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Favorite Inquisitor story?


Taliesin

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I was thinking about the various Inquisitor books and was wondering what would be a board favorite, if you had to name a specific book.

 

So not "Eisenhorn trilogy" but rather name your favorites from Abnett's 8 novels ( Xenos/Malleus.Hereticus,Ravenor/Ravenor Returned/Ravengor Rogue/ The Magos and Pariah)?

 

And also to include Wraight's Carrion Throne and John French's Horusian Wars books ( book 2 releases in July and was available at BL live this weekend). A brief reasoning for why it's the favourite would enrich the thread, obviously :)

 

Maybe I am forgetting other Inquisitor stories as well, these are just the ones I know.

 

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Wow.... this is a real tough one. I absolutely love Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn and Ravenour books:yes: They are probably technically the best. Ian Watson's Inquisitor Draco series was a blast and a wild ride. But I have a soft spot for Rob Sanders' Inquisitor Czevak novel, Atlas Infernal. I know it has many detractors and admittedly it's not perfect..... but it's Doctor Who meets 40K. To me that's just a little bit magical:wink:

My favourite is The Magos. I know some people weren’t as keen, but I loved it. I loved Drusher as a character, and it made me a bit emotional at points. And as a whole package with the shorts and how they tie in it was really enjoyable.

 

That said, I haven’t read the Ravenor books and it’s been a while since I read the other Eisenhorn books.

but it's Doctor Who meets 40K. To me that's just a little bit magical;)

Which was precisely the reason I personally HATED it with a vengeance. Different folks and strokes of course!

 

My favourite is probably Xenos if only because it was the introduction into the Scarus sector and all the subsequent related stories. It was also the book (as first part of the omnibus) that got me back into W40k after an absence of nearly ten years so have a soft spot for it anyway.

 

Honourable mention has to go for Inquisitor (not the sequels) by Ian Watson... Simply mental!

I absolutely adored the Czevak stuff. I read "Necessary Evil", a very short precursor/taster to "Atlas Infernal", in the queue for Rob's signing at BLL! a few years back and it utterly blew me away.

 

(In my enthusiasm and proselytizing pre-release, my print copy of it was eventually signed "You are the official guardian of this book", which is aqesome/humbling/ego-embiggening.)

 

I think I broadly love most of the =][= stories, but Czevak is so dazzling and dense and mad and wonderful. Nowhere near as tight and easy-going page-turnery as the Eisenhorn books, but that madness is incredibly delicious.

 

I've a soft spot for Rob's Kryptman in the short "Fearful Symmetries" where he's a punk young Puritan Inquisitor visiting an autopsy/vivissection. Simple, but really endearing.

 

I'd love to have Rob do some more of that sort of stuff.

 

----

 

Wraight's Terra stories and John's Covenant stuff are both utterly excellent too, and yet very different in style not only to one another, but different again from Eisenhorn and Ravenor and Czevak too. Plenty to enjoy!

My favourite is The Magos. I know some people weren’t as keen, but I loved it. I loved Drusher as a character, and it made me a bit emotional at points. And as a whole package with the shorts and how they tie in it was really enjoyable.

 

That said, I haven’t read the Ravenor books and it’s been a while since I read the other Eisenhorn books.

 

I think the Magos has been well reviewed and received overall, if you look at opinions across the Web.

 

One of the reasons I asked this question was to learn what Abnett Inquisitor book stood out the most, from for instance the original trilogy.

They all seem to have somewhat different stories.

 

Ravenor is also very well reviewed but Pariah seems to get both very positive and negative reviews.

