Critique: Xenos, Malleus and Hereticus (Eisenhorn) (Dan Abnett)

***SPOILERS***

Whilst there were points which held my interest in Eisenhorn, these were fleeting. There were too many issues in plot/characterisation for me to truly enjoy this series. That said, there were moments which I enjoyed a lot, so I wouldn’t say that reading Eisenhorn was a wasted experience: with the right improvements, it could be a fully thrilling series. How the final enemy was defeated was pure genius and thoroughly enjoyable; even if this was the only good part about the series, it would have been worth it.

It’s a sci-fi trilogy omnibus named after the main character. Sci-fi is never my go-to genre. Technology confuses me at the best of times, so a genre which has one of its essential pillars as tech? It’s easy to see why I avoid it. (Unless it’s about genetics. Then I’m all aboard.) I only read Eisenhorn because one of my new kitchenmates suggested it to me because it was one of his favourite books.

            Eisenhorn is an Inquisitor, someone who deals with enemies of the empire (which are conveniently the names of the books): Xenos (aliens), Malleus (demons) and Hereticus (heretics). These novels are written in first-person. I avoid this entirely. I hate fiction written in first-person. I find it irritating. But that is purely my preference in writing. However, the author made it work fantastically.

            There was the use psychic powers and demons. In a sci-fi series. Pyschic abilities and demons clearly are of a magical bent (fantasy) rather than a technological one (sci-fi). Now, there is stopping these two genres occurring within the same in-book universe (they are put in the same book shop sections, after all). However, if they appear together, it needs to fit logically within the framework of the in-book universe. Eisenhorn is about 99% sci-fi so this is very important. For the demons, this was done successfully (alternative planes of existence, something which works in a magical sense and in sci-fi with multiple universes). There was, though, no linking in the psychic powers into the Eisenhorn universe which was unfortunate, considering psychic powers are central to the plot.

Eisenhorn, the character, was very well done. To see him develop throughout the novels was a great experience. The way of the casual progression of him turning ‘heretical’ was very well done. Eisenhorn was a great example of character development, purpose, speech and consistency done well. As said before, I don’t get along with first-person perspective, and it usually equates to a lack of characterisation in the protagonist, but in Eisenhorn, the omnibus, it blew my mind.

            Medea, who the readers meet in the second novel, was a fun and touching character, always wearing her dad’s coat because she’s never met him. Her character wasn’t fully filled yet the positives made her a good character.

Yet most characters were incredibly weak. I’m not talking about minor characters here but quite important characters. There was little personality, no development, and quite a lot of the time pure inconsistency. Fischig is a good example of this short-coming. Cherubael is perhaps the clearest example of a weak character that lacked a sense of direction which thus weakened the plot in the second novel completely, diluting my sense of direction. New characters tended to be introduced in a random and peculiar manner than felt odd. This was the case with characters that were quite important, too, especially in the second and third novels. So, overall, characterisation was abysmal.

Not wanting to end on a bad note (because this series was not bad), there were several parts that I enjoyed or found to be good plot points. The fact that two of my favourite characters died (Maxilla and Aemos) so close to one another was great for playing with the audience’s emotions. It was simply adorable the great sacrifice Aemos made in service to Eisenhorn. Plus so many characters were killed off in the final chapters of the final novel. They all helped to drive Eisenhorn to the end point of the novel whilst at the same time getting rid of characters that no longer had a role in the plot but would be expected to, were they still alive.