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The Talon Of Horus


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Hum. The Talon of Horus wallpapers have been taken off the BL website which is a damn shame because I didn't manage to nag them before they disappeared. Any chance that someone here has them and could provide them for both myself and anyone else who'd like them, please?

 

Google "toh-wp.zip". Top result should be something in Russian on vk.com. It's a direct link to the file.

Finished my first read through this morning, couldn't fight sleep before I got to the last chapter. Kept looking at the page numbers in the hope that it wasn't getting closer to 356 and the beginning of the Wonderworker, just wanted it to keep going.

 

As for the tale, wow....so much to take in....few points that as far as I know, have never been put into to the depth of detail ADB provides i.e. the nature of the warp, creation of machine spirits, the Astronomican to name some non-key spoilers....

 

To paraphrase from the Wonderworker, "...realising that gratitude can reach such heights of ferocity that words are incapable of doing it justice" and that's was my initial feeling after finishing it...head blown at several moments throughout. Got some time over the next couple of days to read it again and will put some details in

3rd read is done. Jaw is still on the deck and unlikely to be removed any time soon. I'm going to disappoint a lot of people by including no spoilers. I think anything less than a proper read through will just cheapen the experience and waste a massive amount of exceptional writing.

 

So some thoughts. I rate this higher than the Night Lords series and the HH series with 1 or 2 very exceptional cases. I honestly think this will be looked back on as the dawn of something very special in the same way that Eisenhorn and Horus Rising took BL to a new level in their turn.

 

Bold claims. Here's why.

 

The night lords were carte blanche and the HH really didn't have all that much information doing the rounds. Abaddon on the other hand has been around a long time and has been touted as the downfall of the Imperium as long as the lore has been a valued part of the game. That requires a hell of a lot of effort to make sure everything that has gone before isn't cast by the wayside for the sake of it. The design team should take heed on how to put an original spin on existing material.

 

The characters are engaging. Khayon combines and surpasses the depth of Talos and Argel Tal and telling his tale in the first person a master stroke, so much more of his motivations and desires are conveyed than if we had to try and interpret them through third person. The other major players are very well pronounced too. I confess I had preconceptions of Telemachion and Lheor based on chosen of chaos. I was both surprised and very pleased how they were shown in interesting and unexpected ways.

 

As for Abaddon himself, finally he's taken away from the 2 dimensional psychotic warlord who rules through fear and fury. He might lapse occasionally but he's shown to have become far more cunning, measured and calculating during his pilgrimage through the Eye. He's grown in his exile.

 

A lot is giving over as well to how the Black Legion would differ from the old Legions and the war bands haunting the eye which I think plant a firm divider between the two, something the codices over the years have failed epically at. I said about 5-6 months ago that this book would see Black Legion armies explode and I've no doubt it'll happen because of this book.

 

There was a downside or 2 for me. A couple of characters were left a bit too obscure in their origins for my taste but that could be mainly to leaving it as plot hooks for later on. That and the last few pages provide so much hype for the books to come but that's just my impatience talking.

 

There's a particular part that I actually shouted "you :cuss genius :cuss you!!" Anyone who remembers the Eye of Terror campaign will know what it is.

 

Summing up, I'm looking forward to the weekender just to shake Aaron's hand and say "congratulations mate, you nailed it"

 

Oh and reading the wonderworker, gutted to see you included a title I thought I'd got all to myself. Damn you!

 

Man I wish I could read this in a non pirate way.

Reading with a parrot on your shoulder and an eye patch while drinking rum is the best way to read!

 

I wish, stupid work stops me from having summer. No holidays. Stuck doing stupid and dangerous stuff. And drinking is only to a certain extent, if only you could see what is going on here. Wish my wife could send me stuff, but there is just no normal way and as much as I like w40k it aint worth the bribes.

3rd read is done. Jaw is still on the deck and unlikely to be removed any time soon. I'm going to disappoint a lot of people by including no spoilers. I think anything less than a proper read through will just cheapen the experience and waste a massive amount of exceptional writing.

