# The Outcast Dead by Graham McNeill - Advanced Review



## Bane_of_Kings (Oct 28, 2009)

~[ http://www.thefoundingfields.com/2011/08/outcast-dead-by-graham-mcneill-advanced.html ]​
_Bane of Kings reviews the 17th Novel in the multi-author, New York Times best-selling Horus Heresy series: The Outcast Dead. _

*The Outcast Dead: Graham McNeill*
_A Horus Heresy Novel_

_“Exploring inner workings of the Astropaths for the first time in the Horus Heresy, The Outcast Dead reminds us again why Graham McNeill is one of the better Black Library authors.”_​~The Founding Fields​
*Note:* The Outcast Dead is an advanced review for Black Library, due to be released worldwide in November 2011. Due to the nature of The Outcast Dead, there is a couple of minor spoilers, but only in the form of quotes that have little relevance to the plot of this novel.


Black Library’s flagship series, the Horus Heresy, is back in the form of The Outcast Dead, written by the New York Times Bestseller, and David Gemmell Legend Award winner, Graham McNeill, who has contributed most towards this million-selling series, with fantastic tales like Fulgrim and A Thousand Sons, both of which rank high in my list of awesome Horus Heresy Novels, and it’s always good to see another McNeill novel, especially if it’s set in the 31st Millennium.

The Outcast Dead fails to disappoint in that regard, and although not a full on ‘bolter-porn’ novel like A Thousand Sons was, it certainly is a lot different others of its ilk, like Nemesis by James Swallow and Mechanium, also by McNeill – for reasons that I will go into later into this review, but first off, here’s the plot of The Outcast Dead.

Taking place just before the Dropsite massacre at Isstvan V and returning to the scene of the Burning of Prospero, The Outcast Dead delves into what life was like on Terra, the cradle of humanity, for those during the opening years of the Horus Heresy. Astropath Kai Zulane is the hero in this novel, and you see him on the front cover there, surrounded by a group of astartes called “The Outcast Dead”. When Zulane unwittingly learns of a secret that could tip the war for or against Horus and his turncoat forces, he is forced to flee for his life.

However, perhaps some truths should be kept hidden.

The Outcast Dead was set entirely on Terra, meaning there are hardly any full-scale battles throughout the pages. But nonetheless, I believe McNeill lives up to my expectations, producing an excellent book.

As well as shedding some light on Astropaths, The Outcast Dead also gives a few references for the hardcore fans of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. For example, previously – there was a plot hole which had The Night Lords dispatched to Isstvan V after their Primarch had struck Rogal Dorn on Terra beforehand.

_“Lord Dorn was adamant that we not send the fleet assembly orders to Konrad Curze, only to the Night Lords Chapters stationed within the Sol System.”_
~The Outcast Dead, Page 73

Almost a hundred pages later, we’re given yet more information about the two missing legions, which we hardly know anything about, other than that the Second and the Eleventh were wiped from all records following the Horus Heresy, and this quote in particular refers to what will happen to Magnus the Red, just before the Burning of Prospero.

_“It means that the Wolves will be loosened again.”_
~The Outcast Dead, Page 172

Indeed, anybody who’s read A Thousand Sons and Prospero Burns will know that the Wolves are loosened again to deal with Magnus, so we can presume that something happened to the second and eleventh legions that was against the Emperor’s laws, and something bad – meaning that the Wolves were let off their leash.

The Outcast Dead is filled with lore that the hardcore 40k fan will enjoy, but any casual fan won’t get as much out of this latest instalment in the Horus Heresy novel. But nonetheless, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pass this one up.

Now, onto the characters. Kai Zulane is the main star of the show, and you can see him on the front, the man surrounded by what is presumably the Outcast Dead, which composes of Two World Eaters, a Death Guard, a Emperor’s Child, a Luna Wolf (Note, for some reason, McNeill has decided to call them Luna Wolves, a name which I prefer above the Sons of Horus, despite that they should be called The Sons of Horus anyway – seeing as The Outcast Dead is set after the Ullanor Crusade), and finally a Thousand Son.

