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Forge of Mars also reminds me though that for as interesting as the eldar are theres pretty few good books starring them and thats a shame.
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Dec 19, 2022 03:14
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boredsatellite posted:I just want 40k White Scar books I really like the last hunt, which coincidentally also has the eldar in it. Also one of my favorite bits of warp wierdness in it. End Spoilers: A limited form of time travel is possible, but by doing it you split yourself into the past version of you who lives on unaware of you you having modified the events of the timeline, and the current version who is now stuck outside of time in the webway and unable to return. The versions of the white scar characters that are stuck like this decide to go ride forever in search of the khan. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:34 on Dec 19, 2022 |
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Dec 19, 2022 16:30
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MadDogMike posted:I thought (at least based on the last art I remember when I still played 40K) they had retconned it so “black” wasn’t “person of African descent” color but literally “looks like they were burned to charcoal” skin. Kinda more fitting for guys named Salamanders to look like lava rocks with red eyes, and it worked a little better to deal with the racism issue by having a skin color not really existent in real life. Yeah, that's describing blackface pretty much, imagine that in live action. If it was a chapter of people who were just of african descent for cultural and logistical reasons that's less visually arresting, its what the White Scars are. Honestly that's what I'd do anyways probably, if I was in charge, and the fact instead they just keep running with the caucasian guys with coal black skin in official art is kinda funny to me.  Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Dec 21, 2022 |
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Dec 21, 2022 02:59
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Arquinsiel posted:The White Scars are Mongols. You can tell by the ranks, names, gimmick, etc. The white scars are a chapter of people of mostly asian descent, for cultural and logistical reasons, is what I meant. Home worlds are almost all steppe planets and a desire to recruit people used to fast paced mounted warfare and that would be easy to integrate into the existing culture of the chapter. You could just do the salamanders that way too and have them just be black guys. Especially since GW has been making a concerted effort to showcase black marines in other chapters all over the place, the Salamanders feel especially superfluous to me. I'd probably be less harsh on the Salamanders too if the person who gets to write them almost all the time wasn't a writer I'm not very fond of, versus Wraight fleshing out the white scars in some really excellent books. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Dec 22, 2022 |
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Dec 22, 2022 00:44
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There's no official art of it but Devastation of Baal implies that black marines gifted the chapter's gene seed can inherit the flowing golden locks of Sanguinius and I want to see that.
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Dec 22, 2022 00:51
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Elblanco posted:So I got the blood angels codex for Christmas and I was wanting to dive into their lore more, are there any good novels/audiobooks out there for them? Dante, Devastation of Baal, Darkness In The Blood Guy Haley's trilogy is really cool honestly, and a good read that walks you through the transformative events of the new era of 40k from their perspective.
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Dec 25, 2022 04:05
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Also never noticed they all start with D before. Dracula....
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Dec 25, 2022 12:25
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OPAONI posted:Can we stop with the Guy Haley slander? He's not top tier but he's fine. I read/listened to the Guilliman vs Mortarion trilogy and The Great Work and all four were fine entertainment. I'm a big haley booster, he's one of my favs honestly. Dante/Devastation/Darkness is my favorite trilogy.
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Jun 26, 2023 23:57
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I liked Hinks' Leviathan. If you've read any of the other books about planets doomed to tyranid invasion you won't find a lot new in it, but it's fast reading and exciting which was good enough for me. There's sacrifice and last stands and lots of people being tricked by and underestimating space bugs. I think it helps that the main marine characters are pretty interesting, you have a devoted scientists so aloof he finds it hard to relate to even other ultramarines, and his best friend who's a contemplative mystic and taciturn death seeker counting down all the days he avoids his demise. Just not your usual ultramarine OCs. In terms of a small scene that really stuck out to me: I think I've seen the tyranids using psychic visions to fool people before, but using their psychic power to reactivate the fried neurons of cogitating servitors to give them sentience back and convincing them that not only are they really hungry, so are you and we could be less hungry together if you'd just pass me along all the secret vulnerabilities of the facility you're crunching numbers in thank you best friend very much, is a fun new twist on the tyranids infiltration skillset. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Jun 28, 2023 |
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Jun 27, 2023 23:32
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Jeff Wiiver posted:Still relatively new to the WH40K lore. I'm reading through the Horus Heresy books (reading Book 8 right now). Any suggestions for books that are good primers on factions I haven't really come across yet? Don't know much about Tau, Necrons, Tyranids, Aeldari, Drukhari and Genestealer Cults. Curious about Votann too but I'm guessing they're new enough that there aren't any novels to read yet. Valedor's one of my favorite eldar books, the one i'd recommend the most, and is also tyranids.