So some thoughts. I rate this higher than the Night Lords series and the HH series with 1 or 2 very exceptional cases. I honestly think this will be looked back on as the dawn of something very special in the same way that Eisenhorn and Horus Rising took BL to a new level in their turn.

Bold claims. Here's why.

The night lords were carte blanche and the HH really didn't have all that much information doing the rounds. Abaddon on the other hand has been around a long time and has been touted as the downfall of the Imperium as long as the lore has been a valued part of the game. That requires a hell of a lot of effort to make sure everything that has gone before isn't cast by the wayside for the sake of it. The design team should take heed on how to put an original spin on existing material.

The characters are engaging. Khayon combines and surpasses the depth of Talos and Argel Tal and telling his tale in the first person a master stroke, so much more of his motivations and desires are conveyed than if we had to try and interpret them through third person. The other major players are very well pronounced too. I confess I had preconceptions of Telemachion and Lheor based on chosen of chaos. I was both surprised and very pleased how they were shown in interesting and unexpected ways.

As for Abaddon himself, finally he's taken away from the 2 dimensional psychotic warlord who rules through fear and fury. He might lapse occasionally but he's shown to have become far more cunning, measured and calculating during his pilgrimage through the Eye. He's grown in his exile.

A lot is giving over as well to how the Black Legion would differ from the old Legions and the war bands haunting the eye which I think plant a firm divider between the two, something the codices over the years have failed epically at. I said about 5-6 months ago that this book would see Black Legion armies explode and I've no doubt it'll happen because of this book.

There was a downside or 2 for me. A couple of characters were left a bit too obscure in their origins for my taste but that could be mainly to leaving it as plot hooks for later on. That and the last few pages provide so much hype for the books to come but that's just my impatience talking.

There's a particular part that I actually shouted "you censored.gif genius censored.gif you!!" Anyone who remembers the Eye of Terror campaign will know what it is.

Summing up, I'm looking forward to the weekender just to shake Aaron's hand and say "congratulations mate, you nailed it"

Oh and reading the wonderworker, gutted to see you included a title I thought I'd got all to myself. Damn you!

This sounds amazing, and everything I could hope it to be. Someone posted in my thread in the Chaos forum that was far less.... smitten with the end product. I don't want to set myself up for disappointment but you certainly give me a lot of hope.... after so many years of disappointing Abe/BL fiction could this finally be the light in the warp?

I don't want to get too excited for this. Being in Canada it could be a ways off... I'm finishing Scars, and will start Vengeful Spirit soon. I'm thinking when Talon of Horus does come, my wife will have to leave the house and I will be locked in a very warp intensive room (the bathroom?) and probably slam through the book.

3rd read is done. Jaw is still on the deck and unlikely to be removed any time soon. I'm going to disappoint a lot of people by including no spoilers. I think anything less than a proper read through will just cheapen the experience and waste a massive amount of exceptional writing.

So some thoughts. I rate this higher than the Night Lords series and the HH series with 1 or 2 very exceptional cases. I honestly think this will be looked back on as the dawn of something very special in the same way that Eisenhorn and Horus Rising took BL to a new level in their turn.

Bold claims. Here's why.

The night lords were carte blanche and the HH really didn't have all that much information doing the rounds. Abaddon on the other hand has been around a long time and has been touted as the downfall of the Imperium as long as the lore has been a valued part of the game. That requires a hell of a lot of effort to make sure everything that has gone before isn't cast by the wayside for the sake of it. The design team should take heed on how to put an original spin on existing material.

The characters are engaging. Khayon combines and surpasses the depth of Talos and Argel Tal and telling his tale in the first person a master stroke, so much more of his motivations and desires are conveyed than if we had to try and interpret them through third person. The other major players are very well pronounced too. I confess I had preconceptions of Telemachion and Lheor based on chosen of chaos. I was both surprised and very pleased how they were shown in interesting and unexpected ways.

