Elemental Council by Noah Van Nguyen

[LemartesTheLost]

Hello fraters, I'm opening this subforum for the discussion surrounding Elemental Council by Noah Van Nguyen. I have not finished this one yet but have found it immensely enjoyable 1/3rd of the way through. I don't profess to being a connoisseur of Tau lore, but I have liked this novel (so far) more than any other Tau centric work that I have read to date. For those Tau-inclined fraters among us, how do you feel about Van Nguyen's showing here?

 

Thoughts? Opinions? Let the people know!

[grailkeeper]

Reading it atm. Itsa bit spoiled by the fact I was on 22hrs of flights. Not the authors fault. I'm enjoying it. Got a bit lost in the middle but I think that's jet lags fault.

 

I think the Air caste pilot is my favourite character.

 

I like most that we do get a rounded view of the T'Au. Its good getting insights beyond "He fired his Blasterfire™ rifle and fired off some pulsefire™ rounds at the enemy. They all fell dead". (Contrast this book with the High Kahl's Oath....)

Edited December 16, 2024 by grailkeeper

[darkhorse0607]

Can anyone speak as to how the Raptors are portrayed? As far as I can recall it's their first time in a novel, just curious if they're done well or are just Astartes placeholders

[TrillionSpiders]

8 hours ago, darkhorse0607 said:

Can anyone speak as to how the Raptors are portrayed? As far as I can recall it's their first time in a novel, just curious if they're done well or are just Astartes placeholders

 

from what i've heard, well they aren't the memetic idea of the "super tatikool" marines, their portrayal overall is fairly solid and part of their rationale for wanting to target the t'au empire specifically is because they recognize the t'au as an empire on the rise with a great deal of potential even comparing them to humanities "golden age". hence a threat.

[grailkeeper]

Theres really only one that's portrayed in detail but he comes across as hyper efficient. He's treated kind of like a bogeyman- think Darth Vader in Rogue one. A scary opposing force that vastly improves the enemy amd sometimes turns up to wreck fools.

[System Sound]

On 12/17/2024 at 3:24 AM, grailkeeper said:

Theres really only one that's portrayed in detail but he comes across as hyper efficient. He's treated kind of like a bogeyman- think Darth Vader in Rogue one. A scary opposing force that vastly improves the enemy amd sometimes turns up to wreck fools.

I think you just sold me on this book!

[grailkeeper]

I'm only half way through (and I lost my kindle so I wont progress further any time soon) but there's a bit where a firewarrior patrol talk about him, that seems like it came directly out of Vietnam. 

[darkhorse0607]

3 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

I'm only half way through (and I lost my kindle so I wont progress further any time soon) but there's a bit where a firewarrior patrol talk about him, that seems like it came directly out of Vietnam. 

 

Excellent, thank you for the update

 

I was hoping for the "professional" aspect for them that they're known for, and their pragmatism

 

But I'll accept scary space Vietnam Darth Vader

[grailkeeper]

2 hours ago, darkhorse0607 said:

 

Excellent, thank you for the update

 

I was hoping for the "professional" aspect for them that they're known for, and their pragmatism

 

But I'll accept scary space Vietnam Darth Vader

 

To be fair, its more like Vietnam for the firewarriors.

[wecanhaveallthree]

THIS ONE'S A BIT OF ALRIGHT

 

I'm glad that the T'au remain the evil globalists of the setting. The bit at the end with the whole 'they're on our side, they just don't realise it yet' spiel from the Ethereal was wonderful. The T'au do the 'good people, evil empire' thing a lot better than the Imperium. Helps that a Space Marine conveniently stands around for a few pages monologuing about You Don't Think It Be Like It Is, But It Do, just in case you missed it.

[cheywood]

Only a fourth of the way through but this is probably going to be my non-Abnett book of the year. It’s an incredible exploration of the Tau, filled with the mix of philosophical and visceral prose that made Godeater’s Son so memorable. Van Nguyen does an excellent job granting each of the principal characters a distinct voice.

Edited December 20, 2024 by cheywood

[The Scorpion]

On 12/20/2024 at 12:22 PM, cheywood said:

Only a fourth of the way through but this is probably going to be my non-Abnett book of the year. It’s an incredible exploration of the Tau, filled with the mix of philosophical and visceral prose that made Godeater’s Son so memorable. Van Nguyen does an excellent job granting each of the principal characters a distinct voice.

It's also filled with so many little details showcasing love for the faction. This bit is what sold me on the book by chapter 5:

 

"In the outskirts of the dying operational base, older models of XV88 Broadside battlesuits lumbered into entrenchments hacked into the hard soil, their shoulder-mounted heavy rail rifles peering from the deep hull-down emplacements."

 

Absolute Kino by Van Nguyen. 100% worth the purchase.

[The Scorpion]

‘Do not sweeten your tone with me, Orr. I served on Fi’draah as a team leader. I remember the stench of that world’s cancer. You monsters of the Whispertide still pollute the water of your caste. Useful you may be, but I despise everything you represent. Serpent.’

 

OMG, it even has a Dark Coil reference!

I feel like Patrick Bateman holding that business card.

 

So Nobledawn had the misfortune to begin her career on Phaedra. This information isn't relevant to the plot, but it informs so much of her character and the way she acts.

Edited January 7 by The Scorpion

[DarkChaplain]

I thought my eyes were popping out of my skull when I saw that Fi'draah namedrop just now. Wow. That bit alone has actually really bumped the book up on my "want to read" list!

