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Off the top of my head the only Dan Abnett books I can think of that ended abruptly is Know no Fear and Pariah. It's been a long time since I read Eisenhorn or Ravenor but I've enjoyed the endings of most of the Gaunt's Ghosts books.
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Jan 24, 2013 19:05
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It's not the abruptness, it's the content - sabbat martyr is when THE BAD THING HAPPENS
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Jan 24, 2013 19:13
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I remember the ending of the Eisenhorn novels wrapping up in a lot of abrupt mass assaults on the bad guys. I think I remember Titanicus being tied up pretty abruptly too with the whole soldier blowing up the void/camo field and the chaos forces just suddenly getting routed despite overwhelming odds. It's been a while for both though. Edit: Spoilers, woops... TheStampede fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Jan 24, 2013 |
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Jan 24, 2013 19:16
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Polpoto posted:Yea but you eventually get sick of it/the kids become potty trained. It might be a bad habit carried over from his comic book writing days.
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Jan 24, 2013 19:17
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Pariah is an intentional cliffhanger ending, and I found KNF's conclusion adequate if you take it from the standpoint of a continuing saga since it properly wraps up the main subject matter of the book. His older books (Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies, Brothers of the Snake, Titanicus) end super abruptly, though.
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Jan 24, 2013 19:32
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I always wish for a bit more denouement in books though I can't say I ever thought Abnett was especially bad at this. That might be because I'm a Neal Stephenson fan though so I'm used to the train running off a cliff.
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Jan 24, 2013 20:36
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I had no problems with Brothers of the Snake. The last part had some big battles, but I appreciated it more that Abnett tied it to the first part. Titanicus, however. There was the Mechanicus intrigue that was about to explode but all the Titan crews just went "yeah, we have to stand united against Chaos", which made the whole anti-Imperium plot topple.
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Jan 25, 2013 00:16
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You know, mentioning titans made me remember something I was never able to satisfactorily answer for myself. In most titan combat I've read, there is a deck crew that handles major systems, like targeting, firing and movement. I'm not really sure, but I assume that the machine spirit regulates some of the finer systems, like balance and sub-level systems like hydraulics backups or what-not. So what exactly does the princeps do? They seem to be some sort of interface between the crew and machine spirit, but from what I can tell they don't really do much of the work.
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Jan 25, 2013 03:42
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I guess it's like riding a horse, but the horse is actually a giant puppet. The Princeps just tells the puppet what to do, and then the puppeteers have to work that poo poo out.
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Jan 25, 2013 04:36
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Abnett definitely has issues with endings, but I thought Pariah's worked perfectly.
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Jan 25, 2013 06:15
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TheStampede posted:They seem to be some sort of interface between the crew and machine spirit, but from what I can tell they don't really do much of the work. Well ask yourself what the captain of an aircraft carrier does. He's not the one pushing the buttons, turning the wrenches on the reactor, loading the guns, etc. He has people to do that for him so he's free to pay attention to the wider tactical situation. In the case of the Princeps he also is plugged into the Titan directly so he has a much greater visceral awareness of what's going on. He basically becomes this huge war machine and pals around with the machine spirit and stuff.
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Jan 25, 2013 06:51
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Safety Factor posted:Abnett definitely has issues with endings, but I thought Pariah's worked perfectly. The endings are too abrupt, and there's no epilogue. He'd need to ease the reader out of the story. He does beginnings and world building very well, but endings are definitely not his forte.
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Jan 25, 2013 16:01
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What does the thread think of John French? I find them to be pretty boring and hard to get through. Even some of the mediocre authors do bolter porn well enough to keep me entertained, but not him.
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Jan 25, 2013 16:26
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Safety Factor posted:Abnett definitely has issues with endings, but I thought Pariah's worked perfectly.
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Jan 25, 2013 16:57
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VanSandman posted:What does the thread think of John French? I find them to be pretty boring and hard to get through. Even some of the mediocre authors do bolter porn well enough to keep me entertained, but not him. I liked "Ahriman: Exile" by him. It was a little meandering, but I didn't mind it. In fact, it seemed to be the point of it all. Looking him up, I see he did a story in the "Fateweaver" book, as well as the short story "The Last Rembrancer". I do not remember the individual stories in the former, but I enjoyed it enough, though I did read it while camping so it may have just been the atmosphere I was in, while the latter was neat, but just there. I thought the whole point of the story, being that the Imperium now needs to lie to its people, to be redundant since clearly the Emperor was lying the whole time about Gods and the warp. On another note, I just finished Cadian Blood by ADB. I had no idea it had the Death Guard in it, so that was a a fun read, even if they didn't do too much. Plus, I don't really enjoy books about the Imperial Guard, with a few exceptions, but I liked this one. I'm starting on the Blood Angels omnibus because I said what the hell.
