What you like about ... Prospero Burns

[Petitioner's City]

It has been a week since the first of a new series of threads I wanted to do about the things you like in BL books, starting with A Thousand Sons, and we continue to be well-timed for the release of the new Heresy box. Whilst it is important to critique texts, I wanted to get a sense of what we like about these - and even engage at a deeper level about when something works. Yet this is also meant to be fun, not argumentative, hence being purely about what we liked or thought was good or successful in these novels. 

 

So with the Burning of Prospero coming out this week, we move onto Prospero Burns. 

 

 

 

 

The Emperor is enraged. Primarch Magnus the Red of the Thousand Sons Legion has made a terrible mistake that endangers the very safety of Terra. With no other choice, the Emperor charges Leman Russ, Primarch of the Space Wolves, with the apprehension of his brother from the Thousand Sons' home world of Prospero. This planet of sorcerers will not be easy to overcome, but Russ and his Space Wolves are not easily deterred. With wrath in his heart, Russ is determined to bring Magnus to justice and bring about the fall of Prospero.

Written by Dan Abnett

 

So in Prospero Burns I liked ...

 

Characters

• In terms of characters, I found Kasper a fascinating figure - I would not call him a cypher, because I think the representation in flashback of an academic (the kind you see in media who is more than an archaeologist, art historian, historian, or literary scholar, but more of a cross-culture studies expert) is very striking, and a contrast to the man he becomes - who leaves behinds the attempt to preserve the objective past for more nuanced tales and narratives, interesting. And representative of different approaches - but the move from objective 'historian' to inculturated anthropologist is striking, and part of his characterisation, the move from objective to subjective, from modernist security to postmodern insecurity and even loss of identity/obtaining multiple identities. 
• Navid Murza - I also loved his inclusion, and felt he was a strong contrast (if cliche) to Kasper. The sexy indiana jones to his drier self. When Kasper is being cross examined at Nicaea, his conneciton to Navid is clear. 
• 'Bear' was a wonderful twist, and his characterisation - aloof, gruff, cold - a good contrast to what we might have expected from our 'primary' Wolf character. 
• The senior echelons of Tra (more on this below) - Ogvai and Ulvurul - were two sides of a coin. Ogvai a domineering, intimidating force. Yet 'romantic':

 

‘Then there was the name,’ said one of the escort behind the Upplander. Ogvai nodded, and the Tra veteran stepped forwards. He was lanky and grey-haired, with blue tattooing writhing up and out from the edges of his leather face mask and across his deep brow. Plaited grey beard tails sprouted from the mask’s lower rim.

‘What’s that, Aeska?’ asked Ogvai.

‘The name he gave us,’ said Aeska. ‘Ahmad Ibn Rustah.’

‘Oh yes,’ said Ogvai. ‘Jarl Gedrath, rest his thread, had a romantic soul,’ said the warrior.

Ogvai grinned. ‘Yes. It appealed to him. To me too. I was his right hand, and he looked to me. He didn’t want to appear whimsical or weak, but a man’s heart can be touched by an old memory or the smell of history. That’s what you intended, wasn’t it?’

He was looking directly at the Upplander.

‘Yes,’ said the Upplander. ‘To be honest, after a thousand or so messages, I was willing to try anything. I didn’t know if you’d know the significance.’

‘Because we’re stupid barbarians?’ asked Ogvai, still smiling.

• 'Long fang' Ulvurul was that traditional mentor figure, perhaps cliche, who had to pass. I imagined David Thewlis, but someone older suits better (Ian MacKellen perhaps). Tangent aside, he is a cliche, but a potent one whose relationship to Kasper is withheld from the reader. 
• Leman Russ. I have read people complain about the lack of Russ in this novel, but this is such a powerful depiction - I think the most majestic of all the Heresy of Wolf, enabled, in part, by Abnett's gorgeous prose and his desire to play, linguistically and thematically with the Wolf King. 

 

 

The Wolf King was also seated on a stone bench. He had a deep silver lanx near to hand, brimming with mjod. His armour appeared almost black, as if it had been scorched and tarnished in a smithy, but Hawser felt that was just the way the gloom of the firelight played upon it. Under an open sky, he thought, it would be tempest grey.

