Lelith Hesperax

[aa.logan]

So I was looking for the thread on this, but there must have only been the somewhat detailed and often locked one over in News & Rumours.

 

Let’s start afresh.

 

On a ‘Characters’ series scale of Ghazghull (good, absolutely essential reading for anyone) to Shadowsun (alright, I guess…)  it’s certainly closer to Ork than T’au. It’s an enjoyable book, which gives a really good overview of life in Commoragh, and would serve as an excellent introduction to the faction for a newcomer. Most tabletop units get a moment to shine, but it doesn’t feel like an advert. I’ve not (yet) read anything else featuring the Y’narri, but Mike Brooks introduces them well- we get glimpses of what everyday life is like for them and how they interact with the older branches of the Eldar tree. 
 

It feels different to a lot of Mike Brooks’ other works; darker in tone with less of the flippancy- I can’t think of a line of dialogue that went anywhere near being a quip, despite there being a fair amount of verbal sparring. The book delivers on the hoped-for politicking, Dark Eldar-style, showing us both how Vect maintains control and how those beneath him jostle for power. More surprisingly, it features one of the most compelling inter-personal relationships I’ve encountered in 40k- in his afterword Brooks notes how atypical this must be in Drukhari culture but makes a strong argument for why he featured it -

Hesperax is one of the few Dark Eldar strong enough to be able to show weakness. The book meditates on what each of the Aeldari factions must sacrifice to survive in the grim darkness of the far future, and how this must effect individuals.

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The sensuality of the Drukhari is front and centre in this book, we see their relationship with pain and suffering and how even witnessing it has a visceral effect on them. The book also covers other extremes of sensation that the dark kin seek out, and gets closer to any BL book that I’ve read of featuring a sex scene, though the camera tastefully pans to the curtains as the (presumed) orgy gets underway, we do return to a tangle of exhausted bodies shortly after- what actually happens is left to the reader’s imagination.

 

Oversll a great book, and one that has got me hankering to get underway with the Eldar kitbash project I’ve been hoarding models for literally years now, and got me considering adding at least one Succubus kit to, so I guess job done.

[wecanhaveallthree]

Didn't know this one was out yet - I'll have to scurry down to the local wordsmith and see if they can bash one out for me.

 

Pretty keen to see how the Drukhari and Ynnari conflict in this.

[theSpirea]

Only LE is out, regular edition should be coming out end of July/beginning of August

[Krelious]

I read it, while its pretty competent, I think too much of the book is flowery exposition of Leliths internal state or Dark Eldar politics, often Mike Brooks devotes entire pages to him describing what Drukhari thought process is about only for him to go BUUUT since its Lelith she gets to do everything because shes special. I mean not to spoil anything but the entire book comes across like if Lelith wants to get away from one Eldar so she can go have some dom romances and murderlust sprees in Commaragh, you get no shortage of the idea that Lelith is more of a fighter than a politician which honestly doesnt make much sense as shes the leader of a Wych cult and she seems quite capable of negotiating and understanding power dynamics so I think in a certain sense she has no ambitions beyond just leading her own cult and not dying. So my big problem of this book is that Lelith literally announces im a fighter not a politician, I just want to fight because thats what im good at, and I feel like instead of having her say that in the most hamfisted way possible why not just have her act it out and let the reader decide for themselves what the action tells about the character...

 

I think Mike Brooks in this book suffers from a lot of tell, not showing instead of the other way around. Often we spend entire pages being told who Lelith is or what Drukhari society is like or other Eldar societies are like, its just mountains of expository information that is not given action to us in the form of environmental story telling or action.  Again I wouldnt say I hated the book but I think it perhaps lends to the idea that unless you're Gav Thorpe it would be hard to write a boring Dark Eldar book, in that I think in general the overall plot surrounding Lilith   like where she is at and the major lore characters she interacts with and the nature of the Eldar means the story is by proximity interesting. 

 

I'd also say in general the story doesnt really do much and kinda just baits you in with a major lore plot point and then segways into another plot that takes up the rest of the novel which is like hey we havent forgotten about this but since the book is only 180 pages we cant really cover major lore. Its kinda like if space Lord of the RIngs turned into a seinfeld episode with murder and raiding because fundamentally this is a book about nothing. Nothing really happens and its basically just moving the main character from point A to point B and then resolving the Status quo. 

