Bloody Books Reviews - The Beast Arises Book One: I Am Slaughter – by Dan Abnett)

I have often considered starting The Beast Arises once the Horus Heresy had come to an end, and whilst I have yet to begin any form of series of articles regarding HH due to what I feel is a LOT of duff entries (and some stunning ones), aiming to review all twelve entries for The Beast Arises may help alleviate that need. For a time at least. It's a strange world we live in where The Horus Heresy was still firing on all cylinders when Black Library attempted to try a secondary multi-part series of this scale*. Having each of these books release monthly is something I regret not doing when it happened, as I feel that would add to the tale as a whole.

The series begins with I Am Slaughter by Dan Abnett, and it comes out of the gate swinging. It's rare to find a pair of hands safer than Abnett for 40k who sets up the premise with his usual panache and style. He is the type of person who world-builds as a thought exercise before breakfast, and we know he is a dab hand at such forms of creation. The novel is an era that has not had any exploration until now, and all that Abnett shows us is instantly captivating and highly engaging.

I Am Slaughter is set a Millenia after the Horus Heresy, but a long long time before the "modern" 40k, and explores a Imperium that feels safe, and that appears to be in a state of  peacetime, other than the internecine squabbling between the various Imperial sectors.

We follow the Imperial Fists as they unleash a bloody campaign on the world of Ardamantua against the insectoid Chromes, leaving Terra unguarded by The Wall. Whilst the Adeptus Astartes wage their war, the Imperial Senatorum bicker and powerplay in tiny petty ways that leave the head of the Officio Assassinorium, (one Grand Master Vangorich who is an absolute delight) concerned about the state of Terra and what could, and likely will, happen.

From the opening chapters, there is a sense of scale at play which is stunning, as the rails of where this story goes are hammered into the ground. The hollywood explosive start may feel a little off to some, given that the Imperial Fists and The Imperium we see here are a far cry from what we know them as now, the the brutal page and body count pass with enough action to keep the reader involved. The backbiting and general offensive nature of the Imperium's Twelve Seats balances out from the more explosive parts of the book, opening a lot of possible doors for what could take place and where things may go as the series goes along. Once the threat of the Orks begins, we see something that is genuinely unsettling, a frankly terrifying version of the Greenskins we all know and love.

It's an easy book in inhale, and it went past fast. Maybe to some the brevity of the page count may be a turn-off, but as a first chapter in a series I found it refreshing to not be overwhelmed.

I'm quietly hopeful with this one.

*Gaunt's Ghosts, Gotrek and Felix and the like don't count as they didn't have a planned start, middle and end.