 

The armour was by far the heaviest and most marked power plate Hawser had ever seen. It dwarfed the formidable suits of the Terminators. It was notched and gouged, and the damage was as much decoration as the knotwork and tooled etching on the main plates. Around his shoulders, Russ wore a black wolf-skin. The pelt seemed to surround him and clothe him, like a forest beards a hillslope or a stormcloud smokes a peak. His face was shaved clean, and his skin was white like marble. Close to, Hawser could see light freckles on it. The Wolf King’s hair was long. Thick plaits of it hung down across his chest plate, weighted at the tips by polished stones. The rest of it was lacquered into a spiked mane. Hawser had heard many stories about the Wolf King from the men of Tra. They had all described his hair as red, or the colour of rust, or of molten copper. Hawser wasn’t so sure. To him, the Wolf King’s mane looked like bright blond hair stained in blood.

 

Russ watched Hawser take his seat. He sipped from his lanx. He was panting still, through parted lips, like a large mammal made uncomfortable by the heat but unable to shed its fur.

• Nothing is clear about Russ - his hair changes colours, much like stone in the rain (to reference celtic stones and how Pulliam sees them), yet everything is so focused, with the cavalcade of Kasper's observational details. Yet Russ is cloaked in story. 
• To carry on, Russ who is smarter than he seems, who puts on an act, who turns from honest, strategic and confessional in his first meeting with Kasper to jovial at Constantin Valdor (especially when Valdor asks him to drop the 'role of barbarian king'. It is interesting that he disappears between Nikea and orbit of Prospero, that meeting of the mighty members of the Legions and then bang, Propsero and Russ confusingly speaking to Magnus (but not) through Kasper. Russ is seen to be tricked, which must happen to preserve some 'good' in a man/godling who does very differently from what he asks of 'Magnus':

 

This is a courtesy, then. From brother to brother. A grace period I would extend to no other enemy. Settle your affairs. Evacuate the civilians from your cities. Deactivate your defence systems. Bring yourself and your Thousand Sons out into the open, and prepare to surrender to me upon my arrival. Please, Magnus. The Wolves of Fenris have been unleashed upon you. Only you have the power to make the consequences bloodless. Please, Magnus. Please. 

• Despite this, he is utterly convicted his brother is 'a madman. A dabbling warlock'. He  'wants the ruling of Nikaea overturned. He wants permission and approval to continue with his arcane tinkerings and his foul magics. So he manufactures a threat, something he can warn us about that is so astonishing we would have to forgive him, and set aside our objections. Something so unthinkable, we would have to thank him and tell him he had been right all along. All along. This is his ploy.' As Magnus is stubborn, so too is Russ - his hubris and conviction bias 'It involved maleficarum turning and twisting one of our own gothi, in the immediate vicinity of you, an identified conduit for the enemy’s power. Of course poor Haelfwulf would gabble out the same damned lie with his dying breath. It’s supposed to make Magnus’s story sound more credible by coming from a secondary source. Truth is, it’s the proof I need that Magnus is desperately trying to coordinate a campaign of disinformation to support his ruse. He doesn’t need to answer through you, skjald. He’s answered already.' Russ is both a straight arrow and not, he is someone who operates on two levels, so he offers mercy in surrender yet does not. 
• The tragic final scene with Russ, and the play of ambiguity. Just as Kasper is 'never sure when he is joking' so are we. More so jokes are forms of lies, forms of stories. How much of what Russ presents is real? How much is not? His judgement and anger, and yet the highly strategic and even cold application of something else as well. I wish Wright would have more of this Russ... and perhaps The Wolf King will do exactly that, play with his Janus face - represented in the model, even, by the Janus wolfhead backpack (even if this is traditional Wolf iconography).
•  

