Roomsky

Beer continuing to get novels is an absolute win. I love his take on all things technological so he should be a great fit for a Necron focus. As with any debut novel, I'm curious about the Night Lords book. If it's even half as good as any of its predecessors, it'll still be awesome. Space Wolves are a skip unless it looks like it's doing something interesting. Krakendoom doesn't meet this criteria, at a glance, and while I find Collins solid enough he's not an author that would make me check out a book just because his name's on it.

Oh, probably. I'm just being a :cuss: because despite it's central appearance in that one awesome piece of art, Black Library seems to have been mind-wiped regarding its existence.

Who? There's only one red angel, and his name is Angron.

I think it's long been established that all the Sanguinary Guard who accompany Sang onto the Vengeful Spirit get killed. I don't recall if Abnett actually wrote it that way, but the assumption for a while was that Azkaellon didn't get to go for whatever reason. Still silly we didn't get more of his on-the-ground POV in TEatD though, that's grade-A angst material.

Zephon is only frustrating because 1: Abnett can't write him for ship, and 2: Swallow completely bungled making interesting Blood Angels back in Fear to Tread. Exciting new characters? That book had none. It's no wonder nobody wants to write Azkaellon or Raldoron, the only compelling thing either has done since their introduction is Raldoron nonchalantly kicking Skraivok off a wall. Amit has had decent pagetime because he has a personality. But Wraight is Wraight. He can turn a boring character into an interesting one in the time it takes for us to blink. Azkaellon rehabilitation arc incoming?

As if a lack of overall quality can stop me! The wizard has been done in. The curtain has been pulled back. We cannot get the cat back into the bag. What reason is there not to write about The Scouring at this point? Mystique? Respect for canon? There is none left, the Heresy series killed that horse, turned it into glue, and ate it like a kindergartener. The fact is that the Siege either dropped the ball (Iron Warriors) or didn't resolve the a plotline in any capacity (Dark Angels) - I'll wade through the :cuss: if it means I get a few diamonds in the rough like in the Heresy. Also, I'm tired of dancing around Caliban's destruction. Someone write the bloody thing, already.

I see your pointed lack of reaction, Denny. We're on to you. As much as both so far have had, frankly, perfect endings, I would also love to see a capper to the series in a third book. Flowers does seem to be avoiding using Chaos as an antagonist in his novels, and considering he's such a rarity for doing so, I hope it keeps up. Being an ace pilot against one of the two races most associated with superior tech would be awesome. On the other hand, Flowers has proven anything he touches is golden. I imagine whatever he drops next will keep up that pattern, even if I get Shard withdrawal.

It depends what you're here for. Spear of the Emperor confirms that yes, 40k is still 40k, the Imperium is still horrible and at odds with itself, the galaxy is too big for any one figure to save it, and said one figures are not the centre of every story worth telling. It's the "you don't need to abandon the setting because of 8th edition" book. Your books are a fine list for someone who enjoys all the hype new additions and wants to follow something resembling a metanarrative.

