Battle for the Abyss cover art

Battle for the Abyss

The Horus Heresy, Book 8

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About this listen

Now that news of Horus' treachery is in the open, a time of testing has come. Some Legions have already declared their allegiance to the Warmaster while the loyalty of others lies firmly with the Emperor. As Horus deploys his forces, loyalist Astartes learn that a massive Wordbearers fleet is heading to Ultramar, home of the Ultramarines.

Unless they can intercept the fleet and destroy the mighty battleship that has been sent to reinforce it, the Ultramarines may suffer a blow from which they will never recover.

©2008 Games Workshop Limited (P)2014 Games Workshop Limited Fiction Science Fiction
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A rather weak story, unnecessarily protracted and rather dull. After introducing all the various characters, the conclusion ends with little if any closure for the main characters. This was chore to listen to.

Weak HH story

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Loved this book when i first read it years ago, as with most of the Horus Heresy.
I preface my review by saying that just because i didn't like something, be it a story or performance, doesn't mean it was bad, just not for me!

In my mind space marines are massive, solid soldiers so don't get why they are portrayed as 1950 spitfire pilots so often, all posh and "tally ho, what-what, sure thing skipper!"
This is exacerbated in this performance, Zadkiel rolls every 'r' as much as possible, just needs to twirl his moustache and say mwahah haaaaa, another of the Word Bearers exaggerates every 's'.... and so on throughout the cast, its ok to have some normal people in stories i think!

The performance was good just not for me!:)

Good story, VERY ott performance!

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a very enjoyable listen, finished in one sitting. Gareth Armstrong is a solid narrator as always.

Great ultramarine book

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lots of people saying "it's just a space chase" and that it isn't immediately impacting main events etc are missing a few aspects of the story beats found in this book.

This is the first time in the HH series we get full blown, self admitted warp fuckery, beyond plaguebearers and nurgle zombies/flight of the eisenstein stuff. So for new readers, it's a nice window into what is to come.

It is very much a bottle episode with no lasting effect on the world around it. But it can still be good, even if some character arcs are short or weirdly skipped through.

As for the chase and focus? It's basically the hunt for Bismark. A massive, never-before-seen sized battleship is launched and headed for England, she surprises and sinks a ship out of the blue and as an early test and as a revenge fleet descends on her, she decimates them, but is now wounded and must run for repairs before continuing the journey.

Sure, looking up a video series on YouTube about the hunt for Bismark might be shorter, but you can't really go wrong with this book either.

(although I would really recommend you have a look at Extra History's summary of the hunt as well)

It's the story of Bismark

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Great battle scenes and good overall, despite certain accents and inconsistencies. More action than nuance.

Dialogue and voices bit cheesy

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