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Jan 25, 2013 20:46
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Sup, thread. I got a kindle with a fairly comprehensive Black Library collection on it. I've been just finished the Cain series, and though (incredibly) repetitive, they've been a decent time waster on long bus rides. Well, decent enough for a "how about we take Harry Flashman and make him not evil", which is pretty much on par with "How about we take Casanova and geld him" as far as homages go. Then I tried to move on to "Gaunt's Ghosts". The first book opens with the heroic Gaunt leading his men in the trenches of World War I INSPACE, while general Evil McBadguyson rubs his pudgy well-manicured hands together and refers to his men as "those ants". I'm not sure I could stand to read this "aisle's of glory" stuff, period, but after going through the Cain series it's really absurd. Since the OP rates this bunk as a 5/5 series, I feel as though I can't use it as a guide. Could you tell me which Black Library series are palatable, not as Warhammer fiction but on a general genre fiction level?
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Jan 26, 2013 06:30
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Maybe Imperial Guard just isn't your thing. I would refer you to the thread's title for a series to dive into to get started.
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Jan 26, 2013 06:37
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Gaunt's Ghost are pulp I never much cared for. Anything by ADB works.
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Jan 26, 2013 06:37
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The first two Ghosts books aren't anywhere near as good as the rest, try starting the third before writing the series off.
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Jan 26, 2013 11:04
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Infected Mushroom posted:The first two Ghosts books aren't anywhere near as good as the rest, try starting the third before writing the series off. Necropolis is the best book ever.
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Jan 26, 2013 11:30
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You guys have probably seen this, but it's just... amazing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfJUi4cB4oc
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Jan 26, 2013 22:20
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Xander77 posted:Sup, thread. I got a kindle with a fairly comprehensive Black Library collection on it. I've been just finished the Cain series, and though (incredibly) repetitive, they've been a decent time waster on long bus rides. Well, decent enough for a "how about we take Harry Flashman and make him not evil", which is pretty much on par with "How about we take Casanova and geld him" as far as homages go. Cain must have ruined Gaunt's Ghosts for you, since it parodies the series to some extent. If you want a series, then try Night Lords, Eisenhorn, and Ravenor. Legion from the Horus Heresy series is also a great book.
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Jan 27, 2013 07:15
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Honestly, I've found that none of the Horus Heresy books are truly TERRIBLE, although many are very meh. So honestly just churning through them isn't a bad way to spend your busrides.
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Jan 27, 2013 08:29
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VanSandman posted:Honestly, I've found that none of the Horus Heresy books are truly TERRIBLE, although many are very meh. So honestly just churning through them isn't a bad way to spend your busrides. Although I'd steer clear of a certain novel that rhymes with 'Tattle for the Amiss".
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Jan 27, 2013 09:01
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VanSandman posted:Honestly, I've found that none of the Horus Heresy books are truly TERRIBLE, although many are very meh. So honestly just churning through them isn't a bad way to spend your busrides. Battle for the Abyss just called, it wants to poo poo in your mouth.
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Jan 27, 2013 09:03
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I thought we agreed to never use that books name again.
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Jan 27, 2013 09:06
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Whats the consensus on James Swallows Blood Angel books and Flesh of Cretacia by Andy Smillie? Are they passable at the least?
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Jan 27, 2013 09:17
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Rapey Joe Stalin posted:Battle for the Abyss just called, it wants to poo poo in your mouth. I recall no such novel. 
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Jan 27, 2013 09:29
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MisterFuzzles posted:Whats the consensus on James Swallows Blood Angel books and Flesh of Cretacia by Andy Smillie? Are they passable at the least? The Blood Angel books are some loving terrible books that clearly would like to be an anime, what with all the goddamn tedious angst involved. The Blood Angels according to James Swallow are, in fact, the least metal of anything in 40k. But yeah they're bad. Real bad. Sorry I can't be more productive than that but I kind of blanked that I'd read them.
