HeritorA Posted December 3, 2016 Share Posted December 3, 2016 He also worked on two Tomb Raider novels with Nik in the meantime. Not that they seem particularly good according to reviews... Sadly - I read one and it's totally 'UnAbnett' style Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4581581 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boudan Posted December 6, 2016 Author Share Posted December 6, 2016 ***SPOILER ALERT: THIS POST WILL CONTAIN SPOILING INFORMATION*** I've recently begun reading the one-off space marine novel "Brotherhood of the Snake" by Dan Abnett. I'm enjoying the work quite a bit, although I find the jumps in time and location to be slightly disconnecting for the reader (i.e. me). Within the first vignette, the space marine character Priad successfully dispatches somewhere between 10 and 15+ dark eldar raiders who have crash-landed on a lower-tech but civilized and inhabited Imperial world. My understanding of the Dark Eldar is that they are Eldar who have chosen a life outside of the craftworld environment. They remain Eldar. Aren't all Eldar trained in combat? Don't all Eldar have significant speed and agility comparable or greater to that of an Astartes? Other Black Library fiction I have read suggest that the Eldar are definitely no joke singularly. How could Priad kill so many without even suffering a wound? Thanks for any feedback. Did you get to the part where a single squad of Iron Snakes slaughters two thousand Dark Eldar? Or even the parts where they fight the Orks? The Dark Eldar get fodderized pretty badly in this novel. Eldar tend to come off better in other novels. So I finally got to Section 3 this morning over coffee. Yowza! A couple of additional thoughts: 1) Would a plasma gun be able to repeatedly fill entire hallways with deadly energy? 2) The Astartes walking out the DE explosives and barely escaping with their lives seemed like a odd trope to tack onto the end of the story. Also, if the DE explosives would be powerful enough to potentially destroy the entire city, it would seem like Priad and Petrok would probably have been caught up in the blast when running away from the piled-up explosives outside of the city. I realize this point may be a tad nit-picky as we're basically discussing superhero fiction. 3) Why did the Imperial Guard officers get taken away to 'punishment ships'? The IG were specifically told by Hero-Captain Phobor to stay back, so as to not 'distract his aim.' 4) I did enjoy the fact that the rest of the Imperial forces on Eidon were largely unaware of the heroics of Damocles squad, and that Phobor was hinted at being a bit of a buffoon. I wonder if Phobor's characterization was intended by Abnett to suggest that Damocles is not necessarily representative of the Iron Snakes generally. 5) Finally, I thought the dialogue between Priad and Petrok, wherein Petrok admits that sometimes more than one harpoon is needed to kill a sea-beast, was a nice little insight into Iron Snakes chapter culture. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4584521 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xisor Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 Thoughts. That's definitely what I had when reading it. Thoughts like "how have my eyes melted?" and "did this say 40k on the front?" and other uncharitable thoughts. Frankly, the deliberate (I've heard it well described as "mythic") style of the book really grated on me. To the point I barely noticed it and was simply overcome with the conviction that the book was awful. Of course: it isn't awful. But I still don't like it. --- In some respects, it's Abnettverse gone up to 11. Things here don't work the same way they seem to elsewhere. If that bothers you, which it bothered me, then this books is almost painful. The weirdest thing, for me, is the strength of the imagery at work. Visions of Ithica, mainly, but also the big heroics. It's might and vivid and... damn it, it's well done. Damn. For example: the scene where they walk on the beach? It's one of the most strangely memorable in all of 40k. It's beautiful and wonderful. --- But: A pug took on a Dark Eldar army, :cuss. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4584538 Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeritorA Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 Thoughts. That's definitely what I had when reading it. Thoughts like "how have my eyes melted?" and "did this say 40k on the front?" and other uncharitable thoughts. Frankly, the deliberate (I've heard it well described as "mythic") style of the book really grated on me. To the point I barely noticed it and was simply overcome with the conviction that the book was awful. Of course: it isn't awful. But I still don't like it. --- In some respects, it's Abnettverse gone up to 11. Things here don't work the same way they seem to elsewhere. If that bothers you, which it bothered me, then this books is almost painful. The weirdest thing, for me, is the strength of the imagery at work. Visions of Ithica, mainly, but also the big heroics. It's might and vivid and... damn it, it's well done. Damn. For example: the scene where they walk on the beach? It's one of the most strangely memorable in all of 40k. It's beautiful and wonderful. --- But: A pug took on a Dark Eldar army, :cuss. That is amazing ;) Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4585363 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoebus Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Dan's Brotherhood of the Snake and resulting shorts all have big problems with "power levels" compared to everything else, I've found. Heck, there's an advent short from a few years back where Priad of Damocles kicks orks around on a planet, on his own, for 15 years! His mission literally was to keep the orks busy for a decade and a half until extraction. Not just until extraction; to keep the Orks busy long enough for a battlefleet to mobilize and make war on their empire! Mind you, this story came out after Brotherhood, and I feel rather confident saying that it was a "love letter" to fans who decried the amount of awesome the Iron Snakes of Ithaca unleashed on Dark Eldar, Orks, and so on. Edit: was there even a distinction between true Kabalite Dark Eldar and vat-grown specimens back then? Even so, I'm fairly sure Abnett was unconcerned about any such concept, and simply conveyed to us just how proper Space Marines - Iron Snakes! - would deal with them. As Xisor said, it's turned up to 11. I love it. