Hereticus: Eisenhorn: Warhammer 40,000, Book 3

A very fun read. It was darker than the previous ones. You can feel the loss. Over all a great fit to the series.

Eisenhorn gets pushed to the breaking point in this grimdark guardians of the galaxy. like the rest of the eisenhorn books. once you start reading, it will be easier to let go of the one true ring from lord of the rings.

Up to this point, this series has been plagued by 3 things (I use the word "plagued" loosely as both Xenos and Malleus are both solid books): 1. Lack of memorable, sustainable characters: This series has a TON of characters. They come and go like the seasons. Some of them are cool but they are gone too fast to make a meaningful impact on the story and the reader. Others stick around for a bit, but just aren't terribly interesting. 2. The amount of vocabulary specific to the 40k universe can be very overwhelming at times. There are so many honorifics, political factions, planets, universes, technological terms, historical events/wars, races, you name it. They are casually thrown around so often that you can easily find yourself lost in translation as the reader. I am still incredibly surprised that none of these books (at least the copies I had) comes with a glossary of terms or footnotes or something to help the reader out in this regard. 3. No sprawling goal or initiative. Gregor, while sharing the goals of the Inquisitors in general, doesn't really have a defined goal or antagonist that spans the entire series. While this is not very much of a problem at all, I rather like it when there is an overarching theme to a series, something that the characters seek out to do from page one, go through a ton of trials and tribulations to get there throughout a few books and by the end there is a final showdown, that moment where all of the hard work and diligence finally pays off and the tension that has been building up all series long comes to a head. In the Eisenhorn series, each book is pretty much self contained. Again, not a terrible thing but something I noticed. In Hereticus, most of these problems are solved. There are still a ton of characters, but some of them have stuck around long enough to have a meaningful history with both Gregor and the reader. Also, if you've read the previous two installments of the series, by now you should be at least moderately familiar with the terms. Even in this book I was still a tiny bit lost here and there but by this point I'm familiar enough with the 40k universe to get the gist of what's being talked about. I also found it immensely helpful to read these books with the 40k wiki page at hand so I could look up anything I wanted more information on, it was incredibly helpful. Lastly, Hereticus is basically a self contained book as with the rest of the series. Again, this is not really a detractor, just something worth noting. This is a very cool book and I would say it is the best in the series. I found myself really enjoying most of it but I can say that the ending seemed immensely rushed and a bit of a let down. It was incredibly quick and didn't really pack the punch I've come to expect at the end of a series. It's almost as if the author simply ran out of time and just had to end it. There is also very little wrap up. All you get is a very short blurb (maybe a paragraph for each of a few key characters) at the end that tells you what became of Eisenhorn's crew. Nothing more, which was a bit of a disappointment. But even still, Hereticus is definitely an enjoyable story and if you enjoyed the other two, I have no doubt you will really enjoy this book!

I read.this book in 2 days. Once it grabbed me it did not let go. Great way of balancing the line between dark and light. Loved every single second of it

A nice addition to the set

This trilogy is the first Warhammer 4K book I’ve read. It reminds me of the Dune books by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson with its rich backstories and settings. Good pacing and well developed characters. I really like the omnibus collections.

The story of a man who makes perfectly justifiable decisions and still finds himself at the edge of damnation. On the run; Eisenhorn must track down his nemesis, and prove his innocence.

I am writing this before reading any other reviews, and must say that although I liked and was drawn into parts of it, this was a “meh” ending to a really good trilogy. I liked some of the darker themes and building sense of dark entrapment that Eisenhorn found himself in, but it seemed like the author couldn’t commit to going down one lane or the other as far as what “side of the fence” the protagonist was going to find himself on. Also, the book seemed to shift gears quickly, and gave important characters unceremonious endings. The ending felt rushed, and ultimately left me feeling kinda disappointed. It’s still very much worth reading, but you may enjoy it more if you lower your expectations.