Night Lords Trilogy by ADB

[Indefragable]

Just finished all 3 audiobooks of the Night Lords Trilogy by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.  Thanks, Audible, for getting this up.

 

 

Yea, yea, they're like older than the Imperium by today's terms, but worth (re-discussing) especially since so many folks have some time on their hands.

 

I'm going to go into quick thoughts and details on each of the books below, but since I listened to them all back-to-back I am going to comment on the trilogy as a whole below:

 

Overall thoughts:

-This is definitely where ADB's legend and rabid fandom started. It makes perfect sense now. For me, my first taste of ADB was Betrayer in the HH series, but I can see how that was him tackling the HH after figuring out his techniques and style through the NL series.

 

-ADB's trademarks are (naturally) all over this series:

--almost making the evil scum of the setting more sympathetic than the "good guys"

--realistic, grounded motivations for "minions" that support 

--strong female character(s) that feel natural and compelling without feeling forced

 

-deduction in points for the 9,000 epilogues to Void Stalker. Almost as many endings-but-wait-there's-more as LOTR: Return of the King. 

 

For me, the shining achievement of the series was the way in which he produced a Greek tragedy: 

 

A. Talos' motivation is bull - :cuss . He is led along by a delusion. He keeps going based on this romanticized (in a macabre Night Lord way) notion of what the VIII Legion was back in its heyday and how to reclaim that glory. Except--as some characters actually point out themselves--the VIII Legion never actually was anything close to that, nor did they ever really have a heyday, nor did they even really have any sort of quantifiable glory. Even at their "heyday" they were an at-best necessary evil kept at arms-length by the rest of the Imperium. They remark about how even their own Primarch was falling apart and unreliable and told them he didn't give a :cuss about what happened to them....yet they glorify him anyways, especially Talos. They claim to recognize his failings and his psychosis as some sort of edgelord cover for their own actions. 

 

...yet, what alternative does he have? It's not like he can knock on the door at Terra and say "yea, my bad. Can I join you now?" It's not like he can join the daemonic forces powering some of the other Traitors, for not only is that not him, but he can see their lies for the trap they are. Or he can roll over and die....yet that is not in the makeup of a genetically engineered super soldier. So all he can do is what he has been doing: hanging on by a thread, day-to-day plundering what he can to stave off starvation (physical and mental). 

 

Another thread on here talks about how 40k novels are dismissed as "not being literature" and thus aren't taken seriously in essays and papers for school et al. To be honest, I agree with that overall: most 40k stories are essentially sports stories. Bob the player did the play to win the big game. To quote my favorite college professor and a mentor: "While they are entertaining, they do not say anything. They do not enlighten us about the human condition." Where Rudy or Rocky or such became literature is when they use the medium of a sports story to enlighten us about our own humanity. A sports story about never giving up and going the distance in boxing gives the grocery clerk the motivation to keep going and never stop stocking the shelves because his town is relying on him to feed them. Etc.... Most 40k stories do not enlighten us in such way.

 

Which brings me to the NL trilogy. It might be a stretch, but I think ADB's tale of 1st Claw and company does enlighten us. It could very well be literature.

 

Talos is Uncle Rico.  

 

Striving to make the future a past that didn't exist. Looking for meaning, any meaning, in the daily struggle to keep going. For some, that might seem silly, but for many others it is a tragedy all too familiar. Who among us doesn't yearn for the better days? For coach to put us in so we can win States. For one more chance to ask Suzy to prom? To be back in uniform with the squad, sharing crappy rations out on patrol, complaining about the crappy rations and being on patrol? Which of us would not study harder back in school or put in an extra hour or two to get that promotion? He is the same Sisyphus we all are in some way, except he has the perverted wisdom to tell himself he is not. 

 

There's also the almost Seinfeld like quality of watching a bunch of selfish jerks getting away with being selfish jerks. Even by the standards of daily horror that is the 40k setting, the Night Lords are particularly cruel. If someone picked up one of these books and landed on a random page, they might burn the book for what it depicts. There's some :cuss -ed up stuff in there. It at once makes us loathe the characters yet also feel better about ourselves since at least we're not that in our own daily struggles, no matter what gets us down in life. Yet we can't help but root for them. They may be loathesome creatures, but they are who we are stuck on this journey with, and like Septimus, Octavia, and more tragically the Voidborn, they are who we must rely on to get through this journey. They are, in some ways, our family: we do not get to choose our time and place of birth and in a cold cruel universe, sometimes survival depends on those around us and what we need to do to survive. Like the mortal crew of the ship, what choice do they have? 

