Fabius Bile - Primogenitor by Josh Reynolds.
Fabius Bile is known to be a sadistic apothecary who has a god complex; he believes that the future of mankind is solely for his creations. These include vat-grown human hybrids who possess a lesser version of the Gene-seed, mutant creatures designed for war, and he has even created clones of all the Primarchs. Many people have thought they have killed Bile only for him to appear shortly after in a cloned body. He is infested with cancerous tumours brought on by the Emperors Children's Gene-seed, which is a part of his DNA, so it is cloned with him, and he manages it with a cocktail of pain suppressants and stimulants. Unusually he was allowed to study with the Drukhari in Commorragh. The Coven of the Thirteen Scars later attempted to kill Bile and all of his creations. In the end, a compromise was struck; Bile agreed to surgery to stop him from sharing any lessons learned with anyone ever. The clonelord is hated and feared among all of the Imperium, even his own Battle-Brothers despise him. Still, ultimately, he is needed by all of the renegade Astartes to replenish their numbers. Primogenitor is the first of a trilogy of novels by Josh Reynolds, and it's one of my favorites, along with the Night Lords Trilogy.
Within these novels we see that Bile is a scientist first and foremost but will throw down with anyone who stands in his way. Armed with his Daemon weapon Torment and his partly sentient, ever present Chirurgeon he can hold his own. The first book is very illuminating with regard to inter rivalry between the renegade marines even within their own legions. This novel for me was a good starting point for learning about the precarious nature of existence for the renegade warbands. There are moments of action where you just get lost in the story, and also reveal plot points about some of the lesser-known parts of the 40k universe. It is well worth reading this trilogy, and for anyone who is interested in what happens to lord commander Fabius after the Talon of Horus novel.
bottom image book cover of the version used in the review
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