War of Secrets - Dark Angels and the Primaris

[Kasper_Hawser]

Can someone summarize the book for me within a spoiler tag? Would like to follow but probably won’t be getting the book.

 

Actually a lot of summaries already but I'll try again...

 

Novel is mainly the view point of a task force of Primaris Dark Angels led by a Lieutenant. The task force is roughly 3 Repulsors worth of Primaris, mostly Intercessors and a smaller number of Hellblasters. Mainly it deals with the squad's difficulty in fitting with the Dark Angels as most of the DA are VERY suspicious of the Primaris. In terms of doctrinal thinking, the DA Primaris venerate Guilliman AND Cawl, which means Mars, making the DA even more antsy.  They're nevertheless very effective in whatever direction the DA point them at.

 

By end of novel, they become somewhat grimdark and eventually an Interrogator Chaplain decides to induct them in a sort of preliminary Inner Circle, although he still needs final approval from Azrael and the rest.

 

Main enemy is a Fallen Dark Angel sorceror that is trying to spread some sort of psychic epidemic that causes people and even Astartes to mutate uncontrollably. This was done on a few human planets which had affiliations with the Tau, and eventually a DA successor chapter homeworld. That is how the Tau come into the picture as you noticed above, as they had to do some cleansing themselves to contain the psychic plague which evnentually conflicted with the DA need to hunt the fallen angel.

 

Basically, that's that. Rest you can read above. 

 

 

Disclaimer: I maybe wrong on some details, but the above is my interpretation of the book without critizing the storyline. If I DO get the storyline incorrect, somebody please correct me.

[Guest MistaGav]

I'm about 2/3rds of the way through the book and it's pretty alright so far but feels a bit obvious conclusion based on what everyone is saying. This book, like the others in this series feels a bit like padding to get some context into the Primaris in the current setting and plant seeds for future stuff. I certainly feel like there's going to be a schism involving the DA, the Fallen, successor chapters of the DA, Custodes and Primaris and this again is just setting it all up. It's only a matter of time before the 'secret' is out and everyone knows about it.

Also sucks that the chapter I collect got messed around with but some fluff on them is better than nothing.

[Kasper_Hawser]

I'm about 2/3rds of the way through the book and it's pretty alright so far but feels a bit obvious conclusion based on what everyone is saying. This book, like the others in this series feels a bit like padding to get some context into the Primaris in the current setting and plant seeds for future stuff. I certainly feel like there's going to be a schism involving the DA, the Fallen, successor chapters of the DA, Custodes and Primaris and this again is just setting it all up. It's only a matter of time before the 'secret' is out and everyone knows about it.

 

Also sucks that the chapter I collect got messed around with but some fluff on them is better than nothing.

 

Just don't expect too big a revelation in it and you should be fine. Frankly we shouldn't expect big advancement in storylines through the novels, only through the Campaign books and warzones like Gathering Storm 1 - 3, Warzone Fenris, Kauyon and Mon'tka books, do we actually see any sort of advancement or "big deaths", although even deaths of named characters tend to be those of minimal consequences...

 

... at the most minimal, a Raven Guard chapter master bites the dust, at the most, Aun'va leader of the Tau bites the dust, but nobody uses him or cares much about him, in terms of tabletop and also fluff.

 

 

For the schism/confrontation you speak off regarding the open revelation of the Fallen and its subsequent impact on the DA, the Primaris, the Custodes and virtually every faction of the Imperium which the DA dicked over in the past, I'm hoping for a campaign about it, especially with Luther's escape and the potential gathering of Fallen Angels numbering beyond chapter strength. Strange as it may sound, I would like that to be the platform for Leman Russ to return, since he was supposedly close to Johnson at least AFTER the siege to the point he was mourning him when he heard of Lion's supposed death.

 

I think it's an open secret though, the Fallen, at least to Guilliman. But being the practical guy he is, I think Guilliman is putting this off for the moment rather than challenging a 1st Founding chapter and its successors in the wake of the great right. Otherwise why supplement the DA with Primaris reinforcements? Even without Cypher, he should have gathered enough info from the currently incarcerated fallen after Gathering Storm 3, but somehow chose not to pursue the issue upon contact with the DA.

