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OK, thanks for that! I've got the other two so I'll backtrack a bit. I've already read Eisenhorn (very cool), Ravenor (didn't get into it as much) and the first 5 HH novels, just catching up on Ahriman before diving back into the HH stuff...but I guess Thousand Sons was the next HH novel I'd be reading anyway, so score!
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Jan 21, 2015 15:30
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A few pages ago someone asked if they should read the new Kharn book. The answer is yes, in fact everyone should. Like Betrayer it does a really good job of humanizing the World Eaters and you actually feel a little sympathy for the psychopaths as they spiral down. Anthony Reynolds does a pretty good job overall with Chaos Marines, as he also did the Word Bearer trilogy.
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Jan 21, 2015 15:47
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krushgroove posted:OK, thanks for that! I've got the other two so I'll backtrack a bit. I've already read Eisenhorn (very cool), Ravenor (didn't get into it as much) and the first 5 HH novels, just catching up on Ahriman before diving back into the HH stuff...but I guess Thousand Sons was the next HH novel I'd be reading anyway, so score! God bless you for reading battle of the abyss or whatever it was Wax Dynasty posted:A few pages ago someone asked if they should read the new Kharn book. The answer is yes, in fact everyone should. Like Betrayer it does a really good job of humanizing the World Eaters and you actually feel a little sympathy for the psychopaths as they spiral down. Anthony Reynolds does a pretty good job overall with Chaos Marines, as he also did the Word Bearer trilogy. Whats the name of this
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Jan 21, 2015 15:56
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Waroduce posted:Whats the name of this Just finished reading "Ghosts and Bad Shadows" from the Sabbat Crusade book. Without offering any spoilers, all I can say is "You're an rear end in a top hat, Dan Abnett" due to the implications of that story.
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Jan 21, 2015 19:25
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Kharn: EoW suffers from ending right before Kharn earns his 'Betrayer' nickname. I was really looking forward to him kicking the poo poo out of World Eaters and Emperor's Children at the same time, maybe using the one to bludgeon the other to death.
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Jan 21, 2015 19:52
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berzerkmonkey posted:Kharn: Eater of Worlds Any story introduced with "I'm so sorry" is just prime Abnett. I still love the bastard though. Best writer.
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Jan 21, 2015 20:32
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berzerkmonkey posted:Kharn: Eater of Worlds I doubt I'll be able to read it in any kind of timely manner. Please spoil it for me.
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Jan 21, 2015 20:52
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krushgroove posted:Someone recently was gushing about the new Ahriman book, so I picked up Exile...I'm nearly halfway through it, but should I have read Thousand Sons first? Seems like I missed a bit somewhere... As far as the Rubric is concerned? I haven't read Thousand Sons, but it's referenced enough in Talon of Horus enough that I knew what he was talking about.
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Jan 21, 2015 20:58
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Azran posted:I doubt I'll be able to read it in any kind of timely manner. Please spoil it for me. FYI, Abnett claims that all of the Ghosts stories he wrote for Sabbat Crusade are required reading for the upcoming books. Ok, in a previous story in the book, "Family" Gol stops by Tona Crid's berth to have some dinner and see the kids. He does a little connecting with the children, and his little girl gives him a picture she drew. It's of a forest with Gol and a few other Ghosts, and it includes a big, black scribble on the page. He asks what the scribble is and the girl says she was reaching for the yellow chalk, when she grabbed the black and just made that scribble - she couldn't help herself. She calls it the "bad shadow." Gol folds it up and places it in his pocket, and the story wraps up. Of course, at this point, I'm going "ohshitohshitohshit" and thinking about Soric... Flash forward to the later story: Gol and some Ghosts deploy on some backwater rainforest planet with a Naval supply dump to secure an LZ. While they are trudging through the jungle, everyone is getting creepy feelings, and some of the guys are hearing a voice saying "Give me the Eagle Stones" (whatever the hell that means.) Nobody can really place a finger on why they are jumpy, but everyone starts to reference the "bad shadows" of the place without really knowing why they are calling them that. Gol suddenly realizes his daughter drew this exact scene, complete with the twin moons, the supply dump entrance, and all the Ghosts present at the LZ. All of a sudden, all hell breaks loose and a naval officer's head goes flying off his body for no discernible reason, and a Ghost goes down with his stomach torn open. Everyone starts shooting at nothing, when - silence - Gol is standing there and he sees the "scribble" his daughter drew. It says that it is the Voice of Sek, and that if Gol was open to the blessing of the Beati, he is also open to daemons. It tells Gol to get the Eagle Stones or else it will kill his daughter - then it pretty much vanishes, leaving Gol the only one who really knows what is going on. In his after action report, Gol hides the whole "bad shadow" incident from Gaunt and Hark for fear of being executed and his family being carted off to the Black Ships. That being said, Abnett does state in the forward: "No matter what you think in the end of this story, you're wrong." So there's that. But he also states that the ramifications of this story are going to be big. Like real big.
