Dear HH fans: you can afford to give back Dan Abnett.

[Beta galactosidase]

This idea has a few premises. Know No Fear and Unremembered Empire are not individual stories.  Their value is extracted by being a fan generally of the Horus Heresy series and consuming the Black Library or Forgeworld catalogues as a continuous work or as a corporate brand.

 

Most of the BL books by Dan Abnett are characters and plots that are not relevant to codexes, models, or other novels.  They have beginnings, middles, ends, and characters who are only important because they are part of the novel, not because they have ever appeared anywhere else.  He writes self contained books that I can read mostly out of a yen for reading novels.

 

Prospero Burns and A Thousand Sons do not resemble each other in the slightest.  Prospero Burns has main characters who will never appear again anywhere, and even characters that do, like Othere Wyrdmake and the two Amons, are minor figures all around.  A Thousand Sons is primarily from the point of view of two characters who have models (Magnus in 6mm), rules, and preexisting fan bases.

 

 

If you want a novel that supplies an appropriate number of appearances by the background figures, paint schemes, and army list entries you know and love, there are plenty of authors available, and when Dan Abnett writes HH novels, he is just taking up release slots that they can have.  He writes about characters, he does not write novels with the premise or selling point that this is a novel about Ultramarines, or this is a novel about Night Lords, or this is a novel about Salamanders or Cadians, Valhallans, or Baneblades.

 

Those are the kinds of novel that the Calth/Macgragge books have been.  It would have been much better for you if someone else had written them, and for me if Dan Abnett had written a book that left me with something at the end that I didn't have at the beginning.  (before reading the book, I thought I was going to read a book about Roboute Guilliman, while reading the book I thought I was reading a number of pages about Roboute Guilliman, now I have read a number of pages about Roboute Guilliman)

 

Edit:  the point is that you should give Dan Abnett back, because you don't need him or even deserve him, and I want to read another Riders of the Dead, or Titanicus, books where all the characters are never heard from again, and the events do not effect some kind of horrible storyline you all seem to care about so much.

[Grim Dog Studios]

Prospero Burns and A Thousand Sons do not resemble each other in the slightest.  Prospero Burns has main characters who will never appear again anywhere, and even characters that do, like Othere Wyrdmake and the two Amons, are minor figures all around.  A Thousand Sons is primarily from the point of view of two characters who have models (Magnus in 6mm), rules, and preexisting fan bases.

 

You are forgetting Bjorn, who is quite a big player when it comes to space wolves.

[Conn Eremon]

Not to mention every Primarch he's ever written ever.

[Zincite]

I've discussed this with a friend. He didn't like Prospero Burns because it didn't relate to the Horus Heresy series. The 'important' part where Prospero burns is almost tagged onto the end. On the other hand it's one of the only HH novels I've reread, because I enjoyed it so much.

 

I like to take a step back occasionally to breath in the setting. To study the detail in the worlds, people, cultures and battles. Prospero Burns gave me that chance. It didn't affect the main plot, but it was a really good book and I enjoyed it.

 

It'd be better for you (and my friend) if he'd not written that novel. But I thought it was a wonderful addition to the series. That's one of the good things about the Horus Heresy, I think. There's so many different authors that everyone's bound to find something they like. It adds a lot of variety to it, too.

[Retributis]

He writes about characters, he does not write novels with the premise or selling point that this is a novel about Ultramarines, or this is a novel about Night Lords, or this is a novel about Salamanders or Cadians, Valhallans, or Baneblades.

 

Yeah, books shouldn't be about characters or stories or other such annoyances. I'd much rather the books I read be unsubtle pieces of advertising for whatever model or range GW wants to try and give a boost in sales to.

[Demus Ragnok]

I have discovered a revolutionary solution to this problem and many others like it.

 

If you don't like an author's work...don't read it.

 

See how simple that is.

[Apothecary Vaddon]

Dear Old Timers

 

Shut up.

