I was a bit surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. I was unexcited about this entry initially, because it takes such a big step away from the main storyline, but it won me over. Mechanicum has a surprising heart to it. While it still uses the "Grim darkness of the far future" tagline as its balance point (just like all Horus Heresy books do), it has more humanity to it, more to relate to - characters that balk at unnecessary loss of life rather than casually dismissing it, for example. Additi...

‘This is a great day, my acolytes, remember it always,’ said the Fabricator General. ‘This is the day Mars and her forge worlds cast off the yoke of the Emperor’s tyranny. Unleash your armies and stain the sands of our planet red with blood!’ Review to come.

We've met several 'alien' planets in the course of the series thus far but they've never been more than peripheral. That's never been an issue as those brief impressions served their purpose. Now, however, we're closer to home: Mars. Tens of millennia of history, second jewel in the crown of the Imperium an' all that. It's a shame that the book never quite captures the scale of the whole thing. Functionally, this is a whole world at war and yet we see only minute snippets as we're given an endle...

This took me a while to finish, which probably means that it was not the most entertaining piece of HH literature for my taste. Was not bad though, but not spectacular enough to give 4 or 5 stars. Part of this is probably because Adeptus Mechanicus is not my ultimate favorite thing about the universe, even though i do appreciate them. Been thinking of drawing Koriel Zeth, if I ever find time.

I might as well start signing my paychecks over to Black Library because they have been getting all of my spending money. A much appreciated change of pace in the Heresy saga in terms of story and characters. Hardly any Astartes or space stuff, this one stays grounded on Mars and explains a little of how deep and how far ranging the Emperor's planning goes. I also enjoyed the badass female characters in this story which this series, for the most part, has been lacking. Mechanicum also spends a l...

Lots of mindless Horus Heresy fun.

Second best Warhammer book I read and a solid 5 stars for a Warhammer novel. Unfortunately, there are a lot of background information that are assumed to be known by the reader from the Warhammer universe, that I couldn't recommend the book to someone unfamiliar at least with some 40k elements.

Another mildly enjoyable addition to the Horus Heresy series, which - though I think Pulp-Sci-Fi fiction (including Games Workshop, Star Wars, &c.) has a place - makes too many missteps which can't just be excused by the fact that these books are not meant to be fine literature. I also wonder what the non-initiated would make of this book - I think it would be incomprehensible. Once again, there was no need to tell this story from the point of view of some lowly humans, it would have been better...

Takes a really long, and frustrating, time to actually get going. Middle section, especially, feels cumbersome.

One of my favorite books, and this is the second time I've read it. The portrayal of the Mechanicum during the Horus Heresy is amazing as you get to experience it before it really started stagnating. (though you can also see that starting to happen within the story) You get to experience Knights (and at the time this book was published, they weren't a think in 40K unless you used OLD Forgeworld models and home brewed rules or played Epic 40k) so that was always a pleasure to see.You also get to

Graham McNeill seems to me the most consistent of all the Black Library authors working on the Horus Heresy series. I put aside Dan Abnett here, whose abilities as a writer I hold in high esteem over the excellent Eisenhorn trilogy. This is the third Heresy novel I’ve read written by McNeill, and it’s the third one I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. Here are a few commonalities between all McNeill's Heresy novels so far:*They move the overall plot of the Heresy along. False Gods showed Horus’ corruption;

This is Book Nine of the Black Library Horus Heresy series, the second novel of the series by Graham McNeill.Thus far I have read the entire series. The series is overall exceptional; easily the best work but out by Black Library to date. There have been a few small “bumps” along the road. I point to Descent of Angels as the low point of the series as far as catching and holding my attention as well as staying true to the feel of the other books.My favorites of the series so far are Flight of th...

Books set in the Horus Heresy are consistently superbly written and full of pertinent "historical" background. Mechanicum stays true to this formula.This book is enlightening in that it shows us the events of the Heresy of Mars. It shows the close ties between the Fabricator-General of Mars and Horus, the Warmaster. It explains how the Chaos corruption spread and we witness the birth of the Dark Mechanicum (and even found out the origin of that name). Also the famed (infamous?) Titan Legion Legi...

It never rained on Mars...This was perhaps one of my favorite lines in this series of novels. I don't quite know why, but it evokes so much in my imagination.I must find myself retracting something I said in my other review of "Battle for the Abyss" in which I lambasted modern-day science fiction which restricts itself to a single planet, as nearly the entirety of this novel takes place on Mars - and I loved it! One, I have a soft spot for Mars (i.e., Mars will never be free until the sands run

Another Warhammer novel done and dusted. 2020 is becoming quite the Sci Fi focused year for me now! I was a little nervous before I started Mechanicum since it took a completely different tack on the Warhammer 40K Universe. It was highly recommended by 2 of my friends who I trust though and what a ride this turned out to be. I was quite impressed when I finished. Mechanicum is set primarily on Mars where the Priesthood reside in mighty forges that manufacture the weapon supplies for The Emperor’...

Good read, likable characters. (Possibly the first time I liked the normal humans in a story.)Up to this point what I have read about adepts etc. Makes them all out as terrible not interesting characters. This showed their true colors :PI'd recommend it to any heresy fan. The ending left me smacking my head, and added some interesting ideas for my fan fiction :D

Knights and Titans and Skitarii and Ordinatus, oh my! The many worlds of the Imperium feel similar, because they're all governed by the Administratum. Mars is different: It feels almost as alien as any xenos homeworld. This is the first and last look we get of Mars at its zenith, before everything goes so very, very wrong.Dalia Cythera was busy at work when she was struck by a strange idea: "Maybe I can improve this?" She is immediately accused of heresy and sentenced to be executed. Adept Korie...

Young scribe Dalia Cythera is whisked off to Mars by Adept Koriel Zeth, who puts her innate understanding of technology to use working on a ground-breaking project. Meanwhile tensions are mounting between rival factions on Mars, even bringing the Titan Legions into conflict. It's the beginning of the civil war on Mars, and the ‘death of innocence’ – the loss of knowledge and the start of the journey towards stagnation – that ensues. It’s also an exploration of Mars and the inner workings of the

Of every Horus Heresy novel to date, I think I was looking forward to this more than any. Boy was I setting myself up for a huge disappointment! Rather than the rise of the Dark Mechanicum and a massively draw-out high-tech war (which is after all McNeill's raisen d'etre), we get a plodding story which weaves several seperate strands together to knit an underwhelming whole.Once again, we get one side told from the perspective of 'normal' humans, something which is overdone by this point in the s...

‘You mean we created… something… new?’ gasped Mellicin. ‘Precisely,’ agreed Zeth. ‘And that is not something to be taken lightly.' The Martian Mechanicum. Bit of a weird bunch, with their distaste for the confines of flesh, worship of the Omnissiah, and a desire to lubricate via prayer the machine spirits that dwell within your electric toothbrush. A fun group of electrical appliances they are. In service of a higher plotline ‘We can do nothing for them!’ shouted Sigismund. ‘They must stand or f...