two beginning volumes. Great writing 5 stars!
The fall of Horus August 13, 2007
T. R. Alexander (Huntingdon, Cambs, UK)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is the second book in the brilliant Horus Heresy series and this time it is written by Graham McNeill, a games developer for Games Workshop and author of the excellent Ultramarine series of books. In False Gods, the Warmaster Horus and the 63rd expeditionary fleet are called back to the planet Davin in order to bring a traitorous planetary governor but the manipulations of others to the brink of death.
Anyone who knows a vague history of the Horus Heresy will be able to guess much of what happens in this book despite some deviations from the established history of that dark time. The book is well written throughout, exciting and fascinating, with some nice foreboding of things to come for those who know about Chaos and its Champions. The Horus Heresy is one of the most important events in the history of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe and this series of books is turning into a great representation of that period.
 getting better July 8, 2006
R. Sparkes (dark side of the moon)
3 out of 10 found this review helpful
this is much better than the first book. although it still does'nt project the awe and majesty of this period its getting there. the reviewer above said it all really. one of the best 40,000 novels printed, but as i said in my review of the first installment, this is NOT supposed to BE a 40,000 novel. this trilogy should have been written by someone new. someone who has had no contact with the 40k universe, so it would be in a different style.
still, a superb book. my real bugbear though, is that he turns too easily. you can almost agree with why he's teetering on the brink, but then one line ends it all and it feels, cheap, like there's more to it than you've been told.
but ,thats the secrecy and build up over. the final book will be action from start to finish.
and it can't come soon enough!!
Like helpless child, they fell into the jaws of the thirsty Gods... June 20, 2006
L. Tong
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
The first novel by Dan Abnett was fantastic, as was expected from the author who gave me the joy of the Gaunts ghost saga, but witness my horror when I discover the second was to be done by a different author whom novels i have never read. But let me set your feeling at ease, Graham McNeil has done a great job. False Gods is a elightening and engrossing continuation of this epic, mythical, dark and unknown era of the wahammer 40,000 universe, even many milliniuen has passed, that still affect the Imperium to this day. You walk with Horus as you watch him fall from grace, step by step, like a car crashm you know what is going to happen,but can;t help but cry in dispair as he makes one human mistake after another, doubting every decision, so human, so fragile, a far cry from the pillar of iron clad faith that we know the present day Astates, even worse is that we also witnessing the ripplying effect of his corrpution, and have light sped on who was the first to fall to the Chao Gods that led to Horus corruption. I was equally amazed at the level of detail that Games Workshop had allow Graham to set in canon history, things that Games Workshop has always refuted with conflicting text, that are regard in the present WH40K universe as debated truths, but tthe book has finally shead light on the truth of how the primaches were born, how the Chao Gods had counter planned the great works of the God Emperor, and even more truths and links that the God Emperor had encountered the Chao Gods before any human had even knew of the warp, and bested them. But the best aspect of this novel has to the side story, of the rise of the Imperial cult, in this secular era, that even in such times that faith alone, and the unconcious power of the God-Emperor can over come the terrors of the Chaos Gods as truth of them begin to dawn on them all. A brilliant book, that fans of all races should read, this is indeed history as fortold, the very day foundation of the Imperium future will forever be set in stone, by the machines of humans error, betrayal and the hands of thristy Chao Gods. THE EMPEROR PROTECTS!
On the Shoulders of Giants June 7, 2006
Mr. M. R. Churchill (South Wales, United Kingdom)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
Graham McNeill had a lot to live up to with this book, the successor to Dan Abnett's superb Horus Rising, which was widely acclaimed as one of the best Warhammer 40,000 novels that the Black Library has produced. In False Gods, McNeill continues the story of Captain Loken and the Sons of Horus, the elite superhuman Space Marines that are destined to fall under the corrupting influence of the dark gods of Chaos. So, is it any good?
Emphatically `Yes'. Though all Warhammer 40,000 fans will be well aware of the tragic fate of the angelic Primarch Horus, there is a grim fascination in following his downfall and I found it very difficult to put this book down. Unusually for a Black Library book (the publisher is known for its tendency to deal out mass bombardments of death and destruction from the word `Go'), there's a good deal of build-up before the first confrontation takes place. And - without wishing to spoil the moment - what a confrontation it turns out to be!
In many ways, this book was what I expected Horus Rising to be. Much of the story is told from Horus' point of view, whereas the previous book relegated his magisterial presence to the background. In False Gods we follow Horus both physically and metaphysically through his struggles with powers divine and diabolical. I am sure that most Warhammer 40,000 fans will prefer this direct approach to telling Horus' story, but it does have its flaws. The divine ineffability that had previously veiled the godlike Primarchs is fast wearing thin as the Horus Heresy series continues. And there's the rub - it's unavoidable that the more familiar we become with these fantastic beings, the more mundane they seem. The Primarch Fulgrim is sadly wasted in this instalment, although McNeill clearly revels in the chapter featuring the animalistic Angron, a wonderfully wild and atavistic monster. The penmanship of the gritty Scot also transfers well to characters like the wrath-fuelled Abaddon, and the Space Marines as a whole feel like a far more brutal brotherhood than before.
Although McNeill lacks some of Abnett's facility for conveying the rich splendour of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and his writing is somewhat less elegant, for the most part you would not notice that this is a different author. Unfortunately, the iterator Kyril Sindermann is used mainly for exposition rather than philosophy, and First Chaplain Erebus' scheming is thunderously obvious, but I'm picking holes here in what is essentially a sound and gripping tale. Above all else, McNeill writes Space Marine stories well, and False Gods is no exception. The time has come to return to the worship of the old gods. You know it makes sense.
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