Requiem Infernal.

[Red_Shift]

So I just finished this. It's only the second story I've read by Peter Fehervari (the other was a short in Inferno) and I found it intriguing. It's a constant guessing game as to what is going on and I suspect I won't get everything out of it without another read. The breaching soldiers were a good read for me and its the second book I've read recently that put the sororitas in a good light with a combination of insanity and some quite astute leaders albeit still willing to act in a way that most would consider maniacal.

 

There are more glimpses at the Angels Resplendent and I wonder if it is building to a full novel for them.

[FirstSonofHorus]

So I just finished this. It's only the second story I've read by Peter Fehervari (the other was a short in Inferno) and I found it intriguing. It's a constant guessing game as to what is going on and I suspect I won't get everything out of it without another read. The breaching soldiers were a good read for me and its the second book I've read recently that put the sororitas in a good light with a combination of insanity and some quite astute leaders albeit still willing to act in a way that most would consider maniacal.

 

There are more glimpses at the Angels Resplendent and I wonder if it is building to a full novel for them.

 

It is a brilliant book, isn't it? Almost finished, so I won't make any stronger statements now.

 

I would recommend Fire Caste and Cult of the Spiral Dawn - there are links with this novel and they are utterly fantastic. Cult is the best 40k book. Fehervari really captures the cosmic horror better than any other. I love how separate it is from the tabletop descriptions of things in other books - there aren't plaguebearers, the daemons are bespoke and disturbing.

[Kilofix]

I was trying to put my finger on it and then it hit me - it reminds me of 12 Monkeys

Edited April 23, 2019 by Kilofix

[Urauloth]

Sorry for the necromancy, but I have a question about this and I didn't want to start up another thread for it. I've heard this is linked with Fehervari's other work, and I want to know how much it matters whether you've read that before you pick up Requiem. If I haven't, can I start here? Does it work as a stand-alone novel, or will I be missing some important context?

[DukeLeto69]

@urauloth reading RI first will work just fine. But do read the others as the linkages really enrich things.

 

RI is an awesome book. Easily one of the best BL books ever. If you like gothic horror it ticks all the boxes.

[grailkeeper]

I am about 2/3rds of the way through. I'm finding it very difficult.

 

This is one of those books where I know "I don't like it" is different to "this is not good". I'm getting very strong fever dream vibe from the whole thing. It is a deliberate attempt by the author to disconcert and its working. I'm finding it hard to enjoy the book as a result. A challenging read.

[DukeLeto69]

@grailkeeper I suspect Fehervari’s style will not be to everyone’s taste. His work is challenging but always deserves a second read as there are so many layers and depths to it. He is also keen to NOT give explanations and instead leave some things up to the reader’s interpretation. Some people love that but some hate it.

[grailkeeper]

I quite liked his other books, fire caste in particular.

[DukeLeto69]

I quite liked his other books, fire caste in particular.

I can honestly say I love all of his work but ironically Firecaste is the one I like least. IMO it is hard to follow because of having so many POV characters. It took a second read to “get it”

[Lord Marshal]

 

I quite liked his other books, fire caste in particular.

I can honestly say I love all of his work but ironically Firecaste is the one I like least. IMO it is hard to follow because of having so many POV characters. It took a second read to “get it”

For me it's Cult of the Spiral Dawn. It's often been repeated, but it does feel like a hundred or so pages too short. The prose and plot overall reads a lot 'simpler' than Fire Caste or Requiem Infernal, as if there was an editor regularly smacking his fingers with a cane, pointing at the complaints about Fire Caste being "too confusing"(???). That could have something to do with it probably being released as more of a tie-in product with GSC's release and a much harsher deadline perhaps?

 

Fire Caste is my favourite overall. Requiem Infernal comes up second, but I admit that towards the end of it I was getting a little bit lost. I actually feel like RI is worse for having too many characters who're ultimately inconsequential. In Fire Caste I could shrug it off because having a lot of those characters makes sense to- well, characterise a Guard regiment as having a lot of souls but Requiem Infernal not so much.