 

Sincerely,

 

The New Wave

[Redtoof]

Not everyone reads the Horus Heresy novels just for the 'big names'. I prefer to read exciting, well writen stories with interesting, beleivable characters, regardless of their rank or relavence to the big story. Some of the books read more like a vehicle just to show how awesome Captain Reoccuring is so he can do something important in 5 books time.

[depthcharge12]

Dear Old Timers

 

Shut up.

 

Sincerely,

 

The New Wave

 

 

Get off my lawn you dang centurion playing kids!!!

 

*shakes feribundus pattern dreadnought angrily*

[Brother Captain Sirus]

If you want a book about colour schemes, background figures and army list entries then you should buy a codex, as the HH series is a collection of stories, and as such do require such things as characters, plot and the like.

 

you cant write a good story by going "Muahahaha, look father I just killed Angel boy and you're next so look out as I have an AP2 power fist and because I'm empowered by chaos I get +D6 Attacks on the charge as well as +1 for having 2 CCW even though one is normally specialist."

[Entei]

So your argument is that Abnett shouldn't write HH-novels because some of his main characters aren't already established in the lore and he writes plots that doesn't contribute that much to the big story. 

 

Well. I guess we can afford to give up nearly all the authors at Black Library then, because besides Graham Mcneill it seems like Abnett has written about the most of the famous characters in HH.

 

You take Prospero Burns as an example, a book that was written to give an insight into the minds of the 30k-Space Wolves and explain why they acted as they did, something that Abnett said long before the book was released. It wasn't intended to show the actual battle of Prospero from the Wolves' POV like a Hollywood-actionmovie.

 

Where did you get the idea that Unremembered Empire would be 100% about Guilliman and no one else?

 

And besides, Know No Fear is nearly exactly what you say it isn't. It's a novel about a famous battle that contributes immensely to the big picture, and it manages to make the Ultramarines look awesome despite being the losers.

[GhostMalone]

I'm not touching on this as it's a toxic thread.

 

There's a galaxy at war billions of individuals fighting it out

 

The primarchs legions and established characters aren't all that there is.

[Hyaenidae]

Dear Old Timers

 

Shut up.

 

Sincerely,

 

The New Wave

 

Dear New Wave,

 

Amazingly enough, We agree with you this time.

 

Sincerely,

 

The Old Farts

[Conn Eremon]

 

 

Dear Old Timers

 

Shut up.

 

Sincerely,

 

The New Wave

Dear New Wave,

 

Amazingly enough, We agree with you this time.

 

Sincerely,

 

The Old Farts

Well, there goes my immersion. There's only so much disbelief you can suspend.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Dear HH fans, ignore the best writer the BL has*

 

Is that what  you mean?

 

Yeah, like someone else above mentioned, just skip the books if you don't like the author. I do the same.

 

The world needs less people calling their Congressman to complain about a TV show they don't like instead of just changing the channel.

[Ace Debonair]

EDIT:

 

Probably a little confrontational on my part.

 

Gist of my point was that this is a very silly thread.

[Hyaenidae]

Dear HH fans, ignore the best writer the BL has*

 

Is that what  you mean?

 

Yeah, like someone else above mentioned, just skip the books if you don't like the author. I do the same.

 

The world needs less people calling their Congressman to complain about a TV show they don't like instead of just changing the channel.

 

Perfectly said, sir. The world ain't gonna end because you haven't seen a book you like lately. Don't like it, don't read it. Hate waiting, pick up something different outside of the genre.

 

Still can't take it? Probably time to figure out your priorities in life.

[Demus Ragnok]

 

Dear HH fans, ignore the best writer the BL has*

 

Is that what  you mean?

 

Yeah, like someone else above mentioned, just skip the books if you don't like the author. I do the same.

 

The world needs less people calling their Congressman to complain about a TV show they don't like instead of just changing the channel.

