GI Joker Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 So I just started reading this book and my god, is it ever a slog. I had read the first three pretty much as they came out and then sort of fell behind. I recently picked up the second omnibus after rereading the first three. Wolfblade was good, as were the others by King, despite some inaccuracies and inconstancies. So I went into Sons of Fenris cautiously optimistic and was pleasantly surprised by the opening and that it seemed that the author was more familiar with the game and official canon (Ragnar assigns his Wolf Guard to lead squads, the Night Lords set up ambushes, etc.) But then I got into the meat of the book. Ugh. Whenever someone opens their mouth it is painful. Everyone is a cardboard cutout. It reads like a shot story written by a 9th grader. He writes 'The Wolfblade' to describe the entire group three times in as many sentences. He repeats himself constantly. Few synonyms. Says something to the effect of 'He didn't exactly know his exact location.' That just sounds clunky. He writes 'The Wolfeblade' constantly. Change it up, guy. Write 'The Space Wolves' or 'Ragnar's companions' or 'The elite cadre of warriors' or something. We'll get what you are talking about once you set up that The Wolfeblade is what we are describing. And when did that become the name of the unit rather than the title of the individuals? That is like saying 'The Marine' when talking about a squad. The whole thing just seems very amateurish and hard to read. It is more like fan fiction than a professional's work. I read the first four in a few days a piece, this one is going to take much longer, assuming I can force my way through it. Is it just me? Maybe I am being too harsh. What did you guys think? Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wispy Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 Lee Lightner is actually two dudes. Two dudes who like Space Wolves a lot but really have no business writing them. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/#findComment-2403152 Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmk17 Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 You are not alone in your discontent with the authors that are "Lee Lightner". Wolf Honour shows improvement from Sons of Fenris. You should enjoy other Space Wolves fiction. Wolf at the Gate by Mike Lee is really good piece about pre-heresy 13th Co. Twelve Wolves by Ben Counter is a cleverly written epic narrative set on Fenris during the war with the Ecclisiarchy. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/#findComment-2403171 Share on other sites More sharing options...
GI Joker Posted May 17, 2010 Author Share Posted May 17, 2010 Lee Lightner is actually two dudes. Two dudes who like Space Wolves a lot but really have no business writing them. Yeah, that does come through in the book. They do seem enthusiastic about the source material, they just aren't very good. Maybe if they fact checked for William King and he did the writing, we would have the perfect book. hmk17: Thanks for the suggestions, I will have to check them out. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/#findComment-2403188 Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickingbird Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 I read the first sw omnibus just before xmas. Got to say apart from the first one i found all of them to be rubbish. Not very flufffy, not very well written, terrible. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/#findComment-2403224 Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolf363839 Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 I've read all the SW books, and enjoyed each one. You get what you pay for. It helps if you really love the Wolves. But how disappointed can you really be with them? Are we really looking for War and Peace quality prose here? Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/#findComment-2403245 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Requiem of the Wolf Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 I've read all the SW books, and enjoyed each one. You get what you pay for. It helps if you really love the Wolves. But how disappointed can you really be with them? Are we really looking for War and Peace quality prose here? There is a difference between War and peace quality prose and better then 5th grade writing. To my mind,published works should at least be easily readable,and familiar with the subject matter. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/#findComment-2403265 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlk Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 So I just started reading this book and my god, is it ever a slog. I had read the first three pretty much as they came out and then sort of fell behind. I recently picked up the second omnibus after rereading the first three. Wolfblade was good, as were the others by King, despite some inaccuracies and inconstancies. So I went into Sons of Fenris cautiously optimistic and was pleasantly surprised by the opening and that it seemed that the author was more familiar with the game and official canon (Ragnar assigns his Wolf Guard to lead squads, the Night Lords set up ambushes, etc.) But then I got into the meat of the book. Ugh. Whenever someone opens their mouth it is painful. Everyone is a cardboard cutout. It reads like a shot story written by a 9th grader. He writes 'The Wolfblade' to describe the entire group three times in as many sentences. He repeats himself constantly. Few synonyms. Says something to the effect of 'He didn't exactly know his exact location.' That just sounds clunky. He writes 'The Wolfeblade' constantly. Change it up, guy. Write 'The Space Wolves' or 'Ragnar's companions' or 'The elite cadre of warriors' or something. We'll get what you are talking about once you set up that The Wolfeblade is what we are describing. And when did that become the name of the unit rather than the title of the individuals? That is like saying 'The Marine' when talking about a squad. The whole thing just seems very amateurish and hard to read. It is more like fan fiction than a professional's work. I read the first four in a few days a piece, this one is going to take much longer, assuming I can force my way through it. Is it just me? Maybe I am being too harsh. What did you guys think? Tell me about it. I actually translated Wolf's Honour for the Czech market and ever since then I hate those fateful words: "The young Space Wolf" OR "The young Space Marine". Seriously, it was really painful to work with... Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/#findComment-2403275 Share on other sites More sharing options...