 

Lemarche's heroic-sacrifice-that-fails was suitably dark, but overall, his arc didn't feel like it really contributed anything to the plot that necessitated an extended POV, especially when we start getting undead POVs. I'd contrast that with Fire Caste that had quite a few inconsequential deaths but all of them felt like they served to drive something about the plot forward, or reinforce how horrific Phaedra and their circumstances are. Actually, everything involving the Poxwalkers were, I felt, by far the weakest parts of the book, especially the 'final boss' in resurrected Bhatori. I realise some will disagree and say that a character's arc ultimately serving no purpose and fizzling out to no grand resolution is very fitting in this work and grimdark in general, but I just didn't get the same vibes when the Arkhan started dropping.

 

I also have mixed feelings about the more... frankly anime stunts that 'Mercy' performs. I suspect the weird cognitive dissonance we get when she starts backflipping and killing things with her feet was deliberate and a not-so-subtle hint she's turning into/hiding a daemonette inside of her, but when I first read those passages it did take me out of the grittiness for quite a while until it became more explicit.

 

But I still thought it was great.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Lord Marshal

[Shinros]

 

 

I quite liked his other books, fire caste in particular.

I can honestly say I love all of his work but ironically Firecaste is the one I like least. IMO it is hard to follow because of having so many POV characters. It took a second read to “get it”

For me it's Cult of the Spiral Dawn. It's often been repeated, but it does feel like a hundred or so pages too short. The prose and plot overall reads a lot 'simpler' than Fire Caste or Requiem Infernal, as if there was an editor regularly smacking his fingers with a cane, pointing at the complaints about Fire Caste being "too confusing"(???). That could have something to do with it probably being released as more of a tie-in product with GSC's release and a much harsher deadline perhaps?

 

Fire Caste is my favourite overall. Requiem Infernal comes up second, but I admit that towards the end of it I was getting a little bit lost. I actually feel like RI is worse for having too many characters who're ultimately inconsequential. In Fire Caste I could shrug it off because having a lot of those characters makes sense to- well, characterise a Guard regiment as having a lot of souls but Requiem Infernal not so much.

 

Lemarche's heroic-sacrifice-that-fails was suitably dark, but overall, his arc didn't feel like it really contributed anything to the plot that necessitated an extended POV, especially when we start getting undead POVs. I'd contrast that with Fire Caste that had quite a few inconsequential deaths but all of them felt like they served to drive something about the plot forward, or reinforce how horrific Phaedra and their circumstances are. Actually, everything involving the Poxwalkers were, I felt, by far the weakest parts of the book, especially the 'final boss' in resurrected Bhatori. I realise some will disagree and say that a character's arc ultimately serving no purpose and fizzling out to no grand resolution is very fitting in this work and grimdark in general, but I just didn't get the same vibes when the Arkhan started dropping.

 

I also have mixed feelings about the more... frankly anime stunts that 'Mercy' performs. I suspect the weird cognitive dissonance we get when she starts backflipping and killing things with her feet was deliberate and a not-so-subtle hint she's turning into/hiding a daemonette inside of her, but when I first read those passages it did take me out of the grittiness for quite a while until it became more explicit.

 

But I still thought it was great.

 

Honestly the moments that make me go Wha? In Infernal is kinda the point of it considering it's well you know. 

 

Chaos, chaos is pretty whacky and very few novels show that. What I like about Peter is he shows the full terror of chaos and the hive mind in the form of GSC. Soon as I read the stunts mercy was pulling my slaaneshdar was ringing pretty quickly since the other gods made some sort of showing.

 

Overall I think Peter is one of the better writers for BL, he's underrated IMO. I do agree with you about having too many characters, but that's only a minor gripe for me. Still, I think Requiem has far more horror than the actual warhammer "horror" brand. I read house of night and chain and wasn't all that impressed, it was well, okay.  

