Horus Heresy: Dan Abnett Talks ‘The End And The Death’
Dan Abnett talks about his three volume magnum opus for the Horus Heresy. This isn’t a trilogy — this is one massive novel!
Author Dan Abnett helped to kick off the Horus Heresy book series and after 17 years and dozens of books it’s finally coming to a glorious finale. He is the mastermind behind The End and the Death Volume and WarCom sat down with him to chat about this novel. We’ve got some of the highlights below but you really should read the interview at the link below!
The End And The Death – Three Volumes, One Book
“There’s one point that he’s especially eager to stress: this isn’t the third book in a trilogy. It’s the third part of a single novel that was simply too huge to publish.
‘It had to be published in sections simply because we simply mechanically can’t print books that big! So I’d like to think that with Volumes 2 and 3 readers will see the architecture of a whole novel that’s simply built on a much bigger scale than they are used to. A lot of threads from Volume 1 do arc over into Volume 3. It’s very much paying off things that happened before.’ “
One of the key points about this story is that it’s supposed to be a single novel. But this story is so massive they physically couldn’t print it in a single book! That’s one CHONKY story for sure and it’s appropriate given the contents.
According to Abnett it took him two years to write the whole thing — and I 100% believe him!
“It was literally the biggest thing I’ve ever done, the most formidable challenge, because there’s so much expectation attached to it’, he adds. ‘I loved it. I was almost sorry when it was over and there was nothing left to write – but I had to have a good long lie-down afterwards…’ “
You know, I’ll probably have a nice long lie-down after I read it. That’s a whole lot of words to ingest and it’s also one of the most important/historical parts of the entire Warhammer universe. This book covers the final hours of the siege of Terra. This event is so legendary and so many different characters are involved. Every points to this epic moment and the fate of the galaxy is decided. And as fans of the Grimdark know this might be the end of the Horus Heresy, this is just the beginning of the Grimdark!
“But while many of your questions will be answered, many more will be posed: ‘This is a snapshot of what really happened, where the myth grew from. What the myth becomes is probably more important to Warhammer as that’s what people have come to believe, 10,000 years later. But this is a moment of being there at ground zero and seeing these things as they actually play out from numerous perspectives… it almost tells you too many versions!’ “
Volume 2 of this massive tome is centered around Sanguinius vs Horus. Abnett was also clear that while Volume 3 does center around The Emperor vs Horus these two parts of this story are very different. He didn’t want it to feel like “more of the same.”
“I was looking forward to returning to characters like Loken – who obviously has got to be in it because he was there at the start – and Jon Grammaticus. But as is ever the case, when you’re writing a character, you bond with them
in a weird way and they become a favourite. So I loved writing Malcador and other characters who I’ve never really had the same level of time to spend with.”
Again, it’s an interview well worth the read. If your a fan of the Horus Heresy series do yourself a favor and go read the full interview. Even if you’ve only read one book or kept up with every single one. Personally, I might wait until the last volume is out for this book and try to read it all together. Not in one sitting mind you, but one right after the other. There’s a LOT to keep up with and I bet it’s going to be an exciting conclusion to one of the most epic book series ever put to paper!
The end is nigh…
