The Last Chancers: Armageddon Saint by Gav Thorpe

[Moonreaper666]

"Lieutenant Kage of the 13th Penal Legion is dead, his charred remains lost to the depths of a fiery chasm. But as his battalion – the Last Chancers – mourns, a new hero rises from the ashes. The Burned Man. Kage’s miraculous survival attracts a cult of desperate followers, who believe him sent to the ork-infested world of Armageddon by the God-Emperor Himself. However, the rampaging greenskins are not the only threat to his new life. The ruthless Colonel Schaeffer, his former commander, has seen through his ploy and will stop at nothing to bring his errant charge to justice… Yet unbeknownst to both men, darker powers yearn to see Armageddon bathed and bound in blood. Kage and Schaeffer must put the ghosts of their past aside and unite, or see the Emperor’s Light forevermore extinguished upon this tortured world"

 

This is the first LC novel I have read and the third Warhammer book (Blood Gorgons, Solar War then this one)

 

-Takes place immediately after the Great Rift. You know the drill, end up in grox :cuss, get up only to fall down in a deeper grox :cusshole

 

-I really enjoy the First-Person-Perspective this book has, heightening the suspense, fear and adrenaline-pumping action. Get to meet many new characters throughout the story.

 

Truly enjoyed it as it has a balance between the action and quiet scenes. Variety is the flavor of life and this story introduces new things at an even pace

[DarkChaplain]

This is the first LC novel I have read and the third Warhammer book (Blood Gorgons, Solar War then this one)

 

 

Wait, what?

[Marshal Rohr]

 

 

This is the first LC novel I have read and the third Warhammer book (Blood Gorgons, Solar War then this one)

 

Wait, what?

My exactly same question

[Moonreaper666]

 

 

 

This is the first LC novel I have read and the third Warhammer book (Blood Gorgons, Solar War then this one)

 

Wait, what?

My exactly same question

Just being honest. Books ain't free even on the phone. Get most of my information on the Lore from Lexicanum and TvTropes

[SkimaskMohawk]

Everything suddenly makes sense.

[Brother Lunkhead]

 

 

 

This is the first LC novel I have read and the third Warhammer book (Blood Gorgons, Solar War then this one)

Wait, what?

My exactly same question

Just being honest. Books ain't free even on the phone. Get most of my information on the Lore from Lexicanum and TvTropes

 

 

I salute your thrift and ingenuity Brother

 

Good concise review btw

Edited February 9, 2020 by Brother Lunkhead

[DarkChaplain]

Everything suddenly makes sense.

 

It does, doesn't it? This puts everything in a completely new light. Especially the TVTropes part. If all you read are often grossly outdated and badly/barely sourced abridged wiki articles, of course you'd be missing out on all the subtleties of the setting and its characters.

[Plasmablasts]

Enjoy catching up on your reading! If funds are tight, keep an eye out for second-hand copies. I’d particularly recommend Dan Abnett’s classic Gaunt’s Ghosts, Eisenhorn and Ravenor series. Pretty much anything with Aaron Dembski-Bowden or Chris Wraight’s names on will be worth your while as well, but I’m sure the Fraters here will have many other recommendations.

[Apothecary Vaddon]

Probably Thorpe's best work outside of Angels of Darkness.

[Knockagh]

Probably Thorpe's best work outside of Angels of Darkness.

Lorgar, wild rider, path of the warrior/seer/outcast, the first wall! Gav is a master, I don’t get the bad rep he gets on here. So much of his writing has been foundational 40k universe stuff. 40k would be a poorer place without Gav Thorpes writing.

[Apothecary Vaddon]

I'm not saying his other stuff is shoddy, rather that AoD and AS stand above his other works

[Lord_Caerolion]

 

Probably Thorpe's best work outside of Angels of Darkness.

Lorgar, wild rider, path of the warrior/seer/outcast, the first wall! Gav is a master, I don’t get the bad rep he gets on here. So much of his writing has been foundational 40k universe stuff. 40k would be a poorer place without Gav Thorpes writing.

 

 

He loses a bit to me for his Path/Phoenix Lord stuff just because he for some reason can't read any other Dark Eldar stuff to realise it's "Commorrite", not "Commorraghan".

[cheywood]

 

 

 

Probably Thorpe's best work outside of Angels of Darkness.

Lorgar, wild rider, path of the warrior/seer/outcast, the first wall! Gav is a master, I don’t get the bad rep he gets on here. So much of his writing has been foundational 40k universe stuff. 40k would be a poorer place without Gav Thorpes writing.

