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Horus Heresy: Battle for the Abyss (Horus Heresy)

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Author: Ben Counter
Publisher: Games Workshop
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$7.99~~
Buy New: $4.17
You Save: $3.82 (48%)

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Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

18 reviews
Sales Rank: 7601

Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.4

ISBN: 1844165493
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9781844165490
ASIN: 1844165493

Publication Date: July 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New Book! Delivered direct from our US warehouse in 3-6 days (Expedited) or 10-14 days (Standard). Expedited shipping recommended for speedy delivery. Over 1 million satisfied customers.

Also Available In:

•	Paperback - Horus Heresy: Battle for the Abyss (Warhammer 40,000: The Horus Heresy)

Similar Items:

•	Horus Heresy: Legion (Horus Heresy)
•	Horus Heresy: Mechanicum (Horus Heresy)
•	Descent of Angels (The Horus Heresy)
•	The Killing Ground (Ultramarines)
•	Fulgrim (The Horus Heresy)

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Horus sends the Worldbearer space marines to the planet Calth, where they are to ambush the loyalist Ultramarines. In addition to the main fleet, Horus sends a new doomsday battleship for use againsy the Ultramarines home world of Ultramar. A small strike force travels space and the warp to delay or destroy the doomsday ship to save the Ultramarines.

Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

Good side story September 7, 2008
I must agree with many of the other critiques that this is a good side story and it does have some strong action packed scenes. Finally we get to see one of the Thousand Sons in action (I always felt that their story was one of the most tragic). The downside is that we didn't get to see any of the Primarchs. Like the title says, it's a good story but only a side story.

5 out of 5 stars

A return to relevent and furious action. September 5, 2008
I couldn't put this book down. Even if it hadn't been for the last two books in this series being lackluster, I would have still be transfixed, as I was, by this book.

This book is basically non-stop action. I liked that the combat scenes in this book weren't drawn out -- there wasn't four pages of back and forth parrying and riposting and bolter shells. When it came down to it most one-on-one combats were swift and lethal. I enjoyed that change. I don't mind extended hand-to-hand combat scenes, but sometimes it can get repetitive. This book did not suffer from this.

Battle for the Abyss does a good job of showing the budding mindset of the Chaos forces. The opulence, the arrogance, the blind faith, the intoxication of power, and the alliances with demons -- it's all shown here. The roots of the Legions turning against their brothers. The Imperial Truth and Light of the Ultramarines contrasted with the passionate religious zealotry of the Word Bearers. Very entertaining.

For a very fast moving action novel the author does a good job of giving the main characters enough depth, exposing some interesting motivations and choices, to flesh out the story and make it robust without detracting from the pace.

I'm glad the series has returned to this kind of novel and I can only hope that the next book in the series follows suit. This novel had made me long, once again, for the next release which seems like an agonizingly distant event.

3 out of 5 stars

Not Bad September 1, 2008
This book is ok, although I'm still missing the great stories telling of the first 3 books from this series.
This book offers interesting but stereotyped of the 4 legions (ultramarines, world eaters, word bearers and space wolves). The warp attack on the loyalist ship is repetitive, and maybe more should have been told and developed about the lone world eaters's adventure in the Abyss.
Overall, it's not bad.

1 out of 5 stars

Bad and getting worse... August 28, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

While the previous two books in the series were pointless, at least they were somewhat entertaining. This is just terrible. I made it about halfway through and put it down. From now on I will be reading reviews before I pick any books in this series and if it does have something DIRECTLY to do with the Horus Heresy I will pass...

I will probably use this book to lite my grill this weekend.

2 out of 5 stars

Another Characterless Heresy Novel August 24, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

One of the most disappointing things about the majority of novels from the Black Library is the avoidance of anything controversial - from ethical dilemmas, to gender issues and more. Battle for the Abyss is no different and is exactly as dull. Where authors like Abnett in his incredible Eisenhorn and Ghost series was able to discuss real issues that might tear the Imperium apart in the 41st century, this novel steers clear and makes the Ultramarine protagonists and the Word Bearer antagonists pointless cutout props with no moral depth.

But that isn't the only disappointment. There isn't a single appearance by a Primarch. The council of Nikeas is mentioned many times but without details about what actually happened. The warp begins to play a much more central role in the plot from both the Word Bearer side and from the Thousand Sons - all with zero explanation of how their warpcraft became so proficient (one marine is basically a Farseer!). The crowning failure however is that the book ends with the smoking hulk of the Abyss drifting toward the Ultramarine fleet around Macragge - after an absurd penetration mission that we're somehow supposed to believe and without showing us the reaction on the faces of Gulliman when he realizes what just unfolded before his very eyes.

Early Heresy books, dealing with the stunning Primarchs and their real dilemmas as they participated in the Great Crusade were gripping ("I was there the day Horus Fell"). The Abyss and Descent of Angels (excepting the appearance of the Emperor) as written are unimportant place-holders in the unfolding drama that, given it's 10,000+ year wake, should be a little more dramatic.

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