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Jan 21, 2015 21:21
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berzerkmonkey posted:
Along with the aforementioned "I'm so sorry", plus a "I'm so sorry, Gol" Going to be heartbreaking.
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Jan 21, 2015 21:31
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Gooses and Geeses posted:Going to be heartbreaking. I am filled with equal parts dread and anticipation.
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Jan 22, 2015 05:19
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Going to cross-post this since I am trying to find a new series. Has anyone here read "The Empire's Corps" series? I'm a bit of a sucker for military sci-fi if it is well written, and whatever algorithm that monitors my web viewing stuck this in the little ad section on my web browser. This seems almost comically targeted at me since my most recent fiction reads have been almost exclusively from the Black Library, and I am a former active duty Marine who spends a good deal of time on their websites for work-related reasons. I jumped on Amazon and saw the first book had a an average 4-star rating with surprisingly very few 1-stars. Basically, if a series like Gaunt's Ghosts is my standard for what I want in a book, is this going to hook me?
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Jan 22, 2015 23:33
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Uroboros posted:Going to cross-post this since I am trying to find a new series. Ive not but I love good military scifi so ill take recommendations from the thread all day
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Jan 23, 2015 00:50
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Uroboros posted:Going to cross-post this since I am trying to find a new series. I haven't read this series and have not heard of it before. But if you're interested in a series like Gaunt's Ghosts I'd recommend the Sharpe series, which is historical fiction but in feel it's basically 40k and was a clear influence on Abnett. Other recommendations include classic military sci-fi like the Forever War series or the Hammer's Slammers series (both written by Vietnam vets). Also Bill, the Galactic Hero is funny and good.
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Jan 23, 2015 01:34
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The Dragon Never Sleeps by Glen Cook is military sci-fi too (and you might try his Black Company stories if you're willing to dip into fantasy). If you're looking for an interesting BL book a little off the beaten path, you might try Titanicus by Dan Abnett. While loads of 40k books mention titans, books written from the perspective of their crews are a little less common.
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Jan 23, 2015 03:14
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It is in the op but Double Eagle is pretty good as well! It is written by Abnett and features some side characters from the Ghost series as protagonists. Not a bad read, especially since it is the story of 40k's own grimer-darker version of the Battle of Britain!
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Jan 23, 2015 03:48
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Fearless posted:The Dragon Never Sleeps by Glen Cook is military sci-fi too (and you might try his Black Company stories if you're willing to dip into fantasy). If you're looking for an interesting BL book a little off the beaten path, you might try Titanicus by Dan Abnett. While loads of 40k books mention titans, books written from the perspective of their crews are a little less common. Titanicus is a classic imo. highly recommended
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Jan 23, 2015 05:06
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The Black Company is awesome, considering how 40K can be people shouldn't have an issue reading this series.
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Jan 23, 2015 06:36
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Vadoc posted:The Black Company is awesome, considering how 40K can be people shouldn't have an issue reading this series. Finally, a group of potential readers who can't complain about the second half of the series ! For Really Good Military Sci-Fi, try David Drake's Hammer's Slammers series. he used it to work out a lot of his demons from Vietnam, so it's even got the grimdark thing going on in spots.
