Rate what you Read, or the fight against Necromancy

[Rob P]

Finished Asurman: The Darker Road.

 

A paint by numbers audio drama. It hits the right beats of the aeldari but adds nothing new. Not a great fan of the audio drama format despite great cast.

 

2.5/5 exactly middle of the road

Edited June 6 by Rob P

[DarkChaplain]

That one might only work as a supplement to the Asurmen novel, to be fair. I haven't read either, but I believe they were published in short succession, as a mini tie-in while Gav was working on Jain Zar.

[Rob P]

10 hours ago, DarkChaplain said:

That one might only work as a supplement to the Asurmen novel, to be fair. I haven't read either, but I believe they were published in short succession, as a mini tie-in while Gav was working on Jain Zar.

It does work on its own. It's a complete short story. Without spoilers, it's the equivalent of Dark Angels leaving citizens to chase a fallen, or a Salamander making a noble sacrifice to save civilians, or Iron Warriors doing a siege. It's incredibly plot typical for aeldari

[Roomsky]

Creed: Ashes of Cadia - Jude Reid

 

Reid is definitely a new author to watch, this was great! Except for the set-up for the plot!

 

Creed isn't exactly in a typical situation for the Castellan of a world (ill-preserved though it may be) but that's fine, it puts her out of her comfort zone and makes the whole tale a much more intimate affair. The problem is: her being in this situation was planned through official channels. If Creed's daughter is both a skilled general and useful as Imperial propaganda, Guilliman asking her (this wasn't an order, but a request) and 1 squad to land on the biggest chunk of Cadia for something that may not even be there is lunacy. There were many ways they could have softened this:

• Make it an order from Guilliman, because he thinks the possible prize still on Cadia is just too important to overlook, and he apologetically sends Ursula in person because he somehow knows Ursarkar set something up that only his daughter could access.
• Have someone other than Guilliman order Creed on this mission and play up the propaganda angle. Idiot superiors are an easy pill to swallow when they aren't the best strategist in the galaxy. The idea of "Creed returning home" as propaganda is also more believable if it's some megalomaniac insisting it needs to be filmed on an actual fragment of Cadia instead of a sound stage.
• Make Ursula land with a far bigger army that is then reduced to a squad through warp shenanigans. The Huntsman has already made the surface risky to approach and wants Creed alive for his plans, just make it so some ritual makes the ground swallow most of her army and equipment or something (ideally this is in combination with one of the above)

This nonsense unfortunately drags the whole thing down. That's doubly a shame, because it's my only complaint.

 

The character writing is great, even when characters are discussing this stupid plan of theirs. It's well-paced and incredibly smoothly written; I mentioned elsewhere the writing reminded me of early ADB, it's very good. The grimdark is on point; characters occasionally die quickly and with no fanfare to catch you off guard. The Eye of Terror itself comes across as the Chaos Gods staring gleeful hatred at our main characters, and it doesn't undersell the lethality of a flesh wound on a world saturated with Nurgle's influence. Speaking of Nurgle, the big bad is a single Deathguard, who is as menacing as you would hope (but rarely have cause to expect, lately.) Reid's medical knowledge also makes every wound described in detail much more visceral than the norm - enjoy this book's step-by-step description of an arm being amputated!

 

Must Read, even with my issues about the premise. I'm very excited for what Reid does next.

 

 

Awakenings - George Mann

 

As a contrast: this. I thought it was paced well enough, and had that wonderful "I'm very excited to tell this story" energy that makes any book much more fun, but I didn't like much else about it. The characters are stock and speak in stock phrases while they bumble between stock plot points. Mann's prose is not great, and the main cast has more plot armour than usual (that Squat should NOT have survived the ending.) Every character also has a weirdly contemporary view of ethics for a 40k book, and they frequently lament perceived societal unfairness and cruelty - I'd expect an Inquisitor's retinue to either not pay much mind to such things, or perhaps look down their nose at the unfortunate victims - they generally read like 21st century weirdos transported into the Imperium rather than the weirdos who grew up in it.

