The Dark City review thread

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

1 hour ago, Orange Knight said:

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So, are we to assume that the Fabricator general has been lost?

 

And if so... how far down the pecking order would Cawl be? He is a Dominatus Dominus, so probably one of the most important and powerful in the Mechanicus.

 

I jest, I just. But I think this a plot they could pursue in the future. Was Cawl being honest in the Great Work, or was his AI telling the truth?

 

 

 

I tend to think that Raskian - or at least his "base" portion, represented by the avatar - will turn up again, conveniently rescued by Navradaran, who also "died" without anyone witnessing it. Once said avatar is reunited with Raskian's backups on Mars, he could essentially be back to normal.

It's also possible they don't know WHAT they want to do with the Fabricator-General storyline right now. So Raskian is "killed" but in such a non-definitive fashion that they could either bring him back or leave him "dead" at any time. Watchers of the Throne Book 3 is also due out soon according to Wraight so maybe this was his way of explaining Raskian being indisposed for that story (on top of his absence in Book 2) while not actually having him replaced as a High Lord since no one who knows about his supposed death has so far made it back to alert the Imperium. As far as the rest of the High Lords know, he's still just incommunicado on Mars for whatever reason. Meanwhile the High Lords killed in the Hexarchy rebellion will presumably have successors chosen in that book, Morvenn Vahl being one of them.

Worth maybe pointing out that the Cawl Inferior's entreaties to Guilliman and Cawl's subsequent insistence that he didn't want the gig both took place over a decade after this story. If Cawl truly wanted the position, would he wait that long? And for that matter, would the AdMech wait that long to install a new Fabricator-General?

Edited October 13, 2022 by Lord Nord

[cheywood]

34 minutes ago, Lord Nord said:

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I tend to think that Raskian - or at least his "base" portion, represented by the avatar - will turn up again, conveniently rescued by Navradaran, who also "died" without anyone witnessing it. Once said avatar is reunited with Raskian's backups on Mars, he could essentially be back to normal.

It's also possible they don't know WHAT they want to do with the Fabricator-General storyline right now. So Raskian is "killed" but in such a non-definitive fashion that they could either bring him back or leave him "dead" at any time. Watchers of the Throne Book 3 is also due out soon according to Wraight so maybe this was his way of explaining Raskian being indisposed for that story (on top of his absence in Book 2) while not actually having him replaced as a High Lord since no one who knows about his supposed death has so far made it back to alert the Imperium. As far as the rest of the High Lords know, he's still just incommunicado on Mars for whatever reason. Meanwhile the High Lords killed in the Hexarchy rebellion will presumably have successors chosen in that book, Morvenn Vahl being one of them.

Worth maybe pointing out that the Cawl Inferior's entreaties to Guilliman and Cawl's subsequent insistence that he didn't want the gig both took place over a decade after this story. If Cawl truly wanted the position, would he wait that long? And for that matter, would the AdMech wait that long to install a new Fabricator-General?

I agree with all of this. However, Watchers 3 hasn’t been written yet. Sounds like something we’ll hopefully see in a couple years: 

 

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

36 minutes ago, cheywood said:

I agree with all of this. However, Watchers 3 hasn’t been written yet. Sounds like something we’ll hopefully see in a couple years: 

 

My bad - I thought for sure I'd seen someone post a tweet here from him saying he was hoping to finish it this year. Guess not.

[Sothalor]

On the one hand, it'd be neat to see Wraight interweave and cross-pollinate his series even further.

 

On the other, I think the lack of resolution with Raskian and Navradaran works excellently from a thematic perspective for Vaults of Terra. It's part of the tragedy - the "futility and striving after wind" that encapsulates the series finale - of the Imperials' desperate effort to get the word out somehow. I can't help but feel that having Raskian and Navradaran escape off-screen would terribly undermine one of the great strengths of Vaults of Terra, at least as its own thing.

 

Maybe there's a case that leaving things open would have narrative strings to tie to "the larger setting," but honestly, I don't really care for that. Give me a strong, self-contained work that stands on its own, and is capable of engaging with the themes, aesthetic, and atmosphere of the setting - on its own merits. 

[Scribe]

Looked through spoilers, and its comical that I didnt even know the details of this series, as Wraight is someone I will read, Day 1, no questions asked.

 

If I even see the book hit shelves.

 

Gods of the Warp, BL sucks at its job.

 

The Carrion Throne - Amazon - Unavailable.

The Hollow Mountain - Amazon - Unavailable.

The Dark City - Amazon - Unavailable.

 

I dont want a :cuss:ing ebook.

[DarkChaplain]

Don't you worry. Just another 4 to 5 years til they might release an omnibus that'll still be missing the limited edition short stories

[Scribe]

With great thanks to @Roomsky I have the trilogy in my hands to read in paper, as the Warp intended. ;)

[Carach]

Bit late to the party but just finished it. 

 

Hot damn. Its a bloody good book to make up a bloody good trilogy. 

 

An ending that kind of left me feeling the same as the ending of Rogue One, but without the *hope*, which is about as 40k as it gets. 

 

 

Nice line by Khazad, too. 

 

 

[ADarke]

So I received the Vaults of Terra boxed set - it is amazingly beautiful. There is a new short story, "Okira", that is placed after the end of the Dark City volume. I will read it shortly - very interested to see where it fits. 

 

Also, an absurd decision was made not to include a prose version of "The Interrogation of Salvor Lermentov", which is one of the best parts of the Vaults of Terra story in my opinion. Very disappointing.