What did Prospero Burns Contribute?

[Razhbad]

Don't get me wrong Prospero Burns was a gem of an idea. And i loved the culture stuff on the book that was about the only stuff i did like. But my main concern was it was written badley, very badley. Now a friend of mine once told me he thought that Dan Abnett could not write Space Marines (using stuff like Astartes in Gaunts Ghost as an example) and i defended Mr Abnett at the time. But this doesnt help my argument. Now it would have been nice to have character development on Space Wolf Characters instead of the 2 dimensional characters we got. There were so many things i wanted to know like what about the 13th Company, how did the battle of Prospero go down, where were the Remembrancers (after all every Legion was forced to have them) and most of all something of sustance with Russ himself. Now if Dan Abnett had got rid of every bit on Terra and replaced it with the stuff i just put then this and wrote it well then this had the potential of being the greatest HH book.

 

It makes me think when i look at topics on The First Heretic and A Thousand Sons there is not a huge debate on how good the story is, where as with this one it is clearly really devided perhaps 50/50, which leaves me to believe that if previous books dont cause this division then Dan Abnett must have done something wrong (though it pains me to say it).

[Khestra the Unbeheld]

It makes me think when i look at topics on The First Heretic and A Thousand Sons there is not a huge debate on how good the story is, where as with this one it is clearly really devided perhaps 50/50, which leaves me to believe that if previous books dont cause this division then Dan Abnett must have done something wrong (though it pains me to say it).

 

Thousand Sons was very straightforward, even with the Magnus sell-out thing. The First Heretic generated a lot of debate, but not about story quality, just the events that transpired within it. Prospero Burns is a very different animal from either of those, it stands to reason it would be the one to throw the biggest rock into the lake to make the biggest waves.

[Pacific81]

Don't get me wrong Prospero Burns was a gem of an idea. And i loved the culture stuff on the book that was about the only stuff i did like. But my main concern was it was written badley, very badley.

 

Must... resist...... urge.... to ...... quote..... in .... sig

 

Re. the OP. I guess really it comes down to what you want in the book. Most of the criticisms about the book come down to the name; It's called Prospero Burns, why was there no burning prospero in it? Fair enough, perhaps the title was slightly misleading, but we had already read all about the planet being blown to pieces in McNeil's book, was there really the need to recount exactly the same components of the story but with the opposite perspective (just subbing in 'Bear' for 'Ahriman'?) I thought what we got was far better; a thorough filling out of the Space Wolves background, a transformation from belching vikings with wolf pelts in beer halls to a tribal people which have embraced the technology of the imperium while remaining true to their cultural roots, what was just another chapter into a legion that filled a specific purpose within the hierarchy of the Imperium. Namely, what happens when you need to kill the killers?

 

But I thought the real art in the book was how Abnett managed to flesh out all the details, to create something new, but at no point did you feel he was treading on the concept of the SW or somehow twisting it into a new idea just for the sake of it. How many SW fans have you seen complaining about the content of this book, and compare it to the number of recommendations in turn? Really, I think that is the measure of it's success, in that the people who have spent weeks if not months of their lives pouring over the novels and codecies, and painting and playing with the models, seem to have almost unanimously returned a favourable verdict of this book.

 

Other complaints centre around there not being enough grimly clutching of bolters, and whispered devotions to the Emperor while smiting of orcs in twain. Well, there are plenty of other books which cater to bolter-porn pulp. I think what Mr. Abnett produced was far more thought provoking, and really I struggle to imagine how it would have been any better had he tackled the title in a different manner.

[Vixthra]

I continue to get the impression from the various critics of Prospero Burns that "Space Wolves 2: Electric Booga-loo" would have been the only acceptable type of book to satisfy them complete with Michael Bay grimdark explosions on every page.

 

Apologies for being slightly off topic but this made me laugh so hard I nearly spat coffee xD

[Razhbad]

Don't get me wrong Prospero Burns was a gem of an idea. And i loved the culture stuff on the book that was about the only stuff i did like. But my main concern was it was written badley, very badley.

 

Must... resist...... urge.... to ...... quote..... in .... sig

 

Put it as Sig my good man, i have no qualms with you quoting me.

[Brother Ambroz]

I finished reading PB a few weeks ago. I agree with most of you. I think the general consensus was that it was a good book, yet we're all still left looking for more. It showed us a cultural side of the space wolves, it showed us how the ruinous powers took a much more direct hand in the SW/TS conflict than we had all previously thought and lastly it showed us the exact reasoning behind the burning of Prospero. While we all wanted a bit more out of the book, IE action between the two legions, we recieved the two parallel reasons behind the sacking of Prospero. While I would really appreciate another book perhaps to enlighten on alot of the battle (fight scenes between some of the more important characters) this book did its job and Dan stuck to his strengths with writing with a human character. Just my two or three cents. - TG

[Beef]

I continue to get the impression from the various critics of Prospero Burns that "Space Wolves 2: Electric Booga-loo" would have been the only acceptable type of book to satisfy them complete with Michael Bay grimdark explosions on every page.

Sure, insult those who thought this was a poor contribution to the HH series as simpletons. :)

 

Personally, I don't like reading the actual action sequences. It's the tension leading up to altercations with important ramifications, and the aftermath of those battles is what hooked me on the HH series. There was very little of that in Prospero Burns.

 

 

I dont really like action sequences that much but I wanted more of the characters of the SW to show through, Just as we had with Loken i wanted a in depth thinking SW as the main protaganist not some human observer. Anyway i still emjoyed the book cos any book with Sw is a winner in my eyes no matter how badly written. But then i fall into the older versions of Sw when we were just simple barbarians.