Rate what you Read, or the fight against Necromancy

[Roomsky]

Well it all comes back to taste, don't it? King didn't justify the narrow focus, to me. Berate me all you like dear Fraters, but King is no ADB.

 

Lemuel is fine, in fact I was indeared to the middle sections of this story because Anton and Ivan were basically not present. He's out of his depth, and a very effective conduit for the story being told. Anton and Ivan are flat characters who run out of momentum by the end of book 2 - I needed more from them than the same characters they've been before, because by book 3 they're just canned interactions masquerading as people. The Undertaker? He's got one scene. This is assuming this is Leo's story, in which Macharius happens to feature. If that's the case, than the supporting cast was very ill-equipped to populate a trilogy.

 

You know by now I don't need a character to have spotlight-focus or a POV for the book to effectively make them intriguing and awesome. I love Angron, The Red Angel, I love Sanguinius, the Great Angel, it would be great if there was another example to fit this pattern, a third angel. My dissatisfaction comes down to, in part, what I brought up in my Angel of Fire review. Alexandros is the template for a charismatic military leader, which every other charismatic military leader in Black Library steals from in equal quantity. It is not enough for me that he knows his men's names, almost never loses, is hungry for glory, and takes massive self-centred risks. I need the man that wears that coat and we never get to meet him.

Sure, the Imperium ate him because he actually lived up to the legend, that's neat. But if that's the angle, I personally needed more of him subverting the human moments instead of being really awesome off-screen. Book 1 is him distantly being awesome and saving the hive with Lemuel. He rejects the daemon despite his hunger for glory, a strong enough start to this arc. Do I then get to see him hold together a bunch of warlords who no one man should be able to unite? Do I get to see him accomplish the impossibility of making this many worlds stable in his wake? Do I get to see him thwart the Byzantine plans within plans levied against him at every turn, and pulling a "Give unto Caesar" moment every time a Terran representative tries to trip him up? Not really, I get to see him wage an amusing campaign against Dark Eldar and thwart the Imperium's most predictable assassination attempt.

I needed more interesting triumphs, or I needed a more vulnerable man. I don't think King succeeded in giving me either. Emperor damnit, I needed more Sejanus.

If King wanted to subject me to a plodding campaign against Nurgle, I suppose he succeeded. I just would have rathered that time be devoted to something more interesting, like Macharius' conquest starting to eat itself after he died. A crime, I know.

[Krelious]

I just re-read Emperor's Gift and felt it was worse than I remember particularily the second half of the book being very contrived. The reality is that if the Space Wolves did any of the :cuss: they did ie killing a Grandmaster of the Grey Knights, killing 4 other members and then later destroying their ships some of which were said to be 10,000 years old doesnt make sense. If the Wolves actually did that in the Imperium they would be toast, labeled as traitors and homeworld destroyed, but because you cant do that in the setting then they contantly get a slap on the wrist which to me betrays an authenticity of the setting even within its own self contained story as you have an extreme as inquisitor who is willing to kill billions, yes billions to protect a secret but in the same breath hes not willing to kill the chapter master of the space wolves and just lets him go and then further tries to negiotiate and on top of that this guy is a highly powerful psyker. I mean honestly the first half of this book was great but the latter part of it just doesnt make any sense and while i get what its trying to do its just absurd and I think maybe what really should have happened is Chaos corruption going on in the Imperium due to the soliders escaping and Logan Grimnar admitting he was wrong. Instead we have an extreme inquisitor who is willing to kill billions while also being milk toast about dealing with the Wolves which makes no sense. 

 

And I mean I guess from a greater meta perspective you cant kill off the Wolves because no major faction is allowed to die off or label them as traitors because that would just be a too huge a swing for the setting which then begs the question why involve them at all?

 

I feel like that whole plot threat should have just ended like oh woops we couldnt get them all and then Hyperion has to deal with rebuilding his squad or dealing with the loss of almost 100 greyknights but the story never really talks about that again but within the same strory it makes such a big deal about Sothis dying and replacing him but then it has this whole :cuss:ing arc of some weird cold war between the inquisition and the space wolves which honestly makes no sense. Like why even involve the Grey Knights in this as thats not even their job.  Instead we get a time jump where Hyperion is a prognosticar and that other guy becomes a tech marine and just completely glosses over any details of that, and I mean really what the :cuss: was the point of the novel where the first half was like this whole character heavy microscope on the action and details of Hyperions life and missions culminating with fighting Angron, and then it takes a sudden left turn and is like yadda yadda yadda Hyperion is more like a back seat observer to this new narrative going on which just tonally and stylistically feels like two different stories mashed together which dont fit.  Oh yeah for months we went around killing survivors and then this happened and then this happened.. Again really my point is why did the first half or two thirds of this book focus so heavily on Hyperion and dealing with consequences and developments that he has to deal with only for it to zoom out and deal with this other crisis which seems pointless no one learns anything and then you have a time skip Epilologue where oh suddenly everything is okay and we get to mourn Sothis after 50 years have passed. I mean :cuss: the Space Wolves, :cuss: the Inquisition thats their story focus on Hyperion and the Grey Knights. 

