Legacies of Betrayal (The Horus Heresy Book 31)

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Bagley brought to the task both an obsessive concern for the truth and a passionate commitment to serve his country. He was Navy through and through. “A small flotilla of warships, from frigates to cruisers, had been christened with the names of his father and uncles.” His two brothers each rose to the rank of four-star admiral. And his “Uncle Bill” was five-star Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, who was the highest-ranking US military officer to serve in World War II and was both FDR and Harry Truman’s Chief of Staff.

First things first, all of the stories collected here have been previously released in one way or another; we get one novella (Chris Wraight’s Brotherhood of the Storm), prose versions of eleven audio dramas (of varying lengths) and seven other short stories (again of varying lengths) drawn from limited edition anthologies, ebooks and event programmes. Where some previous Heresy anthologies have had crystal-clear themes (Mark of Calth, for example), this is only loosely themed, looking at the way in which the characters represented have been affected by the events of the war so far, and while there’s an argument to say that every character involved in the Heresy has been affected by betrayal in some way, as a theme it just about works. But will I read it twice? Nope. I don’t want to listen to Jacen being a dummy anymore than I have too. However, fast forward to the winter of 2022, some fifteen years after the original release. The landscape of Star Wars fandom is massively different. Countless novels, games, comics have been rendered as "Legends" tier canon following the Disney acquisition of George Lucas' franchise, including this very title. When The Force Awakens was released in cinemas, I thought the movie franchise might be in good hands, and I was pretty certain upon the release of Rogue One that it was worth sacrificing my beloved "Extended Universe" to see new Star Wars content on the big screen. Unfortunately, everything that followed has made me think otherwise. Legacy of the Force: Betrayal is the story of Jacen Solo, the son of Han Solo and Princess Leia, and the beginning of his journey towards the Dark Side of the Force. I know this review is marked spoilers, but I will not say more than that. There is a thrilling battle in Act 1, all the characters are introduced, etc. In a transition chapter, the leaders of the G.A. and Corellia seek peace. Then there is a murder mystery and an investigation (I will not name name’s of who did what or when or where. It was a surprise to me what happened. I think all who read will enjoy that they make a brief shift in the genre here).

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Chris Wraight is the author of the Horus Heresy novels Warhawk, Scars and The Path of Heaven, the Primarchs novels Leman Russ: The Great Wolf and Jaghatai Khan: Warhawk of Chogoris, the novellas Brotherhood of the Storm, Wolf King and Valdor: Birth of the Imperium, and the audio drama The Sigillite. For Warhammer 40,000 he has written The Helwinter Gate, The Lords of Silence, Vaults of Terra: The Carrion Throne, Vaults of Terra: The Hollow Mountain, Watchers of the Throne: The Emperor’s Legion, Watchers of the Throne: The Regent’s Shadow and many more. Additionally, he has many Warhammer novels to his name, and the Warhammer Crime novel Bloodlines. Chris lives and works in Bradford-on-Avon, in south-west England. A Legion Destroyer Squad was a special weapons formation of the ancient Space Marine Legions that saw action during the Unification Wars, the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras in the late 30 th and early 31 st Millennia. Jacen (pronounced “Jason”, fight me) is accompanied by his padawan learner Ben Skywalker, Luke Skywalker’s 13-year-old son. Finally, this wouldn't be an Aaron Allston book without a fair bit of humor, but the humor didn’t always fit with the overall tone of the story. I liked the dynamic between Wedge and Han, where Wedge is in charge but Han is always trying to one-up him, but some of the humorous bits felt tonally off to me. I’m thinking especially of the situations engineered by Brisha Syo—Jacen had a tendency to deadpan and make snarky comments during some dark scenes, like the hostage situation in the aquarium.