How these warriors come to Terra in the first place is almost anyone’s guess, but the novel leads us to believe that they are arrested just for wearing the colours of enemy legions. If I remember correctly, it doesn’t delve into why they were on Terra in the first place.

Back to Zulane, he is, at the beginning of the novel, coming across as a bit of an arrogant Astropath, especially as the first glimpse of him is insulting somebody else. But as the novel wears on, you begin to understand the Astropath and indeed, feel sympathy for him when something happens to him about midway through the novel.

Although the first part of The Outcast Dead is a bit slow, things really pick up when we are introduced to the Outcast Dead characters themselves. Like I said earlier, there’s no all out war, but just because there isn’t, doesn’t make The Outcast Dead a bad book.

Although not as, sadly – as good as Fulgrim and A Thousand Sons, it’s certainly head and shoulders above Mechanium, making The Outcast Dead one of the better Horus Heresy novels, in my opinion, as I’ve probably mentioned before at some point.

The Outcast Dead really looks into what life was like on Terra in the aftermath of the Dropsite Massacre as well, and we learn what it is like to be an Imperial citizen during these dark times.

As you’ve probably gathered from above, the description is pretty well done, detailed and enjoyable to read.

*Rating: 9/10*

*Should you buy this book?* Yes, if you’re a fan of the Horus Heresy or wanting to know more about Astropaths in general, then buy it!


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## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Hmm... You are changing my priorities with what to get from Games Day UK now...


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## Pigasos (Mar 9, 2011)

"Taking place just before the Dropsite massacre at Isstvan V and leading up to the Burning of Prospero..."

I mean, what? Am I seriously missing something here? The Prospero incident happened before the events of Isstvan V, of this I'm quite a bit more certain than about most things. Oh well, might as well find out myself when the book becomes available here. Which is still a way too long time to wait. You lucky, nice-review-writing bastard.


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## Bane_of_Kings (Oct 28, 2009)

Ah, I stand corrected. I'll change it asap.


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## Pigasos (Mar 9, 2011)

No biggie, just started to question my sanity a little bit when I read it  Oh, and nice to know that the Night Lords/Isstvan thingy has been somewhat cleared out. I sort of guessd it would be handeld this way eventually, a little nugget of additional information dropped inbetween something else.


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Hmmm personally I don't like the whole Wolves killed three legions AKA can take on any legion bit.

I, like many others I'm sure, had a lot more _interesting_ theories as to why and how the two legions went missing.

And I don't like how skinny the Astartes look in the book cover but I'll assume it's just a sort of art style.


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## MontytheMighty (Jul 21, 2009)

Malus Darkblade said:


> Hmmm personally I don't like the whole Wolves killed three legions AKA can take on any legion bit


neither do I
but I'm sure that whenever the Wolves take on a renegade legion, they have the resources of the Imperium backing them up

I'm pretty sure that any legion could take on a renegade legion if the entire Imperium lends full support to the legion serving as "executioner" 

for instance, the Wolves were supported by the Custodes and the Sisters when they invaded Prospero

*EDIT*: to the reviewer...could you please focus more on the literary merits of the novel, I felt you were rambling quite a bit, a more structured review would be great
*but thank you for the review*


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## Bane_of_Kings (Oct 28, 2009)

Thanks for your feedback, guys, I'll do that more in the future, MontytheMighty.


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

You've got this one early! 



Bane_of_Kings said:


> there was a plot hole which had The Night Lords dispatched to Isstvan V after their Primarch had struck Rogal Dorn on Terra beforehand.
> 
> _“Lord Dorn was adamant that we not send the fleet assembly orders to Konrad Curze, only to the Night Lords Chapters stationed within the Sol System.”_
> ~The Outcast Dead, Page 73


That doesn't really give us much more information than we already had, other than Dorn not wanting to directly include Curze in the vanguard (which was already obvious). It still doesn't explicitly explain how Curze ended up in the vanguard, that is still left to speculation. 



Bane_of_Kings said:


> other than that the Second and the Eleventh were wiped from all records following the Horus Heresy


They were actually wiped from all records many decades before the Heresy.


