This is basically 3.5 not 3 but GR does not allow for half-points :)

Another story set on Calth - maybe I am slightly saturated with all the Calth events (having read Know no Fear and Mark of Calth together with Garro's adventures and this audio book in a matter in couple of months) so this one did not leave any strong impressions.

Story follows Sgt. Thiel while he roams the scorched surface of Calth fighting hit-and-run attacks against remaining Word Bearers and their cohorts. In one of his actions he meets a IG soldier, penal battalion sharp-shooter, and together they strike at the enemy.

Good action story, not so .... psychedelic as Deathwolf (I am still trying to figure out what was the point behind that one), but yet this one does not bring anything new to the table.

Recommended for W40K fans, others may end up being slightly puzzled :) ( )

Re-Listen February 2024 as part of a Heresy Omnibus+ complete readthrough of the Horus Heresy series, as additional to the Shadow Crusade II The Underworld War (https://www.heresyomnibus.com/omnibus/vi-shadow-crusade-ii-underworld-war):

One of these things is not like the others.

I have been deep in the Calth mines for a while now, and with the intense narrative focus the Heresy Omnibus approach gives, I can confidently say I have absolutely no idea what Kyme was thinking with writing 'what if Calth was an early 2000s dudes rock action war movie'. I also have no idea how the audio drama director had Gareth Armstrong, a phenomenal voice actor and narrator, do such a 'one of your dad's friends who's a smug prick and is a bully, but gets the I'm just hading a laugh pass because he and your dad were in the army together' voice for Thiel.

I get that this comes after Macragge's Honour, so maybe there is something that activates his latent arsehole gene. Is this a hitherto unrecorded curse or the Ultramarines geneseed? I'm mean, that genuinely would answer why there is such a fundamental dichotomy of character in the warriors of Ultramar - good, honest, salt of the Five Hundred Worlds Space Marines and insufferable old money military men with stiff upper lips and Hapsburg jaws instead of a personality. But this isn't the Thiel from Know No Fear and also not even the Thiel from Kyme's other audio dramas. No longer is the Fred Durst of the XIII's difference to his battle brothers his individuality and his own thoughts, rather than the sycophantic secular zealotory and constantly quoting their daddy...at their daddy, now the energy is 'not like other Sons of Guilliman'.

Thiel also seems to be auditioning for Ciaphas Cain's job as the Harry Flashman of Dark Millennia, but with the classic Know No Fear rule. I have said before on many occasions that 30K/ 30K has a lot of space for silliness and comedy--just look at most of the stuff we're supposed to take seriously--and that we could do with more of the satire the galaxy was founded on, as more of the creepy, weird, silly, horrible Blanchean vibes. However, the relationship between the Word Bearers and Ultramarines, much like the tonal choice for Horus Heresy Orks, has been serious, especially with the trauma the XVII were left with after Monarchia and the absolute atrocity and heartbreaking perfidy of Calth has always been played as extremely, sombre, and like the huge tragedy it is. Changing a character who was witnessed the initial attack into a quipping comedy action hero is a...choice.

He literally confronts the villain of the piece with this absolute ripper of a line:
"‘I have a word for you,’ Aeonid Thiel replies. ‘I’ll let my bolter speak it for me.’"

This unintentionally hilarious quote sums it up for me:
"It is intended as a joke, but [Kyme] doesn't sell the humour well"

Honestly, I had to look up when this was released because I thought maybe it was before the other Calth stories and the tone was set, but it came out in 2013, right in the sweet spot between Know No Fear and Mark of Calth.

I would say that I stand by most of the original review below, with the exception of my pulling my head out of my arse and apologising for getting such a weird and inaccurate bee in my bonett about Gav Thorpe's Honour to the Dead, which is good, actually, regardless of what past me says.

The action is decent and there is a fun vibe here, but it's like having a fun vibe at a funeral being held a place recognided for the historic tragedies have taken place. In this case, not particularly historic at all.

Ultimately, the tonal dissonance and the, in my opinion, mischaracterisation of Thiel ruin this for me. This is another classic would work better and has the vibe of a regular 40K story, not a Horus Heresy one.

