Mark of Calth: The Horus Heresy, Book 25

Mark of Calth (MoC) is an anthology of 8 stories set on Calth during the Horus Heresy.However, you MUST have read "Know No Fear" by Dan Abnett (and possibly "The First Heretic" by AD-B) for this book to make any sense. There are several Ultramarine and Word Bearer characters throughout that appear previously, or events are referenced that you'll want to be familiar with. I waited nearly 2 years between reading KNF and this, and some parts went over my head. It *might* be better to read this first before reading "Betrayer".As a collection, some pieces are better than others, but overall the additional info from various perspectives that this book provides to that battle is great.The first book, "Shards of Erebus", explains how certain knives are first forged, and these provide almost a running theme through several of the other books here.The second, "Calth that Was" is novella-length, and is written from the perspective of Remus Ventanus and Maloq Kartho, generally explaining the context of the Underworld War."Dark Heart" was next, following a young Word Bearers acolyte named Marduk, and whilst good, probably meant more for people who have read the Word Bearers series by Anthony Reynolds."The Traveller" was probably the worst for me - I wasn't really that interested with the plot, and the "twist" at the end (if you can call it that?) left me thinking "So what?"."A Deeper Darkness" was next. I enjoyed this one, but it was a bit slow to start with, and it didn't really add much to the overall Calth or HH plot.AD-B's "The Underworld War" is set deep into this stage of the Calth conflict, and follows a member of the Gal Vorbak, and explains how he first came to be possessed. It also features my favourite heretic, Argel Tal, reveals more about why certain Word Bearers were chosen for Calth, and impacts on the events in "Betrayer"."Athame" was next and was ok I guess, tracing the titular weapon from its discovery through various owners. I didn't get the 8th section though - who was it talking about?Finally, "Unmarked" was one of the stronger works for me. It follows Oll Persson's group after he cuts a hole into the warp, and their journey onwards. Particularly interesting is his conversation with fellow Perpetual John Grammaticus, and the hints dropped in this one that are followed up in "The Unremembered Empire". Also, heavy hints dropped that Oll knew the Emperor at the dawn of civilization, but decided he didn't want any part of the Emperor's schemes and was therefore not a part of his inner circle.A good collection, buy it if you're a HH enthusiast, but make sure you've read KNF first (and preferably fairly recently!)

A few gems hidden throughout this anthology that make it worth while.

Ok so the HH storyline has not progressed with this book but in a Universe where everything is starting to fall apart, the smaller struggles do need telling.I enjoyed the short stories for the most part so am happy to give this book 4 stars.

Great Book, very big destruction, think it kinda limits the book but is fun.

I love the Horus Heresy series - but hate it when they come out with another of the short story collections. I'll buy and read all of the series (but only in the mass market paperback size so they all look the same on the shelf, so am also annoyed that I have to wait longer for them to be released).The short story collections just lack the depth, narrative and character exploration found in the full books, for example in Betrayer, and are a read once and shelve book - there's no point going back to re-read, unlike with the first 5 books in the series.

Containing some very good stories with some more personal viewpoints in them, however two or three of them seem to be a bit pointless to be included here.

Great read

Great quality and timely delivery.