Sons of the Emperor: An Anthology

4 stars

I was a little leery of reading an anthology so soon in my journey through the Primarchs series, but ultimately it turned out to be a really good decision.  It gave me some new insights on several primarchs I’ve already read, and introductions to a few I haven’t met yet.

The crowning glory of this anthology was its differing perspectives. Several of the stories were written from perspectives outside of the primarchs or their sons and it really gave some freshness and uniqueness to these stories. When spending so much time reading about near god-like beings, you can sometimes forget about the mortals and others working for the Imperium that tend to take a backseat. Getting to read the thoughts of a pair of Remembrancers, mortals on a planet being coerc- I mean, brought, into the Imperium, etc. was really interesting.

In the same vein, a couple of the stories didn’t quite do it for me. I had a hard time fully getting into Perturabo’s story (despite the fun perspective shift) because it didn’t give me a whole lot about him that wasn’t already learned in his primarch book. Some stories had characters, like Fo and Rylanor, that I just don’t know since I haven’t read about them yet so the stories themselves didn’t have the impact that they should have with me.

All in all, reading Sons of the Emperor was a great “break” from the Primarch books. The anthology gave me some fresh energy and I’m ready to dive back in and see who else I’m going to meet!