 

To bring things back down, no, I'm not saying their Shakespeare or something, but rather there's enough of a literary element to the story when taken as a trilogy, that it makes you stop and think. That's the sign of good writing, no matter the medium or genre. It also makes you think how sick and :cuss -ed up the setting is and especially the torturing, tea bagging, scum that is the NL. They didn't get what they deserve because despite all the tragedy of being "born" into the life of a NL, they still could have found ways to be "better" beings as evidenced by the arc of Septimus and Octavia: that choice was there all along. 

 

 

The thought I am left with after reading (listening) to these books is: if they were offered forgiveness, would they take it? 

 

 

More detailed thoughts on each of the books below:

 

Soul Hunter

-Masterpiece in terms of starting off the series. The opening could be analyzed for how well it establishes the setting, characters, and their relationships. And like he "non-sell" technique of selling, much of it is done through simplicity. Perhaps not quite Hemingway levels of iceberg theory, but there's definitely something of this here. I paused the audiobook and ruminated for a moment about how I was a few hours in and I felt like I had known these characters for ages and was on book 2 or 3 already....yet it was still basically the first few chapters. 

 

-Abaddon felt a bit cartoony, but it's probably a victim of being so early in the first book of the series

 

-I am a huge Blood Angels fanboy. I raised an eyebrow at their portrayal in this...mainly because the NL themselves talk about how good they are (drool) ...then proceed to kill off like 2/3 of the entire BA chapter while suffering apparently 0 casualties to 1st Claw itself. Huh? I'm not super upset since Protagonists are always Da Best and this whole series was the Night Lords time to shine (and they were fighting on home turf...). Somewhat alleviated by later books that hint at the wider casualties suffered during the BA encounter. But again, compared to encounters with other SM chapters down the line, the BA come off a bit odd. Again, to be clear especially with self-awareness about my own biases, it's not so much the fact that the BA got their asses kicked, but how they got them kicked. Felt off and ungrounded. But that's me, so take it for what you will. 

 

-I do like the dichotomy of how the "good guy" Blood Angels massacre the civilians on the ship for being heretics and traitors: the tragedy that is war and how the bystanders and civilians are always hurt the most no matter the cause. 

 

 

Blood Reaver

-really liked Huron's portrayal in this. He's kind of a mini-Abaddon, but in a good way. Came off cold, authoritative, daring, and yet charismatic in that super villain sort of way

 

-going off of the above, I thought the idea of the sort of secret pirate port run by Huron was neat and felt realistic (for 40k) 

 

-great breakdown of what it takes to assault a Space Marine Fortress Monastery. It had weight and meaning and it really did feel like a monumental task. The idea that these things, even with only a few squads of actual Astartes, would be so upgunned and layered in their defenses and the chapter serfs would be both numerous and (proportionately to the rest of the Imperium) highly trained felt cool. All this in turn reflected well on Huron as both a commander and a bold leader. It also reflected well on the NL for having a special skillset that would make the entire task actually achievable. 

 

-some surprise character arcs (the possessed captain dude who I already forget his name)

 

-I think this was my favorite of the series since it felt like another episode in a series.....in a good way. 

 

 

Void Stalker

-I think the "Void Stalker" thing could have been played up a bit more throughout the novel, but it was kind of neat-o how it transpired.

 

-the Terminator armor moment felt like a video game. "Here, you've made it this far, use the Terminator armor to get to the big boss and then take it back off!" I thought TDA was the kind of thing that if you had access to, you'd want to keep for the rest of your life (unless you were dedicated to a specialty like recon or jump packs or such)

 

-is it weird that the totally-not-Fabulous-Bill apothecary is one of the most likable characters in the whole series? 

 

 

NOTE: I will go back and add more thoughts to each of the above, but just want to get this out first. 

[Scribe]

Absolutely the series that launched ADB into the stratosphere, this board...well lets just say that GW owes ADB a lot more than whatever they paid him for the books. He sold COUNTLESS models, and spawned armies, and yes I would say that this series is literature, not simply a story.

 

I cried over parts of this series, Uzas deserved better.

 

EDIT: Damn, now I need to find my set and read it. I was SO CLOSE to just sticking to models I have and not buying more....

