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Sooo...Talon of Horus spoilers please?


karden00

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I have nothing to say, other than a request. The book was out of my financial range, and I would love to get the low down. I'm sure this is a popular sentiment.

 

The general release goes on pre-order on the 19th. It's not that long to wait.

 

I'm not really sure what people want to hear about anyway. The basic events of the novel aren't new - you can find them at the start of the timeline in Codex Black Legion, for example. It's like asking for spoilers for the Heresy: "Horus dies at the end".

 

Most of the stuff that's genuinely new at this stage of the story comes mostly in the form of little anecdotes and mentions of events yet to come. They're all very exciting, but spoilers for them would be literally as long as the text they're spoiling. It'd be like when film studios show all the best jokes and stunts in the trailer.

 

What's really great about the book is the way it's told, not the events it portrays. My favourite thing about it is the glimpse it offers of an Abaddon men would be willing to follow through hell for 10,000 years out of brotherhood and loyalty, not just fear, ambition or hatred of the Imperium. A leader and genuine hero, albeit one willing to commit any atrocity to achieve his goal. But that glimpse unfolds over multiple chapters, it's not something you can rewrite as a spoiler, except to say "it shows Abaddon as more than the angry dick he came across as in the Heresy novels".

 

It'll make sense when you read it. Patience is a virtue.

  • 2 weeks later...

Actually the story itself is.... not my favorite ADB offering, but I hold him at a very high standard.

 

What I truly enjoyed is the little stuff... the lore, the great little tidbits about the stuff you kind of glimpse past in typical BL novels..... for example: The Astronomicon.... what the heck is it like to fly through the light of the emperor? Those are the juicy bits I actually really enjoyed.

The Astronomicon bits were some of my favorite parts. The little details in there are what make the book truly special. 

 

Also, I swear that I caught a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas reference in there, but going back through I can't find it. I could just be losing my mind though. 

Khayon's dark eldar zombie girlfriend took a minute to get used to, and Lheor saying the Siege of the Imperial Palace wasn't the biggest battle he'd ever seen made me shake my head, but that kind of stuff is just part of the way ADB molds the universe.

 

 

The book was great. Totally a game changer on the universe as a whole and finally and concretely built parameters for chaos as a believable antagonist to the imperium. I'm not a fan of the idea the Primarchs were all failures, though, since 9 of them didn't try to kill the Emperor and one of the single handedly rebuilt the Imperium.

 

Can't wait for the next book to start a BL war band.

Khayon's dark eldar zombie girlfriend

 

That... makes me grind my teeth, with a side order of eye-twitching, because someone, somewhere, probably believes that description.

 

 

 and Lheor saying the Siege of the Imperial Palace wasn't the biggest battle he'd ever seen made me shake my head

 

 

Not everything was universally bigger in the Heresy, as discussed in various threads about Abaddon, Chaos, and the Black Legion in the past. Given who was really present at the Siege, that shouldn't be hard to believe at all. It was massive, without a doubt, but huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge numbers of warriors from the Legions (and indeed, entire Legions themselves) just weren't there.

 

Lheor's likely not seen too many battles bigger, but it'd be weird if over the course of several thousand years he didn't see any to match it in scale. The setting's scale goes way beyond that. And in the Eye? Battles larger than that probably take place constantly (albeit massive distances apart), given how the Eye functions.

 

Khayon's dark eldar zombie girlfriend

 

 

That... makes me grind my teeth, with a side order of eye-twitching, because someone, somewhere, probably believes that description.

Well, as a Buzzfeed editor once said, 'The path to success is to take a fact, strip out the nuance, use misleading language, and make it a headline.' :P

 

Seriously though, excellent non-sexual tension between the two. It definitely felt like a codependent relationship, without the occasional adult hugging, which is appropriately melancholy for some guy living in hell with the automaton shells of his best friends on a ship piloted by his lobotomized sister.

