Never_born Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 Hi all. So who from the Weekender crowd has read Sabbat Crusade yet? I've just finished today - anyone who's ordered it is in for an absolute treat! If anyone's interested, my review is up on my blog : http://trackofwords.wordpress.com/2014/11/23/sabbat-crusade-edited-by-dan-abnett/ Let me know what you guys make of the book - and roll on Warmaster, not to mention Matt Farrer's Urdesh! Neverborn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petitioner's City Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 It sounds really good - thank you for your review! I just read the extract on the BL website - the Shadows story, which was lovely. But since this is not a super fast-selling first edition, do you think the release of the paperback/e-book edition will be a longtime coming? Also I hope they release an audiobook of it - the audiobook of Salvation's Reach was excellent. I was always sad there was no audio of Pariah - I was eagerly awaiting a female reader and more breaking gender boundaries, and was sadly dissapointed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaeron Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 I'm ploughing through and loving it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesper Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Some Sons of Sek goodness in it ? Feel free to spoil :). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaeron Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Some Sons of Sek goodness in it ? Feel free to spoil . Plenty :) Spoiler tag it though, if anyone will. A quick note too - Abnett's writing in this tome is some of his best, ever, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Never_born Posted December 1, 2014 Author Share Posted December 1, 2014 Some Sons of Sek goodness in it ? Feel free to spoil . It sounds really good - thank you for your review! I just read the extract on the BL website - the Shadows story, which was lovely. But since this is not a super fast-selling first edition, do you think the release of the paperback/e-book edition will be a longtime coming? Also I hope they release an audiobook of it - the audiobook of Salvation's Reach was excellent. I was always sad there was no audio of Pariah - I was eagerly awaiting a female reader and more breaking gender boundaries, and was sadly dissapointed! No problem, I'm glad you liked the review. To be honest I doubt this is coming out in paperback any time soon, although I imagine it will be out in hardback and ebook in the not-too-distant future. Maybe sometime in December? Someone else on here might know already, so maybe you'll get a more specific answer... As for an audiobook, that would indeed be great! As it's an anthology though...not sure if that maybe makes it less likely? I'll be keeping my fingers crossed though. Some Sons of Sek goodness in it ? Feel free to spoil . Oh yes. John French has written a story simply called 'Son of Sek' which is...disturbing. I don't actually know how to do spoiler tags on here so I'd better not say any more, but it's an absolute corker of a story. If you're a Sons of Sek fan, it's worth getting for that story alone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesper Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Spoil it all over my face in private, dude ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conn Eremon Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 But please, please, please put it in spoilers. This is how you do it: <spoiler> </spoiler> But replace the "< * >" "[ * ]" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Never_born Posted December 1, 2014 Author Share Posted December 1, 2014 Ok, here we go with Son of Sek... Basically it's written from the perspective of an unnamed Son of Sek. There are two strands that weave in and out - the first looks into some of the man's experiences as he becomes a Son of Sek, and it's full-on creepy, typical John French stuff with loads of really weird stuff going on as the guy pretty much gets broken and remade into a fanatical soldier. It starts with him waiting to speak to Sek (who you don't see, sadly), to tell him the story of a Guard hero he killed at the end of an invasion - that forms the second thread. The Son has somehow come to know the history of this man, from his youth through his progression in the Guard and right up to the point at which he knows he's doomed - I don't want to give absolutely everything away, but this is some pretty bleak stuff. It's only about 16 pages but it's the first time I'm aware of seeing things from this perspective, which becomes pretty interesting as you think about it in relation to what it was like for the guardsman. If you like John French's style then you'l definitely enjoy this. It's maybe not for everyone, but I thought it was awesome. Hope that helped! Oh, and thanks Cormac Airt for the spoilers info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaeron Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Just finished: class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conn Eremon Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Ok, here we go with Son of Sek... Basically it's written from the perspective of an unnamed Son of Sek. There are two strands that weave in and out - the first looks into some of the man's experiences as he becomes a Son of Sek, and it's full-on creepy, typical John French stuff with loads of really weird stuff going on as the guy pretty much gets broken and remade into a fanatical soldier. It starts with him waiting to speak to Sek (who