The Beast Arises

[Petitioner's City]

I loved the nameplay in Book 1; and Book 2 suggests very promising things ahead. The jump from micro to macro was aggressive - suddenly we were dealing with the galaxy and the Orks were everywhere. The incorporation of lots of new bits of 40k, including the Mechanicus, was good for sure! I think the long gestation of the series has really paid off. Also the IF are not completely extinct; we have Slaughter to rest our hopes on. And perhaps any serfs or scouts or neophytes to carry on some of the tradition. 

 

But what I find interesting is something the first book and the second forced me to wrestle with. What succession meant and means about the difference of Legion and Chapter.

 

For me, I have long believed that the Imperial Fists or Ultramarines or whichever Chapters who share the same names as the Legions needed to be understood as separate organisations and indeed identities from those Legions. That the continuity many fans identify, perpeptuated by the wikis and even some codices, was highly artificial. The result was that the successors are viewed as lesser echoes often, which is problematic. 

 

For the Chaos legions, the problem is more overt - the Legions really died in the Scouring and Eye wars, and the things that remains are more varied and less the original. But it is the same, to some extent, with the loyalist legions - they are very different from the Chapters, including the 1000 who got to keep the original name, that emerged following the Codex's publication & promulgation. 

 

Names are highly at play in Book 1, including Lord Guilleman (sic), as well as the more overt 'I am Slaughter' and the wall names. Abnett is playing with expectations of original, copy and what names mean.

 

In Book 2, the names subside to an extent, but become fixed in bodies - for the legions, the bodies of the Terran Wall survivors cut open, the Templars, the Exemplars. Each become fixed points of heritage, such as the chapel of the Fists Exemplar - and their own heritage as the exemplary Fists - or the idea of the 'last' Imperial Fists killed. But other points of heritage are at play, including the child carried by the female protagonist, which is both the memory of her lover and the memory of hope, and the virus bombs she activates. Bodies, history and present intersect in book 2 - again with questions of identity, much like Book 1. What does a body mean, a relic, etc.

 

Relics themselves are highly interesting - they aren't images, or representations; they are imbued with power because of their religious or cultural value. So too are bodies which are performatives - indeed physical things that are imbued by words - like speech acts, which 'I am Slaughter' was in Book 1. *

 

Anyway i'm rambling, but I think Abnett and Sanders both have done something very interesting in their respective volumes; playing with ideas of authenticity, meaning and identity - as well as hope, despair and belief - which match some of the best works BL has put out before. Although short, the texts are alive with meaning - as they should - since they comment on and deconstruct ideas of meaning which, from the hobby side, seem fixed and unchangeable (yellow means fists, Legion fists are interchangeable with M41 fists, etc) and yet are entirely fluid. 

 

Ok, I need an argument - these are some fluid thoughts :) but i think there is a lot going on, which makes these both interesting short novels. 

 

* Of course Abnett's interest in names, language and speech was in full flow in the period this book was written, c. 2012. Penitent, following on from earlier books like Prospero Burns, was perhaps the high point of his linguistic and identity play. 

[HaSY]

I loved the nameplay in Book 1; and Book 2 suggests very promising things ahead. The jump from micro to macro was aggressive - suddenly we were dealing with the galaxy and the Orks were everywhere. The incorporation of lots of new bits of 40k, including the Mechanicus, was good for sure! I think the long gestation of the series has really paid off. Also the IF are not completely extinct; we have Slaughter to rest our hopes on. And perhaps any serfs or scouts or neophytes to carry on some of the tradition.

But what I find interesting is something the first book and the second forced me to wrestle with. What succession meant and means about the difference of Legion and Chapter.

For me, I have long believed that the Imperial Fists or Ultramarines or whichever Chapters who share the same names as the Legions needed to be understood as separate organisations and indeed identities from those Legions. That the continuity many fans identify, perpeptuated by the wikis and even some codices, was highly artificial. The result was that the successors are viewed as lesser echoes often, which is problematic.

For the Chaos legions, the problem is more overt - the Legions really died in the Scouring and Eye wars, and the things that remains are more varied and less the original. But it is the same, to some extent, with the loyalist legions - they are very different from the Chapters, including the 1000 who got to keep the original name, that emerged following the Codex's publication & promulgation.

Names are highly at play in Book 1, including Lord Guilleman (sic), as well as the more overt 'I am Slaughter' and the wall names. Abnett is playing with expectations of original, copy and what names mean.

