Corax- Book 40

[HeritorA]

But coming from someone who doesn't play Raven Guard BL couldn't have handled Corax any worse than they have imo.

Don't tempt them. Just when you think you've hit rock bottom the ground gives way to hell.

So true, by this point a lot of Legions/Chapters could end up like 'Salamanders' ;)

[Augustus]

I'ma try giving DL another go and see if my experience with the rest of the series can affect a positive perception.

[Noserenda]

Just finished the book last night and surprised at the negative perception (But then Gav hate does run deep) i really liked it and definitely benefited from reading Deliverance lost first and not skipping the shorts id already read, the fight with Astartes Superior definitely made a lot more sense in context for example and as mentioned above it gives a much clearer image of Coraxes madness.

The Bit on the Nighlord ship was some nice warp horror (The crew fleeing/avoiding the daemon bridge beast built tension nicely) but ultimately it was there to give the Ravens a clue where the NL had been, fighting the Dark Angels and Ultras out east.

And yeah the fate of the Therions was sad, but then its meant to be... (Gotta kill all the warp tainted!)

[HeritorA]

Just finished the book last night and surprised at the negative perception (But then Gav hate does run deep) i really liked it and definitely benefited from reading Deliverance lost first and not skipping the shorts id already read, the fight with Astartes Superior definitely made a lot more sense in context for example and as mentioned above it gives a much clearer image of Coraxes madness.

 

The Bit on the Nighlord ship was some nice warp horror (The crew fleeing/avoiding the daemon bridge beast built tension nicely) but ultimately it was there to give the Ravens a clue where the NL had been, fighting the Dark Angels and Ultras out east.

 

And yeah the fate of the Therions was sad, but then its meant to be... (Gotta kill all the warp tainted!)

The fate of Therions was unneccessary. And we will know it in December. Gav said he wrote shorts for 2016 Advent Christmas calendar - one for the Therions fate and another for RG chief librarian

[DarkChaplain]

Not accurate. The short story "picks up events for Marcus Valeruis as they pertain to his actions after the events of Weregeld. But they are more truthfully extra epilogues that would have got in the way of the proper ending as included in the collected novel"

 

They're character epilogues. I don't really expect a good ending for Marcus at this point. Balsar Kurthuri's short will probably have him join the Knights Errant, but Valerius is screwed.

 

The Therion Cohort needed some wrapping up in some capacity, and it is fully in Corax's nihilistic and vindictive character to send them to Beta-Garmon like he did.

[HeritorA]

Not accurate. The short story "picks up events for Marcus Valeruis as they pertain to his actions after the events of Weregeld. But they are more truthfully extra epilogues that would have got in the way of the proper ending as included in the collected novel"

 

They're character epilogues. I don't really expect a good ending for Marcus at this point. Balsar Kurthuri's short will probably have him join the Knights Errant, but Valerius is screwed.

 

The Therion Cohort needed some wrapping up in some capacity, and it is fully in Corax's nihilistic and vindictive character to send them to Beta-Garmon like he did.

And he will get the end where he was sent at Weregeld.

[Noserenda]

Yeah i dont think its a spoiler to say Horus makes a successful campaign to Terra... Chucked right in front of him at best the Therions are pretty solidly doomed but then this is Warhammer after all ;) 

[HeritorA]

Yeah i dont think its a spoiler to say Horus makes a successful campaign to Terra... Chucked right in front of him at best the Therions are pretty solidly doomed but then this is Warhammer after all

Still interested how Horus will get past the Pluto, Venus, Saturn, Luna without losing half of his fleet

[hopkins]

Yeah i dont think its a spoiler to say Horus makes a successful campaign to Terra... Chucked right in front of him at best the Therions are pretty solidly doomed but then this is Warhammer after all

Still interested how Horus will get past the Pluto, Venus, Saturn, Luna without losing half of his fleet

you know they are not all lined up in a row, right?

besides, i believe laurie goulding and john french actually mapped out the solar system and calculated planet positions for this very reason

[Augustus]

Yeah i dont think its a spoiler to say Horus makes a successful campaign to Terra... Chucked right in front of him at best the Therions are pretty solidly doomed but then this is Warhammer after all

Still interested how Horus will get past the Pluto, Venus, Saturn, Luna without losing half of his fleet

Fly up and over.

