Another book of the horus heresy finished, this time its book 6 of the siege of terra Warhawk
With the internal palace finally breached, no tactical defense remains. All thats left to do is to retreat and hold. The defenders are ordered to withdrawal to the last few defenses and the plan is simple: hurt the traitors as much as possible, make the traitors suffer as much as possible trying to advance.
But not everyone is retreating. The primarch, Jaghatai Khan of the White scars, is planning a counter attack, its not in his nature or his legion's nature to stand and fight in siege warfare. Their ways have always been mobility and throughout the siege of terra the white scars have been mobile performing hit and run / decapitation attacks as opposed to supporting defensive positions much to Dorn's annoyance. But you can't tame something outside its nature and the khan had free reign to do whatever he wanted and so dorn has no choice but to make the most of it.
Jaghatai khans plan? to attack the lions gate space port. The very one lost back in saturnine, Jaghatai was somewhat annoyed by Dorns decision, but the decision to attack the port are equally rational as they are personal. The space port guns might still be intact and can be used to attack the traitors fleet in orbit and also as a way for the relief forces to make a landing. Personal because the death guard are occupying it and jaghatai suspects the recent spate of miasma of depression/demoralizing isn't all from the stress and the steady losses. More importantly, unfinished business with the death guard who have been their main adversary throughout the entire siege of terra. Who will triumph? Prior engagements Jaghatai and Mortarion where equally matched, but now the death guard have been changed and powered by the forces of chaos...
So it sets the scene the White scars final main story based on them and their involvement of the Siege of terra itself. Chris Wraight wrote all the white scars books so its fitting he wrote this one. I like Chris's stuff, he does a fine job of the white scars story and into the white scars themselve, especially challenging when there's very little in game lore or any back story other then "space mongolians". Its a pretty good send off for the white scars and its pretty entertaining.
Whilst the main story is focused on the white scars, it does tug at a few other strings that explains the lore of the imperium itself. We see the first steps of how or why the imperium is built on a foundation of hate/xenophobia (its always has tbh, but more so now) and the death motifs that the game is so keen on. I won't go into more details as its getting a bit long but yeah, does make interesting reasons or first origins of the imperium.