Story & Plot

• I love the story in this novel. Why? It is not a simple Legion A to B story, yet it is fundamentally about the culture of the Legion it focuses on - their own oral culture, their living in repetitions of the past (the sagas retold by skalds and later dreadnoughts and apparently rewoken Kasper), and their flux between appearances of brutality (Ogvai stripped to the waist when meeting the IA commanders, Russ the 'barbarian king', etc) and noble civllity, and of course the reason why Prospero occurs - this reaction to malificarum. As Apologist and others have written in another forum, the opening scenes of the Murdermake parallel Prospero - which, rather than being the loss of the city, concerns Malificarum within society. 
• I also love the story because this is Abnett doing what he does best - what he did in Necropolis, in Eisenhorn, in Ravenor, in Sabbat Martyr, Traitor General, Blood Pact, Salvation's Reach and, most recently, Pariah. Looking away from the battles, looking at the wider culture. Building this world through detail, its societies, its histories. Who does not love seeing Terra during the later stages of the Unification Wars? The meeting with the stuffy bureaucrat. The civilian side of this world. The seeming inclusion of Paris. The gorgeous haunting sense of a world whose past is lost, with tragic attempts to understand the past such as 'all three of Shakespire's plays' (including Titus Andronicus! And presumably The Tempest). The murdermake and seeing civilian life on Fenris which is not 'twee sub-viking hero story' of Bill King days. 
• The scenes on Nicaea, that almost comical yet also suddenly dangerous scene with Valdor, Fulgrim, Typhon, etc., and their utter intelligence and command of seeming obscure details. These men could all be excellent managers - and surely have to be as military commanders - but this ... data processing and cross-galactic way of viewing things so rarely comes across. 
• The story is structured in interesting ways
• In the present - Murdermake, many decades later, waking up in the fortress, then joining Tra, then the battle with the abominable human offshoot, then Nicaea, then the psychic/warp/wulfen scene, then Kasper's recounting of prospero, and the epilogue. But we have recurrent motifs from the past - both Kasper's history, from being a bored and seemingly unsuccesful bureacrat, and reaching back through his life. And both oscillate - with devices like mirrors and sounds (the clavier/bomb, the leopard growl)

Setting & World Building (which can't quite be taken apart in PB)

• Oh my god,this novel is even more bursting with details than ATS. And strangely they kind of feel forgotten. Let's start with the language:

 

‘You’re Space Wolves, aren’t you?’

Skarsi found that amusing. ‘Oh, now those words aren’t Juvjk. Space Wolves? Ha ha. We don’t use that term.’

‘What do you use, then?’

‘The Vlka Fenryka, if we’re being formal. Just the Rout, otherwise.’

• It's not alone, Abnett remade how we thought of simple happy space viking things: 
• the Aett
• Juvjk and Wurgen. 
• Tra, Onn, Twa, etc. 
• Beyond language, things
• mjod - 'The Upplander could smell the petroleum reek of the drink. There was blood in it too, he guessed. Liquid food, fermented, chemically distilled, extremely high calorific content… more akin to aviation fuel than a beverage.'
• leather face masks - masks are ritualistic and involve changing one's identity. the use of masks by the wolves is fascinating, and says a lot about malleable identity and taking on different traits in the context of the novel. 
• And even traits
• The much-hated wet leopard growl. I rather love it. It alienates us from what we expect - not a wolf howl - but this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi3350uEvE8

 

I must admit this is my favourite novel in the series, so I like a lot in it, but I've only focused on certain things. And I've gone way over what I intended, and not in any consistent manner. It's certainly not an essay. I'll happily move onto other areas in discussion. I would recommend everyone read this thoughtful post in the AoD thread by Apologist, and what follows. Really that is the most beautiful discussion of this novel. 

 

However enough me, I want to hear what you all like in PB. 

[mactire]

Have to agree with you, to me this is the book that set down what the Vlyka were and are. I loved the depictions of the Wolves at war, the assault on the orbital station was written fantastically and then the sudden change with the use of it to bombard the planet, brilliant stuff.

[Petitioner's City]

Have to agree with you, to me this is the book that set down what the Vlyka were and are. I loved the depictions of the Wolves at war, the assault on the orbital station was written fantastically and then the sudden change with the use of it to bombard the planet, brilliant stuff.

 

Oh yes, the details of this I forgot. 

 

I also love the reaction of the army staff to the Wolves, how hated the Vlka are - they would rather have had another legion and almost thought about cancelling the request. How brutal must the VI be to cause such a reaction? Or how much of a monstrous act must they perform to create that image? And acting, masks, performance etc... all at play. And do not forget the relationship of all this to The Tempest and ritual as well. But then once in war, those roles harden. But dropping the station on the planet is also comparable to attempting to obliterate Tizca from orbit. 

[b1soul]

I also love the reaction of the army staff to the Wolves, how hated the Vlka are - they would rather have had another legion and almost thought about cancelling the request. How brutal must the VI be to cause such a reaction? Or how much of a monstrous act must they perform to create that image?

