Emperor's Spears covered by A D B

[LJF]

There are few issues that stood out for me

 

1. Despite the book title I think I learned more about the Mentors than the Spears. Perhaps ADB is saving more of the in depth stuff for the second, maybe even third book.

 

2. There was no main villain who could pose a serious threat throughout the book, in fact I felt no urgency and there wasn't even an actual plot to speak of. The book consists mainly of lore dumps and the action is minimal.

 

3. For being only a human the main heroine acomplishes some pretty amazing feats and survives some horrific punishment. Sometimes the thickness of her plot armor is actualy comparable to your typical Mary Sue space marine hero like Dante or Draigo.

 

Overall it was an interesting read from the lore perspective but not thoroughly enjoyable and my attention started slipping towards the end.

[RikuEru]

 

 

"There are no Spears on Nemeton."

Sounds like the title of the second book.

Too soon. Too soon, my friend...

[Shadowseer]

Finished the book a minute ago.

 

Wow, just wow. Absolutely the best book I have read in 40k.

[Nazguire]

There are few issues that stood out for me

 

1. Despite the book title I think I learned more about the Mentors than the Spears. Perhaps ADB is saving more of the in depth stuff for the second, maybe even third book.

 

2. There was no main villain who could pose a serious threat throughout the book, in fact I felt no urgency and there wasn't even an actual plot to speak of. The book consists mainly of lore dumps and the action is minimal.

 

3. For being only a human the main heroine acomplishes some pretty amazing feats and survives some horrific punishment. Sometimes the thickness of her plot armor is actualy comparable to your typical Mary Sue space marine hero like Dante or Draigo.

 

Overall it was an interesting read from the lore perspective but not thoroughly enjoyable and my attention started slipping towards the end.

 

 

Using your numbering:

 

1. I would generally agree, but we still received a lot of information about the Emperor's Spears, including what drives and motivates them.  The information concerning the culture on Nemeton and how the tribals were afraid of the Space Marines (viewing them as ghosts) was particularly enlightening.

 

2.  I tend to agree to a point.  It did lack a certain kind of direction that a strong antagonist can drive.  The Pure's origins as the Star Scorpions wasn't particularly difficult to work out and while the Battle of the Hex (and subsequent events) was well written, that plot point was relatively wrapped up quite quickly.  I disagree that the action being "minimal" is a bad thing - too often Black Library novel rely on "bolter porn" in order to drive a plot forward, rather than genuine character and plot development.  I think the action scenes were well placed and used to good effect.

 

I do agree that the conclusion veered left all of a sudden and it lacked a kind of coherency.  I can gather what ADB was trying to do but it lacked some of the oomf that otherwise would have gained from a strong driving antagonist.

 

3.  The novel explains that Anuradha is a genetically and cybernetically enhanced human.  She may not be enhanced to the same degree as a Space Marine, but she is far from a "mere human".  I never really felt that she had overt plot armour, only what was necessary to push the plot forward.

 

I believe that this novel was heavy on "lore" because it is supposed to set up a trilogy (I think) of novels.  

[Knockagh]

I’m listening to this prob 7 months after I read it first. Loved it then loving it now.

 

@LJF the lack of urgency was for me one of the best features of the novel. After far too many years reading BL a book that is story heavy is a blessing to be cherished. Frankly I’ve read enough battle heavy books to do me. A trilogy of lore would be fine and dandy. I like hanging about on Nemeton finding out about their culture and I love learning about the people’s left behind in the dark imperium. Their sense of betrayal and their loyalty being throughly tested. We have a lot of learning to do when it comes to the dark 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.

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.

 

IMO the layer was entirely unnecessary, and doesn't really add anything to it that we didn't already expect. From the onset we know that the Spears are really who are holding the Veil together, as the poor Lions have never recovered their numbers, and said Spears were already on the back foot, as the Pure are established as a preeminent and rising threat. The bit about their enemies getting reinforcements while all they've ever gotten is one measly ship that really wasn't any form of reinforcement (ironically) already established the stakes for the Chapter.

 

Dubaku's death serves little purpose with the situation as already laid out in the interludes. What would one Astartes, however charismatic, be able to accomplish against the kind of fleet that was coming to Elysium? He had already conceded his homeworld. The first steps of the Spears being ultimately destroyed at some point after the trilogy were taken already.

 

That's why I felt like it was there for Amadeus' story, but didn't need to be.

 

 

 

 

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".

Well, most of the 500 Worlds are on the Terran side of the Rift, aren't they? That's pretty much all that would be needed anywhere on that side, tbh. The whole lack of effective Warp travel thing is mostly confined to the true Dark Imperium, which ... kind of makes the Dark Imperium novels' title somewhat of a misnomer, as none of them take place in the actual Dark Imperium. Though I guess if you look at the DI novels as being the BL tie in to the DI box set, the name makes more sense, but still adds to the confusing double meaning of the term itself.

[The Doctor Of War]

Finished the book a few days ago, and its one of ADB's best. I really enjoyed the world building put into the novel and the fleshing out of a Chapter that was just a name and paint scheme. And i'm looking forward to future tales of the Spears.