 

sorry going a bit off tangent. @ MistaGav - At least your chapter wasn't turned into furries. :P Sigh, from Space vikings, to Team Jakob in space, now that is messed fluff. LOL, actually not that bad but even on tabletop, people think the only way Space Wolves can win is by using overgrown mutts.

 

Like I mention before, just enjoy the bolter porn and character development of the Primaris, even if the character of the Dark Angels themselves don't make sense to you, as it is quite a hot potato among the posters here.

 

I'll just close off that as a Space Wolves fan, all the jokes about the DA being closet traitors leaves a really sour taste in my mouth too, even after reading some of the HH Gav Thorpe novels, which is distasteful and brings out the inner fan rage in me. In the end I will always quote this from the Lion from ADB's short story "Savage Weapons"

 

Loyalty is it's own reward.

(this happens AFTER backstabbing Curze with a SWORD)

 

[Bryan Blaire]

About 100-120 pages in and about the only inkling of the DA "working with" the Tau is them using the Tau's longer tracking range to follow the Fallen they are hunting.

 

The writing hasn't been bad, although the descriptions are a bit on the nose for me - however, it does allow you to see what the combat would look like most likely in miniature form, so that's interesting.

[The Shadow Guard]

Alright chaps! I finally managed to finish reading the book and my first comment is that it was a book that i found very easy to put down!! I had to try hard to keep my interest in it even thought some areas I thought were well done. So here are some thoughts of mine:

 

The author tries to portray the Primaris marines as having somewhat more evolved humanity ( similar to the Salamanders) towards the hoi polloi and logical thinking and reverence to the machine god - omnissiah - who to them is just another term for the emperor.

 

The author tries to also protray the DA command as callous and having little empathy for civilians and in some places makes Master Gabrael appear to be a simpleton based on the discourse.

 

I gather what the author was trying to do, to show the difference in indoctrination and attitude and the effect of the influence of Cawl and Guilliman but the effort is rather clunky and clumsy. It is just a shoddy effort in portraying what he was trying to achieve. That was the biggest negative for me in the book.

 

The plot line was also rather simplistic and could be anticipated light years away. 

 

He did portray as to who the Primaris Marines were, quite well, and that was also a major aim of the novel methinks. He also expressed reasonably well the difficulty of the Primaris marines in integrating with the rest.

 

Contrary to a number of opinions voiced here, I am absolutely fine with the protrayal of the chapter I love so much, as being suspicious and tightly guarded against these newcomers, their plans within plans and contingencies to deal with such threats and even the use of xenos destroy fellow marines... albeit those who were tainted by chaos - after all the emperor himself sent his furry sons to do the same with the witch brotherhood of Prospero.

 

I honestly do feel that circles within circles, the agendas within agendas and the mistrust shown towards the Primaris marines, the manipulations and mind wiping are all in character for our chapter. What I did find as the biggest surprise was the acceptance of the Primaris as truly valuable assets and the creation of the Primaris Circle... It shouldn't have been a surprise as their gene sire was the most pragmatic and strategic thinker among the primarchs and he wouldn't have failed to see the value of the Primaris. nevertheless .... that the writer got to that stage did surprise me.... But he got there far too fast. I think despiye most of your misgivings of Gav Thorpe as an author i put it to you that Gav wuld have developed the plot far better and with more attention to detail, especially the way they decided to form a Primaris Circle. 

 

It's also quite revealing to see the parallels between the Tau'va and the dark Angels, what with the aliens themselves having secrets within secrets and politics and manipulations that could rival our famous chapter.... The parallels are uncanny. The writer did do a good job of describing the Tau'va from their discussions to the battlesuits... (did he write Tau books or codexes in the past?)

 

So, all in all, a slow book, not gripping, not harrowing, just slow paced and with a relatively mundane plot line but nevertheless achieves its primary mission of revealing the Primaris SpacebMarines and their interaction with the most secretive of all legions... er...chapter.... 

