Contrariwise

The first half of the book is a bit of a slog, and I struggled to keep going. That's half the reason it took me almost a year to read. (The other half is that I kept misplacing the book. This is what I get for reading a physical book.)

Allow me to save you roughly the first hundred pages or so. Fulgrim is great. Like. Really great. The best. Everyone loves him. Their breast swells with pride to even think of him. He's really good friends with everybody. And also perfect. The most perfect. The most best perfectest most perfectest best ever.

That's it. That's the first hundred pages. You're welcome.

If that's all this book was, I probably wouldn't have gotten much farther. I'm not sure I could deal with ~500 pages about how very perfect the Emperor's Children are, or strive to be. Or how very strong Fulgrim's relationship was with his various brother-primarchs.

Fortunately, it does get better, and the second half was truly phenomenal. Knowing everything I know now about Fulgrim, I think he's probably the most tragic figure in the 40K universe. And that's saying something.

Dripping with Jerry's authorial voice, I think it could have done with another editing pass. Ideally by someone not at Penny Arcade. All of whom I love and think are great, but my best guess is that this novella was kept a little too precious and is harder to read for the treatment.

This is also a love letter for the true believer. If you already know the threads of Acquisitions Incorporated's various plots, then this is a fairly straightforward introduction to how Jim and Omin met. It's not even trying to be an entry point for the uninitiated.