Rate what you Read, or the fight against Necromancy

[byrd9999]

The Magos, by Dan Abnett

 

 

Wow. After finishing this I went right back to the ending to Pariah to see how my perception has changed. Another twist of the screw for Eisenhorn's personal journey...

 

Thanks to everyone who recommended reading this after Pariah. The suspense and pay off are much greater, imo.

 

so, I've read Pariah but not Penitent, so no spoilers for that please! Penitent is out in pb in May, I think.

 

so, I genuinely have no idea how far gone Eisenhorn is. The violet glow in his eyes... has he been corrupted by his time in the Loom? Does he think he can control it, or is it using him? If he isn't straight-up working for the Cognitae, then is he working against the Imperium?

 

And the way things are left after the Perihelion and the Keeler Image shorts, it seems Ravenor might be willing to side with Eisenhorn given the right circumstances (i.e the scale of the Cognitae threat is revealed), but now after reading the Magos, and knowing that Voriet has reported what he has seen to the Ordos, then Ravenor really might have it in for Eisenhorn...

 

And the people wondering whether Eisenhorn himself is the King in Yellow...

 

So much to ponder...

 

So much to take in. And the sea raptor at the end of The Magos had that violet look in its eyes. So has that been corrupted by the area effects leaking out? Has it been deliberately corrupted by the Cogniate or Eisenhorn to spy on him?

 

 

10/10

 

 

​edit: okay, just read the Magos/Pariah Spoilers thread up to the point where Penitent was released (thankfully I didn't see any spoilers), but I am being cautious of spoilers, so I may not read any replies to my post until after I have read Penitent (may 12, according to amazon)   

Edited April 11, 2022 by byrd9999

[Sothalor]

Regarding the raptor: that one seems open to interpretation, possibly just a little ominous coda the way many horror films close on a hint that maybe things aren't so definitely resolved as the characters may think...

 

I am unaware of any in-story continuation or follow-up at this point, nor have I seen any definitive statements from Abnett regarding his intent there.

[sitnam]

Twice Dead King: Reign

 

Took me a minute to read it, but if this isn’t in my top five at the end of year I’ll be shocked. It’s astoundingly bold exploration of the Necron race and a wonderfully characterful journey. The prose is a delight and the pacing never lets up. It inspires you to relate to its characters and mourn/cheer/criticize them in a way a lot of 40k books struggle with. It has horror, heroism, and much more comedy than one would expect. If you’ve read Ruin you know all this though, because both books are equally brilliant. Can’t recommend either of them enough, this is what Warhammer 40k fiction should be.

The comedy wasn’t Infinite and Divine level, but it was certainly pleasant to break up how bad things were getting for the Dynasty. The unleashing of the Monolith Phalanx was such a great moment.

[byrd9999]

Severed by Nate Crowley.

 

 

A fantastic novella. Really, it shows just how well the novella format can be done in Warhammer fiction.

 

Brilliant characters, humour, tension, plot twists, tying into the established lore but adding something new.

 

Everything by Nate Crowley so far has been outstanding. I can't wait for the TDK series in paperback later this year (August and October).

 

 

10/10

[Roomsky]

Lords of Mars - Graham McNeill (Audiobook)

 

Wow this was good. Shockingly so, after Priests left me so lukewarm, but this book succeeds everywhere that book frustrated me. Lack of focus because of the "trying to get somewhere that may or may not exist" plot? Well, now they've reached the goal and it's all hands on deck to discover what comes next. Complex yet static characters? I don't think anyone in this book is allowed to stagnate considering the intense :cuss going on. Galatea is annoyingly hyper-competent? Well, it's still basically invincible, but is less in focus and gets to be more of an antagonist this time.

 

It all clicks so much that at a point I began to wonder whether the first book needed to happen at all - all the interesting character arcs start here, Priests is just set-up. And while perhaps it was a necessary evil - the cast is so wide that trying to establish and develop them in the same book would have been a tall order, I just don’t think Priests earned that 400 page count. Maybe half a book getting to Telok's ship and half of this book's content on the back end would have been more satisfying. Just spit balling here.

