This book is ok, although I'm still missing the great stories telling of the first 3 books from this series.
This book offers interesting but stereotyped of the 4 legions (ultramarines, world eaters, word bearers and space wolves). The warp attack on the loyalist ship is repetitive, and maybe more should have been told and developed about the lone world eaters's adventure in the Abyss.
Overall, it's not bad.

While the previous two books in the series were pointless, at least they were somewhat entertaining. This is just terrible. I made it about halfway through and put it down. From now on I will be reading reviews before I pick any books in this series and if it does have something DIRECTLY to do with the Horus Heresy I will pass...

I will probably use this book to lite my grill this weekend.

One of the most disappointing things about the majority of novels from the Black Library is the avoidance of anything controversial - from ethical dilemmas, to gender issues and more. Battle for the Abyss is no different and is exactly as dull. Where authors like Abnett in his incredible Eisenhorn and Ghost series was able to discuss real issues that might tear the Imperium apart in the 41st century, this novel steers clear and makes the Ultramarine protagonists and the Word Bearer antagonists pointless cutout props with no moral depth.

But that isn't the only disappointment. There isn't a single appearance by a Primarch. The council of Nikeas is mentioned many times but without details about what actually happened. The warp begins to play a much more central role in the plot from both the Word Bearer side and from the Thousand Sons - all with zero explanation of how their warpcraft became so proficient (one marine is basically a Farseer!). The crowning failure however is that the book ends with the smoking hulk of the Abyss drifting toward the Ultramarine fleet around Macragge - after an absurd penetration mission that we're somehow supposed to believe and without showing us the reaction on the faces of Gulliman when he realizes what just unfolded before his very eyes.

Early Heresy books, dealing with the stunning Primarchs and their real dilemmas as they participated in the Great Crusade were gripping ("I was there the day Horus Fell"). The Abyss and Descent of Angels (excepting the appearance of the Emperor) as written are unimportant place-holders in the unfolding drama that, given it's 10,000+ year wake, should be a little more dramatic.

As being someone who has gotten into the whole Warammer 40K and Dawn of War field, I like reading the books ealing with the Space Marines, chapter histories and such. I found the book very enjoyable. I read most in a couple of days - not wanting to put it down. Yes there were some slow moments, however; most was action packed. I have read the whole series to date. I am finding the "break off' books interesting in describing the times and the different organizations. The one that slowed me down and was dissapointimg was "Decent of Angels" Read the other reviews for what "Batttle for the Abyss" is about. My review is based on that I enjoyed it and would recommend it to friends.

As an avid 40K gamer I have read all of the Horus Heresy Books & have enjoyed every one except "Decent of Angels" which in my opinion "lost the plot"!
I looked forward to this book as I have read Ben Counters Grey Knight's series & thought them very good.
I have read only half of this new offering & have found it very heavy going. There is an abundance of overly dramatic descriptive dialogue & the characters seem wooden & one dimensional compared to the great characters in the first few books. On the other hand the Space Wolf characters are almost a caricature & seems to be based on the Klingons from "Star Trek". I could not warm to the Ultramarine Heroes who seemed to lack any really appealing traits. One interesting person is the Thousand Sons Ships Captain, Mhotep. The chapter where the Loyalist Marines go to shut down the Reactor in the Vangelis Space Port is really unbelievable. Unfortunately I could only give this book 2 stars.

This book is lacking in just about everything. There is ZERO character development. Astartes start dying left and right and you will feel absolutely nothing for them because they haven't been fleshed out at all. More effort was put into a character that dies 10 pages in to the story than any of the "main" characters throughout.Even the names of the characters are completely retarded.

Worse yet the plot is just lame. It's a lead up to a lead up to a fight thats a sideline to an actual battle. This book can safely be left behind, it's an abomination in the Horus Heresy series.

I was very excited to see the Ultramarines in the Horus Heresy but more time is spent on the other legions which seem to just be thrown in randomly to begin with. It just so happens the Thousand Sons and the World Eaters are on the same dock with the Ultramarines and Space Wolfs and they all go take off after a mystery ship by themselves without ever contacting anyone else. I mean the plot is a joke. It's so horribly unbelievable that half way through you'll be wondering why the hell you bought the book.

