I bought Dan Abnett's "Know no Fear" on friday, and finished it yesterday. Nice book - I'd say it's not quite up there with "Legion" but it's better than Abnett's other two forays into the Horus Heresy series, "Horus Rising" and "Prospero Burns."

A few points to mull over:-

Are the Sensei back in the canon?

One of the characters, Oll Persson, is revealed to be a 22,000+ year old (possibly 44,000+ yr old) of the Catheric (Catholic?) faith, a veteran of countless wars, including WWI (battle of Verdun) and, going a bit further back, Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece. Persson's nature is not discussed in detail, but he appears to be acting as an agent of the shadowy "cabal" from "Legion."

Perrson is "reactivated" as an agent of the Cabal by John Grammaticus, a powerful psyker-agent of the Cabal who featured heavily in "Legion." Personally, I'd assumed Grammaticus had died at the end of that book. His appearance in Know no Fear means he's either been resurrected by the Cabal, or "Know no Fear" is set before "Legion." I'd guess the former is more likely.

Grammaticus never struck me as being a potential Sensei - in fact I'd never made any such connection, given his psychic power and his clear association with the cabal. I'd simply assumed he was a powerful psychic who'd been genefixed to be immortal. It seems I was right, as there's a line of throwaway dialogue between Perrson and Grammaticus:-

'I’m only what I am now thanks to xenos intervention. You, you’re still a true Perpetual. You’re still like him.’

From this line, we can (arguably, of course) infer that the Cabal employs immortal (Perpetual) agents, but that there are different potential causes of that immortality. Grammaticus is of one type, Perrson is of another. Also, note the reference to Persson still being like "him." Who's "him?" Or rather, to put it correctly, who is "He?" Clearly it's someone they've both met.

I'd suggest "him" is the Emperor. If Persson's really that old, presumably he'd have encountered the Emperor on numerous occasions. And we know John Grammaticus has met him - this is set out in "Legion." Note also that Perrson is described as being like "him." Which would follow, if he's actually the Emperor's biological son. I recognise that's a chain of reasoning, and any flaws in the chain bring the whole hypothesis down like a pack of cards.

It's equally plausible that Perrson is not intended to be a Sensei, and that Abnett is simply showing that the Cabnal ghave been manipulating humanity and creating "Perpetuals" for thousands of years.

On a side note, is Oll Perrson being set up to be Ollianus Pius, the Guardsman who sacrificed himself to save the Emperor and was later canonised as the saint of the Imperial Guard?

Any thoughts?

The fact that Ollanius is referred to as "The Pious" by John makes it a dead giveaway, at least in my mind.

I'm just not entirely sure why he was in the book. He doesn't really add anything to the over-arching story; I think a short story in an anthology would have been a better introduction for him.

Still, at least he wasn't as bad as that dreadnought character. What was the point of that?

Is Guilliman in this book, or just on the front cover?

BYE

H.B.M.C. said:

He most definitely is!

The Word Bearers on the upper structure see him coming. They are kill squad strength at least, the best part of a full company. At least a proportion of them are the vaunted Gal Vorbak elite.
But they see him coming, and they know what that means. It doesn't matter what cosmic dementia has corrupted their minds and souls. It doesn't matter what eternal promises the Dark Gods are whispering in their ears. It doesn't matter what inflated courage the warp has poured into their veins along with madness.
Guilliman of Ultramar is coming right at them. To kill them. to kill them all.
Even though they stand a chance of hurting him, they waste it. They baulk. For a second, their twisted hearts know fear. Real fear.

Love how Abnett describes him. Great book. I was all but sweating through the last third.

ddunkelmeister said:

True dat. Nicely set up, then abandoned. "Ah!" I thought. "At last we'll see a detailed, in depth depiction of the changes that becoming a Dreadnought causes in a Marine's psychology. Oh, no, wait, no we won't." A shame. I get the impression that Dan Abnett writes at very high speed. This gives his stories a real kinetic energy, but it also means that they can seem to end particularly abruptly. This book's a good example of that. Four fifths of the book are skillfully spent setting the Ultramarines up for a fall, then the last fifth breathlessly recounts how they turn the tables. It all seems a bit rushed at the end.

That said, I still like the book a lot. And yes, Gulliman appears a lot in this, and he's well portrayed.

I don't think the BL authors have really got inside the heads of the Primarchs particularly well so far. Books that cover them in detail, like Fulgrim, haven't really delivered an exploration of what it would really be like to be a Primarch. Instead they spend a lot of time harping on about how "charismatic" each Primarch is, whilst giving them dialogue that makes them sound like petulant 13 year olds. Even Abnett doesn't spend as much time with them as they deserve: I think Horus was underused in Horus Rising, Alpharius and Omegon were left as intriguing ciphers in the otherwise excellent Legion, and Russ was pretty bland in Prospero Burns.

In "Know no Fear" however, Gulliman is actually the first really plausible Primarch. He's hyper organised, almost to an OCD degree, but this is well handled and always shown in light of his incredible abilities. He's quietly idealistic, a humanitarian whilst also being authoritarian and, yes, slightly pompous...though he's aware of this tendency in himself. He's actually somewhat lacking in the hyperbolic charisma of other Primarchs, but somehow this factor, combined with his nicely portrayed wry sense of self deprecating humour, makes him seem the most likeable Primarch so far. Plus there's a bit where he punches a Wordbearer's head clean off. While in outer space. While not wearing a helmet.

Dok Martin said:

Excellent. It lines up exactly with how I see the Ultramarines. When the Ultramarines appear somewhere usually the same happens, except on a lower level of power on both sides.

So this veteran Tau Commander has managed to outstrategize his IG counter-parts, he has put a clever plot into place covering all eventualities. Suddenly a detachment of Ultramarines arrives, a half company. End of all hope. The foil. Utter collapse of everything that had been build so far. Why? Because every xeno that is capable of rational reflection who knows about the Ultramarines is aware of the dedication and professionalism with which the Ultras get things done. That golden upside-down Omega symbol should be a sign of despair and dread for almost all enemies of the Imperium.

Yes, sometimes the Ultras fail or get defeated. Such are rare occurences in the annals not only of the chapter but of the Imperium itself. An enemy of the IoM can't really rely on him being that exception.

But we don't want to hand out Fear Ratings for that, it might be overboard. ;-)

Alex

Never forget the motto that's on the Ultramarine's Chapter Banner:

'Our Pressence Remakes the Past'

So yeah, the Ultramarine symbol should be a symbol of dread for the enemies of the Imperium.

BYE