Just re-read the Unremembered Empire by Dad Abnett, one of the Horus Heresy books. I liked the series when it first came out, but someone realized it was a money making machine, and it very quickly degenerated into devoting entire books on essentially minutia, instead of pushing the Heresy forward. So the first few books resolve most of the Heresy very quickly, then... the interminable grind as Horus Lupercal advances on Terra to be soul smited by Da Emprah!.
Twenty books now?
Dan's a good writer, for all that, but I could feel him chaffing at the bit. A lot happens, but almost all of it is just moving pieces around the board for later. With Sanguinus arriving on Maccragge near the end of the book I have to wonder if the series editor (or whomever is planning these suckers) has lost the ball. A BIG part of the plot of the battle for Terra was Robot Gullman stuck on Maccragge, too far away to intervene at teh start of the siege (and threatening to emanenetly arrive at the end, leading to Horus's 'big gamble' of luring Da Emprah! to him. Big Gamble, because the official text pretty much establishes that Horus curb stomped Da Emprah pretty handily for all that he lost in the end.
But, of course, Sanguinus is there on Terra for the whole fight, defending the Gates to the very last, then dying to Horus on the barge. So two pieces are in the same place when they should be a galaxy apart.
The other nagging bit, one that surfaces frequently in the series (and other books...) is a question of ability. Robot is depicted as merely sorta superhuman. A single squad of Alpha Marines almost end him in an assassination attempt. Kurze on the other hand is shown being capable of murdering the entirety of the Ultramarines Legion, the Dark Angels Legion (say 40k Space Marines), along with thousands of other Space Marines just lying around aimlessly in most of a single night. Bolter round impacts to Robot's armor genuinely hurt him and impair his fighting ability, but Kurze gets stabbed quite a few times, drawing blood, once with a chain sword, and merely seems annoyed. Lion El Johnson is showed to be as capable at hunting Kurze as Kurze is at avoiding him (ruling out excessive deamonic influence), until, of course, Kurze takes two Primarchs on at the same time and suddenly Lion El Johnson is only slightly better than his lieutenants.
Who knew there was a rule of Ninja Conservation for Primarchs?
But seriously: I expect that roughly equal beings of roughly equal power to be at least roughly equal matches. Sure, some primarchs are better in some areas than others, but this book puts Kurze on a level above, to the point its not even close, and only fate intervenes saves him from essentially murdering everyone. That is not good writing.
And since this post has not yet met my minimum word count: This is especially bad seeing as the only main non-marine character thumps a whole lot of 'Primarchs are only human' into the heads of Robot's men after his attack, and just before Kurze lands on Macragge.