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Jul 3, 2023 12:23
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Haleys done a bunch of my favorite books but is also saddled with a bunch of very workmanlike you need to write a book about the new models type stuff that never ends up too exciting. His Cawl is very good though and I think one of the more interesting imperium characters in black library, being a bunch of fractured minds with very different perspectives smashed together and fighting for primacy. And then there's the cawl inferior...
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Jul 5, 2023 18:16
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Reading The Last Volari, blood knight story set in sigmar with a neat vampire protagonist. Haven't heard much talk about it at all but I'm really enjoying it so far. It's nice to have a set of characters who are so full of emotion they can barely contain them.
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Jul 8, 2023 03:35
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Owlkill posted:Definitely here for decent AoS/Warcry/Underworlds setting recommendations. Finished it up and liked it a bunch, rambling review to follow. The Last Volari is a coming of age courtly drama where a vampire princess has to learn very quickly how to maintain the reins of power as her father falls ill in the middle of a long running guerilla war that pits vampires and their human allies against humans aligned to sigmar, in the volcanic plains of a wasteland region of aqshy. It really is focused more on the court part than big battles, with most of the content being navigating the loyalties of different characters, with tests and betrayals along the way. I dont think everybody will vibe with the main character, although I definitely did. She's a young vampire who got turned as a teenager and still is immature, brash, incredibly violent and distrustful of even her nominal allies and always a hairs breadth away from pouncing on people for even looking at her funny. Her only moderating influence is the spirit of her dead mother, who speaks to her in her mind but only responds if spoken to vocally, a fact which unnerves those around her as she's often driven to argue with herself out in the open. Usually with black library vampire stuff they like to keep the vampires at least partially sympathetic and being kastelai/blood knights makes this a bit easier since they really do value the commitments their human allies have brokered with them and they aren't given to excessive cruelty. In opposition the human sigmarites are pulling from some of the darkest of history, and in no uncertain terms the inspiration here is Nazi SS. These are outsiders obsessed with purity who have no problem putting every human thst a vampire ever even looked at to the torch and ruling over a wasteland of clean ashes. It was a clean fast read and I think the weaker aspect is combat if only because it usually wasn't as compelling as the character interaction. I'd recommend it.
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Jul 9, 2023 02:23
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chainchompz posted:I just finished the Leviathan omnibus. I could read more stories about Tyranids doing their thing or one of the not-franchise pulp books on my shelf. Pretend I just discovered 40k, what else is there with 'nids? You might like The Last Hunt, White Scars book with tyranids and eldar. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 13:56 on Jul 21, 2023 |
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Jul 21, 2023 13:53
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euphronius posted:The politics of the empire have evolved as we’ve gotten farther from 1980s Britain and good writers (abnett etc) have fleshed out more of the every day life of people in 40k It's funny to read the ad copy for say the assassin miniatures, where they portray them entirely as devoted and sacrificial heroes who take the hard jobs to save billions by killing the people who must needs killing, without entertaining the thought that they might sometimes be used how assassins are usually used, i.e. getting rid of the inconvenient.
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Jul 22, 2023 03:20
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Chas McGill posted:Just finished listening to Hereticus and I'm after something about the eldar now after the Seer had its bit part. The one I've read that I like the most is Valedor, which is guy haley describing iyanden, corsair and dark eldar all working together to try to stop the tyranids, you get a ton of what life on that craftworld is like.
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Aug 5, 2023 10:35
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I think eldar are unfortunately just one of the least popular factions for the fiction. It's a shame because I think culture wise they have a pretty interesting one with a lot of facets that make it more than just a mashup of other pop culture. Honestly being craftworld seems like one of the more chill ways to live your life in a universe of nightmares, at least until they find you. I would read a whole book about a craftsman getting lost on the path of pottery.