In Book 2, the names subside to an extent, but become fixed in bodies - for the legions, the bodies of the Terran Wall survivors cut open, the Templars, the Exemplars. Each become fixed points of heritage, such as the chapel of the Fists Exemplar - and their own heritage as the exemplary Fists - or the idea of the 'last' Imperial Fists killed. But other points of heritage are at play, including the child carried by the female protagonist, which is both the memory of her lover and the memory of hope, and the virus bombs she activates. Bodies, history and present intersect in book 2 - again with questions of identity, much like Book 1. What does a body mean, a relic, etc.

Relics themselves are highly interesting - they aren't images, or representations; they are imbued with power because of their religious or cultural value. So too are bodies which are performatives - indeed physical things that are imbued by words - like speech acts, which 'I am Slaughter' was in Book 1. *

Anyway i'm rambling, but I think Abnett and Sanders both have done something very interesting in their respective volumes; playing with ideas of authenticity, meaning and identity - as well as hope, despair and belief - which match some of the best works BL has put out before. Although short, the texts are alive with meaning - as they should - since they comment on and deconstruct ideas of meaning which, from the hobby side, seem fixed and unchangeable (yellow means fists, Legion fists are interchangeable with M41 fists, etc) and yet are entirely fluid.

Ok, I need an argument - these are some fluid thoughts but i think there is a lot going on, which makes these both interesting short novels.

* Of course Abnett's interest in names, language and speech was in full flow in the period this book was written, c. 2012. Penitent, following on from earlier books like Prospero Burns, was perhaps the high point of his linguistic and identity play.

Love your depth of picking up the authors' thoughts.

[Petitioner's City]

Thank you HaSY! 

[HaSY]

Have anyone picked up the third book?

[caladancid]

Reading it now, hoping Gav pulls through for me. He does better with shorter length novels, though in general I think his writing has gotten leaps and bounds better over the past couple years.

[Forward Assist]

I am not a fan of Gav Thorpe but, credit where it is due, 'The Emperor Expects' was actually pretty good in my eyes. The novel benefitted from sticking with two main threads - the continued politicking on Terra and the mass deployment of the Navy - and fleshing them out fairly well.

 

I would have liked to have seen more of the Orks but, all in all, was pleasantly surprised.

[TDF]

 

This felt even shorter than the other two, probably because of the narrower focus on only two main stories and one minor side story. There seemed to be a lot of build up to the big fleet battle, but then it was resolved rather quickly. The ork boarding parties didn't seem particularly intimidating apart from having a slightly better grasp of tactics. In fact, I kept feeling throughout that sequence that the orks deliberately let them win.

 

I enjoyed the theme of "The Last Wall" protocol, but I would have preferred the gathering in the Phall system to either be shown in its entirety or not at all. I kept expecting the story to return their after Slaughter revealed he was the last Imperial Fist, but it never did.

 

The cliffhanger at the end was spoiled by the plot teasers BL put up on their website for the first four books. I'm going to try to avoid looking at the info on future books in the series from now on.

 

A number of things stood out to me that I feel should have noticed by the editors. Three of the first four chapters begin with "the place they were in was X feet wide" and in two of the three "and Y feet high". It felt almost formulaic. There were also at least three characters introduced with a description that they looked younger than they are. I don't know why I picked up on these, but I did.

 

[augustmanifesto]

Emperor Expects was solid IMO. One of Thorpe's better pieces and a talented book from Black Library.

 

His treatment of the imperial fists is solidifying my view that this series of books will add to their backstory in a satisfying way. The descendants of VII Legion are getting a neat institutional super power of sorts that makes a lot of sense given the history of the Codex Astartes crisis.

 

The advancing of political affairs was also done well, I think. That we are now anticipating an internally divided imperium as much as ork attack moons is a credit to the story and authors.

 

It also kept the plot going. If the rest of the books are like this, I think BL has found a good formula: use a series of books to focus on a manageable story that isn't biting off more than it can chew, keep things on track, and the result is something that feels like a literary mini-series or television season and, at a minimum, worth finishing.

[Kriegsmacht]

To me this is the format the Horus Heresy novels should have been. More focused and not dragged on.

[JimmyJ]

Rattled through I Am Slaughter and Predator/Prey over the past week.

 

IAS I was a bit let down by. Firstly by its length, I'm used to BL books being 300 pages plus, so having one of just about half that was a bit of a disappointment. Same complaint aimed at P/P.

