Lorgar Aurelian, the Seventeenth Primarch, is stunned when he receives the short distress call from the planet Monarchia. The Word Bearers Legion arrives to find the planet in ruins. No enemy did this. The destruction had been ordered by the Emperor of Mankind himself. Lorgar has spent over a century conquering worlds in the name of his father. He spent an untold amount of time upon each, patiently teaching the Word of his god-emperor. The emperor has waited over a full century before finally coming to Monarchia, destroying it, and then informing Lorgar and his Word Bearers that all of their achievements were worthless and that the entire Legion is an utter failure. But worst of all, they are told that everything they had taught to the people on every world they conquered had been a lie. The Word Bearers had been a Legion founded on faith, and now they find themselves faithless. The final humiliation is when the emperor leaves his watchdogs, called the Custodians, with orders to report back to him as they witness the Legion's righting each planet they have wronged.
Lorgar believes that humanity is nothing without faith. If his father, the Emperor of Mankind, is not a god after all, then the gold-skinned primarch would seek out a place where gods and mortals meet - seeking divinity in a galaxy his father believes is godless. The Word would change. But first the truth must be learned. No Astartes is as loyal to their Primarch as the XVII are to Lorgar. Their pilgrimage takes them to a new place, far beyond where any other had gone before. At the edge of reality they find the Eye of Terror. From the entities within the Warp, Lorgar will learn the Primordial Truth.
**** FOUR STARS! This installment of the Heresy Series follows the fall of Lorgar. The entire story is imbued with emotional conflicts, confrontations, revelations, and allegations. This tale explains how the Chaos Marines came about. The author paints rich and vivid scenes as he shows readers the events from the perspective of the Word Bearers Legion.
I only have one problem; in my personal opinion, Part Two starts off badly. It tells about a chapter's worth of the story and then back tracks. This means I began with the same characters, but totally confused by the large jump in time, place, and how the damage surrounding Argel Tal (one of Lorgar's most trusted) came about. When the story finally caught up to where Part Two began, it was all repeated and I felt a bit irritated that I had to (basically) read it all over again. I believe it would have been better had Part Two simply began with Argel Tal's ship coming out of the Warp in critical condition and then continued from there. Again, however, that is only my opinion.
As I finished reading, I could not help but recall an old adage (with a slight twist): Evil is in the eye of the beholder. Author Aaron Dembski-Bowden has done a masterful job of telling this pivotal event from the viewpoint of the Word Bearers Legion. ****
Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.