Black Library fiction Dawn of Fire - Sea of Souls + Roadmap

[Noserenda]

I like the covers, its good to get a clear view of who and what is featuring in the book when its such a mixed series, wish it was more accurate sometimes ofc...

I think thats a Dark Kraken marine maybe? Not got any relevant white dwarves to hand to check.

Its not a bad series overall, just really inconsistent, even the (far and away) worst book in the series The Iron Kingdom has some great moments and characters, just awful execution and its put me off picking up the last book already, i may just wait out the ending if its that close and see if its worth my Audible credits or might go on offer!

Its good to see a roadmap, even if its still super vague with no dates or really any information past the final total as it really feels like things pop out of nowhere sometimes with BL.

 

12 hours ago, Nova-V said:

As someone who has a Sisters army and enough AoI to make an army I'm very interested in this book.  Seems to have a few bits that don't get covered often, plus I'm a sucker for big space ships.  I've not however read any of the rest of the series.  Obviously no one can say for sure but typically are the books in the series very interwoven or more standalone with a few references to one another?  This sounds like it will be a great read but I'm not reading the rest of the series just for it.

 

Its usually returning characters and events rather than a solid through line plot, though that may firm up for the last few, there are certainly factions up to things across the whole series. If you just want to follow Sororitas though, they are in most books if not all of them to some degree.

Id be surprised if you couldnt read this book standalone though.

[Gamiel]

9 hours ago, Tymell said:

 

Could maybe be a very dark green armour too, not that this suggests any other specifically to me.

 

The only ones I can see with dark armour and blue trim, though it's not a perfect fit, are the Astral Hawks.

Could be a Black Consul, they are black and show company with pauldron trim.

[Burni]

I was so hopeful for the series but I had to take a long reading break for every single book except the first and then force myself to finish (am still on that break for the latest book...) I just find them a bit of a slog compared to other BL books. 
 

My fav bits are always seeing RG’s thoughts and interactions with the current imperium (can you imagine waking up to that?!) but they can be few and far between.

 

I’ll wait for some reviews to see if I’ll bother with these.

[Orange Knight]

The books have a few key characters that are enjoyable to follow, but they may or may not appear in certain books.

 

The whole thing currently feels REALLY disjointed.

[Felix Antipodes]

12 hours ago, Orange Knight said:

The books have a few key characters that are enjoyable to follow, but they may or may not appear in certain books.

 

The whole thing currently feels REALLY disjointed.

 

Which is particularly disappointing considering the whole premise of Haley liaising with the design team/other writers to ensure the series hangs together well.

[burnside986]

On 9/6/2023 at 1:22 PM, lansalt said:

This could be the plot of The Golden Child, it even had a Star Child, a daemon priest, cultists, an Athame...in the Hymalazia.

 

Giiiivee me the kniiiiife
...
Pleaaaaase

Edited September 8, 2023 by burnside986

[Dried]

Does someone knows where to find a summary of each book?

I stopped after the 4th (for the reasons explained here) one but I'm quite intrigued by what's happening after that.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Dried

[Nephaston]

4 hours ago, Dried said:

Does someone knows where to find a summary of each book?

I stopped after the 4th (for the reasons explained here) one but I'm quite intrigued by what's happening after that.

Iron Kingdom: The crusade reaches the titular Iron Kingdom of Kamidar that managed to hold together relatively well but has a slight renegade problem. Features Fleet Primus, one of the Logos historica verita, Mordians from a previous book, Storm Reapers, Marine Malevolent, a Custodian, and of course the Knights of House Kamidar.

Spoiler

Small civil war after most of the imperials get red wedding'd that ends with all sides but chaos weaker, though one of the Mordians starts turning into a living saint and befriending a sister of silence. The main traitor knight ssurvives and falls fully to chaos.

 

Martyrs Tomb: Another Black Templars/Sisters of Battle Co-op unrelated to any previous BT and SoB characters, on a world of The "Golden Chain" under assault by the Death Guard, while Katla Helvintr from the Void King book tries to find a stable way into Nihilus for Guillidude.

Spoiler

Most of the BT abandon the world after the emperors champion sees a vision and go to find katla, while the sisters slowly lose ground until the last stand forces the main sister to get over her guilt and loss and go full living saint. The sisters and remaining citizens of the planets go save katla and the BT as an army of light and in a massive war of sacrifice force open a corridor near a necron tomb world.

 

That's basically the gist, Iron Kingdom is definitely a weaker book than Martyrs Tomb.

[LemanPuss]

I've found the series to be very underwhelming. 

[Gamiel]

I have to admitt that I have only read Avenging Son and Wolftime but I liked them both.

[Orange Knight]

49 minutes ago, LemanPuss said:

I've found the series to be very underwhelming. 

 

Yeah I think the issue is having a focus on too many characters in too many different places.

 

The Heresy is the same, but the main difference is the various characters are Primarchs or famous Marine characters that are already burned into the psyche of the readers.

 

The standouts in the Dawn of Fire are:

 

Guilliman (not seen him in the last 4 books)

Cawl (not seen him since book 1)

Inquisitor Rostov (he's there in every other, other book)

Kesh (again, stay on her more!)

 

Also, a bunch of the Logos Historica and Talons characters are good. It's just too disjointed as they drop in and our of books.

 

My hope is that as we approach the final few novels, everyone will finally converge.

[ThePenitentOne]

On 9/7/2023 at 7:11 AM, Orange Knight said:

The books have a few key characters that are enjoyable to follow, but they may or may not appear in certain books.

 

The whole thing currently feels REALLY disjointed.

 

This is why I haven't bothered. I want to read about Sisters and Imperial Agents. I'm not terribly interested in reading marines... Unless they're fighting alonside the aforementioned Sisters and Imperial Agents.

[OpossumStrong]

6 hours ago, ThePenitentOne said:

Unless they're fighting alonside the aforementioned Sisters and Imperial Agents.

Well you just described most of the books in the series