Black Library Masterworks Series

[Ranulf]

So I came across this today: https://www.mightyape.com.au/product/horus-rising-hardback/31790964

 

Of particular interest was the term 'Black Library Masterworks' on the placeholder cover art, the classification of 'Hardback' and the pre-order date of August 6, 2020. 

 

From the description:

 

 

Black Library presents the Masterworks - a curated collection of novels celebrating the very best science fiction and fantasy set in the worlds of Warhammer. It is the 31st millennium. 

 

A search of the ISBN turned up similar pages on other retailer websites, including this one at Barnes and Noble that shows a RRP of $15 USD and includes the following in the description:

 

 

Re-release of the mass market edition of the first novel in the best selling Horus Heresy series.

 

Has anyone heard mention of a Black Library Masterworks series before?

 

I'd love to see a (non-LE) Hardback re-release of the entire series, hopefully this will be more than just a small selection of the series.

 

-Ran

[theSpirea]

I have a feeling they will just pick certain titles rather than sticking to the whole series. Same as they did for the 20th Anniversary editions (here it at least makes sense) or Reader's choice.

 

There are so many trilogies available only as paperbacks, or abominations called omnibus I would love to get hardcovers. Just to name a few, Eisenhorn, Ahriman, Night Lords and many more.

[Roomsky]

My local bookstore got Horus Rising early, so I picked it up. Comparison to the original hardback attached.

 

 

It's thinner but taller, and has the more modern squared-off cover style. Includes a forward by McNeill and a colour page of the original cover. It does not have the internal illustrations. The paper is thicker card than the original's paperback quality, but it's not the smooth stuff in The Primarchs novellas. 

 

For a generally higher quality book than the initial hardback release, I'd say its $21 CAD is a much better deal than the original's $35. 

 

I'll definitely be picking up more of these for books I enjoy.

 

EDIT: It also comes with Misbegotten. It's sort of a hardcover release of the special edition from a couple years back. Another boon over the original.

 

If Helsreach comes with Blood and Fire I'll be ecstatic.

Edited July 25, 2020 by Roomsky

[Sothalor]

Wait - forward by McNeill? Did you mean Abnett, or did they actually get McNeill to write a forward for it?

[Roomsky]

Wait - forward by McNeill? Did you mean Abnett, or did they actually get McNeill to write a forward for it?

 

It is the big GM himself.

 

I was surprised too. In fairness, Abnett must have already written a good ten by now.

[theSpirea]

I'm happy to hear it's a decent quality, not the overpriced HH PoDs crap. Regarding the paper, I believe the BL has recently switched from the usual "smoother/thicker/heavier" paper they use for their hardcovers and this is pretty much a new standard.

 

What other titles have been confirmed so far? I believe Helsreach should be coming out in December and Nightbringer next year in April.

Edited July 25, 2020 by theSpirea

[JH79]

Awesome catch Roomsky, thanks for posting the details here! The most important observation, of course, is which of your bookshelves to display this on!

 

That does seem like strange goings on re the Forward, maybe Abnett gets to do Nightbringer when that drops next year :)

 

Re the inclusion of the short story have there been any changes to the main content, such a Legion size for example? I'm no expert but if memory serves the early books had Legion strength at roughly 10k, but when we got to The First Heretic it was upwards of 100k... it certainly made the early battles feel somewhat smaller in scale than those in later entries.

[Roomsky]

Awesome catch Roomsky, thanks for posting the details here! The most important observation, of course, is which of your bookshelves to display this on!

 

That does seem like strange goings on re the Forward, maybe Abnett gets to do Nightbringer when that drops next year

 

Re the inclusion of the short story have there been any changes to the main content, such a Legion size for example? I'm no expert but if memory serves the early books had Legion strength at roughly 10k, but when we got to The First Heretic it was upwards of 100k... it certainly made the early battles feel somewhat smaller in scale than those in later entries.

 

Considering the original hardback is less than stellar, the Masterworks will be replacing it on my hardcover shelf. While it does stand out from it's Heresy brethren, it fits perfectly beside my Primarchs novels. I'm personally hoping we get a masterworks for a bunch of the old round-edged hardbacks, those things aint great.

 

I'd be surprised if the legion numbers will ever be corrected at this point, they've had so many opportunities to do so. If you have a chapter number and scene where they're cited, I can check for you, though.

[JH79]

 

Awesome catch Roomsky, thanks for posting the details here! The most important observation, of course, is which of your bookshelves to display this on!

 

That does seem like strange goings on re the Forward, maybe Abnett gets to do Nightbringer when that drops next year

 

Re the inclusion of the short story have there been any changes to the main content, such a Legion size for example? I'm no expert but if memory serves the early books had Legion strength at roughly 10k, but when we got to The First Heretic it was upwards of 100k... it certainly made the early battles feel somewhat smaller in scale than those in later entries.

 

Considering the original hardback is less than stellar, the Masterworks will be replacing it on my hardcover shelf. While it does stand out from it's Heresy brethren, it fits perfectly beside my Primarchs novels. I'm personally hoping we get a masterworks for a bunch of the old round-edged hardbacks, those things aint great.

