Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia Review - 4/5
Currently the most recent entry in Black Library's popular Primarchs series the novel Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia covers the exploits of the Iron Warriors against the mysterious Hrud xenos during the latter days of the Great Crusade. Outnumbered, outgunned, crippled by lack of supply and the horrific time warping abilities of the Hrud the IV Legion has lost a fifth of it's total strength and successfully captured a handful of alien held worlds. To call the campaign a disaster would be an understatement of epic proportions but the pride and ego of Perturabo allows for no retreat. To make matters worse news arrives of treachery on the legion homeworld Olympia and Perturabo is driven home in a rage with disastrous results certain to come.
Like the events of a number of the other Primarchs series books Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia largely covers events that are already well known. For many years we have known from small blurbs and excerpts from various editions of the Chaos Space Marine codex, old Horus Heresy material and some novels that the Iron Warriors were the only legion whose homeworld rebelled against the Emperor, a horrifying stain on the honor of Perturabo and the IV Legion. However as with most things in the background of the Warhammer universe the story was light on details. Hammer of Olympia seeks to fill in the outline of these events and at the same time provide some insight into the character of Perturabo and his legion in a way we have not yet seen.
However while the story of Magnus the Red made him a tragic hero desperate for the approval of his father but doomed to failure the story of Perturabo paints a much darker and less sympathetic picture. When the adopted son of Olympia was discovered and reunited with his legion his first action was to order decimation, a punishment where one in ten members of the legion were executed by their comrades. This punishment came from the ancient Roman empire where it was reserved for only the greatest of military failures, such as a legion losing it's Aquila standard. Yet the Iron Warriors had suffered no great failures, their only crime was not being the best, something they had little chance of doing with a number of Primarchs already commanding their legions, not least of which was the future Warmaster Horus. Things only get darker from there.
Careless, ruthless, callous, brutal and merciless, these are all traits Perturabo showed not to his enemies but to his very sons. Exile or execution for any failure, explosive violence, horrific casualties, all of these things marked the command of Perturabo who seemed ever determined to win battles in the hardest way possible. In truth this is strongly indicated to be because Perturabo was desperate for the approval of his father and brothers, but instead of earning it through cunning or accomplishment Perturabo seemed intent on showing his worth through sheer bloody-minded intractability. Victories Horus, Corax, Sanguinius or Johnson would have achieved with a few hundred casualties the Lord of Iron achieved with thousands. Only Angron and Kurze display worse behavior towards their own legionaries, yet while insanity is the cause of their abuse and neglect Perturabo is much lighter in the excuse department. Totally sane and rational Perturabo's terrible behavior towards his own warriors is caused entirely by his own rash temper, arrogance and contempt.
While Hammer of Olympia leaves me with much greater appreciation and sympathy towards the IV Legion as a whole and characters like Barabas Dantioch in particular, (who we see heavily in this book) the main character Perturabo comes off terribly. In that regard the author did an excellent job, creating a believable character that you can love to hate, a very different result to the other novels in this series.
What Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia fails to do is give the reader any notably greater insight into the wider IV Legion. A handful of additional characters feature in the book but we don't really learn much about the unique structure or organizations of the legion. From the Stor-Bezashk artillerists to the Tyranthikos Terminator Veterans a few notable names and structures are dropped but few are fleshed out. The most detail we get is actually on the Iron Warriors own unique version of the Warrior Lodges so critical to the Word Bearers infiltration and corruption of the traitor legions. Known as the Dodekatheon the warrior lodge of the Iron Warriors was an open forum for tactical debate where members of the Legion could compete with each other in war games and strategy simulations free of the strictures of rank or position. Yet while the Dodekatheon was interesting I was really hoping to learn more about the structure of the Warsmiths or Perturabo's honor guard and veterans.
This unfulfilled wish aside the author Guy Haley's writing is certainly above average for Black Library with the exception of a few notable awkward sentences where Guy likely changed the structure but forgot to eliminate a vestigial word or two the writing is solid and the book makes for a quick and easy read.
If you are looking for a fun read that gives some insights into the Lord of Iron then Perturabo is a great book to pick up, but if you are looking for more general background and detail on the Iron Warriors then you might want to pass on Hammer of Olympia.
