Book Review: Mechanicum by Graham McNeill

Book Review: Mechanicum by Graham McNeill
Published in 2008 A Black Library Publication

Cover art by Neil Roberts

The ongoing tale of the Horus Heresy continues in Mechanicum penned by Veteran WH49K Author Graham McNeill. The tale recounts the bravery of the forces loyal to The Emperor at the start of the Heresy and of the Civil War that engulfed Mars as the Heresy spread across the Imperium.

This is perhaps the best book in The Horus Heresy Series so far. It captures, for this reviewer, the spirit of the great wars that raged when The Warmaster betrayed the Emperor, and mighty conflicts engulfed the fledgeling Imperium, as showcased in the earlier GW products such as Adeptus Titanicus and Epic 40,000.

While it still at points stray from the look and feel of the other novels in The Horus Heresy series, it really feels the closest to the intent and flavor of the original source materials, Rogue Trader and the first novels relating to Warhammer 40,000.

The story is concerned with two main plot threads. The first is the coming of the heresy to Mars and how portions of The Mechanicum fell under the sway of Chaos and chose to follow The Warmaster into conflict with Terra and the Loyalists. The other main plot point deals with a young scribe, named Dalia Cythera, from the Librarium Technologica, a part of the Imperial Palace on Terra, who is sentenced for death for enhancing the interior workings of her cogitator station, making it more efficient and effective for the work she was performing. Her sentence is denied by the actions of an Adept of Mars, High Adept Koriel Zeth, The Mistress of Magma City.

The two threads come together towards the end of the novel, when the forces of The Dark Mechanicum move against those loyal to The Emperor and open battle breaks out across the face of Mars. Dalia and other servants of the Mechanicum worked together to create new devices and machines at the behest of the High Adept Zeth, while the Dark Mechanicum in a parody of this, create Chaos based servitors and war machines to aid in conquering Mars for the Ruinous Powers.

This book has the curious odd mixture of WH40K sensibilities and feeling with a looseness and different, more ‘Modern’ feel, with primitive natures and blind religious dogma coming into play and repression, with the search for the past with the intent to hide it away from sight. This book really captures the start of the standard Imperium to this reader, much more so than the other books There are a few almost discordant elements to it, how the Adepts function and work feels very different than the other Horus Heresy novels seemed to portray, while the Titans and Knights are almost exactly how they were depicted and portrayed in early WH40K sources and accounts.

It is an excellent WH40K novel, one diehard fans should enjoy.

Links Section:

Graham McNeill

Neil Roberts Cover Artist

The Black Library Publishing Site

Black Library on Twitter

This is the main Games Workshop website

Specialist Games section where Adeptus Titanicus and other specialist titles live on at



Important Note:

This used copy was purchased at The Book Bazaar in Lakeland, FL. Support Used and New Book stores, buy paper not just electrons.