Fluff Masters Clan

[Grephaun]

Random book review, voila! (No spoilers.)

I got a new book today, ‘Death World’ by Steve Lyons. He’s an author I can’t recall having encountered before, in fact I believe this to be his first 40k story ever. Even so, it’s quite a good book and has certainly managed to keep my interest firmly rooted throughout the pages that I’ve managed so far; in fact, so tightly did it grip my attention when I was reading it earlier today in the bus that I actually managed to miss my stop not once, but twice. I swear, my bus seems to warp jump whenever I open a book and don’t keep my eyes on the road, that’s the only logical explanation for the fact that time passes so much quicker when I’m not looking. :rolleyes:

‘Death World’ is a book that takes place *gasp* on a Death World, no kidding. The main characters are Catachans, and I must say it’s nice to see these guys being something more than just dumb brutes for once; we actually get some insight into their ability to survive on a Death World and how they learn from and adapt to new terrains in order to ‘beat’ each new planet they’re sent to, considering the planet itself the true challenge and the enemy they’re sent to fight only a minor distraction, an aspect I think reflects nicely on their status as Jungle Fighters. I also find the description of the planet itself and its indigenous wildlife to be well executed, and I’m certainly very curious about the whole mystery of what made this planet a Death World in the first place, *dun dun DUN!*

It’s not a very fluffy book, unless you like Carachans I suppose; there is the token Commissar, and that’s about as 40k as it’s gotten so far; allegedly there are Orks in it too, though neither I as the reader nor the characters have encountered them yet; mostly it’s just the Jungle Fighters versus the jungle, and some jungle it is! Even though it’s technically supposed to be an inanimate object consisting of insentient flora and fauna, it’s certainly presented as the true villain of the book – which I believe it just might be!

All in all, this makes for a nice book in my opinion, the literary equivalent of a nice tasty snack, easily digestible and not all that filling, but certainly leaving you craving for more. I like it! *Goes back to finish her book.*

~Greph.

[Da Mighty Camel]

Sounds like a cool book, and also a lot different from other 40k-novels.

[FabricatorGeneralMike]

Nice review oh Grephy one I just ordered in Crossfire the first Shira Calpurnia book and I can't wait for it to come in. I wanted to get the Third Soul Drinker book Crimson Tears but it was taken off the order list because the Omnibus is comming out soon. I can't wait for that, I highly recomend it to EVERYONE out there. The first two Soul Drinker books where excellent. And another book I would HIGHLY recomend is ' Let the Galaxy Burn'

[LordLink]

Is there any record of a dark eldar choosing to 'become' a craftworld eldar? disliking all the torture and simply going to the craftworld for help and getting a spirit stone. GW might not have released anything but do you think its possible?

Also I'm positive I asked this before (when I first joined) but eldar and dark eldar have the same language right.

Also Iyanden means: Light in the Darkness. Which part of it do you think means light?

[Xerxes]

I'm not sure that the Craftworld Eldar would let one of the Dark Kin come near enough to make themselves understood in their desires, let alone consider them. Remember that DE represent everything wrong with the Eldar psyche as far as the Craftworld Eldar are concerned.

And it's possible that they have the same language. More likely than not, seeing as harlequins freely travel between the two groups. But there must be dialect differences.

I can't find any reference to light here, but if you want some Eldar language examples, try the English-Eldar dictionary at English-Eldar Dictionary: v2.5. From what I can tell it's more or less accurate.

[LordLink]

Then surely if a few dark eldar wanted to do the right thing and join a path and wear a spirit stone the eldar would let them?

And there is contact between the eldar and dark eldar. Medusa V had scenes about the 2 races talking to each other and if the dark eldar went to the Harlequins 1st the craftworlds would do basically anything the harlequins say.

I'd already looked at that dictionary but I couldn't find the words in it. I guess I get to make up my own then.

Iyan-Shelwe-The Song of Light.
Shelwe-Den-The Song of Darkness.

An alliance between an eldar craftworld and a dark eldar cabal and since the dictionaries don't have the correct words the language doesn't matter.

I had another question but I can't remember it at the moment.

[Da Mighty Camel]

Well, we all know that the Eldar language is imensly complicated so there is a fair point that 'Light in darkness' might be simplification by Human translators.

In the 3rd ed dex there is a note on Eldar language and that when translated it is simplified a lot. The example is an entire sentance for us if translated directly, while it just can be explained by a single word.

So Iyanden could actually mean something like "The light of the Shrine of Asuryan that shines upon us in the dark void" or something like that.

Same goes for the other Craftworlds I think.

But for simplicities sake, you could use one of those you wrote in the previous post. I doubt anyone will question them. :rolleyes:

[LordLink]

Yeah I I'm pretty sure I can't just cut up words like that. I mean Burzekhainan means both Swordwind and frozen leaves falling to cut. Its not as though I can pick out which part of that means leaf.

[Da Mighty Camel]

Yeah that's right (Bhazakhain is both Swordwind and Tempest of Blades, and can probably mena a lot more to, depending on situation of use and such). Up to you though, I wouldn't complain really.

[NiteRabbit]

Eldar language is based on a lot of metaphors and allusions and so no one Eldar word can be translated directly into English. Also, inflection and pronounciation can change the meaning of the word entirely - it's very good for conveying exactly what you mean (possibly the only superior forms of communication to the Eldar language in 40K are Necron sinescript and telepathy) but also a ridiculously complicated language to learn.

[Short Review]
Incidentally, I read 'Mark of Chaos' by Anthony Reynolds the other day and I can't say I'm too impressed. It suffers from the same constraints as the Dawn of War novelisation in that it is essentially a re-telling of the game's story from the Empire's point of view with certain character development expanded upon in more depth as well as the roles of certain characters being switched around a bit. I appreciate the fact that this is Mr. Reynold's first Warhammer novel (to the best of my knowledge) but I think he could have done a lot better if he didn't feel (or wasn't actually) constrained by the game's plot and just done something completely unrelated to the single player campaign.
[/Short Review]