Title: The Damnation of Pythos
Author: David Annandale
Published by: Black Library
Publication date: 18th July 2014
Genre: Science Fiction/War
Pages: 416
Format: Paperback
Source: Personal Collection

Blurb/Synopsis

In the aftermath of the Dropsite Massacre at Isstvan V, a battered and bloodied force of Iron Hands, Raven Guard and Salamanders regroups on a seemingly insignificant death world. Fending off attacks from all manner of monstrous creatures, the fractious allies find hope in the form of human refugees fleeing from the growing war, and cast adrift upon the tides of the warp. But even as the Space Marines carve out a sanctuary for them in the jungles of Pythos, a darkness gathers that threatens to consume them all…

Review

Continuing the Horus Heresy series after a break. Churned through this one pretty quick and shared lots of enthusiasm over it with Dave. Very happy!

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After the Dropsite Massacre, the Iron Hands are left reeling and hunger for revenge for their lost Primarch – this is the driving motivation behind the shattered Legion and the members of the 111th clan company are no different. They\’re joined by a rag-tag collection of Raven Guard and Salamanders who sought refuge with them and are swept along for the joy-ride on the Death Jungle world of Pythos.

Mistress of Astropaths; Rhydia Erephren latched onto a beacon of hope for the floundering company, offering them a means to exact their revenge by using a mysterious artefact hidden in the depths of Pythos\’ ravenous jungle. But, not all is as it seems.

The Damnation of Pythos is one of those books in the Horus Heresy that is entirely skippable – I\’ve complained about other books in the series like this, but somehow, Pythos gets a pass. There\’s just something about a jungle death-world filled with dinosaurs that appeals to the reader! Boltguns are firing at a rapid pace in this book and there is an utterly underlying feeling of horror about the whole thing! Which is something that David Annandale excels at. I found some thematic overlap with the book Deacon of Wounds, which is a later Black Library publication by the same author, so it\’s no surprise that Annandale was picked up for the Warhammer Horror line.

The characterisations in the book were darned good, the banter between Sergeants Galba and Darras had me chuckling along at times. It was a class act and superbly written, which made me endeared towards the characters and root for them even though the hint of their fate is in the title of the book! Even the hard-lined Captain Atticus was great to read about; he differed greatly from the other Iron Hands in The Damnation of Pythos due to the extremity of his mechanical modifications – this is something that\’s often brought up in regards to the Iron Hands, but it\’s well defined in this book. It\’s understandable and presented in a way where you can \’compare and contrast\’ the nature of the Irons Hands between the characters. The way in which the information is presented in the story makes it easier to digest than in other Iron Hands related books; fleshing out a chapter that I had previously dismissed as \’dullards.\’ Seeing the hard-lined Iron Hands, butting heads with the other Legions was great. These guys are harsh, they\’ll do anything to see the job done, regardless of who stands in their way. Seeing this in play with the softer-hearted nature of the Salamaders made for some fantastic tension.

There were some pretty awesome moments of combat in this book too. The Iron Hands taking the fight to the Emperors Children was epic. The way they dispatched the Emperors Children Dreadnought made me laugh. Seeing the tactical accument of the Irons Hands working together to bring the pain was pretty awesome.
On top of that we\’ve got soem pretty strange stuff happening on the planet Pythos; the imagination was really let loose here. It\’s like Annandale\’s pitch was something along the lines of \’You know what would be really cool!? Space Marines fighting Dinosaurs. On a planet that\’s trying to kill them.\’
After all, \’There is only war.\’ That\’s the whole point of this, right?

And, while Space Marines are always cool, there\’s a lot of humanity in this novel too. We\’re shown the horrors of Pythos through the eyes of Legion Serf Jerune Kanshell. He gets to witness the corruption of Pythos first-hand and it makes for a fabulous read. Seeing him going from dedicated menial to devotee of the Emperor to… his fate, was pretty spectacular. I thoroughly enjoyed his character and, as always, found the human element to these books just as fascinating as the Space Marines and their foes.

As the story progresses the stakes rise higher and higher. The foes that are depicted change from the usual brother-against-brother dilemma and reveal something far more sinister at play. Something that has been kept hidden for far, far too long!

I want to attempt to discuss the ending without spoilers! Honestly, the hint is in the title of the book. It doesn\’t end well. It\’s tragic, horrific and devastating. But, it\’s all worthwhile, there is some sort of feeling of \’mission accomplished/this wasn\’t all for nothing.\’ Then you get the epilogue, which was the absolute icing on the cake for me as a reader. It sums up the Imperium of Mankind and the horrible track its heading down. Like, you\’ve got all these warning signs going off and everythings just swept under the carpet. If it was real life, this would be where all the safeguarding failures would point to! It\’s just so perfectly 30/40k!

Summary

After the last few Horus Heresy reads, my faith is restored! A book filled with tragedy, combat, Space Marine banter and some good old-fashioned chaos! Does nothing for the HH series as a whole, but I don\’t care. It\’s a great book!