 

I mean really its sad and disappointing because  of the lost potential 

[darkhorse0607]

So while I agree, I wish the second half just focused more on the Grey Knights

 

I always assumed the cold war thing was more because while the Inquisition could have fought the Space Wolves, the question was more was it actually worth it to fight the Space Wolves out in the open when an open conflict with a Space Marine chapter (one that's normally bigger than the standard 1000) would probably see the Inquisition pretty beat up as well, especially if not everyone is in the Ordo is on board because it was a dumb fight to begin with

 

It's been a while since I read it but I don't remember loving that book in the first place  

[The Scorpion]

Read "Charcarodons: Outer Dark" to catch up with McNiven now that "Void Exile" is out.

 

I think this second book wasn't as good as the first one. I blame the setting: the first book was the Carcharodons vs the Night Lords in the claustrophobic confines of a prison world: lights out, floods slick with water or blood, eye lenses and muzzle flashes gleaming in the dark.

 

Genestealers rushing a cathedral in broad daylight is cool, but the immaculate vibes of Red Tithe just aren't there, and it exposes the author's flaws where one might've not noticed otherwise.

 

We get no villain POV. The Night Lords had their usual themes of backstabbing, being broke, and boomers vs zoomers conflict going on. In Outer Dark, we get no genestealer POV, even if we do get other stuff like a Tyberos action scene.

 

There is a lot of juicy lore about the Astral Claws, and like Red Tithe the book was written in that amazing post-Bligh but pre-Primaris era where the authors were still allowed to mention Contemptor Dreadnoughts, Mark V "heresy" pattern armor, Phobos bolters, and Cataphractii terminators. When you hear that the Carcharodons are an ancient chapter, but not as ancient as the Ashen Claws, you believe it. You can it read it once then feel it for the rest of the story as you see the Sharks rely on things like Stormravens and their cousins use Stormbirds, all while the Sharks have plenty guns and ammo, and the Ashen Claws do not.

 

The one thing the second book improves on the first is Rannik, the human character POV. In the first book it seemed there was not much point to her story, and the second one appeared to be heading the same way... until the epilogue, which re-contextualizes everything in hindsight. Rannik's POV represents how the sharks are viewed by the rest of the Imperium: first by common humans, second by their imperial allies, and I'm guessing third will be imperial authorities. It also shows that their extreme isolationism and the ways they treat their allies is bound to have repercussions sooner or later.

 

I loved that the book ends without giving a clear answer to the Ashen Claws connection. If anything, the Ashen Claws being active in the 41st millenium complicates things, as it doesn't become as simple as "yeah, the 30k ashen claws are the 40k sharks"

 

All in all. Good. Best enjoyed by mid-level fans who know a thing or two about 40k lore but do not yet understand why only the likes of Abnett, Annadale, and Fehervari write good demons.

 

I'll check Void Exile soon.

[jingus]

In 2025, I decided not only to get into 40k, but to get into 40k to the exclusion of all else. I went from knowing nothing about the setting to having read and/or listened to over 50 novels so far this year. Many people have told me I am insane for this, probably correctly. 

 

I am currently reading in book form a (hopefully) essential list of HH books (onto Pharos now) and then will listen to books set 10,000 years later when I drive, which I do a lot of. 

 

Anyway, the last thing I listened to that really made a mark on me was Ravenor Rogue. 

Spoiler

I'm sure everyone's read it, but Carl Thonius's slow descent into chaos was maybe the most effectively written thing from an emotional standpoint in the whole of any of this stuff, to me. You want him so badly to beat it, but then when he squooshes the random guy through the glass bubble so the ice storm rips him to pieces and just... it's scary and it's sad. What a moment!

 

 

Dan Abnett is by far the best author I have thus far encountered within the Black Library. I give the Ravenor series ten million stars, and I would like to see how gross Ravenor's body looks. He must be super chewed up.

