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new ariman book coming


hummus

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Very interested in this, but also very cautious. Ahriman is arguably one of my favourite 40K characters full stop, especially after his portrayal in A Thousand Sons, in which he is an astute and considered metaphysician; a humanitarian scholar who seeks the transcendence of humanity via any means available. I want that retained, even into the depths of his "damnation." Alone of all the Chaos special characters, Ahriman still seems to act with regards to his original idealism and philosophy: he is not some fanatic or corrupt megalomaniac; he seeks mastery of the Warp; to bring Chaos itself to heel and use that as the basis for founding a new condition of humanity, or rather, to allow the species to transcend that very definition. What I don't want to see is moustachio twirling villainy. When "sacrifices" have to be made by Ahriman, when evils are committed, they are necessary; paling into insignificance next to what he feels he could potentially achieve come their fruition. Okay, he may be a deluded pawn of the Jackal God, but it's this motivating factor that makes him interesting; not his status as a "villain."
Well, he starts out kind of whiny and emo, but he does get better... the other characters are well put together. I'm not all the way through yet, but I'm hoping that we'll at least learn what chapter the renegade Marine characters are from.

Well, I was gonna review it on Amazon, but apparently they don't allow that until the official release date.

 

Ahriman: Exile is the story of how Ahriman transitions from a guilt-wracked wreck of his former self, hiding under a false identity to the again-proud Sorcerer we know from the game.

 

Despite this lofty goal, the book starts slowly, provoking feelings of frustration in the reader. The book begins with the title character in an existential crisis he's apparently been struggling with for ten thousand years, crawling and subservient to an unworthy wretch of a chaos lord, acting in a manner that makes a reader want to slap him around the back of the head. For the first half of the book, it's the supporting characters who make the story, even after circumstances leave Ahriman the master of his own destiny once more.

 

The book's climax is as epic as you could desire from a Warhammer 40,000 novel, but the ending leaves the reader with most of the questions we had hoped to see answered unresolved. The transition of Ahriman and the Rubricae from red armour to blue occurs in an almost Final Fantasy-esque sequence of grand change as their allegiance and attitude - from despair to hope and from destruction to salvation - change with their master.

 

The ending leaves us hanging, wanting some form of resolution. As it is, the book has an epic climax - but it's a middle-of-the-story kind of pivotal moment, like the Council of Rivendell if it had been resolved as a duel between Gandalf and Galadriel. Ultimately, Ahriman: Exile answers few of the questions fans of Ahriman and the Thousand Sons hoped would be answers. An enjoyable story once you get past Ahriman's 'Shinji Syndrome', but definitely more for general consumption than aimed at dedicated fans of the character.

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