Edited March 30, 2020 by Scribe

[Fedor]

Nice review of the series, though :cuss the academic orthodoxy on what qualifies as a worthy book and thus "literature" or not. It's a contrived outlook that only encourages the stifling of creativity, especially for genres like sci-fi. Though tbf at least it's not as rage inducing as its musical counterpart, the view of pre-20th century classical music as "high art" and the "true canon", something that was always nothing more than classist trash.

[Bobss]

Soul Hunter was my second Black Library novel after Horus Rising waaay back in 2010 when I was a mere 16-year old. I fondly remember following each book as they dropped, and I'm currently on my fourth outing with these novels - currently ploughing through the mighty Blood Reaver

 

I agree with pretty much everything you've stated regarding the portrayals of Abaddon and Huron respectively. The Night Lords trilogy is a legendary Black Library series, but having read Spear of the Emperor several times recently the difference in ADB's prose and character work is noticeable. ADB has always (largely) been praised by his online following, but I consider his Horus Heresy and Black Legion work in particular to be a step above his Night Lords. First Claw and their serfs might be an iconic bunch - and every time you delve into the series it's like visiting old friends, but ADB has dug into the psyches of Khayon, Abaddon, Amadeus and Anuradha in a better and more masterful way in my opinion

 

My favourite titbit of this series is the presentation of the Eldar in Void Stalker. ADB shows them as utterly alien, moving and acting with a distinct wrongness and communicating in songs and poems. Their technology appears unfathomable and everything about them shrieks abhorrent. It's my preferred take on the Eldar compared to the 'let's go shopping at the Craftworld Supermarket in our Wraithbone Range Rover to pick up some Farseer cookies' type fanfare I've seen recently (please forgive the embellishment! )

Edited March 30, 2020 by Bobss

[Phoebus]

I’m a huge fan of this series.

 

One of my favorite parts of the story Dembski-Bowden wove here was the relationship that Eurydice Mervallion developed with Septimus and Talos Valcorian. It’s a wonderful reminder of how necessity and our unconscious drive to adapt can bring human beings to strange places. Without the ingrained fanaticism that various factions of the Imperium bestow on their ranks, the Navigator who will become Octavia recognizes that her captors are inimical enemies of the Imperium of Man but nonetheless wants to live more so than to die for the sake of principle. I don’t necessarily think Aaron was consciously emulating Abnett in doing so, but I do believe that the Night Lords trilogy succeeds in large part because — as with the Eisenhorn and Ravenor novels — it channels humans we can identify with, and puts them in situations that force us to think beyond the standard heroic trope reactions we expect from fiction.

[Scribe]

... the academic orthodoxy on what qualifies as a worthy book and thus "literature" or not. It's a contrived outlook that only encourages the stifling of creativity, especially for genres like sci-fi...

 

I mean I use the term to identify with what Indefragable is saying...its a book of quality. It's more than just a story of Marines like the Battles series or what have you.

 

Call it whatever you like, but there is more to this series, than being just something to tell a story about a specific event blurb out of a Codex/Army book. This is a work that inspires, and sticks with people.

 

(I found my set, exactly where I thought it was even though I have not touched it in years and its been boxed up...)

[b1soul]

I think these three works may possibly be ADB's best or most seminal...and I am not taking a shot at his other works. Even my least favourite of his works are well-written, especially by BL standards.

[malika666]

We all want to know what's going to happen with...

Decimus

Edited March 31, 2020 by malika666

[SpAcEGhOsT095]

Many Night Lords are gone. But some will never be forgotten.

Of course, this new plan to awaken Malcharion had to be put down with tact.

With nuance.

With subtlety.

Vraal's claws slid from the sheaths on his gauntlets. They sparked and crackled, wreathed in killing lightning.

'Brothers!' he called joyously into the vox. 'Everyone in this room is going to die!'

[Lord_Caerolion]

Many Night Lords are gone. But some will never be forgotten.

Of course, this new plan to awaken Malcharion had to be put down with tact.

With nuance.

With subtlety.

Vraal's claws slid from the sheaths on his gauntlets. They sparked and crackled, wreathed in killing lightning.

'Brothers!' he called joyously into the vox. 'Everyone in this room is going to die!'

 

Hey, compared to some Night Lords methods, that is actually pretty subtle. I mean, he could have opened the door, chucked some phosphex in, then shut and locked it, but he's a scalpel, not a blunt instrument, so he only tried to kill the people who needed to be killed. :p

[Roomsky]

I think Aaron's earlier works have aged far better than his peers, and it always shows through the continued popularity of this trilogy. It's not the Soul Drinkers' "good for its time," its still just good.

