False Gods (Novel)
From Lexicanum
False Gods was written by Graham McNeill, and is the second novel in the Horus Heresy Series. A number of authors contribute to the series, but the storyline follows the same characters through Horus' descent into Chaos.
The novel was first published in June 2006. Each print run has a different colour for the titles: First was gold, second in silver and third in bronze.
Plot Summary
Garviel Loken, newest member of the Luna Wolves elite Mournival council, is troubled by recent events on the Great Crusade. After annihilating the Interex, Horus orders the 63rd Expeditionary Fleet to crush a rebellion on the conquered world of Davin at the suggestion of his secretive advisor Chaplain Erebus of the Word Bearers legion. Finding that the rebel forces have retreated to the planet's moon and have been corrupted by ancient evil forces from the Warp, Horus leads a desperate assault on the traitors' grounded ship, 'Glory of Terra', where he confronts Eugen Temba. During his battle with Temba, Horus is mortally wounded. When his apothecaries can do nothing for him, Erebus convinces Mournival members Ezekyle Abaddon and 'Little' Horus Aximand to entrust the Warmaster's life to the dark priests of Davin. By using ancient rituals learned from agents of Chaos, Erebus invades Horus' mind and persuades him that the Emperor plans to betray him to pursue his own glory after the crusade is won. Following his miraculous recovery, Horus leads his legions to war against a newly-discovered peaceful human civilisation, and then begins to hatch his own daring plans of rebellion. His first defiance of the Emperor's will is the murder of the troublesome remembrancers Petronella Vivar and Ignace Karkasy, before calling his generals to make war on the traitor world Isstvan III.
