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Luther: First of the Fallen
- The Horus Heresy
- Narrated by: Andrew James Spooner
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fantasy
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Publisher's Summary
A Horus Heresy novel
Hero. Villain. Protector. Destroyer. Loyal. Fallen. Luther embodies the duality at the heart of the Dark Angels – but what is his story? Prepare to find out....
Listen to It Because
Get new insights into one of the key figures of the Horus Heresy, who shaped the destiny of the Dark Angels for 10 millennia, in a new novel by the master of First Legion fiction, Gav Thorpe.
The Story
Knight of the Angelicasta. Saviour of the Lion. Grand Master of the Order. Lord of the Dark Angels. Protector of Caliban. Chaos Heretic. Destroyer of Caliban. Sorcerer of the Abyss. Arch-traitor. Dark Oracle. First of the Fallen.
Can one man be all of these things?
Kept alive and imprisoned for 10,000 years, Luther is the curse and the salvation of the Dark Angels made manifest. None are so close to the heart and history of the Chapter as the man that embodies all that was great about the First Legion and all that is shameful about the Dark Angels. In his story is writ the tale of the Horus Heresy and the fall from Enlightenment in a single long life. Glory, honour, pride, shame and betrayal weave a tapestry of truth and lies that the Supreme Grand Masters of the Dark Angels have sought to understand and unbind across 10 bloody millennia. Luther claims repentance for his past deeds, but was it his sins that condemned the Chapter to its secretive fate, or should warnings from history have been more closely heeded?
Written by Gav Thorpe. Narrated by Andrew James Spooner.
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What listeners say about Luther: First of the Fallen
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- snozek
- 04-26-21
Way better then Gav's last book
Gav Thorpe is notoriously hot and cold as far as the books he writes for black library.
Some of his books are among the best of the Horus heresy, like deliverance loss or angels of Caliban. Others are so terrible that I really wish I had never read it, like Indomitus, his eldar novels, or some of his varied Dark Angel shorts.
It seems like black library had intended this book to bridge a number of different weak points in the lore of the genesis of the dark angels.
If this was the mission, than the author accomplished it very solidly.
The author has a bad habit however of making a straw man out of characters that are not ones your supposed to like.
The effect is that many of the stories are 2 dimensional until you reach 1 or 2 characters.
Presuming the previous mission, the author had a tough task, but used the vehicle of Luther as an effective bridge across seeming chasms of unwritten lore.
There are a few very difficult parts to the book however, these parts are shared with other books recently from black library generally and Gav particularly.
The forcing of politically correct agendas is really not necessary in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium. Nobody likes to be subtly or unsubtly propagandised, I really don't need female nights running around when that was never integral to the story.
In fact, it's kind of a put off. They are not any historical evidences of this happening anywhere in human history. It is just a modern political agenda that will pass later. It makes the work have less staying power and appeal ability.
Have and black library both have been pushing similar agendas with gender nonconformity, female empowerment, and how evil religion is.
S is really irritating and nobody really enjoys it. It is tolerated, not enjoyed.
Jumping onto that bandwagon, Gav also loves to permeate the work with the idea that everything is meaningless and there is no right or wrong.
Being a veteran of black library, the warhammer universe generally, and all sorts of similar fiction, this is one of the most annoying tropes out there is fiction.
It is a small minded, internally invalid outlook the defeats itself simply on its statement. I am not advocating one or another value set per se, but damn seems to love the depressing and meaningless angles in his characters.
Why does a character do any one thing instead of another thing if there is no hope of anything positive in the end? Gav doesn't know, or at least he doesn't seem to write anything.
That is why this is so strange about this particular book. The reader is hopeful of some kind of information contributing to the overall storyline of the dark angels. This keeps us turning the pages.
In this book, Gav understands that very well, which is why the book was very readable.
It seems strange that gave does not extend this understanding to characters in his books.
That being sad, Gav's work in this book is above average and is generally very solid.This is mostly because the subject is compelling and we really want to advance the overall storyline in the 40K universe.
He narrator, Mr. Spooner, did a phenomenal job! It is fairly rare to have a reader do so well that I have not heard before in 40k audios, but he did quite well. Hats off!