He loses a bit to me for his Path/Phoenix Lord stuff just because he for some reason can't read any other Dark Eldar stuff to realise it's "Commorrite", not "Commorraghan".

That’s pretty classic Thorpe. He’s never one to sweat small inconsistencies. I don’t think detracts much from his ability to write a darn good novel, but it does feel like his stuff could use a little polish at times.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Eh, he's very hit-and-miss with me. When he's good, he's awesome. When he's not, it's an absolute trudge to get through.

[cheywood]

Eh, he's very hit-and-miss with me. When he's good, he's awesome. When he's not, it's an absolute trudge to get through.

Oh I agree completely. But for me his bad novels are due to dry prose that reads like a summary of events and a lack of memorable characters more than the little inconsistencies. His recent dark angels trilogy exemplifies this, as well as having some weirdly childish characterization of the Marines. On the other hand Knockagh is right that he gets a bad rap at times despite being more than capable of writing good fiction.

[aa.logan]

 

 

 

Probably Thorpe's best work outside of Angels of Darkness.

Lorgar, wild rider, path of the warrior/seer/outcast, the first wall! Gav is a master, I don’t get the bad rep he gets on here. So much of his writing has been foundational 40k universe stuff. 40k would be a poorer place without Gav Thorpes writing.

He loses a bit to me for his Path/Phoenix Lord stuff just because he for some reason can't read any other Dark Eldar stuff to realise it's "Commorrite", not "Commorraghan".

That’s pretty classic Thorpe. He’s never one to sweat small inconsistencies. I don’t think detracts much from his ability to write a darn good novel, but it does feel like his stuff could use a little polish at times.

I mean, Gav co-wrote the original Dark Eldar Codex; any chance that he’s actually right on there being a distinction between the two or even them being interchangeable?

 

Even if he is wrong, the books are presumably edited, so the mistake is on the editors’ hands as much as Gav’s. Or, again, maybe the term is used appropriately...

[cheywood]

 

 

 

 

Probably Thorpe's best work outside of Angels of Darkness.

Lorgar, wild rider, path of the warrior/seer/outcast, the first wall! Gav is a master, I don’t get the bad rep he gets on here. So much of his writing has been foundational 40k universe stuff. 40k would be a poorer place without Gav Thorpes writing.

He loses a bit to me for his Path/Phoenix Lord stuff just because he for some reason can't read any other Dark Eldar stuff to realise it's "Commorrite", not "Commorraghan".

That’s pretty classic Thorpe. He’s never one to sweat small inconsistencies. I don’t think detracts much from his ability to write a darn good novel, but it does feel like his stuff could use a little polish at times.

I mean, Gav co-wrote the original Dark Eldar Codex; any chance that he’s actually right on there being a distinction between the two or even them being interchangeable?

 

Even if he is wrong, the books are presumably edited, so the mistake is on the editors’ hands as much as Gav’s. Or, again, maybe the term is used appropriately...

You make two good points. Looking at his Eldar novels (Phoenix Lords and both the old and in progress trilogies) Thorpe has only used ‘commorraghan’. Based off of his writing I’m not sure he knows of the existence of ‘commorrite’. Or maybe he has a pathological hatred of that term. Looking at a few other novels with Dark Eldar characters I found: Valedor uses ‘commorrite’; Lukas the Trickster only uses ‘Commorrite’; Black Legion twice uses the term ‘commorran’ which might be my favorite, and the Path of the Dark Eldar overwhelmingly uses ‘Commorrite’ but has three instances of ‘commorraghan’ throughout all three books combined. Additionally ‘Commorrite’ is used by Warhammer community seemingly exclusively while the cover for Lucius the faultless blade on warhammer-art uses ‘commorraghan’ in the description (the novel only uses ‘Commorrite’. At this point it seems totally plausible the terms can be used interchangeably, but it is rather strange that other novels mostly use ‘Commorrite’ while Thorpe seemingly never has. Anyone have a codex to hand to see what it says? Edited February 11, 2020 by cheywood

[Knockagh]

Maybe he just likes one more than the other? Maybe he just doesn’t think about it that much....... maybe it’s not that overly important??

[cheywood]

Maybe he just likes one more than the other? Maybe he just doesn’t think about it that much....... maybe it’s not that overly important??

