From the brutal betrayal at Isstvan to the desperate flight of the Eisenstein, through his missions as Malcador the Sigillite’s Agentia Primus, Garro’s path has drawn him inexorably towards a destiny that can only end in bloodshed.

Look at how they massacred my boy 😭 The first of the loose ends gets tied up as the goodest of boys takes on Mortarion and brings to a close their epic journeys which took us through the corruption of the Death Guard and showed hints at the founding of the Grey Knights. Ah Garro a fan favourite, have to say though this release obviously traded on that - the Siege of Terra series has been exemplary, rounding out the long and uneven Heresy series. La trama, non particolarmente ricca, rende giustizia a uno dei personaggi singoli più rilevanti di tutta la saga di 60+ libri. I also would have loved for this to have been an audio drama, but in the afterword, James does explain why it didn’t happen that way.I've been following the story of Nathaniel Garro since the early days of the Horus Heresy: fleeing the carnage above Istvaan V on the Eisenstein, his adventures as one of the Knights Errant and the battles he fought in the lead up to the Siege of Terra. Euphrati Keeler, famously rescued from Mortarion's forces by Garro some 60 books ago, also plays a key role and the whole thing is as bleak, horrifying, believable and exciting as one could hope for. As he struggles to protect Euphrati Keeler, the first Saint of the Imperial Church, from the horrors of this titanic war, Garro must face his greatest enemy – his father, Mortarion, his former master, and the monstrous liege-lord of the traitorous Death Guard – in a final, shattering confrontation.

While I have complained in the past about the use of filler material and repetitive themes in the HH / SoT series, I think this book truly serves the classic admonition of "be careful what you ask for, you might get it", as it is terribly bare-bones and short. Garro has previously been served really well by audio dramas, and this feels like it had it’s origins in that format- it’s a shame that BL have pivoted away from these. James Swallow finishes what he started a decade and a half ago: the story of Death Guard Legionary Nathaniel Garro. I found this novella to be one of my favourite parts of the whole Horus Heresy/ Siege of Terra stories.For Warhammer 40,000, he is best known for his four Blood Angels novels, the audio drama Heart of Rage, and his two Sisters of Battle novels. THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES and the names of the characters, items, events and places therein are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises under license to New Line Productions, Inc.