 

Do I have any major critiques? Not really. I don't like Joe Jameson's narration but I can't hold that against it too much. McNeill also gets all the way up his own ass in the last few pages with colourful metaphors. "like an uprising in a slaughterhouse" is just an awful simile, Graham.

 

9/10

I hope Gods doesn't drop the ball.

[Jareddm]

 

Lords of Mars - Graham McNeill (Audiobook)

 

Wow this was good. Shockingly so, after Priests left me so lukewarm, but this book succeeds everywhere that book frustrated me. Lack of focus because of the "trying to get somewhere that may or may not exist" plot? Well, now they've reached the goal and it's all hands on deck to discover what comes next. Complex yet static characters? I don't think anyone in this book is allowed to stagnate considering the intense going on. Galatea is annoyingly hyper-competent? Well, it's still basically invincible, but is less in focus and gets to be more of an antagonist this time.

 

It all clicks so much that at a point I began to wonder whether the first book needed to happen at all - all the interesting character arcs start here, Priests is just set-up. And while perhaps it was a necessary evil - the cast is so wide that trying to establish and develop them in the same book would have been a tall order, I just don’t think Priests earned that 400 page count. Maybe half a book getting to Telok's ship and half of this book's content on the back end would have been more satisfying. Just spit balling here.

 

Do I have any major critiques? Not really. I don't like Joe Jameson's narration but I can't hold that against it too much. McNeill also gets all the way up his own ass in the last few pages with colourful metaphors. "like an uprising in a slaughterhouse" is just an awful simile, Graham.

 

9/10

I hope Gods doesn't drop the ball.

 

Finally, someone gets it!  I felt like I was the only person who thought Lords was the best of the series!  Everyone is always so enamored by Priests while saying the series just drops off from there.  But I found Priests to be a painful slog, whereas Lords...things feel like they're actually happening.

 

Do I think Gods lived up to it?  Not particularly.  But I still liked it more than Priests.

[Paceyjg]

The Buried Dagger - 7/10

 

Like most books nowadays took me ages to finish and seemed to get better towards the end.

[Scribe]

Luther, First of the Fallen  - Gav Thorpe

 

So I will just say first, I'm not a massive fan of Gav's work but I do believe my issue with it is tied up in 1 thing, and its his dialogue between characters. If not for that (and lets just remove everything HH Raven Guard from the universe...ok we are good) then what is left is a guy who is absolutely steeped in the lore, and understands it.

 

What we get in this book is a view into the mindset of the man who seemingly betrayed his Primarch, his Legion, and the Imperium, but did he? Certainly some of the text even in the characters own words paints him poorly. He knows this, he finds himself and his own actions wanting throughout the book, but while its a story of Luther, its also of course a story of the fall of the Dark Angels.

 

Its funny that its under "The Horus Heresy" imprint with Valdor which was all pre Heresy (and is one of my favourite books actually), as this one is really more about the degradation of the DA, post Heresy.

 

Luther by the end is pleading not for himself, but for the Lion to return and save the Dark Angels from themselves, for they certainly have lost their way from the noble ideals of the Order, and the Great Crusade as they are just another reflection of the truth of the Imperium in 40K.

 

Its a good book, I dont think its great, but I dont regret getting it. If you can get through some of the stilted language (and it being a world of Knights helps here) in the dialogue between characters, the monologue stuff is all good, and the messaging is perfectly on brand.

 

The Angels are so obsessed with the Fallen, when its absolutely pointless, that throughout the history of the Chapter it has damned itself countless times in fact because of its obsession.

 

*chef kiss*

 

7-8/10

 

TLDR: Enjoyable, quick read.

[byrd9999]

Penitent, Dan Abnett.

