Era of Ruin

[Scribe]

7 hours ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

I am genuinely shocked at ADB's further assassination of the Custodes and Emperor both, and Guilliman into the bargain. Holy . It's just one thing after another. When I saw the first excerpt from Carrion Lord on Reddit, I tossed an off-hand quip about ADB's general themings of boyish angst, bad dads and slave girls. I hadn't read the story myself. Now I have. It is the worst, the absolute worst of his bad habits on full, naked display. It reeks of venomous metacommentary thinly cloaked in the tiniest gauze of Diocletian's anger. But never, not once, did I feel it was the character, not the author, talking and it is some of the dumbest tripe imaginable. 

 

Man, I didnt want to get this, but now I do just to see it.

 

As noted, I've been an ADB fan boy for a long time, while you point out some of the themes I agree he hits on, I'm not sure I would interpret them the same way.

 

I had said on Portent (maybe it was Warseer by then...) there was an issue with some repeated themes way back, but well...I dont know that I care enough. If this is the last thing he had written, and he clearly has stepped back, a parting shot at the more misguided segments of the community wouldnt surprise me too much.

 

7 hours ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

This anthology feels so... off.

 

Huh. I dont know that I can even be bothered. TEATD killed BL fiction for me, utterly killed it.

[The Scorpion]

9 hours ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

I am genuinely shocked at ADB's further assassination of the Custodes and Emperor both, and Guilliman into the bargain. Holy . It's just one thing after another. When I saw the first excerpt from Carrion Lord on Reddit, I tossed an off-hand quip about ADB's general themings of boyish angst, bad dads and slave girls. I hadn't read the story myself. Now I have. It is the worst, the absolute worst of his bad habits on full, naked display. It reeks of venomous metacommentary thinly cloaked in the tiniest gauze of Diocletian's anger. But never, not once, did I feel it was the character, not the author, talking and it is some of the dumbest tripe imaginable. 

 

Era is such a... I don't know. I've been keen on 40K again since Elemental Council and The Red Angel after TEATD knocked my interest in the setting pretty much dead. Somehow, this anthology sucked the enthusiasm right back out. It is a tome of misery and unpleasantness. Everything sucks. Everybody's dying. The dream is over. And it's all so sudden. There's this constant current through of BEWARE THE IMPERIAL FAITH and BEWARE GUILLIMAN - setup for the Scouring, no doubt, and I think the positioning of Guilliman as usurper and tyrant through Era is definitely A Choice - so much scorn for the poor people of Terra. Only the warriors are to be lauded, only fighting is worth noting, even Wraight gets in on the fun by writing us a story all about how Ilya's life only means something once she 

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gets a kill assist

 

This anthology feels so... off. It's honestly unpleasant to read. French's two offerings are good, and Kyme's exploration of faith and belief through Narek is positive, but ye gods. I'm left almost entirely deflated. This series of stories has effectively nothing interesting to say. Everything sucks, everything's bad, there is no hope, everything's over, yadda yadda. It's kind of funny that I felt that the Heresy, even TEATD, actually ends with hope. It's a far-off hope, it's a long-shot hope, but Abnett says 'yes, everything is now, this is a really bad path, but there was a plan - there were safeguards - the people who can change things and who want to change things for the better, all this suffering might one day be worth it'. Era of Ruin isn't that. It's misery porn. It's not a wet fart to end the series, it's a vindictive piss.

 

3/10 because Narek is a good boy and John French's literary references make certain parts of my brain light up. 

 

E: Having had some choccy milk and a good sit down, I think my very negative feelings here are informed by how these stories are written as though there isn't a gulf between the Horus Heresy and 40K. They entirely ignore the power of faith that's been buoying so many of the characters throughout the Heresy and the Siege - they ignore Keeler, they ignore good works, they ignore the whole other side of the argument that even Malcador was starting to come around to: maybe giving people something to believe in isn't such a terrible idea, after all?

 

Era of Ruin makes it sound like the Imperium immediately became a theocratic hellscape, full of evil priests and ignorant wailing masses. There's a part in here where

 

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some people dig up Sisters of Silence, put the bones on trial and burn them

 

and it's just so hilariously, ignorantly evil.

