Exploration in BL Novels?

[bluntblade]

I'm looking for books with a major emphasis on your Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, dungeon crawl kind of exploration. Are there any BL novels that have this aspect, which people would recommend?

[Beren]

Any of the Blackstone Fortress related novels/shorts?

[Valkia the Bloody]

Not exactly dungeon crawling, but the Forge of Mars series is all about exploration. It reads quite differently from many other Black Library books.

Plus it is very well written.

[bluntblade]

Not exactly dungeon crawling, but the Forge of Mars series is all about exploration. It reads quite differently from many other Black Library books.

Plus it is very well written.

Cool, I've not heard of that one.

 

Any of the Blackstone Fortress related novels/shorts?

Where's best to start with those?

[Master Ciaphas]

Hail!

 

I just finished the first of the Blackstone books - "Blackstone Fortress" - by Darius Hinks. It was an OK read. I enjoyed it enough to buy the anthology "Vaults of Obsidian" and have read the first two stories in that one. So far enjoyable, even if the first of them was predictable. 

 

Regards,

Master Ciaphas

[Gederas]

Well, there's the Ciaphas Cain novel Caves of Ice (iirc that's the name, might be Caverns? It's in the first omnibus :lol:) that spends a good portion of the book exploring... Well, exactly what it says on the tin :lol:

 

That is until they run into the Necron Tomb World that's on the planet that is.....

[TheMalius]

 

Any of the Blackstone Fortress related novels/shorts?

Where's best to start with those?

 

 

Try Isha's Lament by Thomas Parrott (https://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/novels/ishas-lament-ebook-2019.html), or The Warp's Curse (https://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/quick-reads/the-warps-curse-2019.html)

[Brother Lunkhead]

Guy Haley's Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work is another.

[Kelborn]

Of AoS is an option: the Silver Shard.

 

If not, ignore this post.

[bluntblade]

Of AoS is an option: the Silver Shard.

 

If not, ignore this post.

It can be, but you'll have to sell me on it :P

[Xisor]

The Silver Shard's literally got a motley crew (including an archeologist/treasure-hunter) off on a romp to find a super-magical-historical artefact.

 

(It's also rather good!)

 

tl;dr - Atlas Infernal (novel), and Deus Ex Mechanicus (short), some others too.

 

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Mechanicum has strong elements of this. So too does the trilogy starting Priests of Mars - they're fun, and strange, and wacky and weird, and delve into lots of odd little lore nooks and crannies in a way that you'd hope an Indiana Johannes and the Black Crusade would do.

 

The World Engine by Ben Counter does this to a certain extent. It's the tale of Space Marines trying to destroy a Necron Tomb World of special significance, but as with most Necron-centric stories, they take on a strong archeotech vibe. More than that, Ben manages to spin out an entertaining story - even if it's not the most (hoho) world shattering. He does interesting characters, and great set pieces, and the spooky weirdness of the World Engine is well done in a way makes for an enjoyable read.

 

I think Atlas Infernal falls a little into this category too - though perhaps more along the lines of a 1970s 10-episode Doctor Who serial trying its hand at something Indiana Jones-y, but with costume & set design from John Blanche. It's a mad story, but it totally tickled my fancy. 

 

Happens to start out with the biggest bit of archaeology I think I've ever heard of in 40k.

 

There's a lot of short stories that push this direction too, some with more vivid success than others.

 

My primary two favourites are:

1- Masks, by Matt Farrer - in which some Imperial citizens uncover a trove of Eldar Masks.

2- Deus Ex Mechanicus by Andy Chambers.

 

If you read anything from this thread, check out Deus Ex Mechanicus. It's a relatively short short, and probably shows it's age. But if it doesn't tickle your fancy (and the timing with Indomitus in the next week is perfect) - I'm not sure what will!

 

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Other fair mentions I think can go to:

1- Nightbringer: folk dig up something they shouldn't. McNeill, so you can guess the depth/nuance to expect - but at the same time, he's pretty skilled at this pulpy stuff, so if you want a sort of knock-off romp Indiana Jones rather than a serious archaeological reinvention of the tropes, then McNeill's ace at this sort of stuff. (Hence why I still think very highly of Mechnicum and Priests of Mars etc, especially in isolation from the hangups I have with its place in the wider Horus Heresy, for the former.)

2- Exhumed by Steve Parker. Decent one of Steve's Deathwatch stories - not as to my tastes as Headhunted was, but this fits the bill a bit more: a literal excavation. (Which reminds me: Gunheads is pretty decent too. It's not quite a ruin-based romp, but it's a cracking novel, and does have a very eerie underground sequences with some tremendously rumoured-to-be-relevant ruins. [it's set on Golgotha ;) ].)