The End and the Death Part I, II, III, ...

[cheywood]

  On 10/28/2023 at 6:32 PM, rookie40K said:

Emperor’s teeth I thought it was out on audio this weekend!

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All BL releases are now on a two week preorder window. Would’ve been oh so helpful for BL to announce this. 

[Ubiquitous1984]

I was hoping a dozy retailer would have released it today, but looks like they’re all sticking to the two-week pre order window.  Shame!

[Marshal Loss]

I received a shipping confirmation from GW saying my limited edition had was in the post on Wednesday, so it should be here early this week and well before the two week mark - was the limited edition on a single week preorder?

[Ubiquitous1984]

Right, a couple of people on the Nutters group have posted photos of their books (both LE and regular hardback) so expect spoilers imminently.

[Scribe]

  On 10/28/2023 at 10:56 PM, Ubiquitous1984 said:

Right, a couple of people on the Nutters group have posted photos of their books (both LE and regular hardback) so expect spoilers imminently.

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[neOh (AV)]

  On 10/28/2023 at 10:56 PM, Ubiquitous1984 said:

Right, a couple of people on the Nutters group have posted photos of their books (both LE and regular hardback) so expect spoilers imminently.

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So it begins! Hopefully these people will post the illustrations too

[Dried]

  On 10/28/2023 at 9:38 PM, Marshal Loss said:

I received a shipping confirmation from GW saying my limited edition had was in the post on Wednesday, so it should be here early this week and well before the two week mark - was the limited edition on a single week preorder?

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Strange, mine is still waiting to be shipped.

Edited October 29, 2023 by Dried

[Sothalor]

I think it's more probable the GW Order Fulfillment Abominable Intelligence is up to its inconstant shenanigans again.

[Vassakov]

I picked mine up on Friday, presently ⅔ of the way through.

 

I am enjoying it though!

[Shadowshand]

  On 10/29/2023 at 9:42 AM, Vassakov said:

I picked mine up on Friday, presently ⅔ of the way through.

 

I am enjoying it though!

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Don't hesitate to share any information here, and with spoiler tags!

[Noot_Gunray]

  On 10/29/2023 at 9:42 AM, Vassakov said:

I picked mine up on Friday, presently ⅔ of the way through.

 

I am enjoying it though!

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If you got a pic of the map in the LE, I'd love to see it!

[Scribe]

As long as the fight isnt horrifically retconned, I am not sure what can even be done in this book, knowing the actual climax is next.

 

But yes, get them spoilers flowing.

[neOh (AV)]

  On 10/28/2023 at 10:56 PM, Ubiquitous1984 said:

Right, a couple of people on the Nutters group have posted photos of their books (both LE and regular hardback) so expect spoilers imminently.

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So... Is there any updates from BL Nutters?

[Misterduch]

I am just lurking here for the spoilers lol.

 

I am so far behind HH that it's gonna take me a few more years to get to the SoT

[Noot_Gunray]

Some art from the BL Nutters page

  Reveal hidden contents

 

[neOh (AV)]

  On 10/29/2023 at 7:41 PM, Noot_Gunray said:

Some art from the BL Nutters page

  Reveal hidden contents

 

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Wow! Roboute is really good. But Omegon... I don't know, he's nice too, but kind of strange. Anyway, I think we'll get the Big E himself and Malcador/Valdor portraits in volume 3

[Vassakov]

Right, abandon hope all ye who read this. Spoilers below...

 

  Reveal hidden contents

So then, this to me is definitely a "vibes" book - a lot of it is focused on how characters are feeling as the world ends, and there's a sense of desperate melancholy. It's principally told from the point of view of the loyalists, though Abbadon gets a few chapters as well, and there is a bit from Horus (interestingly largely in second person, which makes it feel very different).

 

There are a couple of threads that are core to the book - Sanguinius' journey to Horus is one, but smaller than you might think (despite it taking 600 pages of 741 to get there) but the meat of the story is The Dark King thread.

 

So... I know we're under spoiler tags here, but this is your final warning. If you have any intention of reading this book, I would firmly advise you to stop now and come back later.

 

All good? OK... let us begin.