 

It's obviously not perfect, and sometimes has a bit of the "everything but the kitchen sink" feel common in early works, but even that often goes in its favour. The amount of loyalists and traitors we get to see on display, universally well-portrayed IMO, is quite impressive, for one thing.

 

If you ever have a rainy day, I definitely recommend giving them a proper read as well. I wasn't a fan of the narration for certain characters, and I think it went some way toward your issues with Abby being over the top. I definitely agree with Huron getting the better showing, though. I still know almost nothing about the Red Corsairs but his appearance in Blood Reaver is one of my favourite bit-parts in BL.

[b1soul]

DB points out his slow pace of writing, but you do get a sense of how much care he puts into each sentence. One of the most thoughtful BL authours. This is quite evident in the NL series.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

What really struck me with the Aaron Dembski-Bowden works I read (On Hate, Helsreach, the Night Lords novels and short stories, The Emperor's Gift, The Talon of Horus, The First Heretic), was how RELATABLE the characters were. No matter their race (human, cyborg, Astartes, Navigator, Daemon), no matter their beliefs (in the God-Emperor, in the Machine God, in Chaos, or even atheist), they all had a human element I could identify with. There were ZERO Mary Sues or Villain Sues in the stories I read; by the very acts we see his characters take (or refuse to take) in his books, all of them EARNED their positions as protagonists, antagonists, or bystanders to be crushed underfoot. We know the writer put in THOUGHT and EFFORT in his works, because we can read the results in his books; that's far more than I can say for Matt Ward and a lot of other idiots. Edited October 12, 2020 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Bobss]

I think Aaron's earlier works have aged far better than his peers, and it always shows through the continued popularity of this trilogy. It's not the Soul Drinkers' "good for its time," its still just good.

 

I 100% agree with this, and I didn't mean to diminish the Night Lords trilogy in my original post. I was kinda preempting people putting it on a pedestal over the Black Legion series (which people commonly do in my experience), because I would defend Black Legion to the death against anything that isn't Fabius 

 

I think the best example of good Vs. good for its time is the Word Bearers trilogy. In the closing years of the Noughties, the Word Bearers trilogy was the bomb, whereas nowadays only Dark Creed kind of holds its own. Having read Soul Hunter, released in 2010, for the fourth time last month, it still lays waste to the majority of stuff being released today. That's how good it is. A legendary series for sure

 

DB points out his slow pace of writing, but you do get a sense of how much care he puts into each sentence. One of the most thoughtful BL authours. This is quite evident in the NL series.

 

 

What really struck me with the Aaron Dembski-Bowden works I read (On Hate, Helsreach, the Night Lords novels and short stories, The Emperor's Gift, The Talon of Horus, The First Hetetic), was how RELATABLE the characters were. No matter their race (human, cyborg, Astartes, Navigator, Daemon), no matter their beliefs (in the God-Emperor, in the Machine God, in Chaos, or even atheist), they all had a human element I could identify with. There were ZERO Mary Sues or Villain Sues in the stories I read; by the very acts we see his characters take (or refuse to take) in his books, all of them EARNED their positions as protagonists, antagonists, or bystanders to be crushed underfoot. We know the writer put in THOUGHT and EFFORT in his works, because we can read the results in his books; that's far more than I can say for Matt Ward and a lot of other idiots.

 

I agree with all of this so much. ADB might write slower compared to the majority of his fellow authors, but you can tell how he laboured over every_single_sentence and it really, really shows in his writings. His prose might not be as effortlessly brilliant as Chris Wraight's or Josh Reynolds', or his dialogue as naturally flowing as Dan Abnett's, but you will never, ever find a trashy cliche or a weak description in an ADB book. Ever. None of his stories have that factory-released feeling that other, faster authors do. All of his works are a labour of love from The Master of Mankind to his Ragnar novella. Even Cadian Blood blew every Guard book that wasn't Gaunt's Ghosts out of the water in 2009 tbqh

Edited April 1, 2020 by Bobss

[m_r_parker]

I could write about this trilogy for days, I have three different copies of the trilogy on my bookshelf (original paperbacks, omnibus, collectors hardback collection) and I still cite them as some of my favourite Black Library writing ever. 

 

This was the first book that, for me, addressed the fact that traitor war bands would have supply issues. When I read Soul Hunter and heard the situation that the war band was in (squads at half strength, ammunition stores depleted, weapon systems not working properly, no ability to raise new legionnaires, etc) I thought "finally, someone gets it!". Maybe some of the Legions have bases to replenish from, but some (like the Night Lords, and other renegade chapters) have no such luxury and would be finding it difficult without having to become raiders. It also brings into focus that it's not just vengeance against the Imperium that drives these bands, sometimes it's just survival.

