Heretic Saint

[SkimaskMohawk]

I haven't seen too much about this despite the release on the weekend.

 

I was really looking forward to it to see how they built the character off the Daemonifuge graphic novel and modernised some of the rather old fluff. I also loved Mark of Faith and the internal struggle possible to some sororitas and was hoping for more of the same. Heavy spoilers where I try and break down my thoughts.

 

The first thing I have to mention is the dragonball Z meme the model has with the spiky/floaty hair. Well, in the book she's literally goku. She starts the book flying around using her psychic powers and crossing a planet, fighting daemons in the air above volcanoes using energy beams and then the planet explodes. Nothing is able to stop her; she can make giant energy 30ft energy swords or purifying laser beams or navigate the warp or whatever. There was never any tension because her powers were so all-encompassing. It really took me out of it; any time she was using her powers I couldn't believe that was the direction taken.

 

The next thing is continuity. The comic is old so I didn't expect everything to be kept, but they kind of did while also changing details. Major plot points are referenced; her multiple deaths, the inquisitions hatred of her, the screaming cage, Silas Hand, pit fighting in commoragh,sororitasman's abduction. But in contrast; she lost her ability to create webway portals and it's exclusive to the harlequin, she believes her power to be psychic in origin while it was very clear that it was the combined faith of an Order, the sororitas hate her and think she's a heretic even though the comic has her deemed pure by the grey knights and buried by sororitas as one of them.

 

The last two inconsistencies are rather important; Stern loathes herself as a psyker and her feelings of impurity and getting over it is her arc, and she runs into a force of sororitas from Our Martyred Lady and they treat her as a heretic and distrust her which is another challenge. And while I enjoy the sororitas brand of self-reflection and dilemma based on their faith, the problems just shouldn't exist. Faith and miracles are a de-facto thing in universe; the screaming cage believed it was the gelstat faith that gave stern her power and her triumph over the culexus should reinforce that. She shouldn't now think she's a psyker and only have the epiphany at the end of the book when her powers are unaffected by the pariah nexus. On the point of the sororitas distrust, the first act of the comic was her proving herself pure to them and Silas Hand and her second death had the grey knights declare her pure and she was buried with honours; they shouldn't hate her. Especially as the cannoness remembers her; it isn't history twisted by insurance over hundreds of years, it's recent, living memory.

 

The last thing that bothered me were the villains. They're introduced super late, are called/thought of by everyone as a Master of Possession and Warpsmith for that trademarked branding, and literally only exist for Stern to kill and save the entire planet. It's super weak.

 

So uh ya, those three things were pretty big negatives. The action scenes were mostly super cringy as a result and a lot of interpersonal drama I otherwise liked was undermined by it just not being accurate.

 

The things I did like? Most of the character interactions; the inquisitor with everyone, stern saying good bye to the harlequin, stern struggling with being around other sororitas. I liked the presentation of the forgeworld and how oppressive and relentless the forces of chaos felt (until stern showed up). I liked the more esoteric chaos creations; undead sororitas, giant creatures made out of manufactories and the like.

 

But unfortunately the inconsistencies and portrayal of stern's powers were really disruptive to my enjoyment.

 

5/10

Edited December 15, 2020 by SkimaskMohawk

[DarkChaplain]

I mean... Ephrael Stern *is* a graphic novel character with some serious weird features. Just look at the ancient art of her:

 

This was never going to be a regular old Sororitas story.

 

From Lexicanum:

 

Sister Stern excelled as a novice, and took her Oaths of Adherence together with five hundred other novices at the Ecclesiarchal Palace on Terra. She was chosen to join the Order of Our Martyred Lady. After this she was stationed on Ophelia VII where an exemplary service record led to her being elevated to the rank of Seraphim in record time. Three years later she was ordained as a Sister Superior.

 

After this she was sent to the world of Parnis for an investigation into the lost convent of the Orders Pronatus. There, the lost convent had been shaped into the Screaming Cage by the once-imprisoned demon they studied, their bodies and minds linked so that their suffering would be shared, but inadvertently their faith was shared as well. When Ephrael Stern fell in battle while free of the taint of chaos, the 700 souls saw their chance and used their combined might to heal her, strengthen her and make her faster, and pour their knowledge into her. Only Sister Stern returned, the sole survivor of the forces sent there, with her sanity stretched to the limit.