To a large extent, I share this annoyance, especially since this is the fourth such collection of short stories since book 10 of the HH series (aptly, if unoriginally, titled “Tales of Heresy”). For anyone who has read some or all of the previous thirty titles in this collection (and/or the “audio dramas”), one cannot help the feeling that the authors could have been a bit more imaginative. Pete Bagley led the CIA’s counterterrorism unit towards the twilight of his career. He helped to recruit and ran a number of Soviet agents. He also helped a few to defect, including one who claimed to be a KGB agent in the early 1960’s. But, once this former KGB agent was in America and Bagley debriefed him over multiple sessions, Bagley began to see in consistencies in what the agent he said. He also seemed ignorant of basic KGB facts and protocols. Bagley began to suspect that this “KGB” defector was not, in fact, genuine, but a Soviet provocateur who was sent by his handlers on a mission of purposeful disinformation and distraction. But why? I just felt like the argument wasn't presented well and Jacen's sudden turn and flat-out murder of his random friend was really sudden and weird. The trio end up meeting a mysterious woman named Brisha Syo who wants Jacen to travel to her home on a remote asteroid near Bimmiel. Revelations ensue. Turns out, Brisha Syo is actually the Dark Lady Lumiya, who appeared in the Marvel Star Wars comics that were released between 1977 and 1986. Lumiya was originally a young Rebel woman named Shira Brie who had a sort of romance with Luke Skywalker, and then was shot down by Luke because the Force told him that she was an enemy. And surprise, she had been an Imperial spy all along! She was saved by the use of cybernetics and trained in the dark side of the Force by Darth Vader, she wants revenge on Luke Skywalker, and she has a very distinctive outfit complete with a lightwhip instead of a lightsaber.There is a lot of stuff going on in this novel, as it is setting the stage for the following eight books. For the most part, Allston does a stellar job. The problem comes at the very end when the Jedi Knight Jacen Solo is tempted by the Sith to the Dark Side because his ability to see the future says that this is the best course of action to prevent death on a massive scale. The idea of the protagonist doing a bad thing to prevent a worse outcome isn't an uncommon occurrence but the way its done here is completely wrong. In the BBC adaption of "Smiley's People", George Smiley visits the showroom of the arts dealer known in his trade as Senor Benatti. Smiley asks the receptionist in the showroom (as she cleans her fingernails) if she would kindly inform Senor Benatti that Mr. Angel (Smiley's cover name) would like to see him. The receptionist, unaware that Smiley was "Senor Benatti's" senior officer at British Intelligence (MI6) informs Smiley (Mr. Angel) that Senor Benatti is unavailable and cannot be disturbed. At Smiley's urging, she calls and Senor Benatti immediately welcoms George Smiley. We learn that Senor Benatti is Toby Esterhazy, himself the head of lamplighters at MI-6 in a prior life where Smiley unmasked the Service's mole. Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramar • Leman Russ: The Great Wolf • Magnus the Red: Master of Prospero • Perturabo: The Hammer of Olympia • Lorgar: Bearer of the Word • Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix • Ferrus Manus: Gorgon of Medusa • Grandfather's Gift • Perturabo: Stone and Iron • Malcador: First Lord of the Imperium • Konrad Curze: A Lesson in Darkness • Jaghatai Khan: Warhawk of Chogoris • Vulkan: Lord of Drakes • Sons of the Emperor • Corax: Lord of Shadows • Angron: Slave of Nuceria • Scions of the Emperor • Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter • Ghost of Nuceria • The Passing of Angels • The Abyssal Edge • Mercy of the Dragon • Lion El'Jonson: Lord of the First • Illyrium • The Revelation of the Word • Morningstar • Will of the Legion • Embers of Extinction • Alpharius: Head of the Hydra • Blood of the Emperor • Loyal Sons • Mortarion: The Pale King • Rogal Dorn: The Emperor's Crusader • Sanguinius: The Great Angel • Heirs of The Emperor

The question that THE SPY WHO KNEW TOO MUCH attempts to answer is whether or not, in the pre-glasnost era, the KGB had a mole in the CIA who was never caught. Prolific author and former New York Times investigative reporter Howard Blum tells a convoluted story about Tennent “Pete” Bagley’s quest to unearth the mole, along with Blum’s own efforts to add context to that quest.

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Whereas the Dark Nest trilogy focused heavily on Han, Leia, and Luke, Betrayal was more focused on Han and Leia's story, Jacen and Ben's story, and then to a lesser extent Wedge Antilles and his oldest daughter Syal. In particular, Luke and Mara played much smaller roles than I expected, but perhaps the authors will cycle through different main characters in these books.