A Thousand Sons brought one of the more interesting legions of the Adeptus Astartes into the light. It also detailed their fall from grace, simply because they wanted to do right by the Emperor by sending a warning regarding Horus’s treasonous plan. It also showed the start of the Space Wolves sacking Prospero, the home planet of the sorcerer-soldier legion.

The book Prospero Burns has a lot to do with the fall of Prospero, as you might gather from the title. This time, though, while developing the Space Wolves legion, there’s a new perspective on the events of revolving around the rivalry between the Space Wolves and Thousand Sons legions.

It was bound to happen that the Horus Heresy series would have a book that almost exclusively focused on the behind-the-scenes aspect of war. Nemesis is that book.

The question is whether or not it actually lives up to the work that the majority of the series had laid out. To put it simply, it does but it could be so much better.

Title: The Horus Heresy: MechanicumAuthor: Graham McNeillPublisher: The Black LibraryRelease Date: November 25, 2008Price: $7.99Rating: One thumb up and one thumb sideways, 80/100, B-, *** out of five.Pros: It’s an entirely new presentation to The Horus Heresy series and focuses on a group other than the Space Marines. The development of characters and events is beautiful.Cons: Presentation will be hard to read for some and different enough that it might turn off people who loved the following of the Space Marines through the first parts of Heresy series.Overall: This book is an acquired taste that some people will either love or hate.

Mechanicum is a bit of a puzzle in itself. It’s a good book that, much like most of the really good sci-fi or fantasy, is entirely an acquired taste. The book is the first in the series that puts a group, other than the Space Marines, into focus…

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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: LegionAuthor: Dan AbnettPublisher: The Black LibraryRelease Date: April 2008Price: $7.99Rating: Two thumbs up, 90/100, A-, **** out of five.Pros: Dan Abnett returns to the series. Character development and description is incredible. Storyline movesCons: Due to the nature of the Legion the book follows, it can get a bit confusing. It also starts off a bit slow.Overall: Dan Abnett has returned and in some ways improved his game for the series. This is something for anyone who enjoys sci-fi.

With the seventh book of The Horus Heresy, Dan Abnett returned to the series. Abnett upped the ante with Legion.

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Title: Flight of the EisensteinAuthor: James SwallowPublisher: The Black LibraryRelease Date: 2007Price: $7.99Rating: Two thumbs up, 90/100, B+, **** out of five.Pros: Quick pace with stronger writing than False Gods and Galaxy in Flames, gives a new view to the events of Horus’s betrayal, develops most of the major characters wonderfullyCons: The writing a bit awkward in some points. It could do a better job developing all of the major characters equally.Overall: It’s a good read. When the writing isn’t awkward it’s also a surprisingly quick read.

Flight of the Eisenstein is one of the better written parts of a truly epic series of game based fiction. Being the first book in The Horus Heresy that follows a legion other than Warmaster Horus Lupercal’s Luna Wolves, it is also one that manages to keep things fresh by adding a new perspective.

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Title: The Horus Heresy: Horus RisingAuthor: Dan AbnettPublisher: The Black LibraryRelease Date: 2006Price: $7.99 (Borders price)Rating: Two thumbs up, 100/100, A+, ***** out of five.Pros: Incredible writing, great story, memorable characters, hard-hitting description with Tolkien-esque attention to detail.Cons: It can be a little hard to follow in terms of the topics brought up. If you don’t understand British English, it will take some time to get used to the writing style.Overall: More than worth the price and avoids the pulpy nature of Science Fiction

The Horus Heresy is a Warhammer 40000 licensed book series that takes place 10,000 years before standard franchise, illustrating the events that lead up to the perpetual war. The series is up to eight books, one of which has been released this month (August 2008) with a ninth to be released in December 2008. Horus Rising, written by Dan Abnett, is the first of eight books that detail the rise and fall of Horus and his faithful legions of genetically engineered Space Marines…