Having worked my way through Dans Inquisition books recently I would have to give the number one spot to Ravenor. Dans world building is amazing. Inquisition stories take us into everyday life in the Imperium in a way no others do and it’s done wonderfully in Ravenor. The drug gangs, society folk, shop keepers all paint a graphic picture of 40k society. Also the story in the opening book of Ravenors trilogy is the best of any (subjective)

 

For largely the same reasons im giving the number 2 spot to Carrion Throne. Wraight pulled out an amazing book here. Introducing us to terra could have gone so wrong but he painted a glorious picture of a stagnating core of the empire and left us all hanging out our tongues for more. As others have said he made terra the central character and isn’t that the case in so many investigative stories. It’s the culture the country that make it. Even police stories in our ‘real’ world are more interesting when we meet the community and setting that’s being investigated. And again the story ain’t too shoddy either.

 

Number 3 spot goes to Master Imus's Transgression. It’s so atmospheric. Listening to it gives me the heebie jeebies.

 

Truth is I love them all. Czevak was great, at times hard to follow but a well crafted thought out story and I would love to see more of him. I have Ian Watson’s stuff and remember loving it but truthfully I can’t remember enough about the trilogy to properly comment. A main Eisenhorn novel probably should be in my top 3 but I definitely enjoyed the Ravenor series more by miles and they are all fairly similar.

Horusian Wars are probably my least favourite but there only has been one so far so I’m not judging (yet, and too much!) I found the inquisitor himself a little boring. So that’s all I’m saying until I get to number two.

Reading what others have said I feel a little relieved. I so wanted to love the Horusian Wars series. I DID/DO love the shorts but the first novel just didn't click and I drifted away from it incomplete. I will go back and give it another try but something about it didn't work for me and I cannot put my finger on it.

 

Carrion Throne was brilliant as others have said. Was hard choosing just one book out of the four Eisenhorn, three Ravenor and one Bequin books so went for a nostalgia vote!

 

Also seems that one of the reasons many like these Inquisitor stories is because they are away from the battlefield and show us more of the culture of imperial society (by the way if you like this type of stuff and if you haven't already read them I highly recommend Matthew Farrer's Calpurnia books - omnibus Enforcer).

 

This has me quite excited for the opportunities afforded by the newly announced Warhammer Horror imprint/series the theme of which totally lends itself to more "domestic 40k" situations.

Calpurnia books are superb. While maybe not Inquisition they certainly fit into my favourite style of 40k books. Investigative books that focus on the daily grind of imperial existence.

 

I hope Dukeleto is right about Warhammer horror lending itself to more domestic writing but I have a fear it will be blood for the blood god stuff. It will certainly be interesting to see!

I hope Dukeleto is right about Warhammer horror lending itself to more domestic writing but I have a fear it will be blood for the blood god stuff. It will certainly be interesting to see!

I hope I am right too!!!

 

ADB on here has indicated that the "horror" is not necessarily going to be gore/splatter horror sub genre type. Hoping for a wide range of horror types.

 

Similarly Peter Fehervari has indicated something similar on thebolthole.org

 

So I remain optimistic.

Reading what others have said I feel a little relieved. I so wanted to love the Horusian Wars series. I DID/DO love the shorts but the first novel just didn't click and I drifted away from it incomplete. I will go back and give it another try but something about it didn't work for me and I cannot put my finger on it.

 

 

Yeah book 1 clearly ran into a lot of mixed reviews. The synopsis for book 2 Incarnation sounds so good though, I'm hoping this will be the continuation we're looking for.

I'm going to cheat and say the entire Dark Heresy RPG series. I felt the Calixis Sector was extremely well developed, as were the numerous inquisitors who made it their home. You could see the marks of Alan Bligh, John French, and Dan Abnett in its development and the tremendous depths found in it from the hives of Scintilla to the forges of the Lathe World.

I'm going to cheat and say the entire Dark Heresy RPG series. I felt the Calixis Sector was extremely well developed, as were the numerous inquisitors who made it their home. You could see the marks of Alan Bligh, John French, and Dan Abnett in its development and the tremendous depths found in it from the hives of Scintilla to the forges of the Lathe World.

Good cheat though! I agree the Dark Heresy fluff was very well developed...a great set of books. Did you ever read Sandy Mitchell's tie in novels (only two of the trilogy were done sadly). They were really good too.

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