[wecanhaveallthree]

Eisenhorn is a pretty decent spy story, but Ravenor is a great Warhammer story. The conceit of the main character being an introspective Inquisitorial invalid is great - and only a few months before that other introspective Inquisitorial invalid, too (jab jab, Glotka). While Eisenhorn is all about Eisenhorn with his cast serving largely as chaff, Ravenor is much more focused on a very good cast. And Ravenor gets weird. It gets the really good, really icky kind of weird. French-weird. Fehervari-weird. Haarlock-weird (alright, no, nobody gets Haarlock-weird). It's fantastic. I love Ravenor, and everyone who complains about textual booty shots and Ravenor being a weirdo pervert misses the point: that he's the absolute spitting image of that office meme where the hot dude gets away with what the nerdy guy doesn't. When he was a chad Inquisitor he hung out with Eldar and banged whoever he liked. Now he's a sack of meat and sadness literally wearing his female retinue and using his incredible psychic powers to watch Harlon bang his ex-girlfriend or whatever. It's sad. It's messed up. It's meant to be sad and messed up. Ravenor's a sad, messed up dude. 

 

And yet it's EISENHORN who

Spoiler

GETS FIXED WITH NO CONSEQUENCES AND ALSO A PSYCHIC POWER UP AND HE CAN SMILE AGAIN HEH NOTHING PERSONNEL CHAIRKID

 

Ain't no justice in this world. That's Warhammer, baby!

[Nagashsnee]

The Horus Heresy (series 1) Book 53 Titandeath by Guy Haley

 

Its interesting going back to this book with knowledhe of how it came about. BL for anyone who doesnt know, in one of the many many many questionable decisions it made for the HH (series 1) was originally going to skip not only the titandeath, but the entire Beta Garmon theatre. Now for people who got into the HH by the book series that would not have been a problem. For anyone who knew HH lore this was a big :cuss: moment.  In the end for reasons we may never know they made a last min pivot and got Guy Haley the master of last min books to get a novel ready to cover the Titandeath. 

 

Why is the above important to review this book? Because Guy Haley was once more given a studio made mess and told to 'do what you can'. The Great Slaughter at Beta Garmon to my knowledge is the single greatest battlefield of the HH, it was pivotal to having a siege of terra, and unlike things like Istvaan where it was ultimatly a small scale legion affair, Beta Garmon was the chance to show THE SCALE of the conflict. Two sides in a galactic scale war, fighting over a entire star system, feeding in billions and billions of troops, entire armadas of ships, marines and of course the books name sake Titans.  A battle fought over years, with objs, commanders and forces constantly changing. 

 

So enter guy haley, who has to somehow cover this, PLUS the additional new stuff (Primarchs involved, Horus stabbed by Russ, etc) in 1 single book, with little to no prep work having been done by other works.  And for me, with the above context he knocked it out of the park. He presented two main characters (one on either side) and thru them their respective titan legion. He showcased the wider theatre by having them both involved and take part in battles around the system before the actual titan death takes place. And shows the various other forces taking part in the conflict, imperial army, marines, mech they are all involved. 

 

I fell in love with this book with the way the legion solaria enters the battlefield, because it does several things naturaly and at the same time. It shows us how a titan legion operates by showcasing their fleet assets and their ability to work without support even in space, it shows us the command structure and its internal politics by having the Mechanicum Magi play politics with how and when they inform their theoretical superiors in the titan legion of certain facts, and their reaction to it shows us the legion character. By having Solaria be met with multiple 'supreme loaylists commanders' it showscases the chaos that the Garmon cluster is in and paints a picture of the system all while also providing us a little space battle.  It does what i want all HH books to do and that is SHOW us the war and how it is being fought, not only  our characters but in  a more general sense. 

 

It secondly does something i wish the HH did more of, and that is show us the different levels of chaos taint that co exist in the traitor side. But more specifically the Dark Mech. I have always belived that most of the Dark Mechanicum spent most of the Heresy not really knowing about chaos. They were political and ideological rebels, or simply Martian loaylists. With the % going ever more towards actual chaos involvement as the years go by.  But even during the scouring there should be entire traitor forge worlds where chaos is simply not really a thing, despite them being 100% Horus/Dark Mech Traitors. And in Halek the book gives us this kind of person, tho he learns about chaos taint quite a bit by the end. 

 

Now the more the book goes on the more rushed it all gets, but again this book had to cover allot. And i cant bring myself to blame it all that much, I ultimatly enjoyed the battles, the characters and writing. I know some people had problems with this book being 'woke' in legio solaria. But i find that as stupid now as i did then. 

 

This is a book about Titans at Beta Garmon, and hot damn it, thats what it gives us, and i for one found it to be a enjoyable read and a welcome break from the pure MARINES WHOO RAAA books.  If anything this book could have used another 50-100 pages.

 

7/10 Normally but it becomes 8.5/10 when you take how it came about into account.

[The Scorpion]

Maybe we'll get more battles of the Horus Heresy revisited, if the new Drop Site Massacre is anything to go by