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The Beast Arises


Vorenus

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I'd imagine an un-mentioned detachment remained on Terra, as a contigency to the total loss of the Chapter's fighting forces. The Phalanx may always have a detachment, though why they'd not take this with them seems strange as I'm sure they'd sacrifice it in a heartbeat to save Terra.

I'm only half-way through, but unless something changes, Vangorich states that there are no Imperial Fists on both Terra and the Phalanx.

Fists get reformed because they periodically go extinct...LOL

 

It suits their 'rise from the ashes' theory quite nicely,  no? :P

 

Can't let an insitution as historic and worthy as the Imperial Fists fading into darkness.

I must say I wasn't very impressed with I Am Slaughter. It didn't really feel like Dans heart was in it, lacking a lot of the expertly tuned detail and concepts found in the rest of the 'Daniverse'.It was poor bolter porn with little fleshing of the IF although I did like the wall names.

 

Don't get me wrong the parts that followed the high Lords were very abnett and worked well with his talent for political intrigue and I looked forward to these parts, but the rest was just a bit underwhelming which is disheartening as I've never felt this way with a book by abnett before. Perhaps there was just too much to fit in to get the series started that certain things couldn't be explored. I'll continue to snap up anything by him, but won't be coming back to this one. Let's hope book 2 is better

 

After reading the book again, I agree with you on some points. I was hoping for a Know No Fear or Titanicus and the book just didn't get there.

 

I definitely still enjoyed it quite a bit, but I do think the short length made it less than it could have been. Either expectation management (this seems much more like a novella rather than the advertised full length story) or trying to do less in the novel itself probably could have helped.

I've also ad a second read but I'm still happy overall with the book other than the length of it. A full length novel it ain't, but as the first in a planned 12 book series I wasn't expecting anything to be wrapped up in it. As an opening in the series it did its job ie set up and introduce the players and the storyline and drop hints for what's to come.

As for the date of the Fists, I've read enough stuff over the years to know that they could produce a bunch of survivors from left field any old time. Just because a character says something doesn't make it true. There may be pockets of squads isolated all through the blisternest Unknown to the character. Vangorich states there are none left on the Phalanx. Really? They left their home base and greatest asset unmanned for anyone to take? I remain sceptical for the moment.

Vangorich states there are none left on the Phalanx. Really? They left their home base and greatest asset unmanned for anyone to take? I remain sceptical for the moment.

Unmanned?  No.  Without a complement of space marines?  Certainly possible.

 

Vangorich states there are none left on the Phalanx. Really? They left their home base and greatest asset unmanned for anyone to take? I remain sceptical for the moment.

 

Unmanned?  No.  Without a complement of space marines?  Certainly possible.

To me that would still be unmanned considering how Astartes are portrayed as thinking of normal human troops, but I concede it could be possible. Seems weird that they would risk every last Fist when the fate of the majority of the Chapter was unknown ATT. Blood for the Plot God?

I am honestly surprised more people are not talking about the IF seemingly wiped out at the end. They made it fairly clear the entire Chapter was there and was wiped out. I have to think they will have to show some survivors just to keep the Chapter alive. The notion the IF get randomly wiped out and replaced en masse with new geneseed warriors with zero history or tradition is extremely unappealing. And I am not a fan of the IF...

I must disclaim it by saying that I did not read the novel yet (and, with time being as short as it has been lately, might not read it for a while), but I wonder if the apparent extinction of IFs is in any shape or form an allusion to James Swallow's Blood Angels novels, where a throwaway statement suggested that a First Founding chapter has been disbanded/reorganized before. Could it be making a reference to the apparent destruction of the IFs (and their likely reconstitution from Successors)?

Didn't strike you as apocalyptic? The entire premise is apocalyptic, i.e. the destruction of a major Imperial Fleet, an Ork superweapon the size of a moon appearing within a few weeks travel of Terra, and the apparent destruction of the entire IF chapter...

Didn't strike you as apocalyptic? The entire premise is apocalyptic, i.e. the destruction of a major Imperial Fleet, an Ork superweapon the size of a moon appearing within a few weeks travel of Terra, and the apparent destruction of the entire IF chapter...

Haha, this is why one should not fight sleep pills activating to just try and write one more post;)

Apocalyptic in this sense is probably not the right word but I'm referring to the loses of the Fists. Then again, audio books can lose some vital chunks of content due to distractions. I'll give it a go again this week. The grimdark (no, autospell, not Grindr!) perhaps has raised the bar for me. :) I'm enjoying the discussion though.