 

Diehards only

 

 

Also read Yndrasta: The Celestial Spear by Noah Van Nguyen, and while it didn't wow me to the same extent as Godeater's Son, it made me crave a 40k novel from him all the more.

Edited June 13 by Roomsky

[grailkeeper]

12 hours ago, Roomsky said:

Creed: Ashes of Cadia - Jude Reid

 

Reid is definitely a new author to watch, this was great! Except for the set-up for the plot!

 

 

 

I'm biased on this as I've talked to the Author a few times online and I think she's great. I've a high opinion of her.

 

Its a while since I read this so my memories have faded a bit. At the time I didnt mind the set up but I suppose your points all make sense. Just didnt occur to me when I read it. The Authors medical background shines through- there's plenty of medical characters. Really ups the gore factor. (One of Henry Zhous books mentions someone being attacked and slipping discs in his back, then getting up and fighting, as someone whose slipped discs in the past getting up is almost impossible, never mind fighting). I wonder why GW doesnt allow the author use her title? Is it because she is a surgeon and they dont go by Dr? 

 

My only issue is there comes an LGBT plot point at one point and it feels a bit forced and tokenistic. There was another similar but smaller LGBT moment in Deathworlder that also felt a bit forced and tokenistic. Felt a bit like the netflix school of diversity. I dont want to get "culture war"-y it about it, the LGBT theme in the Cain novels was a good addition. This issue for me might well be a selling point for other readers.

 

I'm pretty sure the author was in contact with Robert Rath about his Cadia novel, there's bits in his that set up bits of this. I read Creed first, perhaps someone who has read Fall first can give an opinion here?

 

I'll definitely be reading more of her work in the future.

Edited June 14 by grailkeeper

[Jareddm]

4 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

I'm pretty sure the author was in contact with Robert Rath about his Cadia novel, there's bits in his that set up bits of this. I read Creed first, perhaps someone who has read Fall first can give an opinion here?

The main one that comes to mind is the mention of Colonel Marda Hellsker and the package she had for Ursula. Her story is told in great detail throughout Fall of Cadia and she goes on to become a major propaganda figure, so it makes sense to see her referenced.

[Roomsky]

6 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

My only issue is there comes an LGBT plot point at one point and it feels a bit forced and tokenistic. There was another similar but smaller LGBT moment in Deathworlder that also felt a bit forced and tokenistic. Felt a bit like the netflix school of diversity. I dont want to get "culture war"-y it about it, the LGBT theme in the Cain novels was a good addition. This issue for me might well be a selling point for other readers.

 

Assuming you're talking about Van Haast, I have to respectfully disagree (and because this is the internet, I'll clarify this is sincere.)

 

Van Haast wants the opportunity to find what happens to his spouse and children. It informs his actions throughout the book, and has an emotional payoff for him; his family is central to his character and personal journey. Had his spouse been a woman instead of a man, I don't think anyone would be saying it was out of place or forced. Also, the book has a man and a woman developing feelings for each other by the end, so it's not as if the only mention of romance is a queer one, either.

 

In my opinion, the sign of tokenism/pandering is when a story element would stick out whether or not any specific group was being represented by it - eg: it interrupts pacing, goes nowhere, comes out of nowhere, hogs focus from more interesting plot threads, etc. (And when advertisers expect a pat on the back for queerness in a meaningless background event, but that doesn't really apply to Black Library.)

[Rob P]

A touch early to review but currently reading Genevieve Undead. I'm coming to the end of the first novella. I absolutely love this version of the Old World. Not as black and white is the later established setting. The satirical look at evil is so interesting and the cultural references are there and overt but don't smother the plot. There is this great chapter where a villain arrives, a monster is revealed, and a murder takes place; it's indulgently crammed and made me feel it was busy in an exciting and complicated way; it felt like a treat that a series of potentially climactic events were happening so early. Loving it.

[byrd9999]

Blood Reaver, by ADB.

 

I  finished the second of the Night Lords Trilogy. It's still superb. ADB does so well handling a reasonably large cast of characters and giving them all distinct personalities.

 

The Throne of Lies audiodrama was very well done. Great voices and FX. I miss BL's audiodramas.

 

10/10, easy.

