Mortis

[byrd9999]

I finished Mortis today.... and what a slog that was.

 

I have enjoyed the Siege so far. For me, each author has upped their game, producing some of their best BL work yet, culminating in Saturnine, which managed to surpass my already high expectations for a Dan Abnett novel.

 

But this... this is the first book that felt like a backwards step, if you'll excuse the pun. It seems like John French wrote out the bulletpoints of what was going to be an exciting SoT novel, but then forgot to make them interesting and just padded it out with 550 pages of mostly filler.

 

This could be condensed into a punchier 150 novella, and would be vastly improved (addition by subtraction).

 

The Haynes manual of Titan combat bored me to tears. It started slow but I grew resentful as the book wore on that nothing really clicked in terms of narrative drive, and that I was just footslogging my way through page after page of "things happening". If the idea was to get me to empathise with Shiban or Katsuhiro, then job done.

 

Normally, I don't like reducing books to a series of bulletpoints of events, because the point of a good book should be about the journey, not just the destination, but this book was less than the sum of its parts. I realise this is an ironic counterpoint to John French's Afterword about journeys, but apart from the final 50 pages, the rest of this book could be skimmed without really missing any nuance or detail.

 

 

Overall, Mortis wasn't bad, per se, just incredibly dull, and a real let down at this point in the Siege.

 

4/10

[Fire Golem]

I know it’s different strokes and all that, I just don’t get how Mortis was the first stumbling block in the Siege for some people. It wasn’t the best siege novel by a long shot but I found it vastly better than books 2 or 3.

[Valkyrion]

I can't speak for everyone, but I really dislike reading about titans, knights, or battle scenes in general, and Mortis by its very nature had a lot of those.

I knew that going in though, so it's not a stick to beat the book with.

However, the shiban story arc was pretty poor and the only interesting thing I took from it was Perturabo bailing out. 

 

I'm not unhappy I read it, but I doubt I'll read it again.

[Bobss]

I know it’s different strokes and all that, I just don’t get how Mortis was the first stumbling block in the Siege for some people. It wasn’t the best siege novel by a long shot but I found it vastly better than books 2 or 3.

 

I think the writing quality in Mortis (and of John French in general) is much higher than that of The Lost and the Damned and The First Wall, but I can sort of understand where people are coming from when they make this statement, because compared to the other five books of the Siege thus far, Mortis feels unnaturally compartmentalised. Personally, I thought the book felt like three or four novellas slapped together. During future rereads, going from Saturnine to Mortis and then to Warhawk will feel very off to me, even if Warhawk does a stellar job of incorporating the breach of the Mercury Wall into its first few chapters. For those who have read both titles, Saturnine and Warhawk are written very similarly in that they cover several major fronts of the Siege simultaneously and on every level from Primarch to Army grunt. By comparison, Mortis sort of zooms into several storylines more than anything. So with that criticism in mind, The Lost and the Damned, which I thought was a pretty milquetoast book anyway, and The First Wall, which wasn't quite as bad but had its own structural weirdness what with the timeline stuff, perform better at keeping us updated on the goings-on of the Siege from The Solar War to Saturnine. Mortis is like half-time in a footy match where there isn't that much action (besides the obvious stuff like Titan carnage... lol) but uses this lull in the action to become a bit more introspective. Problem is... this lull is artificial. During and between Saturnine and Warhawk there is no lull, just an endlessly grinding siege in which offensives and counter-offensives are launched; ground is gained, lost and retaken. Shiban's spiritual trek through the pulverised Outer Palace feels very gratuitous and sticks out like a sore thumb, even if it was nice to read. Also, if the final book of the Siege is split into two volumes, Mortis performing this kind of recapping, recuperating, half-time roll will be even more apparent as it's quite literally the middle book. I might sound like I'm huffing my own farts here, but I genuinely believe Guy Haley was originally intended to write book #5 of the Siege, due to his ability to connect well between other authors and their ideas (even if his writings are pretty bland imo) and his writing speed IRL would also serve as an anchor for the later and much more complicated books. Just my own tinfoil here, but it's premium-grade tinfoil all the less

[Fedor]

Lost and the Damned, First Wall and Mortis all just feel like authors carrying water for other authors, rather than being allowed/deciding to forge their own more expansive books.

