Black Library Advent Calendar 2017

[Xin Ceithan]

I liked today's story. It really conveys the calm before the storm mood very well. It's literally the last couple of hours before the invasionreaches Terra. - By sheer coincidence, I finished this the moment the bells outside proclaimed twelve o'clock. And while noon around here, it was prettying fitting to the minutes to midnight theme of this short. :)

 

 

Spoiler Alert:

there is zero "action" in this.

[Marshal Rohr]

Any big fist culture reveals?

[Xin Ceithan]

I have not been following the Fist story arc that closely, but I would say no. You get a reunion with some of the Characters from Praetorian of Dorn which is nice but you don't need to read the novel first. The BL Website has this quite well covered with describing French as the "Master of calm moments" as this is what it describes best. It is literally the last couple of hours before the Warmaster's main fleet breaks from the Warp and is mostly setting the scene and mood. The last calm before the storm, the moment before the beginning of the End.

[bluntblade]

French, I think, is especially good at giving some colour to what could be quite lifeless scenes. In literary terms it's like the difference between a David Fincher dialogue scene and one from a Star Wars prequel. There's interesting detail in the environment where a scene occurs. See the first short with Crius.

[Sete]

Read the short by French. Excellent.

[Izlude]

Being both a Fist and John French fan, u think these will end up in some anthology?

 

French has really brought life to the Fists. The Shadows of Trechery is by far one of my fav with his stuff in it (of course the other stories like Lightning tower and sevetar stuff is boss).

[Marshal Loss]

Really enjoyed it, would highly recommend to anybody wanting to drop a few dollars on a memorable short.

[Calas Typhon]

Now Peals Midnight was a great short, possibly one of the best shorts I have read from Black Library in terms of a starting point.

It really sets the mood for the Siege and the opening moments before hell arrives. 

 

I am really hoping for more Dorn/Fist stuff this advent. They are rapidly becoming a favourite legion.

[DarkChaplain]

At this point I'm hoping that one of the Primarchs audios will be tackling Dorn.

[Fire Golem]

I’ve really come around to the Fists too lately. Now Peals Midnight was great. I’m not sure I'd expect much more Fists/Dorn stuff in the advent though, we’ve had 2 shorts and Dorn was in the Custodes short also.

[DarkChaplain]

They've also been part of the Perturabo audio. But honestly, I do kind of expect a little more yet. We've not seen anything from Sigismund after all.

We can be sure about Malcador getting a showing, though, since that's teased in the overall snippet.

[Carach]

I would go so far as to say peals midnight is a near essential bit of reading if you wanna be set up with the tension and atmosphere immediately preceding heresy d-day.

 

Bloomin' good, that was. A cheeky teaser of books to come

Edited December 10, 2017 by Carach

[Fire Golem]

They've also been part of the Perturabo audio. But honestly, I do kind of expect a little more yet. We've not seen anything from Sigismund after all.

We can be sure about Malcador getting a showing, though, since that's teased in the overall snippet.

Well, I wouldn’t mind if we do, especially if Sigismund is involved.

[Calas Typhon]

All I hope for is more on the meeting between Dorn/Sanguinius and the Khan. 

 

But I know that we wont until we get to the siege.

[Sete]

Yep this short left me eager for more.

[Calas Typhon]

A short on Sigismund becoming the Emperor's champion would be pretty golden tbh.

[Marshal Rohr]

The Valdor short was far and away one of the best I've every read in this universe. It added a lot of context to the relationship between the Custodes and Legions, and specifically the vastly different perspectives of the Emperor by the Primarchs (specifically Dorn and Russ). 

[hopkins]

These 3 HH shorts are incredible

I'd say the siege is in capable hands with those authors alone

[Roomsky]

The Assassination of Gabriel Seth was quite well done, in my opinion. There's a lot of character in those 20 min, even with much of it being a fight scene. Definitely want to check out some more of Smillie's Flesh Tearers.

[DarkChaplain]

I enjoyed the production of Gabriel Seth as well. Really nice balance between rage and sense, good acting, nice sound effects.

It definitely is a decent drama. My problem with it is that the results are so very predictable. Seeing how many times Seth was being betrayed and all in the Flesh Tearers collection already, this felt a bit too much like more of the same.

 

I'd still recommend picking up the Flesh Tearers SMB anthology, though. The paperback is well-priced for its content.

[Taliesin]

The Nick Kyme Horus Heresy short has a very interesting synopsis:

 

 

It has been many long years since the fall of the Thunder Warriors. After the last battles of Unity, the legions of genhanced warriors were slaughtered by the Emperor's Custodian Guard on the Master of Mankind's orders. But a handful survived… Now one of the last few Thunder Warriors gets caught up in dangerous events that engulf the Throneworld – even as he is hunted by one of the Emperor's praetorians..

[Sandlemad]

Dreams of Unity isn't bad. Doesn't appear to be building to anything down the line but not bad. It's poignant; the last few dying and PTSD-afflicted thunder warriors reduced to pit-fighters and underworld thugs, getting wrapped up in bigger things on the eve of Horus's invasion. I liked the ending, there's that same broad lack of bitterness on the part of the thunder warriors about their role in the Emperor's rise, apart from some mild grumbling about astartes receiving all the tricks, like acidic saliva.

 

I suppose we can expect an anthology at some point, grouping together some of these 'eve of the siege' shorts.

[Tymell]

Makes sense, he said in the afterword of Old Earth that he was originally intending to have a plotline in there about the Thunder Warriors. So I assume this is working with some of that.

[Calas Typhon]

 

Unfortunately, all the thunder warriors in this short are dead.

If we do get them, they will be the ones in Outcast Dead, a new group or in the form of suspected Thunderwarrior breeds in the Legions. Autek and Endryd

Edited December 12, 2017 by Warsmith Kroeger

[Karthak]

Dreams of Unity isn't bad. Doesn't appear to be building to anything down the line but not bad. It's poignant; the last few dying and PTSD-afflicted thunder warriors reduced to pit-fighters and underworld thugs, getting wrapped up in bigger things on the eve of Horus's invasion. I liked the ending, there's that same broad lack of bitterness on the part of the thunder warriors about their role in the Emperor's rise, apart from some mild grumbling about astartes receiving all the tricks, like acidic saliva.

 

I suppose we can expect an anthology at some point, grouping together some of these 'eve of the siege' shorts.

Still don't get why the Emperor slaughtered the Thunder Warriors, instead of letting them fade away gracefully.

 

The Valdor short was far and away one of the best I've every read in this universe. It added a lot of context to the relationship between the Custodes and Legions, and specifically the vastly different perspectives of the Emperor by the Primarchs (specifically Dorn and Russ). 

Constantin Valdor wonders where the hell the Primarchs got their immense pride from.

 

"Glances at the Emperor, their creator."

 

Well, I couldn't possibly comment.

Edited December 12, 2017 by Karthak