Peter Fehervari’s Dark Coil

[DarkChaplain]

I'd agree on that, especially seeing what he did in Fire & Ice, and how he generally has the coil twisting and turning further with every piece.

[Fire Golem]

I never even considered that. It won’t happen I’m sure, but he would do a good Alpharius novel.

[Kilofix]

Sorry old thread but had some questions:

 

1. Who is Calavera in Fire and Ice?

 

 

2. What did the Tau get out of the whole charade in Fire and Ice?

 

 

3. Who is the Psyker on the mountain in Cast a Hungry Shadow?

 

Thanks

[Gongsun Zan]

So I've started on Requiem....what a mindscrew so far. I'm either going to absolutely love this book or absolutely hate it.   

[DarkChaplain]

Re: Requiem Infernal, some quick notes, mostly based on dramatis personae, epigraphs and map:

 

The map describes the Koronatus Ring. The same location is the setting for Cult of the Spiral Dawn - where the planet has been renamed from Vytarn to Redemption, and the Sororitas have already fallen. Chapter one's location/time statement references Asenath Hyades' introduction to take place on Vytarn in M40.419.

 

The Dramatis Personae references Athanazius, the Artisan. Athanazius was Chief Librarian of the Angels Resplendent, and most recently mentioned in Inferno! Vol.2's The Thirteenth Psalm. That story deals with the retrieval/destruction of one of Athanazius' works of artisanship. I'd highly suggest reading it regardless of Requiem Infernal, as the story was amazing, but links are pretty much expected at this point.

 

A funny thing in the DP are the three listed first name only Sisters Celestian. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but their names put in mind Carmilla of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's works. One of the first vampires in literature, Carmilla went by various anagrams of her name. Marcilla is such an anagram, and Camille is close enough and was featured as sort of an easter egg in some pieces over the years. And Genevieve? Well, Kim Newman's gotten her all right and popular, with his Anno Dracula and The Vampire Genevieve for WHFB. It may be entirely down to conjecture, it may have nothing to do with their roles in the plot, but I find it to be interesting thematic tissue, whether intended or not.

 

Breachers have featured in The Greater Evil, though I'll have to double check if any of the characters match up. Still, he's tackled breachers and associated trauma before. Worth reading beforehand, I'd say.

 

The Order of the Eternal Thorn is the Sororitas Order that briefly features in Cult of the Spiral Dawn's prologue, and legacy.

 

Captain Varzival Czervantes of the Angels Resplendent later rises to Chapter Master of the Angels Penitent.

 

The end of Cult for the Spiral Dawn has huge implications for what we may find out in Requiem Infernal, seeing how it appears set prior to the earlier novel. If I remember correctly, Peter would have liked to expand on that ending scene a lot more, but with the format and focus as a Genestealer book, it wasn't really in the cards. We may be seeing the culmination of his tease here.

 

The first epigraphs (All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream) is obviously Poe. The second is a quote by Icharos Malvoisin, who first appeared in The Crown of Thorns, as a Chaplain of the Angels Penitent, and later in Peter's short for the Deathwatch: Overkill game, The Walker in Fire. While it focuses on a Salamander of the Deathwatch, Malvoisin is in it too (as is Anzahl-M636 of the Brotherhood of A Thousand, who I pray Fehervari will get the green light to write a novel about). Malvoisin has a bit of an internal conflict going on in The Walker in Fire, and vanishes before the end.

 

Sarastus, where the prologue is set, was first shown in Fehervari's first published story for Black Library, way back when in Heroes of the Space Marines, titled Nightfall. It is even set around Carceri Hive! Sarastus is also the setting for The Walker in Fire.

 

Now, those should be enough pointers for now. Requiem Infernal looks from the outset like it'll build on a lot of seeds Fehervari has strewn over his works, and I love it. The "Afterwyrd", at a glance, is also inviting the reader to try and solve the Coil's mysteries, so let's give it a shot, eh?

[caladancid]

So I've started on Requiem....what a mindscrew so far. I'm either going to absolutely love this book or absolutely hate it.   

 

This statement probably perfectly sums up everything Fehervari writes haha.  I just seem to end up loving it all so far.

 

I am waiting to start reading mine until a trip later this week.

[Knockagh]

Looking forward to this, after reading cult of spiral dawn I admit I’m very impressed with PF and his unique style.

I haven’t read the others and with my ever growing to read pile it’s unlikely I will certainly before I get to requiem. Hopefully this won’t be a disadvantage. The covers brilliant too.

[DarkChaplain]

Luckily (in this instance), everything else besides Fire Caste is a short story, with only one novella. So if you've picked them up, you can breeze through a few of them quickly enough.

[Sandlemad]

Hot damn, this is so good already. It’s weird to read a 40k novel where at least some of the preliminary response is not ‘here’s what we learn about the background, this snippet of culture or history’, as in a heresy book or similar, because there’s almost nothing like that here. Yet it’s a fiercely atmospheric and a very 40k book. Lush, richly written, very early 20th century weird/horror. Fehervari’s taking risks with this one, twisty structural risks.

 

@DarkChaplain: I probably shouldn’t have looked at those but untangling the dark coil is fascinating so good catch!

