Aralon56 Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I have just finished reading this book and i have to say this has to be the most boring book i have read so far from the black library i really found it hard to read without my mind wondering. What are your thoughts on this book? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Father Ferrum Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 I remember reading it when it first came out, shortly before the 5th Edition 'Cron codex hit. There was a lot of "oh, that's neat" moments reading about how the "new" Necrons were organized and all, but the action was subpar and it ended too soon; if memory serves, the book ends with Chronus and his Spearhead landing and the battle still raging. Damnos didn't even fall completely during the span of the book. So yeah, kind of disappointing. Not the worst or most boring, but. . . not one I'd recommend either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aegnor Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 I found it a struggle too to be honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reyner Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Isn't there a sequel to this now? An audiodrama or a short story? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarl Kjaran Coldheart Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Legion of the Damned is my worst of the Space Marine Battle series...but other than a few (Helsreac, Battle of the Fang), the series has been pretty much duds-worthy. WLK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aegnor Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I quite liked Legion of the Damned. The main gripe I've heard about it was that it didn't have enough about LotD in it, but for me a novel with them as the major protagonists would never work. And I liked the Excoriators and The Scourge. Was one of the better ones in the series. There have been several good entries in the series, and it's good it gives newer authors a chance to do a novel. Helsreach, Battle of the Fang and LotD were all great. I really liked the Gillard Rift and the Iron Hands one as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Father Ferrum Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Ugh. You liked Legion of the Damned? I found that the pacing was way off, the action scenes were flat, it took too long to get to the point -- you know, where the Legion shows up -- and it took some liberties with the well-established fluff that there were only two Second Founding successors to the Fists. Honestly, for me, the best of the SMB series are Helsreach, Rynn's World, Battle of the Fang, and Wrath of Iron. The rest I've found to range between "meh" and "terrible." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aegnor Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 The insertion of an additional 2nd Founding chapter from the Fists made total sense to me in the light of the expansion of the Legions in the HH. I personally like that change so seeing an apparent consequence of it didn't worry me. I didn't notice any pacing issues and as mentioned, I don't see how you could have had the LotD feature more than they did. Different strokes and all that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conn Eremon Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Personally, I actually felt that they featured too much. The bit with the spectre was a bit too much, too quickly, and really only served to highlight how long it was taking to reach their full arrival. If they had dialed back on it, or got rid of it entirely, the pacing would have seemed much better, and the parts with the Legion of the Damned would have improved too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That Guy Matt Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I've read Rynn's World, Hunt for Voldorius, The Gildar Rift and this, and Fall of Damnos is easily the weakest. I hated how it made Sicarius look like a narcissistic glory hunter and the 2nd company into a bunch of squabbling children fighting for his favour. The other three as good, especially Rynn's World. I enjoyed Hunt for Voldorius mostly because I love Shrike and the Raven Guard. Gildar Rift was average. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aegnor Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Might have to check out Ryan's World. I'd heard it was quite average so hadn't bothered til now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
templargdt Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I thought Fall of Damnos was okay, it has a follow up I haven't read. I liked how the Necrons were portrayed, I thought that was well done; I enjoyed Tigurius' duel with the Necron lord also. Helsreach is far and away the best 40K novel I've read, honestly it's one of my favorite Sci Fi books in general. The Emperor's Gift was excellent also, the part where the Grey Knights fight Angron at Armageddon was awesome. ADB is by far the best Warhammer writter IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Father Ferrum Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I've read Rynn's World, Hunt for Voldorius, The Gildar Rift and this, and Fall of Damnos is easily the weakest. I hated how it made Sicarius look like a narcissistic glory hunter and the 2nd company into a bunch of squabbling children fighting for his favour. The other three as good, especially Rynn's World. I enjoyed Hunt for Voldorius mostly because I love Shrike and the Raven Guard. Gildar Rift was average. I hated Hunt because it turned the Alpha Legion into mustache-twirling cartoon villains. Plus, there was a line in there where the Khan took a full magazine from a bolter to the face, survived, and thanked the Emperor as the creator of the human race. And here I thought Astartes who worshipped Big E as a god were few and far between. . . As for Gildar Rift. . . It wasn't as bad as, say, Battle for the Abyss, which is populated by mutilated characitures of the Legions, but it was pretty bad. And I had such high hopes, having caught one of Sarah's Silver Skulls short stories in Hammer & Bolter. But again, it had pacing issues that nearly put me to sleep, and the depiction of the space battles hammers you in the face over and over again about how sloooooooooow warships move in the void, yet this isn't the same depiction we see in any other void-engagement in a BL novel. Might have to check out Ryan's World. I'd heard it was quite average so hadn't bothered til now. Rynn's World was actually really good. The reason, I think, that it gets such a bad reputation is because it's pure bolter porn. Here's some Space Marines, there's some orks, and blood will be shed. Helsreach has a LOT of human and human-Astartes interaction, and Grimaldus is depicted as a Space Marine