[grailkeeper]

I think thr author is ex marines. Thr only other GW authors who has served in the military that I can think of is Henry Zou, who now longer writes for GW. Are there others I've missed? I think I saw either John French or Justin Hill post about being in the TA or Cadets but I could be mistaken.

[Matcap86]

Just finished the book last night and it's allround great. One of the better Xenos books available atm. Loved the way they portrayed the T'au culture and it's idiosyncracies. Great work in showing humanity from the t'au p.o.v and using the marine as the main terrifying threat was also very well done. The only nitpick I have is: (kind of big spoilers)

 

Spoiler

The large amount of fakeout deaths. It really became overused at the end with several characters and antagonists being dead and springing back up for another scene or two as a deus ex machina or "surprise" and then dying again.

 

All in all an excellent book. 8.5/10 for me. 

[sitnam]

This is likely my favorite book of 2024. I'll have to go look back at the rest of the year, but I think only Renegades: Lord of Excess and Oaths of Danmation come close, but this book still comes out on top. My metric for if a Warhammer book is good or not is how much it makes me want to collect the associated army: I'm pretty sure I'll be doing a Pathfinder squad or converted Gue'vesa for the upcoming Kill team paint challenge.

 

I now have a burning desire to see Van Nguyen write a Kroot novel.

 

My only disapointment: 

 

Spoiler

Goad (the Kroot, I listened so I'm not sure if spelling is correct) didnt get his MEAT

 

Edited January 8 by sitnam

[darkhorse0607]

On 1/8/2025 at 4:48 AM, grailkeeper said:

I think thr author is ex marines.

 

Yeah so I had to go and do some digging to look this up

 

I got the book (audio) yesterday and am about 3 hours in so far (thanks insomnia)

 

The way he does the dialog between the

 

Spoiler

Water caste ground controller and the air caste pilot for the attack on the Baneblades

 

Made me extremely curious if he had a military background. Granted it was mostly free of actual terminology that is used, but the gist was close enough. It's the first time that I can recall in a 40k book, where I sat there after a battle scene and thought "oh, that's how it actually works, who are you author"

 

Really loving the book so far, I didn't read Godeaters Son so this is my first experience with the author and I'm really happy with it. Emma Gregory is working overtime changing her voice for the different characters every 5 seconds though

 

Edited January 10 by darkhorse0607

[Roomsky]

Despite generally giving books positive reviews, I still get bummed out by the constant diluting of Imperial identity, both in codices and novels. Due to the volume of it all, it's easy to forget we're in the Renaissance of Xenos fiction. Even if you don't vibe with Brooks' many works, we've still got Rath, Crowley, Beer, Flowers, and now Van Nguyen.

 

Finally, finally, we have a meaty Tau alternative to the works of Kelly. No mustache-twirling Ethereals or Milquetoast protagonists to be found here!

 

Van Nguyen shows off his writing chops instantly by having each of the POV characters organically grapple with their central personal conflict. You don't need to wait to find out why you should care, Ke's insecurities, Sei's antisocial tendencies, Orr's nature as a cynic who wants to be an optimist, and Sixes' strange existence are all laid out right at the start and mix together into an extremely entertaining junction of dysfunction as the plot progresses. All succeed and fail at being the idealized Tau in their own unique way. Yor'I is the cherry on top, displaying the perfect balance of inscrutability, practicality, empathy, and ruthlessness. You believe men and women like this are able to effectively lead a civilization.

 

Do you want an in-depth examination of Tau culture, customs, triumphs, and challenges? Do you want an effective ensemble cast full of memorable characters? Do you want a novel challenge for the Tau empire to go up against? Do you want, as a bonus, a great Kroot POV? A wonderfully competent Imperial antagonist who nevertheless exhibits all the shortcomings of Imperial ideology? A generally cracking sci-fi read?

 

Then this is the book for you. A Must Read for any Tau fan, for those curious about them, and for those who want to be won over to liking their faction.

EDIT: Forgot to dog on the cover art. The dead horse is not yet a fine-enough glue. It looks terrible and does the book a disservice.

Edited November 12 by Roomsky

[darkhorse0607]

2 hours ago, Roomsky said:

A Must Read for any fan

 

 

Fixed it for you my friend

 

I'll admit that I do like the Tau (at least most Tau, I understand some people like Phil Kelly's Tau but Im not a big fan), so there's some bias, but I also just recently finished this and I think its one of the best Black Library novels published in the last while, period  

 

Each character is well developed, the plot is interesting with enough setpieces to satisfy people looking for their battle scenes, even though it is a little long in comparison to many BL novels lately it flows well enough that you don't notice, etc

 

I could go on (and I will in our book of the year thread), but I will just add the highest recommendation that I can

 

 

Also, just a footnote, but I do appreciate some of the terms he uses in it. Without going down the rant hole as I normally do, a lot of the military terminology he uses are accurate to the real world side of things (the brevity terms during the airstrikes for example are pretty close), and it gave me a good chuckle when Sei had to go sign back over the Orca when he was departing towards then end. So I appreciated that he used his background there without making it feel out of place

[SvenIronhand]

1 hour ago, darkhorse0607 said:

Phil Kelly's Farsight Enclaves

FTFY

[byrd9999]

Thanks to both of you, Roomsky and Darkhorse, for your considered and thoughtful recent reviews.

 

A reminder of why I love this place and BL fiction. It can still surprise!