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4626598 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarl Kjaran Coldheart Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Im a huge fan of the Iron Snakes. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4626734 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrannicide Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I was much younger when this was newly released, and IIRC this came out around the same time as the 300 craze, but if you read this from the same approach you would Ancient Greek Mythology then it's less grating. I have nothing to back up my claim, but I have to believe it's partially what Abnett was aiming for with the way BotS reads. Abnett catches a lot of flack for wildly fluctuating power levels, but in spite of this I personally love the book. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4626781 Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeritorA Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I was much younger when this was newly released, and IIRC this came out around the same time as the 300 craze, but if you read this from the same approach you would Ancient Greek Mythology then it's less grating. I have nothing to back up my claim, but I have to believe it's partially what Abnett was aiming for with the way BotS reads. Abnett catches a lot of flack for wildly fluctuating power levels, but in spite of this I personally love the book. True - the book was released in time of general world amazeness with everything new after '300' and greekish Snakes was right on the spot. Abnett could do awesome stuff, compile a lot of interesting ideas into one narrow and uber cool narrative. But his best writing will come then he will create his own 'stories' and plots. So I hope that Matthew Farrer Snakes SMB novel will focus on new and interesting side of the Snakes Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4626889 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelborn Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 A SMB Iron Snakes novel? Got a link or further details? Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4627114 Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathspectersgt7 Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Come on HeritorA you let the Snake out of the Bag DETAILs !!!!! Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4627223 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apothecary Vaddon Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Uh, it's old, old, old news, was announced ages ago (IIRC sometime mid last year?). Farrer was going to do some Snakes novel but there were never any true details and we haven't heard anything about it since. Actually, I lied, it's even older. https://twitter.com/fullynocturnal/status/536164683820965888 Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4627405 Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeritorA Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Uh, it's old, old, old news, was announced ages ago (IIRC sometime mid last year?). Farrer was going to do some Snakes novel but there were never any true details and we haven't heard anything about it since. Actually, I lied, it's even older. https://twitter.com/fullynocturnal/status/536164683820965888 Wow - really, there are a lot of details, it was mentioned by Farrer himself in 2014 https://matthewfarrer.wordpress.com/2014/11/22/urdesh/ and later in 2015. It was mentioned again at BL live 2016 and it is finished and in editing phase. Waiting for 'you know who' to 'coming soonish' finish 'Warmaster' at last. Cause both books are running parallel to each other and happens during campaign on Urdesh. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4627420 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apothecary Vaddon Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Yeah, I just lumped all of that in with 'I lied'. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4627476 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelborn Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 After reading Mats posts, I got the impression that Heri = Jay? ^^ Man, would love to read that. Shame that we have to wait until Warmaster is finished. -.- Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4627507 Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathspectersgt7 Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Heck !!! Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4627665 Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeritorA Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 After reading Mats posts, I got the impression that Heri = Jay? ^^ Man, would love to read that. Shame that we have to wait until Warmaster is finished. -.- No to the first point and totally a shame a talented fella and I believe a good book would be waiting on a shelf, while someone will do his job at last. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4628075 Share on other sites More sharing options...
R_F_D Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Well now it's out on social media I saw Dan at a book signing last Wednesday (Aquaman Rebirth volume 1 which I read last night and I can highly recommend btw) and he told me that he'd just sent Warmaster off to the BL editors. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4628141 Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeritorA Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Well now it's out on social media I saw Dan at a book signing last Wednesday (Aquaman Rebirth volume 1 which I read last night and I can highly recommend btw) and he told me that he'd just sent Warmaster off to the BL editors. I will believe it then I see it. I heard the same since the end of 2013, lol Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/328288-brotherhood-of-the-snake-by-dan-abnett/page/2/#findComment-4628170 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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