Upcoming BL Stuff - 2023

[Roomsky]

From Amazon:

 

God-Machines Omnibus - No description, cover lists Thorpe, Annandale, Clark, McNeill, and St. Martin. Presumably Warlord and Imperator + Clark's Knights books and some shorts?

 

Warboss paperback for December

 

End and the Death Volume 2 for November. Blurb:

 

The second volume of book 8 in the Global best selling The Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra series.

Terra is besieged. Humanity’s salvation lies on a knife edge. The Warmaster Horus’ bloody seven-year crusade has led to this: the cradle of mankind, where he is to kill his father, the Emperor.

With the war at this critical juncture, Sanguinius, primarch of the loyalist Blood Angels, braves the horrors of the Warmaster’s flagship, The Vengeful Spirit, with a single purpose in mind: to slay his brother Horus, decapitate the Heresy once and for all, and stop the forces of Chaos from taking Holy Terra.

But at the whim of a Warmaster fallen so far from grace, the Dark Gods will not make Sanguinius’ task an easy one, and as the war edges towards its explosive, bloody conclusion, events are about to unfold that could either save humanity, or plunge it headlong into an eternity of darkness.

 

Boy oh boy does that not sound like a final volume. *dies*

 

[System Sound]

5 minutes ago, Roomsky said:

God-Machines Omnibus - No description, cover lists Thorpe, Annandale, Clark, McNeill, and St. Martin. Presumably Warlord and Imperator + Clark's Knights books and some shorts?

Are any them good? I had all of them sitting on my kindle for ages now...

 

7 minutes ago, Roomsky said:

Warboss paperback for December

About time.

 

8 minutes ago, Roomsky said:

End and the Death Volume 2 for November

 

Boy oh boy does that not sound like a final volume. *dies*

 

Guess I was wrong about them saving it for BL "Celebration" 2024.

 

 And didn't LE of TEatD 1 say "to be concluded in vol.2?

[DarkChaplain]

26 minutes ago, System Sound said:

 And didn't LE of TEatD 1 say "to be concluded in vol.2?

 

Only the print edition. The ebook, which they could edit easily after the printers were already busy, speaks of it being continued.

 

I expect the God-Machines omnibus will include Clark's two Knight novels, McNeill's contribution would be the classic Imperial Knights novella from back when they got their first kits, and Annandale (Warlord: Fury of the God-Machine) & Thorpe (Imperator: Wrath of the Omnissiah) are easy. At least Annandale's novel has a prequel short and I believe both had limited edition ones; we'll see if they'll include those.

 

St Martin is the weird one here. He wrote a single short story about Titans iirc, but that's already been in an omnibus years ago. What gives?

[Roomsky]

41 minutes ago, System Sound said:

Are any them good? I had all of them sitting on my kindle for ages now...

 

Imperator is a great idea muddled by mediocre, and often very silly, execution (we shall arrest the Heretek in the heart of her domain unarmed!) Some people were in a tizzy about a magos having neopronouns and completely glanced over the fact that the book just isn't very good. I never finished Warlord but lots of people seem to like it. Never bothered with Clark's stuff.

 

And didn't LE of TEatD 1 say "to be concluded in vol.2?

 

Would you like speculation about the creative process, or a cynical answer about corporate incompetence and greed? 

[Ubiquitous1984]

We have to wait until November for volume 2?  That’s a piss take, BL.  Get it released sooner!  Especially if its three bloody volumes…

[wecanhaveallthree]

Quote

With the war at this critical juncture, Sanguinius, primarch of the loyalist Blood Angels, braves the horrors of the Warmaster’s flagship, The Vengeful Spirit, with a single purpose in mind: to slay his brother Horus, decapitate the Heresy once and for all, and stop the forces of Chaos from taking Holy Terra.

 

This is sounding like 'we have Echoes of Eternity at home'. I am at a complete loss as to what exactly can be said about Sanguinius that wasn't said in Echoes, literally a book a ago, but hey, here we are.

