Perturabo: The Hammer of Olympia (4) (The Horus Heresy: Primarchs) Hardcover – July 11, 2017

It didn't make the big man feel very redeemable, but it definitely helps put perspective on the way he thinks. We all know that he is a neurotic, sociopathic, brilliant, but overbearing and Dower individual. This book just flavors the personality traits and where it comes from. He's basically the butt monkey whose back is always made to feel like it's breaking from not only the expectations of his multiple fathers/masters, but his own unobtainable need to perpetuate perfection.For someone who believes themselves to be perfect, he has so many mortal failings. A narcissist.Definitely worth a read.

If you're looking at getting this book, you're most likely a fan of Warhammer and more particularly, a fan of the Iron Warriors and Perturabo. I would consider myself among them, having gotten my copy of Storm of Iron signed by Graham McNeil years and years ago. You want to see more of the Iron Warriors from a more empathetic perspective and gain insight into the legions and it's primarch. I won't say that Hammer of Olympia fails to do this completely, it's not a complete whiff, but it definitely falls short of expectations.Perturabo is a complicated character- there seems to be a perpetual tug-of-war between the Black Library authors on just how to portray the character; either as a cold, calculating mind that turns to logic to suppress a wounded personality or a rampant narcissist that wants to be glorified but can't seem to grasp at how. Graham McNeil managed to strike a wonderful balance between the two in Angel Exterimatus, which was what got me interested enough in the character to pick up Hammer of Olympia. Guy Haley tries follow in McNeil's footsteps, but struggles with the execution.This can largely boil down to the fact that most of the book has nothing to do with Perturabo; the book focuses on the campaign against the Hrud, a species of nomadic aliens whose biology causes temporal distortions in space and time. Reading the blurb on the back you would believe this to be the preface to the larger part of the story, Perturabo dealing with the rebellion of his homeworld, but in actuality it takes up the vast majority of the book- Perturabo's return to Olympia is a grand total of 28 pages out of the 218 or so total.This isn't to say that Guy Haley didn't try- his ambitions are large for a 200 page book, as we do get snippets of Perturabo's life on Olympia growing up. The lore of 40k is a massive pool as deep as it is wide, so there's no shortage to cover, but given the size of the book, Haley spreads himself thin on each of the topics. They aren't poorly written, quite the contrary, but the real meat of the story; Perturabo's history and tortured relationship with hims homeworld and his subsequent sense of identity, feels rushed. Throughout most of the story Perturabo just comes across as an arrogant, egotistical monster with no regard for anything but making big Daddy Emperor happy, and then suddenly in the last 10 pages he experiences a whole book's arc. Haley understands the spirit of Perturabo and has good goals, but he didn't give himself the space or establishment it deserved in order to really hit home.Now this isn't to say the book is without merit. Despite being of the opinion that the Hrud wind up being a subplot that grossly overstays it's welcome (intended to illustrate Perturabo's flawed approach to acting as a leader), Haley does a fun job depicting the aliens and the effects of their anomalous biology, turning people to dust or reverting their age and the ruin they bring purely by the fault of existing- the most enjoyable parts of the read focus on these often disastrous effects and are super creative; so much that the Hrud wound up being the most interesting part of a book intended to be about the primarch of the IV legion... And I guess that's really the core of the problem: the book isn't bad but it bites off far more than it can chew in it's limited page count. It needed a tighter focus.Ultimately you can do a whole lot worse; Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia isn't a bad read, but if you were hoping to get a character study and origin story, you will be disappointed. Perturabo's history meeting the Emperor and his time being brought into the fold of the Imperium are barely touched and his growth as a character feels underdeveloped; flip flopping between depicting him as a cartoon villain and being a tortured anti-hero at the flip of a switch. Likewise, the decisive moment of Olympia's destruction and the fissures it causes in it's home legion (which will sow the seeds of the Horus heresy later on) are barely touched on.Read Hammer of Olympia if you want to get some glimpses into Perturabo's homeplanet and history- but remember it's just that: glimpses. Nothing in depth. You should also read it if you like the Hrud, as now I want Hrud miniatures for the 40k tabletop game.But if you're looking to see the human flaws and vulnerabilities of the Lord of Iron at flaws with his ambitions, you'd be better served picking up The Horus Heresy: Angel Exterminatus by Graham McNeil

I honestly hated this book as much as I enjoyed every minute within its pages.The book is pre-Heresy, so of course you won't get a full and solid example of the Primary as Graham McNeil wrote in his earlier works. No. This is a story about a troubled boy, terrified and alone, who goes to great lengths for recognition and victory. Terrible lengths, yes, but great.Perty isn't having a good time of it in this book, his legion less so. Throughout its telling Guy Haley does an outstanding job of painting a world of wonder and grimdark tragedy, the likes of which are every reason you might have got into this setting in the first place.The Hrud are a terrible but simple enemy, and it is through the Legion's campaign against them that the essence and flaw of their very iron is exposed in full.I loved few, and hated many of the iron warriors. For their cowardice before a father, but duty and dogma to fulfilling their role as Legiones Astartes. Tools of Iron.I hated Perty more so. For Guy Haley has given me exactly what I wanted and more in this character as not simply a Primarch, but a human of vanity and idiocy. Even with all his brilliance, I loved and hated that the Perturabo I was so infatuated with throughout this story could be so Cold and Merciless while being equally so Expressive and Tender hearted.I got what I paid for and more, yet I will leave you with this honest piece of advice, or rather, knowledge going in:It all comes down to that one moment, be it 28 pages or 13, that the story's tale will come together to make up the whole, and it is up to you to find out if you've learned something or not. For this is a grim and dark far future, and the light of its great golden age is coming to an end.