 

As might be expected, this picks up more or less immediately after Vol 1. With the Emperor away, the Throne and Malcador are failing and alongside it, reality itself. Geography, time, space - all are broken. Loken opening a door and finding himself on the Vengeful Spirit isn't some fluke of plot armour, it's literally the plot of this book. Characters end up where they don't expect, and time and space eventually fold to the point that the Spirit, the Palace and the shattered approaches all "occupied the same coordinates" - though all of the instruments are also useless.

 

Chaos and the Warp are seeping into the very bones of the Palace... and the Palace, for all intents and purposes falls. From within. The traitor host is quite literally coming out of the walls, and only really the Throne room remains unviolated. The implication is that Horus' ascension has made him a functional God, and he can now bend reality itself to his will (but I'm sure Sanguinius will be fine...) and is essentially shredding reality around him, now that the majority of Terra's defences are gone. 

 

Admist all of this, the Emperor presses onwards to his wayward son. He's essentially just in the Warp... and here's the thing. The Emperor stole power from the Warp once. He can do it again. And so, whilst most of the characters think that the prophecy of the Dark King is what will happen if Horus wins. And maybe it could have been.

 

But it's not. The Emperor draws deep of the Warp and becomes something... else. A black void of power and wrath and devastation. Something that leaves bits of the traitors fleeing, and annihilates whatever stands against him. Even were he to win, humanity would lose. His apotheosis would be specifies doom as much as Horus'.

 

Eventually, Loken joins with what's left of the Companions, after beating Samus on the Vengeful Spirit. The companions themselves run afoul of Erebus, leaving only Leetu, Grammaticus and Ollinius alive and Actae buried under a small mountain, technically alive as a perpetual but very unhappy.) They manage to essentially talk the Emperor down from using this power to destroy Horus - and thr chapters describing this are excellent - and he relinquishes it and prepares to face Horus. Loken and Leetu accompany him, whilst Ollianius and Grammaticus go back into the maze of the Palace/Vengeful Spirit to ensure they can follow their own breadcrumbs to stop the Emperor because time is a mess. 

 

The other thread concerns Sanguinius, who is fairly swiftly separated from his host and then runs into something that purports to be Ferrus Manus. His explanation for this is that Horus is now so powerful that he can pluck lost souls from the empyrean and restore them (though he's definitely not quite right) and Sanguinius and Manus discuss the chain of events leading them here, what happens next and whether or not Horus will convince him to join the traitors. You see, Horus is at this stage mostly separated from reality and is planning to offer Sanguinius, Dorn, Valdor and the Emperor seats at his side in service of him as new servants of the ruinous powers (Nurgle, Khorne, Tzeentch and Slannesh if you were wondering.) 

 

There's actually a fairly interesting duality here between Horus and the Emperor- Horus is now ascended to true God-like power, but is very much fettered by a mortal perspective whereas the Emperor has the perspective and arrogance of a God, but sets aside the power for the future of humanity (though he of course remains absurdly potent anyway.)

 

Sanguinius makes his way to Horus, they briefly chat, then Sanguinius basically takes Horus apart using his speed, flight and fury. He has the arch traitor on his knees, bleeding and carved open, and prepares to put Encarnmine through him.

 

At which point Horus blocks the strike, stands up and murders Sanguinius. Turns out that he was holding back in the hopes his brother might relent, and he really didn't want to kill Sanguinius, unlike the others. We get it from Horus' perspective and it is brutal. The book ends with Horus shattering Sanguinius' spine, ribs and neck with one twist of the Talon and leaving his broken body to be displayed on the bridge.

 

Other bits of note:

 

Dorn spends the entire book in the red desert refusing to submit to Khorne. It is implied he's been there millennia by his perspective. He is released when the Emperor's relinquishing of Psychic powers essentially shorts out the prison he's in, and finds Actae buried in the ruins. 

 

Valdor is trapped fighting Daemons and its implied he perceives only 62 seconds of combat.

 

I still don't know what the point of the Basil Fo arc is.

 

Vulkan enacts The Unspoken Sanction to support Malacador and hates himself for it.

 

Sigismund is a badass, saves Keeler and a procession of pilgrims from the Sons of Horus.

 

The Dark Angels under Corswain and Cypher continue fending off the Death Guard near the Astronomicon. Typhus uses sorcery to mess with the librarians and sets the work to restore the beacon back.

