In Alpharius, Mike Brooks has crafted a solid narrative that helps understand the nature of Alpharius and his legion in a way that held my interest while never falling into the typical traps or throwing out twists for their own sake.

Alpharius: Head of the Hydra (The Horus Heresy: Primarchs)

is set to be a truly amazing year for fans of Warhammer fiction, and we’re excited for the opportunity to get together in person again for the Black Library Weekender next year! It’ll be out first in limited edition, followed by hardback, eBook, and MP3 audiobook versions later in the year. Something once thought impossible, for the Alpha Legion is so inscrutable and mysterious that the risk of revealing too ever present. There are nods to the Alpha Legion’s reputation for overcomplicated schemes – a tech-priest asks how a top secret mission can be used as cover for an even more top-secret mission (and yes, there is a good reason for it) – but on the whole we avoid all the doubling-crossing the double-crosser (cross squared? Holy warriors whose faith can manifest as miracles, they are all destined to martyr themselves in the Emperor’s service.

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Alpharius: Head of the Hydra - 4plebs Alpharius: Head of the Hydra - 4plebs

Alpharius, our narrator, constantly reminds the audience that he is an unreliable narrator, while describing how he misleads others adds a fantastic stroke of mystery to the story. If you love the Alpha Legion and it's roots (like me) you'll probably fall head-over-heels for the subterfuge, the 4D hyper chess planning, the intense paranoia. However what I’m driving at here is that, in the end, only a comparatively tiny number of 40k fans will read this book and so hear this side of the story. Their tactics, operations, ethics, mindset and methods feel as an extension of modern contemporary warfare rather then bizarre "just roll with it" warfare most other legions have.

Inside this tome, you’ll find pages of full-colour art, including a map of one of the book’s most important settings, as well as John French’s signature and the all-important number from one to 2,500 – cross your fingers for a low one.

The Horus Heresy: Primarchs Series by David Annandale - Goodreads

Keep an eye on Black Library’s Coming Soon page for more information, but suffice to say you’ll have plenty of reading material to keep you busy in the new year!In the end, this book made me appreciate Alpharius as a character a lot more, Mike Brooks made him truly his own man in his oeuvre. In the meantime, you can get the lowdown on Eisenhorn and Ravenor’s earlier investigations in the Eisenhorn omnibus , The Magos , and Ravenor: The Omnibus . He’s starred in two massive audio dramas, a plethora of short stories, and a novel – and now another book is on the way! Such are his gifts of secrecy and deceit that even his rediscovery has remained an enigma – until now.