Genefather by Guy Haley

[Matcap86]

1 hour ago, Nagashsnee said:

This can hardly be pinned at the book or its author. Modern 40k lore IS small lore. Names characters are everywhere and can travel anywhere at will,  200 year time skips without a single notable marine death (safest profession in the galaxy) ,  high lords of terra on the front lines  and multiple primarchs leading the charge. 

 

Post primaris/time jump 40k HAS been made smaller by design. Sure there is still plenty of BL novels without the main dudes, but the 'main' story progression is 100% named character driven, always constantly and at no fear of anyone suffering any actual ill effects. 

 

Ragnar chops Gaz head off while taking mortal blows? Both ok!

Calgar goes mano a mano vs Abaddon, no issues either way see you all next time! 

Baal is invaded and the chapters suffer more loses in a day then the last 2 centuries? Again no issues for anyone of note. 

 

The main studio has decreed 40k be made to spin around named characters and primarchs and that means the galaxy NEEDS to be smaller and safer. 

 

And while i hate it with every fiber of my being its not this books fault.  If anything having Cawl admit in stages  that he did not in fact invent everything but instead has HUGE teams behind him/stealing any science not nailed down was something Haley has been doing in every Cawl book (or books with him like Darkness in the Blood and the new battle barges). 

 

It seems that you label the 40k books/events put out by the game design studio or connected to model releases as the 'main' lore. Honestly as they're often so poorly done and only put out to give models a place to bounce off eachother, I tend to ignore those. 

 

As you said there are plenty of books that don't have that issue post time skip. Heck the Minka Lesk series initially deals with the fall of Cadia, one of the pivotal happenings post time jump and yet 0 random primarch jumps in to save the day. 

 

I want more of those books and I don't believe authors aren't capable or forbidden by the studio to make them. 

 

I do think you put into perspective why I didn't like this book: it's too much like a blurb from a codex but with more pages.

Edited February 26 by Matcap86

[Nagashsnee]

2 hours ago, Matcap86 said:

 

It seems that you label the 40k books/events put out by the game design studio or connected to model releases as the 'main' lore. Honestly as they're often so poorly done and only put out to give models a place to bounce off eachother, I tend to ignore those. 

 

As you said there are plenty of books that don't have that issue post time skip. Heck the Minka Lesk series initially deals with the fall of Cadia, one of the pivotal happenings post time jump and yet 0 random primarch jumps in to save the day. 

 

I want more of those books and I don't believe authors aren't capable or forbidden by the studio to make them. 

 

I do think you put into perspective why I didn't like this book: it's too much like a blurb from a codex but with more pages.

As far as i know (and i may be wrong here) the main studio 'sets' the lore, and BL then explores and expands it (and valiantly tries to make it make some basic sense). Sure BL may make up characters or minor events. But the course of the story is not set by them. 

 

If tomorrow the main studio decides to bring back Sanguinius or have Dante proclaim 'somehow Horus returned' BL just has to live with it. But BL itself doesn't get bring him back UNLESS the main studio wants/is planning it. The whole thing is built around miniatures, and thus mini production/design sets the stage. 

 

I 100% agree wit you on Minka Lesk, the best BL books are the ones that take place around major events but never 'in' them. So you get the freedom to make your own story and set firm roots in the main story.  

 

As for this book, while i love it and the great work, it is very much 100% damage control on Cawl. GW dropped this figure who was so poorly written 'he made new marines, and tanks, and guns, and ships, and armors, and .... by the 100s of thousands in TOTAL SECRET!,  he is 10000 years old, he knew the Emperor, he was on the original astartes project, etc etc etc'  and BL wisely saw the need to come in and add some sanity/logic and context to make him a even by 40k standard believable Character. 

 

However i like it BECAUSE its damage control, its someone seeing those silly blurbs and realizing they NEED to be fixed, and i think both books generally succeed in that.  By the end of book 2 Cawl has been made in a fun, feasible character with accomplishments that make some degree of sense and the best Marketing campaign the Galaxy has ever seen!. 

Edited February 26 by Nagashsnee

[Matcap86]

1 hour ago, Nagashsnee said:

As far as i know (and i may be wrong here) the main studio 'sets' the lore, and BL then explores and expands it (and valiantly tries to make it make some basic sense). Sure BL may make up characters or minor events. But the course of the story is not set by them. 

 

If tomorrow the main studio decides to bring back Sanguinius or have Dante proclaim 'somehow Horus returned' BL just has to live with it. But BL itself doesn't get bring him back UNLESS the main studio wants/is planning it. The whole thing is built around miniatures, and thus mini production/design sets the stage. 

 

I 100% agree wit you on Minka Lesk, the best BL books are the ones that take place around major events but never 'in' them. So you get the freedom to make your own story and set firm roots in the main story.  

 

As for this book, while i love it and the great work, it is very much 100% damage control on Cawl. GW dropped this figure who was so poorly written 'he made new marines, and tanks, and guns, and ships, and armors, and .... by the 100s of thousands in TOTAL SECRET!,  he is 10000 years old, he knew the Emperor, he was on the original astartes project, etc etc etc'  and BL wisely saw the need to come in and add some sanity/logic and context to make him a even by 40k standard believable Character. 

 

However i like it BECAUSE its damage control, its someone seeing those silly blurbs and realizing they NEED to be fixed, and i think both books generally succeed in that.  By the end of book 2 Cawl has been made in a fun, feasible character with accomplishments that make some degree of sense and the best Marketing campaign the Galaxy has ever seen!. 

 

Though I still don't like the book, I agree that the author got dealt a bad hand in needing to fix the silly choices of the design studio. I can appreciate the perspective of applauding what they've done with the character which got suddenly thrust forward without an inkling of thought by others, but the end result still falls flat to me.  

 

I'm mostly critical as I honestly liked the Great Work and this book felt like a significant step back compared to that one. 

 

 

[Urauloth]

On 2/26/2024 at 11:31 AM, Nagashsnee said:

As for this book, while i love it and the great work, it is very much 100% damage control on Cawl. GW dropped this figure who was so poorly written 'he made new marines, and tanks, and guns, and ships, and armors, and .... by the 100s of thousands in TOTAL SECRET!,  he is 10000 years old, he knew the Emperor, he was on the original astartes project, etc etc etc'  and BL wisely saw the need to come in and add some sanity/logic and context to make him a even by 40k standard believable Character. 

 

However i like it BECAUSE its damage control, its someone seeing those silly blurbs and realizing they NEED to be fixed, and i think both books generally succeed in that.  By the end of book 2 Cawl has been made in a fun, feasible character with accomplishments that make some degree of sense and the best Marketing campaign the Galaxy has ever seen!. 

I'll second this, some of Guy's most impressive work has been his ability to actually sell me on this character and make me feel like he's an organic part of the setting instead of just springing forth fully formed from the forehead of the design studio overnight.