 

 

Wow. Just more astonishment, really. I love the different style Abnett has developed for the Bequin trilogy. Each of the three series is its own creature.

 

And the threads that are left dangling...!

 

At least now I can delve back into the B&C threads without fear of spoilers :)

 

 

An easy 10/10

[Paceyjg]

The Solar War - 10/10! Great book and I really enjoyed reading it!

[Roomsky]

Ashes of Prospero - Gave Thorpe (Audiobook)

 

Another really pleasant surprise. I have to admit, when this book first dropped I didn't want to touch it with a 10-foot pole. Space Wolves? Thorpe? (absolutely hideous cover art?) Sounds like a recipe for a miserable Roomsky. But after really enjoying The Wolftime, and finding out a bit more about the premise, I gave it a shot and am glad I did.

 

This book is one of those Thorpe novels that clearly didn't have too much of a bolter porn quota, and those are the best kind. This isn't to say it's completely free of that curse, the action scenes on Fenris are perfunctory at best (I swear there must be some studio mandate that Space Wolf stories must have a scene where marines hunt some Fenrisian monster,) but everything else flows naturally from the plot and, is only as long as it needs to be. Rather, this is a book of reasoning, organizing, argument, and problem-solving. Tensions run high throughout, but rarely by way of violence. I'm pretty vocal in my disdain for Thorpe's attempts to write action, so I see this as an unambiguously good thing.

 

The story here is very much an epic quest, the sort that I think a lot of authors mistakenly think they're writing when they make the faction come across as a gang of entitled fratboys. But the recovery of the 13th company is a goal so personal, I totally buy they'd stop at nothing to make the attempt, even on such shaky logical foundations. This isn't the wolves picking fights with other chapters over imagined slights to their honour - this is an attempt to salve a 10,000 year old wound.

 

Thorpe makes the smart move of creating stakes that aren't based around "will these protagonists live?" considering the cast is a bunch of established characters with tabletop models. Instead, the suspense and conflict is based around whether they find Bulveye, whether Bulveye would even agree to rejoin the chapter, and what Orr's fate will be - all of which kept me guessing up until the end.

 

Speaking of Izzakar Orr, he is definitely the highlight of the book for me. As a 30k legionary, his constant conflicted feelings over a legion he hated that kept its integrity, and a legion he loved that proved every accusation levelled at them was ultimately true, are a wonderfully unique perspective.

That he manages a level of peaceful resolution with Bulveye is also shockingly wholesome.

 

 

Some caveats to the positivity: as always, it's an audiobook propped up by an excellent performance, so it's hard to really judge the prose or dialogue. Thorpe's astartes are generally a bit childlike in certain spheres, and I think that works both for and against the characters here, depending on the scene. It's also guilty of stopping once the plot threads climax, rather than having a proper denouement - which I will never find anything but frustrating. Also not something I'll hold against the book, but while Wolftime is a decent prequel to this, Ashes of Prospero doesn't really work as a sequel to Wolftime - very little of the conflict in that book is even alluded to here. Obviously this is expected since Ashes was written first, but it is odd going in with nobody finding the whole primaris thing even worthy of discussion.

 

To Taste - a pleasantly non-obnoxious Space Wolf book.

[Ubiquitous1984]

 

Ashes of Prospero - Gave Thorpe (Audiobook)

 

Another really pleasant surprise. I have to admit, when this book first dropped I didn't want to touch it with a 10-foot pole. Space Wolves? Thorpe? (absolutely hideous cover art?) Sounds like a recipe for a miserable Roomsky. But after really enjoying The Wolftime, and finding out a bit more about the premise, I gave it a shot and am glad I did.