 

 

 and Lheor saying the Siege of the Imperial Palace wasn't the biggest battle he'd ever seen made me shake my head

 

 

Not everything was universally bigger in the Heresy, as discussed in various threads about Abaddon, Chaos, and the Black Legion in the past. Given who was really present at the Siege, that shouldn't be hard to believe at all. It was massive, without a doubt, but huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge numbers of warriors from the Legions (and indeed, entire Legions themselves) just weren't there.

 

Lheor's likely not seen too many battles bigger, but it'd be weird if over the course of several thousand years he didn't see any to match it in scale. The setting's scale goes way beyond that.

I just don't like it when people out measure my heresy e-:cuss ;)

What a beautiful book! I think I loved all the complexity of the book and the stripping away of identity. I hope it shakes up a lot of how we perceive the Eye and (sometime soon?) people really understand the Black Legion and Abaddon as things very different. I also think that the vying societies of the Traitors came across very well - something which reminded me of Traitor General, surprisingly (or not) and the really eye-opening examination of how a chaos society could actually work.

 

But can I ask about what date Talon of Horus is set? And if it is set before or after Ahriman: Exile? It makes sense that it is set before A:E, since the Imperium seems to be dealing with the consequences of the Long War with Chaos in that book. Yet I thought A:E suggests the cobalt and gold of the post-Heresy Thousand Sons was the result of Ahriman's battle with Amon. I may have misunderstood the conclusion of that also rather lovely book.

I am courious about the "Primarchs kneeling" part... At first, it sounds a litte bit... too much. 

I just can't concieve a daemon primarch bowing to a mortal astartes, not even Abaddon.

But so far ADB never ever let me down, so I'm sure he'll give good and logical reasons for that.

Like I said, I'm just... courious.

Still only about a few chapters through the book so far after I bought it on I-Tunes last night. Really loving it so far.

 

 

Just going to say this now though. That feeling when your name is also Alexander and you amuse yourself by imagining the forward is directed towards you.....

 

Thanks Dad.... ` ^ `

It's a good start to a good thing. Talon of Horus doesn't quite fix Abaddon's reputation but that because he doesn't appear until the last 150 pages but I like how he's shown. I also like how ADB brought an allure of mystery to a previously cut-and-dry character. Where did Abaddon go during his Pilgrimage? What kind of relics did he acquire? How did he suddenly become as strong as a Primarch? I wonder what we will learn as the series progresses.

Just finished listening to the Audiobook (while driving so probably missed some bits) and really liked it. Not as much as Betrayer as far as A D-B's work goes but that was probably due to the comparative lack of "action".

 

Loved the way it explores the origin of the Black Legion and their formation - how they're not beholden to a Primarch, the Emperor or the Imperium. They're in it for each other. 

 

Abaddon's characterisation was very different from anything else I've read/listened to from Black Library. When I read the first three HH novels I kept thinking to myself "How does this guy become the Warmaster?" as he never seemed to have any real leadership qualitites besides being able to lead from the front and by deed. But after TToH I can see it. He has all the charisma and statecraft of Horus but none of the separation of Primarch to Astartes. He's quite egalitarian, at least so far.

 

Something that has always annoyed me is the fact that Abaddon is seen as a monumental f**k up. Each Black Crusade is a failure, Failbaddon etc. Isn't that really just a predetermined result mandated by GW? It's basically fait accompli that Abaddon must lose whether it be a heroic Imperium last gasp save or his own plot induced stupidity. If he wins, the Imperium is screwed.

The battle of Canticle City was a great point, ive long wanted these ideas in print.

 

Very smooth story, I get the feeling a lot got cut/condensed or left out to be expanded in future books.

 

My only question considering Iskander's powers, which Khayon is he?

ADB just one thing Talon of Horus is now one of my favorite books of anything Ive ever read. 

 

The part with sigismund... you tease you.. you tease...

 

The description of him and abaddon meeting ... oh man need more!!!!

 

The inquisitor in the epilogue asking the pertinent quesions and khayons response was one of my favorite parts.

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