 

For four years she was held in a cell in the Convent Prioris on Ophelia VII so that her nature could be determined, until she was attacked by a Sister controlled by a chaos demon to silence her before that could happen. Ephrael killed the Sister with her bare hands, setting events in motion once more.

 

She's literally an overpowered action hero with resurrection mechanics, psychic superpowers and was hailed in the same breath as Primarchs. She even beat Ahriman to the Black Library. She's very much a product of the end of the 90s era.

Edited December 15, 2020 by DarkChaplain

[theSpirea]

I've never read the comics and knew nothing about the character before reading the book.

 

The first third of the book was amazing. I loved how it started setting up the scene and introducing the characters. The opening with Otto and Velthaus was awesome and I wish the book was about them, sadly, it wasn't . Same goes for Stern and Kyganil. Kyganil was introduced just to be dropped a few chapters later on.

 

Annandale handles faith, warp, etc themes well. Unfortunately, he occasionally slips into too much inner dialogues and characters commenting amd explaining their every single thought.

 

The second half of the books turns into boring bolter porn. Introduces villains at the very end, only for the sake of having Stern something to kill.

 

The book could have been much more if the author stick to exploring the main themes (faith, heretics, religion, redemption) rather than going in a direction of mindless, boring action, as quite often WH novels tend to do so.

[SkimaskMohawk]

@Dark chaplain I understand the 2nd edition roots and comic book origins as I've read daemonifuge a few times and I mentioned I was looking forward to how her past was going to be incorporated into a modern story. She was definitely "superhero" tier and would fit into a marvel or dc story; she had telekenetic powers like stopping bullets, minor levitation, and force bubbles as well as mind blasting stuff, creating webway portals and the resurrection.

 

What I didn't expect was for her powers and abilities to be cranked up to 11, far past anything they alluded to in the 90s. As I mentioned in my spoilers it's to the point where there's no tension because she's steam rolling everything in sight; she literally feels like superman with no kryptonite around. A good comparison is mephiston as he's often portrayed as an incredibly powerful psyker; in Devastation he flies out of a thunderhawk on psychic powers and basically burns a hole through a swarm of gargoyles before he hits his limit. Stern has no limit and it's far and away what we were previously shown in daemonifuge.

 

@theSpirea I totally agree with the two sets of characters. I really liked all their interactions and it felt like it was going to set up other stuff. Now that I think about it, Heretic Saint seems to tie directly into the Psychic awakening, something I didn't read. Maybe it was commissioned as a tie-in last minute and it got bundled together. Would explain the inconsistencies.

[ACoolBird]

I'm glad to see some posts on this book at last, now I can talk about it a bit more without spoiling it so hard

 

I disliked that Kyganil was not in the book much, and would've liked him to stay or at least have more chapters with what he was doing during this time. The author really kept getting stuck going into every thought and feeling, really making it drag and become boring. Overall I concur with theSpirea's post, it sums up what I think a lot better than I can put it. 

 

There were some cool moments though, such as right at the end when 

the whole golden throne be thou my sword part happened

Stern interacting with the Sororitas is something I had been waiting to see as well.

But this book felt forced out, for the sake of the psychic awakening. Perhaps if David had more time to write it it would've been better, assuming it was rushed the way it felt to me. As the way chaos can effect the world is something he does well. Warden of the Blade if I remember correctly and Dominic Seroff's Last Ascent both had some nice chaos moments. It was good in this book

undead Sororitas worked well here

 But I found the end took away the majestey of it somewhat with the villians

 

Not sure if it was was included in the normal HB edition too but The Mourning War I liked but I can't remember why currently, though Kyganil as present in it. 

 

Semi-unrelated but I was disappointed in the special edition's print quality. Comparing it to the Space Wolves recent one, the books have very basic hardcovers that got damaged easily. For the price, the quality was not there. The art prints are nice though

 

Something just felt off to me with Stern herself compared to Daemonifuge, is that intended or was the writing just not there I am unsure. But as per my review from before, I still think it's a 5/10. I expect a sequel, with how it was ended but I wouldn't be rushing to read it. 

[SkimaskMohawk]

I got mine on ebup so I can't comment on the special edition quality. The short story definitely wasn't included which looking back it should have been. Heretic Saint is 195 ebook pages compared to devastation of baals 460, plague wars 413, hollow mountains 339 and many other examples. It's really short. And it was 18.99 cad to those books' 11.99. Definitely feels like a tie in commission that got rushed out and then premiumly priced.