Reader’s Recommendation: Luther: First of the Fallen, by Gav Thorpe

The edition is exquisite, I’m glad to have gotten it and for the novel itself to be a relative surprise given the admittedly rocky nature of Dark Angels fiction. That said, while I’m glad I own it and appreciate Gav Thorpe’s signature -this being one of very few novels I own with a signature- I am sure he would agree with the sentiment that if you want to by the book, don’t do it at a price that gauges you (unfortunately GW and eBay scalpers being some of the most notorious book exploitation I can think of).

Luther is biased, arrogant and traitorous. But the revelation reading it hit me so hard because of the framing, the originality of the point and not simply the skill Warhammer has with making Chaos empathetic. The Dark Angels should be better. They are spiritually corrupt, corrupt in a sense that’s more philosophical, every bit as true though not the obvious case of the Warp energy and mutations. It’s tragedy and villainy of a classic 40K kind, the 40K that’s unlike the Heresy and broadening Indomitous era. It’s a weird medley of so many lies and so many types of character the DA can’t help but be fascinating. Luther is fascinating, these stories of knighthood as appealing as we all feel dark fantasy with an interest, as much as Azreal is a weird, aging feature of the literature because he was a dry humoured knight in Trials of Azrael and you wonder how on earth any of this will end or resolve. It’s tantalising for an audience more than tired of the Fallen fixation and occasionally poor Dark Angels writing.

First of the Fallen is fascinating, in that it’s fixation, it’s obsession with its tales and protagonists centre around a more tangible and lamentable ‘corruption’ than the demonic. It’s not about evil beings or monsters, not about insidious energies. But to listen to one’s ego too much, talk yourself into distrusting someone you respect. When you are part of a system that has forgotten so much, and become cynical and apathetic, a greater evil is served. This is what Thorpe finds to be as the key fall to the Dark Angels, and this story I find indicates very clearly a personal fascination with the faction and why he has written many books for them for quite a long time.

Thorpe had a point, he had a clear passion with this novella and rather than endless chases, it feels like hopefully the old cycle will get a bolt in its brain and in a few years finally the Destruction of Caliban. We have art and a model for the Lion, we have a clear portrait of Luther, and it’s likely cathartic for Thorpe and Guymer I imagine as they’re filling in gaps no doubt each wanted and thought up years ago (Crusade, Lord of the First, and this book are a real shot in the arm for DA audiences and give a clear culture and aesthetic).

Emotionally Luther can be charismatic, which has an advantage besides being the spotlight of a character story where we should be drawn into reading about the person in the book. Frankly, his charisma is not to be found anywhere else in his Legion, to the point of punctuating how his succession was so effective. The Dark Angels expect deeds to speak for themselves. They love secrecy, deeds unsung, when they talk it’s about pride and objective. There’s nothing wrong with this but it leaves a clear gap in swaying others or being engaging, much of the damage to their reputation and a flaw in their nature is that poor communication entrenches suspicion, so easy to think of them as aloof or worse.

In the past, this problem was one of the hooks that corrupted Luther, but in the book this creates tension given how perilously close to harm or execution Luther comes. He is not only a charismatic and differently humoured person in prison, he is speaking to fanatics becoming ever more zealous, and from the beginning his is the man who murdered their planet, their honour, and most of their people.

I also noticed in little italics was a dedication to Jervis Jonson, as seen below:

Aside from being a respectful dedication, I find Luther was made very consciously as something about history and tradition in the chivalric spirit. Not just because of the subject matter, but as a piece of content in and of itself. We all know, and let’s be honest: I’m sure Mr Thorpe knows more than anyone the difficulties and tangled nature of DA stories. He has heard it all, contemplated these works on the level of a person actually ‘in the arena’, Which makes the book not just a good read or a pleasant surprise for the community: but a success in what I think it was intended to be. Thorpe still loves Caliban. A new phase has been entered with actual damned momentum. This could have easily been not just trite, but a bad story. People expected it to be bad.

So, adding a clever framing device that explains Luther’s stasis, the deterioration of Legion culture, the fracturing of his mind, and the import of the ‘current’ 40k era and the new Indomitus direction is a breath of fresh air not invalidating the old. It’s time to move on. Trials of Azreal, the Astelan monologues, the tiresome jokes and time travel are gone. We have a clear picture of The Lion, of Luther, and I see no way for there to not be just two or three more stories before we get to the damned payoff.

Azrael is perhaps frustratingly out of reach in this story, but it becomes clear at the end that he’s as distinct as the time to come. It’s for once, not a tease, not predictable drama. The villain is not twirling his moustache, contemplating more Chaos power. He hasn’t smashed someone’s head off and permanently marred the whole narrative of the faction. He hasn’t lied deliberately just one more time. Shambling, furtive, in many ways reflective of audience and author. Tiptoeing from nostalgia and making sense of so much story into the unknown. I like the ending for its use of fear and trepidation as much as was present throughout; because an easy thing to overlook is the emotional potential of the protagonist. Luther can feel fear. He is a human, and amusingly the human touch helps greatly with not only creating immersion and sympathy, but sympathising his enemies. Luther is not the transhuman or demigod, possessed of arrogance surely, but not the obsession with being ‘First’. First Legion, First in deed. The obsession was established in Lord of the First, and I feel will grow. So, bridging and reminding us of the 40k atmosphere for a character born and wholly entrenched within the 31st millennium and the now-dead world of Caliban is a brilliant contrast, as much as the ripe character drama stemming from the dozen characters all differing in alignment and goal besides stabbing someone in the back, or trying to frantically set off to stab someone in the front.

First of the Fallen is a beautiful novella, like sketching a vast tree it returns to very common roots, adds slightly new leaves to the story. It changes nothing in the sense of wider scale; but is an excellent ‘breath before the plunge’ and absolutely the best depiction of Caliban before the breaking. It also understands and displays very well the core of chivalric romance; the ego, pride and regret of a powerful knight bearing many virtues but enslaved to inevitability and their mistakes.

Thorpe, G. Luther: First of the Fallen. Black Library, Nottingham. 2020.