BA novel advice

[Jbird]

Hi all, was after some advice for BA novels, I've been reading through the Horus Heresy series but want some more blood angel focussed reading, was going to pick up Dante but wondered if I should start with any of the other BA books first, any advice on reading order would be much appreciated Edited August 15, 2017 by Jbird

[Arkangilos]

Dante. That's it for a great start.

 

Blood Quest is also good.

Edited August 15, 2017 by Arkangilos

[pandion40]

Dante is what you want. It shows the Blood Angels recruiting process and is a great look at the culture of Baal Secondus and the Blood Angels themselves. It also gets inside Dante's head and shows the run up to the tyranid invasion of Baal from Dante's perspective. Essential reading for a Blood Angels fan.

 

I'd also recommend Mephiston: Blood of Sanguinius. It gives some insite into how he's seen and how he views his transformation.

[Xenith]

Read both Dante and Mephiston: BoS, then everything by Andy Smillie on the Flesh Tearers. Not BA specific, but of the Blood, so gives you a good insight into how they survive day to day life.

 

After reading the flesh Tearers stuff, some of the plot devices in Mephiston make sense.

 

The Swallow Deus series is a good read, but not canon anymore. Or never was. The space hulk novel would probably be a good source too, unless it was written by Gav

[Jbird]

Awesome stuff thanks a lot guys, Dante it is!

[pandion40]

There is also Lemartes: Guardian of the Lost. Blood Angels/Death Company Vs khorne daemons and space marines. Bit of an overdone plot but gives good insite into the Black rage and the hell that is Lemartes existence. Also a moment of awesome from the Mordain Iron Guard.

 

Swallows Blood Angel books are controversial, a lot of people don't like them. My own personal take is they start out horrendous but get better until the last one is pretty good and makes the struggle of reading the earlier books worth it. In my opinion the Blood Angels pick up that idiot ball early and hard. It's the unrealistic naivety and stupidity of the Blood Angels that drives the plot. It's like swallow was told about the Blood Angels fluff and character but he didn't read anything about the general character of space marines or how they interact with the imperium. So the result, especially in the early books, is the Blood Angels template applied to a super powered imperial guard regiment. He gets the Blood Angels so right but drops the ball so hard at depicting their space marine side.

 

Having said that there's some good stuff in them and a lot of people do like them so give them a try, after you've read the good stuff named in the above posts. I'm glad I read them but I'm really glad they don't seem to be canon anymore. They make the Blood Angels look completely incompetent.

Edited August 16, 2017 by pandion40

[Xenith]

He gets the Blood Angels so right but drops the ball so hard at depicting their space marine side.

 

 

That's a very interesting and informative view that I hadn't realised before, thanks!

[Chaplain Gunzhard]

There is also Lemartes: Guardian of the Lost. Blood Angels/Death Company Vs khorne daemons and space marines. Bit of an overdone plot but gives good insite into the Black rage and the hell that is Lemartes existence. Also a moment of awesome from the Mordain Iron Guard.

 

Swallows Blood Angel books are controversial, a lot of people don't like them. My own personal take is they start out horrendous but get better until the last one is pretty good and makes the struggle of reading the earlier books worth it. In my opinion the Blood Angels pick up that idiot ball early and hard. It's the unrealistic naivety and stupidity of the Blood Angels that drives the plot. It's like swallow was told about the Blood Angels fluff and character but he didn't read anything about the general character of space marines or how they interact with the imperium. So the result, especially in the early books, is the Blood Angels template applied to a super powered imperial guard regiment. He gets the Blood Angels so right but drops the ball so hard at depicting their space marine side.

 

Having said that there's some good stuff in them and a lot of people do like them so give them a try, after you've read the good stuff named in the above posts. I'm glad I read them but I'm really glad they don't seem to be canon anymore. They make the Blood Angels look completely incompetent.

Don't want to turn this into a Swallow bash, but he definitely didn't get Blood angels right. He has upstart, hateble dunces leading what should be the longest living, and heavily seasoned space marines. They fall for the laziest chaos tricks more than once as if it were the first time they've heard of chaos, despite their Primarch dying fighting chaos.