This book is a dud, like Descent of Angels. The Black Library better start putting out better books in this series before they kill it completely. This rubbish won't cut it by a long shot.

I was hoping that Dan Abnett's "Legion" was a sign that the HH series was back on track and moving towards bigger and better things. However, Ben Counter's latest entry is only so-so. Much like "Flight of the Einstein", we are following a band of loyal space marines struggling through the warp to spread word about Horus' betrayal. A few small skirmishes here and there, leading up to the big conclusion at the end. Certainly not groundbreaking stuff here.

While it does advance the plot a tiny bit, the novel failed to capture the epic scope that I felt reading the first three novels. It seems like the series jumped out to an excellent start and then has been tripping and stuttering forward ever since. And judging by the upcoming release schedule (the battle on Mars and then a collection of short stories from the HH timeline) I am not expecting to be reading anything new about the Sons of Horus anytime soon.

A terrific adventure. All the chips are against the good guys and yet somehow they have to prevail or a disaster, that The Imperium can ill-afford, will crsuh the Ultramarines

I have been reading all of the Horus Heresy books in sequence. I thought the series stared great, but that the last two books (Descent of Angels and Legion) lacked some of the direction that made the previous books so exceptional. (Although I understand their inclusion in the series)

Battle for the Abyss brought back some of the action and writing that made the previous books so fantastic. Additionally, while Descent of Angels and Legion took place right before the events of the Horus Heresy, this book takes place after the events of the previous books, advancing the timeline.

The title refers to the name of the Word Bearer super battleship "Furious Abyss". This ship is going to be used in a crushing blow against the Ultramarines. The book covers the story of a small group of space marines, and imperials, who are hunting and trying to stop the "Furious Abyss" in it's mission of destruction.

The small group of space marines is made up from several different legions including Ultramarines, Space Wolf, World Eaters and Thousand Sons. If you have been following the Horus Heresy history, you will know that World Eaters and Thousand Sons were traitor legions, so including them in this book not only gives you a great deal of insight into their legions, but also adds a bit of suspense to see if they are loyalists or traitors.

Although the book has many characters, the author does a good job of keeping the reader from getting too confused between one character and the next. He also does a good job of giving us enough insight into each character so that you have sympathy for the character without having to read fifty or a hundred pages about the character's background. The only thing I thought was amusing was that the author does alot of "Red Shirting" (Star Trek term) of some characters. If you see a character given a name beyond the first 100 pages of the book, you can be assured that the character will be dead within the next five paragraphs.

Overally, I thought this book put the excitement back into the series that the last two books lacked. I would highly recommend it.

I'm a bit easier to please, and I am a fan of the whole Heresy line thus far (Descent of Angels...not as much). Looking at Abyss from a broader scope, I see how it can fit well with the series.

Yes the primarchs and their tales are awesome, but adding into the account the trials of the rank and file Legionnares gives a much broader perspective on the war itself. We can see the struggles and comradery of the battle-brothers of the different chapters and how they are being affected by the heresy. These legionnares embody the spirit and training of their parent primarchs, and that is clearly visible in this novel. The feeling I get of Captain Cestus was one of urgency. Cestus and his more or less ragtag band of brothers are gathered together to deal with an immediate threat that the other primarchs (Lorgar excluded) may not be aware of. Overall, I was very pleased with the novel and recommend it, but do not go into expecting the primarchs to clash, and just try to appreciate what the basic legionarres are trying to accomplish in this tale.

We have to remember that more then just the battle for terra will happen during the heresy, and I firmly look forward to Mechanicum to see just what happens to the Adeptus Mechanicum and their fall from grace (or the Omnissiah in this case).

First, this book does not get us any closer to the Battle of Terra, but to compare it to "Descent of Angels" is unfair. "Battle for the Abyss" is small in scope and the entirety of its 400 pages merits one sentence in previous cannon. That said, however, it is an enjoyable read and fun because the reader gets to see how different "brother" Chapters work together (or not) and how Astartes get along with their human counterparts (or not). Furthermore, the reader gains even greater (though somewhat repetitive) insight into the workings and beliefs of the WordBearers.

