Emperor's Spears covered by A D B

[LJF]

The narrator was fine, however BL should have hired multiple voice actors for different characters (maybe 3 or 4). This was painful to listen at times.

[Marshal Rohr]

Finished it today. Another great entry into the lore by ADB. The spears are well fleshed out without relying on Primaris vs non-Primaris tropes. The defenders of the veil were well done, it felt good to see the Imperium both strong and hard pressed on the other side of the Rift. I’m still holding out hope for a look at a section of the Imperium Nihilus that has grown stronger in the years without the Imperium.

[Apothecary Vaddon]

Felt that the last twist...really holds it back in my eyes. IMO it was unnecessary - I felt that it was there to provide an impetus for

Amadeus joining the Emperor's Spears and nothing else. But IMO that could've been done with his transformation already. His personal growth post-transformation, along with the acknowledgement that he will probably never be able to return to the better side of the rift, should have been the driver for joining the Spears, and then in later novels, if they ever come, we can explore his integration with the Spears. But said integration is sped along via what I felt was a shoehorned twist.

 

 

Maybe that's entirely unfair of me to read it that way and I'm wildly off the mark and 100% wrong. Just what I thought of that slice of it, so w/e.

 

OTOH I thought the novel was at it's unquestionable best when examining the interactions between Anuradha, her fellow serfs, and Amadeus. Some very powerful moments there. The closest I've gotten to a lump in my throat since the end of Devastation of Baal.

[Preliminary Bombardment]

Finished it today. Another great entry into the lore by ADB. The spears are well fleshed out without relying on Primaris vs non-Primaris tropes. The defenders of the veil were well done, it felt good to see the Imperium both strong and hard pressed on the other side of the Rift. I’m still holding out hope for a look at a section of the Imperium Nihilus that has grown stronger in the years without the Imperium.

Definitely, it would be a great switch up if regions forced to become more autonomous without the light of the astronomicon became more efficient as a result. I mean the tithe is basically unmanageable at this stage from what we can see. Maybe nihlus will have Dante as a figure head / coordinator with dozens of sub martials who can react quickly enough to new threats.

[JH79]

 

I'm about half way through the audio book and the story isn't half bad. The narration is awful though. This is no fault of the narrator and I want to stress that. She tries, god bless her, but whenever she puts on a voice for one of the marine characters, it's jarring to say the least. The voices for the Spears range from seductive Russian spy straight out of a Bond film to a sad tree frog warbling its' lament. And here I thought these dudesmen were Greek. 

 

As of right now I can't make any final judgments on the book as a totality but there are many positives with the glaring weakness of the Mentor's mien. He has all the personality of charm of your local DMV on a Monday morning. Thank god his help more than makes up for him being made out of wood.

 

Yea, having read the book a while ago and starting to listen to the audiobook yesterday, it threw me for a loop when the narrator used a Russian accent for a voice of an ES marine; really took me out of the story. Up until that point I was fine with the voices she had used.

 

In defence of Kelly Hotten the Producer / Director would have had some input as to what would / would not be acceptable in terms of accents. A VA wont just rock up to a reading and wing it with whatever they fancy in terms of accent. More than likely her accent range is limited and this was the best should could give them.

 

On a separate note I really do hope to god that BL do not use her for a full length novel populated by Male characters again, this was by far one of the worst audio adaptions they have produced! Her voice is very feminine yet strong and powerful and i can imagine would be well suited to some of the stronger female character roles in their line of Audio Drama's, but not for the men and certainly not for the Spears.

[DarkChaplain]

I'm halfway through chapter 7, and I honestly like Kelly Hotten's performance so far. I was a bit taken aback by the first Spear character to appear, but that was more a discrepancy due to my own expectations of what the Spears would be like, rather than her performance. She does well for the serfs and she fits her protagonist nicely, and everything told so far has been filtered through her eyes and ears, and shaped by her narrative voice anyway.

[JH79]

The glory of personal preference 

[Kilcin]

Felt that the last twist...really holds it back in my eyes. IMO it was unnecessary - I felt that it was there to provide an impetus for

Amadeus joining the Emperor's Spears and nothing else. But IMO that could've been done with his transformation already. His personal growth post-transformation, along with the acknowledgement that he will probably never be able to return to the better side of the rift, should have been the driver for joining the Spears, and then in later novels, if they ever come, we can explore his integration with the Spears. But said integration is sped along via what I felt was a shoehorned twist.

