BL Morvenn Vahl Spear of Faith

[Nagashsnee]

Ok so i looked at the first 2 pages and did not see a thread so here we go.  Morvenn Vahl Spear of FaithBy Jude Reid. 

 

I am going to go deep into spoilers, but a general overview of my thoughts, the book is fine but the author does not understand certain aspects of 40k (space warfare) and the editors let them down big time ( i am starting to believe none of them do either). 

 

 

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Ok so the book plot is pretty simple. Morvenn fears that an attack on THE major cardinal world Ophelia IV by a saint hunting nigh lords warlord will succeed and sets out to stop it.  A simple plot i can 100% get behind. The issues arise immediately however when the other high lords fail to take the threat seriously and the book... makes them 100% correct to do so. The traitor force that is reported is a joke, as in, this should never have been a issue for a major imperial system that was only recently reinforced and fully expecting futher attacks. 

 

 

 So the 'killer of saints' has struck with a single strike cruiser. Now look i know traitor strike cruisers can be top notch ships with golden age crusade era weapons, systems and the like. Plus add in chaos growing and adding to this over thousands of years you get can get a monster that is up there. But its still at its heart a strike cruiser. Even magnified up to battleship capabilities it should not alone be able to threaten Ophilia IV. The church may mess around with little things like helping the poor and doing their jobs, security tho? The book even remembers that they were recently attacked and reinforced by the Black Templars. 

 

Ok whatever the attack happens off screen, so the Night Lords yada yadad the orbital defenses, templar ships, and whatever navy and system defences forces existing. And i guess that strike cruiser had enough Marines on it to invade the planet and keep plenty on board (see why soon), plus support elements since you know they are invanding a planet that is heavily defended and battle tested plus reiforced. Ok not great but i can deal with it.  Enter Morvenn who makes best speed on  a Mars class Battlecruiser fresh from the heart of the Imperium Holy Terra itself.  Which enters the system and immediately tried to hide from the night lords and sneak Morvenn onto the planet. Leading to my second question....why? You have a better ship, you have long range lances, and a nova cannon, you have Morvenn herself an her host of sisters to function as a counter boarding force plus whatever normal force the ship has.  The book argues that they must ensure Morvenn gets to the surface, so what is the missions? Cause if you are here to save the planet scoring a quick orbital supremacy is the way to go. They dont know you are there (or at least you believe so) and you have the perfect chance to get a engagement that plays to all your strengths. 

Ok characters make non logical choices all the time, and the book established Morvenn is not the most calm and logical of people (shocker for a sister of battle i know), how does it do this?

 

Enter the high lords of terra at council, a scene that can be summed up as Morvenn angrily demanding a direct military intervention at Ophelia by terra based on....trust me bros. And the High Lords turn this request down citing the existing forces there are more then capable of handling a Night Lords warband. Morvenn passionate argument of 'there not enough,  source trust me' falls on largely uncaring ears. As it damn right should. Heck i would argue a battlecruiser, Morvenn and her sister force IS direct military intervention and more then would be waranted, the battlecruiser alone is enough to radically change a conflict, all it needed was some escorts and she already got what she wanted.  Anyhow  then the sneak attempt fails and we enter the 'i have no idea how space battles work in 40k and my editors did not care enough to help me' stage of the book and i am going to be honest as a die hard Battlefleet Gothic fan it was painful. Made more so the by the lack of any attempt to build up the strike cruiser to be something more then a strike cruiser (ala night lord books). Instead the night lords board the battle cruiser with ease, the sisters all jump ship (BUT WHY?) and in no time at all the ship must be blown up least it fall into enemy hands. This in the space of what the book makes feel like under 30 mins.  And its made worse by how they talk about the mars class being a custom upgraded VIP carrying security ship. And it goes down faster then a ork escort attempting to ram a retribution class battleship on lock on. 