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Jan 23, 2015 06:44
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Mange Mite posted:Hammer's Slammers series (both written by Vietnam vets) Most of David Drake's military sci-fi is pretty solid, imo. If you use an e-reader of some sort there's a lot of his stuff available for free(legally) here: http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/ They come from promotional CDs released with books by various Baen authors that contain a lot of the author's other books in various formats. Drake's CD is the one called "When the Tide Rises CD". You have to download the whole drat CD, sadly, since Baen only allows the distribution of the CD in its entirety, but hey. Free books. It's got some of the Hammer's Slammers books in there, as well as some of his other stuff. Redliners was one of my favorites by him, IIRC, though it's been a long while since I've read it.
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Jan 23, 2015 07:09
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berzerkmonkey posted:FYI, Abnett claims that all of the Ghosts stories he wrote for Sabbat Crusade are required reading for the upcoming books.   Goddamn it. Guess I'll have to hope they'll release a cheaper/non e-book variant of it then at some point.Before whenever the next Ghost book comes out that is. ( )
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Jan 23, 2015 15:16
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Uroboros posted:This seems almost comically targeted at me since my most recent fiction reads have been almost exclusively from the Black Library, and I am a former active duty Marine who spends a good deal of time on their websites for work-related reasons. Cooked Auto posted:
Also, even though Abnett says "required reading" I think you can get by if you don't - you'll just miss a little of the back story of the arc.
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Jan 23, 2015 16:53
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Im about s third of the way through Ahriman Sorcer and it's really good. I really like (semi-spolier from the first 75 pages) The depiction of the wolves hunting Ahriman across space and time and that the Grey Knight was at that ritual. His description was really cool and the traitor who was captured was like ohhh gently caress we didnt know about that
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Jan 23, 2015 16:56
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Why the gently caress do they release audiobook-only content? Seriously?
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Jan 24, 2015 16:53
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REAL MUSCLE MILK posted:Why the gently caress do they release audiobook-only content? Seriously? I thought for the most part, audio-exclusives were audio dramas, while the audiobooks were just readings of the original text? At least this was what the
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Jan 24, 2015 17:44
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berzerkmonkey posted:FYI, Abnett claims that all of the Ghosts stories he wrote for Sabbat Crusade are required reading for the upcoming books. Like, nobody read this if you haven't read the short stories. The only clear connection to Sek is the Pheguth and whatever the Eagle stones are they are probably something the ghosts liberated from Salvations Reach. Considering the nature of the cargo I'm actually really surprised they didn't bring an Inquisitor along for the ride. I'm going to tentatively predict that whatever the voice is its lying (demons do that) and Gol is going to gently caress up somewhere along the line because he doesn't have any special talents or information (he's probably not psychic). If there's any taint in the Ghosts it's obviously in Meryn's platoon.
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Jan 24, 2015 18:10
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berzerkmonkey posted:'Sup, fellow former jarhead. I believe Abnett, there's some big stuff in the stories. Probably Meryn himself. Or he just eventually does what his mentor never did, and kill Gaunt.
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Jan 25, 2015 00:14
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I've finished the first three Horus Heresy books, and I'm left thoroughly confused and disoriented. I expected Loken to fall to Chaos, not just get stomped by the Titan after getting wrecked by Abaddon. Horus Heresy seems like just one big wild ride, tumbling further and further into madness. Horus really does become perhaps too much of a mustache twirling villain by the end of it though. Should I read all of them, or are there books that I'd be better off skipping?
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Jan 25, 2015 11:23
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HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:I've finished the first three Horus Heresy books, and I'm left thoroughly confused and disoriented. I expected Loken to fall to Chaos, not just get stomped by the Titan after getting wrecked by Abaddon. You should read Battle for the Abyss, it's probably the best entry in the series. A plot that compellingly adds to the chaos of the heresy while fleshing out sympathetic, three-dimensional characters from both loyal and traitor legions. The prose is also beyond tie-in fiction levels and reaches up to the heights of actual literature.
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Jan 25, 2015 13:47
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HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:I've finished the first three Horus Heresy books, and I'm left thoroughly confused and disoriented. I expected Loken to fall to Chaos, not just get stomped by the Titan after getting wrecked by Abaddon. You should read all of them, though they all don't add to the story, and a couple are pretty bleh. Mechafunkzilla's second post at the beginning of this thread tells you the "must reads" if you're just looking to cherrypick.