 

IMO the layer was entirely unnecessary, and doesn't really add anything to it that we didn't already expect. From the onset we know that the Spears are really who are holding the Veil together, as the poor Lions have never recovered their numbers, and said Spears were already on the back foot, as the Pure are established as a preeminent and rising threat. The bit about their enemies getting reinforcements while all they've ever gotten is one measly ship that really wasn't any form of reinforcement (ironically) already established the stakes for the Chapter.

 

Dubaku's death serves little purpose with the situation as already laid out in the interludes. What would one Astartes, however charismatic, be able to accomplish against the kind of fleet that was coming to Elysium? He had already conceded his homeworld. The first steps of the Spears being ultimately destroyed at some point after the trilogy were taken already.

 

That's why I felt like it was there for Amadeus' story, but didn't need to be.

 

 

Personally for me it helped to fix an issue i had with one of ADB's previous works.

I've never been a fan of the Celestial Lions surviving Armageddon. To me it defeated the point of their story, that the average Chapter cannot get away with going against the Inquisition. Having them be saved by their friendly neighbourhood Black Templars, then taken off home to rebuild rather de-fanged the Inquisition.

 

So having it turn out that the Inquisition will carry a grudge for centuries, conspire to cross the Rift at the cost of thousands of lives and jeopardize the future of an entire sector really put the menace back into that organization

[Marshal Rohr]

Ekene being killed while serving as the leader of the warhosts in the Veil will have significant ramifications down the line. The Lions holding together the disparate factions puts the Spears in charge, and the Chapter Master of the Spears wasn’t elected to lead the first time. That tells us the Spears might not have the ability to unite all the defenders, causing a solid basis for the Veil to fracture and become vulnerable to the Pure

Edited June 27, 2019 by Marshal Rohr

[Lord_Caerolion]

Arguably though, that was before the Spears shouldered the burdens of 3 Chapters, as Ekene was elected before the loss of the Scorpions. I'd say they've won considerable good-will since then.

[Marshal Rohr]

Didnt the Star Scorpions disappear half a millennia before this? I thought Amadeus talked about the chapter being five hundred years old. Ekene was still a sergeant on Armageddon

[Jerethdatiger]

Any suggestions on how to do plumes for gravis armor like inceptors/agressors

 

Helm hoods won't allow plume inside and outside looks wierd

[Marshal Rohr]

They probably don’t wear any plumes.

[SkimaskMohawk]

Adb had a few posts about the various rank markings, but you'd have to dig to find them

[Kelborn]

Adb had a few posts about the various rank markings, but you'd have to dig to find them

If I'm not mistaking, they can be found on Warhammer Wiki or 4chan, as well.

[Red_Shift]

Kind of mixed feelings with this one. I enjoyed it, read it pretty quickly, but when it ended I wondered what had happened. It feels like the first part of a series rather than a stand alone.

[Gederas]

Kind of mixed feelings with this one. I enjoyed it, read it pretty quickly, but when it ended I wondered what had happened. It feels like the first part of a series rather than a stand alone.

Per ADB in this thread, that's because it is.

[SkimaskMohawk]

And even the narrator. She mentions a few times it's the first part of a narrative

[DarkChaplain]

My only fear is that this, like the Black Legion series, is sowing seeds for future narratives that we may not get to see anytime soon, and the longer it takes, the tougher it could be to follow up on these things.

[Moonreaper666]

My only fear is that this, like the Black Legion series, is sowing seeds for future narratives that we may not get to see anytime soon, and the longer it takes, the tougher it could be to follow up on these things.

With the wrap up of the HH series many authors are going to have more time for their other projects

[Knockagh]

 

My only fear is that this, like the Black Legion series, is sowing seeds for future narratives that we may not get to see anytime soon, and the longer it takes, the tougher it could be to follow up on these things.

With the wrap up of the HH series many authors are going to have more time for their other projects

I wouldn’t be so sure. I would put money on BL having a number of their top writers already beavering away on the next large project.

[Marshal Rohr]

There isn’t another large project to do, and they’re probably tired of big MCU style tie in work.

[Apothecary Vaddon]

You uh, got some special insider knowledge there?

[Marshal Loss]

My only fear is that this, like the Black Legion series, is sowing seeds for future narratives that we may not get to see anytime soon, and the longer it takes, the tougher it could be to follow up on these things.

 

I wouldn't worry. The Black Legion series is uniquely problematic because it involves arguably the most prominent character in the setting, and thus is more vulnerable to changes in the meta-narrative or retcons regarding the Warmaster's character and place in the universe; whereas the Spear of the Emperor miniverse is quite clearly a self-contained little setting where - if ADB wills it - nothing that happens on the outside is going to make it in. That's not even taking into account that this is going to be a trilogy, where the second book is (I think) almost already written, whilst the BL series is an ongoing project with no end in sight.

[Marshal Rohr]

You uh, got some special insider knowledge there?

Nope, just spitballing.

[Taliesin]

The regular hardback is already sold out on bl and gw.com, it's only been out two weeks.