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Aug 9, 2023 03:38
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Telsa Cola posted:Reading between the lines the eldar path system seems like extreme trauma induced OCD. It's a very vulcan thing, but you can replace logic with whatever one task you feel like doing at the time to keep your focus and emotions in check. There's lots of eldar that keep getting bored and bouncing back and forth from path to path, but as long as they're on some kind of path each time its okay. I like that the true horror isn't losing control of your emotions and falling to slaanesh on the path, it's getting so stuck on a path that you can never change it again. You are pots now. Only pots. You are rightfully respected for your mastery of pot creation and rightfully feared for what you had to give up to attain this level of mastery. You have fallen, but you have fallen to yourself. I like the path of the dreamer, wherein you become a professional sleepy-person whos job is to sleep a lot, for days at a time. The vibe of a craftworld I get from what little fiction has explored them a lot is a wandering commune of weird artists where everybody's needs are taken care of but they're still sad all the time, and I think that's neat. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 05:36 on Aug 9, 2023 |
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Aug 9, 2023 05:18
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CapnAndy posted:I think part of the problem with Eldar protagonists is that, even by the standards of grimark, the Eldar are the race of utter loving bastards. It's really hard to root for the guys for whom "geez, I'm on track to be mildly inconvenienced in two hundred years, or... I could condemn billions of innocents to a horrible death" is both a no-brainer to choose the latter option and also a fairly common occurrence. That's only your far-seeingest of the farseers like eldrad, theres plenty of eldar protagonists that are easy to root for. Most craftworld citizens seem to consider any time on the war paths as a begrudging necessity of survival, experience horrifying ptsd when they remove the warmask that takes a while to get over, and mostly feeling horror and disdain at eldar who lose themselves on the paths of violence. Lot of people who just get caught up in events larger than them and beyond their control, forced to fight to survive against horrors beyond their comprehension. It's not that much different from novels from the imperial perspective. Sometimes your general can see into the future. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 23:02 on Aug 9, 2023 |
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Aug 9, 2023 22:50
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nesbit37 posted:Does anyone have recommendations, or even just a list, of the Black Library books that deal with the xenos from their perspective? I just read “Da Gobbo’s Revenge” and “Ghazghkull Thraka” this week and like them a lot. I read “Brutal Kunnin” a while back and liked it. I get these are all about orks, but I generally am more interested in books about any of the xenos from their point of view. Recommending Valedor again, for eldar.
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Aug 17, 2023 03:14
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Angry Lobster posted:Genefather looks promising but it's Guy Haley, I'm hesitant to dive in tbh. While the space marine side of The Great Work wasn't its most compelling, it was a good book in general I'd say with some really interesting character work. I think Guy Haley is really good when he's doing something where he doesn't have to paint by numbers sell the new models of space marine, with the marketing team breathing down his neck. He's been pretty open that being assigned the tie in novel to a product launch has way more impositions on it. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 13:42 on Sep 25, 2023 |
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Sep 25, 2023 13:40
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Harrowmasters version of the Alpha Legion I think is a really great characterization of them that I hope remains the main branch of the faction going forward, also I'd love to just read more about that main character, his best friend psyker, and please more about the schola progenium girl they've turned into a space marine. She had a friend in her short story that wasn't mentioned in harrowmaster. It's more interesting than being secret loyalists to me, and more interesting than being plans within plans wheels within wheels secret agent plotters who have no knowable goal, but also those versions of the Alpha Legion also still exist. Great way to handle it. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:46 on Nov 1, 2023 |
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Nov 1, 2023 16:39
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Dapper_Swindler posted:i mean i get your point, but i am not really sure how you do it. the setting is extreamly obvious that the society is a reactionary hellscape and progress died longer then many religions existed now adays, i mean id read disco elysium the 40k book but the conceit of the universe is its grim darkness and hosed and only small h hope exists, I am probably reading into your point unfairly, but i feel like you are looking for some rational lefty character to be able able to point out that "wow poo poo really sucks". like warhammer isnt Bioshock infinite where its trying gurgle out "both sides bad" with one side being obviously way less lovely, its more "everyone sucks really bad outside the tau and thats depends on the area maybe". That's where the current main faction of the alpha legion is at. It's a rebel army with a space fleet and titan legions focused on overthrowing the imperium, or at least putting it out of its misery if nothing can ever replace it, without claiming allegiance to the gods of chaos, only using them as tools when it would beneficial to the cause. Led by a charismatic and somewhat reasonable warlord. Of course it could fall apart at any time and still fail anyways, but it's pretty easy to read them as protagonists I think. Also I guess the nature of the setting as a wargame means they cant ever actually succeed and therefore the consequences of that success cant be explored, I just mean in general if you want a rebel faction that works against the imperium that also isnt unhinged and turbo evil, it exists. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 20:55 on Nov 1, 2023 |
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Nov 1, 2023 20:46
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The last time I think its been mentioned he was just assumed dead also.