you don't see, sadly), to tell him the story of a Guard hero he killed at the end of an invasion - that forms the second thread. The Son has somehow come to know the history of this man, from his youth through his progression in the Guard and right up to the point at which he knows he's doomed - I don't want to give absolutely everything away, but this is some pretty bleak stuff. It's only about 16 pages but it's the first time I'm aware of seeing things from this perspective, which becomes pretty interesting as you think about it in relation to what it was like for the guardsman. If you like John French's style then you'l definitely enjoy this. It's maybe not for everyone, but I thought it was awesome. Hope that helped! Oh, and thanks Cormac Airt for the spoilers info! About it's conclusion: I was skimming that one, and will have to reread it, but am I right in thinking that the two people are the same person? He is the Imperial hero, and he "killed" him when he chose damnation over death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1ncarnadine Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 About it's conclusion: I was skimming that one, and will have to reread it, but am I right in thinking that the two people are the same person? He is the Imperial hero, and he "killed" him when he chose damnation over death. That was my impression too. It's kind of clear when he says "a life that is now not mine" on the very last page of the story. Yeah, creepy story and implications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoebus Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 I'm about halfway through this. Re: Abnett's short stories on Golea and co. Before the third one of these, Abnett makes a point of stating his belief that anthologies such as this one should not be billed as, or seen as, "optional". He feels that such a product should be every bit as important as the Gaunt's Ghosts novels. With that in mind, if you don't read this anthology you will not have seen the ... ... total punch to the gut that is being aimed toward anyone who cares about Golea and his children. Re; "The Blood Bound". It's a decent yarn, though I may be biased due to my love for the Iron Snakes of Ithaka and, well, Rob Sanders in general ever since Legion of the Damned. If I'm honest, however, I'll admit that the plot contains nothing cosmic, while the ending feels somewhat anticlimactic. Re: "You Never Know". Are you fond of Mabbon? Do you anxiously await revelation as to where he stands, and what his true convictions are? Then even a short conversation piece that never really gives any "revelations" into his character should whet the appetite! Re: "Son of Sek". This was probably the most refreshingly dystopian view of life within the Imperium I've seen in Black Library fiction in a very, very long time (maybe ever). It's short, it only lasts a couple of pages. It sticks with broad themes, ones that you'd expect, but the way French nails them down, in terms of tone and imagery... Man, it was something. Re: "Tempest". Probably my least favorite story in the anthology thus far, despite starting off with enough steam and guts to have been the most interesting. Kyme takes what would have been a rather dark tale of murder (though, to be fair, reminiscent of a popular US TV series that ended recently) and rather inelegantly tacks it on to a fairly standard battle story. One is left feeling whether the lack of resolution was worth getting to see GW's shiny new Stormtr-- ahem, Tempestus Scions not really do anything of note. Re: "Viduity". Vincent does well to explore the darker side of life for the Ghosts' camp followers... but may have done us a better favor by following Flyn Meryn and his plots... instead of one of his flunkies. Re: "The Deeper Wounds". This is a story I expected to see here - and am happy to see here - but it's disappointing in the sense that it says little beyond what I expected it to. That is to say, it says little of gravity beyond what Abnett says in its introductory paragraph. I think we all expected ... ... animosity between the Blood Pact and the Sons of Sek in the aftermath of Salvation's Reach, but how much more interesting would it have been to see the motivations and reasoning behind this as opposed to a fairly stock battle story between the two factions? Re: "Arnogaur". A D-B has given me my most favorite World Eater ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conn Eremon Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 On Viduity, I got the impression from Abnett's intro that the flunky was being followed now because the guy on top was reserved for the eventual novel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoebus Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 I got that "there will be repercussions in Warmaster", etc. I'm just saying that an equally compelling story could have been told with Meryn. It's not like ... ... a flunky facing "street justice" at the hands of the women ... ... offers resolution or anything particularly poignant. On the other hand, giving us a look at Meryn could have helped re-establish the character and offer some added context to his decisions in anticipation of a novel that will probably see him get some just desserts. Wait, who am I kidding? This is Abnett. What will probably happen is that ... ... whoever makes the move against Meryn - probably Rawne - will get killed by him in some dastardly way, instead. And then Meryn will become an unholy terror within the camp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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