The Horusian Wars

Incarnation is a weak follow-up in the Horusian Wars series. It's possible to read this novel without reading the former -- there are perhaps two or three subplots that carried over but hardly any of the details matter. That is my greatest complaint about Incarnation - one expects the build-up to be complete, and we launch into a complex web of story threads that will climax in the third novel. You... don't really get that in this novel.

As well, Incarnation exaggerates the flaws of its predecessor: the story arc is really too small scale to be considered 'Horusian Wars'. The plot itself is very short -- honestly the book is just about the events of a single day. Somehow we are introduced to two chapters worth of new characters before picking up the plot from Resurrection, so again the novel starts off on a rocky footing.

Where it really goes wrong is that the intricate politicking and complex Imperium machinations of the former book is lost. Instead, we get Inquisitor lands to save a planet, fighting occurs, the end.

What a disappointment.

Specifically, the key plot-twist of Enna, and the Triumvirate, is barely relevant to the main plot. The battle in the Monastery just happens without any justification to how Chaos took hold so quickly, and Inquisitor Covenant is along for the ride. The more interesting characters of Sister Agata and Khoriv are sidelined in subplot where they wander away from the battle and find out the key villain died on his own. Like... what? It feels like the author spent most of his effort on the shipboard plot, and while Viola continues to please, I'm here for the Inquisition and not Rogue Traders. The last half of the novel is bolter porn and Covenant barely has "screen time". Sigh.

This was a great read, but it must be said that you would have to be a loremaster amongst WH40K loremasters in order to really keep up. An Inquisition-centric novel at its heart, but it pulls into it nearly every element of the Imperium's warmachine into the sprawling narrative and so I think the vast majority of readers will be put off. We have Rogue Trader dynasties, Ecclesiarchy, Navigators, Mechanicus, Army, Navy, Arbites and multi-layered politics of the Inquisition rearing its ugly head. Just about the only thing we don't see are Space Marines, which is refreshing to be perfectly honest!

With that caveat in play, I think this is one of the better entries into the WH40K universe. But let me get off this off my chest... I dislike is the naming. Horusian Wars make this sound like an epic story: crusades falling, millions of worlds lost, the galaxy aflame etc. The actual scope is relatively tame in comparison. Horusian Schism is probably more accurate.

If you get past that, the central plot and mystery include plenty of bolter action. I enjoyed the politics. It starts off very rough, with a wide variety of characters introduced page after page without a real understanding of how any of them relate. But once it gets going it's easy to remember who is who, and the cast is varied and interesting enough to dress up the central plot. If you are deep into WH40k lore, I highly recommend Resurrection.