The Monthly 40k Book Club!

[Helbrecht]

Originally Posted by hotspike18

A novel about the Thousand Sons would be great! I used to play them, but even so, I think you could make a great story out of that Heresy time period. That weren't actually traitors, how they must feel...I think it'd be a great pitch, and I'd buy it the day it came out.

Just think how the alpha legion must feel...

[Wraith]

Originally Posted by Helbrecht

There is a rumour that Dan Abnett and Graham Mcniell are goind to do a two part story arc concerning the fall of prospero, one book from the space wolves POV and one from the thousand sons. In battle for the abyss their is also a Thousand son sorcerer.

Ooh, wow! That sounds like it ought to be one great pair of novels - here's hoping that the rumour turns out to be true!

And a quick warning for everybody out there: yes, there is a Thousand Sons sorceror in Abyss... But just take our word for it. He doesn't have a very large part (spends most of the book locked in his room, for crying out loud!), and it's just not worth putting up with the painful wreck that is the rest of the book in order to read about him. Flat characters, weak storyline, lackluster action scenes and boring stereotypes simply ruin the book.

Maybe reading things like the earlier Heresy novels and the Space Wolf, Gaunt's Ghosts and Eisenhorn series has spoiled me, but Abyss just falls far, far short of the mark, in my opinion. It's sad, really - Ben Counter has proven he can write a good book (Grey Knights, Soul Drinkers, Galaxy in Flames...), but he seems to have forgotten that this time.

[hotspike18]

I'm about to near the halfway point through the book myself, and I do have to admit, I've read better. *SPOILER* For one thing, Cestus gets over attacking fellow astartes in seconds, AND he disregards warning Terra completely - which I think would by the typical Space Marine's reaction. Most Astartes need some time to digest attacking one another, they can't comprhend it, but here it's like ignored just to keep the novel going. It's odd, and though we've seen it before, I think it's needed just to be consistent.

[Helbrecht]

personally i think Abyss is near the bottom with Descent of Angels as one of the lackluster HH books. I can't wait for mechanicum (especially after ready the short story in Collected Visions) and Titanicus.

[Wraith]

Originally Posted by Helbrecht

personally i think Abyss is near the bottom with Descent of Angels as one of the lackluster HH books. I can't wait for mechanicum (especially after ready the short story in Collected Visions) and Titanicus.

I agree that Abyss and Descent are probably the worst of the HH books, but it's hardly fair to lump them together. Descent was a very different sort of story and I rather liked it for the look at the arrival of the Imperium from the perspective of the indigenous peoples of a planet, rather than seeing it through Imperial eyes like we're used to. It does wind up being a lot more "semi-steampunk fantasy novel" than "40K novel", and that's a bit jarring.

But if Descent is like the guy that tried but still finished 9th at the back of the pack, Abyss is the guy who forgot to do up his Velcro shoes, tripped on his second step, fell flat on his face and limped across the finish line ten minutes later to take 10th!

There's "not as good as the rest", and then there's just plain BAD... And all you need to do is compare Cestus, Skraal, Brynngar, Mhotep and the rest to the likes of Loken, Torgaddon, Vipus, Tarvitz, Garro, Ragnar, Haegr, Torin, Alaric and Sarpedon to realize that something's just wrong with Abyss - the characters themselves are weak shadows of the great characters we've become used to.

I'm looking forward to Mechanicum and Titanicus too, hopefully they do justice to such awesome, unexplored background material.

[AlbinoAlien]

Perhaps that's the point. Characters that aren't so amazing, but err you know, still do an amazing thing

[zac_the_god]

i have to say, i very much like the last chancer's novel's (by: gav thorpe) they showed hpw the penal legions worked and what the enemies of the imperium really are like! another book that i havent read yet but i own is called descent of angels, its part of the horus heresey series! (by: mitchel scanlon) another book i would suggest is called 15 hours, which tells the story of a gaurdsman from a farm planet who ends up with the 902nd vardan rifles sturggling to survive an orc infested planet, he is the last man from his regiment the jumal IV! (i dont know who its by because i forgot) but also the damnation crusade comics are great, and the ohter one i think its called blood and thunder? its about orks (damnation crused is about the black templars by the way!)

[NiteRabbit]

Oh if only I could find a copy of Damnation's Crusade locally... Good ol' Abnett, always coming through for us. Mechanicum I'm looking forward to. Only two more months!

[zac_the_god]

well if u really wanted thoes comics u could buy tho whole bundle (all 5 of them or 6? not exactly shure) off amazon.com i think it was? thats what im gonna do because i only bought 2,4, and 5. im also gonna buy the blood and thunder comics! they ae making more? 40k comics? (thats awesome!) im get em!

[Helbrecht]

Originally Posted by NiteRabbit

Oh if only I could find a copy of Damnation's Crusade locally... Good ol' Abnett, always coming through for us. Mechanicum I'm looking forward to. Only two more months!

You know you can buy the comics all packaged into an omnibus from bookstores. I work at Borders and we sell it for like $16. Its such a nice graphic novel.