This book offers more than just a backstory on Perturabo. It shows his philosophical side along with his more serious and non caring side. When it comes to his legion, it's shown by a few characters that they're legit scared of failing Perturabo, and I feel that this is really well done considering the character this book is based on. A perfect mix of action and storytelling.

Perturabo has never been one of my favorite Primarchs. He still isn't. However, this is a well written look at a Primarch he uses his men like playing pieces and will happily see them removed from the board so he wins.He's clearly exploited by Horus, but I don't think he would have been much better without the grinding that his Legion is exposed to.Great series.

A solid book that kept me engaged throughout. Story follows Perturabo both as a child and as a active Primarch in the Great Crusade. Warsmith Dantioch returns as does Forrix. Some of the more enjoyable portions of the book are focused on battles against the Hrud a mysterious breed of alien that fights unconventionally. Personally I think more detail could have been put into Olympia and it's culture but the overall story was worth my time.

Finally a Primarch story that lays out just how different the Primarchs were even in their infancy. This books floats back and forth from the current crusade to his youth. You can see where Perturabo’s stubbornness evolved from and how he would ultimately end up turning from his “Father’s” light.

I was looking forward to reading this book to learn more about the origins of Perturabo’s bitterness, jealousy and harshness. I also wanted to learn about the origins of his skills, and in particular his outstanding capabilities as an organiser, logistician and besieger. I was, a bit like another reviewer, mostly (although not entirely) disappointed.The description of the world of Olympia with its competing and warring city-states is an interesting one and one which is largely inspired by Ancient Greece, with Perturabo becoming the adopted son of one of the local Tyrants, but also his favourite and his warlord, with the Tyrant treating him as his favourite son but also using him as a tool to become supreme. It is this tension and emotional conflict between a Perturabo wanting to be loved for himself and feeling used as a tool which is the origin of his harshness, his hardness and his bitterness. It is also the driver of his iron will, his drive to excel and prove himself and his suppression of any outward emotion.While the origins of this aspect of Perturabo’s personality are quite well described, other components are somewhat less convincing. As mentioned by another reviewer and although the author mentions that the other Primarchs tend to look down on Perturabo, the book does not contain any such example while the book on Magnus the Red’s early years does show the Primarchs as fast friends. Also not very convincing is the supposed bitterness that Perturabo builds up over time towards his Emperor-father, apparently accusing him of giving him all of the hardest tasks to accomplish to set him up to fail. While all of this is attributable to his need to be loved and admired, and to the fact that he behaves like an abandoned, traumatised, paranoid child, such a human weakness and brittleness and the extreme reactions that it generates are a bit hard to believe, at times.Another interesting consequence of this somewhat flawed personality is the impact this has on his Iron Warriors for whom Perturabo seems to care little and who increasingly seem to fear him more than they love him and he tends to throw their lives away to achieve his objectives at any cost.Here again, there is a bit of an ambivalence. This feature does have the merit of showing how his legion will shatter and break up into competing war bands with little unity and no solidarity once their Primarch has gone. The missing part, however, is that the book contains hardly any feature exhibiting Perturabo’s genius as a meticulous, organised and deliberate besieger or builder of fortresses. Instead, you see him in one occasion throwing men at a fortification in a rather reckless way to overcome the defenders. This, for me, was one of the book’s major shortcomings.The difficult campaign against the H’rud – an apparently alien race which has the ability to jump in an out of time and therefore conduct devastating surprise attacks – is used to show Perturabo and his Iron Warriors at a disadvantage and to illustrate the Primarch’s grim determination to fight on, even if it means sustaining huge losses. Once again, while this does show the flaw in his character and the extremes to which this can take him, it fails to show him as the great commander that is supposed to be.My last comment is in a similar vein. It is about the incredibly brutal, cruel and ruthless suppression of a rebellion that breaks out on his home planet, over-burdened by the tithes levied to sustain the Imperial Crusade. Here again, Perturabo’s over-reactions are attributed to his emotional flaw and the behaviours of his troops with the fact that they have mostly become detached from any “human feelings” – he feels this as the ultimate betrayal. However, this simply jars with his supposed qualities as a super-human military leader since the scale of the retribution and the level of wanton destruction and massacre seems both unnecessary and quite counter-productive.Three stars as a result.

Perturabo has been accused of being little more than a bitter jerk, but this book did wonders for his character and actually made you weep for the Devil, so to speak. Longtime fans will know what type of man Perturabo becomes, but his fall is more tragic than some of his less noble brothers. He's a builder who's forced to become a destroyer and just when he thinks he'll find respite it's snatched away from him. The book also truly encapsulates the horror of fighting the alien Hrud, a foe even the Iron Warriors struggle to compete with.

Well written but Jesus it is too full of emotion, starts to ruin Perturabos character after a while. Comes out worse than Curze

A really good read unearthing the origins of the (perhaps) most paranoid of the Emperors sons. It shows how even the most powerful (post) humans can suffer from the same ills that normal men and women face. Brutal and sinister in part, showing that humanity is sorely lacking in Perturabo.

The best take on Perturabo yet. It blows the terrible novel Angel Exterminatus out of the waters and gives us the Pertu we have bee nwaiting for. It shows his upbringing on Olympia and how that could define him as a person and the choices his makes later down the line. A definite recommended read!