 

The book itself is fine, a by the numbers  meet Morvenn angry sister of battle number 3235131 Vahl, but it suffers from lack of scale (1 strike cruiser and whatever it can hold/land vs the single most important Church planet plus marines)  and the editors failing to step in offer knowledge that would enhance the story without changing it.  I will be honest i gave up when she jumped ship (about 1/3) of the way in and have no real desire to go back. I just find the whole thing pointless, there are no real threats, it feels like like a this is less a story i am organically going thru and more like a park ride, I am on the train, I vaguely know what i am going to see and what will happen and i am in no mood to actually go thru with it anymore.   it could very well turn around and become a fantastic read once they reach the ground, but my interest died in orbit with that poor poor Mars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2024 by Nagashsnee

[grailkeeper]

I like this author. We follow each other on twitter. I have yet to read this but I've started to see a LOT of threads for other books where people are saying the editors did a bad job. The End and the Death is probably the biggest example.

Edited September 16, 2024 by grailkeeper

[Nagashsnee]

  On 9/16/2024 at 8:12 AM, grailkeeper said:

I like this author. We follow each other on twitter. I have yet to read this but I've started to see a LOT of threads where people are saying the editors did a bad job. The End and the Death is probably the biggest example.

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I cant imagine going into a established setting is easy, the amount of reading would be large, and then you got the more obscure parts of any setting. No new author (to the setting) can or should be expected to become a walking knowledge fountain. And while i imagine there are general info packets they are given much will come down to them looking into stuff. But in the end the only real line of correction will be the editorial staff.  Especially for things like warhammer that has a weird mix of hard facts (power armor is powered) and rule of cool (chainswords). 

 

Its funny you bring up End an the Death as one of its first lore issues was again space related with the number of Gloriana ships being a \quick google search away too far.  

 

Its also worth noting that for the majority this kinda stuff wont matter, like who honestly cares if a Mars Class Battlecruiser outweights and outguns a marine strike cruiser, and how the number and type of loyalist troops onboard plus the specific ships capabilities (strong turret system plus available fighter wings) would make boarding from whatever is left on the strike cruiser (it is remember in the middle of invading a planet) a tough (but not impossible ) sale.  But i love BFG, and was genuinely excited at the setup presented and the ways it might be overcome/solved. And was just left disappointed. 

 

Again tho this is not in the least the focus of the book, and will likely not even annoy most.

 

Personally the very easy solution is to give the night lords a bigger ships/escorts or have them take a lesser ship (light cruiser) which would make the need to sneak in rather then try to contest orbit justified. If you dont want to change anything have someone remark on the dead ships (both sides) scattered about and how it must have been a tough fight. 

Edited September 16, 2024 by Nagashsnee

[grailkeeper]

It's not just 40k lore problems. A lot of stuff in BL novels needs to be reworked by an editor. Mike Brooks, for example, has sentences that are far too long. The End and the Death should have been pruned back and released as one book, not three bloated books. I think GW has someone whose job it is to make sure that the lore is correct or at least somewhat consistent. I doubt they check every Black Library book though. A good editor is like oxygen. You dont notice them but you certainly notice their absence.

Edited September 16, 2024 by grailkeeper

[darkhorse0607]

I feel like, even though I'm a fan of them, the Night Lords weren't the best narrative choice for invading an ultra religious planet.

 

"We have come for you" they say while screeching

 

"Our faith in the Emperor takes away all darkness traitors"

 

Etc.

 

Still that's not based on anything because I haven't read it yet. I just feel like it's an interesting choice

[DarkChaplain]

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I will be honest i gave up when she jumped ship (about 1/3) of the way in and have no real desire to go back. I just find the whole thing pointless, there are no real threats, it feels like like a this is less a story i am organically going thru and more like a park ride, I am on the train, I vaguely know what i am going to see and what will happen and i am in no mood to actually go thru with it anymore.   it could very well turn around and become a fantastic read once they reach the ground, but my interest died in orbit with that poor poor Mars.

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Wait, did I read that correctly? You didn't actually finish the book?

 

I mean, at 1/3 through, a lot of books are barely through putting the pieces on the table, let alone the twist. Might it be that the book is luring you into a false sense of "they got this!" before rolling out the big guns?

[Nagashsnee]

  On 9/16/2024 at 12:57 PM, DarkChaplain said:

 

 

 

Wait, did I read that correctly? You didn't actually finish the book?