 

I am not a SW fan...but I thoroughly enjoyed Prospero Burns the second time I tried reading it

 

That said, I find it hard to believe that Imperial Army would prefer NL or WE...to SW

 

SW are relatively tame compared to the former two, perhaps those Army guys are ignorant about the VIIIth and the XIIth

 

Also, I recall those Army guys think the WS are consummate professionals...which is at odds with Chris' portrayal...or perhaps they ran into some Luna Wolves wannabe Terran WS?

 

I think PB is probably just a bit dated

[b1soul]

Would just like to add how culturally, Abnett's SW are not merely Vikings

 

They also seem to have some Celtic and perhaps pre-Iron Age Scandinavian or Germanic influences

 

A bit like how the WS have some Japanese, Tibetan, and Chinese influences as well, not just Mongol

[Augustus]

What I liked most was the calm, collected, well reasoned conversations that sprang up after the book came out.

I think I liked that Bjorn was just some dude before the Hersey made him. Unlike the leadership of the IW, BA, DG, IF, LW, TS, to name a few.

[Roomsky]

Prospero Burns is my favorite Dan Abnett Novel, and proves to be A Thousand Sons' equal, in my opinion, an impressive feat considering how dissimilar the two are. Here's what I loved:

 

The Humans- Probably one of the strongest human casts in the heresy, even if it is relatively small. Murza and even Rector Uwe felt very real despite a short and a very short appearance, respectively. Kasper himself is of course fantastically written, from the creeping influence of Chaos, to his desire to learn and evolve mentally, to his slow assimilation of the Space Wolf culture.

 

The Wolves from Space- Oh man. Best legion exploration ever. Dan fleshes out a legion better than any other author has managed to bar none. The balance of familiar and alien characteristics perfectly forms a legion with a deep culture that leaves the reader as eagre to learn more as Kasper. What's more, it made a legion we were made to despise in A Thousand Sons totally likeable, with characters like Skarssensson becoming much more layered, and rightfully so, now that we see them from the view of an ally.

 

The Plotting- I think that overall, Praetorian of Dorn has the best plotting in the heresy, but this comes darn close. The mystery is revealed slowly, but like any good mystery, you don't feel cheated when it reaches its resolution. Seeing the wolves' campaign from the view of an outsider was an excellent choice, and a new perspective on Nikea and the Burning of Prospero are more than welcome. Highlights include Bear's immunity to enuncia, and making the eye of horus reveal frightening even though we already know what's coming.

 

In short: Ten `adda Ten

[HeritorA]

Would just like to add how culturally, Abnett's SW are not merely Vikings

They also seem to have some Celtic and perhaps pre-Iron Age Scandinavian or Germanic influences

A bit like how the WS have some Japanese, Tibetan, and Chinese influences as well, not just Mongol

Abnett has 3 bad novels - and they are Prospero Burns; Unremembered Empire; I'm Slaughter.

Prospero Burns is my favorite Dan Abnett Novel, and proves to be A Thousand Sons' equal, in my opinion, an impressive feat considering how dissimilar the two are. Here's what I loved:

The Humans- Probably one of the strongest human casts in the heresy, even if it is relatively small. Murza and even Rector Uwe felt very real despite a short and a very short appearance, respectively. Kasper himself is of course fantastically written, from the creeping influence of Chaos, to his desire to learn and evolve mentally, to his slow assimilation of the Space Wolf culture.

The Wolves from Space- Oh man. Best legion exploration ever. Dan fleshes out a legion better than any other author has managed to bar none. The balance of familiar and alien characteristics perfectly forms a legion with a deep culture that leaves the reader as eagre to learn more as Kasper. What's more, it made a legion we were made to despise in A Thousand Sons totally likeable, with characters like Skarssensson becoming much more layered, and rightfully so, now that we see them from the view of an ally.

The Plotting- I think that overall, Praetorian of Dorn has the best plotting in the heresy, but this comes darn close. The mystery is revealed slowly, but like any good mystery, you don't feel cheated when it reaches its resolution. Seeing the wolves' campaign from the view of an outsider was an excellent choice, and a new perspective on Nikea and the Burning of Prospero are more than welcome. Highlights include Bear's immunity to enuncia, and making the eye of horus reveal frightening even though we already know what's coming.

In short: Ten `adda Ten

To compare amazing PoD and even more awesome PoH to that horrible puppies ..... is HERESY!