 

Quote

Never bothered with Clark's stuff.

 

Both his Knight books are meaty slabs of valor and chivalry - highly recommend. There's often a misconception in the fanbase, I think, about what exactly Knights are capable of. Clark showcases them very well here: when the maniple is formed up on the charge, they're an explosive force.

[cheywood]

I’m only part way through volume 1, but I’d be so perplexed if this ended up being three volumes. And yet there’s no way that’s the description for the last book.

[Roomsky]

27 minutes ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

 

This is sounding like 'we have Echoes of Eternity at home'. I am at a complete loss as to what exactly can be said about Sanguinius that wasn't said in Echoes, literally a book a ago, but hey, here we are.

 

It only sounds like the Echoes and the Ruinstorm we have at home. I'm not saying Sangy has had the most robust showing throughout the Heresy but we have very much been there, done that with this stuff. Hell, the Dorn corruption desert has more legs than this for its novelty. I would like the Angron-poisoning to just be killing him, thanks.

Edited June 5, 2023 by Roomsky

[DukeLeto69]

I say this as a big Abnett fan...you gotta be kidding me WTAF!!!!!

[wecanhaveallthree]

I didn't want to bring up Ruinstorm because I bang that drum near-constantly, but... yeah. The Madail sequence with Sanguinius (and the birth of the Sanguinor) pretty much said it all. Sanguinius is tempted, he's shown all these crazy visions, he's beaten down to the absolute lowest he can possibly go, and he quite literally fights Horus in that sequence of events (and the Emperor, which is cute). There was literally nothing more that needed to be developed from there. Echoes still does a good job for the Blood Angels as a Legion and it positions Sanguinius for that final confrontation - that's... fine - so... why does this sound like we're going to spend another book watching Sanguinius wander about, doing the same things he's done before? 

 

My gut says Sanguinius is going to be a vehicle for Abnett to show all the other characters struggling, visions of things past and (possibly) yet to come in the timeless realm that the Vengeful Spirit has sunk into. He'll see all the triumph and tragedy, Horus will make his case, and that'll be where we close on Vol. 2. I expect everyone to bow down and worship my amazing foresight in November, thank you. 

[DarkChaplain]

I agree on Ruinstorm. In my opinion, that book is painfully underappreciated. It does so much to develop its trio of Primarchs, test them and put them on the path forward. It's one of those books that people seemingly didn't want to give a chance based on the author's name, when really, it was quite interesting and compelling, not least of all for how it handled Sanguinius.

 

Ever since, Sanguinius has been kinda stuck retreading similar ground every time he's got a major role. It's gotten very dull.

[aa.logan]

November? It’s going to be tough camping out in the Warhammer World car park for that one…

[Nagashsnee]

What more then 2 books, no waaaay! 

 

Anyhow hopefully its no more then 3 or this will go beyond comedy.

[Alpharius902]

Coming to a digital storefront near you because our print runs ran out in the span of 3 seconds

• The End and the Death Volume 2: Sanguinius vs Horus
• The End and the Death Volume 3: Emperor vs Horus Part 1
• The End and the Death Volume 4: Ollanius vs Horus
• The End and the Death Volume 5: Emperor vs Horus Part 2
• The End and the Death Volume 6: Dorn vs Sons of Horus on his way to the Emperor
• The End and the Death Volume 7: Dorn vs Sons of Horus on his way to the hangar/teleportation chamber 
• Repeat as needed to increase profit margins

Joking aside, this should have been a two-parter at most. It really is going to feel like a slog unless Abnett pulls some more twists midway through the finale to try to get the plot going

[Nagashsnee]

The funny thing is part 1/?? left pretty much every plot thread open. Abnett could very well burn 300-500 more pages on the perpetuals escaping vulkan to find their 'destiny', zephon shooting more dudes, the library party, Loken being even more special, etc without doing much on the spirit. Hell he could go far out and start having chapters from the relief fleet POV.  