 

Relatable characters, and sympathetic 'bad guys' are A-D-B's bread and butter, and there are so many in this series it's truly astounding. Rather than puerile motivations of "because I'm a bad guy" or "for Chaos', we get some actual motivations and character development that I hadn't seen for anyone outside of the Imperium. Whether it's Talos' "rose-tinted" nostalgia for the Legion that was, and glossing over some of the less desirable traits, through to Xarl and his martial prowess and honour. Uzas, who at his characters heart is a skin-flaying butcher of a traitor Legion who has fallen to Khorne and is having blood-fuelled anger rampages throughout the ship, is still sympathetic as we see the clarity within him at certain points, and his end still hits hard when re-reading it. And for me, nothing quite personifies how the Legion fights than during Blood Reaver - right down to when they're using Red Corsair terminators as cover!

 

The flashback during Soul Hunter, of Talos hunting down the assassin that killed the Night Haunter, that was pure brutality. Seeing the lengths that Talos goes to to put that Callidus down, by stripping her senses of sight and hearing, and eventually carving her up on his chain blade. To the point where even when she is dead, he still carries on to release his anger by chopping her up into smaller and smaller pieces. Brutal, painful, but poetic in its own way. 

 

The whole section of Soul Hunter where Talos is brought before the Warmaster, and the events after, perfectly summed up how I imagined both Abaddon acted and how the Traitor Legions interacted with each other. Minor details, like the Talon being constantly in motion through Abaddon flexing his fingers, or how despite the respect that Talos is showing the Warmaster, his helm display is constantly tracking him as a threat. And the final part where Talos rescues Octavia in a corrupted version of a knight rescuing a damsel in distress, that was sublime.

 

There are just so many elements that thread their way through the novels that it really stands the test of time, and is still something I go back to again and again. Reuven's fate. The redemption of Vandred. Malcharion's end. Uzas' betrayl. Decimus. The voidborn. The assault from the Blood Angels. There's so much crammed into these books without it ever feeling busy, or trying too hard.

[Bobss]

Every time I read these books I get a bad case of whiplash going from Blood Reaver, where First Claw are presented as the anti-heroes plotting to shortchange the nasty Pirate Lord Huron, and finally 'win the day' at the end of it after several hard-fought clashes (yay!); to Void Stalker, where they're pulling little girls from their beds, skinning Imperial civilians simply for existing and generally acting like villains (boo!). That isn't to say the gang wasn't skinning people beforehand, but the narrative presentation was different - all those Chapter serfs killed at Vilamus could've been made out of smoke for all it mattered, but every death on Tsagualsa is a gruesome, visceral thing. I honestly root for the Genesis Chapter every time they show up, even if it results in Best Boy's death

 

In fact, while I consider Void Stalker to be the best-written of the three books in regards to characterisation, themes and the VIII Legion's history ('the XIII Legion are here'  ) I found it, and still find it to this day, to be a pretty meandering and directionless ending to the trilogy. It works well because that is what Talos has become: a king with a throne, a ship and an army, but with no war to fight

 

I've never been interested in a Decimus series for the sake of it like others have, and would rather see more Ezekarion Adventures, but I can't deny there's a lot of potential for one...

[mc warhammer]

i agree that decimus is one of those things best left as an ellipses

Edited April 8, 2020 by mc warhammer

[Indefragable]

Every time I read these books I get a bad case of whiplash going from Blood Reaver, where First Claw are presented as the anti-heroes plotting to shortchange the nasty Pirate Lord Huron, and finally 'win the day' at the end of it after several hard-fought clashes (yay!); to Void Stalker, where they're pulling little girls from their beds, skinning Imperial civilians simply for existing and generally acting like villains (boo!). That isn't to say the gang wasn't skinning people beforehand, but the narrative presentation was different - all those Chapter serfs killed at Vilamus could've been made out of smoke for all it mattered, but every death on Tsagualsa is a gruesome, visceral thing. I honestly root for the Genesis Chapter every time they show up, even if it results in Best Boy's death

 

In fact, while I consider Void Stalker to be the best-written of the three books in regards to characterisation, themes and the VIII Legion's history ('the XIII Legion are here'  ) I found it, and still find it to this day, to be a pretty meandering and directionless ending to the trilogy. It works well because that is what Talos has become: a king with a throne, a ship and an army, but with no war to fight

 

I've never been interested in a Decimus series for the sake of it like others have, and would rather see more Ezekarion Adventures, but I can't deny there's a lot of potential for one...