 

Part of the Imperium becoming 'the cruelest and bloodiest regime imaginable' is those ten thousand years of backsliding, of struggle and corruption and strife, of calcified thought and action to the point where those terrible crimes, that unthinking belief, is rote. Nobody even imagines a better way. That's why it's so deliciously awful by the Dark Millenium. Everything has been lost along the way, sacrificed - meaningfully or not, necessarily or not - for survival. The Imperium is so raw and bloody because it's hacked away so much of itself over time.

 

We lose so much meaning, so much struggle if we say: no, actually, it all died on that, it was all over then and there. Humanity could only ever have been saved by the immortal god-king, it never had a chance by itself. For me, at least, that withering away post-HH - the Primarchs leaving, or dying, or simply fading away - is so important, where all the transhumans were gone, when the Emperor was silent and things... were okay, actually. Humanity was scarred but survived. It had borders, it stopped being a genocidal expansionist murderhobo, the Space Marines were literally dying out from lack of use/need. Every time the Imperium tried to do better, be better - and it tried! - it kept falling back, kept being dragged back, by the nature of the setting. Very well: but it was good men and women who did keep trying, over and over, and it was those good intentions that led us, once again, 'cruellest and bloodiest regime'. 

 

Everything feels so much smaller, so much worse when it's just... gone, right away, when we go from Malcador letting go because he believes in the future at the end of the day, that other hands can be trusted to see the work done, to Ruin where there is no hope to be had at all.

I disagree completely on "Homebound" and partially on "Carrion Lord of the Imperium"

 

"Homebound" is a great White Scars story. It is contemplative and thoughtful. It is about the devastation from a mortal POV: the wasteland beyond the palace, empty cities far from the main traitor assault, a garden, a life left behind. The whole dagger thing is the least important thing about it and imho only happens so the story can end quicker.

 

"Carrion Lord of the Imperium" is very ADB-edgy yes, but why do people always forget that ADB has written about the Emperor from other POVs than the Custodes?

The Custodes are not the definitive authority on the Emperor's vision (as much as Diocletian insists they are) and the nod to the scene with Zephon and the child proves it.

Who, Zephon or Diocletian, better understands the original purpose of the Imperium according to ADB?

 

"Carrion Lord of the Imperium" is to me about the Custodian grief process. They want to check out from their failure, from the new ever less secular Imperium, from the idea of "it's not that bad guys, come on" (embodied by Guilliman), from an upcoming millenia long fight they think is lost from the get go.

But they cannot. They love the Emperor too much.

So they find meaning in the little things, like the fake heathen rites they chose for their dead back in the dawn of the Imperium.

Diocletian dons his armor and goes to ask a question he would've never bothered to ask when everything was alright.

Now that everything has fallen apart, he gotta find meaning in something. Small as it may be.

Edited Sunday at 10:39 PM by The Scorpion

[Marshal Rohr]

21 minutes ago, The Scorpion said:

I disagree completely on "Homebound" and partially on "Carrion Lord of the Imperium"

 

"Homebound" is a great White Scars story. It is contemplative and thoughtful. It is about the devastation from a mortal POV: the wasteland beyond the palace, empty cities far from the main traitor assault, a garden, a life left behind. The whole dagger thing is the least important thing about it and imho only happens so the story can end quicker.

 

"Carrion Lord of the Imperium" is very ADB-edgy yes, but why do people always forget that ADB has written about the Emperor from other POVs than the Custodes?

The Custodes are not the definitive authority on the Emperor's vision (as much as Diocletian insists they are) and the nod to the scene with Zephon and the child proves it.

Who, Zephon or Diocletian, better understands the original purpose of the Imperium according to ADB?

 

"Carrion Lord of the Imperium" is to me about the Custodian grief process. They want to check out from their failure, from the new ever less secular Imperium, from the idea of "it's not that bad guys, come on" (embodied by Guilliman), from an upcoming millenia long fight they think is lost from the get go.

But they cannot. They love the Emperor too much.

So they find meaning in the little things, like the fake heathen rites they chose for their dead back in the dawn of the Imperium.

Diocletian dons his armor and goes to ask a question he would've never bothered to ask when everything was alright.

Now that everything has fallen apart, he gotta find meaning in something. Small as it may be.

It’s also pretty silly Custodes are so judgmental when they never do anything to help the Imperium ever again after the Heresy. Just guarding the palace all the time. 