If you are in no rush to hurry to Terra, and would rather enjoy every facet of the grand epic, give this book a chance.

While it doesn't directly move the plot of the Heresy much further along, it does get a little closer; unlike the last two, the events it describes directly relate to the Horus Heresy. What it's missing, and what made the first four so intersting are the Primarchs themselves.

Also this book seems intended as a Battlefleet Gothic tie-in. It's heavy on the naval warfare, and at times sounds like it was adapted from Patrick OBrian.

Overall, lots of warp-infused gore, wooden characters (with the exception of a pretty cool Thousand Sons Captain), and a pretty conventional plot.

Initially, there were a number of things I liked about the book. I liked the different Astartes legions that were involved, and how this added some depth and mystery to the characters and their motivations. You were never completely sure who might turn traitor, and that added a nice suspense element. So I wasn't as troubled about these being lower ranking individuals, since it meant they weren't carrying the baggage of what we already know about the results and history of the Heresy. I was, however, deeply bothered by the ending. Since I assume this is just the first book of the battle for Calth, I was hoping to see some of the characters, good or evil, carry over to the likely sequel, in the same manner that certain lower characters helped bridge the first three books of the Horus Heresy series. Also, I'm a little bothered by the way this series flits among stories without really finishing them. A Descent of Angels clearly needs a sequel, but it appears that book is in the distant future.

I'm about 74 pages into this, and I am really starting to get annoyed by the "3 paragraphs of over the top description of what we see, 1 short sentence by random character", then a few more paragraphs of embellished scene description, with a line of dialogue, etc etc.

I haven't really gotten attached to ANY of the characters yet, since they basically throw in a cliched sentence every now and then.

And what is UP with the astropaths? Geesh, it's like all those Next Generation epidosed where the damn control console electrocutes half the bridge crew for no good reason, ever hear of CIRCUIT BREAKERS?!

It just seems that everytime we get astral characters talking long distance, it just about takes out the ship, base, army that is nearby. You'd think they would have ironed out the wrinkles by now or worked out some way of mitigating the astropocalypses these guys start every time ET phones home from the warp.

Hopefully I'll get used to the style or the style will mellow out a little and give me more character interaction other than trite dialogue about honoring your brother astartes, etc.

Again just like the previous 2 books "Legion" and "The descent of angels" that this book would of been an ok side story. But following the Horus Heresy like i thought the book series was doing fails miserably. it was my impression that this book would detail the battle of Calth but it barely mentions it. I hope and pray that the series gets back on track. I've bought 3 books in a row and i cant take them back which is a total rip off. My advice is to not buy this book if like me you want the Horus heresy story to unfold. Because in this book you get no such story. I'm an avid reader of many many books and i actually caught my self skipping pages, it was so boring. i expected more from Ben Counter. i'm going to leave a review on the black library page which you'll never see because they don't let bad reviews in. They need to pick up the story and take us along like we all wanted. Scrub these side story's and give us an epic that the story truly is.

A lot of readers of the Horus Heresy series complained about the fact that the previous two books (Descent of Angels and Legion) did not advance the epic where it left off at the end of Fulgrim.

If you felt that way, this book isn't going to help that at all.

I personally enjoyed the previous two books, (especially Legion) because they reveal a lot of things about the the Astartes Chapters they dealt with, their Primarchs, histories and various plots leading up to the Heresy. Battle for the Abyss has almost nothing like that at all.

It's plot is interesting enough and the book itself is nicely written, but it doesn't feel like a dramatic part of the Horus Heresy epic. Since the story mostly only involves relatively low ranking Astartes, it could very easily have been made into a regular "40K" novel with a few tweaks to the characters (basically by making the Chaos guys more "Chaotic").

If you are following the Horus Heresy series, you are probably going to want to end up reading it no matter what...just lower the expectations for new revelations/Heresy story advancement and enjoy some decent Space Marine action.