 

 

[Krelious]

Scars by Chris Wraight 

 

I finished this one a few weeks ago. Really solid and overall I think BL did a stellar job with the opening novels of the Horus Heresy in terms of portraying the confusion of whats going on in a very logical manner, that we as the reader have the advantage of foreknowledge of whats happening and what Chaos is etc. I like the fact at least in this book the White Scars who want to join Horus have this vision of him as the leader from the Great Crusade and as a noble figure and they have no idea what has happened to him. It really paints a larger picture of the tragedy of the Heresy itself as in many of the stories of the Legionaries have their own problems with the Imperium and the Emperor but never wanted to get involved with Chaos.

 

9/10

[The Scorpion]

TIL that the Marines Malevolent have like 2 or 3 short stories all to themselves.

 

I'm going on a Marines Malevolent binge-read after I finish the Siege of Vraks. Wish me luck...

[Paceyjg]

The Regents Shadow - 6/10. Took it ages to get going but excellent ending!

[Krelious]

Ahriman Eternal 8.4/10

 

This was my first Ahriman novel and my second French novel that I managed to finish as I found Solar War and Mortis so boring and sloggy I couldnt finish them. I'd say im pleasantly surprised by this novel as actually being well paced and not boring albeit I did fall asleep several times reading it, mostly because I was tired, I managed to finish it quickly in a couple days in preparation for the next novel in the series.  I'm not really quite sure what to make of it and still digesting it as I hadnt read any other Ahriman novels coming into it, it felt easy to come into get a sense of the characters and whats going on in the story because well the entire gist of it is just Ahriman is sad about the Rubric and now hes sad about the second Rubric has screwed things up even more and Ahriman and his pals are going to solve everything because they are so smart.

 

I'd say the one brilliant thing about this novel among other wonderful parts is how insidious and subtle Tzeentchian corruption is that even to me in this novel the 40k thousand sons basically come off as like Loyalists on their own mission and perhaps shows off the tragedy of the legion as a whole that even in the 40k setting this guys arent malicious in any way, they are basically like a bunch of nerds who got in way over their heads and are trying to solve problems outside their control that are fundamentally beyond solving. 

 

I'm hoping at least the upcoming Undying novel has some pay off for the things set up in this book. 

[The Scorpion]

Devil's Trappings - Nick Kyme

 

What is this? A story about the Marines Malevolent, not one where they make a cameo? Let's see what its about.

It's just what you expect of these arseheads. Ever wondered what a loyalist chapter would be like if it had the dynamic of a Chaos warband? Well guess no more, because this is it. Blatant envy and favoritism, disrespect between battle-brothers, unhealthy competition between companies, pettiness and vindictiveness at a personal level. Also,

Spoiler

betrayal for promotions and advancement, that has the seal of approval from those in charge

.

But there are many redeeming features in this chapter. They are very pragmatic, and possesing of a common sense that other marines seem to forget. They are able to recognize that not any Chaos trinket is inherently corrupting, because Heresy is before anything else a state of mind. In spike of all their jerkassery, they are steadly and firmly loyal.

The Malevolent of this story also happen to fight a unique enemy that doesn't show up all that often in lore, which is a plus.

As good as all of this is however, this is still a Space Marine short story, and there is little appeal if the inner workings of obscure chapters do not interest you like they interest me.

 

Diehards only.

[Rob P]

Just finished Genefather. I liked Cawl. I liked Bile. I liked their interaction. I felt the actual story was a little thin but I suppose this current timeline stuff can only take the tiniest steps

[Rob P]

I've not finished it yet so will.update when I do, but I'm about 55-60% through Overlords of the Iron Dragon. Think this was one of the earliest books that stood separate from the opening saga to accompany Age of Sigmar's release.

 

I'm not digging it. It has characters and the plot is fine; it's not basic. I just don't connect with it. It doesn't have the underlying black comedy tone of the old world and the concept of the sky duardin is just mildly interesting. I'm still hunting for ab AoS novel that really sells the setting to me.

 

Edit: Having now finished it I did like the culmination of the plot threads but not enough to justify the journey to it.

