SoT book 7: Echoes of Eternity - Aaron Dembski-Bowden

[caladancid]

I hope when the community site mentions two formats as the LE and regular hardcover they are just forgetting the ebook version….

[Ubiquitous1984]

Can anyone recommend the key stories that Amit has featured in, that I should re-read?

[Sothalor]

Specifically Heresy-era?

 

Uh... there's Fear to Tread, Virtues of the Sons, and Sins of the Father that I can recall he actually has meaningful parts in.

 

 

Honestly though, I'm not sure I can recommend re-reading any of those. Fear to Tread is well-known and contentious. VotS/SotF are both very short stories that really don't go into much more than "Blood Angels look pretty but are mean and angry inside."

[DarkChaplain]

I think the shorts are fine regarding Amit and Azkaellon. They also allow for some more Lucius humbling, which is always nice to see. Amit's story in particular is about restraint, iirc. He's always been a hothead, and it's only gotten worse post-Heresy.

 

There should be a Flesh Tearers Space Marine Battles omnibus, which collects the Andy Smillie stories together. Looks like BL purged the book from the website, though. It includes the two Amit novellas, Flesh of Cretacia and Sons of Wrath, but not the limited edition short from the latter (which is actually interesting and featured Guilliman, iirc)

 

Pretty much all the big development of Amit as a character happened post-Heresy in the fiction. He's been very much treated like an unloved stepchild since Fear to Tread. What we do know from the novellas is that he's hard against the splitting of the Legions, is ticked off at Raldoron and Azkaellon for supporting it (or as he sees it being broken down after Sanguinius' death and thus not opposing it) and that he's got quite a complex about the end of the Siege in general.

 

Having him absent from this part of the narrative would be a big big oof. Kinda like Garro not even laying eyes on Mortarion before he gets banished, or Lucius being MIA somewhere.

 

 

Anticipation at critical levels !

 

 

Two points of interest in the article :

 

Rogal Dorn is encircled, fighting his own war at Bhab Bastion.

 

Wondering how he links up with the Emperor and Sanguinius for the boarding of the Vengeful Spirit (unless they teleport from two separate locations).

 

I like this. I like the idea of Dorn and the Emperor/Sanguinius making plans to board the Vengeful Spirit over vox or psychic conversation, rather than all heading out together. It makes little sense that Dorn and all his Imperial Fists would get scattered away from Sanguinius and the Blood Angels, if they were teleporting together. Feels too clean a separation.

 

Having this changed to them being in physically different locations, using different teleport stations, and Dorn trying to link up, growing more desperate with every moment aboard the Vengeful Spirit that he can't find either the Angel nor Dad, adds a different spin on it. It's frustration about the odds and the ship being a hellpit, rather than "damn warp split us apart!".

 

It becomes less about Chaos throwing a wrench into the works in a way that Dorn cannot affect or prevent, and more about him failing to achieve something he believes to be within his control, with boots on the ground. Much more powerful way to break down the Praetorian, to make him feel inadequate in conquering obstacles than giving a warp magic excuse as for why he fails by default. He'd have to ask himself if he could've risked a crossing to the palace proper, if he got held up at Bhab for too long, if he could've changed anything to make things work. This would fall away the moment the story goes "see you on the other side" with him, Sanguinius and the Emperor standing next to one another on the same teleport spot.

[Taliesin]

So, in the weeks that have passed, has anyone been able to get a copy of this out in the wild?

Edited June 24, 2022 by Taliesin

[Scribe]

Or at least found spoilers?

[grailkeeper]

3 hours ago, Scribe said:

Or at least found spoilers?

Sanguinius doesn't die yet

[Ubiquitous1984]

7 hours ago, EnsignJoker said:

I thought this wasn’t due out for a bit? There’s copies somewhere??

Looks like it was a one-off.  I've been checking regularly and not seen any more copies available for purchase.

[Fedor]

If Sanguinius breaks Angron's back after unlocking his inner rage powerup, then goes on to give Horus a hard fight in Abnett's book... i can feel the shackles that hold my cold medusan rage in check straining already.

Seriously though, i've a feeling if this fight happens it is going to sadly dominate discussion of the book online. ADB seems to have ended up in a place (through no fault of his own) where his depiction here could break the threat of the daemon primarchs.

So many "close...but not quite" defeats, or outright mental breakdowns by now.  Each somewhat justifiable on their own, but adding up to me really not needing to see another rerun.

[Karhedron]

I rather lost track of this thread during the shut-down. Has it been confirmed Sanguinius is fighting Angron and not Ka’bandha? I remember in the (very) old fluff, they had a stare-down but didn't actually come face-to-face.

[Sothalor]

It's speculation; on account of Fear to Tread, which had Sanguinius defeating Ka'bandha on Signus, lots of people think there'd be no dramatic impact to having them go at it again at the Siege.

With Angron a daemon primarch and rampaging nigh-unstoppably in the current Siege story, lotta people think he and Sanguinius will confront one another at some point.

[Bobss]

13 hours ago, Fedor said:

If Sanguinius breaks Angron's back after unlocking his inner rage powerup, then goes on to give Horus a hard fight in Abnett's book... i can feel the shackles that hold my cold medusan rage in check straining already.

Seriously though, i've a feeling if this fight happens it is going to sadly dominate discussion of the book online. ADB seems to have ended up in a place (through no fault of his own) where his depiction here could break the threat of the daemon primarchs.

So many "close...but not quite" defeats, or outright mental breakdowns by now.  Each somewhat justifiable on their own, but adding up to me really not needing to see another rerun.

