Descent of Angels

Descent of Angels is, in a lot of ways, the first divergence of the Horus Heresy series. While the first four books are a part of the core inciting incident of the Heresy, the fifth is a look inside the mind of one of the key players, the sixth is an entirely different type of story.

In book 6 we are placed into the shoes of a lowly recruit for The Order, which will one day become the Dark Angels we know and love. This book covers their backstory and introduction to the Imperium. If you are a die hard Dark Angels fan, you may enjoy it. If you are not, you probably won’t.

in my experience the first 50% was an absolute slog. The pacing was slow, the plot didn’t really go anywhere. Around the 50% mark, the story picked up with some intrigue, combat, and resolution (although, to be blunt, there is clearly a sequel coming with that ending).

it’s hard to recommend this to readers interested in the Dark Angels because you could just as easily skim the wiki page and learn everything you need to know. There is no additional depth gained from reading a few hundred pages about it.

If you’re trying to read the “core” plot of the Horus Heresy, skip this one.

The first five books were each better than the previous one, building on and fleshing out a cohesive story. This one hits like a huge speed bump. It's kind of like two separate stories smashed together (or maybe one and a third) neither of which have any relation to the overarching story of the series. They're kind of lopsided as well; the first “half” drags on and you start to forget it's a Warhammer 40K story at all, while the second half feels more like the rest of the series with some interesting warp horrors but is really rushed.

Solid, maybe a bit dull.