Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work

[Apothecary Vaddon]

Cawl's origins were explained in the novel, he was one of many vat grown Mechanicus children on Mars.

[Burni]

Just started reading and noticed the Overlord flyer is mentioned again.

[Moonreaper666]

Cawl's origins were explained in the novel, he was one of many vat grown Mechanicus children on Mars.

Do Female Techpriests still give birth to babies or are all the newborns grown out of vats?

[Osteoclast]

How does Guy Haley write so good so fast? Maybe he's the C'tan of literature?

 

 

Cawl's origins were explained in the novel, he was one of many vat grown Mechanicus children on Mars.

Do Female Techpriests still give birth to babies or are all the newborns grown out of vats?

 

There are plenty still born in the traditional way, but the higher ups "don't have the time for such things." Presumably, the less of the flesh they retain, the less likely they are to partake of the flesh.

[Apothecary Vaddon]

Well, the higher ups wanted faster babies, Cawl was grown to around 10 years old within a few hours. It's mentioned that people still make babies the regular way, it's just drastically more expedient to just churn them out for all the purposes the Mechanicus needs individuals for (servitors, acolytes, etc etc)

[Guest Triszin]

Just started reading and noticed the Overlord flyer is mentioned again.

it now has stubby wings!

[lythari]

Finished it over the weekend.  Not only is Guy Haley a writing machine, he has become a fantastic writer - his earlier works were 'merely' good and his writing seems to improve with each book he churns out.

 

This is definitely a book worth reading, especially how much significant new lore the book contains.  I wonder if this gives some hints of how the lore will move forwards for necrons in psychic awakening.  On the other-hand, Space Wolves have gotten nothing in-game out of Ashes of Prospero despite the significant developments there so i'm not holding my breath.

[Marshal Vespasian]

Got 1.45 left on the Audiobook. Very happy about what it does for the Cawl character.

 

Primaris make more sense now and the glimpses it gives the early emperor and pre crusade/unification terra are awesome. I am now oficially hyped for the valdor book.

[Kelborn]

Any hints/ references to the Valdor story? Or the era it covers?

[Marshal Vespasian]

Not so far. I say it because I assume valdor will give some glimpses of pre imperial times as well. Cawl doesnt give a lot of those. But I always love that stuff.

 

On a sidenote: The voice used for decimus Felix is incredibly annoying.

[Kelborn]

Who are the voice actors? John Banks did hin well in Dark Imperium. Though John Banks is always a plus. ;)

[Marshal Vespasian]

It is John banks. I just feel like the snake pliskin like voice He does for him is kind of played out by now.

The Rest of the voice acting is superb tho.

[Guest Triszin]

Random Tin foil hat thought

 

 

Alpha Primus is alpharius's twin omegdon

 

[Robbienw]

Yeah, no.

[Sete]

Finished the book, enjoyed it. My opinion on Cawl agent didn't change.

Although my opinion on Cawl did.

Edited September 24, 2019 by Sete

[Knockagh]

Due to this damned intriguing thread this book has just leapfrogged over gloomspite and hollow mountain. Bookmark at the ready and off we go....

[Sete]

Honestly I never was a fan of how primaris were introduced, nor cawl, this book laid most of my grievances to rest.

For the most part I always did enjoy Guy Haley, and again he did a good job.

[b1soul]

Guy's prose is still not on the level of top BL wordsmiths...sometimes it reads a bit flat or cliched IMO

 

His stuff is still rather entertaining

[ruralguardhipcat]

Just finished, great read and can recommend. Would quite enjoy an Alpha Primus model from GW.

[mc warhammer]

Guy's prose is still not on the level of top BL wordsmiths...sometimes it reads a bit flat or cliched IMO

 

His stuff is still rather entertaining

 

 

bro, i enjoy your contributions...but we know. you say this on every topic that contains the magic combo of the letters y, g and u. i literally saw this thread and counted down for your post like the 12 days of christmas.

 

it's perfectly ok for people to get excited over a book by haley or to discuss specifics over that book without the generic reminder each and every time of where you feel haley's prose fits in the BL heirarchy.

 

though it is pretty funny that you posted it twice in this thread.

 

me personally, i have zero interest in cawl as a character. maybe this will change my mind but i'll hold off on reading it awhile.

[DarkChaplain]

I'm only on chapter 6 (about 20% through) but I've got to admit, the book is turning my expectations for 40k Cawl on its head already. He is strangely likeable, without losing his status as big AdMech mofo. It's deliberately ambiguous whether he's just extremely arrogant or actually calculating to the point where massive risks don't mean much in the first place.

 

I'm honestly happy with this. I liked Cawl well enough in Wolfsbane, but here, with past sequences and present day, post-Dark Imperium II, he's growing on me pretty quickly. There's also some stuff about the Primaris experiments, which - even just in terms of rough timestamps - makes things so much more plausible.

 

One of those days I'll have to work my way through Laurie's Scythes of the Emperor omnibus and see what Haley is utilizing from the shorts and novel on top of his own Pharos, Wolfsbane and Dark Imperium. Although even if he uses exactly nothing from Scythes beyond some character names, it's already one hell of a book for tying together various parts of the fluff that have been brewing for the past 5 years.

[b1soul]

Alpha Primus could be Cawl's attempt at a GK Primaris

Edited September 25, 2019 by Kelborn
Spoiler tags added

[Marshal Valkenhayn]

I've written out two different responses to this book and deleted both because i didn't like what I had to say. As it stands, I'll just point out the following:

 

A: If the events of this book are actual hints as to what might happen in the Psychic Awakening, I like the outlines of what i'm seeing. We'll find out together.

 

B: I can't recall a single Primaris marine dying in this story, while old marines die in droves. This bothers me.

 

C: Cawl. I'd have liked the character better if the big reveal of his passed didn't happen. It would have made him a much more grim and tragic figure if he had lost that particular struggle. As it stands, that single moment made me roll my eyes in disgust and vastly lowered my opinion of the story overall.

 

D: The Scythes side plot is the best part of this entire story, with the most emotional depth and greatest payoff.

 

E: Making Primaris fear/hate their creator doesn't mean jack diddly squat if they begin to forgive him in the same damn book you bring it up. That isn't real depth. That's fake and plastic.

 

All in all? 6 out of 10. If he hadn't crapped his pants so close to the finish line I'd probably have given it an 8.5. Read if you want some interesting insights into the possible future plot of 40K.

[b1soul]

You mean if Cawl were really the Lord Geneticist Sedayne masquerading as Cawl?

[Marshal Valkenhayn]

Yes. I'd have prefered that to what we got.