The First Heretic

The Horus Heresy, Book 14

By: Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong

Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Amidst the galaxy-wide war of the Great Crusade, the Emperor castigates the Word Bearers for their worship.

Distraught at this judgement, Lorgar and his Legion seek another path while devastating world after world, venting their fury and fervour on the battlefield. Their search for a new purpose leads them to the edge of the material universe, where they meet ancient forces far more powerful than they could have imagined.

Having set out to illuminate the Imperium, the corruption of Chaos takes hold, and their path to damnation begins. Unbeknownst to the Word Bearers, their quest for truth contains the very roots of heresy.

©2010 Games Workshop Limited (P)2015 Games Workshop Limited

Critical piece of lore

Great story, great narration. One tiny gripe is the narrators portrayal of the femal voice. It's kind of... Silly. Still, a very good story overall

One of the better Horus Heresy audiobooks

A strong vocal performance delivers a twisted tale seen through many interesting viewpoints. Argel Tal is a better main character than most of the series and things he witnesses and endures himself are chilling and wonderous. An excellent read overall.

Finally some exposition!

I love the whole Horus heresy storyline, but it does feel like pulling teeth getting answers on WHY they would so willingly betray everyone and everything they’ve ever stood for, this book finally gives you an excellent glimpse into the perspective far better than Fulgrim did. Great book, great reading.

It was good to kind of know how it began.

so just kind of another piece to the story Good to know how it started with the word bears.

Essential

So many pivotal moments, everywhere from the shaming of the 17th to the dropsite massacre. Almost none of it is without a heft of substance.

Excellent writing, bad narration

This is one of the best, and arguably most important, books in the Heresy series. The authorship is masterly, Dembski-Bowden does an excellent job combining the sci-fi and fantasy elements of the 40k universe, and really establishes the Word Bearers place in the storyline. His style is somewhat classical, sometimes feels like it was written in the 18th or 19th century. However, Gareth Armstrong is one of the worst narrators on Audible. He has such a nice rich voice, great for plain narration parts (and you would think also for the deep-voiced Space Marines and Primarchs). Unfortunately, he is not very adept at character voicing, most characters sound the same, especially women (of which there are several in this story). Bad guys rarely sound like anything other than goblins, regardless of who or what they are. He also utilizes an unusual "yodeling" voice for certain characters that is simply ridiculous. Again, he is excellent when simply reading scene descriptions (and, to be fair, the occasional character) but overall hurts an otherwise amazing book. I would love to hear him narrate a non-fiction book with no dialog. When a book has such a mix of characters, I think a narrator along the lines of a Simon Prebble, capable of maintaining a large range of unique voices, would be far more appropriate.

it made me like lorgar

amazing story especially if you know a bit of warhammer already and what's coming

pretty good

lorgars legion are clowns turn off the gellar fields the primarch said so wtf? strange choice but ok

A passionate arc of the pure falling to corruption

While Lorgar was fallen from the very beginning with no hope of ever being anything but corrupted, following Captain Argal Tal as he watches himself fall to damnation was a heart wrenching yet wonderful read.

F*** Erebus, but boy oh boy GREAT story!

Never been a Word Bearers fan but what a fabulous story, believable characters and wonderful narration.
But seriously, F*** Erebus! :)