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## Bane_of_Kings (Oct 28, 2009)

Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> You've got this one early!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



See the responses in the quote.


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## MontytheMighty (Jul 21, 2009)

I appreciate that the authour is at least trying to offer an explanation
but if I were Dorn, I would've cut out the Night Lords entirely 

I'm no military genius, but I would not have informed even the NL chapters stationed in the Sol system


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Bane_of_Kings said:


> True, my guess is that the Night Lords informed Curze regardless.


I would probably suggest that Curze was already aware, he had probably already been contacted in exile by Horus (or another traitor) prior to Dorn even being aware of Horus being entrenched on Isstvan V.


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## Azkaellon (Jun 23, 2009)

I just noticed the Thousand sons feet in the background.........

On that note anyone else think its odd that the marines on the cover look like the YMCA Gang?


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## NIKT208 (Mar 14, 2011)

I am still a bit disappointed with the cover, compared to recent HH books and Novellas this feels like a cheap cartoon. The marines look like extras from Mad Max, and the astropath looks like Voldemort. Still, I'm not one to judge a book by its cover, Graham Mcneill is one of my favourite BL authors, and even his worst is a cut above the rest (why all the hate for Mechanicum, I thought it was awesome!). Like Nemesis I think this will be a great chance to look at the heresy from a different point of view, and possibly fill in a little more about whats going on on Terra. Look forward to picking it up at Games Day this this year.


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## Bane_of_Kings (Oct 28, 2009)

NIKT208: Thanks for your comment, _Mechanicum_ I found to be pretty enjoyable myself, It's just that McNeill's other contributions to the HH series were far better.


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## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

Just finished The Outcast Dead. Its definitely one of the better books in the Horus Heresy line. 

Spoiler



The renegade marines in the Outcast Dead is of a band that have been imprisoned by the imperium simply for belonging to legions that have turned traitor. And they adopt the name The Outcast Dead for their band.

3x World Eaters, 1x Thousand Sons, 1x Emperors Children, 1x Luna Wolves and 1x Death Guard. The Death Guard marine was actually omitted from the dramatis personae which I think a mistake.

Theres more glimpses of the Emperor, hints of the nature of the primarchs and their father/creator. As well some suprising tidbits about the proto astartes the Thunder Warriors. This book is definitely something for the lore buffs and I can warmly recommend reading it. I rate it on the level of The First Heretic in sheer awesomeness, I read it in one sitting, couldnt put it down.

Edit: Forgot to mention, also a good deal of Custodes action!


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## Xisor (Oct 1, 2011)

As I've been doing the rounds of the internet, I think this is amongst the lowest of the Heresy books.



The depiction of astropaths and psykery, for GW's BLP, is dire/uninteresting. The two central characters, Athava and Kai Zulane, were decidedly uninteresting, despite their much ballyhooed awesomeness. Kai's nature as an astropath was basically not relevant to the story which seemed a waste of opportunity. Athava, on the otherhand, is pretty much the most singularly powerful non-Primarch we've ever seen. Is there anything he couldn't do? I remember him leaning against a door due to the taxing nature of his powers, but not much else in form of 'price to be paid'. Oh, he sacrifices his psychic presence because that's _something you can just do_.

I get what was supposed to be going on with the book, but it missed the mark so many times. 

I'd say it wasn't poorly written, but then Athava, Kai, the navigator woman, the "Highest Echelon of the Astra Telapthica" being composed of three chums and no-one else, the Space Marines of no particular explanation, the shoehorning of the Thunder Warrior(s?), the SON OF HORUS (why was he always called a Luna Wolf?)...I really didn't get much of a good vibe from the novel. Not at all.

I didn't care for the content of the message too. In fact, that's wrong, I felt a bit peeved with it. It diminishes much of the 'impact' of the Emperor if it's true.

Also, the Custodes weren't depicted in a very interesting way. Little was added to them, they didn't _do_ very much and Saturnalia felt very much like an afterthought. 




9/10 is generous beyond belief, to me.


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## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

The story itself is solid and engaging, though it starts off rather slowly.