 

This book is one of those Thorpe novels that clearly didn't have too much of a bolter porn quota, and those are the best kind. This isn't to say it's completely free of that curse, the action scenes on Fenris are perfunctory at best (I swear there must be some studio mandate that Space Wolf stories must have a scene where marines hunt some Fenrisian monster,) but everything else flows naturally from the plot and, is only as long as it needs to be. Rather, this is a book of reasoning, organizing, argument, and problem-solving. Tensions run high throughout, but rarely by way of violence. I'm pretty vocal in my disdain for Thorpe's attempts to write action, so I see this as an unambiguously good thing.

 

The story here is very much an epic quest, the sort that I think a lot of authors mistakenly think they're writing when they make the faction come across as a gang of entitled fratboys. But the recovery of the 13th company is a goal so personal, I totally buy they'd stop at nothing to make the attempt, even on such shaky logical foundations. This isn't the wolves picking fights with other chapters over imagined slights to their honour - this is an attempt to salve a 10,000 year old wound.

 

Thorpe makes the smart move of creating stakes that aren't based around "will these protagonists live?" considering the cast is a bunch of established characters with tabletop models. Instead, the suspense and conflict is based around whether they find Bulveye, whether Bulveye would even agree to rejoin the chapter, and what Orr's fate will be - all of which kept me guessing up until the end.

 

Speaking of Izzakar Orr, he is definitely the highlight of the book for me. As a 30k legionary, his constant conflicted feelings over a legion he hated that kept its integrity, and a legion he loved that proved every accusation levelled at them was ultimately true, are a wonderfully unique perspective.

That he manages a level of peaceful resolution with Bulveye is also shockingly wholesome.

 

 

Some caveats to the positivity: as always, it's an audiobook propped up by an excellent performance, so it's hard to really judge the prose or dialogue. Thorpe's astartes are generally a bit childlike in certain spheres, and I think that works both for and against the characters here, depending on the scene. It's also guilty of stopping once the plot threads climax, rather than having a proper denouement - which I will never find anything but frustrating. Also not something I'll hold against the book, but while Wolftime is a decent prequel to this, Ashes of Prospero doesn't really work as a sequel to Wolftime - very little of the conflict in that book is even alluded to here. Obviously this is expected since Ashes was written first, but it is odd going in with nobody finding the whole primaris thing even worthy of discussion.

 

To Taste - a pleasantly non-obnoxious Space Wolf book.

 

Thank you very much, I have just spent a credit on this based on your review.  I love John Banks narration as well.  Cheers!

[Roomsky]

You know, B&C going down the day before I get hit by a car was pretty inconsiderate. I've had to entertain myself while stuck at home with nothing but Reddit! /S

The Successors

The only really worthwhile stuff here is Fehervari and ADB's material. Fehervari's is a really deep and intriguing short with plenty of ramifications for those who follow his work. ADB's stuff, though it probably should have just been in Spear of the Emperor, was at least unique and full of character. Almost all the other material falls into what I'm going to start calling "Brother Genericus Bolter Porn." MEDIOCRE.

Urdesh: The Magister and the Martyr

After being pretty unimpressed by the first half of Urdesh, I decided to try doing this as an audiobook instead. This backfired stupendously, because when narrated I can't even appreciate Farrer's beautiful prose. Another book that I'm sure has many standout moments that nevertheless failed to make me care in the slightest. Dropped after a couple hours listening.

[aa.logan]

Hit by a car? Oh no. Hope the recovery goes well.

I’m *really* struggling with Urdesh 2; about a third in and I started it on the day of release…

im not saying it has put me off the act of reading per se, but I haven’t needed to charge my e-reader since I started it.

[byrd9999]

I hope you're recovering well, Roomsky. It's a shame you couldn't have spent your convalescence with better books

[Roomsky]

Thanks for the well-wishes, all. My recovery is thankfully on track, and while BL didn't wow me during this last month, I've been going through some classic Vertigo comics and they've given me more than my fill of quality.

As mentioned in the other thread, I did enjoy Cthonia's Reckoning. I think the themed anthology format works well for covering the scope of an engagement, and I'd love to see some for undercooked battles of series past. Also just started on Da Gobbo's Revenge which should be, if nothing else, very fun.

