Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4676 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Customer Reviews

Small but perfectly formed
Well where to begin? I think I'll take this review Story By story.

Story 1 BLOOD GAMES by Dan ( the man ) Abnett.

This first story is an excellent little tale told in the first person by a mystery practitioner of some very nasty and surreptitious talents and follows him as he travels the globe constantly hounded and chased by the imperial powers of the Emperor. His goal? Well that is simple. To gain access to the imperial palace and assassinate the Emperor himself!

This Story By Abnett is of the usual splendid quality you would expect. It keeps the reader ensconced by a well paced and well described universe of characters. The protagonists motives are constantly questioned by the reader and will keep you turning the pages at a rapid rate until the end.

10/10


Story 2 WOLF AT THE DOOR by Mike Lee.

The second Story in this compendium follows the exploits of a group of Astartes from........you guessed it. The Space Wolves. A thus under used chapter in the heresy books so far and one of the favourites of the table top gamers.

You follow the exploits of a command group of noble ( if a bit wild ) Space Wolves as they take a detour to a newly discovered planet now freed from the terrors of Old Night. The only problem being that the terrors of Old Night and the xenos skum who took advantage of it haven't quite finished with the planet yet. This story places a real emphasis on the emotional impact on Astartes in a rare and unusual manner seldom seen when writing about the Emperor's finest.

A fine romp 8/10



SCIONS OF THE STORM by Anthony Reynolds.

The third edition to this tomb written by Anthony Reynolds follows the story of yet another command group of Astartes. This time of the Word Bearers chapter as they assault the last bastion of an enemies city. A Mecca or Jerusalem if you will of their corrupted and misguided faith.

The story provided by Anthony Reynolds unfortunately does not live up to the premise and possibilities of the story outline I just provided. It is a woeful and overly long story that is by far the worst in the book. The strange Grammatical style of Reynolds sentence structure is jarring and the story so slow and boring that you will struggle to read your way through it.

" Good work, Brother Aecton, said Sor Talgron. All squads:blow your charges on my mark, said Sor Talgron. Turning to Sargent Arshaq, he nodded solemly. Sor Talgron smiled grimly "

3/10 high school sci fi.


THE VOICE by James Swallow.

The fourth story in the book written by James Swallow joins once more with the Sisters of Silence met at the end of the fantastic book ' THE FLIGHT OF THE EISENSTEIN ' also written by Swallow.As they go in search of a missing Black Ship. One infamous vessels used to transport the empires warp touched witches and telepaths.

This well paced and well written story provides a number of very interesting small yet significant insights into the culture of these pariah gene sisters of battle. The right length. The right pace and the right amount of action and intrigue.

8/10


CALL OF THE LION by Gav Thorpe.

This instalment by Thorpe follows the ill fated Dark Angels as they attempt to bring a new world into compliance. The world however is simply a setting for the real story. The story being the fracture within the Dark Angels Chapter itself, between its original members born on Terra and the new influx brought from the world where the Emperor found his lost son Lion El'Jonson.

A well paced story brought all the more to prominence by those who know about the history of the Dark Angels Chapter during the heresy via the table top game and their undying shame at the chapters decisions.

8/10


THE LAST CHURCH by Graham McNeil.

the penultimate story in this compendium although one of the shortest is also one of the most esoteric and interesting on an intellectual level. It follows the last hours of the last priest on Terra. Visited by a brooding servant of the Emperor an intellectual sparing match ensues as the two opposing ideologies take to battle on a stormy winters night.

This Small but perfectly formed story is at the crux of the entire crusade. It is the embodyment of the Emperors goal to rid the human race of superstitions and myth in favour of science and reason. Its resonance being relevant in todays fractured world is clear throughout the story.

9/10


AFTER DESH'EA by Matthew Farrer.

The final addition to the tomb is a strange if not compelling story following the World Eaters Legion. Or rather the War Hounds as they are known at the time of the telling. It follows the days following the discovery of the last Primarch Angron by the Emperor and his bloody integration into the legions history.

A fascinating tale of the personal anguish faced by Angron as he is ripped from his savage world of battle and rebellions to the ordered and regimented position of Primarch.

9/10




OVER ALL SCORE 9/10. A fantastic book blighted by one incredibly sub par story.

A hit-and-miss colection with a few gems.
'Tales of heresy' is a departure from the other books in The Horus Heresy series in that it contains a several short stories, that follow events from various points in The Warhammer 40,000 universe's history.

