Ruinstorm 'Spoilers'

[Rafen IX]

Has anyone else here finished Ruinstorm? Finished it over the weekend and 're read it. Would love to share insights into it.

Edited November 14, 2017 by Jolemai
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[Damon Nightman]

Unfortunately, I have not read it, but I would love to hear your thoughts or some spoilers or a breakdown if you are willing... Edited October 18, 2017 by Brother Lemartes

[durdle-durdle]

Yeah I’m not actually sure what it’s about. Care to write up a synopsis?

[Rafen IX]

It's the most recent book in the Horus Heresy Series and sees Sanguinius, Guilliman and Lion el Jonson attempt to reach Terra for the final battle. But the Ruinstorm lies in their way.

[Panzer]

It's the one with the absolutely terrible cover art, I remember. :D

[Rafen IX]

That's the one haha

Although the duel wielding Spear and Sword do crop up in the book and it's awesome ;)

[Damon Nightman]

I read some spoilers involving Curze and Sanguinius and I was dissapointed at first, but after reading the actual extract from the book it seemed better.

 

Rafen, how do you feel Sanguinius was portrayed? Were you pleased?

 

Would you mind sharing your favorite part or any particular moments where the BA shined and did some bad butt type stuff? Did Sanguinius or the Sanguinary guard wreck dudes?

Edited October 19, 2017 by Brother Lemartes

[Rafen IX]

At work at mo. I'll post those under spoilers when I finish but yes there are some very bad butt moments;)

[Damon Nightman]

Awesome! All the info in the thread in the black library section seems to be incredibly, overly negative for the most part.

 

Looking forward to reading your thoughts!

[Malios]

Most of the talk about the black library books unfortunately is negative: its what happens when you get passionate fans who set their expectations way too high.

 

Barring a few gems here and there, if you're after a balanced review about black library books, the bolter and chainsword sub-forum is not the best place to look.

[Panzer]

To be fair, not everything Black Library releases is gold. I just say the majority of the T'au novels and a good bunch of the BA novels. ^^

[Blindhamster]

I'm getting through it and enjoying it. It does suffer from having three protagonists in their own distinct narratives for most of the book though.

[Pendent]

It's likely to be a while before I can pick this up so, uh, please spoil it for me?

[Malios]

To be fair, not everything Black Library releases is gold. I just say the majority of the T'au novels and a good bunch of the BA novels. ^^

I completely agree: there are definitely some doozies.

 

But, people still find a way to negatively scorn the critically acclaimed books too.

[TheRealMcCagh]

The first half of the novel was a struggle for me. Had kind of a Deathfire feel to it where it just felt like things were going on and on and not really leading anywhere or coming together. There are also parts where I couldn't really understand what was happening, and I don't mean thematically, I mean physically what was happening. During some of the fight scenes I just couldn't get a mental picture of what was going on. I don't think it was as bad as some of the criticism makes it seem, but I wouldn't say it set the world on fire. Worth a read if you want to move the story along, and has some really great scenes. Plus we finally get to see Sanguinius rage a little bit. Not full on Angel of Death, but at least not a totally debbie downer

[KJB]

Ruinstorm was basically written with the sole purpose of justifying the inclusion of “Damnation of Pythos” in the Horus Heresy series

[Crimson Ghost IX]

Got the audiobook and really enjoyed this one. I recommend it for any BA fan. Don't take it too seriously and just enjoy the ride.

The audiobook is very well read by Jonathan Keeble so maybe that helps following the action. The demon he voiced... Oh man that was fun.

Having read/listened to the other Blood Angel Imperium Secondus books in the HH series for a better idea of what is going on first is also a very good idea.

 

I feel Sanguinius especially and the BA generally were really well done and met my expectations.

I like the Lion more after this book. (Even if he very nearly put the exterminatus on our primarch et all).

Guilliman has been growing on me as a good dude and this book continues to show him as pretty damn cool actually.

 

Sanguinius gets a ton of the book devoted to him. Which made me happy considering where things are heading.

His attempts to understand and manipulate fate etc. are Great Stuff in my opinion.

