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Hollismason posted:I'm just getting back into the Black Library stuff, I've read all of Abnett's stuff loved it. Everyone really loves this Night Lords books. How are they compared to Dan Abnett's stuff? I personally think ADB is a better writer than Abnett. Abnett does a good job with world-creation but ADB is just a better writer of characters in general.
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Apr 9, 2014 16:33
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Donnerberg posted:That's what they're building up to right now, but the Black Library's raging hard on for John Grammaticus means that by the time they reach that scene, John will be a planet sized, immortal robot with eight arms wielding double-bladed katanas and fighting Perpetual demons in the Eye. So I wouldn't worry about him replacing Olly. Unless they manage to restrain themselves for that long. Grammaticus is on his last death, so they really aren't building him up too much. He is obviously going to die in some grimdark way, and the spoilered theory makes some sense considering the other guy is still immortal.
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Apr 9, 2014 16:52
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Shockeh posted:I'm behind on my HH books, and just got to Angel Exterminatus, and at half way in, I'm sadly just bored. It's competently written, but the characters themselves seem to barely get any airtime or development, and if they do, it's 'generic 40k dialogue 101', interspersed with the usual fare of basic 40k action sequences. Angel Exterminatus was a horrible book. The only part that was semi decent was the characterization of Perturabo. Sadly if your half way into the book, it just gets even worse. Sadly i think Graham Mcneil has gotten worse at writing. His earlier books were fairly decent, but most of his books lately have been garbage. He is also publishing not 1 but 2 Horus Heresy books this year apparently.
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Apr 9, 2014 17:08
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Shadowhand00 posted:I personally think ADB is a better writer than Abnett. Abnett does a good job with world-creation but ADB is just a better writer of characters in general. I'm a fan of both, but after the two newest books by each, ADB has certainly taken over the lead.
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Apr 10, 2014 01:05
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They both have their strengths. ADB does better characters, but I think Abnett has better action. ADB writes Chaos in such a way that I can see why people would turn to it, and Abnett writes the Imperium in a way that makes it work, makes it feel like something more than a meat grinder harvesting skulls so it can make bigger tanks to harvest more skulls. They're both awesome, and they're both way better than anybody else the BL has writing for them.
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Apr 10, 2014 06:49
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On the subject of 'How many more', I have a IRL friend in Black Library who is typically defensive over anything GW does and generally won't tell me anything, but he has dropped at least once that the Siege itself will certainly be multiple books in it's own right, possibly even parallel stories across books. (So my conjecture; A book on the Eternity Gate, a book on the war in the Assassinorum, a book about Lion El'Jonson continuining to be a dick, etc.) Always the one bit of Gav Thorpe writing I thought they should have kept, incidentally; The idea that which half of the Dark Angels was corrupt might actually be blurred by history, and perhaps Luther was in fact the loyalist, and the Lion was just waiting to see which side won. The greatest strategist of all the Primarchs, and the most logical other choice for Warmaster aside from Horus, and he's late to the Siege of Terra? It even sounds plausible.
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Apr 10, 2014 09:22
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It's explained in descent of angels by one of the fallen being interrogated that it's common knowledge among the fallen that Lion was just biding his time to see who won.
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Apr 10, 2014 11:19
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That was in Angels of Darkness, not Descent of Angels. And that's from the word of a fallen, so take that FWIW.
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Apr 10, 2014 13:07
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Joe Videogames posted:It's explained in descent of angels by one of the fallen being interrogated that it's common knowledge among the fallen that Lion was just biding his time to see who won. I'm pretty either GW or Gav Thorpe retconned it so that the Lion is and always was loyal now.
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Apr 10, 2014 13:08
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Kegslayer posted:I'm pretty either GW or Gav Thorpe retconned it so that the Lion is and always was loyal now.
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Apr 10, 2014 13:09
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Shockeh posted:That's my understanding of it too, which is a shame, I quite liked that plot thread. (But then, I also liked the one of Ferrus Manus as C'tan, but that was retconned by the Necron rewrite.) Yeah stuff like that's the main reason I don't like the whole concept of the Horus Heresy series. I hope they eventually retcon it as devotional literature from the late 36th millenium or something.