 

SG

[Commander Dawnstar]

The writer did do a good job of describing the Tau'va from their discussions to the battesuits... (did he write Tau books or codexes in the past?)

 

Phil Kelly is Black Library's go-to guy for T'au content.

[The Shadow Guard]

 

The writer did do a good job of describing the Tau'va from their discussions to the battesuits... (did he write Tau books or codexes in the past?)

 

Phil Kelly is Black Library's go-to guy for T'au content.

 

 

That explains it.... There is a distinct difference in the cofidence and detail used by the writer in how he manages the unforgiven and the Tau'va... 

 

SG

[Kasper_Hawser]

Alright chaps! I finally managed to finish reading the book and my first comment is that it was a book that i found very easy to put down!! I had to try hard to keep my interest in it even thought some areas I thought were well done. So here are some thoughts of mine:

 

The author tries to portray the Primaris marines as having somewhat more evolved humanity ( similar to the Salamanders) towards the hoi polloi and logical thinking and reverence to the machine god - omnissiah - who to them is just another term for the emperor.

 

The author tries to also protray the DA command as callous and having little empathy for civilians and in some places makes Master Gabrael appear to be a simpleton based on the discourse.

 

I gather what the author was try \ing to do, to show the difference in indoctrination and attitude and the effect of the influence of Cawl and Guilliman but the effort is rather clunky and clumsy. It is just a shoddy effort in portraying what he hws trying to achieve. That was the biggest negative for me in the book.

 

The plot line was also rather simplistic and could be anticipated light years away. 

 

He did portray as to who the Primaris Marines were, quite well, and that was also a major aim of the novel methinks. He also expressed reasonably well the difficulty of the Primaris marines in integrating with the rest.

 

Contrary to a number of opinions voiced here, I am absolutely fine with the protrayal of the chapter I love so much, as being suspicious and tightly guarded against these newcomers, their plans within plans and contingencies to deal with such threats and even the use of xenos destroy fellow marines... albeit those who were tainted by chaos - after all the emperor himself sent his furry sons to do the same with the witch brotherhood of Prospero.

 

I honestly do feel that circles within circles, the agendas within agendas and the mistrust shown towards the Primaris marines, the manipulations and mind wiping are all in character for the chapter. What I did find as the biggest surprise was the acceptance of the Primaris as truly valuable assets and the creation of the Primaris Circle... It shouldn't have been a surprise as their gene sire was the most pragmatic and strategic thinker amongst the primarchs and he wouldn't have failed to see the value of the Primaris. nevertheless .... that the writer got to that stage did surprise me....

 

It's also quite revealing to see the parallels between the Tau'va and the dark Angels, what with the aliens thenselves having secrets within secrets and politics and manipulations that could rival our famous chapter.... The parallels are uncanny. The writer did do a good job of describing the Tau'va from their discussions to the battesuits... (did he write Tau books or codexes in the past?)

 

So, all in all, a slow book, not gripping, not harrowing, just slow paced and with a relatively mundane plot line but nevertheless achieves its primary mission of revealing the Primaris Spacemarines and their interaction with the most secretive of all legions... er...chapter....

 

SG

 

LOL, I would resent the furry part of your spoiler except that it is true and I have no way to discredit that black stain of dishonor, duplicity and gullibility on the Wolves part.

 

Your review is quite spot on and pointed out a "bad part" of the book that I may have been blind to: disjointed narrative. In regards to the Primaris themselves, I still think their character development with the DA to the point of the Primaris Circle wasn't too fast or bad so I was OK with that part. For my part, i managed to finish the book in about two sittings of 4 and 4 hours roughly.

 

Then again, Dan Abnett to me is the king of disjointed narratives, referring to Betrayal of Calth which had so many perspectives (A NUMBER of UM captains, chapter master and granddaddy Smurf, Word bearers, cultists etc). Chris Wraight does it too but his "many narratives" always seem more seamless. Battle of the Fang had like so many perspectives (2 Wolf lords, 1 Wolf priest/chaplain, a Blood Claw, Magnus himself, a couple of mutated Thousand sons, Bjorn) and yet it didn't feel broken.