 

Ahriman turns up in the vault/library where Sinderman and Loken were, is polite but sassy. 

 

Erebus remains a dick. This is not a spoiler.

 

I am going to say that I have summarised a 741 page novel slightly sardonically, so I have not done it justice. I would throughly, throughly recommend it.

 

[Scribe]

Uh...ok?

 

The power of friendship I guess.

 

Appreciate the highlights @Vassakov

[DarkChaplain]

  Reveal hidden contents

Of course we needed Samus to turn back up just to get his bum handed to him yet again.

 

So Vulkan actually triggers that amulet thing and thus the Terminus Protocol to blow up Terra, or am I misunderstanding that?

 

[Scribe]

@DarkChaplain I think its.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Vulkan, the 'we love humans' being forced to burn through innocent psykers to help keep the throne going.

 

[Vassakov]

  On 10/29/2023 at 9:06 PM, Scribe said:

@DarkChaplain I think its.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Vulkan, the 'we love humans' being forced to burn through innocent psykers to help keep the throne going.

 

Expand  

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Yes, this correct. The Terminus Degree remains unspecified and probably will do so for the future.

 

[wecanhaveallthree]

The power of friendship, indeed.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I could not be less enthused for this last-minute Dark King stuff. I was hoping the Siege would end with a culmination of plots and themes from the Heresy, but it's like... just whatever Abnett felt like, I guess. I've been checked out of the Siege for a good long while now, so maybe I'm missing 'the vibe' (it's Mabo! It's the Constitution!) but this feels majorly lame.

 

[Scribe]

  Reveal hidden contents

Does the text actually say that the Emperor 'empowers himself off the Warp' or some such, before he is of course brought back off the edge by the power of Ol's friendship?

 

I also find it eyebrow raise worthy that he lets Horus get beat up, until Horus decides to end it. Shades of the original story of the Emperor vs Horus of course.

 

I'm going to buy it, but 750 pages to get the above seems...just...

 

[neOh (AV)]

  On 10/29/2023 at 8:10 PM, Vassakov said:

Right, abandon hope all ye who read this. Spoilers below...

 

  Reveal hidden contents

So then, this to me is definitely a "vibes" book - a lot of it is focused on how characters are feeling as the world ends, and there's a sense of desperate melancholy. It's principally told from the point of view of the loyalists, though Abbadon gets a few chapters as well, and there is a bit from Horus (interestingly largely in second person, which makes it feel very different).

 

There are a couple of threads that are core to the book - Sanguinius' journey to Horus is one, but smaller than you might think (despite it taking 600 pages of 741 to get there) but the meat of the story is The Dark King thread.

 

So... I know we're under spoiler tags here, but this is your final warning. If you have any intention of reading this book, I would firmly advise you to stop now and come back later.

 

All good? OK... let us begin.

 

As might be expected, this picks up more or less immediately after Vol 1. With the Emperor away, the Throne and Malcador are failing and alongside it, reality itself. Geography, time, space - all are broken. Loken opening a door and finding himself on the Vengeful Spirit isn't some fluke of plot armour, it's literally the plot of this book. Characters end up where they don't expect, and time and space eventually fold to the point that the Spirit, the Palace and the shattered approaches all "occupied the same coordinates" - though all of the instruments are also useless.

 

Chaos and the Warp are seeping into the very bones of the Palace... and the Palace, for all intents and purposes falls. From within. The traitor host is quite literally coming out of the walls, and only really the Throne room remains unviolated. The implication is that Horus' ascension has made him a functional God, and he can now bend reality itself to his will (but I'm sure Sanguinius will be fine...) and is essentially shredding reality around him, now that the majority of Terra's defences are gone. 

 

Admist all of this, the Emperor presses onwards to his wayward son. He's essentially just in the Warp... and here's the thing. The Emperor stole power from the Warp once. He can do it again. And so, whilst most of the characters think that the prophecy of the Dark King is what will happen if Horus wins. And maybe it could have been.

 

But it's not. The Emperor draws deep of the Warp and becomes something... else. A black void of power and wrath and devastation. Something that leaves bits of the traitors fleeing, and annihilates whatever stands against him. Even were he to win, humanity would lose. His apotheosis would be specifies doom as much as Horus'.

