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. The Soul Severed is the tenth short story in the book, written by Chris Wraight.
As I've said in previous posts, there's a spectrum to the short stories in this book, from historical documentation to short story. The Soul Severed is solidly historical documentation. There's a story here, but it's perfunctory. It's essential reading for fans of the 3rd Legion, the Emperor's Children.
This short story basically gets Lord Commander Eidolon to the forefront of the legion while its Primarch Fulgrim is missing in action. Of course, we readers know exactly where Fulgrim is, having just read about him in Slaves of Darkness. But back in the Materium, Fulgrim is missing and possibly dead, and the corruption of chaos is spreading through the legion.
Lord Commander Eidolon has been enhanced with Xenos genes, and his throat has been embued with the power of cacophony ("Kakophoni"), a powerful sonic attack that's sort of a built-in Weirding Module from the bad Lynch version of Dune (1984).
More importantly, maybe, this story establishes the endless thirst for conquest in the Emperor's Children. The last lines of the story are worth reading the whole thing. It establishes their need to take the lives of billions of souls from here to Holy Terra, their final destination.
This isn't a bad read, but it is mostly historical documentation. There's not really a story arc so much as there's a situation that happens, and it's beautifully described by a good writer.
As such, this is a must read for fans of the Emperor's Children.
All images in this post copyright Games Workshop.