[wecanhaveallthree]

>Homebound

 

I understood what Homebound was saying, and Ilya's need to get away from it all - but we've walked through those ruins so many times. I got enough, more than enough, of those 'untold moments of quiet desperation that nobody will ever see/remember/etc' in all the myriad vignettes of the same throughout the Siege, and then back-loaded through TEATD's 'fragments'. I also found it so incredibly jarring that with all this devastation, all this destruction, Ilya can just... go home. Everything and everyone around her is changed, the 'innocence' - such as it was - is lost, and they'll all need to find new ways to go on. But...

 

Spoiler

...I fully expected this story to end with her realising that home isn't a place, it's people, and coming 'home' to the Scars to be sky-buried with honours. At the end, she still doesn't feel like she's a part of the Legion, she doesn't feel like they need her, and that her 'home' is this tiny little box with old photos and bad memories. She was given so much love and acceptance, she was such a big part of the Legion's development, but in the end she's buried in a nameless Terran grave and she only feels a connection to the Legion because she shanked a guy. It feels so... wasteful, so wrong, that she just crawled off to die alone rather than with her 'family'.

 

>Carrion Lord

 

I understand that it's a 'perspective story', but with so much of it being the author's pet grievances and some very interesting choices... I mean, I'll just quote it, from the first page.

 

Quote

There are already scribblings that tell of an accord being reached, a deal being made, or – and one must pay heed to the phrasing of this one – a pact being sworn.

 

Who, in-universe, is scribbling about a Faustian pact with Chaos? Does this sound like a legitimate in-setting concern, that people are (right after the 'death') writing about how the Emperor was wheeling and dealing with forces beyond our ken? Who knew enough to even speculate? Russ, sure - he knows the truth of it, after all, but he's not exactly a 'scribbler'. Who else, though? What else, and why is it so blatant? I would humbly suggest it's because this text tells us exactly what it's there to do, right from the start: take some swings at the fandom. Right after this, Diocletian tells us straight-up that the Emperor didn't build the stuff in the Imperial Dungeon, the god-makers, or the Throne. 'His genius was never in creation but recreation'. Does this sound like one of the loyal Ten Thousand glazing his man, or the author rolling up their sleeves to set you straight?

 

>Scribe

 

I think Carrion Lord is this 'generation''s Master of Mankind. 

[Scribe]

7 minutes ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

Who, in-universe, is scribbling about a Faustian pact with Chaos? Does this sound like a legitimate in-setting concern, that people are (right after the 'death') writing about how the Emperor was wheeling and dealing with forces beyond our ken? Who knew enough to even speculate? Russ, sure - he knows the truth of it, after all, but he's not exactly a 'scribbler'. Who else, though? What else, and why is it so blatant? I would humbly suggest it's because this text tells us exactly what it's there to do, right from the start: take some swings at the fandom. Right after this, Diocletian tells us straight-up that the Emperor didn't build the stuff in the Imperial Dungeon, the god-makers, or the Throne. 'His genius was never in creation but recreation'. Does this sound like one of the loyal Ten Thousand glazing his man, or the author rolling up their sleeves to set you straight?

 

See...this to me was something missing the whole time, we needed this in a book at some point.

 

7 minutes ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

>Scribe

 

I think Carrion Lord is this 'generation''s Master of Mankind. 

 

Has it been so long that we are now removed by a generation from Master of Mankind? /dies

[wecanhaveallthree]

Quote

See...this to me was something missing the whole time, we needed this in a book at some point.

 

I absolutely 100% agree.

 

Quote

Has it been so long that we are now removed by a generation from Master of Mankind?

 

YES.

 

Reading Carrion Lord back now, with DC's Sevatar comment in mind, Diocletian actually does, really, read like Sevatar. There's even a bit where he leans on his halberd - sorry, spear - and makes a sassy quip. Or when he's getting bored by Guilliman's speeches. He literally goes 'ugh' and does (figurative) air-quotes when talking about Malcador! Here's an 'ugh' of my own; I hate it. 

 

[Marshal Rohr]

That passage is just pointing out the Emperor used Dark Age tech to make the Primarchs which is essentially the same exact story we have heard since the Primarchs stopped being famous generals. 

[neOh (AV)]

I haven’t finished Carrion Lord yet, so I’ll only comment on Homebound.