I don’t think anyone’s saying it’s especially important (though one could apply that to a lot of stuff discussed on here), but AA made a very logical suggestion and I wanted to see if it was borne out in the literature and we were besmirching Mr. Thorpe’s good name unjustly, which it seems we indeed might be.

Edited February 11, 2020 by cheywood

[caladancid]

 

Maybe he just likes one more than the other? Maybe he just doesn’t think about it that much....... maybe it’s not that overly important??

I don’t think anyone’s saying it’s especially important (though one could apply that to a lot of stuff discussed on here), but AA made a very logical suggestion and I wanted to see if it was borne out in the literature and we were besmirching Mr. Thorpe’s good name unjustly, which it seems we indeed might be.

You think you are besmirching his name, and then you read his HH contributions and the anger will come right back.

[cheywood]

 

 

Maybe he just likes one more than the other? Maybe he just doesn’t think about it that much....... maybe it’s not that overly important??

I don’t think anyone’s saying it’s especially important (though one could apply that to a lot of stuff discussed on here), but AA made a very logical suggestion and I wanted to see if it was borne out in the literature and we were besmirching Mr. Thorpe’s good name unjustly, which it seems we indeed might be.

You think you are besmirching his name, and then you read his HH contributions and the anger will come right back.

I try to balance the negative and the positive when discussing specific authors, but I can’t really argue with you regarding his Raven Guard books. I haven’t read Angels of Caliban or The First Wall yet.

[Lord_Caerolion]

 

 

 

 

 

Probably Thorpe's best work outside of Angels of Darkness.

Lorgar, wild rider, path of the warrior/seer/outcast, the first wall! Gav is a master, I don’t get the bad rep he gets on here. So much of his writing has been foundational 40k universe stuff. 40k would be a poorer place without Gav Thorpes writing.

He loses a bit to me for his Path/Phoenix Lord stuff just because he for some reason can't read any other Dark Eldar stuff to realise it's "Commorrite", not "Commorraghan".

That’s pretty classic Thorpe. He’s never one to sweat small inconsistencies. I don’t think detracts much from his ability to write a darn good novel, but it does feel like his stuff could use a little polish at times.

I mean, Gav co-wrote the original Dark Eldar Codex; any chance that he’s actually right on there being a distinction between the two or even them being interchangeable?

 

Even if he is wrong, the books are presumably edited, so the mistake is on the editors’ hands as much as Gav’s. Or, again, maybe the term is used appropriately...

You make two good points. Looking at his Eldar novels (Phoenix Lords and both the old and in progress trilogies) Thorpe has only used ‘commorraghan’. Based off of his writing I’m not sure he knows of the existence of ‘commorrite’. Or maybe he has a pathological hatred of that term. Looking at a few other novels with Dark Eldar characters I found: Valedor uses ‘commorrite’; Lukas the Trickster only uses ‘Commorrite’; Black Legion twice uses the term ‘commorran’ which might be my favorite, and the Path of the Dark Eldar overwhelmingly uses ‘Commorrite’ but has three instances of ‘commorraghan’ throughout all three books combined. Additionally ‘Commorrite’ is used by Warhammer community seemingly exclusively while the cover for Lucius the faultless blade on warhammer-art uses ‘commorraghan’ in the description (the novel only uses ‘Commorrite’. At this point it seems totally plausible the terms can be used interchangeably, but it is rather strange that other novels mostly use ‘Commorrite’ while Thorpe seemingly never has. Anyone have a codex to hand to see what it says?

 

 

From what I can tell, it could come down to how you pronounce Commorragh. If you pronounce it ending with an "arg" sound, then it makes sense that it'd be Commorraghan, but if, like me, the gh is silent, then Commorrite makes far more sense.

 

Still, I've dragged this far enough off-topic. I apologize.

[Dagoth Ur]

 

 

 

 

This is the first LC novel I have read and the third Warhammer book (Blood Gorgons, Solar War then this one)

 

Wait, what?

My exactly same question

Just being honest. Books ain't free even on the phone. Get most of my information on the Lore from Lexicanum and TvTropes

Nani?! Edited February 12, 2020 by The Observer

[Red_Shift]

I bought it Saturday and finIshed it today. A very easy read and I enjoyed it. I feel like it was as much about sorting out the mess that was the third last chancers book and setting things up for more in the series and it did that admirably. At least guard have one character still alive in the current timeline!

[DarkChaplain]

At least guard have one character still alive in the current timeline!

 

But... Cain? And Yarrick!