Children of Sicarus (Heralds of the Siege)

I'm re-reading the Horus Heresy in preparation to start the sub-series Siege of Terra, and this is my review of Heralds of the Siege , book 52 in the series. Heralds of the Siege is an anthology, consisting of several short stories, and I'm going to review each one. Children of Sicarus is the sixth short story in the book, written by Anthony Reynolds.

This story is pretty simple. Kor Phaeron, of the Word Bearers, and his crew have landed on the daemon world Sicarus. Unfortunately, the planet is already occupied, and its current occupants aren't very welcoming. Fighting ensues!

Lots of fighting.

Then an almost-daemon appears, and tells Kor Phaeron that she wouldn't mind the Word Bearers cleaning up the place a little. In return, the Word Bearers can have the planet, even after she ascends into daemonhood. Seems like a pretty good deal. After all, Kor Phaeron and his crew were killing the planet's inhabitants anyway. He agrees to the deal, and Sicarus becomes the new home of the Word Bearers.

Children of Sicarus

As a short story, it serves a specific function. It's interstitial content between the graphic novel Macragge's Honour. If you haven't read that, this seems a little unremarkable, like a guy one time did this thing. I didn't feel like Kor Phaeron was a protagonist so much as his was the name that kept getting mentioned the most, and he was the person the ascendant daemon addressed.

I guess Kor Phaeron was the named character in the 40k game this story documented. The story feels that way, like you're reading a highly narrative battle report of a Warhammer 40k game. Like someone watched a Warhammer 40k game and is telling you about it, but leaving out any mention of game mechanics.

That's fine, because Warhammer 40k is a fun game, and the game is really the reason the books exist. It's fun to hear about how the Word Bearers fight, what obstacles they've overcome, and so on. In simple terms, this is good lore, but not an amazing story unless you're just a real fan of the Word Bearers.