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Nov 1, 2023 21:23
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Cawl also has memories of the scientists who existed before the heresy, so it must be pretty frustrating to have to tiptoe around what are very enthusiastically repressed cave people in comparison all day. The vibe I got of the admech is that more heretical members might do actual studies and logs of xenotech, or attempt to use them or improve the existing old tech using the knowledge gained, but your average tech priest is content to sit and maintain only what already exists and is sanctioned, and that's what they do in workshops all day, fix the rapidly decaying infrastructure and equipment of the imperium. Exploratory Fleets travel around looking for stcs and other constructs of the like, since those are sanctioned archaeotech. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Nov 17, 2023 |
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Nov 17, 2023 17:50
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Telsa Cola posted:Unless they retconned it there's also a complete STC library just like, sitting on an imperial held planet that has some weird order of monks keeping it a secret. Several Ark Mechanicus are rumored to have an STC in them also, but theyre so deeply buried in the structure nobody but a few servitors knows about them. It's possible ALL of them do.
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Nov 18, 2023 00:22
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Grilled Beef posted:My theory is Bastillo Fo is Crawl or at least all the important parts of him. The oldest part of cawl and the first, though not primary, mind that makes up the gestalt that is cawl was a new to the books bioengineer that worked on the space marine project with the emperor, not another major named character. I like that about him, if they didn't lay that ground work out first yeah it could have been anybody. I think as an explanation it's a pretty workable one that cawl isn't just a random supergenius out of nowhere, but a long line of the imperiums brightest merging themselves together to keep their knowledge alive as their flesh fails. With a dark undercurrent that cawl maybe hasn't always used willing volunteers for the process. Favorite small cawl fact is they're genderfluid, while usually masculine because the main cawl mind is, if one of the major minds that is female takes over cawl thinks of herself as she, and the text doesn't trip over it. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 11:38 on Nov 18, 2023 |
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Nov 18, 2023 05:03
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Finally got around to Genefather and I really liked it, I assume Reynolds bile books are super good, are they? For necrons I know infinite and the divine, but how's the twice dead king series?
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Nov 24, 2023 22:15
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Genefather cements what I've often thought about Haley, that his strength is less the big picture of 40k and more the small, out of all the black library I've read he's the writer most focused on the affections and relationships of the people in this big cartoony space war, as a constant theme and aspect of his work. Good book. The imperium is really lucky that the stuff that happens in the books hardly intersects with the slow pace of the main timeline though. Bile has absolutely won his ambition and he has already won before any of the events of the book take place. Abbadon might be happy about super chaos space marines and Bile now has a lot to dig through to advance his knowledge of flesh crafting, but the New Men are already at the cusp of being stronger than primaris space marines, without any armor, weapons, or technology to augment them, and they can reproduce in the normal way and their turbo changed genes mean they are getting stronger all the time. Mankind seems bound to be replaced by a superior evolution that are immune to the corruption of chaos and Bile's doesn't seem to need to be around to ensure their continued existence. I'm imagining the tyranids trying to invade a planet where your average teenager can rip a carnifexes head off of its body before it even notices they are there and that makes me smile. Maybe Porter is just a special abberation though, but Bile seems to imply that he didnt augment her himself and theres multiple societies of new men operating on their own. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 06:29 on Nov 25, 2023 |
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Nov 25, 2023 06:07
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Anno posted:What are some (good) novels covering more recent events? I’ve been sort of out of the fiction loop since 8E, and though I’ve read a lot of high-level stuff to get caught up to where the setting in general is, some books with more specifics would be nice. Seconding The Great Work as the book you'd probably want to start with, having the most ad mech in it.
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Nov 29, 2023 20:48
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notaspy posted:Just be aware that The Great Work is the current "last" book in the new time line Genefather takes place after it.
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Nov 29, 2023 23:56
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Infinite and the Divine was incredibly cool and singularly unique as far as wild adventure across space and time, but honestly I think twice dead king might supplant it in my mind as I'm going through now. I just love how rich and emotional these gotdamn killer robits are. Lots of super memorable characters.