 

The writing is also bad but I'll leave it at that.

 

Read Dante ha.

[Tonius]

I'm currently finishing the 4th book of the Swallow serie, it's the better (still not worth a Nick Kyme)

in the 3 first books: Space Marines willingly firing at their brethren because of a deviant Inquisitor, desobeing their Chapter Master's orders, an apothecary trying some chaos-like experiments for the "benefit of the chapter", even after being rebuked twice by Dante...

 

As it was said before the story would fit perfectly in a Guard Regiment, but Space Marines acting like ignorants teenagers ?? No Sir !!!

 

Anyway I'm gonna finish this difficult reading, and then I'll swap to Dante and such.

[SM1981]

There is an e-bundle of the black libary that has all the BA books and short stories. Worth a google.

[Frater Antodeniel]

As far as i know about the chronological order of the Blood Angels fluff, the main flaw about the Swallow serie may not be in the plot idea, but in the fact that it was one of the first novel on the Blood Angels. Plus it is also to highlight that the Blood Angels fluff was not clear. But, it is indeed true that an excellent writters may give life from nothing on the first try, and that Swallow may not have been an excellent writter at that time, nonetheless, it doesn't mean that all he imagined was bad. Also, on side note, Swallow gave a great example for all the future Blood Angels writters, by showing what isn't good for Blood Angels.

 

Swallow work has been the one of a stepping stone, allowing others to progress in the right direction. The same may be said of early writters who worked years ago on the 40k Universe.

 

And, about example of this selection process on imaginary universe lore construction, for those who readed the Flesh Tearers novels and shorts, Andy Smillie work isn't without flaws. He tried to picture the Flesh Tearers and their spirit, but half the time, he end up making too much. For example, sometimes, he picture them well, depicting the how the bonds of brotherhood and the how the Thrist change their attitudes, while sometimes, he also fail and depict them as a band of warrior with near to no bonds and who do not appear to care for each other. For having read the Flesh Tearers Omnibus (So pretty much of all his Flesh Tearers work), i come to think that it is, in its way, a stepping stone to something greater for the Flesh Tearers lore.

 

To return on the Blood Angels, in the end, after some fruitless works and writting errors, we end up with good novels that depict honestly the Blood Angels and the universe in which they lives. And even those good works may one day be described as stepping stones....for ever greater things. Is it not the way of Sanguinius to try to achieve perfection in all arts ?

 

Now, i would suggest to anyone who want to explore the Blood Angels Lore, to read the Dante novel first of all. After, there are the Mephiston and Lemartes novels. And for those who want to know more about the Blood Angels and the Flesh Tearers, there is the Flesh Tearers Omnibus. It is important to note, that with the "recent" Shield of Baal campaign, the Angel's Blade supplement, and the Lemartes-Mephiston-Dante novels, the Blood Angels fluff have only recently grow in both in quantity and quality.

[Tonius]

Just read Dante today, great novel but as often with BL: too short :/

[Silas7]

Just picked up Shield of Baal today, any one have spoiler free feedback?

[Indefragable]

Finished Dante. It's BL for sure in the sense that not much actually happens, but it gives insight where there previously was none.

 

 

I liked seeing the cultures of Baal and now disparate they can be. How the BA and Sanguinius are revered by those peoples. Good insights into how BA are taught early on to use art to master their aggression so it does not master them.

 

I did not like how Blood Angels wear blood red cloaks when off duty and have blood red stainglass windows and use blood red ink to write with whole contemplating the nature of bloody blood bloodedness. That triedy patience.

 

Also, I was not a fan of how Dante accepted the final "gift" of his personal servant. Seemed to cheapen his character and the character of the Chapter as a whole.

 

Overall a positive read.

 

[Arkangilos]

Eh, his servant was right and he knew it. He needed to do it to give him strength, and it shows that he is willing to give himself to ensure he can keep leading effectively.