His interactions with Night Haunter are great (again) and follow on well from the Pharos book etc.

 

There is some great ass kickery happening throughout, EPIC land and space battles, but it is not all action, action, action.

There are moments of high tradegy and great sacrifice often understated and impressive.

Many things that just make you go hmmm... what if... which I always like in sci-fi/fantasy.

There are some great just personality insights into the primarchs.

Also info on what happens in the warp when the chaos gods are at serious play.

 

The warp storm shenanigans they are trying to get thru leads to some pretty interesting high fantasy kinda things going on where the laws of the universe don't apply.

Those parts were pretty neat actually in the context of warp space vs real space, chaos generally, and just overall shoot some magic into things.

 

The Sanguinor and Sanguinius. =)

The Black Rage and Sanguinius. =)

The Demon and Sanguinius and the Sanguinor and what does it all mean... =) !!

 

The looming showdown at Terra and the destiny of Sanguinius. or not... or for certain... or not... or for very certain, but with a plan to affect the grim darkness of the far future ??

Anyhow, I really enjoyed it. A good story well told I think. Money well spent and entertaining enough for me thanks.

 

Sanguinius is without a doubt an amazing character central to the story here and of the 40k universe generally in my opinion.

But I'm a Blood Angel fan.  So yeah, good book.

[Panzer]

 

The Sanguinor and Sanguinius. =)

The Black Rage and Sanguinius. =)

The Demon and Sanguinius and the Sanguinor and what does it all mean... =) !!

 

Now that made me actually interested in reading the book myself. ^^

[Damon Nightman]

Got the audiobook and really enjoyed this one. I recommend it for any BA fan. Don't take it too seriously and just enjoy the ride.

The audiobook is very well read by Jonathan Keeble so maybe that helps following the action. The demon he voiced... Oh man that was fun.

Having read/listened to the other Blood Angel Imperium Secondus books in the HH series for a better idea of what is going on first is also a very good idea.

 

I feel Sanguinius especially and the BA generally were really well done and met my expectations.

I like the Lion more after this book. (Even if he very nearly put the exterminatus on our primarch et all).

Guilliman has been growing on me as a good dude and this book continues to show him as pretty damn cool actually.

 

Sanguinius gets a ton of the book devoted to him. Which made me happy considering where things are heading.

His attempts to understand and manipulate fate etc. are Great Stuff in my opinion.

His interactions with Night Haunter are great (again) and follow on well from the Pharos book etc.

 

There is some great ass kickery happening throughout, EPIC land and space battles, but it is not all action, action, action.

There are moments of high tradegy and great sacrifice often understated and impressive.

Many things that just make you go hmmm... what if... which I always like in sci-fi/fantasy.

There are some great just personality insights into the primarchs.

Also info on what happens in the warp when the chaos gods are at serious play.

 

The warp storm shenanigans they are trying to get thru leads to some pretty interesting high fantasy kinda things going on where the laws of the universe don't apply.

Those parts were pretty neat actually in the context of warp space vs real space, chaos generally, and just overall shoot some magic into things.

 

The Sanguinor and Sanguinius. =)

The Black Rage and Sanguinius. =)

The Demon and Sanguinius and the Sanguinor and what does it all mean... =) !!

 

The looming showdown at Terra and the destiny of Sanguinius. or not... or for certain... or not... or for very certain, but with a plan to affect the grim darkness of the far future ??

Anyhow, I really enjoyed it. A good story well told I think. Money well spent and entertaining enough for me thanks.

 

Sanguinius is without a doubt an amazing character central to the story here and of the 40k universe generally in my opinion.

But I'm a Blood Angel fan. So yeah, good book.

Awesome write up!

 

Would you be kind enough to spoil why/how the Lion almost attacks us? Were we being silly and he got frustrated with us in his way or something, or was he just being a jerk?

[Crimson Ghost IX]

Well I suppose the thread is alreay marked for **Spoilers**

 

In short.

 

Lion is commited to destroying an important chaos planet (Davin) via Exterminatus.

Sanguinius is against that idea for his own important reasons involving fate and chaos and Horus so goes ahead and lands on the planet with a bunch of the IX legion to get his way.