In conclusion I give Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia four out of five thunder hammers, a solid and enjoyable read for anyone interested in the Primarch of the IV Legion and enjoyable for anyone interested in the Horus Heresy and the space marines in general. Certainly Hammer of Olympia gives more detail than ever before on the mysterious Hrud xenos and alien lovers might enjoy that part of the novel as well.
Like the events of a number of the other Primarchs series books Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia largely covers events that are already well known. For many years we have known from small blurbs and excerpts from various editions of the Chaos Space Marine codex, old Horus Heresy material and some novels that the Iron Warriors were the only legion whose homeworld rebelled against the Emperor, a horrifying stain on the honor of Perturabo and the IV Legion. However as with most things in the background of the Warhammer universe the story was light on details. Hammer of Olympia seeks to fill in the outline of these events and at the same time provide some insight into the character of Perturabo and his legion in a way we have not yet seen.However while the story of Magnus the Red made him a tragic hero desperate for the approval of his father but doomed to failure the story of Perturabo paints a much darker and less sympathetic picture. When the adopted son of Olympia was discovered and reunited with his legion his first action was to order decimation, a punishment where one in ten members of the legion were executed by their comrades. This punishment came from the ancient Roman empire where it was reserved for only the greatest of military failures, such as a legion losing it's Aquila standard. Yet the Iron Warriors had suffered no great failures, their only crime was not being the best, something they had little chance of doing with a number of Primarchs already commanding their legions, not least of which was the future Warmaster Horus. Things only get darker from there.
Careless, ruthless, callous, brutal and merciless, these are all traits Perturabo showed not to his enemies but to his very sons. Exile or execution for any failure, explosive violence, horrific casualties, all of these things marked the command of Perturabo who seemed ever determined to win battles in the hardest way possible. In truth this is strongly indicated to be because Perturabo was desperate for the approval of his father and brothers, but instead of earning it through cunning or accomplishment Perturabo seemed intent on showing his worth through sheer bloody-minded intractability. Victories Horus, Corax, Sanguinius or Johnson would have achieved with a few hundred casualties the Lord of Iron achieved with thousands. Only Angron and Kurze display worse behavior towards their own legionaries, yet while insanity is the cause of their abuse and neglect Perturabo is much lighter in the excuse department. Totally sane and rational Perturabo's terrible behavior towards his own warriors is caused entirely by his own rash temper, arrogance and contempt.
While Hammer of Olympia leaves me with much greater appreciation and sympathy towards the IV Legion as a whole and characters like Barabas Dantioch in particular, (who we see heavily in this book) the main character Perturabo comes off terribly. In that regard the author did an excellent job, creating a believable character that you can love to hate, a very different result to the other novels in this series.
What Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia fails to do is give the reader any notably greater insight into the wider IV Legion. A handful of additional characters feature in the book but we don't really learn much about the unique structure or organizations of the legion. From the Stor-Bezashk artillerists to the Tyranthikos Terminator Veterans a few notable names and structures are dropped but few are fleshed out. The most detail we get is actually on the Iron Warriors own unique version of the Warrior Lodges so critical to the Word Bearers infiltration and corruption of the traitor legions. Known as the Dodekatheon the warrior lodge of the Iron Warriors was an open forum for tactical debate where members of the Legion could compete with each other in war games and strategy simulations free of the strictures of rank or position. Yet while the Dodekatheon was interesting I was really hoping to learn more about the structure of the Warsmiths or Perturabo's honor guard and veterans.
This unfulfilled wish aside the author Guy Haley's writing is certainly above average for Black Library with the exception of a few notable awkward sentences where Guy likely changed the structure but forgot to eliminate a vestigial word or two the writing is solid and the book makes for a quick and easy read.
If you are looking for a fun read that gives some insights into the Lord of Iron then Perturabo is a great book to pick up, but if you are looking for more general background and detail on the Iron Warriors then you might want to pass on Hammer of Olympia.
In conclusion I give Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia four out of five thunder hammers, a solid and enjoyable read for anyone interested in the Primarch of the IV Legion and enjoyable for anyone interested in the Horus Heresy and the space marines in general. Certainly Hammer of Olympia gives more detail than ever before on the mysterious Hrud xenos and alien lovers might enjoy that part of the novel as well.
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