I'm re-reading the Horus Heresy, 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. Magisterium is the thirteenth short story in the book, written by Chris Wraight.
This story is basically historic documentation about Constantin Valdor and Rogal Dorn coming to terms with one another. The Webway War has left the Custodian Guard nearly decimated. Nine out of ten guards were slain by daemons pouring into the Imperial Palace.
Constantin Valdor is commander of the Emperor's Guard, but Rogal Dorn is on Terra to coordinate its defences against Horus's inevitable attack. This is essentially the third act of Heralds of the Siege, which is a beautiful feat from an editorial standpoint. These short stories were written as separate works, but they've been arranged skilfully into a novel-size book that actually manages to convey a story arc. And from the previous story onward, we're at the quiet-before-the-storm stage. We're at the part of the story where the protagonists accept their destiny, and brace for what that entails.
As a story in itself, though, Magisterium isn't terribly exciting. It's sort of a monologue, really. We get a lot of insight into Valdor's thought process, and we get a few scenes with the primarch Rogal Dorn. It's good Warhammer 40k lore, but if this were a chapter in a book (and it kind of is, in this context), I think it would probably get cut by a story editor for not moving anything forward. That's not bad to a fan of lore and world building, I just wouldn't recommend this as a reader's first Warhammer 40k story.
All images in this post copyright Games Workshop.