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Apr 10, 2014 13:46
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I have a four hour drive on fri and another 4 on sunday, and id like to try an audiobook since ive never listened to a 40k one. Can anyone recommend some good (or at least bearable/not trash) ones? I was thinking trying Malcador and the that establishes the inquisit. Are those ok? Any better ones?
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Apr 10, 2014 17:00
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Waroduce posted:I have a four hour drive on fri and another 4 on sunday, and id like to try an audiobook since ive never listened to a 40k one. Can anyone recommend some good (or at least bearable/not trash) ones? You mean The Sigilite? I really liked it; the voices and sfx really made Malcador and the Imperial Palace seem lifelike. It won't eat up much of an 8 hour trip, but should entertain well enough for a half hour or so!
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Apr 10, 2014 17:35
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Waroduce posted:I have a four hour drive on fri and another 4 on sunday, and id like to try an audiobook since ive never listened to a 40k one. Can anyone recommend some good (or at least bearable/not trash) ones? I generally dislike audiobooks, but the guy who does the reading for Betrayer does an awesome job.
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Apr 10, 2014 18:05
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I hate to say it because I know it's well regarded here, but I didn't much care for The Emperor's Gift. It seems like so much of the book was just Hyperion standing there and thinking "man, this sucks" without really doing anything about it. Once the book moves away from the planetary battle it seems like he's just an observer. It gave a pretty good insight into the Grey Knights and just how weird it is to be a posthuman dealing with humans, but overall it left me kind of flat. It wasn't as bad as my introduction to 40K fiction, Soul Drinkers, but also maybe I shouldn't have read it straight after reading Eisenhorn.
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Apr 10, 2014 18:44
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PantsOptional posted:I hate to say it because I know it's well regarded here, but I didn't much care for The Emperor's Gift. It seems like so much of the book was just Hyperion standing there and thinking "man, this sucks" without really doing anything about it. Once the book moves away from the planetary battle it seems like he's just an observer. It gave a pretty good insight into the Grey Knights and just how weird it is to be a posthuman dealing with humans, but overall it left me kind of flat. It wasn't as bad as my introduction to 40K fiction, Soul Drinkers, but also maybe I shouldn't have read it straight after reading Eisenhorn. Read Night Lords and Betrayer
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Apr 10, 2014 19:12
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PantsOptional posted:I hate to say it because I know it's well regarded here, but I didn't much care for The Emperor's Gift. It seems like so much of the book was just Hyperion standing there and thinking "man, this sucks" without really doing anything about it. Once the book moves away from the planetary battle it seems like he's just an observer. It gave a pretty good insight into the Grey Knights and just how weird it is to be a posthuman dealing with humans, but overall it left me kind of flat. It wasn't as bad as my introduction to 40K fiction, Soul Drinkers, but also maybe I shouldn't have read it straight after reading Eisenhorn. I agree with this. It's easily ADB's weakest, probably because the fluff got hugely rewritten while he was writing it.
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Apr 10, 2014 21:50
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VanSandman posted:I agree with this. It's easily ADB's weakest, probably because the fluff got hugely rewritten while he was writing it. I've heard this before, and I've also seen links to him not-so-subtly expressing his frustration about it. But are there details on specifically what was re-written in the fluff, and/or how this affected the actual book?
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Apr 10, 2014 22:34
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Regardless of all else, it is still pretty much the best book about the Grey Knights. And I did really like the Inquisition/Wolves power struggle. Actually I really liked it overall, even though I could see that around 3/4ths in there was a shift in the narrative.
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Apr 10, 2014 22:41
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PantsOptional posted:I hate to say it because I know it's well regarded here, but I didn't much care for The Emperor's Gift. It seems like so much of the book was just Hyperion standing there and thinking "man, this sucks" without really doing anything about it. Once the book moves away from the planetary battle it seems like he's just an observer. It gave a pretty good insight into the Grey Knights and just how weird it is to be a posthuman dealing with humans, but overall it left me kind of flat. It wasn't as bad as my introduction to 40K fiction, Soul Drinkers, but also maybe I shouldn't have read it straight after reading Eisenhorn. Honestly the most entertaining portion of the Emperors Gift, was Hyperion's interactions with the Inquisitors posse, and how hilariously awkward it was. Like how Hyperion was constantly spying on Annika, when she was painting, screwing the chaos cultist, etc. Or just flat out staring at her while she showered. Hyperion is a total goon.
