Inquisitor Eisenhorn Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 I personally loved those books. I feel it is a well developed storyline that is both believable and rational in every sense. The biggest problem I've noticed is that everyone looks at this through their normal logic glasses. You guys have to remember they are highly religious almost zealots. Religion tinges everything in the Imperium. To the Blood Angels their "Jesus" was returning. Could you imagine the second coming of Christ? An unimaginable amount of people who were extreme cynics would flock. The true believers would be vindicated. Apply that here. Sanguinius is second only to the Emperor in their eyes. They WANT to believe he has returned. They live for his return. We as readers ha e a hard time because to us it is obvious what's really going on, its explained to us. However I would like to see some fluff representing them as the best of the best they are. I mean come on, Horus said Sanguinius should have been warmaster, Calhar himself ceded overall command to Dante at Armageddon. Wherever they tread they are THE Angels of the Emperor. There's a frickin Imperial holiday just for Sanguinius. But the books put out don't show the majesty or the honor in refusing to give in. These troubled warriors are above their peers. They are accomplishing MORE while continuously fighting the greatest enemy of all, yourself. They just show the tragedy of giving in and the ineveitable spiral. Not the glory of the doomed warrior like the Paladin Roland and his last stand or the stand of the 300. I apologize for the errors above, this is from my phone and I can't figure out how to go back and edit. Yeah I would be able to shrug those books off a bit more if there were some better examples of Blood Angel literature, but the Black Library has stuck this Swallow guy at the helm of writing for the chapter, and he just consistently writes plots for them that I find utterly uninteresting. It's just hard to look at the Blood Angels shelf and see that the most notable thing that's been written about is a civil war (that I also don't think was even well done for what it was). But I also just don't like the "soapy" quality of Swallow's writing. I'm not all that interested in the thoughts and dealings of these individual soldiers. Given the narrow experience of the average space marine having them squabble just makes them look like petty children. Aren't these guys supposed to be disciplined killing machines indoctrinated into an imperial cult? I'm more interested in viewing their exploits in a larger context, through the eyes of mortals. As Swallow writes, you lose some sense of the sheer grandeur of these guys. I really dug what Abnett did in Brotherhood of the Snake, where you see how huge of an impact a single space marine has on the lives of a whole world. And he's a competent, dour fellow. I'd love to see a Blood Angels story told from someone else's perspective, where their intervention feels both divine and terrifying at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kol Saresk Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Try the e-short Honour and Blood by David Annandale. It's one of the Advent Calendar shorts. Completely told from the viewpoint of a Guardsman. I liked it. Short and sweet. Could've been longer, but it did nicely I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inquisitor Eisenhorn Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Try the e-short Honour and Blood by David Annandale. It's one of the Advent Calendar shorts. Completely told from the viewpoint of a Guardsman. I liked it. Short and sweet. Could've been longer, but it did nicely I believe. Thanks I will! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabgoi Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 You cannot compare anything Abnett does in this universe to any other writer. He is simply the best. Thorpe has some great novels, and the Cain ones by Sandy something were great, Henry Zou has at least one novel I love, but most of them have some duds as well, Abnett made imperial fighter pilots cool. No mean feat as in the Army we are taught to mock the Airforce at all times. But so far, for any Son of Sanguinus, ADB has been my favorite writer. I may not like his work on BA, but Swallows killed it with the Horus Heresy, and if I remember correctly he did a very good Sister of battle series and Enforcer for the arbites. Could be wrong on that last one, but good series no matter who wrote it. At work still so cannot check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kol Saresk Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 A D-B has hardly written anything Blood Angel related. The only thing I can think of is when he had them facing off against the Night Lords in Shadow Knight and Soul Hunter, which are NL stories. He had At Gaius Point, but that was Flesh Tearers. Oh and the IA: Death Company article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabgoi Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 See, four things, but yeah, sadly not much. I really enjoyed Gias Point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kol Saresk Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 And two of those were Blood Angels dying as they tried to hunt down Night Lords. But when compared to James Swallow or Andy Smillie, it's almost nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appiah4 Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 I couldn't care less if Swallow himself succumbed to the Black Rage, tripped on a rock while madly charging the Black Library HQ, fell over and broke his neck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blindhamster Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 ADB wrote the warlord book for Dante too I think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kol Saresk Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 ADB wrote the warlord book for Dante too I think?That I do not know, but since the page on BL's website has a quite from a "storm oracle of the Black Legion", it sounds like he might have had a hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dusara217 Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Wait, I thought that they had only brought a couple of companies of Blood Angels and those -up gladiators that Arkio had were numbered in the thousands, not the BA themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucien Eilam Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Wait, I thought that they had only brought a couple of companies of Blood Angels and those -up gladiators that Arkio had were numbered in the thousands, not the BA themselves. Yeah, that's right. Mephiston's force is never specified, Arkio has his "thousand" army of helots plus "a company" of Space Marines, then the Word Bearers show up and Arkio's Blood Angels realise they're on the wrong side. There's never any mention of thousands of Blood Angels shooting at each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phadeout Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 I couldn't care less if Swallow himself succumbed to the Black Rage, tripped on a rock while madly charging the Black Library HQ, fell over and broke his neck. It's just a few books... Personally I think they are ranking right down at the wrong end of 40K canon - but then everyone knows ADB and Abnett are outgunning the others by the proverbial "country mile". Generally everyone else divides opinion, if you like Swallow more power to you. I wouldn't read them again having read the series once and then mistakenly trying to see something in it and reading the first one again - shudder... but then I enjoyed Fear to Tread so I'll avoid hoping he comes to serious harm.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helias_Tancred Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Overall I liked James Swallow's Blood Angels novels. I thought the first Omnibus was a bit clunky and I didn't care for the overall plotline. However the second omnibus redeemed the first one. I thought the second omnibus was a vast improvement over the third, and I really enjoyed Fear to Tread. I have issues with the first omnibus but the other two were good and enjoyable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kol Saresk Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Other two? The BA only have two omnibuses don't they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatOneMarshal Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Other two? The BA only have two omnibuses don't they? Yeah they do but I think he was meaning the second omnibus and fear to tread. I've been thinking about reading fear to tread anyone know if it's any good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaezus Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Fear to tread is not good. It's freaking awesome, man. I'm sure many will pick faults with it, but it is leagues ahead of Swallow's other BA novels. 13th place in the New York Times Bestseller list. Black Library's biggest-selling novel. It depicts the Blood Angels in their - hell, mankind's - darkest hour. Their biggest and bloodiest battle. It demonstrates the suspicion over psykers amongst their own, and portrays their experiences brilliantly. It is dark and grim at times, but not cheesily so. And of course, Sanguinius is there all the way. Personally he held me in so much awe, I read the book four times. Whatever we say about James Swallow, he gives an utterly mesmerising glimpse into our Primarch's thoughts and emotions and leaves us in absolutely no doubt that he was made to be the next Emperor. Oh yeah and he kicks the living carp out of a Bloodthirster. Twice. So, er, yeah you should read it :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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