 

Yes, Ilya could’ve gone back to the Legion, and yes, they became her second family, but… as someone who’s lost their home twice because of war, and had to come back the second time to clean everything up after years of absence – I completely understand her. Wright captured that feeling of “returning” so tenderly. Sure, the people you meet are important, but the place you’re tied to by memories, by life, by getting to know those very same people – it matters just as much. I don’t know if I would’ve stayed there alone like she did, but I can definitely say that your true, real home means a whole, whole lot.

[Marshal Rohr]

Honestly, I find this constant meta analysis of ADB tiresome and worthless. The man was belittled for committing the worst crime anyone can commit in the social media age: talking to the fandom. Pathetic and cruel anonymous cowards challenged him for trying to explain how the IP masters came up with the architecture of the lore and now we don’t get anything at all and all those AMAZING story lines are just dead. Black Legion, Sevatar, Spears, all gone forever so total dweebs can get upvotes and other bitter dweebs can get a quick rush of dopamine from seeing someone be mean to a marginally famous author on a forum. Here we are again picking apart his writing style over girlfriends and characters choices instead of just enjoying what is probably his last story. It’s sad. It’s [redacted] up. Not liking some of the plot points provided by unreliable narration is fine, but this asinine dissection of the structure and intention isn’t what the guy who spent years just talking to us like people deserves. He deserves an apology. 

[Scribe]

1 hour ago, Marshal Rohr said:

The man was belittled for committing the worst crime anyone can commit in the social media age: talking to the fandom. Pathetic and cruel anonymous cowards challenged him for trying to explain how the IP masters came up with the architecture of the lore and now we don’t get anything at all and all those AMAZING story lines are just dead. Black Legion, Sevatar, Spears, all gone forever so total dweebs can get upvotes and other bitter dweebs can get a quick rush of dopamine from seeing someone be mean to a marginally famous author on a forum.

 

I dont know the details of this, as I avoid reddit and other such places as essentially the dregs of the internet. I do know there was a guy here who couldnt seem to either understand what was going on, or accept it when he was told directly what was going on.

 

I think its fair to review, comment, and question the text of the story, I dont think its fair to harass the guy.

 

It is a shame we lost his contributions here, I see the era when he was here, as the peak of Black Library and really my engagement with the hobby.

[Marshal Rohr]

5 minutes ago, Scribe said:

 

I dont know the details of this, as I avoid reddit and other such places as essentially the dregs of the internet. I do know there was a guy here who couldnt seem to either understand what was going on, or accept it when he was told directly what was going on.

 

I think its fair to review, comment, and question the text of the story, I dont think its fair to harass the guy.

 

It is a shame we lost his contributions here, I see the era when he was here, as the peak of Black Library and really my engagement with the hobby.

@Scribe I’ve got my own problems with the “Primarchs are a mistake and legions suck” narrative but I was locked into this story even though I don’t like the metaplot. Custodes burying someone? Describing the throne? Oiled up muscle men? That’s a good story. It’s devastating we won’t get anymore Abaddon like this. 

Edited yesterday at 02:26 AM by Marshal Rohr

[Scribe]

1 minute ago, Marshal Rohr said:

@Scribe I’ve got my own problems with the “Primarchs are a mistake and legions suck” narrative but I was locked into this story even though I don’t like the metaplot. Custodes burying someone? Describing the throne? Oiled up muscle men? That’s a good story. It’s devastating we won’t get anymore Abaddon like this. 

 

I dont even have an issue with the Custodes looking at them all as a mistake. I see that as a direct line from Valdor, but that probably came from another ADB work, with The First Heretic? I dont know, I'm all for the Custodes looking at everyone around them as failures.

[Marshal Rohr]

2 minutes ago, Scribe said:

 

I dont even have an issue with the Custodes looking at them all as a mistake. I see that as a direct line from Valdor, but that probably came from another ADB work, with The First Heretic? I dont know, I'm all for the Custodes looking at everyone around them as failures.

Beyond Valdor and the Heresy series, it removes an element of reality from the story. No one makes an army just to get rid of it. Even wartime conscript forces get disbanded and maintain a body of professional soldiers. You can do as much space fantasy as you want it’s just not something that happens. 

[Scribe]

40 minutes ago, Marshal Rohr said:

Beyond Valdor and the Heresy series, it removes an element of reality from the story. No one makes an army just to get rid of it. Even wartime conscript forces get disbanded and maintain a body of professional soldiers. You can do as much space fantasy as you want it’s just not something that happens. 

