The Emperor's Legion

Tierion shits his pants and gets annoyed at the Council while Aleya and Valerion GET SHIT DONE.

This book has some really great ideas: focusing on the events around the destruction of Cadia but from the perspective of people living on Terra; the machinations of the high lords, the introduction of the Custodies to the wider theatres of war and the reformation of the sisters of silence into a cohesive force. Unfortunately, for me, it was ultimately a disappointment.

With the exception of the Sister of Silence character - who was completely badass - the point of view characters fell flat for me. We get told about their challenges and personality traits, but I never really felt any of it. With a lot of narrative ground to cover across three separate points of view in less than 300 pages, there just didn't feel like the time for the characters or the setting to really come alive. The result was the characters were thin and the personal stakes for each one never felt especially meaningful to me.

I would recommend Wraight's Vaults of Terra series over this one any day. Those books deal with the same themes and time period as this one but, for my money, the characters are far more compelling and the plot much more exciting and satisfying.

Builds up to an unbelievable climax on the throneworld that... you don't get to see because you're supposed to buy a sourcebook too.