Another Anthology

At first I loved these anthologies. One anthology for nine normal books is a great ratio, and a fun way to mix it up. But starting in the mid 20s of the Horus Heresy it turned into one anthology for three books. And a ton of it feels like filler by bottom tier sci-fi authors.

One note specific to this largely lackluster collection. Chirurgeon, by Nick Kyme, is the worst of the bunch. Not because of the writing, but because Ian Brooker as Fabius Bile is the worst fucking thing I have ever heard. He does it as a stereotypical mad scientist voice, but one that is so over the top a Saturday morning cartoon would have cut it for being excessive. I've listened to dozens, if not hundreds, of hours of Horus Heresy anthologies and this was the first one I had to skip.

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i hate the books of short stories

I really wish they would label these as books of short stories instead of a title like War without in so that way I do not waste a credit on a book of excerpts from other Horus heresy books.

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loved it!

i love hearing the about the stuff that happens in the background! great listen! woop

not perfect but worth it

a good read. while some stories are almost boring i thought all of them advanced either the story or a character so as a result it gets a 4 star for that reason.

Another classic full of stories

I truly enjoy a book with a bunch of great stories in it and this is one of those books. Fills in some needed areas.

Did not care for some

I didn't care for the boring tones some of the narrator's. I also had to skip some stories because of them, and I felt it the stories didn't matter.

Filler

If you're interested storys behind a lot of the main and background characters? Then this book is for you! If you want to continue the Horus heresy plot line? Skip this one. It's hard to get invested in short stories sometimes but if that's your thing then go for it!

All the horror of 40k delivered with a warhammer

Unlike star wars or a Dc/Marvel comic, warhammer seems to be able to tell a grand coherent story spread across thousands of pages and dozens of authors. Unlike Star Wars, many of the characters are just downright unlikable. This series of anthologies spends a long time with the traitor legions. Even if they are complex and flawed and relatively well written characters, I find them unrelatable and unliked. For this series, the authors are great at their tasks, the narrators are the finest in their art and if you truly want the grim dark, you found the right book. If you are new to 30k, or you want characters you can sympathize with, please start somewhere else. That said, the final story featuring Alivia almost makes the entire book worthwhile.

Great short story collection

I have immensely enjoyed this series to date and the interspersed short story collection help to reunite the reader with all the characters as well as create a more vivid and interesting universe. Well done. As always narration is awesome