Things you like about... Know No Fear

[Carach]

sense of complete and utter doom, of events spiralling out of control. some of the books immediately prior to Know no Fear had kind of lost that feeling from the first few books. 

 

i like our perpetual buddy's journey too; added humanity which i feel is important in these novels to avoid the superman bolter porn stuff

 

and well there's nothing like imagining ships falling out of the sky 

[bluntblade]

And the chaos is described so well. Abnett never just hammers us with superlatives and adjectives and tells us IT WAS SO BIG AND EXPLODEY LIKE YOU'D NEVER BELIEVE. I hesitate to call it beige prose, but he quite clinically shows us the full, awful effects as ships plough themselves into Calth.

 

It also remains the case here that few BL writers have as good a grasp of writing dialogue as Abnett.

[LJF]

The best bolter porn i've ever read and alongside Horus Rising the best book in the series. I just wish Dan would make Prospero Burns this awesome.

[Carach]

i thought Prospero Burns was among the top books of the series.  

[Fire Golem]

i thought Prospero Burns was among the top books of the series.

 

Yeah, I love PB.

[b1soul]

I disliked PB at first because of the inconsistency with my expectations...but once I got over that, I found it to be one of the best in the series

[Manchu warlord]

I think the main thing about Prospero Burns, is that when people buy that book, they do so because they wish to read about the actual burning of Prospero, as the title clearly says.  But turns out, only 10% of the book is about the actual battle, whereas the rest is about some mere mortal who ends up in the ice planet and gets to learn the ways of the Wolves.  

 

Don't get me wrong, it was a fantastic and amazing book, full of very interesting things.  But if a person fully knew that this book is not (even close) to what the title claims, or what the description at the back says, would a person still buy it?

[mc warhammer]

yeah,  i get that people expected the same thing on the inside of the tine as the label promised, but in hindsight, i see prospero burns as a more flowery title. like know no fear isn't about astartes trying to scare each other

[Manchu warlord]

yeah,  i get that people expected the same thing on the inside of the tine as the label promised, but in hindsight, i see prospero burns as a more flowery title. like know no fear isn't about astartes trying to scare each other

But at least the cover is about the battle of Calth, and the story is very much about the battle of Calth.  Indeed, the picture depicts Guilliman punching the head off a Word Bearer, and that very scene is present in the book; one of the best part of the book in my opinion.  

[mc warhammer]

 

yeah,  i get that people expected the same thing on the inside of the tine as the label promised, but in hindsight, i see prospero burns as a more flowery title. like know no fear isn't about astartes trying to scare each other

But at least the cover is about the battle of Calth, and the story is very much about the battle of Calth.  Indeed, the picture depicts Guilliman punching the head off a Word Bearer, and that very scene is present in the book; one of the best part of the book in my opinion.  

 

 

yeah, i've got no doubt BL were leaning on the marketing angle heavily with the picture etc. but to be fair, prospero does burn in that book, but it's no more the absolute focus than guilliman punching off heads

 

either way, it's not so much about the quality of the story

[b1soul]

The cover of KNF markets the book as about the Battle of Calth...KNF certainly delivered just that.

 

PB was heavily marketed as the SW-side of the Razing of Prospero (not just the cover but a lot of the pre-release hype as well). It delivered something else. Good but different. Hence why quite a few readers were initially peeved. I was one of them, but upon re-reading, I loved it.

[rookie40K]

The audiobook version is the best I’ve ever heard. Know No Fear has so many awesome moments and cool characters. Telemechrus and Primarch’s Champion Eikos Lamiad moments were all really cool. This book is packed with awesomeness. Funny thing is the first listen I didn’t much care for it. Now it’s by far my favorite.

[bluntblade]

I almost forgot the poisoning of the Veridian Star. Holy Terra, that's an amazing scene.

[Trevak Dal]

I don't remember all the "bastard " this dialogue...

 

Maybe he couldn't write "ass blasting, uncle :cussing, bitch ass gangbanger fungus monster :cuss hooks"

 

I rather enjoyed the novel. When Guilliman gets the Princess Leia treatment and he is seen later taking out some Word Bearer trash (without a helmet) it's pretty awesome. Invoked images from Star Trek First contact where they were fighting the Borg on the outside of the Enterprise.

 

The whole jihad-hu-ackbar-its-a-trap thing like in Star Wars, was SUPER EFFECTIVE and I'm surprised it hasn't been done more often. Ships are rare and all...but you got to have some :cussty ships sitting around, or captured ones that would take a lot of effort to fix.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

 

 

 

 

yeah, i get that people expected the same thing on the inside of the tine as the label promised, but in hindsight, i see prospero burns as a more flowery title. like know no fear isn't about astartes trying to scare each other

But at least the cover is about the battle of Calth, and the story is very much about the battle of Calth. Indeed, the picture depicts Guilliman punching the head off a Word Bearer, and that very scene is present in the book; one of the best part of the book in my opinion.

yeah, i've got no doubt BL were leaning on the marketing angle heavily with the picture etc. but to be fair, prospero does burn in that book, but it's no more the absolute focus than guilliman punching off heads

 

either way, it's not so much about the quality of the story

It's the Horus Heresy. Do you really think they *need* to market them?

[Ranwulf]

But that opened mouth... In the void... C'mon ;-)

 

Scene aside, it's the best Abnett book in HH series.

If I remember correctly that scene, he wasnt actually in the void, but in high stratosphere of Calth. 

 

Ran

[bluntblade]

And in his flagship's own little atmospheric pocket.

[Manchu warlord]

'In the name of Terra,' Guilliman snarls.  'Thiel, shoot the bloody thing!'

Thiel is out of ammo.  But he has his sword.  It has one more job to do today.

[Viridia]

Having just reread the book while work was quiet, I'd have to say; all of it. I think the fact it's written in present tense as well really helps it stand out.

[Petitioner's City]

I think the main thing about Prospero Burns, is that when people buy that book, they do so because they wish to read about the actual burning of Prospero, as the title clearly says. But turns out, only 10% of the book is about the actual battle, whereas the rest is about some mere mortal who ends up in the ice planet and gets to learn the ways of the Wolves.

 

Don't get me wrong, it was a fantastic and amazing book, full of very interesting things. But if a person fully knew that this book is not (even close) to what the title claims, or what the description at the back says, would a person still buy it?

As I said in the other thread I set up about that, the title is as much a pun aa a direct description. Who is Prospero? A magician, a wise man, an overthrown monarch. Think of the quotations that open the book, and scenes such as the complete three(?) texts of shakespire. PB is as much a beautiful ode to knowledge, its loss, and its deliberate destruction or even abjection (think of Paris being burned, for example). Also its title alludes to the political manipulations like that which saw Prospero exiled. And monstrosity in it recalls Prospero's misguided adopted servant too. It is utterly magnificent, and I wish the critical who said this realised how literalistic they were being when they moan about the title.

 

And sorry I never carried on this series, thank you for resurrecting it. KNF is majestic, ill add my thoughts here, but I've been grinning reading this thread.

[E_50_Panzer]

"That's why I brought this, precisely for things like that."

[Manchu warlord]

"That's why I brought this, precisely for things like that."

"Every door a new horror. Every moment a moment lost".