Dawn of Fire Book 9 - Guy Haley It appears I was too kind to Hand of Abaddon. I forgave an underwhelming climax and Tenebrus doing the narrative equivalent of walking into a spike pit he already knew about because I assumed the more interesting Chaos Characters in Yheng and Harek would feature in the final entry. Unfortunately, they're nowhere to be found, nor is Rostov. Fabian would also have been appreciated. This series has largely been a parade of loosely-connected standalone novels, but they did have a unifying theme in fighting Chaos: Book 1: Vs Chaos Book 2: Vs Chaos Book 3: Ostensibly about Space Wolves and the Ork threat, but the longest battle scene is against Night Lords Book 4: Vs Chaos Book 5: Vs Other Imperials (and Chaos) Book 6: Vs Chaos Book 7: Vs Chaos Book 8: Vs Chaos Book 9: Vs Necrons (???) Beyond an unrelated Gellar Field failure (that only served as set-up for Dark Imperium,) Chaos is a non-entity in this book. No Rostov, no Yheng, no Harek, no Iron Magus, no Anathame reforged. I'm not entirely opposed to leaving these points open for future stories, but if that was the plan, Tenebrus needed a better resolution than shoving a stick into his own spokes. You can't even view the Haley books as the "core" of the series because of this; Throne of Light has a non-ending if you're only reading his books. If I had to guess, it would be that the last 2 books being what they are is due to the series being cut down from the original plan, but as-is this "finale" seems like the start of a new series more than anything - weirdly haphazard for Haley. I guess the Dawn of Fire was destroyed in this, the series really was about the ship this whole time. This could have worked as a finale, it certainly has no shortage of recurring characters, but it simply doesn't follow from the novels it's "concluding." If, for example, book 3 was really about the Orkish threat, book 5 had no Chaos agents, and book 6 was a defense against Tyranids or something, The Silent King wouldn't be so weirdly out of place. This is just a bizarro episode, and considering how loosely connected the series is already, that's saying something. Even as a reader who enjoyed how disconnected each book was, this was a letdown. Still better than Dark Imperium.

This fails as a finale to a series, but I haven't really reviewed this series as a series. So, in order to be fair to it, I'll do a review of this as a semi-standalone as I have the others before I tear into it's Finale of Dawn of Fire shortcomings. The Silent King - Guy Haley I enjoyed this, as I have all of Haley's Dawn of Fire work. It does some admirable legwork in converting GW's haphazard fluff additions into actual stories that don't clash with the setting's tone. I enjoy the wide cast of characters from every level of the Imperium, and I like that, if nothing else, the Necrons are shown as a very serious threat; their naval superiority is quite unambiguous. Roboute Guilliman and his Tropey Friends Guilliman's fine, nothing out of the ordinary. Colquan's frustration was also pretty stock, though he did have a couple disses I appreciated. Cawl is his usual self; though I did find him a bit grating this time round. Maybe I'm getting tired of his schtick. His conversation with Hiax was quite entertaining, though. These big players exist for crystalizing the plot for the most part. They have some good lines here and there, but are really just here to make the reader understand what Guilliman's campaign looks like at this juncture. There's also some Battle Sisters here alongside Shanni from Gate of Bones. I have no idea why they're present; they add nothing to the plot. They do some fighting with what appears to be set-up and then their storyline abruptly ends without any kind of payoff. In the Navy The highlight of the book for me. I love Athagey for being a hot mess. I love VanLeskus for not letting a little thing like self-awareness stop her from being a grandstanding peacock. That both are competent commanders despite their shortcomings keeps them from being total stereotypes, and their conversation in the Dead End is probably my favourite part of the entire book. The aging guy who commands the fleet in the last couple chapters (his name escapes me) also has a wonderful few chapters. I adored the 2 greaser gang chapters. Nice human moments, and it fleshed out another arm of the Imperium's grimdark drudgery. It's a much better (and shorter) version of the Iax corruption from Dark Imperium, IMO. Brother Genericus Rides Again I enjoyed the Messinius sections for reasons largely unrelated to his… limited character. His pacification of the democratic planet was great. I enjoyed his discussion with a daemon. I liked him taking the wind out of VanLeskus' sails. Like all self-serious marines, he's a decent foil to Cawl. There's no more to him than Felix, Areios, or whatever that other guy in Dark Imperium was named (I think he was a Novamarine?) but he's effective because he's straight man to other, actually interesting, characters. It certainly helps that the astartes POV isn't the main focus, either. The Necrons Don't come to this book for any Necron character work. The Silent King's conversation with Guilliman is brief, and their presence really only serves to be an insurmountable opponent for the Imperial characters. The Plotting I thought this moved at a good clip except for the first few chapters, which should really have only been 1. Haley maintains his structural skill and things move from A to B to C in a fairly satisfying way. As mentioned above, I think the biggest weakness of this book, and his writing in general, is that genuinely interesting character moments are merely flashes in the pan set against an overwhelming amount of tropes played completely straight. "Oh it's the cold open where explorators get killed by the novel's antagonists" "Oh it's the Gellar Field failure scene" "oh it's the Cawl being a smarmy know-it-all scene" - I can't help but feel I've read this book before, many times over, across Haley's body of work. It's solid, it gives me what it's advertising, but it's less than nothing special. It's basically a 40k Marvel movie. The Dark Imperium namedrop was inoffensive - the alluding to the Cawl Inferior was much worse, because it spent an inordinate amount of time hinting at a thing that is meaningless without having read Dark Imperium. Let's call it a 6.5/10. I enjoyed myself, but there's very little substance.

