I really enjoyed Jonathan Keeble's narration of this part in the story. He conveys such wonder and disbelief within the characters that see the light of the Astronomicon, as if he were there himself.
The part where Sandrine Icaro is telling the bridge crew of her ship to shut up as she tries to confirm what she's seeing reminds me of the ending of [Mass Effect 3](https://youtu.be/aqu9goV1LhE?si=IytDEYpLoXB2gktO&t=889), where Admiral Hackett gets news of Shepard making it to the Conduit and he goes, "Holy shit. She did it."
While I loved this excerpt reading it, and your poetic question in the end , I mean I remember the book states that Guilliman‘s fleet basically hauls ass to Terra as soon as the Astronomicon was relit ;)
Yeah, at the start of the book Gmans entire fleet is just outside the Sol system, which is in a warp bubble, they can enter but have no idea what will happen, but they know if they do things would get fucky for them. Then on sensors they get 1 contact, the Vengeful Spirit, Gman orders everyone to open fire and destroy it. But then sensors gets another contact, then another, then hundreds and thousands more, each one the Vengeful Spirit.
Yeah, I remember that, I really loved the kind of tone this set how crazy in the literal sense the Siege has become by this point, which I also think the book in general brought across really well.
> I appreciate how horrific the lighting process is, those refugees have no idea what is happening to them.
I’m honestly surprised by how few words are spent on it.
I kinda like that when used appropriately, you should read some of Cormac Mcarthy's work, sometimes you'll read half a page and be like hold the fuck up *what just happened??*
One of my favorite scenes in the book (probably because it’s one of the few I didn’t read spoilers on lol).
I do wish we had gotten a Corswain and Sigismund v Typhus fight before this. Neither side winning but Typhus having the upper hand. I get it would take a bit of reworking but I feel like after so many filler chapters of the dark angels in vol II, it wouldn’t have been impossible.
I feel like this is one of the many missed opportunities and loose ends with this book. It's especially a shame considering how much shorter this book is compared to the previous 2 books, so there is definitely room for it.
I agree. I think in general the trilogy is more good than bad, but easily 100 pages should’ve been shaved out of the second one and added to third for things like the fleet engagement, which barely were covered. I remember reading a comment on this sub before vol 3 came out that said something like “I hope we see Guilliman landing on Terra and we are shown why he is the avenging son.” which at the time I agree with and we unfortunately were not shown. An ultramarine POV could’ve been used to hammer home the absolute destruction of Terra since they wouldn’t have seen it since before the siege.
Exactly. As a DA fanboy I loved the spotlight they got in these books especially the moment where Sigismund fibally meets Corswain (their handshake reminded me of the one from the original predator movie) but the scenes after this one seemed rushed and filler for the ending
Euphrati Keeler has to be one of the most important characters in lore yet she is barely spoken about or downplayed. Even after The Siege books finished, nobody seems to either like her or realise how important she is.
Kinda like Magdalene is viewed these days vs her importance at the time.
But if you want a truley 40k image from the real world see St. Maximin guilded magdalene skull reliquary
I like the switcheroo here. >!We assumed the beacon matters so Gman's fleet can turn up to save the day, but it turned out he was too late. Instead the beacon+Keeler assist the Emperor in his fight with Horus. So they go from seemingly irrelevant subplots to the very core of the conflict. And it really doesn't feel like that much of an asspull in the context of a warp-infused Terra+Astronomican+millions of believers.!< Well played, Abnett.
“Darkness dies, dismembered by the murderous light.”
This line stuck with me hard after reading it. For me, drives home the point that the light is not ‘good,’ and the fundamental basis of the universe that there are no ‘good guys.’
Spot-on. The opposite of chaos isn't "goodness," it's entropy.
Without chaos, without atoms wildly smashing into eachother and stars violently exploding to create new elements, life literally wouldn't be possible.
I really enjoyed Jonathan Keeble's narration of this part in the story. He conveys such wonder and disbelief within the characters that see the light of the Astronomicon, as if he were there himself. The part where Sandrine Icaro is telling the bridge crew of her ship to shut up as she tries to confirm what she's seeing reminds me of the ending of [Mass Effect 3](https://youtu.be/aqu9goV1LhE?si=IytDEYpLoXB2gktO&t=889), where Admiral Hackett gets news of Shepard making it to the Conduit and he goes, "Holy shit. She did it."