 

 

Maybe that's entirely unfair of me to read it that way and I'm wildly off the mark and 100% wrong. Just what I thought of that slice of it, so w/e.

 

OTOH I thought the novel was at it's unquestionable best when examining the interactions between Anuradha, her fellow serfs, and Amadeus. Some very powerful moments there. The closest I've gotten to a lump in my throat since the end of Devastation of Baal.

I understand why you might feel that way, I felt the opposite though; it was the one twist I did not see coming.

 

The entire book has been in a microcosm of the galaxy; this just added another layer, the Inquisition. Also, it added some depth and reasoning to the Mentor chapter and this mission, as well as confirming the pettiness of the Inquisition. It raises the stakes for the Emperor's Spears since their brother chapter in defending the Veil just figuratively and literally had it's head removed. We know that the Emperor's Spears are going to be holding on by a thread because of the first chapter in the book, the twist just shows the first step of getting there. To my understanding there is suppose to be two more books, which I look forward to.

 

The twist pushes the image of the cold, calculating Mentor Legion in contrast to the fiery, honorable Emperor Spears.

 

I feel like there is more that I can add about it, but i'm drawing a blank at the moment.

[Kilcin]

 

 

I'm about half way through the audio book and the story isn't half bad. The narration is awful though. This is no fault of the narrator and I want to stress that. She tries, god bless her, but whenever she puts on a voice for one of the marine characters, it's jarring to say the least. The voices for the Spears range from seductive Russian spy straight out of a Bond film to a sad tree frog warbling its' lament. And here I thought these dudesmen were Greek. 

 

As of right now I can't make any final judgments on the book as a totality but there are many positives with the glaring weakness of the Mentor's mien. He has all the personality of charm of your local DMV on a Monday morning. Thank god his help more than makes up for him being made out of wood.

 

Yea, having read the book a while ago and starting to listen to the audiobook yesterday, it threw me for a loop when the narrator used a Russian accent for a voice of an ES marine; really took me out of the story. Up until that point I was fine with the voices she had used.

 

In defence of Kelly Hotten the Producer / Director would have had some input as to what would / would not be acceptable in terms of accents. A VA wont just rock up to a reading and wing it with whatever they fancy in terms of accent. More than likely her accent range is limited and this was the best should could give them.

 

On a separate note I really do hope to god that BL do not use her for a full length novel populated by Male characters again, this was by far one of the worst audio adaptions they have produced! Her voice is very feminine yet strong and powerful and i can imagine would be well suited to some of the stronger female character roles in their line of Audio Drama's, but not for the men and certainly not for the Spears.

 

 

Agreed; I feel it's more of the producer/director's fault because they should of chimed in and have Kelly due another accent. Or maybe they told her to do the Russian accent, which is a totally bad call. Would of been nice if ADB had a say in the accent (which I assume he didn't).

[godking]

Just finished the ebook .

 

Another homerun for ADB.

 

I liked the world building and the details of an Astartes chapter and Astartes warfare the most.

 

The POV from the narrator character was terrific .

[Boldthreat]

Just finished this as well. What a fantastic read. I did not expect that ending! I wanted to fling my copy across the room! So good!

 

Sometimes, most of the time, 40k lore seems to actually make the setting feel smaller than it is. This felt right. I may have no interest in collecting Spears or Lions, but oh did this book have me wishing my guys were right there with them! A small, all but forgotten section of Imperial Space that means nothing to no one, but felt like the most important spot in the Galaxy.

 

More please!

[Sandlemad]

So one relatively minor thing I like about this is how ordinary and unexceptional the Spears are. They're cool, they're fleshed out, there's tons of fascinating details relating to their homeworld culture and their history defending the veil but they're not special. They're easily 99% codex-adherent*, there's no unique troop types and any other chapter could easily be as unique or quirky. They're like a representative example of how every chapter is, or could be, about as distinct as this. Their depth comes from the attention ADB gives them.

 

* Aside from local naming customs (warhost for company, battleguard for command squad, etc), the only deviations I can think of are the semi-independent nature of each company, and that their chaplains and librarians also take on some of the apothecaries' role. I'm not even sure if these are meaningful differences either, they feel like the kind of minor thing the codex might not specify or could allow for as required.

[godking]

Another detail i liked is how ADB dealt with the creation of  Primaris marines in a realistic matter.

 

Its not as simple as here are the instructions to build primaris marines get to it !