***

This was my second listening as I work through the Treachery and Betrayal collection and, while I enjoyed it, having listened to so many Horus Heresy short stories and audio dramas in the time since its release and not being in the heady Calth-mania of 2012-2013 with Know No Fear by Dan Abnett and the Mark of Calth anthology, I have cooled on it somewhat. It's definitely a decent story, one of the better (read: more restrained) audio drama productions, and worth a listen, especially if you are an Aeonid Thiel, the bad boy of the XIII Legion, stan, Ultramarines, and/or Calth completionist, but this is far from required reading for the core Horus Heresy Saga.

I'll also be honest that between its release, listening to Stratagem also by Kyme, and the ordering of Stratagem, Censure, and Red-Marked in Treachery and Betrayal, I have absolutely no idea if this is set before or after Strategem or if there is any rhyme or reason to the order of these stories. All that matters is that we a following the red-helmeted stepchild of Guilliman on Calth during the Underground War, Calth 2: Radiation Boogaloo, somewhere between 007 to 014.M31 (according to Lexicanum it's two years after the initial Battle of Calth, making it 009.M41 to be exact) [Why did I include this detail that even I couldn't give a squig's arse about!?].

The story is, things continue to be rotten on Calth with the Ultramarines fighting the Underground War from the arcologies that run below the blasted surface. The Word Bearers have the upper hand with superior numbers, equipment, and their Chaos boons. Sargeant Anoeid Thiel is shown to be a genius by playing the classic empty suit of armour gambit and murderising a cultist sniper pair, presumably stark, bollock naked and getting a sweet radiation tan in the bargain. Because Thiel is the War-Born Theoretical Fuccboi, he can't follow the rules or get on with his Superior Arsehole, Captain Vultius, and is likely responsible for the Word Bearers following him back to his ragtag company's underground base. An explosion conveniently 'Professor Xs' Thiel's battle brothers, leaving him and 'Rowdy' Imperial Army Trooper Rowd, who Black Library calls "lowly" in their summary, a fellow bad boy and coscript for killing his boss for fridging his wife--can I get some Simones and Bechdels in the chat?!--the only survivors, lone wolf brothers if you will. Sargeant Smith and Trooper Lawrence Bad Boys their way across Calthnobyl to take back a Stronghold from Dark Apostle Kurtha Sedd and his Book Bopper warband by themselves.

***SPOILERS***

They do it baybee! Just in time for Captain Vultius and the survivors to 'Reverse Professor X' and appear in time to hail Thiel and Rowd as truly good bois really, on account of them doing killing so good and all. But in truly shocking and unexpected bittersweet garnish on this triumphant sundae, poor Rowd is all sorts of dead because his suit was ruptured in the initial blast and he's been an absolute...trooper this whole time! (Honestly, I'm so very glad he died so quickly and relatively peacefully because, regardless of suit integrity, that man was going to die a long and agonising death from the all the radiation he was exposed to. The all the radiation that is almost too much for Astartes, remember?).

Now, obviously this was a rather sarcastic summary, but it's not inaccurate, and in reflecting on the story and writing it out my opinion has cooled further. It's still an average and fun story, but it's now lower average, rather than higher average in my mind. It's funny, I was actually thinking of this as an interesting counterpoint to the abomination that is Honour to the Dead by Gav Thorpe, but it's actually just a much more fun and slightly less obvious oohra! tropefest. At least this is just a heroic war story, while Honour felt much more jingoistic Marvel propaganda.

This isn't bolter porn, but I think it probably is hero/ bad boy porn, which is not what I want from Warhammer, especially 40K and the Horus Heresy. There is a place for the hero narratives in the Hellenistic mythological epic that is the Horus Heresy, but I think it needs to be paired with the tragedy and grimdarkness of this universe.

Numbers and art are silly, but when my score went from an unposted 5/5 when I first listened to it, down to 4/5 when posting my reflection on that listen, to 3/5 on my initial reaction to listening again to 2/5 (though admittedly high in that bracket) upon actually stopping to think about and review it, I think it bears mentioning and shows how much our perspective can change with time, reflection and context. ( )