 

Tho the funnier route would be having the  BA slog thru couple hundred pages of fighting to get to horus only to end the novel right as the title fight starts. Kinda like unremembered Empire had Sanguinius on the cover but that was only the last 5% of the page count. Then have part 3 START with the Horus vs Sanguinius fight around this time next year. 

 

 

 

[chevalierdulys]

lets hope this is not a trend. In europe it's 22€ (Which is not 18£) so if they are going up to 20£ we will get up to what? 25€?

[System Sound]

13 hours ago, Roomsky said:

Would you like speculation about the creative process, or a cynical answer about corporate incompetence and greed? 

Yes.

 

6 hours ago, Alpharius902 said:

Coming to a digital storefront near you because our print runs ran out in the span of 3 seconds

• The End and the Death Volume 2: Sanguinius vs Horus
• The End and the Death Volume 3: Emperor vs Horus Part 1
• The End and the Death Volume 4: Ollanius vs Horus
• The End and the Death Volume 5: Emperor vs Horus Part 2
• The End and the Death Volume 6: Dorn vs Sons of Horus on his way to the Emperor
• The End and the Death Volume 7: Dorn vs Sons of Horus on his way to the hangar/teleportation chamber 
• Repeat as needed to increase profit margins

Joking aside, this should have been a two-parter at most. It really is going to feel like a slog unless Abnett pulls some more twists midway through the finale to try to get the plot going

You forgot a few:

Volume 8: Your mom Vs Horus...

Volume 9: The Scouring. But not really, because we totally gonna milk that for another 60 books

[Kelborn]

1 hour ago, chevalierdulys said:

lets hope this is not a trend. In europe it's 22€ (Which is not 18£) so if they are going up to 20£ we will get up to what? 25€?

 

Great that was the original pricefor the regular hardback back when the siege started. *sigh*

 

No wonder that the other IP becomes more and more attractive for reading.

[darkhorse0607]

21 hours ago, Roomsky said:

 

It only sounds like the Echoes and the Ruinstorm we have at home. I'm not saying Sangy has had the most robust showing throughout the Heresy but we have very much been there, done that with this stuff. Hell, the Dorn corruption desert has more legs than this for its novelty. I would like the Angron-poisoning to just be killing him, thanks.

 

I don't know, granted it's just a blurb but this gives me very much "I can do this the way I wanted to, not what's been done" vibes from Abnett. Which, to be fair, wouldn't be a first from him. I just don't think given what we got in Part 1, he's going to be able to outdo Echoes and the work ADB did for him there, and could potentially undo some of it.

 

The whole thing makes me grumpy

[theSpirea]

13 hours ago, chevalierdulys said:

lets hope this is not a trend. In europe it's 22€ (Which is not 18£) so if they are going up to 20£ we will get up to what? 25€?

I don't even remember the last time BL increased prices of books. It sucks but it was a matter of time. Seeing how often they increases prices of plastic crack.

 

Hardbacks are still of decent quality. LEs not so much, those are overpriced for what we get.

 

[tgcleric]

3 hours ago, darkhorse0607 said:

 

I don't know, granted it's just a blurb but this gives me very much "I can do this the way I wanted to, not what's been done" vibes from Abnett. Which, to be fair, wouldn't be a first from him. I just don't think given what we got in Part 1, he's going to be able to outdo Echoes and the work ADB did for him there, and could potentially undo some of it.

 

The whole thing makes me grumpy

I think it's absurd that this will be 3 volumes. And as an abnett fan, I'm also not overly excited about reading 2 more huge books. 

 

That said, The afterward of EoE makes it very clear that not only were Abnett and ABD constantly in talks about their stories, but that ABD feels incredibly grateful to Abnett for a variety reasons, both as a collaborator and as a friend. I don't think his intention is to redo anything from ABD

Edited June 6, 2023 by tgcleric
Clarifying

[Scribe]

20 hours ago, Nagashsnee said:

The funny thing is part 1/?? left pretty much every plot thread open. Abnett could very well burn 300-500 more pages on the perpetuals escaping vulkan to find their 'destiny', zephon shooting more dudes, the library party, Loken being even more special, etc without doing much on the spirit. Hell he could go far out and start having chapters from the relief fleet POV.  

