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  • The Solar War

  • Siege of Terra: The Horus Heresy, Book 1
  • By: John French
  • Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
  • Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (2,374 ratings)
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The Solar War cover art

The Solar War

By: John French
Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
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Summary

The Siege of Terra Book 1

After years of devastating war, Horus and his forces have arrived at Terra. But before they can set foot on the Throneworld, they must first break the defences of the Sol System. 

Powerful fleets and cunning defences bar their path - but can anything hope to halt the advance of the Traitor armada?  

Listen to it because:

The final act of the long-running, best-selling series starts here, with a brutal and uncompromising look at the first stage of the Siege of Terra, the war to conquer the solar system. Armies will fall, heroes will rise and legends will be written....

The Story

After seven years of bitter war, the end has come at last for the conflict known infamously as the Horus Heresy. Terra now lies within the Warmaster’s sights, the Throneworld and the seat of his father’s rule. Horus’ desire is nothing less than the death of the Emperor of Mankind and the utter subjugation of the Imperium. He has become the ascendant vessel of Chaos and amassed a terrible army with which to enact his will and vengeance. 

But the way to the Throne will be hard as the primarch Rogal Dorn, the Praetorian and protector of Terra, marshals the defences. First and foremost, Horus must challenge the might of the Sol System itself and the many fleets and bulwarks arrayed there. 

To gain even a foothold on Terran soil, he must first contend the Solar War. Thus the first stage of the greatest conflict in the history of all mankind begins. 

©2019 Games Workshop Limited (P)2019 Games Workshop Limited

What listeners say about The Solar War

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Immersion spoiled by production

I’m enjoying the story, as with most WH30/40, but the sound artifacts which seem to result from echoes within the recording studio are driving me up the wall. There is a hissy background noise which makes it sound like either the narrator is in a small, hard walled, room; or that the treble filtering needs playing with. I’m about a third of the way through and going to stick with it but it really puts my teeth on edge and rather spoils my immersion in the story!

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Another weak one...

Great narration (I feel that I could listen to Jonathan Keeble plosively say the word 'BOOMED' all day). Clunky and confused narrative. Characters felt shallow. Not sure how the culmination of such an epic saga can be so devoid of excitement or momentum. It seems that anything not written by Dembski Bowden or Abnett (bar a couple of exceptions) is likley to be a bit uninspiring - such a shame given the richness of the source material.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Such a great start to the siege of terra!

The Avengers of Warhammer 40,000! See all your favourite characters come together for a big aul scrap!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Worth The Wait!

Been looking forward to this book since it's release was first announced and I was not disappointed. Look forward to the next part of this epic tale.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

How to make a collosal space battle boring

So many times ive found myself bored to tears. Very disappointing as I was looking forward to a long fierce battle filled with heroics. Instead, long, winding passages describing dreams, forced conversations, hopes and memories that aren't made interesting.

I enjoyed the attempt to vary the pace: long pauses between bursts of intense battles. It's just the pauses were too long, and too uninteresting. There's a whole passage there about refugees stranded and murdered on a ship. This is Warhammer. It's dark, gritty and terrible. You can't make my heart bleed for refugees.

Where are the heroes? Where are primarchs doing everything thry can to win? Halfway through you'll find they're mentioned 3 times without lifting a finger. The emperor? Barely a mention.

Narrator does a sterling job to attempt to bring this to life, but I'm sure he had to do many takes after drifting off to sleep.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

the siege finally starts

in all a bit long winded but a good setting to lead the siege to its conclusion, gives just enough action to give a pleasant listen but then leaves all the important events to come . only downfall was that waiting for horus to show up took what seemed like forever . solid 4stars

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

Whilst Jonathan Keeble's narration is good (but not as good as Toby Longworth IMO), i found the story to be pretty bland and uninteresting.

It took me 2 attempts to get through this and to be brutally honest, apart from the traitors reaching Terra, I can't really tell you much else about what happened it was so uninspiring.

As others have said, if you happen to lose your place accidentally it is very difficult to find where you were as it's such a bland story.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A great start to the climax of the Horus Heresy

An engaging story, well read. The fighting was not the strongest in the Black Library but the epic fleet combat was easy to follow for me at least!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Story, needed a female second reader

So I’m enjoying the story, but tbh limiting the performance to just the one narrator is a bad choice. Whoever he is (can’t be bothered to check) does a reasonable job, but he doesn’t have the power to portray someone like Dorn, or even Aximand. The REAL problem appears when the poor bloke has to voice females- - these are terrible, butchering immersion in the tale with a near-comedic attempt at femininity with characters like Oliton and Keeler. When the females have ACCENTS it becomes borderline offensive.

The story is great and I’m glad they are making it accessible for audio audiences, but if you’re going to do something, Black Library, for gods sake do it right.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

war counsel

There are plans within plans. I look foreward to the rest of this series, knowing only the end, not the path to it

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