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

A beginning

I would recommend this novel ,as a starting point, to anyone looking to get into the Warhammer universe.

Doesn't Always Have to be All Combat.

The book does a good job of giving us a glimpse about the 9th legion's struggle with the thirst and how they learned to cope while Sanguinius was still around.

Great book in the series

Great listen for all fans of the genre. Excellent voice acting really brings the to life. Great listen on audible

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).

fantastic book hickory narration

Chris Wright's book on Sanguinius as read by Jonathan keeble is a a great yarn. The first person narration from the remembrancer is fantastic.

I liked it

I wish we’d have gotten a little more Bel Sepatus or even an interaction with Amit but it was good over all. The ending (even though it was the only way it could end) gave me a reaction which is what a story that speaks to you should do. I thought to hear Keeble in another voice was good too. “The poison and the cure” it makes you think about the little things you get in these stories, like Gabriel Seth and the effect Amit’s reliquary in Devastation of Baal.

An introspective angel

Another fantastic and refreshingly cerebral novel in the 40k universe, Chris Wraight does it again and expounds on the complete and flawed philosophies of the Imperiums finest sons.

Decent!

The overall story was good but I was expecting more. Sanguinius is arguably one of the greatest Primarchs and I was hoping to hear more about him and how he became to be that.

Incredible

Best book in the primarch series to date. Tight, nothing extraneous, but a very insightful glance into the Blood Angels.