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Yeah, my free time is not as much as it used to be, TV shows get 2-4 episodes (depending on length) movies get 30ish mins. If I am not enjoying myself after a certain point I move on.  Plenty of books/shows/movies where I can enjoy myself the whole way thru.  Exceptions for so bad its good are of course made.  

 

Nothing drives me as crazy as hearing 'its gets good after season 1', like what? I have to sit thru 8-24 hours of bad to get to something that MIGHT be good? As I said in my original post I have no yearning to go back and finish it either. I dont even have the desire of a Kyme book, to finish it just so i can fairly rip it to pieces online ( Dawn of fire here i likely come again). Its not a bad book. its a fine, perfectly normal BL book, just not my cup of tea, and I am not a huge sisters guy. Was more curious for the background of the new high lord.  I am happy  to just  get the jist of the rest of the plot from you lot and reddit....its one of the reasons I made this thread haha. 

 

  On 9/16/2024 at 12:57 PM, DarkChaplain said:

I mean, at 1/3 through, a lot of books are barely through putting the pieces on the table, let alone the twist. Might it be that the book is luring you into a false sense of "they got this!" before rolling out the big guns?

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Bigger then a Mars class battlecruisers nova cannon? .  Read it for me and write a proper review DarkChaplain. Tell me why i made a grievous error. I might have but i just cant be bothered to find out. 

Edited September 16, 2024 by Nagashsnee

[cheywood]

When providing thoughts on a book I do think it’s important to say beforehand whether you’ve read the whole book or not. I often enjoy the first third or so of a BL novel, but then the back half fails to develop into anything interesting or devolves into a bunch of action scenes that leave little impression on the palate.

 

Edited September 16, 2024 by cheywood

[grailkeeper]

I feel bad for the author. Two very similar books launched at the same time and not getting a great reception for things that are largely not her fault. 

 

Two books about SoBs at the same time by the same author is terrible scheduling.

 

If there is any blowback I hope this doesnt affect her career with BL. 

[Krelious]

Having finished the book id largely say its mediocre and i skipped quite a few pages of Morvenn having redundant and annoying conversations with her battle sisters. The Night Lord's and Lethe were far more compelling characters and the book only really got good towards the end where it reaches some self awareness that Morvenn is a noob who has no idea what she is doing and has to cheat in order to beat the antogonist because he massively outclasses her. 

 

I mean really I think a major problem is that if you are going to be writing a novel about religious fanatics maybe you should actually go through their belief system and rituals and stuff rather than having them mention what they do have them actually do it without using vagueries. Like they are protecting a church why not have a scene where they have mass or a sermon or whatever? Instead they just say they have faith oh and pain and suffering, we pray, but again its basically like beating around the bush. 

 

The other issue is that the Nightlords are 90% of the time portrayed as drooling morons who die easily whenever Morvenn is on screen like gaurdsmen, she casually beats Helbrutes left and right like its nothing. I mean I played Space Marine 2 as a :cuss:ing 200 year old Veteran Space marine and the Helbrutes in that game had me running for dear life humping pillars while taking pot shots at it. The only Nightlord who is written as being powerful and competent is the Death of Saints himself.

 

As for anyone who claims that The End and the Death had editing issues I would say from reading the afterword, that the length of the books is purely Abnett's fault as he insisted on it being that long and dense. 

[Nagashsnee]

  On 9/18/2024 at 6:19 PM, Krelious said:

Having finished the book id largely say its mediocre and i skipped quite a few pages of Morvenn having redundant and annoying conversations with her battle sisters. The Night Lord's and Lethe were far more compelling characters and the book only really got good towards the end

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Would you say the end makes the book worth it if you are not a Sisters player?  

[Krelious]

  On 9/23/2024 at 8:02 AM, Nagashsnee said:

 

Would you say the end makes the book worth it if you are not a Sisters player?  

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I'd probably say Skip it unless you are into the Nightlords having an interesting character.  I mean whats really disappointing is that this book has lots of potential its just the exeucution is off and Morvenn really isnt much of a character, even the Black Templars are more interesting.  It comes off to me like ADB gave her notes on how to make an interesting villain and then the rest of it was like boilerplate skeleton novel + muh Faith.