Dorn's sons, philosophical nominalists?

Sigismund, without a doubt, is one of the greatest astartes of the Heresy Era. How awesome is it that there is finally an origin story for him!?!

Awesome, except where it wasn't.

So as for the performance, I am unfamiliar with Timothy Watson, but he sounds a lot like John Banks. . . except that almost every astartes voice is a blue-collar, south London mode of speech.

Why?

Why is it also that Archaemus, who is only scantily older than Sigismund, and who this very book says is cold as stone, is voiced like a kindly, warm, old grandfather who needs a blanket and some warm cocoa?

Bad job!

Apart from those irritations, at least the narrator was consistent and did not suffer other technical errors.

Why is our hero searching for "his truth"? There's a big difference between the search for absolute truth and passing, subjective, adolescent, nonsense.

Dorn and his legion are the DEFINITION of Realism, stolid, disciplined, concerned with the natures of things.

There were a few occasions of pretty serious lurches in tempo. There were times where all momentum in the story just snapped to a halt, and it sucked.

John French can write a good book, but here he cuts and pastes "the message" over what is an otherwise pretty good story.

The Grim Dark is not the place for Gen Z Modernism, soft accomodation, and social justice warriors. Those people get stepped on, chewed up, spit out, and are soul fuel for the uncaring dark gods of the Warp!

Why is the hardest of the hard, Sigismund, going all "identifying my truth"?

Most of the book was pretty good. Narration was bad. Ham-handed messaging and an inability to grasp real human motivations and philosophy hurt John French in this book.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

Suffers from modern 40k identity politics weirdness.

Behind every great violent space crusader is a legion of inexplicably virtuous and talented women and space marines of color.

Just the increasingly common 40k trend of having any competent human being be a woman of peerless virtue, from the noble orphan who taught Sigismund how to be brave, to the hyper competent commander who’s so stone cold she doesn’t even flinch at the personal command of Dorn despite even space marines reacting in awe.

Other stuff like the author not knowing about space marines having eidetic memory, and the author doesn’t really offer any insight into a reason why Sigismund is the best, he just is because of his “Truth” which somehow even the world eaters ramble about.

As usual with these books, performance is 10/10 writing is wildly varying.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

Another Meh Horus Heresy Novella

While I'm a fan of both Warhammer 40,000 and the Horus Heresy series I can't say any of these novellas have really impressed me and this one is no different. I don't usually even bother anymore but I'm a big fan of the Black Templars and Sigismund and I can usually count on John French to deliver. Sigismund: The Eternal Crusader starts off with a strong premise--why does Sigismund believe the Great Crusade will never end? The story is told as a series of vignettes from Sigismund's life, starting with his "recruitment" into the Legiones Astartes and then culminating in the Triumph of Ullanor. The framing device is an interview between Sigismund and Solomon Voss. The action is okay and there are a couple tasty morsels of lore but even at a brief 6 hours I was eager to finish the book so I could move on to something more satisfying. The brief insights we get into Sigismund's psyche feel rather pedestrian and surface level. We learn about his history but nothing to really justify a novella. Then again, most of these Horus Heresy novellas feel like padded-out short story cash grabs anyway. I'm disappointed I wasted a credit on this but I should have known better. Timothy Watson does a nice job narrating the story at least.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

French fails to capitalize

This should have been a better story, lackluster writing is only exacerbated by a stilted performance with Watson succeeding to only add character to Sigismund by making him sound like a teenage edge-lord interpretation of bad-ass complete with the gravely voice and the perpetually irritated-sounding intonation of words...even when Sigismund was still a child.

This didn't feel like Sigismund, this felt more like a generic Astartes complete the cookie-cutter backstory of the orphan feral-boy growing up in the plot of a Death Wish movie, no hint was given as to what set him apart from his brothers and cousins beyond "being Sigismund" and that his success was "through the power of determination" which is too tired a battle-manga trope to dignify in what is supposed to be a serious work of the Grim Dark setting. He doesn't present as having better insight or deeper introspection than any of a panoply of Astartes as depicted throughout the myriad stories of both the Horus Heresy and 40K setting, less soulful than we've seen from Sigismund in previous writings, the stoic melancholy that has defined him in previous writings is absent here and he seems more like the recalcitrant child who hates his family and/or job versus the man who was willing to risk his life and honor to stand at the side of his Primarch-Father. If this was the first work in a series, it could be better excused.

The story isn't worth a stand-alone purchase, use a monthly credit then refund it after listening, it has no worth beyond that.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

Incredible

The format returns to that of the most successful 40k books wherein the post-human experiences of a space marine are filtered through a solid human character. The pacing is excellent. The motifs commonly wrapped around Sigismund - the stillness in a moment where the drops of rain slow to pause, the strength of the character in his refusal to stay down when he falls, the cold efficiency of his being - are expounded upon without feeling ham-fisted. Instead, they are deftly woven into the story and its structure. There is a great balance between pieces of lore we already know and new ones like his experience being chosen as a child for reforging into astartes. This book is now among my top 5 Horus Heresy novels at large. The narrator is also to Sigismund what Kevin Conroy is to the voice of Batman. It's so important to get right and Timothy Watson kills it. He also manages to voice distinct and well known characters like Kharn in the way we're used to hearing them - also important for immersion. 5/5, 10/10. Listen to this book if you like the Horus Heresy and if you like books in general.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

Love it

I always love to see the legions do their thing and get some interesting characters along the way. This book delivers on both of those. If you want to see the Imperial Fists and Sigismund do some cool stuff this one is a good choice.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

Broken Memories as Novel

I was absurdly excited to see this on audible. That excitement didn’t last.

To start with the good, the individual recollections of Sigismund are rich and deep and enthralling. Each of these pieces was more or less thoroughly enjoyable and gave some delightful lore. If you want a fuller appreciation of the fine details of the great crusade, don’t miss this.

Now on to the less good. First, the connective tissue - a conversation between two old campaigners - feels shoehorned. This would have been better as a collection of short stories rather than try and force ham fisted meaning down the reader’s throat.

Second, the plot armor makes it difficult to get into some of these stories. We know where Sigismund ends up and the attempts to create drama around his fights (after he’s taken) feels repetitive and formulaic. The details vary, but the arcs of these are not original (listen to 2014’s Templar to see what I mean) and get boring quickly.

Finally, the reader continues a trend I’ve been seeing in black library titles - a lack of polish and poor pacing. It feels like the reader had a couple glances at the text and then went for it, leaving awkward pauses and mispronunciations throughout.

All in all, the details are fun but the wrapper is poor and worn. It feels like French tried to recycle his Templar short story framework instead of being more innovative and this would have perhaps benefited from a fresh hand. French, Watson, and GW can all do better.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

very good

great narration and author, John French really knocks it out of the park, sigismund is built up as a great complex character.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

I like the sword it go swoosh

He hit people they die 4/5 not enough water. The 30k parts were interesting to see the cultural differences. Only reason it’s 4/5 for story is the transitions are jarring and not in the ways they intended to be.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Great writing and story

This story embodies the best of what the 40k universe has to offer. It is a slow burn building to insight with connections to many of the best moments in the HH. This is not a great starting point for someone new to the 40k world but for those who have already done some exploring, it is worth the listen.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!