[Runefyre]

Prospero Burns is my favorite Dan Abnett Novel, and proves to be A Thousand Sons' equal, in my opinion, an impressive feat considering how dissimilar the two are. Here's what I loved:

The Humans- Probably one of the strongest human casts in the heresy, even if it is relatively small. Murza and even Rector Uwe felt very real despite a short and a very short appearance, respectively. Kasper himself is of course fantastically written, from the creeping influence of Chaos, to his desire to learn and evolve mentally, to his slow assimilation of the Space Wolf culture.

The Wolves from Space- Oh man. Best legion exploration ever. Dan fleshes out a legion better than any other author has managed to bar none. The balance of familiar and alien characteristics perfectly forms a legion with a deep culture that leaves the reader as eagre to learn more as Kasper. What's more, it made a legion we were made to despise in A Thousand Sons totally likeable, with characters like Skarssensson becoming much more layered, and rightfully so, now that we see them from the view of an ally.

The Plotting- I think that overall, Praetorian of Dorn has the best plotting in the heresy, but this comes darn close. The mystery is revealed slowly, but like any good mystery, you don't feel cheated when it reaches its resolution. Seeing the wolves' campaign from the view of an outsider was an excellent choice, and a new perspective on Nikea and the Burning of Prospero are more than welcome. Highlights include Bear's immunity to enuncia, and making the eye of horus reveal frightening even though we already know what's coming.

In short: Ten `adda Ten

You've pretty much summed up everything I love about the book, barring the fact that I'm rather partial to Astartes POV's.

My dislikes revolve largely around the disparity in the actual combat, but that discussion has been beaten enough already. I've got my own head-canon that's a-lot more balanced for both sides

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

Stay on topic.

 

HeritorA: If you feel the need to state your opinion, you can surely start your own thread.

[ShadowSwordmaster]

I love Abnett's depiction of the Space Wolves in Prospero Burns. He really flesh's them out in the novel.

[HeritorA]

Stay on topic.

 

HeritorA: If you feel the need to state your opinion, you can surely start your own thread.

I'm staying on topic explaining why people dislike that horrible book. If your Legion is SW - that doesn't mean  we should like it or horrible :cuss that Prospero Burns is

[IronDrake28]

 

 

Stay on topic.

 

HeritorA: If you feel the need to state your opinion, you can surely start your own thread.

I'm staying on topic explaining why people dislike that horrible book. If your Legion is SW - that doesn't mean we should like it or horrible :cuss that Prospero Burns is

You should probably re-read the topic title then. Also, being rude doesn't ever help in an argument.

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

HeritorA: The topic of this conversation is what the reader liked about Prospero Burns. That means the discussion is about what parts of the novel we enjoyed or found entertaining. 

 

If you think the novel is crap, then do not reply to this post. You can even start your own post saying why you think the novel is crap. That is fine.

 

But in this thread, stay on topic (which is to discuss what the reader enjoyed about Prospero Burns) or stay quiet.

 

If there are any further questions you may have, you can contact either myself or any of the moderating team and we'll be happy to discuss them with you.

[Petitioner's City]

HeritorA: The topic of this conversation is what the reader liked about Prospero Burns. That means the discussion is about what parts of the novel we enjoyed or found entertaining. 

 

Thank you Jarl Kieran! 

[Ozeryk_Sleipnijr]

Well now that that got sorted, ... I was inspired in the first chapter when the Uplander was wounded on Fenris. The experiences & conversations between the fenresian warriors and the description of Fenris it'self. My curiosity about the origins and reasons of of the first colonization is boundless. I thank Dan Abnett for this, endless daydreaming material.

[b1soul]

This thread inspired me to re-read Prospero Burns

 

The prose is stunning...Abnett at his finest:

 

 

 

This was how battles must have looked when only gods and their demigod offspring walked upon Terra. Humanoid giants in regal armour, some dark and pelt-clad like sky deities of boreal Aesir, some golden and haughty like scholar gods of Faeronik Aegypt. Immense blows were landed by warriors of either side: men were smashed off their feet, or cut apart, bodies were rotated hard, heads snapped around. Fenrisian blades hammered into Prosperine armour, Prosperine force burned back into Fenrisian plate. The line faltered in both directions as it compensated for the force of collision. Then it seemed as though the carnivorous lust of the Vlka Fenryka would entirely overwhelm the warriors of the Fifteenth.