The book itself has two main weaknesses:

1. The first is the apparent lack of an editor. There are many instances of poor spelling, missing words, and Mr. McNeill using the same word twice in the same sentence. Frankly, it's distracting.

2. The protagonist, Kai Zulane, is just not very engaging. A hero doesn't need to be physically imposing or superior in an action sort of way. He does need to be interesting, though. Throughout the majority of the story, poor Kai is simply an unwilling participant whose chief purpose is to serve as our eyes and ears, without really offering anything in terms of perspective. Roxanne, by contrast, was far more interesting... but rarely showed up.

You really have to get through about two thirds, maybe even three quarters of the novel before Kai's character starts paying off. Even then, though, if one were to be honest, this is more so thanks to his interactions with other, more enticing individuals: Atharva, for instance, and, well, _the Emperor._ But guess what: *most* conversations with a scholarly mystic-warrior of the Thousand Sons and/or the Emperor of Mankind will be interesting regardless.

Two minor critiques:

1. The ...


... Thunder Lord ...

... was such an interesting plot hook, but what was his role? It struck me as if he was there for filler, pure and simple. He added nothing to the story, other than the "wow" factor of invaluable pre-Heresy lore. But, again, _he did nothing for the plot._ His presence was absolutely unnecessary insofar as Kai's personal trials, the struggle of the Outcast Dead to escape, or the race to uncover the secret that could decide the war were concerned. He would have made an amazing addition for the next short story collection*, but as it stands, he's an awkwardly cool cameo.

* In fact, I'm willing to bet this will definitely be the case.

2. The Heresy is set in the 31st millennium. Between it and our time are about 28,000 years (give or take). It is getting very annoying (to me at least) for the majority of the historical references to be centered on our pre-history (that is, events, places, and cultures preceding the 21st century). Especially given the fact that Heresy-era Terra was just coming out of millennia of suffering under techno-barbarians, war, strife, post-nuclear apocalypse, etc. There HAD to have been interesting peoples between now and the 31st millennium. How about some more cool mentions of fictional future philosophers, writers, etc., as opposed to Sophocles, Shakespeare, the Egyptians, etc.? How likely is it that they would still be in living memory?

Or, in other words, did the chief hunter in this novel HAVE to be a dead ringer for a feudal-era Japanese samurai?!? :wink:

Good book, all in all. Yeah, Mr. McNeill bungled the timeline - he himself wrote the novel that had Russ being sent after Magnus BEFORE the events of Isstvan III, never mind V... And yeah, the after-effects of Magnus' sorcery to get to Terra really does make it difficult to sympathize with his decision. You know, the deaths of millions, the nigh-crippling of galactic communications, the bursting of the barriers around the Webway... and all that with ZERO effort to justify that call. As in, hey, "Father, if only I could have warned you otherwise, but the Great Ocean was totally blocking all our standard modes of communication, and Horus is about to try to overthrow you! I had no choice!"

It will take some headaches and creative interpretations of the Warp's effects on travel and communications to make that bitter fluff pill digestible... but, all in all, it's a fun read. It's just not one of the best in the series thus far. 

Cheers,
P.


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## mal310 (May 28, 2010)

Xisor said:


> As I've been doing the rounds of the internet, I think this is amongst the lowest of the Heresy books.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I agree 100 percent with Xisor. I would say 3/10 is a more acurate level for the work produced here.


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## MontytheMighty (Jul 21, 2009)

I'm still trying to figure out how Astartes are superior to Thunder Warriors after flipping through this book...


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## mal310 (May 28, 2010)

Mine is now in the most appropriate place for it. The bin.


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## TooNu (May 4, 2011)

This review is all fair enough but it makes no mention of the myriad of spelling errors of which were distracting enough to pull one out of the story and focus on. The actual print quality of the book is dreadfull when compared to previous HH books or infact any other novel. Lines almost overlapping other lines, pages printed at angles leaving uneven borders around the print.

I think the editor was rushed or sloppy and I thik the printer was rushed or sloppy.

The story however is fantastic when you get right into it. At first it feels like a filler, but it offers more Emperor moments than the other books and for that alone it is worth it.


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