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Apr 10, 2014 23:49
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Memory wipe or no, he's still just that goony kid tryin' to sneak a peek at Harlon's private pictures.
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Apr 11, 2014 00:34
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DirtyRobot posted:I've heard this before, and I've also seen links to him not-so-subtly expressing his frustration about it. But are there details on specifically what was re-written in the fluff, and/or how this affected the actual book? If I remember correctly, the GK's weren't nearly grimdark enough, so Ward made it so that any poor soul that even uses the words "grey" and "knight" in the same sentence gets his entire planet blown up. They kinda went from over-zealous paladins to psyker death squads that do poo poo that would make Kharn proud (Hey sisters of battle, having a little bit of trouble with this demon, so... we're kinda going to slaughter all of you and bathe in your blood to make us stronger! Blood for the
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Apr 11, 2014 02:05
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Running out of reading material in my new city, so I borrowed Dark Apostle from a friend. It's...aggressively mediocre. Not quite bad, though even that might have been more entertaining. Characters have almost no life or depth, and the action trudges along rather than flow. Everyone has one and exactly one character trait. Each challenge is bureaucratic and dealt with in two chapters or so. What, an Imperator Titan? Just an end-of-chapter scare before a single band of terminators brings it down next chapter. That said, it does have a few fun moments. Having the Word Bearers tease each other when one of them gets run over by a Chimera was a rare and needed moment of levity and brotherhood to set them aside from, say, cynical Night Lords. And some of descriptions of the corruptions of chaos on an enslaved society were genuinely disturbing, even if the author's vocabulary and presentation could use a lot of work. PS: Kargos Bloodspitter should be in every book. Every single one.
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Apr 11, 2014 22:27
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DirtyRobot posted:I've heard this before, and I've also seen links to him not-so-subtly expressing his frustration about it. But are there details on specifically what was re-written in the fluff, and/or how this affected the actual book? I think it was the change that the Grey Knights were now incorruptible to Chaos "just 'cause" instead of the fact that they're incorruptible due to their own efforts and rituals and stuff. Also the Dreadknight. quote:It's...aggressively mediocre. Not quite bad, though even that might have been more entertaining. Characters have almost no life or depth, and the action trudges along rather than flow. Everyone has one and exactly one character trait. Each challenge is bureaucratic and dealt with in two chapters or so. What, an Imperator Titan? Just an end-of-chapter scare before a single band of terminators brings it down next chapter. I thought the same thing. There seems too much "Then the word bearers gunned down hundreds of Imperial guard with any effort or problems." compared to Storm of Iron or the Night Lords Trilogy The chaos corrupted slave parts of the book were pretty decent though. Muppetjedi fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Apr 11, 2014 |
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Apr 11, 2014 22:41
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The Sigilite (spelling) audiobook was really good. I was surprised at the level of sfx in the background, especially the war scenes. the scene where Malcador shows off the gates of hell and is all like th Emperors in there fighting and magnus should have known better was fuckin sweet.
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Apr 11, 2014 23:08
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Muppetjedi posted:
It's not even that. Even when he tosses in some difficulties, they feel hollow and rote. "The enemy buckled under the assault of the word bearers. Murderous fire from bolters and vehicles tore through the imperial advance, and yet they kept coming in endless numbers. Some marines fell under sheer volume of lasgun fire, though." It's as if he notices that both sides usually takes casualties in war, but can't go beyond giving it a nod. It doesn't mean or change anything. It's an afterthought. Compare that to the slow, desperate tick-tick-tick of lives and territory in Helsreach, of the madness of the terror assault Eisenhorn witnesses. Or the colossal, chaotic, fun bungling in Valleka in Betrayer. Hell, two legions with titan support and primarchs in tow collectively poo poo their pants when the Corinthian makes planetfall. Here, a single host of Word Bearers treat the thing as an annoying roadbump.