28 people found this helpful
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- Christopher Alexander
- 05-26-21
Dull and trite
Nothing worse than a sci-fi author trying to be a philosopher. Also, the author’s politics emerges in boring fashion as a medieval society cares about tolerating immigrants and ensuring equality. It was like they had Twitter in space and everyone virtue signals instead of being interesting.
13 people found this helpful
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- Frank
- 04-30-21
Outstanding!
Great story & narration! Even if you're not a DA fan it's still very immersive and paints a different picture of Luther.
4 people found this helpful
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- Cody & Ashley
- 04-11-21
One great book I loved it
I loved this book one of the best I've heard so far. Full of great little stories and a insight of what it's l like to be a fallen.
2 people found this helpful
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- Kjetil Moen
- 04-04-21
choppy
the sound is really choppy.
ive tried both the normal and large version.
as it stands now, it is unplayable
2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-30-21
Boorish but compelling
While it's well written its a tale told through the eyes of someone who speaks most of the time in allegory. So it's pretty drawn out in a way that highlights Luther's eccentricities. If you're a 40k buff like me and have some time check it out, otherwise I wouldn't call this mandatory reading.
1 person found this helpful
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- mws73
- 09-15-21
Insightful
I liked the fact that it explained much about Luthers background that I hadn’t heard before. I liked how they portrayed him as a freedom fighter doing the right thing for Caliban and it’s people, not necessarily because of him being corrupted by Chaos. The Imperium corrupts everything it touches depending on what side you’re looking at it from.
I love how they introduce each successive DA chapter master over the millennia and how none of them listen to or take his warning seriously no mater the truth of his words, shows how far the DA have truly fallen since their heyday.
I hate that it was so short…I could have used another 3-4 hrs of details and technical mumbo jumbo, historical background and storytelling.
Thank you Mr Thorpe for another stupendous novel in my favorite escape from reality and
as usual the narration was spot on and Mr Spooner did great.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 05-14-21
Good S***
This story was the most human story I've listened to or read so far. "A"mazing
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 04-09-21
woooooo
first legion rocks. Haill the emperor. Luther had to do what he had to do.
1 person found this helpful
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- GentlemanBystander
- 05-06-22
Magnificent
A work of high fantasy, grim dark futurist militarism, metaphysics, and a soulful biography in one. Thorpe succeeds in characterizing Luther as something more complex and sympathetic than the mustache-twirling villain he is often pigeonholed as. The narrative plays with the thematic element of time brilliantly and Spooner's performance help pull the listener deeper into the narrative weave. One of the best character books from Black Library, worth a second and third listening at least, this is one to keep in the Library.
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- Lertimo
- 04-10-21
At last a Dark Angels novel for grown ups
I've found that Black Library's W40k novels largely fall into two camps: The first is thought provoking stories which skirt round the sillier aspects of the W40k universe by focussing instead on interesting characters, plots and situations (Gaunts Ghosts, Eisenhorn/Ravenor, Helsreach, Fabius Bile ) The second category is by far the larger and features superficial tripe written for an audience with a reading age of 8 (e.g. most books about Space Marines – most recently, The Blades of Calth and Indomitus)
I have to admit that nearly every Dark Angels book I've read falls into the second category. Plus, there's something about 'The First' that always got my goat. Maybe it was the way they are all named after fallen angels from Hebrew literature and it just so happens that they become a legion called the Dark Angels. And some of those that turned traitor are the 'Fallen'. What a coincidence! What are the chances? Oh yeah and they have a big secret. It just so happens they were always a secretive bunch, before they got their big secret… what are the chances? And so it goes on.
All that being said, 'Luther' is absolutely top quality. Gav Thorpe veers between the two camps more than most BL authors, but I shall happily concede that he delivers the goods here. Andrew James Spooner does a sterling job on the narration, there's been some dodgy contributions by newbie readers in recent BL audiobooks, but I can report one feels no disconnect here, all the voices 'felt' right and consistent with past productions.
On plot, I refuse to give away anything (who knows what small detail might be a spoiler to a First Legion fanatic?) but needless to say, this is a thoughtful and nuanced story about a complex character who Thorpe endows with real depth. Luther is neither a square-jawed hero, nor an evil, mustachio-twirling villain. The narrative structure – partially told in present, partially told in flashback, might annoy some but it worked perfectly for me.