This is 100% the best book to drop last year (which I have only just now read, because paperback delay.) That it didn't have its own thread is rank heresy. Anyway, this book is amazing. Every page is a delight. The writing is snappy, the pacing is immaculate. Gosh, it's harder to write at length about a book I have no problems with. When I say every page is a delight, I mean there wasn't a single moment where I didn't just want to keep reading. I read this book in 2 sittings, and would have done it in 1 if time allowed. It is clever and stuffed with black comedy, but the drama is never undermined. Simlex is allowed to be a crippled civilian the whole way through, and thus the military culture he's caught in the middle of gets far more attention than any monotonous fighting. What excitement he does get involved in keeps you on the edge of your seat precisely because he's so physically weak, and for the most part he doesn't even have a weapon. The plot is intrigue after intrigue, logistical breakdown after conflict of personality, and what seems like the world's most obvious twist ends up being a double-subversion that resolves well before the finale. Simlex and Shard are of course the stars of the show, and both are repeatedly forced to accept that however attuned to the reality of the Imperium they are, thinking about it is only a road to misery. Philisophical types can only be ground into powder by eternal war; defiance is punished and considering the implications of one's situation does no favours. Between the two, the hot mess that is Shard frankly has the better idea: get drunk so you can ignore the little voice in your head. Book 1 Simlex discovered the truth, book 2 Simlex needs to learn how to bury the truth (or die trying.) The side characters are also excellent across the board. Commissar Tobia is probably the most fun, both for being the "dellusional but content" foil to our protagonists and for being incredibly effective at what he does. Plient is still Plient and thus a lovable cinnamon roll (also one of the few with a modicum of happiness for his refusal to comprehend the horrors around him.) I won't list them all, because there are many, and I don't want to spoil what may be a reader's favourite side character. I will of course acknowledge that Lucille will annoy some readers for being a horrible person. I personally appreciate that she's not a jerk with a heart of gold, she's a jerk all the way to her core who is, nonetheless, a layered human being. I think she's well used, not being the POV was always a good choice, but I can see how she won't vibe with some. I however, as a firm supporter of women's rights, must support Lucille "women's wrongs personified" von Shard. 10/10. My personal favourite book of the decade so far. It's out in paperback now. Please go read it.

Some of you may be burnt out, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Iron Cage let's go! Caliban exploding let's go! Eskrador let's go! Other things, I imagine, Let's go!

The distributers clearly heard my complaint. It's called Final Deployment and now has a cover. Amazon.ca's other Updates: Carnage Unending - Dan Abnett - April The Green Tide - Ork book omnibus - March "Steve Lyons'" Death and Duty has a description now, it appears he's just the first listed author for a Guard anthology.

One one hand, Wraight and French are great picks to kick things off if this is indeed The Scouring. On the other hand, I'm surprised it isn't starting with Abnett, not merely because it's "his thing" but because he said explicitly that he'd love to write a lot about Terra right after the Emperor's enthronement and the political turmoil that follows. Maybe he's just got too much on the go. Also that Tempestus Scions book is still listed everywhere for next month but still doesn't have a cover or title.

Just starting chapter 12. It's fine, so far, nothing too special in terms of main plot. What I loved though was Messinius putting down a rebelling world that embraced the horrors of... democracy. No Chaos plot, no Genestealers, just the Imperium stamping out people trying to do good.