 

Yet it was done at least once before.

[Marshal Rohr]

14 minutes ago, Scribe said:

 

Yet it was done at least once before.

Yeh, but that was silly too. Imagine everyone getting home from World War 2 and FDR having the cops gun them down getting off the boat. 

Edited yesterday at 03:30 AM by Marshal Rohr

[Nagashsnee]

I am....disapointed.  Let me start by stating my own bias. I thought this was a epilogue, a anthology sure, but not a collection of random stories or even stories connecting to the siege. But a anthology of stories serving as a epilogue to the siege and the HH itself to a lesser extent. The capstone ot the series and maybe even the Scouring launching board. It is not, not in any way shape or form....and i am let disapointed and mystified at what it is instead.

 

Era of Ruin is just a by the books siege of terra anthology, and while this is fine, the decision to put this out AFTER the end of the siege is strange. The very first story set off every mental alarm bell i have, as page by page i realised it is simply a short story of a BA failing to the black rage. It could be cut from here and added to the last siege of terra book (book 3 of the 3 book last book would be apropriate) and it would right at home.  Now dont get me wrong its a perfectly fine story, but in no way does it merit the page count in my mind in this book. Its a white dwarf short story, a bonus story in a omnibus, a fun read in a codex. It is NOT first story of the final (totally 100% super for reals this time) HH book story. 

 

And for the most part Era of Ruin follows this model (Chris Wraith never change you my #1). Rather then a series of commisioned stories that serve to close the themes, lose ends and logical curtain draws of the siege i get the impression of 'anyone got any short stories we havent printed yet?, near finished stuff that dint make the siege is fine too lads' that got tossed together. 

 

Rather then seeing the Dark Mechanicum coming to terms with the fact that MARS will fall and they all need to run, or the loaylist mech jumping at the chance to get to orbit over terras still cooling corpse to get to mars, we follow 2 Tech priests during a virus purge at the lion gate space port...but why? How did this make the cut for this 'premium' last of the last book?  Rather then seeing the BA on terra seeing their fathers still warm corpse...we get red dude falls to the rage and dies #245 (if you count 40k versions).  Narek forced to confront the fact that he will not get his closure and he is not as the blues brother would put it 'on a mission from god'...NOPE LOL. Etc etc.

 

Era of Ruin has no central theme, no central soul and no central vision. It is to me, a quick and easy cash grab with a layer of Wraith and ABD plastered on to showcase non existant quality. Its something that could have been put out between the End and the Death parts 1-2-3 and would have been warmly received but instead was dressed up and presented as the grand desert. And it left me more disapointed and un inspired over the whole siege then i was before. 

 

5/10, perfectly adequate but nothing more. 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 06:35 AM by Nagashsnee

[Karhedron]

I like the portrayal of the Custodians. It ties into Wraight's depiction of them. They were built for a version of the Imperium that died in the Horus Heresy and have been struggling to adapt ever since. They have massive amounts of guilt over what happened to the Emperor and project it as hatred against the Astartes who they blame for the Heresy. Not entirely wrong but it overlooks the fact that the Astartes had their own role to play. But it is easier for the Custodes to blame the Astartes than acknowledge their own faults and inflexibility.

[Astartes Consul]

Audible'd the Anthology and listened to about half. Some good stuff so far, but then I've avoided the bits by authors I know I don't usually enjoy... 

 

 

On Carrion Lord and the Custodes POV that ADB pioneered...I don't get why there is this trend to ignore all in-universe context. No one sits arguing that Abaddon viewing Horus as the 'good guy' during the Heresy is implausible, for example. Because there are in-universe reasons for this. Yet, when it comes to this specific topic, there can't be any nuance in the story?

 

In Master of Mankind, we get to see the Emperor viewed from the POV of Custodians, the Sisters of Silence and a Mechanicum adept. All three are different. All three are, in the context of the story setting, valid. And it stands to reason that the Custodians, who are the Emperor's closest and oldest group of companions, see their view as being the most truthful. Even though they know that the Emperor presents various aspects to different audiences. In Carrion Lord, Diocletian even wonders if there are things which the Emperor has withheld from the Custodians - are they as close to him as they think they are? ADB was very clear about his use of in-universe narrators and their conflicted viewpoints. And even if he hasn't been, it isn't rocket science if you read the books without wanting the hate them from the off. 