 

Secondly, I felt the Wall-names for the IF's was silly, felt like a 10 year old had been let loose naming his favourite marines. I'm aware thats a bit nit-picky. It also took far too long for the Orks to show up.

My major complaint however, is the similarity between the IF's plight and the happenings on the planet Murder in Horus Rising. It felt like the same enemy, the same situation, the same complications with the rescue, basically a recycle of an old plot.

I did however, enjoy the scenes set on Terra. The poloticking was far more interesting to me. The Grand Master of Assassins seems to be a great character witha  lot of charisma. Enjoyed all of his stuff.

 

Onto P/P: much better. Did an absolutely exceptional job of making the wave of orks genuinely scarym a relentless flood of violence, death and terror and really gave the human element a platform to demonstrate its uselessness. The part where the girl was going to be left behind got me right in the feels, although I'm more subsceptable to such things now I have daughters. The ending of that planets thread also felt hopeless as hell, and it cemented this scenario as being without hope.

 

One major overall complaint about the series. is that I'm having trouble buying into the biology of the orks.
I'm not sure when it became canon that the "better" an Ork was, the bigger he got. I think its an old rogue trader thing that GW bought back a while ago. Fwiw I quite like that little detail. It makes sense that a mighty ork at the head of a Waaaaagh! would soak up the energy and get bigger...but only up to a certain point. However in this series, it seems thats taken a bit far. So far in the description the Beast is "the size of a hab-block" so anywhere between warhound to warlord titan size http://forum.football365.com/images/smilies/icon_confused.gif and the nobz who can sweep aside houses with their fists would be bigger than dreadnought size, maybe knight-walker size. Thats just silly*, considering that the current timeline big bad Ork, Ghazgakull is about dreadnought size.

*I realise that saying the genealogy of a race of a fictional race of orks set in the far future as silly is rather silly in itself.

 

[Grand Master Laertes]

Well, but Ghazghkhull's Waaagh! is not as vast, powerful and technologically advanced as that of The Beast. In comparison, he is jus a kid. Ghazghkhull's Waaagh! could not even destroy a single world (Armageddon), while The Beast's one has already destroyed dozens of worlds in the first two books of twelve. Ghazghkhull has the means to "tellyporta" his troops, but the Beast can "tellyporta" whole moons. And so on...

[Chaplain ChonkE]

Hmmm, the 'Great Green Kroosade' led by the strongest and most powerful avatar of Gork and Mork that has ever been known fails and is decapitated, yet his lesser children are still just as dangerous to a Galaxy ever in decline.....

No one could ever believe that!


I am glad I picked these books up. After the abomination that the HH series has become it is nice to get something pared back without all the extra trimming and window dressing. No endless pages of "Feels" and "Self-agonizing" and characterization of unfathomable minds. No cheapening of the HH setting by lifting a veil to reveal that the only difference between the Emperor's Imperium and the Imperium of Mankind is the Codex Astartes. These are meat and potatoes stories about life in the flesh-grinder of the Imperial machine. With just a few blurbs and descriptions a history and timeline is set where the machinations of the Imperium of Mankind are just beginning to turn and the cogs and wheels begin to grind it's people into dust: The Great Crusade and Horus Heresy were so impacting that people wonder if Space Marines even need to exist in an age of relative calm, the High Lords leech power away from the Senatorium and fight amongst themselves leading to a decline of the freshly healed august empire gifted to them by their forebears.

The Vangorich storyline has me frothing for more. I cannot WAIT to see the end-game on that one knowing the Codex history blurbs. An Arbites-Assassin? Yeah I like the other Beast. edit: One of my fave parts is the last book is the interplay/potential romance of the human Beast and the Inquisitor bodyguard where she is all like "Hey baby..." and he is like "Wut up "

The Orks are a bit flat..... It is like reading a Forge World book but not knowing ANYTHING about the race who is doing the attacking. It would be like reading Doom of Mymeara without knowing about the Eldar in it. Here we know quite a bit about Orks but why are these Orks SOOOOO different?! The evolutionary angle was an excellent one and I would just like a taste more than the morsel fed to me. I will just have to wait and see I guess

I was disappointed to see my Fists crushed yet again. One day they will get their day to shine bright yellow under the light of a Terran sun but if its Abnett (who I deeply like his works!) that will likely turn out to be a curbstomping for the IFs while the Vamps and Khans (Marco Polo series has inspired some better stuff lately for the Scars!!!!!) ride hard over the Traitors. The Templars showing up did get my blood up and when Slaughter enacts "The Last Wall" protocol and the gathering of the elements started happening I was pretty much full on stoked. Good ol' Papa Primogenitor Lord Dorn <3

In short: Pick these short reads up. Especially if you got tired of the Horus Heresy becoming more bloated and worthlessly wordy than the 41st Millenium Administratum Tithe code. They were good enough for me to take a little time on a snowy day to break a couple year B&C hiatus to talk em up. Definitely worth the time.