 

Hope you enjoyed the bolter porn at least. Almost weapon and armoury of both marines and Tau was spot on.

[Bryan Blaire]

Okay, got to the part where there's "parley" between the DA Interrogator-Chaplain and the Tau, and honestly, I thought it showed very well that the DA do hate the Tau - Gabrael even threatens to hunt them down when they are done using them. The two groups were even fighting each other against the daemons beforehand, so it isn't like it was a love fest between them. However, the parley does show that the DA are pragmatic and willing to use a tool/resource that isn't capable of being affected by the Warp disease to eliminate it so that fewer DA are put in harm's way, AND they outright say that they can't raise arms against the Angels of Absolution. That all seems to fit the nature of the 40K DA as they are currently depicted by GW.

I'd really like to know if there were any changes within the Inner Circle from knowing that the DA helped break up Caliban and participated in the Scattering of the Fallen, and if they confusion shown by the Changeling left any marks in that same group that they might not be changing their ideas on how the pursuit of the Fallen needs to be conducted.

I wholeheartedly agree with the assessment that the book is slowly paced, it is not a racing page turner, that is for sure. It's taken me something like two weeks or more to get half to two thirds of the way through the book, and the plot is definitely mundane and straight forward.

[Phoebus]

All BL books are BL books, if anyone isn’t expecting trope-ish and non-award winning writing, then they haven’t been paying attention to BL books. It’s not like 40K itself lends to amazing authorship in the first place. They can be very fun escapist books though.

To each their own, of course, Bryan, but the above almost strikes me as worse than ripping a abook apart. Objective and constructive criticism is, of course, ideal — especially in a forum where the author might get a chance to read it — but essentially saying that the setting itself doesn’t lend itself to superior writing feels exceedingly harsh.

 

Warhammer 40k is what the author will make of it. It appears that a good length of rope (so to speak) is given to the more experienced Black Library writers. They can use that to mail in something that plays on tropes, generalizations, and sheer scale, or they can write something grand. It’s precisely because this setting can inspire, e.g., Soul Hunter or The Carrion Throne, that readers react negatively to more lackluster titles (as opposed to shrugging their shoulders and accepting them as par for course).

[Phoebus]

Having finally read War of Secrets, I don’t think it’s so much a bad read as it’s simply underwhelming.

 

Let me throw something obvious out there, so it’s clear where I’m coming from. War is a Space Marine Conquests entry set in a galaxy that has literally been torn in half by the psychic energies of thirsting gods. That there are cataclysmic events occurring in M42 is an understatement: a Primarch is brought back to life; Khornate daemons invade Terra, bringing the Adeptus Custodes out in force for the first time in ten millennia; a fleet of five million Ork vessels is launched against the Imperium; Perturabo attacks the mightiest worlds of Segmentum Obscurus with a million armies; the Rock is invaded by daemons and heretics, who manage to free Luther; Baal is devastated by Tyranids.

 

Do you see where I’m going with this?

 

Phil Kelly himself draws on some fairly heavy stuff to drive War of Secrets:

 

1. The survivors of the Fourth Sphere of Expansion embark on a desperate and ruthless campaign to wipe out their erstwhile human allies, because their belief in the Ta’u’va inadvertently led to the creation of its avatar in the Warp.

 

2. A Fallen Dark Angel begins spreading a Tzeentchian plague of mutation across a number of worlds as a prelude to his invasion of the adopted homeworld of the Angels of Absolution.

 

3. Primaris Marines must earn the trust of the most notoriously secretive and untrusting Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes.

Thus, even though War of Secrets wasn’t dealing with the most defining stuff going on in the 42nd Millennium, it should have been a riveting story... but it’s not.

 

Kelly writes small-scale battles fairly well, but that’s sadly the only thing War really has going for it. By the time the action transitions to Allhallow, the charm of watching Lieutenant Xedro Farren and his Primaris Marines (of which we mostly only see one squad) dispatch their mostly forgettable opponents has worn thin. Kelly does introduce some heavy hitters late in the story, but it’s too late to make a difference.

