Going to need a reread maybe a quarter of the book to catch how the stinger happened. The Callidus is obviously the best candidate for 'Assassin who escapes death in the theater where the Imperials lose', but I was more sure that they'd be dead in the confrontation with the legionaires.
Admiral Vakai REALLY got bailed out by timing. It LOOKS like this was causally related to Tulava taking the Deal, which was a bummer on two counts.
I know that I defended Tarkir Dragonstorm for having the overthrow of dragonlords happen offscreen, but 40k is all war stories all the time, such that if a matchup is interesting enough, the audience will Fucking Drown in it. This is sometimes known as "#th War for Armageddon"
Second, I feel like we didn't get enough of Tulava establishing her reasons for not consigning herself to Chaos. Especially since she's been palling around with a Renegade Space Marine for 2 decades.
The AI created by the Mechanicum priest in the Ghost Legion was a bitch coward. I know this because he gets this big, yucky ogryn servitor body, and never fights with it! Which is REALLY relevant when there's an Eversor in the building.
I didn't really like the macguffin of the Pillar of Dreams! Ooooh it's an AI that pokes at a wraithbone doohickey full of dead farseers to answer questions. The imagery of the Navigator trying to mentally grapple with it was fun and spooky, but it would have been a better macguffin if it could withstand 1 pyrokinetic making an ash of herself because she was too cringe to actually contribute to the story!
If I'm putting this on the scale with Genefather and Archmagos, it would place below both of them, but above the Scions of the Emperor book and Renegades: Harrowmaster [the 1st title in this sequence]. Reason being that less of Ghost Legion [this book] is joking and gesturing at the readers, which has some limits.
I kind of expect Solomon Akurra to reject the daemon in his arm out of grief in the 3rd book, which will be great to see now that one of his only friends is fully compromised by the Ruinous Powers.
I liked the friendship/brotherhood between Kyrin and Akurra, but I could have used more. Maybe when this gets omnibus'd we see them hanging out via short story while Qope Halver gets patched up after the events of #1?
Obviously, I understand that as written, the Pillar of Dreams is too strong a device to actually let stay in the keeping of 1 empire-building astartes, but I would have accepted it getting Pokeballed by warhammer's player avatar Trazyn the Infinite. If the Pillar was truly this human/aeldari hybrid tech, just like the flatworld of Genefather, then maybe we're getting a DAoT sketch of interspecies cooperation? The Pillar is clearly from a time when the relationship between monkeigh and aeldari had soured to exploitation, which is INTERESTING since the macroengineering project reflects better relations. Also, Trazyn isn't the Most poised to use it tempermentally, which is the Whole Point of his dispute with Orikan in TIatD. That monocular bitch would probably refuse to operate such a device out of principal, which would be Extra Rich if it could spit out an answer like 'how do I resleeve all the necrons into Decent Meatsacks?'
I have this dream of Akurra going through this loooong heel-face turn as he discovers that he can only defeat the Imperium by being morally superior to it, which includes rejecting Chaos [which would be a tragic conflict to have with his sorceress bestie!]
A thing I generally like about the book is that Akurra is struggling with Fancy Play Syndrome both in himself and his fellow Legionaires. Wanting to blow up the landing site a liiiittle bit later, deploy a superheavy tank when the enemy column is 50 meters further into your killzone. It's endearing, like an older sibling trying to assert responsibility after weeks of backstabbing and plotting by an under-parented family.
I don't think it was meant as a double joke, but I THINK that the Chemdog traitor's contsct WAS NOT in the previous book? I'd have to go check. I'd be delighted if that turns out to be relevant to the next book's sideplot, but I can't definitively say it isn't a callback. Or maybe it's a reference to the modern Alpha Legion books I haven't read? @askthecaptaingeneral do you know if a modern-era Alpha Legion character went by the name Hojun Frale?
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