DarkChaplain

Those terms are industry standards. The other Trade Paperbacks you have from other publishers are a different type of Trade Paperback. Black Library is using what is basically the standard anyway - the B-Format TPB, normed at 129mm x 198mm (or 5+1⁄8 in x 7+3⁄4 in for non-metric xenos folks). "regular", non B-format Trades are normally the same as a previous hardback, same page format, numbering etc, but in a different, softcover binding. Both B-format but especially non-B use higher quality paper than Mass Market Paperbacks - which are flimsy and often have ink bleeding issues as well. The exact dimensions of full-on TPBs differ between markets (UK has them slightly larger than B-formats at 135mm x 216mm, for instance (which is why I have to double-check whenever I order UK editions because they generally have better, more distinct cover art and also often less marketing junk on the cover). Technically you'd also refer to comic trades as TPBs, but they're a different matter yet again. Black Library made the switch from MMPB to B-Format Trades back when they were still publishing Time of Legends set 2 and Warhammer Heroes. I believe the first Horus Heresy book to switch to the trade format - notably the larger British format, not B-format! - was Angel Exterminatus, which was also the first Hardback release for the series; the trade was, as explained above, basically identical to the hardback as a regular Trade Paperback would be. 6-9 months later, the book got the Mass Market Paperback release, skipping over the in-between B-Format that every other non-hardback BL release would switch to (often mid-series at the time, which my shelf has never forgiven them for). tl;dr BL does B-Format TPBs, which are the perfect compromise between compactness, sturdiness and pricing compared to "full-size" trades succeeding a hardcover release, which are often noticeably more expensive than Bs. Unlike MMPBs, B-format spines are much harder to destroy, too, rather than just being something that happens while reading and has to be lived with.

Just FYI, Omnibuses are NEVER in the Mass-Market Paperback format. That was completely ditched by Black Library a decade ago, with the sole exception being for Horus Heresy releases, often a year after their original release. Omnibuses are TRADE paperbacks, in the standard format. Yes, the font size is often reduced compared to novels, but that depends on how much content they need to squeeze in there with the 600-900 pages they got before the thing falls apart. I'm also not aware of BL ever putting out an omnibus in hardback; even when they do trilogy hardbacks, it's usually box sets with each book being bound separately.

I laughed when I saw that WarCom's slate of 2025 wrapups had the three top-listened to audiobooks.... and it's literally the HH Opening Trilogy, in order.

I want Thorpe to do Caliban, and it's the one thing I genuinely am excited for at this point (what with Eskrador probably being wasted and not be about how Omegon hands Guilliman/Cawl the untainted Primarch Project material to lead into the Primaris project, as we already had Sons of the Selenar foreshadowing the project and nobody seems to even remember that Alpharius/Omegon had the gene-tech anymore anyway). I want Thorpe to go hard on the fall of Caliban and pay off all the buildup from Angels of Darkness up to Luther. He's obviously sketched plans and moved pieces here and there, including with the Typhus rivalry. Caliban is the event that it all revolves around and it's somewhat return via Vashtorr in M42 might have been in the talks for ages before we ever heard rumors about it. There's been so much setup and so many pieces added to the puzzle, I want Thorpe to be the one to pull them together and deliver. This is basically his career's work writing for 40k/HH, and it'd be a suitably piss-poor decision for GW/BL to not have him work on it, what with their lack of respect to the authors and axing multiple series of Thorpe's due to lack of sales for anything not Space Marines in the day. But he put the legwork in, and he should be the one to make it work, not somebody else.

That cover is so much prettier than the one for Lioness of the Parch. The manticore comes across as properly imposing

Don't make me pull out and actually finish the big essay on Imperium Secundus I started writing way back when... I still have it somewhere on my hard drive, and with even more hindsight than the last time I typed on it, my frustration has only compounded! Then again, I've already textwalled plenty about it on here as well over the last few years.... So much wasted potential, so much editorial flip-flopping.... Great point about Sanguinius, too. I was expecting that to be covered in the book, so I didn't mention that up there, but damn, Guilliman and the Lion went out of their way to open the route for Sanguinius to be the one of the three to reach Terra first and on time. In a sense, Guilliman enabled both Sanguinius's achievements at the Siege - and the thing would've been entirely lost without the Blood Angels there! - but also his inevitable death. That's gotta sting, even before we come to their personal relationship.

