The Outcast Dead By Graham McNeill (November 2011)
It wasn't perfect. In fact there are a couple of major continuity flaws in the book that I can't even begin to write about lest my brain get stuck in an infinite loop of madness. But... it was interesting. When I first saw The Outcast Dead turn up on The Black Library’s website, I have to admit I was less than impressed. They had just gone out of their way to hype the whole “Age of Darkness” thing and I was really looking forward to stories set in this new undiscovered era of the heresy. Then I saw this and it seemed like a side story. Well it kind of is, however, it is also so much more.
What makes this book interesting is that it gives the reader some much needed perspective on the heresy itself and addresses some long standing questions about timelines and continuity—more on that later. Kai was a very relatable character, more than any other human character in the heresy for me. Mostly, becuase he is scared shitless. We've seen amazing acts of courage and heroism but apart from this story and Jim Swallow's, Liar's Due in Age of Darkness, we haven't seen the response by either your average citizen or in this case, your not-so-average psychic mutant... For me, this is what ultimately made this book enjoyable and interesting despite it's large flaws in continuity.
In addition it shed some light on some issues that previously caused my brain to enter into infinite loops of madness. For example it is finally revealed that Konrad Curze has been away from his legion after he destroyed Nostramo in the Dark King and it was a mistake to issue the whole legion marching orders to Istvaan because the Emperor and Dorn didn't trust them. I mean come on, you want to talk heresy, this guy killed a bunch of Templar and Phoenix Guard years before Isstvaan... and he savored it like a drug! Yet you want to invite him to the party, hey let me know how that turns out! Anyway, I digress...
Between The Outcast Dead and Aurelian, the Black Library seems to be trying to write it's way through some of the troubling continuity points in the first part of the series, it's just to bad this one creates a few more. However, It’s nice to see the response to the Heresy as seen through the eyes of mortals er well, mutants… Anyway, the book suits me perfecty as an excellent closure to the first segment of the heresy and an introduction to the Age of Darkness. By the way, what the hell are those Thunder Warriors going to do now that they are cured and where the hell did that rogue Luna Wolf go?????
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