Hi gang.
So, I just finished reading Angel Exterminatus. I thought it was alright - McNeill isn't anything like my favourite BL author (mostly because of his dialogue, which is occasionally extremely painful to read), and I find his version of Fulgrim annoying more than menacing or compelling, but it certainly had its moments. I especially thought the Broken Legions kill-team was very cool, with some interesting, well-drawn characters that I'd love to see again.
But I realised that I had one very big problem with the book, and it's a very big issue indeed: it's Perturabo.
I get that Perturabo's whole thing is that he's been "underestimated" and ill-used. But I feel like the book tries to go too far the other way - not only to make him "underestimated", but so completely badass at a number of different things that it's amazing he'd ever have been treated thus. So he's an epic-level inventor and planner of architectural and mechanical wonders. He's also a peerless strategist with an amazing ability to plan engagements, to fight and win from either side of a battle! All his wars are conducted meticulously! Oh, and also did we mention he has warp-sight? And speaks tons of languages? and is also "the strongest" of all the brothers? While we're at it, hell, all he ever wanted was to be loyal, but everyone just went around underestimating the amazing genius of Perturabo all the time. But if he's this good: why?
This is even before considering that we're told, in the space of about two sentences, that Perturabo's loyalty, once given, was utterly unshakable - and that this is why he had to follow Horus. Unshakeable loyalty is not convincing me as a reason to betray the Emperor.
There's enough to insinuate that Perturabo suffers from some pretty severe issues with guilt and self-loathing, and he walks fairly easily into a big obvious trap. But I was left feeling a bit cold. Most of the other Primarchs have been written in a more nuanced manner - Guilliman, for example, comes across as supremely gifted and more than a little prideful, but in his major appearances he's been undergoing whatever the Primarch equivalent of a minor breakdown as his whole world and everything he ever worked for is ripped from under his feet. I feel like I understand Guilliman, and certainly admire him without ever considering him an unflawed character. Vulkan in Vulkan lives, the last HH book I read, comes across really well. He's human, and super-human in a variety of ways, but it never feels quite over the top. Perturabo was just too much, or at least it seemed that way to me.
Mary-Sue is a bit harsh; but I think that the attempt in Angel Exterminatus to explain Perturabo and show some of his qualities goes too far, leaving the character a bit of an unbelievable mess.
Thoughts?