2nd edit: When Slaughter is discussing the reformation of the Chapters to bring them to Legion strength with the ship Commander and is asked about breaking the 'Emperor's decree'/Codex Astartes... "Not from His Lips it was not!" My Inner Templar came out, grabbed my favorite blade "Incroyable" from the rack and danced around the room saying "Death to the Codex!!!!!" over and over. Also was nice to see some psyker hate from the Templars again!!!!!!!!!! No Pity, No Remose, No Fear!

[Kriegsmacht]

 

I was disappointed to see my Fists crushed yet again. One day they will get their day to shine bright yellow under the light of a Terran sun but if its Abnett (who I deeply like his works!) that will likely turn out to be a curbstomping for the IFs while the Vamps and Khans (Marco Polo series has inspired some better stuff lately for the Scars!!!!!) ride hard over the Traitors. The Templars showing up did get my blood up and when Slaughter enacts "The Last Wall" protocol and the gathering of the elements started happening I was pretty much full on stoked. Good ol' Papa Primogenitor Lord Dorn <3

 

 Could see that in December when the final book is released. :)

[Chaeron]

Nearly finished Predator, Prey, and have just ordered Emperor Expects! 

 

Drakan Vangorich is fast becoming one of my favourite characters...

[Chaplain ChonkE]

I hope so Krieg! I think we are going to get some Green on Yellow action at Terra in the 32nd Millenium. That would be pretty damned hype!

 

 

He has not disappointed as a character in any of the books so far Chaeron which is a major credit to the character and his plot progression/plan and the authors handling him.

 

Bravo Green Kroosade Team!!!

[Kriegsmacht]

I feel that the Imperial Fist are going to be pretty much like a line from Leto in Children of Dune:

 

We're about to go through the crucible, but we'll come out the other side. We always arise from our own ashes. Everything returns later in its... changed form.

[Chaplain ChonkE]

I just hope they dont come out the other side a warty bloated Nurgle'esque worm thingy with superpowers of foresight ;)

 

As stated earlier the blank ceramite star-blasted armour of the Fists Exemplar really does foreshadow a metamorphisis for the Imp. Fists. Will the Templars and Excorciators be included I wonder?

[Mellow]

3rd book, The Emperor expects was also a good read. Focusing on the Navy this time was a welcome change and I like how each book is targeted onto one thing whilst linking to the main plot line.

 

It's so much better organised than the HH series it's laughable. If only they had given a 12 book, one a month, release schedule for the HH it would have been a lot better. I would have changed it to make each book much larger though, (e.g. The first 3 books of the HH would have been one large volume).

[Taliesin]

3rd book, The Emperor expects was also a good read. Focusing on the Navy this time was a welcome change and I like how each book is targeted onto one thing whilst linking to the main plot line.

 

It's so much better organised than the HH series it's laughable. If only they had given a 12 book, one a month, release schedule for the HH it would have been a lot better. I would have changed it to make each book much larger though, (e.g. The first 3 books of the HH would have been one large volume).

 

I get what you mean but that does not seem feasible.

Unless you mean multiple "12 books a year release schedules". In order to have that they would had to have multiple writers write a few books for a few years in which you'd get nothing in terms of releases, and then release 12 in a year. They probably wanted to see how the HH series was being received back when they were scheduling it in 2004 or so.

 

I don't personally think the HH is poorly organized. It's a vast effort and surely the magnum opus of Black Library.

This is no small thing what they and their writers are doing here, compared to what the rest of the SFF publishing world is doing. This is immense, and in that sense a 50 books series is a fitting tribute to a conflict on such an epic scale.

 

That is not say of course that all books are worth reading, and that some books probably shouldn't have been written, or that some conflicts seem somewhat over represented, and others under represented. But all I think it's still the highlight of Black Library and the stuff most people still await most anxiously.

