Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

 Lobukia wrote:
Just finished it and loved it. I'm actually pretty critical of Abnett's stuff, but I'd put this up there as his second best novel outside of Gaunt's Ghosts, and certainly best in the Inquisiton series. I'm a little surprised at his portrayal of Ravenor, and that's the one big downside I see.

There is a short story called Perihelion that is a precursor to Pariah and helps explains that rift a little.

Just finished this, followed immediately by Legion, and I have to say that this is (IMO) some of Abnett's best stuff. Loved the book overall, and all the subtle touches throughout as well.

Excellent book, at first I certainly felt wrong-footed but I was impressed by the way quite a lot of the questions raised from the first few chapters were gradually answered as the plot went on while still leaving plenty of stuff mysterious. Something I particularly liked was the scene-setting - often something I enjoy with Abnett but there were parts that really captured what I see as the Gothic, overwhelming feel of Imperium (like the scenes in the colossal Ministorum structure - those parts were like the written equivalent of John Blanche painting).

In fact, I think this book as a whole feels much more like part of the 40K universe - I'm an Abnett fan, definitely, but sometimes I feel he portrays the universe in a way that is too heavily his iown interpretation. There are large parts of the Gaunt's Ghosts, Eisenhorn and Ravenor books that I feel could be taken out and slotted quite easily into many different sci-fi universes but I think this one has a really "40K-ish" tone.

 chaos girl wrote:

 Lobukia wrote:
Just finished it and loved it. I'm actually pretty critical of Abnett's stuff, but I'd put this up there as his second best novel outside of Gaunt's Ghosts, and certainly best in the Inquisiton series. I'm a little surprised at his portrayal of Ravenor, and that's the one big downside I see.

There is a short story called Perihelion that is a precursor to Pariah and helps explains that rift a little.

Its the short story that throws me off even more... but I think I was reading in to it more than I should of.

 CIsaac wrote:
Just finished this, followed immediately by Legion, and I have to say that this is (IMO) some of Abnett's best stuff. Loved the book overall, and all the subtle touches throughout as well.

Spoiler:

The toy rocket with CCCP on the side had me grinning like a cheshire as well, even though it was never actually vital (itself, that is) to the story.

Well, any connection to RW/real history is rare, esp. in M40 setting, though there's much more of it in HH. And surprising given west-centric views of most authors.

BTW one can wonder that power derived from symbolism and age can such thing posses in hand of capable psyker/sorcerer. Though not fit for Hall of Victories - there'd be piece of original

I ended up reading this over a couple of days, which, quite franklyl, surprised the heck out of me since I'm not even on holiday.

The thing that's throwing me off is, it's a bit of a Xanatos pileup. I was expecting 3 different factions but by the end, I was thrown off by the introduction of what? 4 or 5?



I do have a bit of a negative comment as well about it, so much of the story just felt like the introduction - or the pre-credits sequence of a film.

On the other hand, I was halfway through the book by the time I noticed that...