That was the moment we started to die, my brothers. That is the moment we started to die in any significant numbers. The Thousand Sons unleashed their maleficarum, the poison in their veins Electrical discharge leapt from staffs and fingertips. Radiant filth, like the unlight of the warp, spilled out of eye slits and speared from warding palms. Wolves were torn apart by the touch of their battle magic, or thrown back, mangled and scorched. Some were petrified into smouldering attitudes of excruciation. Their weapons charged with sorcerous power, fuming with helsmoke and sick light, the accursed traitors launched into our assaulting ranks.

Threads were cut in swathes, like scythed corn. Threads were more than cut. Some were torched back along their lengths, so that men did not merely die; the lives they had led before their deaths burned away into forgetfulness. Some were left as smears of blood, or haphazardly butchered carcasses. Some were pulled limb from limb by invisible wights and the sprites of the air. Some were left as nothing but heaped white bones and scads of blackened armour.

Oje died there, turned inside out by a warlock’s gesture. I saw Svessl too, split in two by an invisible blade. His blood came out of him with great, explosive force, like liquid from a pressurised cask. Hekken: cooked inside his armour. Orm Ormssen: exsanguinated. Vossul: blinded and pulped. Lycas Snowpelt: gutted and decapitated. Bane Fel: engulfed in a cold blue fire that consumed him but would not go out. Sfen Saarl: withered to a vile powder. Aerdor: transmogrified into a twisted, steaming, inhuman stump.

Too many. Too many! The accounts needed for all their sendings off would last for months. The kindling needed for all their funeral pyres would exhaust an entire great year’s supply.

I felt vindication, for the maleficarum of the Thousand Sons was everything it had been accused of being. Our prosecution was legitimised. But I felt fear, for I did not believe we would win or even live. For all our fury, for all our might as warriors, we would be exterminated, proving that the Thousand Sons of Prospero were monsters and warlocks.

I did the one thing a skjald should not do. I looked away. I averted my gaze so that I did not have to witness the fall of the Rout.

I missed, therefore, the beginning of salvation. I missed the first glimpse of the Null Maidens pouring down the black heaps of burning rubble into the fight. Their blades were bright. Pulsing beads and beams of energy spat from their weapons. They uttered no war cry or challenge.

The blankness of them washed across the line. The rank clouds of maleficarum burned away, or blew aside like fog in a night wind. The warlocks of the Fifteenth choked on the abominable words of their conjurations. They gagged on the pestilential utterance of their spells. I saw them stagger back, clutching at their throats, pawing at the neck seals of their helms.

 

 

Beautiful stuff...Hawser's recounting paints the Wolves as heroic warriors facing the vilest sorcery...the language is beautiful and evocative. As a non-SW fan, I cheered for them the way I cheered for the TSons when reading ATS.

 

Some BL authours cannot write half as good to save their lives

[bluntblade]

So tomorrow, I'll beourchasing Prospero Burns and Talon of Horus. That excerpt has convinced me entirely

[Kasper_Hawser]

When I first read the book, frankly I was confused. Needed to read a few times and then merge with what I knew of the Wolves of the 40K times to gradually appreciate the roots of the 6th Legion. More often then not, it turned what I knew about the Wolves on its head, like how the 6th were almost universally disliked by the other elements of the Imperium, and that most of the time, their barbarian outlook was mostly an act, though not completely. Like that Wolf Lord being famliar with old Earth literature regarding Ahmab Ibn Rustah. And that despite their ferocity, everything they do is for a purpose and with control, unlike the Thousand Sons, World Eaters or Night Lords who do not restrain themselves in anything.

 

They came of as likeable and mysterious, though not to the point of mary sues. 

 

The best plot twist involved Bear and Kasper in the end for me. But the character Wyrdmake was also my favorite, especially how he differentiates his discipline from the Tsons.

[LJF]

I'm still waiting for an actual SW novel, you get to learn about so many things about the Imperium in general but you get very little of that sweet SW action we have been expecting. Also reading how Kasper hears a klavier playing on every third page or so gets annoying eventually.

 

That being said, it was still an interesting read and we DO learn some cool tidbits about SW here and there. It was nice while it lasted but unfortunately even those couple of cool details about them got drastically changed and butchered in some of the later books (Betrayer, Scars, Wolf King) to the point that PB is so irrelevant that it might as well not even exist. 

[MrDarth151]

I adore this book. It's probably the deepest characterisation the Space Wolves have gotten thus far, and my favorite one. Kind of a shame that the follow ups were are bit disappointing, but indeed, this book was an excellent read, and it did a great service to establishing character of The Rout as a legion for years to come.