 

And of course a reason why they wouldn't much larger books and thus reduce the number of releases is because that would make them much less money.

[Mellow]

More specifically it's the release schedule. The Beast arises having one a month is much more ideal in my opinion. Plus being limited to 12 books gives it a definite timeline. I feel the HH series could have benefited from a similar schedule and if that meant larger volumes then I would have been happy with it.

[Chaeron]

Finished Predator, Prey on the train: very good book that was superbly written. Like how things come together and the onward progression of the series.

 

Even after this series ends, I'd be happy for more material in and around it, because it's a great setting. Love the intrigue and overview of so many different organisations and the politics thereof.

[Tiger9gamer]

Finished the Emperor Expects yesterday. I loved it as usual but just a few nit picks 

 

 

 

 

Is it me or did gav try to tone down Vangorich? he seems way more fallible now and made some missteps in conversations and mannerisms, and now doesn't seem to be the all knowing james bond architype

 

I loved the captains and admirals in the story and liked how they play off each other, but a few things bug me. The attack on the moon feels almost like an anti-climax when they finally get to it. the stroy probably would have been better if there was another story line about the fighter pilot that ended up dealing the final blow to the moon... or would that be to 'Independence day'-ey? Still, more detail for the final battle would have been nice... and for feth's sake gimme a resolution on what happened to the Collossus! 

 

 

The boarding action could have used more detail too, maybe following a sergent as he had corridor to corridor fights with the orks? instead it felt like the captain went along just because we needed some hand to hand action to justify the cover art.

 

I Loved the part with inquisitor Weiland getting chased down and beast protecting her. Quite a nice fight and the whole skirmish in the courtyard was good.

 

I wish there was more mechanicus stuff. I really wish I had more fluff for my tech feti- I MEAN my admiration for the men of Mars.

 

 

 

[Taliesin]

Just finished Predator, Prey. I make it to be about 55k words, which is about 8k than the first book. I think this is still fewer words than a typical BL novel, but I felt less cheated this time around, which was probably due to a combination of the extra c.20% words, expecting a shorter novel and the book covering a larger number of stories. I really enjoyed all of them.

 

The action switches between six locations:

 

Terra: more politicking between the High Lords with Vangorich as the viewpoint character.

Undine: an oceanic hive world under attack by the orks

Incus Maximal & Malleus Mundi: icy twin-forge worlds under attack by the orks

Eidolica: homeworld of the Fists Exemplar chapter under attack by the orks

Ardamantua: the orks have moved on and the Adeptus Mechanicus is studying what remains

Aspiria system: what remains of a planet destroyed by the orks

 

The general theme is ork attack moons popping up everywhere, causing devastation with gravity weapons and then invading what remains. The Imperium is too divided to mount a proper fightback and everything seems hopeless.

 

 

The Marines Exemplar are another Imperial Fists second founding chapter, formed from the most progressive members of the VII legion. Their original chapter master was one of 

 

Question for anyone has read book 3, which of the 6 storylines/locations from book 2 are followed up on in Book 3, Emperor Expects?

[JimmyJ]

 

Just finished Predator, Prey. I make it to be about 55k words, which is about 8k than the first book. I think this is still fewer words than a typical BL novel, but I felt less cheated this time around, which was probably due to a combination of the extra c.20% words, expecting a shorter novel and the book covering a larger number of stories. I really enjoyed all of them.

 

The action switches between six locations:

 

Terra: more politicking between the High Lords with Vangorich as the viewpoint character.

Undine: an oceanic hive world under attack by the orks

Incus Maximal & Malleus Mundi: icy twin-forge worlds under attack by the orks

Eidolica: homeworld of the Fists Exemplar chapter under attack by the orks

Ardamantua: the orks have moved on and the Adeptus Mechanicus is studying what remains

Aspiria system: what remains of a planet destroyed by the orks

 

The general theme is ork attack moons popping up everywhere, causing devastation with gravity weapons and then invading what remains. The Imperium is too divided to mount a proper fightback and everything seems hopeless.

 

 

The Marines Exemplar are another Imperial Fists second founding chapter, formed from the most progressive members of the VII legion. Their original chapter master was one of 

 

Question for anyone has read book 3, which of the 6 storylines/locations from book 2 are followed up on in Book 3, Emperor Expects?

 

Terra and Eidolica (Fists Exemplar) only. And even the FE are only a little bit in EE.

[Thedarkprincesnun]

Do we know which book chaos marines will be turning up in yet