Legend tells of a foolhardy expedition, led by the radical Magos Telok, which ventured out into the unknown space beyond the Halo Worlds in search of the 'Breath of the Gods' - an arcane device with the power to unmake and reshape the very stars themselves. Thousands of years later, the ambitious Lexell Kotov musters his Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator fleet and sets out to follow in mad old Telok's footsteps. With the might of the Imperial Guard and the Space Marines to augment his own forces, he searches for the hidden clues which will lead him to greatest power that the galaxy has ever known. But who knows what ancient perils may yet lie outside the Imperium and the dominion of mankind?

Read it because
It's a novel like nothing else from Black Library. Graham McNeill crafts a tale that only he could tell, beginning a mind-bending saga of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Chaos and more besides.

Pursued by vengeful eldar, Magos Kotov’s Explorator armada heads into a newly revealed area of space in pursuit of ancient secrets. As the Adeptus Mechanicus forces and Black Templars Space Marines tackle the twin threats of the wrathful aliens and insurrection aboard the fleet, a greater danger reveals itself...

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It's a dramatic continuation of the tale from 'Priests of Mars', exploring science fiction ideas and human conflicts within the framework of a Warhammer 40,000 action-adventure drama.

Beyond the edges of the galaxy, Archmagos Kotov's great voyage is over. He has achieved his goal - to find the resting place of the long-lost Vettius Telok. But Telok yet lives, and as the brave explorators of Kotov's fleet marvel at the wonders laid before them, darker plans unfold. As reality itself is threatened by impossible technologies from the dawn of time, it falls to a small group of heroes to thwart an insane plan that could see the entire universe annihilated.

Read it because
The terrible secret that has haunted the series is revealed, and it sheds new light on the Adeptus Mechanicus's eternal mission to retrieve technology, no matter the cost…