[HeritorA]

Yeah i dont think its a spoiler to say Horus makes a successful campaign to Terra... Chucked right in front of him at best the Therions are pretty solidly doomed but then this is Warhammer after all

Still interested how Horus will get past the Pluto, Venus, Saturn, Luna without losing half of his fleet

you know they are not all lined up in a row, right?

besides, i believe laurie goulding and john french actually mapped out the solar system and calculated planet positions for this very reason

The problem is - if you just evade all of this and run straight to Terra - then all the forces left behind will simply kick you in the rear. Basic logistics

[bluntblade]

 

 

Yeah i dont think its a spoiler to say Horus makes a successful campaign to Terra... Chucked right in front of him at best the Therions are pretty solidly doomed but then this is Warhammer after all ;)

 

Still interested how Horus will get past the Pluto, Venus, Saturn, Luna without losing half of his fleet :D

 

you know they are not all lined up in a row, right?

 

besides, i believe laurie goulding and john french actually mapped out the solar system and calculated planet positions for this very reason

Also the old fluff has the Traitors laying waste to Luna before they can make planetfall

[HeritorA]

Yeah i dont think its a spoiler to say Horus makes a successful campaign to Terra... Chucked right in front of him at best the Therions are pretty solidly doomed but then this is Warhammer after all

Still interested how Horus will get past the Pluto, Venus, Saturn, Luna without losing half of his fleet

you know they are not all lined up in a row, right?

besides, i believe laurie goulding and john french actually mapped out the solar system and calculated planet positions for this very reason

Also the old fluff has the Traitors laying waste to Luna before they can make planetfall

They made some 'major' changes to the lore, but it's still logistics issue - all the loyalist forces in Solar system and at Luna will simply bite Horus in the ass

[bluntblade]

After reading Raven's Flight, I begin to understand the emo remarks. To be honest the whole short felt like it could have worked well with more effective prose, but at every turn I was thinking about what I'd change in the phrasing, which took me out of the story.

[Roomsky]

Well, since its been bumped...

 

Horus Heresy Book 40- Corax

 

 

 

 

Corax: Soulforge

 

For all people's complaints about emo Corax, I must say he was oddly chipper in this short. Also, this novella was a mess. It started strong enough, to be sure, with Corax struggling to not step on too many toes when working with the mechanicum, and a refreshingly efficient capture of one of the antagonists. Unfortunately, the interesting Mechanicum stuff just evaporates from the story, seemingly forgotten after Corax rams a city into another city. The covert legion indeed. Despite the adept Corax was working most closely with calling out the Emperor as a tyrant, Corax responds as though they were discussing nothing more trivial than the weather, and nothing ever comes of it, or Corax's fears that perhaps he would be betrayed if the logic of the situation turned against him. 

 

The final battle, too, was annoyingly over-the-top, with some random-ass chaos-marine going toe-to-toe with the primarch. I can buy Kor Phaeron being a threat for a primarch, but not some no-name Word Bearer. Speaking of Word Bearers, did Agapito ever get his revenge on that one he was really miffed at? We may never know.

 

4/10

 

 

Ravenlord

 

The middle story manages the happy medium between Corax being seemingly unaffected by the wider heresy, and Corax trying to kill himself over it. I'd say this is probably the best Raven Guard piece Gav has produced, featuring a worn-down but not broken Corax, fighting the war in a manner that he thinks is for the best, despite the wishes of his fellow primarchs. The paranoia and growing divide between the legionaries was enjoyable as well, and I was happy that the ending wasn't the murder of Arendi, showing that indeed, Corax still has some hope. I did think the invasion of the prison-world went on a little too long though, though the unconventional resolution of the renegade Raven Guard helped with the pacing.

 

7/10

 

Weregeld

 

Good god Gav, way to drop the ball. While the first half of the story was decent, as I tend to enjoy conversational stuff more than anything, once Valerius revealed his visions everything just spiralled into a frustrating mess. The thing that tips Corax over the edge is Valerius' visions? Why? WHY?!!! And his decision to indirectly murder everyone he had any command over turned Corax from someone likeable in their resolve into perhaps my most hated primarch. The decisons he makes in response to Valerius' confessions are insane, and dearly made me wish Arendi had given him a stern lecture over the sheer stupidity of it all. What's more, Russ is dragged down too, choosing to die in a pointless battle instead of returning to Terra? And then. AND THEN. When Corax has his epiphany at the end, they all just magically escape I guess? NO! Screw this story.