Edited June 19, 2019 by godking

[Apothecary Vaddon]

The process the Spears got was just that, a process. They had no personnel who had ever done or, or ever trained in, the creation of Primaris marines...I don't think what the Spears went through is indicative of the majority of cases on the Terran side of the Rift...

[SkimaskMohawk]

So, the one thing that really niggled me wasnt the fault of adb, but instead underlined the problem of it being released so much earlier as the limited edition. The calgarian rite reference completely would have given away the surprise of calgar in vigilus. But it was released well in advance to squeeze the hype.

[Hasoroth]

Just finished reading my ebook copy of The Emperor's Spears.

 

Boy, what a book. Like Boldthreat said this is one of those books that helps to expand and flesh out the 40k setting instead of diminishing it. I loved the world building, I loved The Emperor's Spears, I loved the Mentors (at least what was shown of them from Amadeus), I love how the different genelines for the Astartes had a meaningful impact for once when it came to the blood transfusion during the surgical operation, I loved that rebel governor who wanted to die in a last stand, I loved how he actually died. 

 

I can't wait for more. This book actually adds depth to the Imperium Nihilus setting and it literally drove me to go out and buy my first box of Space Marines in who knows how long because I want to take part in 40k again.

 

I'm going to make one criticism though, read through ADB's books and take a shot everytime a character rudely interrupts other people. Take another shot anytime the phrase "A voice rang out shouting "XYZ" to stunned silence. It was only after a moment that I realized it was me shouting" or something similar is used.

 

To my knowledge the narrator (I can't remember how to spell her name) is one of ADBs classic trope characters whose penchant for temerity, interrupting, and asking prying questions never gets punished (and serves as a vehicle for plot exposition usually). See also Talos when he meets Abaddon, or Khayon half the time when he's talking to anyone. 

Edited June 20, 2019 by Hasoroth

[Aramis K]

I really enjoyed it. The Veil is an interesting place and I liked the Spears.

Impatient for sequel now as it's so strongly set up.

 

A lot more detail about the Mentors than I was expecting. Not all flattering, but interesting.

 

Working on some Helots and skull drones for my force now, along with a certain post-op figure.

[godking]

The process the Spears got was just that, a process. They had no personnel who had ever done or, or ever trained in, the creation of Primaris marines...I don't think what the Spears went through is indicative of the majority of cases on the Terran side of the Rift...

If its similar to the spears in that they got the proces  without sending guys who trained in or created primaris marines then i would expect similar results.

 

Without experienced personnel trial and error is the best you can hope for.

[DarkChaplain]

Keep in mind that usually, Guilliman would either pop up in person during the Indomitus Crusade and deliver Primaris to Chapters, or send Primaris hosts on their way if the larger force was tied up somewhere. In both situations, the Chapters would get Primaris examples and apothecaries well-versed in the creation of Primaris, and whatever toolkits required. This wasn't the case for the Spears.

[Apothecary Vaddon]

 

The process the Spears got was just that, a process. They had no personnel who had ever done or, or ever trained in, the creation of Primaris marines...I don't think what the Spears went through is indicative of the majority of cases on the Terran side of the Rift...

If its similar to the spears in that they got the proces  without sending guys who trained in or created primaris marines then i would expect similar results.

 

Without experienced personnel trial and error is the best you can hope for.

 

Yes, and generally speaking everyone the Indomitus Crusade reached wouldn't have that problem...

[N1SB]

Anuradha is my new waifu.  Chapter 6 was my favourite part of the book.

 

And my problem now is deciding between the Spears or the Mentor Legion as my new army.  Or perhaps...

 

The Star Scorpions Pure?

 

In all seriousness, I really liked how this novel provided a slice-of-life in the new normal that is the Imperium Nihilus, this was what I wanted to see in Dark Imperium.  I really enjoyed Dark Imperium, but it always amused me how the Great Rift was mostly just an inconvenience there, like the 500 Worlds got a sternly-worded memo that effectively said "Don't Look Up".

[Panzer]

Just ADB having a bit fun on Facebook. :D

 

[Kelborn]

"There are no Spears on Nemeton."

[No Foes Remain]

"There are no Spears on Nemeton."

Sounds like the title of the second book.

[N1SB]

Just ADB having a bit fun on Facebook.

 

 

You know what, a spear would be a good objective marker.  Remember when Breac throws his spear to signal the charge, and everyone went "rawr," his point is "charge there, on that objective."