Sanguinius: The Great Angel

The Horus Heresy Primarchs, Book 17

By: Chris Wraight

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

A Primarchs Novel

"I have always been the master of wretches, and have learned from that. I am a wretch myself, a non-standard. To purify and to transform – that has been our gift."

Sanguinius, the very image of an angel, has chosen to obscure the origins of his Legion, and prevents outsiders from setting foot on his home world. A remembrancer attempts to discover why.

Listen to it because...

The 17th instalment of the Horus Heresy Primarchs series offers a glimpse of the Blood Angels Legion – and its celebrated primarch – from the outside, as we peer into the shrouded secrets of its past.

The story:

Sanguinius is the Great Angel, most beloved of all the primarchs, his mighty exploits celebrated throughout the entire Imperium as the Crusade expands into the void. And yet the origins of his Legion are shrouded in mystery and rumour, his unique physical form is an enigma, and his perilous home world remains off-limits to all but his own secretive people.

When a discredited remembrancer arrives with the expeditionary fleets to chronicle the primarch’s deeds, he has to work hard to uncover the truth behind the legends. As he accompanies the \\IX Legion to war against the enemies of the Emperor, the curious scholar comes to learn much more than he expected – not just about the subjects of his study, but also the nature of the Imperium itself.

©2022 Games Workshop Limited (P)2022 Games Workshop Limited

Makes the primarch much more interesting

Yep yep yep yeah yep blood for the blood wait no that’s the other one damn Chris Wraight is good

not what I expected, but still loved it

well, I would’ve preferred a story that was told through the Primarch’s point of view, I understand why the author didn’t do that.

in other words, it’s a great novel, but didn’t deliver on the expectations I believe most readers would have of a book like this… A close look into the mind of the great angel. What we get instead is a journalist trying to understand him, which, though compelling, isn’t what most people sign up up for when they buy a primarch book. Still, a lovely read.

Interesting look at Crusade-Era Blood Angels!

Spoiler Free Review:
So this book takes place just before the Fear to Tread book. It follows a remembrancer chronicling the culture and mannerisms of the Blood Angels + Sanguinius. I would recommend this to any Blood Angels fan. And the descriptions by the remembrancer are just great. It could be that the Warhammer writers have gotten very good at what they do over the years but the MC is very prosaic. He gives a picture of what it is like to behold Sanguinius and his sons, both in their quiet moments of peace and their wrathful fury. I honestly liked this book more than their first novel in the HH, Fear to Tread just because of how good the author is his words. Plus there are hints at something darker within the blood of the sons of Sanguinius. oooo foreshadowing

simply breathtaking.

this is what I wish more of the books in this series would be like.

we have probably the most relatable POV character with the remembrancer.

having the story mostly told through his eyes gave it a unique feel.

I thought that I would be upset with how short the story is but I think it was the exact perfect link for what they were trying to tell.

((and without spoiling it there's a sort of pseudo-villain which I despise! but in the way that you're supposed to despise a villain.))

all in all if you're a blood angels fan it's definitely worth to listen.

A cool snapshot of a Primarch, limited by time

TLDR: A good novella providing a snapshot of Sanguinius, I just wish it was long enough to do more than just that - - - - - As a long time fan getting back into the current lore of the setting, I’ve been hesitant to start the massive commitment that is the main ‘Horus Heresy’ series of books. However, I have gone through a lot of the lore outside of the books themselves; and as a fan of the gothic setting of 30k with an unassembled Blood Angles Combat Patrol box on my bookshelf and years of vampire stories and Catholic School carved into my soul, I have been greatly looking forward to a book focusing solely on everyone’s favorite beautiful bloody bird boy Sanguinius. The choice of POV character instantly sets a good mood of skepticism and intrigue and firmly cements the base conflict underlying the universe of ‘how to deal with huddled masses elevating a godlike being to the status of the divine, even when that individual expressly doesn’t want it’. Through this lens we get to go deeper (metaphorically and literally) into the Blood Angels’ secrets, but if you know the setting, then nothing about what they are hiding can truly shock and surprise. So the book spends it’s whole runtime in a state of unavoidable dramatic irony for anyone not completely new to the setting, and that combined with the short length means that we don’t really get to explore anything new related to Sanguinius, the Blood Angels, or even the setting. What it does do well, is give you a grounded perspective of Sanguinius, doing his best to… fit in with humanity, I guess. We see how powerful he is, how overwhelming he can be, and the short scenes of his preternatural abilities in battle work in conjunction with how he talks to ‘us’ from a position of immense pressure and constant judgment that ultimately humanizes the 9 foot tall, angelic vampire Demi-god. If you know the lore already, then Wraight’s Sanguinius’ quiet moments feel like he’s answering the remembrancer’s questions as though they are our own (if we were in his place).