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Nov 30, 2023 03:31
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Of course, it's just comparing two things thst are both very good. Although I do think Rath's ccombat scenes tend to drag, for a book that has a lot of them. It'd the only real negative criticism I can think of for what was a very funny and very cool adventure. It's cool that necron fans are feasting in recent years though, I wish Eldar got books as good. Haleys Valedor is very cool and I even enjoyed Thorpe's cancelled Phoenix lord series, and that kinds feels like all they've had for a while. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Nov 30, 2023 |
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Nov 30, 2023 04:06
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Oh yeah the first twice dead king is a fantastic book and I'd rank it over Infinite and Divine but just on my personal tastes. They are both fantastic. I like how human the necron are in both books while still being incredibly alien, but in ways that seem more natural that is the nightmare of the imperium. I do like how twice dead posits the necrons are reascendent but only as a destructive force, they're still doomed by entropy and wasteful interconflict to fall as everybody else is, and it's interesting to see a flawed character struggle without the power of reality at their fingertips like trazyn and orikan have. It does have the classic ending I've come to expect from black library though where it ends without a period of falling action to set up the future, but I can just jump right into the sequel now at least. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 15:50 on Nov 30, 2023 |
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Nov 30, 2023 15:46
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Biplane posted:One of my favorite aspects of the new necrons is their relationship to time now that they're functionally immortal. Trazyn spends like 7 years just pondering poo poo while standing around the planning table with his majordomo (Sannet?) before anyone says anything. And in twice dead when oltyx meets up with his brother and they just sorta stand there in silence for hours. I think its neat That was fantastic yeah. A small thing in twice dead king I like is the reframing of the imperium, that to any race except maybe orks a full imperial crusade fleet might as well be a tyranid invasion. An endless tide of horror bent only towards destruction and no hope of even slowing it down. From the imperiums perspective they might be getting chipped away from the great rift and all the threats wearing them down and stretching them thin, but they still have the numbers and industry to provide apocalyptic threat to everybody else around them. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 14:30 on Dec 1, 2023 |
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Dec 1, 2023 14:23
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Bohemian Nights posted:Finished Genefather and quite liked it, but I think a large part of that was John Banks' excellent narration really selling the principal characters Primus is probably all of the Geneseed of every legion and even some of the data that went into making the primarchs. If anybody found out the exact truth Gulliman would certainly have Belisarius stripped for parts and the rest atomized. Very specifically he is the last remnant of Cawls attempt to create a mass produced Primarch army where all of their individual weaknesses were overlapped by their strengths. It didn't work because the Primarch project necessitated the emperor dabbling in some kind of warpcraft, so Instead Primus is left just a very big very strong space mariney boy who is miserable all the time due to being too many things stuffed in a small package. The loss of his geneseed is bad for the imperium in the long term but Biles already made perfect clones of the primarchs that already don't work so it's more about Abbadon getting a new stronger branch of uncorrupted geneseed to make new chaos legions with. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Dec 1, 2023 |
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Dec 1, 2023 17:08
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Finished the second twice dead king. I've read a bunch of the black library now, but I think this one is my absolute favorite. As a character study story it's super well executed. The twice dead king becoming the twice dead king is, I think the most powerful and emotional sequence I've read so far. The whole first book being a setup to the reveal of the horror that is the flayer curse, and the second book reversing that perspective entirely to show the horror of traditional necron kingship and the flayer curse as a freeing liberation that the hero finally accepts is such a cool reversal. Also is a book with a proper cooldown period, resolution of loose threads, and properly lengthy epilogue, which feels rare from what I've seen. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Dec 2, 2023 |
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Dec 2, 2023 00:17
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Anno posted:Finished with The Great Work, and honestly, what a treat. Just a really good sci-fi romp and a good bit of character work. If this is the level of work that Black Library is putting out these days I imagine my Kindle bill will be a lot higher going forward. Genefather is a direct sequel to great work. Dante and Devestation of Baal are good works that take place right on the cusp of the new lore, also by Haley. I also really like Haleys Valedor which is one of the few Eldar books not written by Gav Thorpe, that ones not in the new Era though. I really like Haley as an author because I think he has a strong focus on personal relationships and the introspection of his characters. Wraight's Vaults of Terra I'd also super recommend as a series taking place in the new Era, more than say avenging son or dark imperium. Oh also forgot Renegades Harrowmaster, which is a really cool book about rebel marines trying to find their place in the new era. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Dec 2, 2023 |
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Dec 2, 2023 04:13
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Gravitas Shortfall posted:One of the reasons for this, and also the abrupt ending of Ruin is that AFAIK they started as one book that got split in half. That makes sense.
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Dec 2, 2023 12:51
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Black Griffon posted:god I'd forgotten how strained-like-a-poxburster horny Abnett was in Ravenor. It's just whores and boobs and splendid cleavages and all of it is quite sexless. There's a lot of it in Eisenhorn too, honestly I wouldn't mind like full romances in 40k but I hesitate to recommend the usual abnett starters to people because they are more leering than sexy. It's a very james bond vibe.
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Dec 2, 2023 15:15
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