 

This literally spikes my depression.

 

What a joke from BL here. Absolutely the story that did NOT need to be turned into 3 more books. Its just poor writing, poor editing, poor storytelling.

 

Book 1 was bad enough. It really was, re-read it if you can stomach it. Now? Book 2 is literally just the 'prelims', for what will finally, FINALLY, be the main event some time in 2024.

 

Its just gross.

 

18 YEARS. EIGHTEEN.

[DukeLeto69]

4 hours ago, Scribe said:

 

This literally spikes my depression.

 

What a joke from BL here. Absolutely the story that did NOT need to be turned into 3 more books. Its just poor writing, poor editing, poor storytelling.

 

Book 1 was bad enough. It really was, re-read it if you can stomach it. Now? Book 2 is literally just the 'prelims', for what will finally, FINALLY, be the main event some time in 2024.

 

Its just gross.

 

18 YEARS. EIGHTEEN.

Yep but you need your HH crack so you will still buy the last 2 (more?) novels and the GW beancounters will be happy and it will justify the strategy as the BL bottom line looks healthy!

 

I know you and I do not agree on Abnett but I really do not think the “climax” needed to be three books! Really smacks of milking the cash cow one last time!

 

I think the “blame” lies with ALL the authors and Editor(s) as well as the beancounters. At the start of the SoT process they would have planned/mapped this out (they said they did). They would have listed all the key plot points and beats that needed to be hit and all the unresolved plots needing to be wrapped up. They would then have decided which needed to be in which book. That is surely how they came to the magic number 8 novels?

 

As soon as authors early in the series began deviating from the map “oh sorry but I couldn’t fit that in once I wrote about that long train ride” and the editors allowed that to be accepted, so they built up a “plot debt” that slowly increased the pressure on later books. You then get a heavy weight author who refuses to play ball and just writes the novel they wanted to write take it or leave it (knowing they will take it as otherwise it will be another two years before they see anything) and the “plot debt” is too huge.

 

I don’t believe all, or even most, of the fault lies with Abnett. However, he could have said “are you fekking joking Mr Editor? You need me to cover ALL that AND write the book I want to write? You let Aaron write the book he wanted!”

Edited June 7, 2023 by DukeLeto69

[Nagashsnee]

@DukeLeto69 see that argument is solid, until it is cross examined with the book Abnett did write, which goes out of its way to NOT pay off any of the debt.  I 100% agree that ADB wrote what he wanted to write . But Dan the man double down on this line, the perpetuals are his baby and at this point he could get them off the ride at any point, he can have them show up to the spirit or anywhere else without any real effort or straining the plot with minimal pages and fuss. But he doesnt. Zephon and Rann did not need 100 odd pages of bolter porn, we have had plenty with them in previous books, the siege, the state of terra and palace has also been build up steadily. But Dan re did it all with them anyhow. Having Loken and sinderman and co do all their library adventures is fun set up, but book 8 cant have set up and also serve as the final book. The previous 7 books set up the siege for the end, but Abnett now has to get HIS personal toys in line for his ending. 

 

I dont blame any of them, its more or less the same people who have been making the major decisions both in and about the books since day 1. Why would they suddenly become well organized, plot driven and goal oriented now?   They are the people who made, sustained and protected the plot debt, its their love child, every single one of them lives in a giant glass house and no one should expect any of them of even dreaming of picking up a rock. 

 

 

Edited June 7, 2023 by Nagashsnee

[Inferno XXVth]

I feel like people are reading way too much in one Amazon blurb and one cover. The idea of 800 pages spent aboard the Vengenful Spirit without concluding the story, it's too staggeringly absurd to be believed without some actual evidence.