As is often the case, the stories vary in quality, but the book is rarely less than enjoyable.

'Tales' starts off with fan favorite Dan Abnett's offering, 'Blood Games' set at a time when The Empire is bracing itself for an attack from the treacherous forces led by Horus, Dan Abnett's tale earns a lot of interest for showing us The Emperor's Palace and Earth during the time of Heresy. The story, however, feels a little rushed. None of the characters feel fully rounded, and events move very quickly. It creates an energetic pace, and there's a great James Bond type action sequence at the end, but it really feels like a broad picture painted on too small a canvas.

The second story is an improvement, and my favorite. 'Wolf at the Door' (Mike Lee) manages to cram in a planet wide, Space Marine-led guerilla campaign, and is propelled by some blistering action and more developed characters. The poignient, powerful ending in particular really makes the story, and presents the duty-vs-honour dilemma using a different method than the tired 'follow-Horus-or-The-Emperor' pattern.

Two other stories follow a similar structure to the excellent 'Wolf', those being 'Scions of the storm' and 'Call of the Lion'. A four act structure (Tense build up-BIG FIGHT!-Moralising-Shocking resolution) mirrors that of Wolf, but to be blunt, neither story is as good.

'Scions' is the better of the two, and has some exciting, cinematic action, but the emotional journeys of the characters, and the events they experience have already been covered numerous times during The Horus Heresy series, making these two stories feel like re-mixes.

Is it a coincidence that the weakest story (Call..) centres around the dullest Space Marine chapter (The Dark Angels)that has contributed the most boring book of the series so far (Descent of Angels)? People should stop writing about those dullards.

'The Voice' is James Swallow's (Flight of The Eisenstein) contribution, and is another spike in quality. No big fights here, just some tense, 'Event Horizon' type horror as a team of psychic sisters-of-battle board a derelict Black Ship. Plenty of gruesome gory-ness, some strong characters and a great sense of atmosphere (can this guy do stories set on ships or what?) build up to an interesting ending in a solid and entertaining story.

'The Last Church' is perhaps the bravest of the stories. Finally, a tale that truly explores the right-or-wrongs of The Emperor's crusade, and in particular, the utter secularity at its core. As the world is brought to order by The Emperor's ever advancing military power, an old priest tends to the last bastion of worship on Earth. A mysterious visitor who calls himself 'Revelation' visits, and tells the old priest his church will soon suffer the fate of all the others on Earth, and sits down to discuss theology with the old man.
It hardly sounds thrilling, and if you don't guess Revelations intent and identity after three pages of his introduction I'd be surprised. But while the Old Priest's hopeless defence of his archaic faith are brutally beaten down by the merciless logic and 'right-ness' of Revelation's argument during the course of the discussion, It's hard not to feel sympathy for The Priest's point of view. The Emperor's Crusade can be seen as nothing but a hypocritacal, ego-driven folly that is, as anyone with a passing knowledge of 40K lore, and as The Priest rightly believes, doomed to failure. 'Church' gains extra kudos for presenting a battle scene that seems more brutal, shocking and inhuman than pretty much any other in the series by being told as a mournful flash-back.

The final tale 'After Desh'ea' is an odd finisher ('Church' would have been a better choice). 'Desh'ea' sees the War Hounds Chapter trying to talk to their frankly mental Primarch, the violently insane Angron. Alas, Angron comes across like a cross between Gollum and The Incredible Hulk on a massive coffee buzz, so it's hard to get a feel for the character other than 'He's barking mad'

All in all, 'Tales' is worth buying if you've enjoyed the Horus Heresy series so far. If you haven't, then this is still a book to give a try, because there's a good chance you'll enjoy a few of the tales.

HORUS HERESY??????
Ill make it quick,
all stories in this book except CALL OF THE LION (which I found pointless) are excellent but it is not what I was expecting "well what was you expecting" I hear you say, well a bit more to do with the Legions and what they where doing during this time of the heresy would have been nice they only touch on the heresy briefly in all stories.
Firstly there are No Blood Angels, No Emperors Children, No Alpha Legion stories in this tale. I know I may sound like im ranting but I just felt a bit cheated in these series of short stories.
All in all well worth a read, but be warned.
BLOOD GAMES 8/10
WOLF AT THE DOOR 8/10
SCIONS OF THE STORM 7/10
THE VOICE 6/10
CALL OF THE LION 5/10
LAST CHURCH 10/10
AFTER DESH'EA 8/10.