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OK, here is the deal...my wife loves Eldar, got the codexes, got the army...but the eldar specific novels we have found, to be honest sucked... Path of the Seer was horrible...freakin' rainbow poetry and space elves that were either suffering from PTSD or acted like sad sack divas or emo wannabe's. The path of the warrior has that loser diva as the main character...

So, is there ANY good Eldar novels, short stories, etc. that don't have them acting like...emo kid losers in space?

-STS

Farseer, William King. Thoroughly decent, if you can find it.

slade the sniper wrote: Path of the Seer was horrible...freakin' rainbow poetry and space elves that were either suffering from PTSD or acted like sad sack divas or emo wannabe's. The path of the warrior has that loser diva as the main character...

Then the answer is no.

Path of the Seer and Path of the Warrior give the best insight on the generic Eldar way of life that we have. They *are* space elves basically. Eldar are supposed to be able to feel emotion much more drastically than humans. It is apt that they are "emo."

Seems like what you're looking for isn't Eldar. Just your own skewed version of what Eldar "should be."

Perhaps Eldar Prophecy, it depicts the Eldar rather differently to what is usually accepted. As a book it is kind of bad though.

Kind of bad ...

Kind of bad doesn't begin to describe it.

It should have the title struck off the Black Library catalogue.
Any who have had the misfortune to read it should be mindscrubbed (I tried with bleach, it was only partially successful).

The Path of ... Eldar trilogy is as close to a 'proper' look at Eldar as you will get. Gav has at least written the fluff pieces in several Eldar codices and does have a 'handle on it' - as opposed to CS Goto who seems to ascribe to the philosophy of "Any publicity is GOOD". (I swear he gets more mentions in hate threads than he would if they were half-decent.)

n0t_u wrote:Perhaps Eldar Prophecy, it depicts the Eldar rather differently to what is usually accepted. As a book it is kind of bad though.

God that book was bad, terrible even.

I'd say read Farseer, brilliant book. Willam King is an awesome writer, shame he doesn't write more books.

I found the first half of path of the warrior good but it became a mess after that, I've not read path of the seer yet.

Ha go look at the eldar models. Then go back and read the fluff from the codexes again. At what point did you imagine eldar being anything BUT "emo divas"?

Path of the Warrior is the best you're gonna get, and the least "emo" as it revolves around a guy descending into bloodlust.

Plus I did like the event at the end with:

My ranking:
1.) Gav Thorpe: Path of the Warrior (and possibly the whole triology, but I have only read the first one)
2.) Gordon Rennie: Shadow Point (OOP BFG novel with interesting and respectful portrait of Eldar, try ebay, not amazon)
3.) William King: Farseer (only two Eldar, only side characters, but good representation, and a Crone World)
Then nothing for a while, then
4.) Ian Watson: Harlequin (now included in "Inquisition Wars", old, medium quality, but features harlequins)

Also watch out for the next two Imperial Armour books featuring Eldar, most certainly a delightful deep source for information.

Important: Avoid anything by Goto at all costs: He hates Eldar, he knows nothing about them, and you don't want those perverse images in your head, believe me!

n0t_u wrote:Perhaps Eldar Prophecy, it depicts the Eldar rather differently to what is usually accepted. As a book it is kind of bad though.

Can't believe anyone recommends a Goto book here. Slaanesh worshipping Eldar that let Orks look like cold reasonable beings
Guardians that try to block Warp Spiders ... and succeed

I've only read Path of the Seer, and trying to get my hands on Path of the Warrior.

I enjoyed it, if only because I wanted insight into the Eldar. Given what I knew about them in the fluff already (elves in space who are more prone to drastic emotional responses than humans), I was already prepared for the 'emo' characters and just got on with it.

Otherwise, wanting to learn about Eldar culture, it's probably gonna be the best place you can find, barring the Codex/rulebooks.