ADB has brought this upon himself imo. In Betrayer, Lorgar more or less lets slip that his plans for Angron involve an eventual showdown with Sanguinius, and he scoffs at Horus' and Erebus' own scheme for him at Signus; and the events in Aurelian where Lorgar defeats a very prominent Bloodthirster in Anggrath had a very clear knock-on effect for the Sanguinius vs. Kabandha duel. I was never really invested in the whole thing, but I remember reading a lot of indignation and salt online in 2011 about it - some of which may very well be on this forum's archives

 

TBH I have zero issue with Sanguinius beating up Angron. ADB's depiction of Damnedgron is head and shoulders above other authors', even Abnett's and French's. He actually feels like one of the Blood God's mightiest lieutenants who might as well have crawled out of the deepest pit of Angband, and whose mere presence on your world thousands of kilometres away forfeits your life to the Inquisition. To have Sanguinius, a single being, challenge and overcome this monstrosity, in single combat, alone, when it would go on to take over a hundred of the 41st Millennium's Imperium's absolute most cutting edge and experimental troops to merely banish in pyrrhic fashion at a borderline irrecoverable cost is a nice way to reinforce how fabled and legendary and magnificent and lost the days of the Horus Heresy were compared to 'now' - despite GW's recent attempts to conflate 30k and 40k as much as possible. It sort of reminds me of the Black Legion series where both books are written very much in the shadow of the Heresy/Siege/Scouring, where the Chaos Space Marines are like orphaned children squabbling over their parents' legacies and belongings, and no matter what plots they hatch and victories they achieve, it is all dwarfed in comparison to The Better Days

 

But I do agree these primarch duels where Big Armour Dude #11 almost beats Big Armour Dude #13 and ''You may have won today, Big Armour Dude, but I'll see you next time!'' is very boring but it is what it is, and for those that don't like it we have our Black Legion series and Sabbat Worlds sandbox and whatnot 

Edited July 6, 2022 by Bobss

[Taliesin]

16 hours ago, Karhedron said:

I rather lost track of this thread during the shut-down. Has it been confirmed Sanguinius is fighting Angron and not Ka’bandha? I remember in the (very) old fluff, they had a stare-down but didn't actually come face-to-face.

Its not confirmed outright but a) the jacket synopsis strongly hints at it and b) the Warcom site recently had an article on the book also strongly hinting at a showdown, which lead to Valrak making a video about it.

[Dried]

If I remember correctly it was also teased in a previous book in the Siege where Sanguinious clearly state he will fight Angron "later" (as he saw it in one of his visions).

Edited July 6, 2022 by Dried

[Scribe]

ADB has yet to fail me. No way he gets this wrong.

[Guest Triszin]

Is there any eta on this?

[Taliesin]

Looks like start to mid-September according to many booksellers, which would mean a late August pre-order from GW itself.

[DarkChaplain]

Just remembered I still hadn't read that Rose Watered in Blood short about her. And it's been a while since I read the Khârn-related short from Goulding. Might need a refresher.

[Karhedron]

According to WarCom, it will not be Angron who Sanguinius squares off against before the Ultimate Gate.

As we know from Black Library’s awesome Siege of Terra series, Sanguinius survived his duel and went on to battle Ka’bandha once more – you can find out how the rematch unfolds* when Echoes of Eternity arrives later this year. 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2022/07/15/signus-slam-2022-kabandha-takes-on-sanguinius-in-an-epic-horus-heresy-rematch/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-horus-heresy&utm_content=khabanda'sbattles&fbclid=IwAR2-eYa_iJhm5y3Kz9D9fSeTCoXLnhLshxJ1U2UKILlYoRwm9enM148ls4w

[cheywood]

Given WarCom’s track record that all but confirms Sanguinius will be facing Angron. 

[Mjasghar]

Wonder if we’ll see lotara mutate into the Captains chair - she’s clearly getting more and more corrupted. Can easily see her soul getting eaten by the Daemon spirit of the ship. Or becoming it. 

[Taliesin]

Sanguinius fighting Kabandha doesnt exclude him fighting Angron..

[DarkChaplain]

They also said this way back when Ka'bandha was announced, or at BL Celebration, that Sanguinius & Ka'Bandha had their big smackdown in Saturnine or somesuch already. WarCom has no clue about the ongoing Siege of Terra fluff, even if the book's already been out in Mass Market Paperback format. They're hardly fluffbunnies, those folks.

[cheywood]

We finally have a confirmed date for Echoes of Eternity. Fnac has it for sale on the 3rd of September, so preorders will be up on the 27th: https://www.fnac.com/livre-numerique/a17297380/Aaron-Dembski-Bowden-Echoes-Of-Eternity#omnsearchpos=10

It will be a combined hardback and limited edition release, with the French and German editions also releasing the same day. The suits at GW must be beside themselves. Imagine the horror if all the major books experienced multiple delays, forcing BL to release multiple formats simultaneously like some sort of consumer friendly monster. I’m not sure the company would recover.

[Ubiquitous1984]

4 hours ago, cheywood said:

We finally have a confirmed date for Echoes of Eternity. Fnac has it for sale on the 3rd of September, so preorders will be up on the 27th: https://www.fnac.com/livre-numerique/a17297380/Aaron-Dembski-Bowden-Echoes-Of-Eternity#omnsearchpos=10

It will be a combined hardback and limited edition release, with the French and German editions also releasing the same day. The suits at GW must be beside themselves. Imagine the horror if all the major books experienced multiple delays, forcing BL to release multiple formats simultaneously like some sort of consumer friendly monster. I’m not sure the company would recover.

What a drag this has been - but at least we only have a few more weeks left to wait.  I can’t wait.  Hopefully the audiobook version will be out at the same time.