# Horus Heresy Hardback Edits



## mal310 (May 28, 2010)

Time for a rant. 

The new series of Horus Heresy Hardbacks should have been an opportunity for Black Library to tidy up some past continuity errors and provide the series with a better level of consistency. Black Library is asking their fans to yet again shell out loads of money. What are we getting in return for our hard earned? 

Are we getting great new cover art for the books from Blacks Library's best artist John Sullivan? No we are getting the same, sometimes dreadful artwork that we've had before. I mean for example the armour of the Luna Wolves is not even remotely correct in the Horus Rising artwork. False gods is just bland as hell, Galaxy in Flames again has the wrong legion armour colour scheme for the Death Guard. As for Flight of the Eisenstein what on earth is going on in that artwork. We have some Imperial Fists fighting a Great Unclean One. Ok!

My second question and this is my key query. Have ANY edits been made to the text in an effort to reduce the number of inconsistencies in the series?

In regards to the reprinted Hardbacks released so far, off the top of my head the following should at the very least have been addressed (and probably wasn't). 

The different back stories to Captain Iacton Qruze. Horus Rising stating he was from Terra. Galaxy in Flames or False Gods (I can't remember which) stating he was from Cthonia. Sloppy sloppy sloppy. 

The now updated legions sizes should have been edited in to the text especially in regards to Galaxy in Flames. 

The discrepancy in the rank of Saul Tarviz in FotE should have been addressed. 

The discrepancies with the now official Primarch discovery order. 

There are no doubt some more and these are just the first four books. 

I only have the Horus Rising Hardback so I cannot check. Is anybody aware if any of this has been changed or does BL just want money for nothing?


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

While they could have done as you said and fixed the continuity problems that have inevitably cropped up over the course of 23 novels and anthologies, never mind all the audio dramas and shorts that have come out over the last 7 years as well, they wouldn't be just rereleasing the novels in a new format, they'd be practically rewriting some of them along the way as well to cover the gaps. Then again, if they follow your line of thinking they could completely forget about_ Battle for the Abyss, Fallen Angels, Descent of Angels_ and _The Outcast Dead_. Which wouldn't be a bad thing.



mal310 said:


> As for Flight of the Eisenstein what on earth is going on in that artwork. We have some Imperial Fists fighting a Great Unclean One. Ok!


There's actually a dream sequence involving Garro in FotE that depicts that sequence. It was supposed to portray Nurgle's attempts to subsume the DG to his will.


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

Whilst I'm with you in principle on this _Mal_, _Fist_ is right. The sheer amount of alterations that are actually required would render it necessary to completely rewrite sizable amounts of most of the novels. Where do you draw the line?

It really baffles me how it is possible that there are the vast number of errors that there are. And whilst the lack of organisation, planning and foresight that has plagued the series is frustrating, there's nothing we (or indeed BL) can do about it now I'm afraid.


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## Barnster (Feb 11, 2010)

Yet every time you ever see an interview with BL authors over the series they always say how they have frequent meets to avoid any continuity errors

Even if they could I honestly don't think they should, I don't think its fair on the fan base to keep changing the text in the literature. That may just be my tremendous dislike of the hardback business strategy though (Its stopping me from reading Angel Exterminatus and Betrayer, and I really want to read those!) 

I will also suggest does the minor inconsistencies matter in a galactic stage? Yes they are very frustrating to the die hard fans, and ideally should never arise, but the birth planet or rank of a character rarely impact on the main plot. 

There are even more inconsistencies if you try to mesh the original index astartes or collected visions to the legion portrayals in HH series. Though whether either of these are still canon is up for debate


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

Barnster said:


> Yet every time you ever see an interview with BL authors over the series they always say how they have frequent meets to avoid any continuity errors


Makes you wonder what they actually talked about at those meetings... 



Barnster said:


> I will also suggest does the minor inconsistencies matter in a galactic stage? Yes they are very frustrating to the die hard fans, and ideally should never arise, but the birth planet or rank of a character rarely impact on the main plot.


Honestly? No, most don't. However, some really do. The Legion sizes for example were not settled until after book #12 (_A Thousand Sons_ being the last novel to use the ~10k average). When the average Legion size was subsequently clarified to be 100k (up from 10k) there was the significant issue of scale within the context of the earlier novels compared to the later ones. Seriously, how hard would it have been to discuss these glaringly obvious issues prior to starting the series? Or maybe the authors should have just read the _Collected Visions_ like the rest of us and learnt a thing or two. 

Or what about the monumental fuck-up that _The Outcast Dead_ proved to be in terms of the timeline?

When authors get simple things wrong - like Legion armour colour, individual Astartes ranks, the heritage of particular Astartes and confusing 40k terms with 30k ones - its frustrating, but ultimately doesn't have a huge effect on the series. But when it goes further than that and more fundamental mistakes are made, it just gets incredibly annoying. Especially considering these mistakes could so easily be rectified before publication.


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## Brother Solix (Jan 19, 2013)

I don't really have a problem with the cover art of the HH hardbacks. I received Angel Exterminatus and Betrayer today. The covers look great and the books even smell good. My issue is with the art inside the hardbacks. What happened there? The only one that stood out for me was the third art piece in Angel Exterminatus the rest were not very good. I say art piece because they should be stunning works that match or exceed the cover art and not look like a low budget comic book piece. When I read these stories I don't imagine comic art I see real people, real bullets flying, etc. I wished the internal art looked more realistic and a bit more consistent with the cover art. I would like to finish on the positive note though, I think the cover art just keeps getting better and I'm really looking forward to what is coming throughout 2013


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## dickie bell (Jul 8, 2012)

While being relatively new to horus heresy, I have read them all and really enjoyed them but I must agree with brother solix the internal art in the hardbacks is a real let down they deserve better than what I would describe as being too simplistic even for a graphic novel .


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