I haven't read past the first three chapters yet, but I want to discuss Roboute a bit. The novel might contradict me, I don't know yet, but this is how I would interpret Guilliman heading into this. I really wish the book acknowledged Euten, or rather, her death in one of the HH short stories en route to Terra. It just happened and nobody seems to remember her or that she died as part of Guilliman's fleet action. THAT, in my opinion, could be a decent enough catalyst for Guilliman becoming more... selfish? Is that even the right word, considering that he doesn't do anything for inherently selfish reasons but because he thinks it's the right thing to do, even if it in the end benefits him? Guilliman pretty much lost his mother on the headlong charge to safe his father - his real one, not just the adoptive Konor. He failed them both. Both people who were capable of setting him right, of being a corrective on his route. Both figures with authority over him - even if that, in Euten's case, is just emotional authority as a parent, rather than your creator and direct, hierarchical superior. There's a case to be made for Guilliman to be deeply traumatized, not alone because of how wrong he was about creating Imperium Secundus, forfeiting the Throneworld mostly due to the Ruinstorm. Knowing that he could have been there for the Siege, either on the ground or at least in orbit to hopefully prevent mass deployment, must be ruinous to an intellect like Guilliman's. Just look at what happened to the Lion of all people - the bloke was so stricken, he tried goading Russ into a duel to the death right there at the Palace. And he got both fooled by the Astronomican blinking out and went on a rampage on traitor worlds, all while Guilliman simply couldn't reach Terra on the final leg due to said Astronomican outage. Look at what this has done to Rogal Dorn, the man of stone. Guilliman's trauma ought to be no less deep, but his highly analytical, logical mind - genetically engineered to be that way by the Emperor! - wouldn't even let him settle down and grieve like a normal human being, or even like one of his brothers. It makes sense to me that he'd stumble head first into the aftermath, trying to make sense of things, trying to overengineer every contingency. It's his coping mechanism - he knows no other way. He did it at Calth. He did it after the Shadow Crusade saw Angron ascended. He did it when Vulkan died. It's precisely what he did after his return to the Imperium, ten millennia in the future. He always went straight back into what he believed was necessary, even to the detriment of his relationships, or deceiving his would-be allies out of fear for being honest and open, of showing his own weakness. Roboute Guilliman is the one trying to fix things, but he is just as broken as all the rest.

Four detachments back to back and AoS is sitting there with a short story and something that should've been released last month as it is part of the existing General's Handbook season, not anything extra. Man, they better be coming up with some real interesting Regiments of Renown and other AoS content during the next two weeks. They're not even bothering to switch it up at this point.... This Grotmas really is ill-conceived so far.

What gets me the most about the book market is how freakin' often they have good cover artists, just to then either abandon them, do a different, bland cover (like... how many Fantasy novels come along with some sort of weapon front and center?) for the paperback edition, or change general layout of the cover/spine in terms of font and title treatment. .....and then you have a whole different hell in covers being replaced with cheap-ass promotion posters for movies or netflix adaptations. Like, my Kindle copies of the Witcher series have gone through at least 3 cover stages at this point, and nowadays they're not even matching the same pattern anymore. And that's not even counting the Orbit editions which started out with promo artworks from the The Witcher 2 video game... I'm so glad I bought the entire trade paperback series when it still matched and didn't have bland weapons or Henry Cavill up front. Still kind of shocked that Michael J. Sullivan's recent Riyria reprints, now that he has the rights back, didn't get the full Marc Simonetti treatment; he's amazingly suited to the various series. If I remember correctly, he couldn't make it for Drumindor, but it's still a shame. I want to own a full Simonetti set of the Riyria Revelations and Riyria Chronicles someday... And then you have Black Library which had Raymond Swanland and others winning awards for them.... and ditched them right afterwards. Same issue with Space Marine Battles, where the switch in main artist was clearly visible... but then again, they were still decent compared to Space Marine Conquests. Also, in regards to the photo up there, the cover for the Space Wolves Omnibus is recycled art. They've used it for other books/eshorts before, and I believe even then it was Codex art. Incredibly lazy that Wraight's Jarnhamar didn't even get unique art, but a recycled Arjac Rockfist.

