BL Primarchs series: The Lion is coming

[Fajita Fan]

Unfortunately the Lion has been one of the more poorly written primarchs out there in the BL books.  I read the Perturabo book and I'll look for the other primarch books in libraries once I clear my backlog but the quality of these books varies hugely depending on the writer...

 

 

 

Also, any opinions on David Guymer?

^ ...hence this is the most important question.

 

The two DA books in the HH series that I read were horrible and the two 40k DA books I tried reading by Gav were nothing special either.  Yadda yadda sample size blah blah, the Dark Angels have never been well written in any book IMHO.  For a legion with all the trappings and insinuation of sorta-maybe-treason there were golden opportunities to write them some fiction with really powerful or dramatic storytelling that just hasn't materialized so far.  

 

Example: Pertrabo seems at first glance to be a terribly uninteresting character.  His primarch book was very dour and depressing but that's an appropriate reflection of the character. This doesn't spoil the book but it gives you a 30 second look at the Iron Warriors:

The IW are the siege specialists and Perturabo is treated as a merely a "digger" by his brothers. He is actually a brilliant engineer and architect, the peer of his rival Dorn and dreamed of getting to build his inspired creations. He refused to put himself out there in front of his brothers but secretly hoped to be recognized for what he could create, not just what he could destroy. His eventual fall was precipitated by his brothers' lack of respect for his ability coupled with his inability to openly show off his potential. The IW were relegated to winning sieges through attrition and suffered horrific casualty rates making them paranoid nihilists.  Horus exploited his envy and paranoia.

 

 

 

That's in part because the Lion has had very few character defining moments. 

 

Exactly, and he feels like a character who could have played a pivotal role if they'd written him moments where his indecision or scheming to play the result helped tip the balance either way.  For example I loved the end of "Legion" where Alpharius joins Horus to defeat Chaos in the long run. "Thousand Sons" showed the tragedy of Magnus, "Burning of Prospero" showed that Russ only pretended to be a berserk animal.  The first few books in the HH series build Horus and Fulgrim as characters who precipitate their own demises via their own flaws.  

 

I guess the moral of the story is that I really only trust Abnett and McNeill as writers of good characters and plot LOL 

[UtariOnzo]

Perfect timing to release right around my birthday!

[Cpt_Reaper]

The question I have is when is the book set. Is it before, during or after the Rangdan Xenocides. I'd like to see how losing 50k astartes affected the Lion

[Steel Company]

Fajita, a good DA novel in the 40k timeline, albeit likely not canon anymore, was Angels of Darkness. Especially the parts written with the Fallen character, it really left me wondering if the Lion simply waited to see who won the Seige of Terra and then declare for the victor.

[jaxom]

Angels of Darkness is still quite cannon and it started this whole mess. Gav Thorpe hit the nail on the head, "What are the Dark Angels without the Fallen?" It's like ​Fahrenheit 451: the book was written about the dangers of mass media to a literate society, but the easier conclusion for an audience to reach was about censorship. Why focus on something hard, like defining a chapter whose primary attributes were shipped off to support the Black Templars and Imperial Fists, when you can double-down on blindly accepting (to the contrary of the author) that Astellan was so right and the Lion - whose entire appeal (to a young me, at least) was as the monster who became a knight - who shanked Leman Russ over the fact they were late to Siege was totally waiting to see to who came out on top. Forget the original "The Lion and The Wolf" and forget "The Tale of Two-Heads Talking"; the Dark Angels are a caricature, a joke, and the cheap shots keep coming. 

 

 

There’s lots more to come with our Faith & Fury previews over the course of the week – including all the shiny, new Legion-specific rules for all you traitors out there*** 

*** By which we, of course, mean Traitor Legion players – not Dark Angels!

 

Courtesy of the fine folks over at Warhammer Community. 

 

There was one, brief shining moment when I thought, "Finally someone gets it," when I read Savage Weapons. But that turned to ash right quick with Master of the First and all the rest. Mr. Thorpe did an admirable job of trying to circle the square in the 41st millenium with The Unforgiven, but I gave up all hope for the Dark Angels in the 31st millennium and post-Indomitus Crusade long ago. I'll keep quietly writing my fan-fiction instead.

[jaxom]

@jaxom

Hey I wouldn't mind reading your analysis of DA books. I definitely agree with you in both 40k and 30k our chapter probably has the worst and weirdest books.

 

Is this an appropriate topic to cover here, or should would new thread in Age of Darkness or Black Library area make more sense? I've almost finished the first part.

[Brother_Darius]

If the topic is DA books, it should be able to be covered in the DA forum in a separate thread.

 

@jaxom

Hey I wouldn't mind reading your analysis of DA books. I definitely agree with you in both 40k and 30k our chapter probably has the worst and weirdest books.

 

 

Is this an appropriate topic to cover here, or should would new thread in Age of Darkness or Black Library area make more sense? I've almost finished the first part.

[Interrogator Stobz]

+++Correct, specific DA stuff is all good here. Generic topics on writers go elsewhere+++

[UtariOnzo]

I think some folks read Astellan with too much sympathy and forgot this is the guy who worked with the Death Guard to get what he wanted. Be interesting if he makes an appearance in this book, get to see a bit more of the Master scorned in the shadow of his Primarch.

[Stormxlr]

 

@jaxom

Hey I wouldn't mind reading your analysis of DA books. I definitely agree with you in both 40k and 30k our chapter probably has the worst and weirdest books.

 

Is this an appropriate topic to cover here, or should would new thread in Age of Darkness or Black Library area make more sense? I've almost finished the first part.

 

please drop me a msg when you post that thread, I dont want to miss it!

[jaxom]

It's up now. http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/360316-dark-angels-in-black-librarys-horus-heresy-series/?p=5440364