 

It also isn't just ADB who has written the character this way, though. There are multiple instances in the Heresy and Primarch series that have the Emperor presented in a particular guise or form. And several other authors have covered the somewhat negative view of the Primarchs and Legions that the Custodes have. 

 

 

So anyway, for me, Carrion Lord is a good little story about how the Custodians tried/failed to overcome their grief and loss of purpose. About their increasing detachment from the Imperium. And about how their loss of direction allowed them to effectively confirm all their existing biases about the Primarchs, justifying their self-imposed exile from the Imperium. There is some irony that the story starts with a mention of the Custodes offering to lead the Imperium's armies on Crusade themselves, and that, in-universe, their final return to the wider Imperium only comes about when a Primarch actually does return. I don't think that was an accident on ADB's part.

[DukeLeto69]

8 hours ago, Nagashsnee said:

I am....disapointed.  Let me start by stating my own bias. I thought this was a epilogue, a anthology sure, but not a collection of random stories or even stories connecting to the siege. But a anthology of stories serving as a epilogue to the siege and the HH itself to a lesser extent. The capstone ot the series and maybe even the Scouring launching board. It is not, not in any way shape or form....and i am let disapointed and mystified at what it is instead.

 

Era of Ruin is just a by the books siege of terra anthology, and while this is fine, the decision to put this out AFTER the end of the siege is strange. The very first story set off every mental alarm bell i have, as page by page i realised it is simply a short story of a BA failing to the black rage. It could be cut from here and added to the last siege of terra book (book 3 of the 3 book last book would be apropriate) and it would right at home.  Now dont get me wrong its a perfectly fine story, but in no way does it merit the page count in my mind in this book. Its a white dwarf short story, a bonus story in a omnibus, a fun read in a codex. It is NOT first story of the final (totally 100% super for reals this time) HH book story. 

 

And for the most part Era of Ruin follows this model (Chris Wraith never change you my #1). Rather then a series of commisioned stories that serve to close the themes, lose ends and logical curtain draws of the siege i get the impression of 'anyone got any short stories we havent printed yet?, near finished stuff that dint make the siege is fine too lads' that got tossed together. 

 

Rather then seeing the Dark Mechanicum coming to terms with the fact that MARS will fall and they all need to run, or the loaylist mech jumping at the chance to get to orbit over terras still cooling corpse to get to mars, we follow 2 Tech priests during a virus purge at the lion gate space port...but why? How did this make the cut for this 'premium' last of the last book?  Rather then seeing the BA on terra seeing their fathers still warm corpse...we get red dude falls to the rage and dies #245 (if you count 40k versions).  Narek forced to confront the fact that he will not get his closure and he is not as the blues brother would put it 'on a mission from god'...NOPE LOL. Etc etc.

 

Era of Ruin has no central theme, no central soul and no central vision. It is to me, a quick and easy cash grab with a layer of Wraith and ABD plastered on to showcase non existant quality. Its something that could have been put out between the End and the Death parts 1-2-3 and would have been warmly received but instead was dressed up and presented as the grand desert. And it left me more disapointed and un inspired over the whole siege then i was before. 

 

5/10, perfectly adequate but nothing more. 

 

 

THIS makes me very SAD! I too thought this was going to be an epilogue and also wrap up some unfinished plots. I hoped it was also a springboard to a The Scouring series.

 

So another BL fail goddamit!

 

My standard hardback is on order because, as BL know, we like to have our neat collections. After taking over a year out from BL fiction after tEatD books 1-73 (apart from the brilliant Interceptor City) I had hoped this might rekindle some interest. Not looking forward to this now.

 

SAD!

[Scribe]

8 hours ago, Nagashsnee said:

I am....disapointed.  Let me start by stating my own bias. I thought this was a epilogue, a anthology sure, but not a collection of random stories or even stories connecting to the siege. But a anthology of stories serving as a epilogue to the siege and the HH itself to a lesser extent. The capstone ot the series and maybe even the Scouring launching board. It is not, not in any way shape or form....and i am let disapointed and mystified at what it is instead.