What we get is a really careful examination of many of the contradictions about the Dark Angels and the Fallen that really should have made them perfect subjects for novels for years. Fans of bolter-porn might find it disappointingly light on loving descriptions of 'gen-hanced musculature' , evisceration by chainsword and mortals wetting their pants at the general awesomeness of space marines - but that's because 'Luther' is a proper book for grown-ups. At the same time, it still manages to be a fun read – there are a lot of bones thrown in for the average w40k lore-junkie. In short, this is the book on The Dark Angels that I didn't know I'd always been waiting for.
34 people found this helpful
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- paul sparks
- 04-09-21
Deluded ravings of a heretic
Yet another heretic attempting to justify his disloyalty to the emperor (pardon my heresy there I meant God Emperor obviously)
This is a really enjoyable and intriguing book, I am no fan of the 1st legion and knew next to nothing of their history and lore, sadly there are many in the grim dark future who also are unable to bow down to the master of mankind and Luther meets these shady characters, Erebus and Thyphon, great story and great narration
6 people found this helpful
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- Greg Harris
- 04-16-21
Well well well....not such a Traitor after all....
That definitely puts another prospective on the Dark Angels.
You cannot help finding sympathy and reasoning behind Luther's decisions, a very, very good listen and I highly recommend it. I will always be a Blood Angel fanboy but I like Dark Angels lore and this is definitely worth it.
4 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-02-21
dark angels
love it hate it the dark angels. great story, please more....hope to see a continuation of this story. great 👌
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- barrybaker
- 12-30-21
Very good
Terrific story and wonderful narration. Each chapter a gripping tale. I much prefer these types of Warhammer books, I can't abide all the boring space marine battles that feel so insignificant. This book tells you of Luther and his adventures. Worth it!
1 person found this helpful
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- danny
- 10-22-21
Fantastic
Awesome book read it in one sitting truly stunning. More please😀😀 an avid 40k fan.
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- Jon Kenny
- 10-04-21
excellent
I read it in Kindle first and then listened in audible. a true fire side story book told so well.
1 person found this helpful
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- Komerade Snowflake
- 09-25-21
surprisingly excellent
one of the best 40k books in a long time and an unexpected gem. highly recommended
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- jeroen Suys
- 09-23-21
a collection of stories.
I liked this book, but you have to be aware that it are separate stories linked together with Luther's interrogation. That kind of breaks the book as each time you have to 'get back into the story'. This does not mean it is a bad book , on the contrary. It gives a lot of background on the mystical world of Caliban. The narrator does a great job as well.
Only complaint: female knights seemed out of place and only seem to be added to 'get with the times' (a minor point).
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- William
- 09-08-21
incredibly immersive
perhaps not for everyone according to the reviews but it was definitely for me, I love lore and story telling and this sated my needs
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- Daeus
- 04-23-21
Weak storytelling ruins an otherwise excellent performance
Yet again Gav Thorpe proves he cannot write intrigue or mystery and relies upon a ‘tell not show’ method of writing. It isn’t enough to tell us a character is humble. It needs to be demonstrated. You can’t say a character is a brilliant warrior, you need to demonstrate it.
This isn’t a difficult concept yet in his dozens of published novels Gav Thorpe fails to improve.
2 people found this helpful
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- Aaron James Robert Carroll
- 06-09-21
Great background
Loved the performances but the story’s had no climax and were disjointed and seemed to have no tie in with the current setting but enjoyed the whole book overall
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- Anonymous User
- 05-24-21
omg more! that's all I have to say.
omg more! that's all I have to say. this is my first Dark angels book and I just want more. and I'm a pure space Wolves fan lol
I never knew I would like the Dark angels so much
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- Kindle Customer
- 05-11-21
intriguing
I have always found the Dark Angels like the Space Wolves to be the worse of the Loyalist legions. This story is an interesting insight which gives a hint that any sanity or purpose the legion/chapter had left it with the deaths of the last Caliban and Terran legionnaires. It will be interesting to see where the story goes from here.