40K REVIEW: Mechanicum
Mechanicum: Graham McNeill
You guys know me. I LOVE the Horus Heresy. I Love it so much I created a ridiculous sized Pre-Heresy Death Guard army, bought every fluff book I could find, wrote a Heresy campaign book, and rush out like an excited school girl every time Black Library knocks out another novel.
You also know that I am picky. The Heresy is one of the most pivotal and cherished events in the entire 40k universe and I firmly believe it is to be entrusted to seasoned hands. When I first heard that Graham Mcneill was doing an entire book devoted to the Mechanicus civil war during the Heresy, I was filled with anxious excitement. False Gods and Fulgrim were both decent pieces of material, but the jury was still out in the minds of many.
I opened the pages and began to read. The red Martian Plateau spread out before me, filled with a series of interconnected mysteries, unlikely heroes, sinister villians, and a “big picture reveal” that shakes some of the very foundations of what we know about the Imperium.
I won’t go into any details regarding the plot (YOU NEED TO GO BUY THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW), but I’ll say that Graham has knocked it out of the park. This is his best work so far in the Heresy series and is right up there with Abnett’s Horus Rising. This book isn’t good, its GREAT.
A note however; much of this book’s charm is the subtle interconnections it makes with events occuring in various other novels in the series, so it really pays to be current on the Heresy series. This book offers a totally unique insight into the Heresy, and sheds light on that deepest of mysteries, the origins of the Dark Mechanicus.
Did I mention, there is more titan and knight action than you can shake a stick at, and we are granted more personal insight into the Emperor in the tradition of Horus Rising and Legion. He is turning out to be quite the “interesting” figure, and not what he is popularly viewed as.
In short, McNeill, could have taken the safe way out, and made a battle book with Space Marines that takes place on Mars. He didn’t do that, took a big gamble and it paid off in spades… for YOU the readers.
5 stars (out of 5)
~For those that have access to it, take the time to check out the unofficial introduction to this novel in the Kaban Machine short story found in the Black Library hardback Horus Heresy: Collected Visions.