Having crammed them all back to back, the narrative “jolt” you refer to is actually coming full circle and reminding the audience of the monsters Talos and friends really are. We start the series with them as boogiemen, but then are sucked into a remora-like relationship with them right alongside Octavia so quickly that we don’t fully appreciate who we’ve buckled up next to (again, the magic of ADB here is how quickly you feel at home with the characters, ship, and crew). 

 

Book 2 is a bit of a romp and has such a wonderful setup, again, you don’t entirely realize who you are dealing  NL are so busy infiltrating the fortress or plotting to backstab the Red Corsairs or actually backstabbing them that we don’t have time for their cruelty.

 

So when book 3 rolls around, it feels jolting b/c there’s finally no pressing matters to overcome their default behavior. 

 

i agree that decimus is one of those things best left as an ellipses

I have 0 interest in Decimus. Strange, perhaps, considering I just came off listening to the trilogy. I think it’s because it felt tacked on, especially since it’s Epilogue #4 or such. For me, if it was that interesting then make it part of the story itself.

[Petitioner's City]

Although not a fan of studio writing in general - but understanding it serves another purpose (fuel for the imaginative setting of our toys) - I'd just like references to Decimus in 40k sourcebooks maybe? Something petite like that. Edited April 8, 2020 by Petitioner's City

[MegaVolt87]

Although not a fan of studio writing in general - but understanding it serves another purpose (fuel for the imaginative setting of our toys) - I'd just like references to Decimus in 40k sourcebooks maybe? Something petite like that.

Just wait, if NL get a named character for 40k in the future, it will be this guy because the setup is there and they can bundle another limited edition omnibus to go with the model. There is even setup for another campaign book like Vigilus or a PA style supplement against the eldar.

 

I like Abaddon's portrayal as the arrogant douche canoe who can't see past his own reflection. If anythjng Huron was way more together and reasonable than I expected. His inital lore is that he is irrational and deranged like in that space marine battles book with the silver skulls Hollow Worlds (?). Actually, even McNeil wrote Huron as reasonable when Honsou goes to visit him.

[Indefragable]

From a writing perspective the contrasts work out well.

 

-Horus: the epitome of charisma with only Sanguinius and the Emperors as rivals in that regard

 

-Abaddon: the apple fell far from the tree and Abby is far more of a classic warboss; getting more with an offer and a Bolter than an offer alone

 

-Huron: gets to fill some of the vacuum left by Horus’ absence in terms of a charismatic “bad guy”

[LJF]

Void Stalker and Emperors Gift was definitely where ADB's writing reached its peak, he never quite surpassed that I think. Anyway I just want to see the Malcharion vs Raguel showdown in the SoT series in whatever book ADB is writing. 

[b1soul]

I liked Voistalker a lot more than Emperor's Gift despite being a GK fan and not a NL fan. Former had more emotional impact IMO. Prefer his Traitor stuff to his Loyalist stuff any day

[Kelborn]

Void Stalker and Emperors Gift was definitely where ADB's writing reached its peak, he never quite surpassed that I think. Anyway I just want to see the Malcharion vs Raguel showdown in the SoT series in whatever book ADB is writing.

Did you read his Black Legion novels or Spear of the Emperor?

If so, alright. If not, catch up on these asap. ;)

[Bobss]

Void Stalker and Emperors Gift was definitely where ADB's writing reached its peak, he never quite surpassed that I think. Anyway I just want to see the Malcharion vs Raguel showdown in the SoT series in whatever book ADB is writing. 

 

I know this is very (very...) tangential, but I believe The Master of Mankind, Black Legion and Spear of the Emperor are ADB's best-written books. They also happen to be his most recent works. So that's: one of the best Horus Heresy entries since Horus Rising, the quintessential 'Chaos Space Marines' book and what I consider to be the best 'welcome to Warhammer 40,000' book currently in print

 

The Emperor's Spears Chapter might not be as interesting as the Night Lords Legion right now, but having recently reread both entries back-to-back, the former has tighter prose, stronger characterisation and better plotting. The Chaos ship chapters in Spear of the Emperor alone lay waste to any Septimus or Octavia scene I can think of

Edited April 10, 2020 by Bobss