[Horus Heresy] The Outcast Dead de Graham McNeill

Maestitia a écrit:Je lutte pour ne pas voir le spoil de notre ami cyclope et c'est dur !!!! X3

Magnus a écrit:Alors voici un petit resumé de ce livre

Spoiler:

@ Magnus: L'evenement incohérent en question serait-il en rapport avec... Magnus?

Spoiler:

Next in the best-selling Horus Heresy series is Graham McNeill’s The Outcast Dead. This is a book that kept me up until 5 a.m. on a work night (we’ll not discuss what the day at work was like…), so let me get on with telling you why.

This is a book that moved me deeply, and I felt unable to review it until I’d read it twice…and then a third time and then walk away for a while before even trying. This is very different from my usual process and was reminiscent of my experience of reading and reviewing Dan Abnett’s Prospero Burns. In fact, for me, this is McNeill’s Prospero Burns and a very worthy sequel to A Thousand Sons.

The story, broadly speaking, follows the fortunes of Astropath Kai Zulane on a journey of discovery to the very heart of the Imperium. I’m not speaking of only a literal journey but also of a journey into his extraordinary mind, the mind of a powerful Imperial psyker.

When Magnus’s astral visit to Terra sets off a psychic event of catastrophic proportions, the convalescing Zulane is implanted with a terrible truth. When this comes to light, Zulane is taken into the bowels of the ultimate Terran prison to have this truth forcibly removed from the recesses of his psyche. Unbeknown to him, imprisoned in the same facility are seven Astartes from legions that have been declared traitor, the outcast dead of the title, one of whom realises that Kai Zulane is of immense importance and must be saved. From this moment begins an extraordinary sojourn through the hollow mountain and the petitioner’s city as Zulane and his Astartes companions seek to escape from Terra with the world-ending knowledge hidden in his mind.

Without wishing to give too much away, I have to acknowledge that Zulane’s convalescence, the cause of his return to Terra, forms a major portion of this story’s context. His relationship with his fellow Astropaths is both strained and yet often touching, and his personality really shines through in those moments.

There are so many amazing characters present in this story; not one of them feels superfluous or two-dimensional, and each adds immeasurably to the incredible depth of McNeill’s tale. The outcast dead themselves have definitely got some Seven Samurai vibes going for them and are so very full of personality and so very distant from the cookie cutter image of the Astartes. Atharva, one Magnus’s Thousand Sons, comes across as the de facto leader of this group, and I found myself reminded of their incredible abilities and wisdom as he seeks to do what is right in an Imperium that appears to have lost sight of its more noble goals; not to mention bringing the tragedy of their tale very sharply to the fore. The three members of Angron’s legion show great development as characters and even with their common rage stand out as unique and three-dimensional individuals who, along with the others, very quickly grabbed me by the heart and almost eclipsed Zulane’s struggle.

These Astartes seem to explore the nuances of loyalty and betrayal and do so in such a moving way that as they struggle through the tale I, quite literally, couldn’t put the book down! Combined with Zulane’s ever more personal battles with his own psyche I was left breathless as the tale came to an end and found myself with a lingering sadness long after I’d put the book down.

There is much else to tell that I feel would give too much away, so I won’t. Suffice it to say that there are revelations and scenes that I felt were of immense power and import, and his characters, all of them, really grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I’ve returned to this book a few times since and am still moved by it, returning to certain scenes again and again.

This book is one of the masterpieces of this extraordinary collection and, I felt, a personal best for McNeill. I’ve no doubt he will continue to surprise me. I eagerly await his next contribution to the series.

Je veux vraiment le lire celui-là, il sera comme Mechanicum, sans Astartes et plein d'énigme mouahaha