 

The characters themselves leave much to be desired. The T’au are largely faceless, though Tutor Twiceblade and Kais (“The Living Weapon”) provide an interesting dynamic. The Dark Angels, on the other hand, generally range in extremes. The legacy Space Marines, all members of the Inner Circle, are telegraphed tropes — petty and antagonistic, seemingly for the sake of it. Most of the Primaris Marines are non-descript, with the only truly developed characters from their ranks acting against type and rebelling against authority to an often unbelievable extent. The motivations and actions of the protagonist, Farren, especially, made me wonder whether Phil Kelly gave much thought to the hypnotic conditioning and psycho-indoctrination that are so central to a Space Marine’s character.

 

(Ironically, those very concepts do play a pivotal part later in the novel — just not in terms of how the characters subjected to them act.)

 

The plot, for the most part, is rather mundane and requires the reader to just “go with it” even when things just don’t make sense. The way the various storylines advance feels forced, and a central premise becomes little more than an afterthought not even two thirds into the novel. Neither is the scale of the story impressive; this feels less like a Conquest and more like a Space Marine Skirmish. There is a twist, of course, advertised as “shocking” in the pitch for the novel. Unfortunately, the twist goes against what we know about the characters so much that it feels implausible rather than unexpected. And, as is usually the case with the Dark Angels, there is no real sense of closure by story’s end.

 

A brief synopsis follows:

 

The Dark Angels arrive on the planet of Saltire Vex, a backwater ocean world rich in prometheum. Though ostensibly there to defeat xenos that are killing the local workers, their true purpose is to hunt down a Fallen Dark Angel spreading a Tzeentchian mutation plague. The Dark Angels use the T’au — for it is they who have been killing the humans infected by the plague — to track down the Fallen to his next destination: Allhallow, the adopted homeworld of the Angels of Absolution. The Fallen unleashes his mind-plague on the human population of Allhallow, wreaking havoc until he is run down by the Dark Angels. In the aftermath of his capture, the Dark Angels and the T’au agree to a compact wherein the xenos will wipe out the garrison the Angels of Absolution have on their homeworld (as they have been potentially contaminated by the mind-plague) in exchange for the Unforgiven wiping out the surviving humans of Saltire Vex.

In the end, I also couldn’t help but feel that Kelly missed the opportunity to explore one of the key pieces of this Chapter’s original lore. A churlish conflict between the legacy Dark Angels and their Primaris reinforcements was perhaps the most expected route to go. A more interesting direction might have been to use that conflict as a modern-day parallel to the first step in Luther’s fall.

 

Luther, as you may recall, was not able to become a Space Marine because he was too old. He was augmented, but his lesser condition and the Lion’s decision to leave him behind on Caliban were what started his corruption in Codex: Angels of Death. Even after this story was retconned, though, we saw in Descent of Angels that older knights of the Order who were given partial augmentation felt insecure next to the squires and younger knights who were given the gene-seed. This would have been a perfect opportunity to provide insight on the Inner Circle’s apocryphal tales, their indoctrination, and their reflection on what the arrival of the Primaris meant compared to the arrival of Space Marines on Caliban 10,000 years ago. Here was a chance to have Dark Angels reflect on their nature and choices in a way that we haven’t seen before, to explore how the Primaris might be perceived as a threat.

[Bryan Blaire]

Well, I've finally finished my read through of the book, and I will agree, it definitely wasn't a page turner that left me burning to know more.

 

My assessment of the book pretty much mirrors exactly Shadow Guard's.

The book just had too many clunky parts and was easily followed, but did what it was supposed to: show similarities amongst the different groups, as well as highlight some differences, but it rushed the formation of the "Primaris Circle" without really saying much of anything - maybe we will get some info on exactly what that circle will be hunting down - what do the Unforgiven need to know at this point that the Primaris Circle will help them get?

 

I don't think the book at all potrayed the DA as xenos friendly, more like xenos-pragmatic - they were a tool, and they were used. It didn't show enough after the events of the book for us to know if the DA don't turn around and hunt those very tool-Tau down as well, so between that and the psy-tracker-chatter-skull, we really hav zero information on the in-universe fall out.

My biggest complaint was really the pacing of the book.