[Kilofix]

Does Requiem happen before or after Cult?

[DukeLeto69]

Does Requiem happen before or after Cult?

RI is approx 1000yrs before CotSD

[ShadowSwordmaster]

I feel like GW needs to put together all these short stories and novels into an omnibus. There is so much stuff to think about and trying to connect it to others.

[DukeLeto69]

I feel like GW needs to put together all these short stories and novels into an omnibus. There is so much stuff to think about and trying to connect it to others.

I would certainly buy that!

[Kilofix]

Digression but pertaining to the above. I would so buy a compilation of all the short HH Death Guard or Night Lords related novella

[nagashnee]

Would buy it too.

[Knockagh]

 

I feel like GW needs to put together all these short stories and novels into an omnibus. There is so much stuff to think about and trying to connect it to others.

I would certainly buy that!

Me too. This series has snuck up on me

[ShadowSwordmaster]

 

Does Requiem happen before or after Cult?

RI is approx 1000yrs before CotSD

 

Interesting.

[mr.crusader]

 

Does Requiem happen before or after Cult?

RI is approx 1000yrs before CotSD

 

And what about CotSD? Is it current timeline?

[Gongsun Zan]

Requiem Infernal:

 

Whelp, what a book, and one that is deserving of several re-reads. I think the conclusion of some of the plot lines were a bit predictable (especially when compared to how imaginative the rest of the book is), but otherwise I think this cements PF as one of the top tier authors in 40k. In a way, I think PF is the literary equivalent of blanchitsu - striking, evocative and fuel for further speculation, but I can see how it's not to everyone's taste.

 

9/10 for me, but I'm not sure how accessible this book is to those who haven't read the other stories in the Dark Coil - it's definitely his most connected work by far. Not really a flaw, but I do agree that BL ought to cobble together an anthology to make his works a bit more accessible.

 

Some other unsorted thoughts (full spoilers abound):

 

Early in the book, Jonah comments that nothing is more unholy than holiness stained - I wonder if Father Deliverance getting his eyes poked out in Trinity's temple marks the start of Ensor Cutler's damnation.

 

I really hope we get a full novel on the Angels Resplendent / Penitent.

Edited April 16, 2019 by Gongsun Zan

[Kilofix]

Just started reading. Not sure where all the different plots are heading yet but I feel like it has a Warhammer Horror vibe even though it isn’t categorized as such.

[Shinros]

Just started reading. Not sure where all the different plots are heading yet but I feel like it has a Warhammer Horror vibe even though it isn’t categorized as such.

Just got the book myself, heard good things about it. According to a reviewer on 40k lore reddit it makes warhammer horror look like warhammer adventures, so I'm quite excited to tuck into the book. 

[aa.logan]

The release of Requiem Infernal pushed itself to the top of my reading queue, at a time when I was itching for a break from BL fiction after a Heresy binge. Despite being a touch burned out, I read it anyway and, thankfully, I really enjoyed it.

 

I’ve read and enjoyed the other Dark Coil stories, but have an occasionally awful memory for plot details. As such, I didn’t pick up any of the continuities from the other tales until I read this thread, but don’t think it diminished my enjoyment any- it works really well as a stand-alone novel. It credits the reader with intelligence, and for the ground-Level exploration of the Imperium’s underbelly, is perhaps a peer of Eisenhorn. A nice slow build and gradual reveal, and again an exploration of the toll that the grinding nature of endless war in 40k must take out of the protagonists.

 

While i do enjoy stories of pitched battles, noble speeches and pantomime villainy, it’s also great to read a 40k story that doesn’t really include any of that. These books have been intrinsically 40k, with a perfect grasp of the setting, but Requiem Infernal is also so well realised it could take place in a universe of it’s very own- it’s the sort of book, for all it’s density, that could serve as a pretty good (though perhaps misleading) gateway into the setting for a beginner. I guess that we’re it not part of an existing vague series, it would have made the Horror imprint.

 

Also a big fan of the literary allusions/interpolations through the series- as well as the Lovecraft, there’s the Conrad in Fire Caste and in addition to the relatively high-brow references that Dark Chaplain has shared, the presence of

Mina, Jonah(than), the ship the Blood of Demeter and the fly-obsessed Trooper Rynfeld

are all tips of the hat to

Dracula

 

The afterword is really good too. Worth a re-read in the future.

[Master Ciaphas]

Really, really looking forward to picking this up after Easter! I have loved Fehervari's Dark Coil stories immensely!

[DukeLeto69]

 

 

Does Requiem happen before or after Cult?

 

RI is approx 1000yrs before CotSD

And what about CotSD? Is it current timeline?

Well it was written before GW did the whole Cicatrix Maleficarum (sp?) thing so it was current(ish) 40k at the time.

[Shinros]

So...l am very close to the end and all I have to say is DEAR GOD BUY THIS NOVEL. This book OOOZES 40k, it captures the horror so wonderfully well. I now consider Peter to be one of the top tier authors of BL after this book. I mean his previous works were great but this book? Bloody hell. 

 

Edit:Just finished, the afterword is pretty awesome.

Edited April 17, 2019 by Shinros