Ashes of the Imperium shouldn't even be a candidate. It doesn't even release for another 3 days as of today. Voting Dropsite Massacre myself, because that managed to remind me of why I loved the pre-Siege Heresy, particularly the early parts of the war.

Going up for preorder next week, yes. Nothing else, though

Thinking about the book's final few chapters, I'm actually very happy with how it was handled, particularly the way Fulgrim was avoided, yet still bookending that in a truly horrifying way. That scene of Orth being done and dusted, getting collected by Fabius, just to shut down upon seeing Fulgrim approaching, Ferrus's head in hand? It's gene-horror. The sheer callousness of that scene has real impact - and it's in large parts because we have not seen Ferrus' side of the battle. We last actually see/engage with Ferrus Manus before planetfall. He gives brief commands to begin the whole thing, and later, just before the actual dropsite massacre begins, he urges the Loyalists to chase the retreating traitor forces. But we only ever hear of him being engaged somewhere, Fulgrim having the honor of taking him on, and some of his sons trying to catch up. We don't see what happens to Ferrus. We don't know about the duel with Fulgrim. We don't see how badly his Legion is being mauled. We don't see his hot head, or his conflict with his brother. We only see the to this point thought impossible result of his death. Not just that, his body is being debased by Fulgrim and now Fabius - it wasn't even possible for the Iron Hands to secure his corpse. THIS MOMENT when Orth witnesses Fulgrim holding up the head? THAT'S the unthinkable, the unfathomable degree of the entire assault's failure. It's shocking. It's brutal. It's not foreshadowed in any real way. It comes entirely out of left field to the PoV character, and the reader (unless they are already familiar with the lore and/or Fulgrim). Frankly, that scene at the end makes me wish I could read the early Heresy without prior knowledge and experience that fresh. It's this moment that makes me think Dropsite Massacre should actually be read before Fulgrim in its entirety. This novel does not need to showcase the duel from another perspective. It's stronger for not giving us that mad dash to the Primarch's side, the logistical nightmare realizations, the pride and anger at Fulgrim's betrayal. Ferrus Manus's grave mistake becomes so much more in part due to his narrative absence after the battle begins. There is no justification as things go wrong, no regret, no doubt, only the sheer feeling of dread and resignation through other participants. Ferrus's failure is illustrated brilliantly throughout the entire second half of the novel, just to culminate in that scene. There is no taking any of this back, and the primary architect of the Loyalists' defeat, Horus aside, has paid the ultimate price, off-screen. Was it a heroic death? Was it shameful? Did he make an impact at all? We don't know. But he failed. For all his planning, down to the minute detail, he failed. He failed on a strategic level, a tactical level, and a personal one. Not seeing this play out on the page here, and only being confronted with the grim result? It's brilliant stuff. And while I'm at it anyway: That message tube: It's the small things like this that make this book so worth existing.

I'm very much looking forward to Gav Thorpe not only doing the inevitable, and long-awaited, destruction of Caliban, but also to make sense of Lorgar post-TEATD, considering how good his take was in Bearer of the Word. Likewise, I want Brooks to do Eskrador.

Brooks' Alpharius: Head of the Hydra was excellent and I love it to bits, too. Unifying a lot of elements from other authors' works while giving his own spin that intrigues and excites. He's already had elements from Rites of Passage appear in Harrowmaster, so it'd make sense for further connections to be built across his works.

It also helps reinforce Legion and other AL outings throughout the series, by making it clear that the Hydra is playing all sides, post-Cabal "recruitment". We see them abandoning their Cabal contacts in Deliverance Lost, and we have them play both sides vs the White Scars, but overwhelmingly, we've seen the Anti-Emperor faction in action, with little note given to the loyalist-branch of the legion's schism. It's nice to account for it here, since this is the earliest I believe that we see them in action after Legion, if we look at the timeline. Slotting the novel in before or after Fulgrim, but before Legion, also feels sensible then, because new readers will likely have plenty of questions about the AL intrigue, and find the reasoning behind it in the AL novel soon following in release order.