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Apr 11, 2014 23:42
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Apologies if this gets asked a lot but is there any chance of the Gaunt's Ghosts novels, especially any of them after the first two anthologies, getting reprinted?
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Apr 12, 2014 17:20
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ReV VAdAUL posted:Apologies if this gets asked a lot but is there any chance of the Gaunt's Ghosts novels, especially any of them after the first two anthologies, getting reprinted? Black Library repriting novels? Hardly.  You simply have to wait for the next omnibus to come out somewhere in/after all the HH books. But you can if you want to buy an overpriced reprint of First and Only if you so want to.
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Apr 12, 2014 17:33
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Cooked Auto posted:Black Library repriting novels? Hardly. Welp, oh well. Thanks for the info.
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Apr 12, 2014 17:57
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ReV VAdAUL posted:Apologies if this gets asked a lot but is there any chance of the Gaunt's Ghosts novels, especially any of them after the first two anthologies, getting reprinted? Pretty sure the third anthology came out a long time ago.
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Apr 12, 2014 18:59
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ReV VAdAUL posted:Welp, oh well. Thanks for the info. Of course I could be exaggerating as well and they do reprints in a minor fashion.
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Apr 12, 2014 19:29
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UberJumper posted:Pretty sure the third anthology came out a long time ago. Available for the bargain price of £110 new on Amazon, there are some used copies for around ~£20 which I might get but if there was a chance of a reprint I'd hold out, it'll probably be cheaper to get the individual books used.
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Apr 12, 2014 21:24
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ReV VAdAUL posted:Available for the bargain price of £110 new on Amazon, there are some used copies for around ~£20 which I might get but if there was a chance of a reprint I'd hold out, it'll probably be cheaper to get the individual books used. Buy the ebook.
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Apr 13, 2014 00:00
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I know it's just a big book full of luscious imagery but the writing in Visions of Heresy is loving awful. Who the hell is Alan Merrett and why is he allowed to pen such atrocious bullshit next to such lavish scenes of war and treachery?
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Apr 13, 2014 02:15
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AndyElusive posted:I know it's just a big book full of luscious imagery but the writing in Visions of Heresy is loving awful. Who the hell is Alan Merrett and why is he allowed to pen such atrocious bullshit next to such lavish scenes of war and treachery? To sell toys
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Apr 13, 2014 02:53
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Merrett is one of the bigwigs at GW. I think fleshing out the heresy was his big project- most of the art in that book and the other Visions books were commissioned for the card game that I guess they expected to be a huge hit judging by the amount of stuff they did for it. The game died after a couple of years and I guess they just decided to roll with the heresy because they had done so much art and backstory for it.
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Apr 13, 2014 03:13
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I've finally finished the Battlefleet Gothic novels and I'm impressed. The adventures of the Lord Solar Macharius were interesting, to say the least. Also, the books get bonus points for showing a lot of the inner workings of the Imperial Fleet and, of course a Dark Eldar cruiser being destroyed by the black hole powering it running amok.
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Apr 15, 2014 11:26
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Libluini posted:I've finally finished the Battlefleet Gothic novels and I'm impressed. The adventures of the Lord Solar Macharius were interesting, to say the least. Also, the books get bonus points for showing a lot of the inner workings of the Imperial Fleet and, of course a Dark Eldar cruiser being destroyed by the black hole powering it running amok. Those books got me to start playing BFG online. Loved those books and I am sad there was not a third one.
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Apr 15, 2014 14:05
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Libluini posted:I've finally finished the Battlefleet Gothic novels and I'm impressed. The adventures of the Lord Solar Macharius were interesting, to say the least. Also, the books get bonus points for showing a lot of the inner workings of the Imperial Fleet and, of course a Dark Eldar cruiser being destroyed by the black hole powering it running amok. I heard they were kinda uninteresting, will give them a try, thank you. bunnyofdoom posted:Those books got me to start playing BFG online. Loved those books and I am sad there was not a third one. Please, could you tell me more about this?
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Apr 15, 2014 15:31
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Angry Lobster posted:I heard they were kinda uninteresting, will give them a try, thank you. VASSAL: http://www.vassalengine.org/index.php VBFG: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/VBFG/info
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Apr 15, 2014 15:42
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