For the first time since Tales of Heresy, we are delving into a book of short stories that are following the legions of the Adeptus Astartes (better known as the Space Marines).

Space Marines are inherently fun. After all, they’re living walls of muscle and armor. They excel at causing complete death, destruction and mayhem on a battlefield and that’s before any of the really big guns (like Dreadnoughts) come into play.

However, there are things that make them harder to write about.

Author Graham McNeill has just done something pretty special for Games Workshop and the Black Library

On March 15, 2010, the Black Library blog reported that A Thousand Sons, by McNeill, hit number 22 on the New York Times Bestsellers list.

This is the first Black Library – as well as a Horus Heresy - novel to make it on the list.

The Horus Heresy yields yet another installment, this time bringing in a legion only referred to and making a brief cameo in any of the earlier books, The Thousand Sons. It also shows a bit of a change in pace of the books.

In a weird way the books came across as more hard hitting than some of the video games that have been released, like Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior or early Warhammer 40k PC games.

The action was a lot more hectic. The characters were more realistic. There also happened to be a lot more honesty in the books than in early Warhammer games and Fire Warrior. Through the development of the story you’re witnessing the history that is merely mentioned in the games. You are seeing the heroes and villains of the galactic civil war that grew from Warmaster Horus’s decision to betray the God-Emperor.

Click through for a recap of the Horus Heresy novels…

Title: The Horus Heresy: False GodsAuthor: Graham McNeillPublisher: The Black LibraryRelease Date: 2006Price: $7.99Rating: One thumb up and one down, 79/100, C+, ** 1/2 out of five.Pros: Incredible writing, great story, memorable characters are built up more, hard-hitting descriptionCons: Same problem most sequels have. Too much attention to smaller details and it occasionally blocks out the story. Also inconsistently deals with characters.Overall: It’s full of flaws but for a sequel it’s worth the money.

With False Gods, Graham McNeil has written a great second installment to the Horus Heresy series that tries too hard to outshine Dan Abnett’s Horus Rising.

Click through for the full review…