[cheywood]

48 minutes ago, Roomsky said:

Thanks for the well-wishes, all. My recovery is thankfully on track, and while BL didn't wow me during this last month, I've been going through some classic Vertigo comics and they've given me more than my fill of quality.

As mentioned in the other thread, I did enjoy Cthonia's Reckoning. I think the themed anthology format works well for covering the scope of an engagement, and I'd love to see some for undercooked battles of series past. Also just started on Da Gobbo's Revenge which should be, if nothing else, very fun.

Glad to hear that your recovery’s going well! I think you’ll enjoy Da Gobbo’s Revenge. There’s a fun if not very deep political streak running through it that in my mind fits Brooks’ slightly deconstructionist style. 

Edited June 25, 2022 by cheywood

[Roomsky]

Da Gobbo's Revenge was indeed a lot of fun. Brooks knows exactly how absurd the premise of a bunch of murder-goblins trying to start a worker's revolution is and the whole plot and drama is very tongue-in-cheek. Not that I'm surprised, but Brooks definitely has talent for making vile weirdos into characters you can root for, and Fingwit is no exception. It's brisk and it's fun, it's basically what you'd expect by looking at it: a simple good time.

Personally, I prefer Brutal Kunnin`, but I think for many this will be the novella they wished that book had been instead. I loved the juxtaposition of greenskins being horrifying from a human POV and impossible to take seriously from their own (and also there just aren't many good AdMech books dropping so it doubled as that.) But if you came from that book annoyed that the fun Ork sections kept getting interrupted by dry human ones, this here's right up your alley.

Edited June 27, 2022 by Roomsky

[Kenzaburo]

I just finished Twice-Dead King: Ruin this weekend. Oh my, what a fun book! After I had read good things about it on here, I wondered what all the buzz was about with those Necron novels.

To be honest, even though you guys had heaped some praise on it, I went in with low expectations. But wow. I was certainly not expecting to root for a Necron lord and his struggles. 

For those of you who haven't read it, here's some thoughts about it without spoilers:

You'll get to see Necron society after their reawakening through the eyes of an outcast Necron lord. His viewpoint is a fantastic mixture of a "human" mind and thought process mixed with new abilities gifted to him by his, uh, robotic state. You also get glimpses back to the time when the Necrontyr were still flesh and blood, you get a feel for their organisation as it was then and how they look at the world.

Furthermore readers get insights into the Flayer curse and a tiny bit of the Destroyer curse and how these are viewed in Necron society. Not enougn viewpoints for you? Well, how about a Necron dynasty facing an invasion by the Imperium of Man. Now this is just brilliant, to see the Necrons react with horror to the military machinery and onslaught that comes with the Imperium. It's a view we don't get that often. And it gets even better: I dare you not to feel for Oltyx (the protagonist), when his kingdom is facing almost certain distraction. And the, well, emotions he goes through, when he has to face the consequences it means for his immediate lineage.

This book has a lot of things going for it: likeable protagonist, great character arc, cool insights into all kinds of things, drama, tension, humor - it's just really well done. And the prose flows effortlessly, without being trite or too flowery.

My only criticism was that at times the Necrons and Necrontyr seemed a bit too human in their views, a bit too relatable. I'd go as far and say you could've easily switched the race for some more advanced human subspecies and it would have been mostly the same with only minor differences. But on the other hand 40k has always attributed Xenos species with very relatable, human motivations and thought processes. So I think this might be alright.

Final verdict: 9/10 - read this, even if you are not really into Necrons. It's just a nice story, good length, no filler content that could've been cut, just a good read!

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

Fool's Ruin by Mike Brooks

I managed to miss this short story when it came out.

There are a couple of issues here which greatly impacted my enjoyment of the story, though none of them are necessarily Brooks' fault.