 

Perfectly said, sir. The world ain't gonna end because you haven't seen a book you like lately. Don't like it, don't read it. Hate waiting, pick up something different outside of the genre.

 

Still can't take it? Probably time to figure out your priorities in life.

This.

[Hyaenidae]

Thought I was done here, until I read your edit...

 

Edit:  the point is that you should give Dan Abnett back, because you don't need him or even deserve him, and I want to read another Riders of the Dead, or Titanicus, books where all the characters are never heard from again, and the events do not effect some kind of horrible storyline you all seem to care about so much.

 

Highlighting that bit, so others can see the foolishness, narrow-mindedness and selfishness in all it's glory.

 

If you're just hanging around this site to troll and inflame, then do us all a favor, and find a different site to lurk on.

[I Legion]

Personally, Abnett is my favorite BL author. I've just recently started rereading his "Gaunt's Ghosts" novels.

 

You don't have to appreciate fine writing, but feel free to let the rest of us enjoy having such an outstanding author writing in our favorite universe. Thanks,

[depthcharge12]

Personally, Abnett is my favorite BL author. I've just recently started rereading his "Gaunt's Ghosts" novels.

 

You don't have to appreciate fine writing, but feel free to let the rest of us enjoy having such an outstanding author writing in our favorite universe. Thanks,

 

 

Lol,

 

I appreciate you using your first post to smack down a troll.

 

+1

[Gorkimedes]

Since Horus Rising in 2006 Abnett has written four other Heresy books. In that time he's also written

 

Brothers of the Snake- 2007

Tactica Imperialis: A History of Later Imperial Crusades- 2007

Ravenor Rogue-2007

Warpsword- 2007

Lord of Ruin- 2007

Only in Death - 2008

Titanicus- 2008

Blood Pact- 2009

Salvation's Reach- 2011

Pariah- 2012

The Warmaster- 2013

 

This isn't even counting all of the comic books,  non warhammer books and audios. The whole idea behind this thread isn't just silly it's also just plain wrong. 

 

 

 

[Scribe]

I'm not in on the HH meetings (though I would pay for fly on the wall status...) but I get the impression from the books, that Dan is very much world building in there, at least far more than the books written by others so far would illustrate.

 

That said, what else is going to write? Proper 40K? HH is where its at, let it never end...

[Wade Garrett]

The thread title had me believing we would be asked to give back "to" Dan Abnett, most likely by donating canned goods and blankets to some sort of starving artists relief fund.

 

After much internal debate and wringing of hands, I finally decided one slip up in Unremembered Empire didn't blot out the good times I had reading Prospero Burns, Know No Fear, Horus Rising and Legion and clicked to find out where to send my excess chicken noodle soup and flannel blankets.

 

Annnnd now I'm SEETHING WITH RAGE AT OP'S INABILITY TO EXPRESS CONCEPTS PROVOKING A CONPLETELY UNNECESSARY BOUT OF SOUL SEARCHING! THE TONGUE OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS! CANST THOU CONVERSE IT IN, SEDUCER OF MATRIARCHS?

[DarthMarko]

 

Personally, Abnett is my favorite BL author. I've just recently started rereading his "Gaunt's Ghosts" novels.

 

You don't have to appreciate fine writing, but feel free to let the rest of us enjoy having such an outstanding author writing in our favorite universe. Thanks,

 

 

Lol,

 

I appreciate you using your first post to smack down a troll.

 

+1

+ 10000

Dan is no.1 BL writer in my eyes + PB and UE( read: Curze r u l e s) is A fething brilliant story...

For instance, I heard a lot of new age dudes complaining about PB... like : "We didn't have actual burning in the book (read: We wanna Dragon ball Z  primarchs fightning)!", and I was like : "WOT ? You have a literary masterpiece and you are complaining ?" Ofc, I was trashed by the fanboyz so I stopped debating and went for a drink (or two)...

 

BL doesn't deserve him...my 2 cents...