As for Abaddon himself, finally he's taken away from the 2 dimensional psychotic warlord who rules through fear and fury. He might lapse occasionally but he's shown to have become far more cunning, measured and calculating during his pilgrimage through the Eye. He's grown in his exile.

A lot is giving over as well to how the Black Legion would differ from the old Legions and the war bands haunting the eye which I think plant a firm divider between the two, something the codices over the years have failed epically at. I said about 5-6 months ago that this book would see Black Legion armies explode and I've no doubt it'll happen because of this book.

There was a downside or 2 for me. A couple of characters were left a bit too obscure in their origins for my taste but that could be mainly to leaving it as plot hooks for later on. That and the last few pages provide so much hype for the books to come but that's just my impatience talking.

There's a particular part that I actually shouted "you censored.gif genius censored.gif you!!" Anyone who remembers the Eye of Terror campaign will know what it is.

Summing up, I'm looking forward to the weekender just to shake Aaron's hand and say "congratulations mate, you nailed it"

Oh and reading the wonderworker, gutted to see you included a title I thought I'd got all to myself. Damn you!

This sounds amazing, and everything I could hope it to be. Someone posted in my thread in the Chaos forum that was far less.... smitten with the end product. I don't want to set myself up for disappointment but you certainly give me a lot of hope.... after so many years of disappointing Abe/BL fiction could this finally be the light in the warp?

I don't want to get too excited for this. Being in Canada it could be a ways off... I'm finishing Scars, and will start Vengeful Spirit soon. I'm thinking when Talon of Horus does come, my wife will have to leave the house and I will be locked in a very warp intensive room (the bathroom?) and probably slam through the book.

To each their own and all that. I won't judge someone for saying they didn't like it. For me personally, it was everything I wanted and more. Life in the Eye, the Legion Wars, expansions on ADB's thoughts of "life in a chaos marine warband" and more importantly, Abaddon's motivations. Exactly why he has ended centuries of strolling around Hell and has started putting his plans into motion

The "life in a chaos marine waband" is of special interest to me. I think that Talon will be the event we of Chaos have been looking for oh for how long. As I understand it trough the Warmaster and his followers we will learn how the traitor legions became the chaos legions and this on its own is big. I have yet to read the book and I am one of the few who is blissfully ignorant in terms of ADB books for so far I have only read Betrayer, First Heretic, Aurelian and listened to Prince of Crows so I have a standard set but this is mostly a 30k standard. I have heard a great lot of good about the Night Lords series but alas I think my first foray in his 40k work will be Talon of Horus. 

The one thing I will say is if you're hoping to see the Traitor Legions etc you're going to be disappointed. The Legion Wars are in full swing and there are no Legions anymore. They're torn themselves apart through bitterness, blood and betrayal. There's only one true Legion by the time the First Black Crusade sallied forth from the Eye and that's the Black Legion.

 

There is a fantastic explanation of just how the Black Legion differs from the rest of the warbands reaving through Eye-space and also their thoughts on the warp and the "Chaos Powers" in general

You misunderstood me Bal, what I meant is that I want to read about this gradual corruption of mind, body and soul that transformed what was once a proud legionary into a chaos space marine, two things I consider very different. On the traitor legions topic I already consider them too far gone to be actual legions by the time the wars in the Eye are in full swing.  

Ah my apologies. There's not really anything shown about the gradual descent into what you'd call a "chaos marine". It's implied that as soon as the Traitors reached the Eye they didn't slowly abandon everything they'd been before, they were just too busy fighting to survive. Some are warp-touched others not, it's not a neat ordered process. As for terming them "chaos marines" I can't really explain that further without some fairly significant spoilers.

Ah my apologies. There's not really anything shown about the gradual descent into what you'd call a "chaos marine". It's implied that as soon as the Traitors reached the Eye they didn't slowly abandon everything they'd been before, they were just too busy fighting to survive. Some are warp-touched others not, it's not a neat ordered process. As for terming them "chaos marines" I can't really explain that further without some fairly significant spoilers.

That what we're here for Brother!

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