with a very deep and disturbing flaw (for a Marine), which adds a lot of drama to the proceedings. Rynn's World thus suffers only in comparison; taken as it is -- that is, Pedro and Cortez beating ork face -- there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. And besides. Captain Cortez, man! I'm not a big fan of the Fists, but Cortez is a monster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reckoning Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 The only gripe I have with LotD is it's title. It should have been titled The Excoriators or The Scourge... Ive really enjoyed most of them though to be honest Fall of Damnos, The Hunt for Voldorius and Purging of Kadillus were a bit slow. My absolute least favorite is The Death of Antagonis. I opened it six months ago and still havent finished it. Such a missed opportunity with the Black Dragons. Like Ferrum said Rynn's World is pure bolter porn and its awesome. None of them come close to Helsreach though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yodaid764 Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I've read Rynn's World, Hunt for Voldorius, The Gildar Rift and this, and Fall of Damnos is easily the weakest. I hated how it made Sicarius look like a narcissistic glory hunter and the 2nd company into a bunch of squabbling children fighting for his favour. The other three as good, especially Rynn's World. I enjoyed Hunt for Voldorius mostly because I love Shrike and the Raven Guard. Gildar Rift was average. I hated Hunt because it turned the Alpha Legion into mustache-twirling cartoon villains. Plus, there was a line in there where the Khan took a full magazine from a bolter to the face, survived, and thanked the Emperor as the creator of the human race. And here I thought Astartes who worshipped Big E as a god were few and far between. . . As for Gildar Rift. . . It wasn't as bad as, say, Battle for the Abyss, which is populated by mutilated characitures of the Legions, but it was pretty bad. And I had such high hopes, having caught one of Sarah's Silver Skulls short stories in Hammer & Bolter. But again, it had pacing issues that nearly put me to sleep, and the depiction of the space battles hammers you in the face over and over again about how sloooooooooow warships move in the void, yet this isn't the same depiction we see in any other void-engagement in a BL novel. >Might have to check out Ryan's World. I'd heard it was quite average so hadn't bothered til now. Rynn's World was actually really good. The reason, I think, that it gets such a bad reputation is because it's pure bolter porn. Here's some Space Marines, there's some orks, and blood will be shed. Helsreach has a LOT of human and human-Astartes interaction, and Grimaldus is depicted as a Space Marine with a very deep and disturbing flaw (for a Marine), which adds a lot of drama to the proceedings. Rynn's World thus suffers only in comparison; taken as it is -- that is, Pedro and Cortez beating ork face -- there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. And besides. Captain Cortez, man! I'm not a big fan of the Fists, but Cortez is a monster. I disagree. Rynn's World was garbage. It didn't stick to the original story (Cortez was not on Rynn's world in the original fulff) and tried too hard to be a "Hollywood Remake". Case in point: Why would the Ork Warlord show up at the air field where Kantor is leading a small strike team? Answer: He wouldn't! Orks want to be in the biggest fight possible and the main battles were miles away from the star port/air field (whatever). I feel the author tried too hard to have a climactic battle between the main hero and main villian. It was forced and just didn't work or make sense. On topic: Damnos was fairly bland. I also read the follow up, Spear of Macragge and was suitable unimpressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Father Ferrum Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I'm not overly familiar with the "original" version of the Rynn's World campaign, but that all in all sounds like an actually fairly minor retcon. Plus, there was the awesomeness of. . . . . . Cortez, with one arm reduced to a bloody stump and left for dead by ally and enemy alike, leaping on the back of the warboss, stabbing wildly with a simple combat blade. So yeah. Call me a sucker for modern American action movies, but that scene is just great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aralon56 Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 I think i need to read rynn's world :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reyner Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I liked it where Pedro tells Cortez his arm is missing and Cortez is like nah it's over there somewhere. Jumping on the warboss with the knife was good aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elenmar Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Man Cortez is awesome. I remember seeing him in the third edition space marine codex when I was little. I just looked at that 3++ and I thought to my self man, this is one tough dude! I mean compared to the monster space marines you can make now he isn't that impressive, but I think some of that feeling of Cortez's cool factor will always stay with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artein Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Rynn's World is probably the best bolter porn novel I've ever read. Sure, it's still bolter born but I had so much fun reading it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battle captain corpus Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Oh my word Damnos was a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad book! Even without the efforts to make Sicariu into the Lord Flashheart or Ace Rimmer of 40k, the action was just bolter porn and the structure awful. Helsreach shouldn't even be in a white cover, its association to this frankly sub par pre adult versions of marines books is putrid. Helsreach is the best of baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad series, which as far as I know is aimed firmly at the younger hobbyists to get them hooked on Spez Mahreens..... Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Visitor13 Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 I read an excerpt on BL and that was enough for me. Is there actually an exciting 40k Ultramarines book? The Ventris series doesn't seem better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aegnor Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Know No Fear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Visitor13 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Thank you, but Know No Fear isn't 40k... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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