The Lion: Son of the Forest (Warhammer 40,000)

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Without providing spoilers, my only one gripe was that I expected some more resistance from the characters than such an easy acceptance and understanding of where each character stands. This is easily the best 40k novel I’ve had the pleasure of reading. It’s the first time a Primarch behaves like an actual adult, and man it’s a great thing to experience. That being said, I’m not sure how good this book is going to be for you if you have not read the Dark Angels part of the Horus Heresy, or indeed a lot of the Horus Heresy in general. There is sooo much “fan-service” to middle aged dads who know and love the 40K lore on this book that it I think it needs that foundation to be enjoyed as much as I did.

The Lion. Son of the Emperor, brother of demigods and Primarch of the Dark Angels. Awakened. Returned. And yet…lost. WarCom: Are there any spoiler-free moments that you found particularly fun to write, or daunting to approach? The Lion. Son of the Emperor, brother of demigods and Primarch of the Dark Angels. Awakened. Returned. And yet... lost.

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Lohoc's insistence on never showing his face is called out as strange multiple times, but the book ultimately ends without explaining it. The book develops the mythos of the Lion and the Fallen in an exciting direction that at once feels not at all obvious, and yet correct. The characterisations of the disparate members of the Fallen, and of the Lion himself, are nuanced and compelling. Meaningful Rename: At the end of the book, the Lion renames the Fallen who chose to follow him to the Risen. You got old.’ It’s a simple line, muttered with relish by a Chaos Space Marine to the Lion, but it’s a perfect encapsulation of where the Lion is both physically and mentally, and this element alone helps keep the return of a Primarch fresh, and not just a repeat of when Gulliman returned several years ago.

Heroic Self-Deprecation: The Lion, surprisingly enough. He considers himself a failure to the Emperor, his brothers, and the Dark Angels; he ponders that it should've been him who died and one of his brothers who lived; he even believes he has declined as a fighter, although to anyone without his super-human reflexes, he appears as deadly as ever. Brooks getting the writing job for Lion El'Johnson's 40k return novel reassures me this is going to be a ripping read, based off his previous work: Lion subdues the Fallen, named Zabriel, and learns that Zabriel thought that Lion was a traitor to the Imperium and Caliban - as Zabriel saw it, Lion's fleet was the one to open fire on Caliban. Lion swears that was not the case, and has Zabriel swear that he wasn't the one to shoot first either. They start to (distrustfully at first) work together.

Outright stated the Lion has aged. He was not interred as Guilliman was, or perhaps not kept in stasis completely all those years. Something let him loose, coinciding with the Cicatrix. Faced with these strange times, the Lion can be certain of nothing and no-one, except for himself. But in a galaxy without the Emperor, without the Imperium, without his Legion, and without Caliban… who is he? [1] Sources Extra-Dimensional Shortcut: The eponymous forest in some manner of space between the Warp and the materium; it allows the Lion and the people he brings with him to travel from one planet to another without the need for a ship. Empty Shell: Seraphax's plan is to turn the Lion into this, and then use his body to gain access to the Emperor so that he can kill him.