First off, the story is advertised as a Huron Blackheart story and the description lets us know that this is about a ship that falls into a trap set by Blackheart.

The problem is, we don't see Blackheart or the Red Corsairs until two-thirds of the way through. Granted, it's a SHORT story, but those are still massive spoilers that serve to completely dissipate any tension in the narrative. We don't spend any time wondering what's going on, even though the story is well-written. No, we're just cruising along on autopilot waiting for the trap to be sprung and for Huron to show up. Then it is and he does. And that's pretty much the end of the story.

Secondly, the POV for this particular tale is a Captain of the Minotaurs. While the Minotaurs are presented in character, I personally think it's a major storytelling foul to take us into the minds of this of all chapters. The Minotaurs should be mysterious ciphers whose intentions and opinions are left for the reader and the protagonists to speculate about. Just flat-out telling us that the Minotaurs are puppets doing what the High Lords order them to betrays their mystique for no real gain. We may KNOW that's their thing. But getting inside the mind of one of their officers and having it explicitly confirmed simply isn't something that I feel is necessary and in fact I feel like it diminishes the story impact of the Minotaurs in future appearances.

Moreover, the Minotaurs really aren't portrayed all that differently from standard Space Marine chapters. Yes, it's made clear that they have zero love for mortals and would happily sacrifice a ship full of standard Imperial citizens to avoid risking a single Minotaur, but there are more than a few other chapters who would act the same way. I just feel that IF you are going to take us into the minds of the Minotaurs, then REALLY show us how brutal and uncompromising they are. Don't limit it to speculative action and then one actual incident of essentially mercy killing along the lines of something the Blood Angels performed in one of their recent books (in fact, I'd actually argue the Blood Angels' actions were worse, given that they "culled" a group of people who simply had the misfortune of developing psychic powers at a time when the Black Ships had stopped showing up).

Having said all that, the story - once you put aside all the caveats - is decently scripted. It's the plot, the branding, and the decision to go with the Minotaurs as our POV "protagonists" that ultimately ruins Fool's Ruin for me.

Final Verdict: 59 Tomatoes.

[byrd9999]

Devastation of Baal, by Guy Haley.

I loved Dante, but I'd been putting off reading this thinking it was more of a Space Marine Battles book, and I'm not much into bolter shenanigans. But I was very wrong, and this was *very nearly* as good as Dante. It's a direct sequel, and maybe this should have been more obvious? Maybe it's just me missing the signs.

This is Guy Haley at his best, page-turning action, good character development and some cool lore and insights into the tyranids. The 500 pages went by quickly.

And the ending...

Dante's vulnerability and regret was touching. I wasn't expecting Guilliman to show up, so this was a big surprise to me. I like Guy Haley's Guilliman from Dark Imperium. He knows how to handle primarchs.

9/10.

[Pacific81]

Continuing my slow and ponderous journey through the Horus Heresy books - Old Earth by Nick Kyme

Found this to be one of those books that I really enjoyed in part but found other elements quite difficult to get through. There are a few Spoilers below about the content of the book, as a warning if you haven't read. 

Firstly absolutely loved the chapters involved Eldrad and Narek (what a pairing!), they're great characters and of course its always really intriguing trying to get glimpses of the 'big picture'. They also introduced some off-the-wall characters in some of the Immortals (the daemon-esque creature living on the plague world was especially imaginative). But, the problem was that both this and the Vulkan/Salamander sections (which were also very imaginative, with their journey through the webway) were bookended by the Iron Hands sections and I found myself having to endure them, Iron Hand-like, rather than actually enjoying them. I always feel for the authors that were handed the IH to write about as they are quite possibly the most un-dynamic and least characterful of them all; their MO is for the most part just stand there looking impassive, not giving any emotion, and it must make them very difficult to narrate in an interesting manner. I thought Kyme did his best (apologies I am terrible with character names), by introducing the Ferrus golem (perhaps more could have been made of that?), an interesting antagonist in the SoH commander who was out for Shadrak Mendalson, and the splinter faction. But ultimately thought it was pretty dry. Also although it was a brave move finally carrying out a coup de grace on a few of the main characters (and I will be the first to criticise BL for allowing way too many prominent characters to live!), perhaps it could have been made a bit more poignant for characters that had travelled with us through several books? As it was it felt a bit like Star Trek Generations, where Kirk died by falling off a bridge. I guess one positive is that Kyme has done some of the other BL authors a favour by effectively killing them off? :) 

