Valedor

[Never_born]

Hi folks.

 

So I recently finished Valedor, by Guy Haley - nice to get a non-human look at the 40k universe. I have to say I'm a massive fan of Haley's writing, and this is another excellent example. I really think he's upping the ante for BL, amongst a few others (John French, David Annandale and Chris Wraight spring to mind), and turning out the kind of complex, interesting books than in the past have perhaps only been produced by one or two of BL's authors.

 

What do you guys think? Did you enjoy Valedor and it's eldar viewpoint? Did you think he did justice to the Valedor campaign? Interesting to see what everyone else thinks...

 

My review's up on my blog if anyone fancies a read - https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/2015/01/19/valedor-guy-haley/

 

Thanks,

 

NB

[Malios]

Valedor I imagine would not have been easy to write due to the size and scope of the event. Because of this, I think Guy Haley did exceptionally well with this book.

 

For those Eldar fans out there, he successfully managed to capture the soul of two very different craftworlds in Valedor: The sorrowful and hollow attitudes of the Iyanden craftworlders directly contrasted with the martial, fiery zeal of Biel Tan which made it extremely easy to differentiate between the Eldar of these different warhosts.The strained relationship between the Eldar and Dark Eldar warhosts was also very well written with the Dark Eldar adding some much needed black humour to an otherwise dire situation.

 

There were many cameos from named characters throughout the book, but they were done so in a way that did not detract from the story. I did not feel that named characters were just thrown in for the rule of cool despite playing no real part in the storyline like with some previous black library novels: every character from Yriel to the Phoenix Lords and Lelith Hesperax had their appropriate part to play which fit into the grander picture of the plot.

 

Valedor was also the first book I've read from black library where both the Avatar of Khaine and the Swarmlord lived up to their namesakes. There are also some cameos by characters from the Path of the Eldar series which is a nice little touch.

 

If anything, my only criticism of Valedor was that there were too many sub-plots going on from too many perspectives. This again comes back to the size of the event and trying to fit it all into a single novel. Despite this, Guy Haley did well with the space he had.

 

A must read book for Eldar fans. It's not a bad read for non-eldar fans either.

 

[edit] Had to edit a few typos.

[Never_born]

Hey Malios, I'm glad you enjoyed it too. I couldn't agree more on the craftworld differentiation, and the dark eldar too. Have you read all of the Path of the Eldar books as well? I've only read the first one, must go back and finish the series - are they as good as this?

 

NB.

[Malios]

The Path of the Eldar series is very different to Valedor both in style and what the books are about.

 

Valedor makes no secret that it is about the battle of Valedor: the book is a novelisation of a game supplement after all. Because of that, the battle of Valedor is the sole focus of the book. Everything revolves around it: even the sub-plots to some degree.

 

The Path of the Eldar series on the other hand is about following three protagonists from craftworld Alaitoc as they walk their respective paths in Eldar society: the warrior, the seer and the outcast. Although these paths are radically different, the three intertwine with one another in a cause and effect motion until all three end up at the same conclusion. Because of this, the Path of the Eldar series goes into far more depth about Eldar society as well as their psyches when challenged with different walks of life.

 

But, such is both the strength and weakness of the series: in order to get the most out of the Path of the Eldar series you need to read all three books in order. As stand alone books they aren't bad, but you don't get to see the whole picture until you read the sister books because the actions of one protagonist in their respective book may have effects on the other protagonist in theirs during the same event.

Suffice to say, if you are an Eldar fan you won't be disappointed with Path of the Eldar. There are some great scenes throughout the series like when a Harlequinn Solitaire duels with a Keeper of Secrets and the psychic duel between an Eldar Farseer and a Space Marine Librarian to name but a few.

 

If you wish to read a series similar to how Valedor was written though, the Dark Eldar Omnibus (Path of the Renegade, Path of the Incubus and Path of the Archon) is probably the better pick between the two.