Ahriman - Exile by John French.
Ahzek Ahriman is a walking contradiction. He was once the greatest champion of the Thousand Sons, yet he’s also the one who shattered the legion beyond repair. Even in their earliest days, the Thousand Sons stood apart from the other legions crafted by the Master of Mankind. They had far more warriors with psychic talent, but that gift came with a built‑in curse. Their gene‑seed carried a slow, creeping mutation that twisted Space Marines into the warped, monstrous things we now recognise as Chaos Spawn. Under stress or in the heat of battle, the change could hit suddenly and violently. When the legion finally reunited with their Primarch on Prospero, it looked like the curse had been fixed, but really, it had only been postponed. After the Horus Heresy, Ahriman decided he’d had enough of watching his brothers fall apart and came up with a plan to end the curse for good. That plan became the Rubric of Ahriman… and it went horribly wrong. The spell massively boosted the powers of Thousand Sons psykers, but everyone without psychic ability was reduced to dust, their armour becoming their eternal tomb. The story picks up after the Rubric, with Ahriman living in self‑imposed exile, hiding from the legion he both saved and destroyed.
The story starts off a bit slow, but it eventually settles into a solid mid‑tier read. The character work is handled well, especially for the supporting cast, who get more depth as the book goes on. Ahriman’s arc focuses on the punishment he inflicts on himself after the failure of the Rubric. He cuts himself off from his own power and identity, serving under a forgettable Chaos Lord as a way to keep himself small and to further castigate himself, and spends much of the book stewing in his own guilt. It’s a strong opening to the Ahriman series, but it doesn’t quite reach the heights it could have if it had leaned harder into his full potential.
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