Mortarion: The Pale King

The Horus Heresy Primarchs, Book 15

By: David Annandale

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

A Primarchs Novel

"Banish all thoughts of mercy, because mercy is the plaything of the coward and the lie of the tyrant. Today, the blade descends on tyranny's neck."

Mortarion makes his debut in the fifteenth Primarchs novel, and wastes no time in bringing his own brand of grim justice to the galaxy.

Listen to it because....

The fifteenth instalment in The Horus Heresy Primarchs series, The Pale King tells of the atrocities committed by the Reaper in the name of justice—and the consequences of challenging his methods.

The story:

Once, the Galaspar System suffered under the cruel regime of the Order. Billions of people toiled endlessly to enrich their masters, enduring short lives of poverty, squalor and fear. But Galaspar’s sins did not go unnoticed by the Imperium, and so Death itself sentenced the Order to annihilation.

Mortarion, newly uplifted to commander of the Death Guard, descended upon the world, and with him came a slaughter of untold proportions. The sheer brutality of Mortarion’s campaign left the Imperium appalled. Seeking to understand its horrors, two noble primarchs have come to Galaspar, summoning their brother to account for his actions. But the Pale King brooks no challenge to his methods, for when the scythe falls, it reaps a gruesome toll.

Written By David Annandale. Narrated by Jonathan Keeble. Running time 5 hours and 34 minutes (approx).

©2022 Games Workshop Limited (P)2022 Games Workshop Limited

Good story

Kid goes out on his first day on the job and crashes the car and traumatizes everyone. Dad is mildly disappointed

A mood setter

This is probably the best primarchs book I’ve read/listened to so far.

I won’t spoil anything. I will say if you are a fan of Mortarian you’ll love this book, it gives you some insight into who mortarian is and his mindset. HH fans in general should also read this for the same reasons.

Top notch Primarch building...

Terrific brotherly banter. A solid peek into Mortarion's character and heart. Cool Easter eggs.

Great look at Mortarian’s character!!

Was great to listen to. Though for his primarch book, I was hoping to learn more about his experience on barbarus or when the emperor first discovered him. I’m sure that detailed part of the lore is out there. But was so interesting to also learn of some of the original battle captains of the legion, and how Typhon and Garro ascended. Also loved the hint on Typhon’s true path as Typhus! Was a great addition to the story. The Death Guard was the first instance of space marine lore that got me interested in 30k/40k. This is definitely one of the top 5 books for the legion!

I didn’t really understand how mortarion’s personality was shaped and this helped me understand

This book made mortarion go from being one of my least favorite primarchs to being in the top 5 and I still dislike sanguinius