 

Its a fun little read ill give it that and its not say a disspointing popcorn slog like the Dark Imperium series or the later Indomitus novels.  I'd give it a 7.5/10 with the caveat that its more enjoyable than other 7.5 books but overall im just not impressed with it and im not left with any real WOW moments. Its more like a consistent stream of well okay thats kinda neat. Id also say Mike Brooks is a competent writer in nothing really glares out at me as being wrong, the book has good flow and pacing,  its just again a lot of this book is expository information where I think it would have lent well to having more dialogue and more action so really my major critisism is that I disagree with his choice of style which also infrequently contradicts what hes trying to portray.  I mean we are told that Commaragh is a dark city, we are told it has unnatural edges and weird geometry but we arent actually given a description of what that looks like or how it effects the character interacting in this environment, its just okay this is what this is like this is what this is, this is how this plays out, this is how this is done, dont show weakness. I mean all it could have taken is for one fight scene to display how odd Commaragh is, just one example of a contradiction is that Mike Brooks goes out of his way to describe what a Daemonette is, and what fighting one is like, and how demons dont obey any natural rules so fighting them is a bit odd sometimes, specifically mentioning they might not die when their heads are cut off or normal anatomy doesn't apply to them, and then he has Lelith fight them and its treated like a normal fight with normal physics and they die when their throats are slit...um lol wut. But again id just say that's a nit pick, I was still entertained reading the novel.

 

I'd hope that my review is vague enough to not spoil anything while providing people with some insight if they want to pick it up in the future.  Essentially im just kinda happy with this book because at least its not Gav Thorpe and its short enough so its not a slog. Fundamentally though given the subject matter in this case I actually did want a longer story. 

[Roomsky]

Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knoifs - Mike Brooks

 

Still waiting on an easily accessible reprint of the Path of the Dark Eldar omnibus. Until then, this is a pretty good appetizer. Brooks remains a very reliable author who establishes the baseline I need out of a BL book (with the occasional excellent book, like his work with the Alpha Legion.)

 

I kind of just have to face the fact that getting dedicated xenos fiction means I won't get a convincingly alien mindset I crave (TDK came closest, IMO.) Once I accepted that, I enjoyed this quite a bit. Lelith is a great pick for a Dark Eldar POV because she craves simplicity - it would be very easy to undersell the byzantine plotting of Comorragh with a character who's supposed to be a political animal - but Lelith is actively trying (and failing) to avoid politics, so any lack of complexity is much easier to swallow.

 

I also find this book works much better than Brooks' Huron novel, because

1: Lelith's fame is due to her lethality, which is much easier to capture than mental acuity (Huron read as a typical Chaos lord instead of one of the coolest characters in the setting, IMO,) and

2: the plot is actually appropriate to the length of the book. 200 pages was just right for this, a tale of someone who just wants to stab rubbing up against problems that cannot be stabbed.

 

Speaking of which, it was a great call to make Lelith's character journey mostly divorced from direct threats to her person. Lelith Hesperax is obviously not going to get killed in a Black Library novel, especially not one with her name on it. But losing her standing as Vect's favoured fighter? Failing to spare someone she'd really prefer not to kill? Both are things that could go either way, and so the conflict remains meaningful. Speaking of conflict, while I'm always a fan of Brooks' action scenes, it does unfortunately mean that battles outside of the books' climax are basically just page filler (only the opening battle sequence OR the Craftworld raid were required to show how competent a fighter Lelith is.)

 

Still, very solid book. The Ynnari were a bit wasted, their existence kicks the plot into motion but they don't really participate beyond the opening chapter (though their existence does lead to some interesting character work for Lelith,) but I don't have much else to complain about. The pacing is good, there are sufficient power-plays, backstabbings, and plots to make it appropriately Dark Eldar-y, and I really did want to see Lelith succeed. IMO, every faction should have an easy book that curious readers can dip their toe into, and this fits the bill for the Dark Eldar nicely.

 

7/10, It's good!

To Taste, it's Brooks!

[byrd9999]

11 hours ago, Roomsky said:

Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knoifs - Mike Brooks

 

a tale of someone who just wants to stab rubbing up against problems that cannot be stabbed.

Brilliant!

 

This should be the back-cover blurb!

[The Scorpion]

All reviews so far are accurate summaries, but this book suffers in my opinion from the fact that it truly reads like a comission. Like homework. Like BL told Mike "you gotta write a book about Lelith" and he said "sure thing boss" and did it, and the book does it's job but little else. I might be wrong here but it is how it feels.

 

Al BL books are like this, but some books also feel like an author's personal passion project.

 

This story has a lot of telling over showing. Lelith's thoughts are laid out very flatly in this book. It feels like a borderline documentary in Dark Eldar society at times.

 

By comparaison, the Deldar portions of "Da Big Dakka" (also by Brooks) were more fun to read about in my opinion. They were more subtle with the thematics, and the ironic parallels with the Orks were at times darkly comedic.

Edited August 28 by The Scorpion