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Jan 27, 2013 10:58
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Gooses and Geeses posted:Necropolis is the best book ever. If emptyquoting wasn't probate-able, I would post this over and over and over. It's got the absolutely soul destroying moment when Curth finds [Redacted] edit: Keeping that out until I work out how spoiler tags work lenoon fucked around with this message at 13:16 on Jan 27, 2013 |
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Jan 27, 2013 13:14
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The abrupt ending to Know No Fear is a lot more acceptable as soon as you realize the entire book is basically the plot of Independence Day. ID4 owned, and KNF merged that with great characterization, so I'm totally cool with that
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Jan 27, 2013 17:31
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I just finished Betrayer and while I enjoyed it, I felt it was lacking something, though I'm not sure what that might be. Maybe it seemed rushed or didn't have the usual ADB character development that I'm used to - I don't know... I'm going to miss Argel Tal. He was a cool dude. 
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Jan 27, 2013 19:12
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Mowglis Haircut posted:The Blood Angel books are some loving terrible books that clearly would like to be an anime, what with all the goddamn tedious angst involved. The Blood Angels according to James Swallow are, in fact, the least metal of anything in 40k. But yeah they're bad. Real bad. Sorry I can't be more productive than that but I kind of blanked that I'd read them. I'm reading the omnibus right now, and I am about half way done with the first book in it. Not so much angst in this one as much as there is generic plot lines. I keep forgetting what character is which because they all sound the same, except for Rafen because he is the only one who seems to go "Hey, that inquisitor might be up to something?" while everyone else is too busy complaining about their thirst or whatever when they are not busy praising the emperor. That said, are the Blood Angels supposed to be metal? They always seemed anime to me. Mind you the only book I've read of them in it was the Horus Heresy one, but the pictures of Sanquinius, save for the one at the Siege of Terra, seemed to always make him look, well, anime. That and they drink each other's blood, which is, well, it is what it is.
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Jan 27, 2013 20:25
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Just got through Commissar by Andy Hoare. It was.... ok. I kept wishing Flint was Ciaphus Cain or Yarrick or some other commissar with a personality. Honestly it was an entertaining and competent read with some nice action set pieces. I guess I was just hoping for more (or a better) exploration of how a commissar actually works with an Imperial Guard regiment. Started up Path of the Renegade by Andy Chambers since its sequal is on preorder now. Went in hoping for Malus Darkblade in Space and while it's not quite that I'm enjoying it so far.
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Jan 27, 2013 22:56
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I really liked Path of the Renegade. It's certainly a lot better than Gav Thorpe's Eldar books. But then, so is testicular torsion.
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Jan 27, 2013 23:10
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I think the best non-Abnett books I've read so far have to be Emperor's Gift and Hellsreach. Especially Hellsreach, it's so goddamn  I want more stuff like that.
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Jan 27, 2013 23:36
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Okay, so I'm almost done with a Ciaphas Cain book, The Emperor's Finest. I've reread the Gaunt's Ghosts books, read Zulu War In Space (that was a lot of fun), and am looking for my next metal as gently caress book. How is Fifteen Hours? Alternatively, offer me a Space Marine book that isn't one of the main Horus Heresy ones. Preferably available in eBook form, because I generally end up wanting these books at midnight. I want Pariah, but it's not an eBook yet.
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Jan 28, 2013 00:03
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SquadronROE posted:Okay, so I'm almost done with a Ciaphas Cain book, The Emperor's Finest. I've reread the Gaunt's Ghosts books, read Zulu War In Space (that was a lot of fun), and am looking for my next metal as gently caress book. How is Fifteen Hours? Pariah's ebook was out before the print version  And good non-HH SM books: Night Lords series (3 + short story) The Emperor's Gift Helsreach
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Jan 28, 2013 00:12
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SquadronROE posted:Okay, so I'm almost done with a Ciaphas Cain book, The Emperor's Finest. I've reread the Gaunt's Ghosts books, read Zulu War In Space (that was a lot of fun), and am looking for my next metal as gently caress book. How is Fifteen Hours? http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/pariah.html That has a link to the eBook version. "Space Marine" by Ian Watson is great. It's weird, but not in the over the top SO GRIMDARK way that most weird 40k books try to be. The first four Space Wolf books are also fun, as well as "Battle of the Fang", which is a Space Wolf book not set in the series. "The Legion of the Damned" is good, even to me who had no idea that the Legion of the Damned was an actual legion when I read it, leaving me to wonder what the hell was going on for the most part. If you are curious, try to get any of the anthologies, like Legends/Victories/Treacheries of the Space Marines. That way you get a bunch of short stories by different authors to see what you might like.
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Jan 28, 2013 00:57
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Damnit, I knew that my iPad's broken Black Library was gonna fail me. Looks like Hellsreach and Pariah are up next.
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Jan 28, 2013 01:45
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