The Lion very nearly does it anyway thinking Sanguinius has certainly fallen to chaos. But has a what the   am I doing moment at the very very last second.

 

Because Chaos basically =)

Edited November 6, 2017 by Crimson Ghost IX

[Damon Nightman]

Thank you sir!

[Kappel]

I think it was an okay read. 

 

I feel like they always fail to depict the inhuman intelligence of the Primarchs, when they write dialogue. This goes also for this book. Buy I can see how that task is almost impossible.

 

For me the highlight of the book, was all the clues, that I think was about the sanguinor. I'm actually beginning to think that GW is gonna do something really interesting with him rules-wise, in the coming codex. 

[Indefragable]

Finished it last night.

 

I’m not sure how I feel about it, TBH, but for sheer sake it has the most genuine screentime for Sanguinius outside of Fear to Tread it’s worth reading and informing your own opinion.

 

I will write more later but a few tidbits that stand out to me:

-Sanguinius kicks metaphysical ass. Like...it’s hard to explain without reading, but he absolutely wrecks face...in the realm of chaos. Compare to Lion and RG who 80’s WWF style tag team a (basically) Kytan Daemon Engine. Like...it’s cool...but so much of the situations and what happens is so warpy and time altering and dreams-within-dreams and trippy and stuff. I’m not sure if it’s meant to make Sanguinius more of a badass or less. As others have said it’s often hard to follow what is actually happening and what it is he’s actually fighting, so it’s like “umm...cool?” Whereas the Lion/RG fights are just straightforward whoopin’s.

 

-despite being 1/3 (at least) about Sanguinius/the BA, there’s still only 4 BA characters of note. Compare to 9000 more UM characters and a smattering of Dark Angels. Seriously, it’s annoying how obscure UM Sgt 74628 deserves more screen time or personality than ANYONE in the IX Legion beyond Azkaellon, Amit, and Raldoran. And those last two have token appearances.

 

-...ok, so there’s a few more BA characters than that: a BA Librarian for a bit as well. And there is a BA ship captain who plays a key role and at one point seemingly has command of 3x Legion’s fleets. Not too shabby. But UM/DA still get proportionately way more screen time and characterization.

 

-in the big set piece battle, the UM and DA roll up in a massive armored/mechanized-combined-arms attack, pinning the enemy....so that the BA can go full-on gunship-dropping, air assaulting, fast roping style into the heart of the enemy. Even the UM tank commander is like “Blood Angels :cuss yea!” When he sees this happening. #respect

 

-but my favorite part of the book is the beginning when the 3x Primarchs/Legions all try to break through the Ruinstorm in their own characterful way:

 

-RG/UM launch probing “attacks” on the Ruinstorm, seeing what effect each weapon/tactic has, probing into it, retreating, regrouping, compiling the details, then re-calibrating and trying again. Systematic and methodical

 

-the Lion and the DA...use super secret special methods that no one knows they have. And the Lion smiles about this. It’s kind of Deus Ex Machina, but it kinda works as well. The important thing is that the other look at the Lion and are like “golly gee? How you do that?” And he’s just like “<shrug> methods.”

 

-...and the IX Legion? The BA? How do they attempt to break through the Ruinstorm?

 

By breaking through the :cuss Ruinstorm. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead! No matter how many daemons they have to cut through they will fight their way through and never lose hope or despair no matter the losses. And...it kinda works! For a bit until plot reasons make them do other things. # :cuss - yea!

 

 

[Crimson Ghost IX]

Trippy is a good way to put some of that for sure Indefragable *nod.

 

I am guessing the Blood Angels will have a LOT of stage time in books to come from here and they wanted to make sure UM and DA got theirs while the setting was still on em.

[tkni]

For me the highlight of the book, was all the clues, that I think was about the sanguinor. I'm actually beginning to think that GW is gonna do something really interesting with him rules-wise, in the coming codex. 

 

This, or rather, I'm setting myself up to be disappointed at their treatment of him, rules-wise.

 

Gotta love Amit and 5th dropping missiles danger close and charging into the explosions.