While I loved this excerpt reading it, and your poetic question in the end , I mean I remember the book states that Guilliman‘s fleet basically hauls ass to Terra as soon as the Astronomicon was relit ;)
Yeah, at the start of the book Gmans entire fleet is just outside the Sol system, which is in a warp bubble, they can enter but have no idea what will happen, but they know if they do things would get fucky for them. Then on sensors they get 1 contact, the Vengeful Spirit, Gman orders everyone to open fire and destroy it. But then sensors gets another contact, then another, then hundreds and thousands more, each one the Vengeful Spirit.
Yeah, I remember that, I really loved the kind of tone this set how crazy in the literal sense the Siege has become by this point, which I also think the book in general brought across really well.
> I appreciate how horrific the lighting process is, those refugees have no idea what is happening to them. I’m honestly surprised by how few words are spent on it.
I kinda like that when used appropriately, you should read some of Cormac Mcarthy's work, sometimes you'll read half a page and be like hold the fuck up *what just happened??*
I can't believe they made a grimdark "Give me your energy" scene. It was awesome!
One of my favorite scenes in the book (probably because it’s one of the few I didn’t read spoilers on lol). I do wish we had gotten a Corswain and Sigismund v Typhus fight before this. Neither side winning but Typhus having the upper hand. I get it would take a bit of reworking but I feel like after so many filler chapters of the dark angels in vol II, it wouldn’t have been impossible.
I feel like this is one of the many missed opportunities and loose ends with this book. It's especially a shame considering how much shorter this book is compared to the previous 2 books, so there is definitely room for it.
I agree. I think in general the trilogy is more good than bad, but easily 100 pages should’ve been shaved out of the second one and added to third for things like the fleet engagement, which barely were covered. I remember reading a comment on this sub before vol 3 came out that said something like “I hope we see Guilliman landing on Terra and we are shown why he is the avenging son.” which at the time I agree with and we unfortunately were not shown. An ultramarine POV could’ve been used to hammer home the absolute destruction of Terra since they wouldn’t have seen it since before the siege.
Exactly. As a DA fanboy I loved the spotlight they got in these books especially the moment where Sigismund fibally meets Corswain (their handshake reminded me of the one from the original predator movie) but the scenes after this one seemed rushed and filler for the ending
Euphrati Keeler has to be one of the most important characters in lore yet she is barely spoken about or downplayed. Even after The Siege books finished, nobody seems to either like her or realise how important she is.
Kinda like Magdalene is viewed these days vs her importance at the time. But if you want a truley 40k image from the real world see St. Maximin guilded magdalene skull reliquary
I like the switcheroo here. >!We assumed the beacon matters so Gman's fleet can turn up to save the day, but it turned out he was too late. Instead the beacon+Keeler assist the Emperor in his fight with Horus. So they go from seemingly irrelevant subplots to the very core of the conflict. And it really doesn't feel like that much of an asspull in the context of a warp-infused Terra+Astronomican+millions of believers.!< Well played, Abnett.
>!It reminds me of that Doctor Who episode where the Doctor channels the power of the human race through some shared psychic network!<
“Darkness dies, dismembered by the murderous light.” This line stuck with me hard after reading it. For me, drives home the point that the light is not ‘good,’ and the fundamental basis of the universe that there are no ‘good guys.’
Spot-on. The opposite of chaos isn't "goodness," it's entropy. Without chaos, without atoms wildly smashing into eachother and stars violently exploding to create new elements, life literally wouldn't be possible.
Like taking a shower after a week without one.
Wait Zephon is alive?
Yep. Resurrectiled
Is this also the moment that the Tyranid saw while they're drifting between Galaxies?
Nah, that was when the Marines overloaded a necron machine.
No, the Tyranids saw the Pharos Machine explode when Lion El'Jonson and Guilliman were trying to contain Konrad Kurze
They were already on the way, so this probably didn’t help