Edited August 1 by Rob P

[Roomsky]

1 hour ago, Rob P said:

I've not finished it yet so will.update when I do, but I'm about 55-60% through Overlords of the Iron Dragon. Think this was one of the earliest books that stood separate from the opening saga to accompany Age of Sigmar's release.

 

I'm not digging it. It has characters and the plot is fine; it's not basic. I just don't connect with it. It doesn't have the underlying black comedy tone of the old world and the concept of the sky duardin is just mildly interesting. I'm still hunting for ab AoS novel that really sells the setting to me.

 

Reading Werner was your first mistake.

 

Godeater's Son, Yndrasta, Last Volari, everything by Josh Reynolds, Kragnos, Godsbane, The Hollow King, and Prince Maesa are all solid if you haven't checked them out already.

 

Also personally enjoy Strachan's and most of Guymer's work. Also also enjoyed Dynasty of Monsters and Children of Teclis well enough.

Edited July 31 by Roomsky

[Rob P]

I am extremely thin on AoS reading. Think I did Warstorm and Plague Garden. I didn't like either. I more recently read Soul Wars, which was better than those but still not quite my thing.

 

I'll definitely look at those you've mentioned. I quite like Flesh Eater Courts at the mo (even if the models are meh) so an Ushoran novel, if they get to him, will be an easy sell.

[SvenIronhand]

Blood of Asaheim

I'll be plain. I greatly enjoyed this one. Chris Wraight knows his stuff, and the Space Wolves are one of my favorite chapters. However, it was Ingvar who really made the book for me. He is in a state of alterity for much of this book, due to his Deathwatch service. The interaction with other cultures and learning other ways of war has set him apart, but he is still a Space Wolf. This conflict for Ingvar and his interpersonal dynamic with the Pack's leader Gunnlaugur are excellently done. 

The team dynamics are also great. Each member of Járnhamar has a unique personality and skillset, and it all comes together in the final battle with the Death Guard. Though the book ends on several sequel hooks, the story of the Shrine World in the novel feels conclusive. 

I'll definitely pick up Stormcaller at some point. 

[The Scorpion]

8 hours ago, SvenIronhand said:

Blood of Asaheim

I'll be plain. I greatly enjoyed this one. Chris Wraight knows his stuff, and the Space Wolves are one of my favorite chapters. However, it was Ingvar who really made the book for me. He is in a state of alterity for much of this book, due to his Deathwatch service. The interaction with other cultures and learning other ways of war has set him apart, but he is still a Space Wolf. This conflict for Ingvar and his interpersonal dynamic with the Pack's leader Gunnlaugur are excellently done. 

The team dynamics are also great. Each member of Járnhamar has a unique personality and skillset, and it all comes together in the final battle with the Death Guard. Though the book ends on several sequel hooks, the story of the Shrine World in the novel feels conclusive. 

I'll definitely pick up Stormcaller at some point. 

It's Chris Wraight, and the cover artwork depicts the Wolves with grey armor instead of the goofy ice-blue scheme. I always suspected it would be good, but know it's on my reading list. Thanks fam

[Lord_Caerolion]

On 8/1/2024 at 2:27 AM, Rob P said:

I've not finished it yet so will.update when I do, but I'm about 55-60% through Overlords of the Iron Dragon. Think this was one of the earliest books that stood separate from the opening saga to accompany Age of Sigmar's release.

 

I'm not digging it. It has characters and the plot is fine; it's not basic. I just don't connect with it. It doesn't have the underlying black comedy tone of the old world and the concept of the sky duardin is just mildly interesting. I'm still hunting for ab AoS novel that really sells the setting to me.

 

Edit: Having now finished it I did like the culmination of the plot threads but not enough to justify the journey to it.

Overlords felt to me like it was written by someone who had only the vaguest idea what the Kharadron were. From memory, several times it describes the characters seeing each others faces inside their helmets, like they’re wearing astronaut-esque gear. 
 

For a good Kharadron book, I’d recommend Arkanaut’s Oath, the first Drekki Flynt novel. Much better, and helps show a bit of life outside Sigmars empire. 