Edited December 12, 2019 by Shinros

[Jake Richmond]

I was pretty disappointed by the end of this book. Its a neat read, but it leaves so many story threads unanswered or unsatisfied. Is this meant to lead t a sequel of some kind? There's no indication that the story will be continued. Instead of wrapping anything up it ends with a pretty cheesy afterward where the author telling us that stories about Chaos can't really have endings. Honestly, it just feels like they ran out of time and turned in what they had. The book really needs another 100+ pages to actually resolve any of its multiple plots.

[System Sound]

6 hours ago, Jake Richmond said:

I was pretty disappointed by the end of this book. Its a neat read, but it leaves so many story threads unanswered or unsatisfied. Is this meant to lead t a sequel of some kind? There's no indication that the story will be continued. Instead of wrapping anything up it ends with a pretty cheesy afterward where the author telling us that stories about Chaos can't really have endings. Honestly, it just feels like they ran out of time and turned in what they had. The book really needs another 100+ pages to actually resolve any of its multiple plots.

While Fehervari's work is all intertwined and coiled together, I don't really remember there being that many unresolved plot points.

 

Spoiler for Cults of the Spiral Dawn

Spoiler

Requiem Infernal is sort of a prequel to Cults. Both happen on the same planet, just after a very very long time. And of course both are tied to Fire Caste and Reverie, multiple other short stories and novellas.

 

I get that it's not for everyone, but Requiem is one of my favorite BL books. Even stand alone I think it holds ups as one of the best.

[The Scorpion]

On 12/8/2019 at 2:30 PM, Lord Marshal said:

For me it's Cult of the Spiral Dawn. It's often been repeated, but it does feel like a hundred or so pages too short. The prose and plot overall reads a lot 'simpler' than Fire Caste or Requiem Infernal, as if there was an editor regularly smacking his fingers with a cane, pointing at the complaints about Fire Caste being "too confusing"(???). That could have something to do with it probably being released as more of a tie-in product with GSC's release and a much harsher deadline perhaps?

 

Fire Caste is my favourite overall. Requiem Infernal comes up second, but I admit that towards the end of it I was getting a little bit lost. I actually feel like RI is worse for having too many characters who're ultimately inconsequential. In Fire Caste I could shrug it off because having a lot of those characters makes sense to- well, characterise a Guard regiment as having a lot of souls but Requiem Infernal not so much.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Lemarche's heroic-sacrifice-that-fails was suitably dark, but overall, his arc didn't feel like it really contributed anything to the plot that necessitated an extended POV, especially when we start getting undead POVs. I'd contrast that with Fire Caste that had quite a few inconsequential deaths but all of them felt like they served to drive something about the plot forward, or reinforce how horrific Phaedra and their circumstances are. Actually, everything involving the Poxwalkers were, I felt, by far the weakest parts of the book, especially the 'final boss' in resurrected Bhatori. I realise some will disagree and say that a character's arc ultimately serving no purpose and fizzling out to no grand resolution is very fitting in this work and grimdark in general, but I just didn't get the same vibes when the Arkhan started dropping.

 

I also have mixed feelings about the more... frankly anime stunts that 'Mercy' performs. I suspect the weird cognitive dissonance we get when she starts backflipping and killing things with her feet was deliberate and a not-so-subtle hint she's turning into/hiding a daemonette inside of her, but when I first read those passages it did take me out of the grittiness for quite a while until it became more explicit.

 

But I still thought it was great.

 

The oneiric feel is my favorite thing about Fire Caste, and the reason I did not enjoy Spiral Dawn as much. That being said, authors need to be kept under control. Just look at Abnett and his recent reveals in SoT.
In Fehervari's case, he was given carte blance to write Aria Arcana, and that story read like an acid trip. When he came back bound to The Successors anthology, his writing had become peak once again. Sins of my Brothers is one of the best things in the entire dark Coil.