 

3/10

 

 

 

 

TL:DR- It was bad.

[DarkChaplain]

After reading Raven's Flight, I begin to understand the emo remarks. To be honest the whole short felt like it could have worked well with more effective prose, but at every turn I was thinking about what I'd change in the phrasing, which took me out of the story.

 

I think it is important to keep in mind that Raven's Flight was one of the early audio dramas. It didn't even get its own cover until the Scripts got released (Corax handling his whip). Nowadays authors are better at audio drama writing, but back then few of them had experience with it (Swallow did, I believe. He's done plenty of tie-in stuff iirc).

 

I'm not sure if Raven's Flight specifically had noticeably more content in print when Shadows of Treachery came around, but the whole story likely would've been differently told had it not been written with the audio production in mind.

[HeritorA]

After reading Raven's Flight, I begin to understand the emo remarks. To be honest the whole short felt like it could have worked well with more effective prose, but at every turn I was thinking about what I'd change in the phrasing, which took me out of the story.

Exactly. It started well especially with ' Look what we did with a dream' - but later on...

 

Well, since its been bumped...

 

Horus Heresy Book 40- Corax

 

 

 

 

Corax: Soulforge

 

For all people's complaints about emo Corax, I must say he was oddly chipper in this short. Also, this novella was a mess. It started strong enough, to be sure, with Corax struggling to not step on too many toes when working with the mechanicum, and a refreshingly efficient capture of one of the antagonists. Unfortunately, the interesting Mechanicum stuff just evaporates from the story, seemingly forgotten after Corax rams a city into another city. The covert legion indeed. Despite the adept Corax was working most closely with calling out the Emperor as a tyrant, Corax responds as though they were discussing nothing more trivial than the weather, and nothing ever comes of it, or Corax's fears that perhaps he would be betrayed if the logic of the situation turned against him. 

 

The final battle, too, was annoyingly over-the-top, with some random-ass chaos-marine going toe-to-toe with the primarch. I can buy Kor Phaeron being a threat for a primarch, but not some no-name Word Bearer. Speaking of Word Bearers, did Agapito ever get his revenge on that one he was really miffed at? We may never know.

 

4/10

 

 

Ravenlord

 

The middle story manages the happy medium between Corax being seemingly unaffected by the wider heresy, and Corax trying to kill himself over it. I'd say this is probably the best Raven Guard piece Gav has produced, featuring a worn-down but not broken Corax, fighting the war in a manner that he thinks is for the best, despite the wishes of his fellow primarchs. The paranoia and growing divide between the legionaries was enjoyable as well, and I was happy that the ending wasn't the murder of Arendi, showing that indeed, Corax still has some hope. I did think the invasion of the prison-world went on a little too long though, though the unconventional resolution of the renegade Raven Guard helped with the pacing.

 

7/10

 

Weregeld

 

Good god Gav, way to drop the ball. While the first half of the story was decent, as I tend to enjoy conversational stuff more than anything, once Valerius revealed his visions everything just spiralled into a frustrating mess. The thing that tips Corax over the edge is Valerius' visions? Why? WHY?!!! And his decision to indirectly murder everyone he had any command over turned Corax from someone likeable in their resolve into perhaps my most hated primarch. The decisons he makes in response to Valerius' confessions are insane, and dearly made me wish Arendi had given him a stern lecture over the sheer stupidity of it all. What's more, Russ is dragged down too, choosing to die in a pointless battle instead of returning to Terra? And then. AND THEN. When Corax has his epiphany at the end, they all just magically escape I guess? NO! Screw this story.

 

3/10

 

 

 

 

TL:DR- It was bad.

Agree with each point. I have 150000 of well trained Therion cohort - what should I do with them? Right - send them to death where they can't do any impact at all. Very profficient and expidient from the very 'guerilla' prepared Primarch.

[pompeyladbfp]

One of those books were I have just pretended didn't happen, ill stick with my version were he was just raiding, saving normal humans and being a sneaky insurgent behind Horus's lines.

[HeritorA]

One of those books were I have just pretended didn't happen, ill stick with my version were he was just raiding, saving normal humans and being a sneaky insurgent behind Horus's lines.

Has anyone saw - that most of the HH narratives and decision making suffers than religion and prophesies are involved?