[byrd9999]

Lords of Silence, (and Endurance and Unification), by Chris Wraight

 

A re-read of some of my favourite BL stories. LoS still stands up as a great way of writing Chaos Marines, using an ADB-style band of brothers who don't really like each other.

The world building is great, getting to see the Plague Planet, and the "Little Lords" characters are inspired. The living, organic ships are suitably disgusting, but in anentirely believeable way. Often, Death Guard are protrayed as cartoon moustache twirling villains, but LoS gives them proper motivation and agency in 40k. The different "roles" within the DG are also given good characterisation: the tallyman, the surgeon, etc.

 

The only slight gripe I have is that the Chronology of LoS is a little confusing and the ending is abrupt. I remember this from my first readthrough, but I still struggled to work out where the DG were, and why. It's not a long novel, so a bit more backstory or fleshing out the settings to make them more different would have been great. Or maybe just timestamps in the chapter headings.

 

The 2 related short stories are also very high quality. Endurance, which looks at Dragan's backstory, has a fanastic, and entirely earned, twist. Unification covers Vorx's backstory, on Barbarus, and provides a good basis for why Vorx is so loyal to Mortarion in Lords of Silence.

 

9.5/10

[grailkeeper]

On 8/6/2024 at 10:57 PM, byrd9999 said:

 

The only slight gripe I have is that the Chronology of LoS is a little confusing and the ending is abrupt.

 

 

 

I really enjoyed Sea of Souls but also found the ending pretty abrupt.

[Krelious]

Ahriman Undying

 

8.8/10

 

I'm still kinda digesting the book as it was a bit of a difficult read due to it being out of chronological sequence and I was just auto pilot reading the first 1/3 of the book before going to bed and not realizing it. I haven't read the first 3 novels and just starting off with Eternal and read these back to back. I could see people getting upset with Undying if they liked the first trilogy. The book has some pretty good set ups and pay offs and I guess since its a recent release I cant comment on one problem I had with it because it would spoil a major plot point but its just I dont like how Ahriman is just better and smarter than everyone else and to me the ending conflict resolution comes to like well Ahriman is smarter than this guy so he wins, while suddenly the antagonist is uncharacteristically stupid or made to look stupid. Comes across like an aha gotcha moment with a poor explanation. That being said I'm  pleasantly surprised with French's writing here because I found his Siege novels unreadable and I thought Slaves to Darkness was kind of slow as well.  The short story at the end of the Limited Edition is pretty important unfortunately in terms of unpacking events and giving some more exposition. I think overall when you have a broad universe and a multitude of authors its interesting to see what different authors do with the Thousand Sons, Eldar, and  Necrons in particular as well as ADB's ferrymen in the Eye of Terror being referenced again is cool.  I very much enjoy what French is doing in this regard as he seems to be building part of the tapestry of 40k in his own way while also staying true to what other authors have created.  

 

Over all was a fun read and a real page turner, the action scenes are nice while not being gratuitious serve to the overall function of resolving some tension and struggles in the plot while moving characters to the next set pieces. Overall the narrative in this book is highly stimulating and thought provoking which is what I enjoyed most about it.

 

An odd coment and kind of fitting thematically with this book is that I dont really remember the events of Eternal all too well beyond the broad strokes, I enjoyed it albeit that after reading this book Eternal kinda feels like filler and the major events of that book could have been truncated into this one and its a bit odd that the first book in a three part series would be filler while the middle book has all the juicy stuff.  ie Undying feels more like it should be the first book in a trilogy.  

[SkimaskMohawk]

 

I haven't read the first 3 novels

 

One might call that a little important to understand parts of characters arcs, or themes.

 

 

I dont like how Ahriman is just better and smarter than everyone else

 

Kinda like this. 

 

Ahriman struggling to find his way and overcome physical obstacles was the point of book 1. Once he became recommitted to his path of trying to save his legion and went all in on his power, the points of the novels were to see how he was playing every one and how tzeentch was playing him in return.

 

Like, ahriman is not going to lose the battles or contests with other factions; he's just not going to ever attain his end goal and have to come up with even more elaborate time-bending plots. These plots will probably slowly sacrifice his living brothers, despite the point being to save his legion. It's what makes him fun for tzeentch.