Deliverance Lost

"War within the shadows"

- Book's tag-line

Deliverance Lost is the eighteenth book in the Horus Heresy series

Plot Summary
Deliverance Lost concerns the actions of the Primarch Corvus Corax and the XIX Space Marine Legion, the Raven Guard, during the year following the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V (Book 5). However, covert operatives and the Primarchs Alpharius Omegon of the Alpha Legion (Book 7) play prominent roles.

The novel also provides some information about the developing strategies and subterfuge practiced by the different sides of the conflict, including reasons for the timetable of the conflict as prosecuted by Warmaster Horus, and for the actions of the Emperor as the Horus Heresy was initially unfolding. The story begins approximately 3 months after the Drop Site Massacre, with the unexpected rescue of Corax and the remnants of his Legion (at less than 5% strength) from Istvaan V.

Apparently arriving at Terra a few months after the events described in The Outcast Dead (Book 17) had taken place, Corax convinces the Emperor to impart to him the necessary knowledge and material to accelerate the rebuilding of his Legion, including the top-secret remnants of gene-stock left over from the original Primarch Project. The second part of the novel describes the effort to reconstitute the Raven Guard, and the opposition to this by the hidden operatives of the Alpha Legion. The novel also features a reappearance of the Cabal (Book 7), and of other well-known characters from previous books in the series.