The Horus Heresy series is clearly the Black Library’s most valuable and most coveted IP within the whole of the Warhammer 40k mythos. The story is epic, so far spanning across nearly 20 novels, and as such, the plotting of it is closely guarded and plotted by a small stable of the best the Black Library has to offer: namely Dan Abbnett, Graham McNeill, James Swallow, and more recently Aaron Dembski-Bowden. Between the four author’s, we’ve been privy to some of the best writing the Black Library has ever offered in A Thousand Sons (McNeill), Nemesis (Swallow), The First Heretic (ADB), Prospero Burns (Abbnett), and The Outcast Dead (McNeill, again) over the past two years.
Not since Mike Lee’s Fallen Angels have we really seen a ‘forgettable’ HH novel. As such, the announcement of Gav Thorpe’s introduction into the HH fold made me understandably wary. He wasn’t part of the HH ‘brain trust,’ he’s better known for his xenos & elven writing, and his fumbling through the Space Hulk novella left me very cold. Despite that, the Raven’s Flight audiobook wasn’t awful, and his entry in the Age of Darkness short story collection was at least serviceable. Sadly, Gav’s inaugural full-length entry in the Horus Heresy series, Deliverance Lost, leaves a lot to be desired.
Deliverance Lost comes on the back of the Raven’s Flight audio drama and the short story “Face of Treachery” from Age of Darkness. While the aforementioned two stories aren’t required reading to dive into Deliverance, you’re left with more questions than you probably should be entering a stand alone novel if you haven’t read/listened to them, and I wholly recommend catching them before beginning Deliverance Lost.
Regardless, Deliverance Lost is the story of Corvus Corax and his Raven Guards attempt to rebuild their legion after their near annihilation at Isstvan. Fleeing from Isstvan, the Raven Guard set about to Terra to seek audience with the Emperor in an attempt to acquire the means to rebuild their legion. The Emperor begrudgingly acquiesces, which moves the plot forward to Corax’s restructuring and rebuilding of the Raven Guard via means of a neutered version of the Primarch Project.
This is all well and good, except that operatives of the Alpha Legion have infiltrated the Raven Guard, assuming the faces and names of fallen members of the XIX Legion in the aftermath of the Dropsite Massacre. This should seemingly set forth the path for a fantastic “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” type affair, with the Raven Guard attempting to rebuild their legion while using their knowledge of stealth to sniff out the Alpha Legion infiltrators. Sadly, it just doesn’t happen.
The Alpha Legion was introduced to us by Dan Abbnett in Legion, and I think that is the first problem Thorpe encounters in his portrayal of the most duplicitous Astartes Legion. Whereas Abbnett’s version of the Alpha Legion was cloaked in mystery, with purposeful ambiguity intertwined in the narrative and great breadth given to their secrecy, you simply don’t get the same feeling in Deliverance Lost.
The infiltration of the Raven Guard is actually set up quite well; Thorpe uses believable technology for the age (face grafting) and a little used piece of Astartes physiology, the Omophagea, to allow us to believe that the Alpha Legion would be able to supplant a Raven Guard in the ranks. I liked the set up; however, the farther the story progressed, the less believable it seemed. Thorpe’s Alpha Legionnaires are constantly making small mistakes that should reveal them to the Raven Guard (and towards the end of the book, in lieu of a successful red herring, we learn they actually do and nothing is done about it!) without consequence.
Further, Thrope’s use of the name “Alpharius” became increasingly grating. I understand the use of it is to create some ambiguity in the characters (we know that there is more than one Alpha operative in the midst of Deliverance); I simply would have preferred the use of pronouns like “he” to serve as those line blurring words. Further, it is alluded to that Corax has a fair amount of psychic ability, and he is unable to sniff out any duplicity. Simply put, a well conceived premise slow deteriorated until the end of the novel, a failed red herring, and a lot of ambivalence from this reader; by the last quarter of the novel, I was simply read to move on to Know No Fear.
Despite all that, I think there are some things that Thrope does succeed at. His characterization of Corax is actually really good. We certainly can see that Corax is one of the more thoughtful of the Primarch’s, and we learn a great deal about him throughout the narrative. I like this a lot. Sadly, some of the most interesting aspects are left as unfulfilled story lines. Corax has a clear affection for those that were part of the initial uprising of Lycea, but we only get to see bits and pieces of those stories come to fruition. One of his closest confidants, the human female Epheria, has clearly won his affections for a reason, but Thorpe doesn’t go into it.
We’re also told that Marcus Valerius, the Navy Commander whom received Corax’s psychic distress signal, will have an audience with the Primarch to determine how it was that they knew to come to his aide; this is another story line that is simply left unfinished. And unfinished is really the hallmark feeling this novel conveys. Thorpe actually has a lot of good ideas running around in the novel. Corax is a fairly well conveyed character. The kinship between commander’s Branne and Agapito is interesting and appealing, but like many of the other interesting and appealing aspects of the novel, is left…unfinished.
I wanted to like Deliverance Lost a lot. I wanted Gav Thorpe to atone for the awful Space Hulk novella and reassert himself as a capable writer of the Astartes and solidify his place as the 5th member of the Horus Heresy cabal. But he doesn’t.
Deliverance Lost is a middling novel of no real consequence, and is easily the weakest entry to the series since Battle of the Abyss. My Horus Heresy reviews typically end with scores of 8 or above, high praise, and phrases like, “you really must read this novel.” However, like the Raven Guard, this one is just fine remaining in the shadows.
A disappointing 5,5 of 10; for Horus Heresy or Raven Guard completionists only.
Editors Note: Score changed from a 4/10 to a 5.5 of ten. After rethinking the problems I had with the novel, then deciding that I actually did like the Raven Guard lore sprinkled in, I believe a 5.5-6.0 is a more fair assessment of the novel. It still has its shortcomings, and the unresolved plot lines are maddening, but I think Deliverance Lost is a move in the right direction for Mr. Thorpe’s Astartes fiction.