GI Joker Posted May 17, 2010 Author Share Posted May 17, 2010 I've read all the SW books, and enjoyed each one. You get what you pay for. It helps if you really love the Wolves. But how disappointed can you really be with them? Are we really looking for War and Peace quality prose here? I do love me some Wolves. King's books honestly weren't great works of literature and they had their fair share of camp (a lot of name calling during duels comes to mind,) but they were entertaining. Dan Abnett's work is genuinely good. Lee Lightner and (from what I've heard) C.S. Gotto are a different story all together. Vlk: That is really funny. Have you translated any other BL books? Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/#findComment-2403303 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schertenleib Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 I enjoyed King's books. Though it seems you can't expect too much from B.L. It's not like they ever hired Gemmel :P The Lee Lightener books did seem to fall a bit short to me IMHO. So far the Wolf stuff I have enjoyed the most has been Wolf at the Gate (loved it!!), and Lone Wolves (the graphic novel by Abnett and Karl Richardson. Where is "Twelve Wolves"? Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/#findComment-2403428 Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmk17 Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 Twelve Wolves is in Legends of the Space Marines anthology. Though GW released it as a PDF a while back as a promotion. Since nothing ever disappears on the interweb, you should be able to find it. Legends of the Space Marines is a decent read overall. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/#findComment-2403632 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrolleif Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 Twelve Wolves by Ben Counter is a cleverly written epic narrative set on Fenris during the war with the Ecclisiarchy.I absolutely loved Twelve Wolves. I actually liked the Lee Lightner books for the most part, story wise more than anything. Not to say they couldn't be improved on or anything but I don't downright hate them. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/#findComment-2403676 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlk Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 I've read all the SW books, and enjoyed each one. You get what you pay for. It helps if you really love the Wolves. But how disappointed can you really be with them? Are we really looking for War and Peace quality prose here? I do love me some Wolves. King's books honestly weren't great works of literature and they had their fair share of camp (a lot of name calling during duels comes to mind,) but they were entertaining. Dan Abnett's work is genuinely good. Lee Lightner and (from what I've heard) C.S. Gotto are a different story all together. Vlk: That is really funny. Have you translated any other BL books? I assure you it was not that funny when the deadline started knocking on my door. Not to mention all those confusing ship/craft/assault whatever jibber-jabber they use when describing a bloody Thunderhawk! Besides Wolf's Honour, I've done three Gaunt's Ghosts novels so far and now I'm working on Horus Rising (yep, we're kinda late) plus the first one of those Smurf novels. Dan Abnett's writing skills should definitely be praised .) Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/#findComment-2403714 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulweih Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 I pretty much share Hrolleif's opinion. But can somebody please tell me where "Wolf at the gate" is? -_- Never even heard from it......and I don't want to die not having read it. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/#findComment-2404050 Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmk17 Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 Wolf at the Gate is in the anthology, Tales of Heresy. ToH is set during and before the Horus Heresy. Its been one of the best anthologies Black Library has made. Wolf at the Gate is arguably the best story in the book. Though the uber-intrigue of Blood Games is crazy and the suspense of Khârn vs. Angron is interesting. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/#findComment-2404262 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulweih Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 Thanks for the heads up brother, Ale's on me. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/201716-sons-of-fenris/#findComment-2404287 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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