 

And since I've experienced most of HH in audiobook form, I've got to say: I love the accent that Vlka Fenryka are give in this book. It is very melodic, soft and very pleasant to listen to; the kind of accent one would want to listen to when one listens to ancient sagas of heroic deeds. It expected something harder and more rough sounding, and I was very pleasantly surprised.

 

And I will say this: In terms of Space Marine characterisation, this is probably the best book Abnett has ever written. I love it.

[HeritorA]

This thread inspired me to re-read Prospero Burns

 

The prose is stunning...Abnett at his finest:

 

 

 

This was how battles must have looked when only gods and their demigod offspring walked upon Terra. Humanoid giants in regal armour, some dark and pelt-clad like sky deities of boreal Aesir, some golden and haughty like scholar gods of Faeronik Aegypt. Immense blows were landed by warriors of either side: men were smashed off their feet, or cut apart, bodies were rotated hard, heads snapped around. Fenrisian blades hammered into Prosperine armour, Prosperine force burned back into Fenrisian plate. The line faltered in both directions as it compensated for the force of collision. Then it seemed as though the carnivorous lust of the Vlka Fenryka would entirely overwhelm the warriors of the Fifteenth.

That was the moment we started to die, my brothers. That is the moment we started to die in any significant numbers. The Thousand Sons unleashed their maleficarum, the poison in their veins Electrical discharge leapt from staffs and fingertips. Radiant filth, like the unlight of the warp, spilled out of eye slits and speared from warding palms. Wolves were torn apart by the touch of their battle magic, or thrown back, mangled and scorched. Some were petrified into smouldering attitudes of excruciation. Their weapons charged with sorcerous power, fuming with helsmoke and sick light, the accursed traitors launched into our assaulting ranks.

Threads were cut in swathes, like scythed corn. Threads were more than cut. Some were torched back along their lengths, so that men did not merely die; the lives they had led before their deaths burned away into forgetfulness. Some were left as smears of blood, or haphazardly butchered carcasses. Some were pulled limb from limb by invisible wights and the sprites of the air. Some were left as nothing but heaped white bones and scads of blackened armour.

Oje died there, turned inside out by a warlock’s gesture. I saw Svessl too, split in two by an invisible blade. His blood came out of him with great, explosive force, like liquid from a pressurised cask. Hekken: cooked inside his armour. Orm Ormssen: exsanguinated. Vossul: blinded and pulped. Lycas Snowpelt: gutted and decapitated. Bane Fel: engulfed in a cold blue fire that consumed him but would not go out. Sfen Saarl: withered to a vile powder. Aerdor: transmogrified into a twisted, steaming, inhuman stump.

Too many. Too many! The accounts needed for all their sendings off would last for months. The kindling needed for all their funeral pyres would exhaust an entire great year’s supply.

I felt vindication, for the maleficarum of the Thousand Sons was everything it had been accused of being. Our prosecution was legitimised. But I felt fear, for I did not believe we would win or even live. For all our fury, for all our might as warriors, we would be exterminated, proving that the Thousand Sons of Prospero were monsters and warlocks.

I did the one thing a skjald should not do. I looked away. I averted my gaze so that I did not have to witness the fall of the Rout.

I missed, therefore, the beginning of salvation. I missed the first glimpse of the Null Maidens pouring down the black heaps of burning rubble into the fight. Their blades were bright. Pulsing beads and beams of energy spat from their weapons. They uttered no war cry or challenge.

The blankness of them washed across the line. The rank clouds of maleficarum burned away, or blew aside like fog in a night wind. The warlocks of the Fifteenth choked on the abominable words of their conjurations. They gagged on the pestilential utterance of their spells. I saw them stagger back, clutching at their throats, pawing at the neck seals of their helms.

 

 

Beautiful stuff...Hawser's recounting paints the Wolves as heroic warriors facing the vilest sorcery...the language is beautiful and evocative. As a non-SW fan, I cheered for them the way I cheered for the TSons when reading ATS.

 

Some BL authours cannot write half as good to save their lives

true - but the point is that Beautiful stuff was too short! 2 paragraphs and that's all - Book shouldn't have been called Prospero Burns.

But yes, some point were amazing - like mentions from 20-21 centuries and wars on Balkans