Overall I'll give it a solid 7/10. A good culmination to the series of Vulcan and his sons, even though I am not entirely sure I understood the implications of the Emperor's task at the end of the book? (Is the artifact some kind of failsafe so Vulcan can destroy Terra if it falls to Horus?)

 

Edited June 29, 2022 by Pacific81

[Sothalor]

Scourge the Heretic by Sandy Mitchell

 

A perfectly fine novel probably more interesting for the contextual history surrounding it, Scourge the Heretic is a fun read and the opening book in a series that fell victim to corporate policies and business decisions.

To summarize, Scourge the Heretic was released back in 2008 to coincide with Black Industries’ new release: the Dark Heresy roleplaying game. Black Industries was GW’s in-house RPG publishing arm of Black Library. Dark Heresy was their first Warhammer 40,000 role-playing game – and their only one, as it turned out. Two days after the release of Dark Heresy GW shuttered Black Industries, citing poor sales compared to other BL output. (From what I remember, Black Industries only put out the Dark Heresy core rulebook and some copies of The Inquisitor’s Handbook through the course of January-February 2008.) The license was subsequently transferred to Fantasy Flight Games, who then went on to put out a line of supplements, along with the Rogue Trader, Deathwatch, Black Crusade, and Only War RPG lines using the same core game system.

Alright, back to Scourge the Heretic; set in the Calixis sector of the DH setting, Scourge follows the adventures of one team of Inquisitorial acolytes as they investigate a human trafficking operation with ties to a larger conspiracy involving unsanctioned psykers. As a tie-in, it’s obvious Mitchell was working off a brief; the characters are iconic depictions of the player classes and backgrounds in Dark Heresy, and the plot is a representative showcase of the investigations, adversaries, and dangers that a game adventure might feature.

The tone bears mentioning. Mitchell brings his distinctive 40k irreverence to the table. It’s not quite Ciaphas Cain levels of satire and tongue-in-cheek, but you can clearly see the family resemblance. It’s certainly more serious than Cain, but always maintains a certain lightheartedness, especially compared to the grimly personal stories of Eisenhorn and Ravenor. It should also be noted that, at the time of release, those were the only other Inquisition-focused novels in the BL catalogue. Yup, this book is that old.

One thing I liked about Scourge is how it’s actually slower-paced and methodical in nature. This is much more an investigation – following leads, piecing together clues, examining physical evidence, and social infiltration – than it is about kicking in doors and shooting faces. Nevertheless, it still frequently feels brisk and energetic, because the protagonists are mostly active – they’re proactively pursuing goals, working after leads, and it feels like they are the ones moving things along.

Another strength of Scourge is its character work. One thing to distinguish this one from Abnett’s Inquisitorial works is the more diffuse protagonist focus. Whereas Eisenhorn and Ravenor are ultimately about those titular Inquisitors and their warbands are the supporting cast that move their stories forward, that dynamic is reversed in Scourge. Part of this comes from the tie-in nature; in Dark Heresy (the base game), the players do not play Inquisitors – they play Inquisitorial acolytes: low-level team members who lack the influence and power of their Inquisitor masters. They’re the ones conducting ground-level investigations, working with limited resources and trying to survive when things inevitably go horribly wrong and they get in over their heads.

