Valdor: Birth of the Imperium

10/10. This book was amazing.

It was short but full of lore. The Imperium is just finished unifying Terra. Although most people think peace is coming, it starts building its army for the stars.

The Emperor is not present, but His opinions on all aspects of the discussions, are omnipresent. These discussions happen between the very top echelon of the Imperium, his very close acolytes: Malcador, Valdor, Amar Astarte and a High Lord of Terra.

The book describes the very start of the Astartes and how they replaced the previous generation of generically modified warriors, the Thunder Warriors. The differences between Thunder Warriors, Astartes and Custodians are fascinating, both on the psychological level and during battle.

We're told the story of Amar Astartes, her work, her issues, her beliefs. There's a lot of political intrigue and the book describes the Palace coup.

Now, the negatives...

People always say "You shouldn't start with the Horus Heresy". When I read HH 1-3, I thought I knew enough about it and I didn't feel like I missed things here and there. This book though... I think you definitely need to know about the coup and the factions involved before reading it. It was written for people who already knew most of the facts, in a style that emphasizes that.

Imagine watching a random Star Wars episode where it takes 10 minutes for the camera to follow a dark robed villain twisting his hand and killing people. You don't want to be thinking "who the hell is that guy" for 10 minutes.. it's meant for people who already know who that is, and that knowledge is condition to appreciate his cruelty even more. So yeah, in this book, we can go 4 or 5 pages following "She", "her".. etc.. without knowing which woman we're talking about. There is no list of characters or factions at the start of the book, and because everybody's not only Human, but from the Imperium... it's not always obvious what's going on.

I've seen people saying this book is like "Heat" in space, with moments similar to that meeting between De Niro and Al Pacino. It truly is... but only if you understand how much opposes the two sides already, and that book doesn't make that clear beforehand, because you're already supposed to know it.

I still loved it, don't get me wrong, but I'll definitely read it again and I think I'll appreciate it even more, knowing all of that.

TLRD: Get the book!