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I particularly like how to everyone in the throne room, Magnus appeared as a insanity inducing monster of pure horror, killing many of the mortals around him with his mere presence. If he only wanted weapons he'd have just stuck to making Thunder Warriors who were far superior to the Space Marines, and in fact the main reason he switched was because the Thunder Warriors were only good as weapons. However, perhaps the biggest problem overall is the Emperor himself, and how certain events are presented surrounding him. While each of these points isn't delved into with the depth and detail one might expect from what was done to the Legions, it nevertheless sheds a great deal of light on the subject. One, as you pointed out, this version of the Emperor seems to be limited to AD-B alone, so we could choose to disregard.
Eventually the shamans of Humanity, unable to reincarnate, would become extinct, and without the shamans and their psychic abilities to guide the race, Humanity would inevitably fall prey to the corruptions of Chaos, just as eventually happened to the Aeldari.
However, the maintenance of this beacon requires the aid of other psykers, whose lifeforces are slowly drained away by the Emperor to power the beacon. If you are looking for Black Library fiction that breaks the mould of hulking warriors in impossibly oversized armour, over the top military battles against nightmarish, 80s horror movie adversaries, and abject nihilism at every corner, you will be disappointed. What the novel offers readers is a glimpse into the raging war throughout the beginnings of the Imperial Webway, a look into the Custodian Guard, and even an examination of the Emperor himself. It could be down to personal opinion of course, but most accounts of the tale cite it as a story heavily criticizing the Emperor's edict. There's some suggestions that the Emperor realises they might be linked, or even bend a mind towards, the Ruinous Powers, but does nothing because their failings would supposedly be offset by their killing potential.
I don't want to ruin the scene itself, but it really starts to hammer home the idea that the Emperor is not a "good" man. Given the opportunity to fully explore the Imperial Palace, and the variety of locations on hand, the book's focus could have easily wavered and become distracted by secondary details, robbing the reader of this one moment to see the conflict beneath the seat of Imperial power.
He is also said to constantly battle the Chaos Gods in the Warp and prevent their further intrusion upon the material universe. His acumen is best demonstrated in his intricate descriptions of various on-field weaponry, combat accoutrements and other granular military minutiae gathered by only those intimate with the subject matter. I'll likely still pick up this book because I do like reading well-written stories regardless of how predictable they feel, though that one point is a major failing to me that on its own might kill the book for me. Even without the Titan battles, the Mechanicus storylines and flashbacks to past eras, all of these are weighty events which could have crushed a weaker narrative or less skilled author. The likes of Blackest Night and Infinity Crisis both hinge upon infuriating, and often extremely negative, trends but the sheer direction and talent behind them helps it pull through.
I remember reading a little paragraph on him more than a decade ago when they first redid the Land Raider model for 3rd edition. It was a cadre of several hundred Custodians, even then believed to have been commanded by the legendary Constantin Valdor, and accompanied by several thousand prototype Astartes of the I Legion of the newborn Space Marines, that stood in the Emperor's defence, carrying out a merciless culling of the obsolete and rebellious gene-soldiers. While he lacks the sheer punch of McNeill's works or Abnett's sheer attention to detail, the thematic and emotive qualities of Dembski-Bowde n's books cannot be denied. They're competently written and conceptually interesting for sure, but many lacked that same connection his Traitor characters benefited from.Land is portrayed as a man who is at odds with the very institution he is a part of, holding little reverence for anything, even the Emperor. While Horus' rebellion burns across the galaxy, a very different kind of war rages beneath the Imperial Palace. It has also resulted in technological and cultural stagnation, and a regression into tyranny, superstition and religious obfuscation and intolerance that would have horrified the Emperor.
In his opinion, what makes the story more interesting is to have a more anti-Imperial approach to things, where Chaos will always win no matter what. Just as the Imperium had reached its apex in the first decade of the 31st Millennium, the Emperor's most trusted son, the Primarch Horus of the Luna Wolves Legion (later renamed the Sons of Horus), fell to Chaos as a result of his own pride, need and ambition. In each of these visions the Emperor tries to teach Ra a little bit more about why the Great Work is so important, as well as staying appraised of what's going on with the battles. If only one side has ever been winning, without anything ever stopping or coming close to halting it, what's the point in getting invested in it?The Custodes were the main perspective of the Emperor in this, so they see him as their buddy/cool dad, and the rest of the Imperium are not his kids, just his tools. Having been created from adult troops who had undergone a rapid process of genetic, bionic and chemical augmentation, many did have difficulty coping with the physiological changes. It is wonderfully crafted, brilliantly atmospheric and with a great conversation, yet it has the simple problem of making little to no sense in the grand scheme of things. Some of the New Man's plans proved less than successful; seeds of wisdom often failed to flourish or grew into uncontrollable monstrosities leading to eras of persecution and war.
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