Mortis

The Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra, Book 5

By: John French

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

Book five of the Siege of Terra

After a series of victories, the Imperial forces are on the back foot once more. The power of Chaos is rising, the Traitors gain ground, and all hope seems lost. Can Terra endure?

Listen to it because: delve back into the biggest war in Imperial history, which is getting even bigger as Traitor Titans land and the influence of the warp grows, plaguing the defenders in all sorts of vile ways.

The story: the victories of Saturnine and the sacrifices of the Eternity Wall space port have faded into the hope of yesterday. Denied but not defeated, the Traitors intensify their assault on the Imperial Palace. With the principal space ports in Horus’ hands, the Warmaster now drains the heavens of his reserves.

As the pressure of the assault increases, the power of Chaos waxes. The waking lives of the defenders are filled with despair, while their dreams pull them in search of a false paradise. As the fabric of the defences fails and the will of those who stand on them cracks, Horus commands the Titans of the Legio Mortis to breach the walls. Against them stands the might of Mercury Wall and the strength of the Legio Ignatum. Ancient rivals, the god-engines of both Legions meet in battle, while within the walls a few desperate individuals seek a way to turn back the tide of the warp’s malign influence. Across Terra, lost warriors and travellers make their way through wastelands and gardens of horror, towards home and an unknown future.

Written by John French. Narrated by Jonathan Keeble. Running time 16 hours 26 mins.

©2021 Games Workshop Limited (P)2021 Games Workshop Limited

One of the stronger entries in the Siege of Terra

First of all - do not trust people saying this book has too many characters, or that it introduces random people with plots going nowhere. I think there is one, maybe two completely new characters to follow, the rest were introduced either in the Horus Heresy books or in the previous Siege of Terra novels.

It is a continuation of the struggles against the arch enemy, exploring how different branches of the Imperium handle the gruelling siege, with the big players (Dorn, Perturabo, Space Marines) taking a bit of a back seat. The titular Mortis are funnily enough in maybe a third of the book, but I do not think it would have benefited from more Titan action. We already have Titandeath and that was enough of that. There are some big reveals, there are some nice twists and overall the story progresses at a nice pace. Just remember that this is part of a bigger story, not a standalone book, so it will take a while to get things actually resolved.

no backwards step!

just like the rest of the Horus heresy, this part of the siege of terra has reached my expectations and I am anxious to continue on. do not listen to anyone who says any part of the HH should be skipped because it's boring or has too much going on. this is a saga that is told through the pov of many and nothing should be passed over. this has a lot of important lore that'll you want to know about if you're a Warhammer 40k fan

Traitors cheating

I generally really enjoy and like the series in its entirety, but I have to admit, that I am getting annoyed by the thought, that if traitors would not use all their “warp cheats” almost all the time, they would not stand the chance. Problem? Warp solves it. Tight corner? Some witchery at hand. Too tough defenses ? Demons and more witchery! Sigh… well, at least it gives a chance to loyalists to show what is in them.

Shocked by the negative reviews...

If you didn't like this book, you lack culture and taste. You might as well be a mindless blood drunk World Eater.... The Solar War is not about progressing to the end of the story ark at some break neck pace. This is the biggest, greatest story ever told and the climax of greater then 30,000 pages of literature. John French does exactly what what he is supposed to do in this book. Of all the authors (all great) who contribute to this work, this guy is heart of it.

The metaphor rich description of the Emperor's battle in the warp deserves an award. When Perterobo quits the field...it was true literary art in story telling. The defining moment of the book and the war delivered expertly.

Hats off to John French, who is among the best in the world at what he does.

Interesting, but not excellent

It took me some time to appreciate John French's writing. He has some of the driest prose of any of the Warhammer authors, but he can write some wicked and killer stuff. This book is a bit tedious, and you can play a drinking game with all the times he describes Warp phenomenon as tasting of burnt sugar. Jonathan Keeble is excellent as always, but the way he says the word "boom" may get to you after a while. The Ol and John Grammaticus storyline is grinding and plodding, seems to take forever to get where it's going. And "shuffle tap" may absolutely get to you before it gets there.

All in all, it's a good book. And consequential things do occur in it. I hope you like Knights and Titans, because you're gonna get a LOT of them here, and they're gonna talk about "hunting" ad nauseum.

Disappointing

not a bad book, but it is not even close to being on par with the rest of the Siege of Terra series.

Behold, my plan falls to shreds!

Johnathan Keeble is one of the greatest narrators in the business. Honestly, a lot of these books would be much less engaging without how into Keeble gets.

As for the story itself, in some of the nerdier sections of the fandom this one isn't going over super well, but my god is it a great story. Perseverance, fear, giant machines screaming at each other and being reborn bu chaos magic! God it was good, got me through two 5 hour long flights.

amazing

This is a must read for any fan of the warhammer 40k universe one of the best so far

Not my favorite but okay

Voice acting is superb (as it always is). Although now that I think about it he said a few words funny.

The setups and pay offs both hit hard and miss completely.

Certain sections of the story I did not care for at all and other sections I couldn’t wait for the story to cut back and continue what was going on.

Some returning characters from the past books were awesome.

I think the decision to have multiple complex story lines going at the same time hurts how consumable the content is. It’s just juggling to much.

I’m excited for the next book as I think we’re going back to the A team main cast.

Worth the read

It's definitely one of the better entries in the SoT series. The cast of characters present is very enjoyable, and it feels like real progression through the story is made.