Blackstone Fortress novelisation?

[cheywood]

I haven’t read this book yet, so this could be total nonsense, I’m just going on some of the reviews. I’m slightly disappointed that this doesn’t really seem to be a rogue trader book. I loved the original rogue trader books and the idea of a running series on a rogue trader family really appeals to me. Does anyone who has read the book perhaps see this as a possiblity from the book?

Not really to be honest. There’s room for further books and the ending is suitably open so as not to interfere with the game, but I think taking the characters away from the Blackstone Fortress is unlikely. It would need to be a prequel to a prequel basically. Maybe another member of House Draik could form the basis for their own trilogy, but I didn’t particularly sense Hinks had any intention of doing that. Totally plausible he or someone else could I guess, but this doesn’t seem like a segue to anything except more Blackstone Fortress fiction.

 

Bit of a disappointment at first as I was hoping for a heavy focus on the rogue trader life myself, but this is all about the blackstone and the characters within/around it. Though you do get bits of Draik’s backstory there’s very little information about the House or what being a rogue trader is like day to day. All that being said, Draik as a character is an entertaining enough, if not rather stereotypical, example of a rogue trader and the Blackstone Fortress is a fun setting. I know you hate ebooks but the extract online is a pretty good example of what you’ll get out of Draik in terms of rogueish trading. Maybe give it a try and see if it satisfies the itch?

Edited December 30, 2018 by cheywood

[Knockagh]

 

I haven’t read this book yet, so this could be total nonsense, I’m just going on some of the reviews. I’m slightly disappointed that this doesn’t really seem to be a rogue trader book. I loved the original rogue trader books and the idea of a running series on a rogue trader family really appeals to me. Does anyone who has read the book perhaps see this as a possiblity from the book?

Not really to be honest. There’s room for further books and the ending is suitably open so as not to interfere with the game, but I think taking the characters away from the Blackstone Fortress is unlikely. It would need to be a prequel to a prequel basically. Maybe another member of House Draik could form the basis for their own trilogy, but I didn’t particularly sense Hinks had any intention of doing that. Totally plausible he or someone else could I guess, but this doesn’t seem like a segue to anything except more Blackstone Fortress fiction.

 

Bit of a disappointment at first as I was hoping for a heavy focus on the rogue trader life myself, but this is all about the blackstone and the characters within/around it. Though you do get bits of Draik’s backstory there’s very little information about the House or what being a rogue trader is like day to day. All that being said, Draik as a character is an entertaining enough, if not rather stereotypical, example of a rogue trader and the Blackstone Fortress is a fun setting. I know you hate ebooks but the extract online is a pretty good example of what you’ll get out of Draik in terms of rogueish trading. Maybe give it a try and see if it satisfies the itch?

I do intend to read it, most people have given it good enough reviews. I suppose I was looking for something different though. I’ve found French’s rogue trader audios pretty disappointing. Mostly because the short audios aren’t really long enough to establish the characters properly rather than poor story telling.

Hopefully we will get a solid rogue trader series some time soon. I think it’s an untapped mine to explore areas of 40k that are rarely looked at.

Thanks for your review, glad that I’m going into it prepared for what it is!

[Burni]

Very little ‘Rogue Trader’ feel to it in my opinion. It’s a good read but if that’s what you’re looking for, it’s probably not the book for you.

[Red_Shift]

Well the paperback came out recently so I picked this up. I'm two thirds of the way through and I wouldn't say it's badly written but the pacing feels off to me. It might be the way gw prints paperbacks nowadays but the chapters are continuous walls of text with no natural breaks. I'm also finding it hard to engage with any of the characters, they feel very one dimensional. I wonder how strict a brief the writer was given as so far everything seems a bit paint by numbers. I was hoping for something a bit more 'out there' and mysterious with the Blackstone.

[Knockagh]

Well the paperback came out recently so I picked this up. I'm two thirds of the way through and I wouldn't say it's badly written but the pacing feels off to me. It might be the way gw prints paperbacks nowadays but the chapters are continuous walls of text with no natural breaks. I'm also finding it hard to engage with any of the characters, they feel very one dimensional. I wonder how strict a brief the writer was given as so far everything seems a bit paint by numbers. I was hoping for something a bit more 'out there' and mysterious with the Blackstone.

I think most of us expected a rogue trader novel and after so long without one I for one was really looking forward to one. What we got was a sort of treasure seakers story and not a particularly exciting one at that.

I’m still holding for a rogue trader novel series, the audio series doesn’t quite cut it for me. The original rogue trader books are by far the best efforts to date.

[b1soul]

I want a novel called Man of Iron about that Man of Iron

[Red_Shift]

To be fair the final third was significantly better than the rest of it. Overall pretty disappointing though as the Blackstone should be this mysterious thing, full of wonders and it came off more 40k Crystal maze than 40k dungeons and dragons.

 

I agree the lack of the man of iron was a big issue.