Scourge reflects that emphasis. The focus is very much on the members of Inquisitor Carolus’ Angelae team – in true Mitchell wordplay-reference fashion, Latin-ish for “Charles’ Angels.” And Scourge does this very well. The Angelae members all feel like people. Their backgrounds and personal histories inform their outlooks, behavior, and interactions with each other. The frequent POV and scene shifts not only enable parallel running plot threads but also provide insight into each character. For a book that could very easily have been a bunch of stereotype RPG party cliches, Mitchell made an excellent choice to focus on interpersonal team and relationship dynamics. This is stronger, more nuanced characterization than his Cain series.

Scourge the Heretic also has solid worldbuilding. It takes place almost entirely on one planet, and paints a wonderfully insane image of a mining world of gothic-medieval-industrialization. Sepheris Secundus is a planet with a massively stratified social order and utterly bonkers infrastructure in all its baroque decaying glory. Because it’s not rushing from one action scene to the next, Scourge gets to fill in a gamut of places and people, from dive bars carved out of exhausted mine shafts to aristocratic manors suspended on battle tank-sized chain links.

All of that means Scourge the Heretic is tragically underappreciated for what it brought to the 40K literature landscape. This was “domestic” 40K in a way that wouldn’t be the zeitgeist for another decade – and this was released in 2008! For context, the most recent Horus Heresy book was Descent of Angels, and it wouldn’t be until 2010 that we got Helsreach and Soul Hunter. In some ways, this was like the proto-Vaults of Terra and proto-Warhammer Crime combined.

Unfortunately, there is one major issue with reading Scourge now. It was obviously intended to start a series. Scourge ends on a cliffhanger with almost no resolutions. There was one follow-up, Innocence Proves Nothing, and then the series disappeared. I’ve always been under the impression that it was supposed to be a trilogy; if that’s the case then this is an unfinished story. Furthermore, only Scourge is readily available: as an ebook off the Black Library site. Innocence Proves Nothing isn’t even ON the BL site – that’s how abandoned this series is.

I don’t know why it happened. Personally, I’ve always had the suspicion that there might have been some kind of licensing issue or business-related reason as to why these books just stopped. I have no proof – it’s just speculation. I’ve no idea if these books sold particularly poorly, or maybe Mitchell grew bored or had other commitments. My point is, this is very much an orphaned, neglected series. And that’s a shame, because Scourge does some things very well and it does so in a package that’s overall fun to read and doesn’t need to rely on big action set pieces.

On a side note, this book makes me feel old. I picked up an old, battered copy that had been tucked away behind stacks of other books at a used bookstore the other week. I still remember seeing this brand new on the shelves of a local Barnes & Noble… that hasn’t existed for a decade. I miss these old mass market paperbacks.

So, overall, this is a tricky book to recommend. It has good characterization, worldbuilding, and investigation-focused plotting, but doesn’t really stand on its own as a novel. It was obviously and structurally constructed as part of a series. That series has been defunct for a long time now, and it’s practically certain to never be completed at this point. The second book is particularly hard to get at this point. So this is probably not one for completionists. Nor is it a book for “muh 40K meta-plot development”(no surprise there). But it is an interesting look back at a neglected little side piece of Black Library history, and it’s a decent enough read on it’s own. 

Just don't come to this one expecting any closure.

 

To Taste

[Noserenda]

My word, i cant imagine why you would do the OG Jaq Draco dirty :D 

[Sothalor]

Well, I never found those books in circulation amongst retailers that carried BL stuff, even back then. As far as I can tell, those weren't really in "fandom" awareness or discussion back then either. It was all Gaunt's Ghosts, Abnett's Inquisitor stuff, Cain, and a lot of Soul Drinker stuff. Like, seemingly a good 40% of 40K book shelf space on stores where I saw was Soul Drinker stuff.

Even in the late 2000s, it seemed like there was some kind of general unspoken consensus that excluded Ian Watson's stuff. 

I mean, if the first Gaunt's Ghosts entries are considered super-old and outdated now, Watson's stuff is positively pre-historic.