It’s weird too because David Guymer didn’t seem to cause these issues for me with The Court of the Blind King. A novel that, surprisingly, isnt so much about Angron himself, but more that tragedy that surrounds him, and its impact on the XIIth legion. While it had its occasional neat imagery, the novel did not go all the way with the violence like it could have. He’s plunged over the edge of berzerkerdom, he barely remembers who he is, and his fragmented personality sometimes starts a scene as one person and ends as another. The books, like this one, that live and breathe in a world that acknowledges the other current lore stand head and shoulders above the rest.

Perhaps equally great is that the Grey Knights eat up a lot of pages, and I didn't realise just how much I'd missed reading about them. They're Imperial Thousand Sons, but with absolutely zero hubris: they know what they're doing and they haven't got a single speck of doubt about the horrible sins they commit.

It depicts the titular Primarch as less a character and more an elemental force and shows the impact that his presence has on his followers, which is a really effective approach.

I think it’s their valiant and futile attempts to overcome the burning ball of rage that is Angron, are the high points of the novel.The rest of it focuses solidly, absolutely on several different portrayals of the World Eaters past, present and future without leaning hard on 'big names'. It’s not so much about how perpetual anger affects Angron (because, quite frankly, he’s fine with it) but more about how other people are affected by Angron, both those who follow him, and those who oppose him. The book does both immense justice, and manages to portray the world eaters in fascinating light both from inside the legion through characters such as Kossolax (My personal favorite) and outsiders such as Leidis. I do think that it does add to the plot however, for there is not much that can really be done with Angron post-heresy story wise.

There are some great individual scenes and storylines here, but as a whole I think it lacked a cohesiveness across the various plots to really drive the story forward. For taste, the best scene in the book is a Heresy-era World Eater realising how Angron has been actively screwing over the Legion for literally millennia. In a way, it’s strange that I’m so happy jumping on board at the end of the story rather than climbing on at the beginning with so many others. This weekend is set to be one of the bloodiest on record, when the World Eaters arrive in Warhammer 40,000 as their own faction complete with a new codex, new models, and the big guy himself, Angron.So we learn quite a bit about the World eaters and Angron is left to his entry in the Primarchs serie. I think my only gripe is the number of Sarrin ex machina, and it's entirely reasonable how it happens, I just didn't find it narratively compelling all the time (and it does happen rather a lot). Naturally, Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Betrayer was a big part of my preparation, being the seminal Horus Heresy World Eaters novel. We have characters who’ve been trying and failing to bring their Legion back together for millennia, and the book zeroes in on their perspective when this incredibly important figurehead re-enters the limelight. Angron’s a tricky one – he’s one of those “force of nature” characters that you can’t really empathise with or get inside the head of, so there’s definitely a challenge there.

A deeper character study of Angron is something I think I would have enjoyed more (and is possibly what his Horus Heresy-era novel is more in line with) but given what little I know about the man, perhaps it is wise to keep him off the page for as long as Guymer does. That’s why I’m reading this book, because in all honesty, Angron: The Red Angel is the sort of book I’d usually shy away from. David: There are three core Chaos Space Marine characters in Angron: The Red Angel , who each represent different points along the spectrum.THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES and the names of the characters, items, events and places therein are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises under license to New Line Productions, Inc. Part of me does wonder if I might have enjoyed this book more if I was more familiar with the background of Angron.