 

I'd be surprised if the legion numbers will ever be corrected at this point, they've had so many opportunities to do so. If you have a chapter number and scene where they're cited, I can check for you, though.

 

Haha, dude that's so kind of you to offer... I'm re-listening to Horus Rising at the mo (ashamed to admit i still don't own a print copy of it!) as Saturnine left me feeling massively nostalgic for the series' humble, and far simpler, beginnings. If i encounter any numbers that can be narrowed down to a specific chapter ill let you know.

 

In other news, Amazon has the Helsreach artwork up!

 

[Fire Golem]

I’ll definitely pick up Helsreach. I haven’t actually read that one yet. 

[ACoolBird]

I really love how that red and gold looks. Hopefully Warhammer Community start posting some info about them, as Amazon has the date as 6th August. Perhaps Horus Rising will be released suddenly this weekend, unless that Amazon date is wrong 

Edited July 28, 2020 by ACoolBird

[cheywood]

If anyone’s curious Boman Modine’s involved in writing/directing/producing Angels of Death. He’s also the son of actor Matthew Modine.

[Kelborn]

Wait

Is that supposed to be Grimaldus? That's not even close to how I envision him...

 

I'd rather prefer if he'd wear his helmet, tbh.

[Sothalor]

Echh... I much prefer the original Battles cover artwork.

[Roomsky]

It’s an odd choice to have him unhelmed, but I quite like the cover overall. The original Battles cover is better, but it has the advantage of not being ugly or dated like Horus Rising’s.

 

At least Nightbringer’s should be better than the competition as well.

[Sothalor]

I'm personally biased against unhelmed Marines (especially ones like Grimaldus, whose skull helmet is a deliberate statement on his "face").

 

No argument with you on the old Horus Rising cover, though.

 

I realize I like abstract cover designs in general over art pieces. I think my favorite covers to this day are the original Ravenor ones and Pariah.

[Ranulf]

Hmm, so it turned out to be a thing after all. 

 

Surprised we haven't heard any official announcement through WarCom or the BL site.

 

-Ran

[Roomsky]

Grabbed Helsreach today, which includes an introduction by Boman Modine as well as At Gaius Point. The short was appreciated, especially because I haven't read it before, but it doesn't complement the story as well as Misbegotten did with Horus Rising (and I consider the story of Helsreach somewhat incomplete without Blood and Fire.) If you can only have one copy of the story, Armageddon is the way to go, though this is still a very nice buy. I won't be bothering with Nightbringer, but I hope this series of releases continues.

Edited December 12, 2020 by Roomsky

[Bobss]

Hot take: I really don't like Blood and Fire  

 

At Gaius Point is a great short story IMO but its inclusion here is pretty weird 

Edited December 13, 2020 by Bobss

[b1soul]

What are your issues with Blood and Fire? Too many gut-punches?

[Bobss]

What are your issues with Blood and Fire? Too many gut-punches?

 

I didn't like it because it felt weirdly 4th-wall-breaking in my opinion. It felt like a love letter to Helsreach instead of a natural continuation of Helsreach. You have Team Hive Helsreach being transported across a continent, or something, to help the Celestial Lions' plight, after Grimaldus calls in a few favours, which already feels like an Avengers movie or The A-Team. There's a few scenes like General Kurov(?) breaking his sword against an Ork Nob and being like, JOLLY GOOD FIGHT, which isn't taken seriously in-verse either and, worst of all, Andrej goes from an interesting character who uses bleak trench humour with a Slavic flair to get him through the brutality of the conflict to being a Flanderized meme getting lost on the Eternal Crusader. Yeah, big no thanks. I try to read Helsreach once a year because I consider it to be the quintessential 40k booky-book, and each time I read it I'm like ''what if Domoska survives the docks this time?'' or ''what if the Orks break into the church vaults this time?'' but Blood and Fire/Fire and Blood is something I read once and haven't again. It's no Aurelian, that's for sure

 

Then there's the fact Helsreach is a very well paced and plotted book, following Grimaldus' inner turmoil and lethargy over his promotion, which culminates with Grimaldus' apotheosis in the graveyard and the church scenes, where all of his battle brothers are Black Templar'ing to the max against impossible odds, before being gruesomely butchered. He himself survives when he shouldn't and didn't want to. ''As if there is only one [hero of Helsreach]'' is an amazing ending to the story and his character arc IMO

 

The Grimaldus flashback is nice, but wasn't particularly necessary seeing how the original book never properly disclosed prior events, and was very much a 'right here, right now' kind of affair. The Celestial Lions stuff is also very good and paid future dividends in regards to the Emperor's Spears series, but I would've rather the story focussed almost entirely on them with Grimaldus only popping up to play a sort of tutoring role, developing his character after losing all of his brothers

 

I read Helsreach literally the day it was released in April 2010 or whenever it was, and after losing my original copy I was desperate to get another one without any extra gubbins. I was very happy when it won the 2019 fan-pick reprint contest

 

I feel like I'm having a nerd rant over a perfectly-fine story, and I will admit that Armageddon is mandatory reading if you want to go whole hog into the ADB Extended Universe. It is what it is