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helwinters gate: new space wolf novel announced

Triszin

By Triszin
in + THE BLACK LIBRARY +

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aa.logan Venerable Brother

aa.logan

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Got this today. Lovely set but the foiling on the book itself is terrible. The crest which isn’t in foil is lovely but the foiled border at the top and bottom just looks like a silver line. The detail is lost in poor printing. Also got crusade, man it’s small and folio society Dune (beautiful)

The foil print is often a weak part of BL printing, My copy of Corax has none at all. Shelving The Helwinter Gate I also noticed that the box isn’t quite as ‘deluxe’ as previous ones- no flap opening, just a hinge, and not quite as thick, but it’s still nice.

 

The saga book is a lovely object- presumably it’ll become a WD article in the future. The illustrations are perhaps the best part, the depictions of daemons in particular. The text itself is a pleasant curio, but nothing groundbreaking.

 

I’ve been musing further on some things in the book, notably the role of the Wolves in the wider Imperium...

 

Ingvar, when reflecting on his time in the Deathwatch, considers what the Wolves and Russ himself are for. He doesn’t go down the ‘executioner’ route, instead explores their potential as morale-boosters, more relatable than other chapters and the sort to encourage mortals to fight harder and follow the example of; in the fighting for Cadia later in the book, this is put into practice.

 

Did the Emperor intend them to inspire his forces as much as cow his enemies?

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Bobss Battle-Brother

Bobss

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I'm really looking forward to the Cadia segments of this book. Despite being the Battle of Minas Tirith of 40k for decades, the Thirteenth Black Crusade has always been weirdly proportionally underrepresented in Black Library fiction IMO especially compared to the reems of material the Third War for Armageddon has spawned. Moreover I never really liked how the fate of Cadia was determined by twelve-or-so cereal box heroes battling it out like a lot of recent supplements have presented. I have always loved how stories like ADB's Ragnar. portray the Cadian front as this Great War-style meatgrinder which stands against most 40k conflicts as this wholesale planetary conflict, featuring a vast melting pot of Imperial forces and resources. We saw several very solid glimpses of this in The Lords of Silence (which was an absolutely fab book seamlessly combining 'Old 40k' with 'New 40k' in the same way The Emperor's Legion was able to) and I'm glad Chris has done it again. What makes Chris really stand out from his fellow authors in my opinion is his scholarly background and the fact he isn't/wasn't embedded inside the greater Games Workshop development structure - so he is capable of reverently pouring over editions and rulebooks and things, and then put together some objectively, factionally-neutral great stories. Blood of Asaheim might not be The Path of Heaven, but he is onto a winning formula and will never write a book bad IMO

 

Based on his Track of Worlds(?) interview, Wraight emphasised the need to write this book using his older style that was more action orientated. For those who have read it: does this book transition well from Stormcaller in terms of tone and style, or has the more philosophical edge of works like Valdor crept in? :yes:

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aa.logan Venerable Brother

aa.logan

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Ahem.

 

“ This isn’t one of those 40k books that explores a long-neglected faction, breathing life into them in ways one didn’t see coming, nor is it one of the almost philosophical treatises on the nature of power and humanity that BL throws up occasionally.”

 

It’s a better written Stormcaller rather than Valdor II.

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Scribe Venerable Brother

Scribe

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Ahem.

 

“ This isn’t one of those 40k books that explores a long-neglected faction, breathing life into them in ways one didn’t see coming, nor is it one of the almost philosophical treatises on the nature of power and humanity that BL throws up occasionally.”

 

It’s a better written Stormcaller rather than Valdor II.

 

lol that almost reads like 'yeah, its bolter porn, sorry to those who are over that phase in their lives'

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Knockagh Veteran

Knockagh

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Ahem.

 

“ This isn’t one of those 40k books that explores a long-neglected faction, breathing life into them in ways one didn’t see coming, nor is it one of the almost philosophical treatises on the nature of power and humanity that BL throws up occasionally.”

 

It’s a better written Stormcaller rather than Valdor II.

lol that almost reads like 'yeah, its bolter porn, sorry to those who are over that phase in their lives'

 

That’s exactly what I took from his interview as well. Got to say I was surprised this was the super release especially when penitent is finished and good to go.

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HvitrValdyr Battle-Brother

HvitrValdyr

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Intimidatingly good conversions!

Thanks!

 

Some good news, I got notice that my copy has finally shipped. Next Wednesday is the estimated delivery date.

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  • 2 months later...
cheywood Battle-Brother

cheywood

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Finally got around to reading this. It’s fantastic, serving as an example of Wraight’s growth as a writer. The book is a compelling portrait of the Imperium at a dark hour, with meaningful resolutions to the mysteries of the first two books and new directions to the story alike. Jarnhamar is as well written as ever, the book jumps around more than the first two location wise without ever losing its sense of purpose, and it has some great detail on the Adeptus Ministorum.

 

At the same time I think Chris has written more emotionally resonant books in recent years and this is a return to the more conventional narratives (at least for 40k) in which he once dealt. This isn’t a bad thing, especially with how beautiful his prose is these days, but it’s noticeable at times in the amount of action on the page.

 

There’s some fabulously 40k scenes in this. It’s often a thing of massive battles, but it grounds them in personal narrative extremely well. Overall I’d call this a must read for any Space Wolves fan.

 

A few thoughts:

 

 

Not identifying the Wolves in the first part of the book was a wonderful touch.

 

The recapping in part two was fine, but I would’ve loved to have seen them execute Colluqua [sic?].

 

Ojada was a fabulous set piece battle from the moment of entry to the moment of leaving, the Chirastes conversation being probably my favorite moment in the book.

 

For me this is the best depiction of the Fall of Cadia we’ve had. Cadia Stands is perfectly fine, but this felt far more cohesive and vivid.

 

That scene with the Eldar at the end was wild. Even though it was well written it felt abrupt and unlikely, but I suppose it’s not totally implausible, and it sets up what could be an incredible story so I can’t really complain. Really hoping for more Jarnhamar.

 

The assassination scene being from was Ragnar’s POV was another excellent choice.

 

I was surprised Gunnlaguar [sic] survived. Seemed he was definitely going to die and maybe should have? I’d like to see how he survived in future books at least.

 

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  • 4 months later...
DarkChaplain Veteran

DarkChaplain

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....they literally went back and edited the old WarCom article to remove the audiobook release info, didn't they? No audiobook mentioned today, not on WarCom, BL or even last week's announcement. It's Mortis, Realmgate Wars and some other books all over again. Not a simple "sorry, audio needs to be delayed for a bit" or "we decided to release the previous two books in audio first", but scrubbing previous announcements off the face of the net.

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theSpirea Veteran

theSpirea

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Wraight on Twitter is still under the impression it’s coming out in audiobook format today, in case anyone was worried BL was keeping its’ authors informed about their work.

 

Not the first time and it makes the authors look like idiots. I've seen similar stuff happen to other BL writers this year. They were advertising their book on FB/Twitter as coming out next Saturday but BL decided to postpone it. And, of course, didn't inform the authors.

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cheywood Battle-Brother

cheywood

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The quality of writing’s still there for me, but BL has increasingly shown its weaknesses from other standpoints. It’s caught in this weird middle ground where on one hand it’s seemingly not important enough to get much in the way of marketing attention and community support, but on the other hand it’s too important

to be allowed free reign to simply commission whatever material it wants without thought of sales numbers, intentional scarcity, and bad space marine action scene quotas.

Edited by cheywood
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