 

I don't mind that too much given how many cooks there are. It seems inevitable some would play it safe story-wise and focus on being a foundation or bridge to more pivotal books. Haley was so prolific in his handyman role at the time, i'd have been surprised if his book was anything else.

 

French has also changed his writing style from the approach of books like Ahriman and Praetorian, something that seems to have missed the mark for many people, though i didn't mind it as i like to see authors reach for different things. He's gone from a very dry, plot focused writer that could be a Sanderson pseudonym, into clunkily developing a more singular, abstract style. It's one of the BL books i've seen the most actual prose critique of on the net...most for other books usually comes down to being pissed at an author misrepresenting their idea of power levels, saying the guy can't write at all, or just not liking the ideas. On the other hand, here a lot of readers seem to have bounced off the writing style itself.

Edited October 21, 2021 by Fedor

[cheywood]

That’s interesting to hear. Reading Mortis right now and the writing style is 90% of why I’m enjoying it.

[mc warhammer]

it's taken a month to reach the 50% mark and i'm stunned to read that katsuhiro is still supposed to turn up at some point.

 

mortis is a mix for me so far, i find my attention drifting between different chapters (at odds with many, i'm actually most interested in oll's at this point, followed by shiban's) which is not better or worse than any other 40k book i've read that isn't by a favourite author of mine.

 

i think french has a good command of prose and i wouldn't mind that he seems be leaning into theme over character or plot with this book (the horror of the war on populace is great and long overdue), but it is a heavy tonal whiplash from saturnine.

Edited October 22, 2021 by mc warhammer

[mc warhammer]

some arresting imagery that has stayed with me long after, like the blood angels going out to face the darkness and the ruin of one of them passing the torch to katsuhiro. beautiful and grim.

 

in fact, katsuhiro was a highlight for me, though the other fact that i forgot he was in the book till about 3/4 in... is not great.

 

too much meandering, not enough cohesion for this stage of the siege novels. i had to look for things to like in the book and there are plenty, but now that i'm reading warhawk at x10 the pace of mortis...the difference in enthusiasm is obvious. and to be clear, i'm not even sure i like warhawk yet. it's decent so far.

 

mortis wasn't exactly a page turner, but the horror of the traitor titans and the emperor's children's garden was top shelf.

 

10/10 for mood

5/10 plot

5/10 characterisation

[DarkChaplain]

The garden was cool, but there was somehow a distinct lack of Emperor's Children in there. Those few we got weren't really all they've been made out to be, either. Still waiting for a novel that actually has the EC rampaging through civilians in an active manner.

[mc warhammer]

yeah, i actually liked that...they were conspicuous through their absence. i thought that bit with that EC

bathing in dreams and secrets

was all the stronger and eerie for it and i imagine he wasn't the only one.

 

but i'm like you, a novel where we actually see them get stuck into it is something i'd like to see. hell, i'd just like to adb's take on the third legion full stop.

[grailkeeper]

I finished Warhawk a week ago. It made the White Scars lengthy trudge in this book even more pointless. That story line added nothing to Mortis for me, and had very little impact on this book. I had thought it might be building something bigger but it didn't, despite the white scar being one of the main characters in Warhawk..

[SkimaskMohawk]

I finished Warhawk a week ago. It made the White Scars lengthy trudge in this book even more pointless. That story line added nothing to Mortis for me, and had very little impact on this book. I had thought it might be building something bigger but it didn't, despite the white scar being one of the main characters in Warhawk..

Shibans whole attitude in Warhawk and his symbol as the Restorer is driven by his journey. Like, it's pretty obvious that the ghosts of his friends and their values shape his actions in Warhawk.

[Roomsky]

Average Plot and Characterization Fan vs Average Mood Enjoyer

 

(Can you Feel my Heart blares distantly)

 

I actually love how distant the Emperor's children are in this book; in fact, I love how restrained in-person appearances are from the traitor legions in general. I find them much scarier when they get less focus, because there's so much less room for them to act like Mcneill's wacky gang of :cusss. The traitor's in Mortis are horrifying.

 

And yes, Shiban's personality and actions don't make sense without his vision quest. It would be 180 degree change in outlook without explanation.