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Jan 25, 2015 14:58
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HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:I've finished the first three Horus Heresy books, and I'm left thoroughly confused and disoriented. I expected Loken to fall to Chaos, not just get stomped by the Titan after getting wrecked by Abaddon. You should absolutely not read all of them, and cherry pick around the useless/pointless ones. Some of them are aggressively bad, or totally pointless like battle for the abyss or the Assasin one and Vengeful Spirit off the top of my head. If youre super into ham and are like idc I wanna read, or I like the Legion/primarch, go ahead, but man....some of them fuckin blow. Mowglis Haircut posted:You should read Battle for the Abyss, it's probably the best entry in the series. A plot that compellingly adds to the chaos of the heresy while fleshing out sympathetic, three-dimensional characters from both loyal and traitor legions. The prose is also beyond tie-in fiction levels and reaches up to the heights of actual literature. This was lol as gently caress but dont read battle for the abyss its one of the worst in the series and this man is messing with you
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Jan 25, 2015 15:30
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HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:Should I read all of them, or are there books that I'd be better off skipping? Apart from Legion i would skip Vengeful Spirit and everything else by Dan Abnett, James Swallow and Nick Kyme unless you have time to burn. Dance Marine fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Jan 25, 2015 |
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Jan 25, 2015 16:48
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Dance Marine posted:Apart from Legion i would skip Vengeful Spirit and everything by Dan Abnett, James Swallow and Nick Kyme unless you have time to burn. I'm struggling to understand what you are trying to say here, but it looks like you are telling him skip the Abnett HH books?  him and ADB are the only saving graces of the entire HH series. McNeil is hit and miss
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Jan 25, 2015 16:50
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Serious post: read the HH stuff by ADB and Dan Abnett in release order, then go back and fill in any gaps based on whatever interests you. Because of how slow as gently caress the series is, and how much stuff in different books is really just going on at the same time, the timeline won't be screwed with spoilers if you do this.
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Jan 25, 2015 17:05
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Dance Marine posted:Apart from Legion i would skip Vengeful Spirit and everything else by Dan Abnett, James Swallow and Nick Kyme unless you have time to burn. Lol Same
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Jan 25, 2015 17:20
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Mowglis Haircut posted:You should read Battle for the Abyss, it's probably the best entry in the series. A plot that compellingly adds to the chaos of the heresy while fleshing out sympathetic, three-dimensional characters from both loyal and traitor legions. The prose is also beyond tie-in fiction levels and reaches up to the heights of actual literature. Even knowing this was a joke post, I still loving hated you for it on the one in a million some other poor bastard bought that book as a consequence.
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Jan 25, 2015 17:29
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Shockeh posted:Even knowing this was a joke post, I still loving hated you for it on the one in a million some other poor bastard bought that book as a consequence. I thought Battle for the Abyss was a fun read. Not a good read and it adds absolutely nothing to the Heresy story, but I thought it was an amusing book to read.
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Jan 25, 2015 17:40
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DirtyRobot posted:Serious post: read the HH stuff by ADB and Dan Abnett in release order, then go back and fill in any gaps based on whatever interests you. Because of how slow as gently caress the series is, and how much stuff in different books is really just going on at the same time, the timeline won't be screwed with spoilers if you do this. Also Horus dies and the emperor kills him. The emperor sort of survives and is left in eternal torment on the golden throne while humanity descends into superstition and terror.
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Jan 25, 2015 18:14
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Mange Mite posted:Also Horus dies and the emperor kills him. The emperor sort of survives and is left in eternal torment on the golden throne while humanity descends into superstition and terror. Yeah, also this kind of thing Then again -- someone, somewhere: "Argh I read Talon of Horus what the hell I mean come on everything in the Horus Heresy was just totally ruined!!!!"
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Jan 25, 2015 18:49
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Every now and than its touched on in th tg rp hame thread but I would really love to watch a group of players be slowly exposed to just like.....how hosed the imperium is and all the poo poo that happened. Just some dudes comin from dnd like yea lets play ham sounds fun and than lol your skull for the throne the emperor is dead angron is going to kill you did you know his sons betrayed him fuuuuuuckkk
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Jan 25, 2015 19:35
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