Purging of Kadillus

[EPK]

Gotcha. Just reading Purging is what brought me to this conclusion, perhaps it was a bad one to judge the others by. I have Battle of Fang on the way.

 

I know character development is important, but these are Space Marines that have fought many battles before this, I wonder how much something like this might actually change them if at all? But than, if their is no profound changes, should the story even be written?

 

I can't say I love how Belial came across at times though. I'd say they do have personalities, though somewhat cliche, Boreas the over zealous Chaplain, Naaman the outspoken teacher, yet duty bound nonetheless. At least Angels of Darkness did develop Boreas and some of the other characters a bit.

[Droma]

That's one of the reasons I like that book better. Not only is there character development but there was plot as well. Purging read as a play by play where as helsreach for example provides some really nice details both to what actually happened but to the chapter in general. You knew that those were definitely Black Templars fighting not any one of hundreds of chapters.

 

Another thing in my mind that was a problem was how little Belial was focused on. We miss his fight with Ghazkull and his injury. That was a major thing when the battle is presented in the codex yet it's absent from the book. Boreas doesn't even feature in the codex yet takes up a large chunk of the book that to me is pretty pointless and doesn't really add much to the story. In the codex Belial is made out to be a tactical genius overcoming massive numbers of orks through sheer brilliant use of tactics and in Purging he's presented as a clueless and self doubting. Ghazkull was a much better written character in the book than almost any of the Dark Angels and that's pretty sad in my mind. I'd have loved to see the back and forth between Ghazkull and Belial with a dash of Namaan tossed in. The book would have benefited imo.

[EPK]

I pretty much agree with you on all those points regarding Belial and you make a good point that the characters were missing anything specifically Dark Angel-esque.

[Tycho6]

I'm only part way through, so have just skimmed this topic so I don't spoil the book or me, but so far I'm confused if this is set before or after AoD. Some of the characters are in both, and Boreas has just mentioned his the 'main' character from AoD.

 

Have I misunderstood the end of AoD, or is this book set part way through that story?

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

It's before. The dates say it's before, as does the fluff. Plus,

if he's dead, he can't exactly go around stomping Ork face.

[Chaplain Lucifer]

Having now read the book, I must say I liked Naaman a lot. As for Belial, it was nice to see how DA "paranoia" works... he feels the weight of responsibility as he thinks he's being watched and judged but in the end he realizes things are not what they seem and he manages to escape the "paranoia".

As for Boreas.. maybe a third time will be a charm because he still didn't won me over as fan. ;)

[Tycho6]

Thanks for the Chapter Master, it was just what is said on page 247 that confused me.

[Cactus]

I'm only part way through, so have just skimmed this topic so I don't spoil the book or me, but so far I'm confused if this is set before or after AoD. Some of the characters are in both, and Boreas has just mentioned his the 'main' character from AoD.

 

Have I misunderstood the end of AoD, or is this book set part way through that story?

 

Both. Purging of Kadillus is set after the Angels of Darkness flashbacks (

Astelan's interrogation

) but before the stuff around Piscina. I think Angels of Darkness makes a reference early on to the recent war against Ghazgkhul and Boreas

chafes a bit at not having left with the rest of the chapter

.

[Tycho6]

That explains it. Thank you.

 

Things like that irritate me if they are wrong (especially if it's the same author).

[Bolt Thrower]

I've almost finished this and I have mixed feelings. Naaman is a dude and his story was well written, as was Nestor's. There simply wasn't enough character developement through the whole of the book to make me give a crap about what was going on (with the exception of Naaman). It read like a battle report and the writer's heritage as a gamer and game designer shone through, unfortunately at the expense of good developement and narrative.

[Grand Master Neo]

I've almost finished this and I have mixed feelings. Naaman is a dude and his story was well written, as was Nestor's. There simply wasn't enough character developement through the whole of the book to make me give a crap about what was going on (with the exception of Naaman). It read like a battle report and the writer's heritage as a gamer and game designer shone through, unfortunately at the expense of good developement and narrative.

it was released as part of the battle report series so that kinda explains itself really

[Droma]

it was released as part of the battle report series so that kinda explains itself really

 

No it doesn't. Novels are not and should never be battle reports. While I like purging better than fall of damnos, both helsreach and battle of the fang blow it out of the water.

[Bolt Thrower]

Also, every major skirmish kind of went:

Orks arrive in great number, some ork die quite sectacularly, some marines get killed somehow, marines carry on shooting until the orks run away.

 

PS, is it the law that every GW novelist must use the word 'staccato'?

[Droma]

I think its the rule with anyone writing about a lot of guns being fired. I've heard it in ton of places. There just aren't that many words in the english language to describe that type of noise.

 

As for how the battles go that is pretty much it and sometimes its not even that involved. I think there is a reason Gav hasn't written anything in the HH series beyond a single short in Age of Darkness. I don't think he can write space marines. He can write people just fine as witnessed in the naaman chapters and those of the pdf trooper. He just can't write space marines(or action).

 

I'd like to see him take a crack at a story about guardsmen or an Inquisitor and see how those turn out to see if there really is a difference or just a perceived one.

[Gillyfish]

Actually one of the things I liked was that you really got the sense of a campaign unfolding - move and counter-move, objectives shifting in the light of new intelligence. It actually felt like Space Marines at war. Partly that would be due to the source material which would have helped to give it that structure.

 

I take the point about Belial's self doubt, but that's mainly internal and doesn't match the perception of him externally. Perhaps Gav tried to give him a Hornblower/Sharpe style sense of doubt? The hero who doesn't realise his own worth can make for an engaging character.