 

Eventually, Loken joins with what's left of the Companions, after beating Samus on the Vengeful Spirit. The companions themselves run afoul of Erebus, leaving only Leetu, Grammaticus and Ollinius alive and Actae buried under a small mountain, technically alive as a perpetual but very unhappy.) They manage to essentially talk the Emperor down from using this power to destroy Horus - and thr chapters describing this are excellent - and he relinquishes it and prepares to face Horus. Loken and Leetu accompany him, whilst Ollianius and Grammaticus go back into the maze of the Palace/Vengeful Spirit to ensure they can follow their own breadcrumbs to stop the Emperor because time is a mess. 

 

The other thread concerns Sanguinius, who is fairly swiftly separated from his host and then runs into something that purports to be Ferrus Manus. His explanation for this is that Horus is now so powerful that he can pluck lost souls from the empyrean and restore them (though he's definitely not quite right) and Sanguinius and Manus discuss the chain of events leading them here, what happens next and whether or not Horus will convince him to join the traitors. You see, Horus is at this stage mostly separated from reality and is planning to offer Sanguinius, Dorn, Valdor and the Emperor seats at his side in service of him as new servants of the ruinous powers (Nurgle, Khorne, Tzeentch and Slannesh if you were wondering.) 

 

There's actually a fairly interesting duality here between Horus and the Emperor- Horus is now ascended to true God-like power, but is very much fettered by a mortal perspective whereas the Emperor has the perspective and arrogance of a God, but sets aside the power for the future of humanity (though he of course remains absurdly potent anyway.)

 

Sanguinius makes his way to Horus, they briefly chat, then Sanguinius basically takes Horus apart using his speed, flight and fury. He has the arch traitor on his knees, bleeding and carved open, and prepares to put Encarnmine through him.

 

At which point Horus blocks the strike, stands up and murders Sanguinius. Turns out that he was holding back in the hopes his brother might relent, and he really didn't want to kill Sanguinius, unlike the others. We get it from Horus' perspective and it is brutal. The book ends with Horus shattering Sanguinius' spine, ribs and neck with one twist of the Talon and leaving his broken body to be displayed on the bridge.

 

Other bits of note:

 

Dorn spends the entire book in the red desert refusing to submit to Khorne. It is implied he's been there millennia by his perspective. He is released when the Emperor's relinquishing of Psychic powers essentially shorts out the prison he's in, and finds Actae buried in the ruins. 

 

Valdor is trapped fighting Daemons and its implied he perceives only 62 seconds of combat.

 

I still don't know what the point of the Basil Fo arc is.

 

Vulkan enacts The Unspoken Sanction to support Malacador and hates himself for it.

 

Sigismund is a badass, saves Keeler and a procession of pilgrims from the Sons of Horus.

 

The Dark Angels under Corswain and Cypher continue fending off the Death Guard near the Astronomicon. Typhus uses sorcery to mess with the librarians and sets the work to restore the beacon back.

 

Ahriman turns up in the vault/library where Sinderman and Loken were, is polite but sassy. 

 

Erebus remains a dick. This is not a spoiler.

 

I am going to say that I have summarised a 741 page novel slightly sardonically, so I have not done it justice. I would throughly, throughly recommend it.

 

Expand  

Thank you for spoilers! If it's not too much to ask, could you please take a photos of the black&white illustrations? Or tell what they depict? I'm very curious to see what Savier has drawn this time.

[StrangerOrders]

The most perplexing part of that write up:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Its great of the Emperor to give up power and all of that but.... isn't being an arrogant son of an expletive the entire point of his character? I am really interested how on earth that is executed on to make it remotely believable. If the man was actually possible to talk down then didn't Erda try that before tossing 20 demigods into the fing warp?!?!

 

I had assumed it was supposed to be literally impossible to reason with him for giving the pantheon twenty godlings to be the preferable option... And Abnett was the one that brought both of these lines of reasoning into existence in the first place!

 

Still, it sounds like a fantastic 150 page novella! Really excited to hear what happens on the other 600 pages and entire subsequent book that were clearly necessary! 

Edited October 29, 2023 by StrangerOrders