 

I'll check myself after going through it again. Thanks!

Didn't strike you as apocalyptic? The entire premise is apocalyptic, i.e. the destruction of a major Imperial Fleet, an Ork superweapon the size of a moon appearing within a few weeks travel of Terra, and the apparent destruction of the entire IF chapter...

Just finished listening to the audio book and I am revising my position on the epic disaster facing the Fists. That's a major downside to audio books for me, is that sometimes you miss some very important content;) 

 

The book is a great start to the series. I wish it was longer, too, but was pleased. It was ch. 20 where the first report of the attack, mystery of the foes, and the level of damage leveled against the chapter. I kept rewinding to make sure I got every detail correctly. THAT filled in lots of holes I had last time and the true scale of how "apocalyptic" this book is not only for the IF but also the Imperium. I think I was too caught up on the survivor and missed the huge level of obliteration of his battle brothers. Thanks for the feedback.

 

Looking forward to kicking off a year of podcast reviews for each book in the series. :)

I just got the book and I'm 100 pages in, and just a few things stand out to me: 

 

Is it just me or does anyone else think of Tyranids when talking about the Chromes? When describing the smaller ones every image I get of them are just gaunts, with the larger ones being the tyranid warriors. Are they supposed to be a tyranid knock off? did I miss something?

 

What the heck is the organization of the fists at this time? are they the normal 40k organization that we have now, or Are they still legion-esq? is Daylight Wall A company or is it a squad designation? 

I just got the book and I'm 100 pages in, and just a few things stand out to me: 

 

Is it just me or does anyone else think of Tyranids when talking about the Chromes? When describing the smaller ones every image I get of them are just gaunts, with the larger ones being the tyranid warriors. Are they supposed to be a tyranid knock off? did I miss something?

 

What the heck is the organization of the fists at this time? are they the normal 40k organization that we have now, or Are they still legion-esq? is Daylight Wall A company or is it a squad designation? 

I didn't get Tyranids personally, but I could see how you could. I think part of it is BLs reluctance/inability to write about non-codex xenos breeds aside from blurbs for the most part. Something I wish they would do more often.

I feel every time a non-codex xenos gets mentioned, people will try and tie them into a codex xenos anyway, so why bother? In 8 years of being into 40k, the majority of the community has shown me that they can't process an insectoid-race without it being connected to the Tyranids, a robotic race without it being connected to Necrons, or a horrific/bestial race without it being connected to Chaos or Dark Eldar. People just aren't smart enough to look beyond the codex.

I feel every time a non-codex xenos gets mentioned, people will try and tie them into a codex xenos anyway, so why bother? In 8 years of being into 40k, the majority of the community has shown me that they can't process an insectoid-race without it being connected to the Tyranids, a robotic race without it being connected to Necrons, or a horrific/bestial race without it being connected to Chaos or Dark Eldar. People just aren't smart enough to look beyond the codex.

 

....Oi. I kinda take offense to that. I mean If the only thing you hear about when it comes to insectoids is the tyranids, and if they don't use any other kind of description aside from "silvery Chitin" or "bladed forelimbs" then you probably think of the closet thing, which are gaunts.

 

Like if I describe a boat that is red, what do you think of? A sail Boat? A tug boat? A freighter? They could have had more description, like say they look like Cockroaches or a praying mantis, even as a throw away line from the magos Biologist. Then we have another point of reference we can imagine. Unless I missed it, they didn't describe the chrome that well except from shell color, so it can be forgiven if they draw an image that resembles to closest example in 40k: the tyranids. 

 

That is how I feel anyways

 

 

What the heck is the organization of the fists at this time? are they the normal 40k organization that we have now, or Are they still legion-esq? is Daylight Wall A company or is it a squad designation? 

 

I don't think that was made explicit in the text. I assume, as some have been discussing, that is a detail that will get developed later on as the Imperial Fists are reformed to develop the character of the Chapter.

 

That said, according to canon, the Imperial Fists accepted the Codex Astartes following the Horus Heresy. It would be a significant retcon for this to be changed as Dorn's reticence to adopt the Codex along with other legions nearly precipitated a second civil war and his eventual decision to accept the Codex was as major factor leading him to take Purturabo's bate at the Iron Cage. 

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