 

Era of Ruin is just a by the books siege of terra anthology, and while this is fine, the decision to put this out AFTER the end of the siege is strange. The very first story set off every mental alarm bell i have, as page by page i realised it is simply a short story of a BA failing to the black rage. It could be cut from here and added to the last siege of terra book (book 3 of the 3 book last book would be apropriate) and it would right at home.  Now dont get me wrong its a perfectly fine story, but in no way does it merit the page count in my mind in this book. Its a white dwarf short story, a bonus story in a omnibus, a fun read in a codex. It is NOT first story of the final (totally 100% super for reals this time) HH book story. 

 

And for the most part Era of Ruin follows this model (Chris Wraith never change you my #1). Rather then a series of commisioned stories that serve to close the themes, lose ends and logical curtain draws of the siege i get the impression of 'anyone got any short stories we havent printed yet?, near finished stuff that dint make the siege is fine too lads' that got tossed together. 

 

Rather then seeing the Dark Mechanicum coming to terms with the fact that MARS will fall and they all need to run, or the loaylist mech jumping at the chance to get to orbit over terras still cooling corpse to get to mars, we follow 2 Tech priests during a virus purge at the lion gate space port...but why? How did this make the cut for this 'premium' last of the last book?  Rather then seeing the BA on terra seeing their fathers still warm corpse...we get red dude falls to the rage and dies #245 (if you count 40k versions).  Narek forced to confront the fact that he will not get his closure and he is not as the blues brother would put it 'on a mission from god'...NOPE LOL. Etc etc.

 

Era of Ruin has no central theme, no central soul and no central vision. It is to me, a quick and easy cash grab with a layer of Wraith and ABD plastered on to showcase non existant quality. Its something that could have been put out between the End and the Death parts 1-2-3 and would have been warmly received but instead was dressed up and presented as the grand desert. And it left me more disapointed and un inspired over the whole siege then i was before. 

 

5/10, perfectly adequate but nothing more. 

 

 

 

Yeah...I'll pass I guess. Another missed opportunity, another misfire. The HH deserved so much better.

[cheywood]

I’ve read French’s two stories, Haley’s contribution and am now midway through Abnett’s. I’ll probably read Wraight’s and ADB’s then call it a day. The writing’s good, and I appreciate some extra Siege content, but this feels less like a coherent anthology and more a collection of deleted scenes. You could plop most of them in as chapters in the previous books and call it a day without much confusion. I was hoping for something a little more definitive and structured. Probably going to end up a 6/10. 

[Urauloth]

I have the audiobook and I like it a lot so far. Kept my expectations down going in, and I'm really enjoying it. It's a great showcase for John French, whose writing really shines in short format. I've raved about how much I like Shogo Miyakita's narration before, and I think this is his best work yet. I hope BL appreciate what a star they have here and hire him for more books.

Abnett's piece is interesting and it's nice to see another perspective on the siege and another character who knew Krole, but an author waxing lyrical about the importance of books to this extent feels a little... self-indulgent, maybe?

Kyme is a nice surprise here. Hand of Abaddon wasn't a fluke, he really has improved a lot as a writer. Good for him!

I believe Wraight has a piece in this collection, which I'm looking forward to.

[Nagashsnee]

12 hours ago, cheywood said:

 The writing’s good, and I appreciate some extra Siege content, but this feels less like a coherent anthology and more a collection of deleted scenes. You could plop most of them in as chapters in the previous books and call it a day without much confusion. I was hoping for something a little more definitive and structured.

 

This, it doesnt give a feeling of a theme or specific intent. More a collection of pages from various works and authors that were scattered around the studio and collected in one volume.

 

If it had been presented and the press was done differently i think i would have liked it more. Its not like 'tales of the siege and other hh stories' would not have sold. 

Edited 5 hours ago by Nagashsnee

[wecanhaveallthree]

Quote

Kyme is a nice surprise here. Hand of Abaddon wasn't a fluke, he really has improved a lot as a writer. Good for him!

 

Kyme has posted banger after banger for some time now. He's pretty solidly 'will read' territory for me at this stage, which is less 'faint praise' than it sounds in the current BL environs. 

[grailkeeper]

1 hour ago, Nagashsnee said:

 

This, it doesnt give a feeling of a theme or specific intent. More a collection of pages from various works and authors that were scattered around the studio and collected in one volume.

 

If it had been presented and the press was done differently i think i would have liked it more. Its not like 'tales of the siege and other hh stories' would not have sold. 

 

You're saying it's made up of Fragments (All We Have Left)?