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SPOILER ALERT. DO NOT READ FURTHER UNLESS YOU DON'T CARE.




This is not a Tau story. Honestly I'm getting a very anti-Tau vibe from the BL. Both of the touted Tau novels have turned out to be completely centered on the Imperium. There is a nice twist at the end but it has very bad implications for the Tau. It didn't feel random as the twist had been built for a while but the justification for it was thin as ice. Like I said it has very negative consequences for Tau. The main villain was good tho. The hero isn't half bad either.

Lore takeaways. Let me cushion this by saying the author does not believe in the Tau. He flat out states that the Greater Good is a lie. The line is thought by the character as he dies and is portrayed as if it were a revelation of galactic importance but the authors voice is very clear. Not saying it's bad just saying it was obvious.

1. Some Tau resort to ancient rivalries when not with Ethereals.
2. Water Caste genuinely wants to bring new races like human beings while at least one member of the Fire Caste are willing to renegade and commit treason and kill his fellow Tau in exchange for ensuring that they wouldn't.
3. Ethereals seem essential to keeping Fire Caste on the right side of the Greater Good while without them at least the Tau in the book renegaded.

Sounds reasonable from a BL offering.

*edit* nvm, wrong book I'm thinking of here

Not a Tau book at all. I was almost let down to the point of not finishing it. Tau have become one of my favorite races. Especially now that the fluff is less smurfy.

Well if you look at Farsight it seems relatively accurate, though I hope Fire castes being evil forever doesn't turn into a trend. I like to think that Farsight isn't evil but just escaped Ethereal mind control.

Here is my hope for the Taus future: I hope they realize that obedience to Ethereals is not desirable and that the greater good is currently a lie. Then after that realization a charismatic leader like Farsight realizes that the "Greater Good" is a good idea when not forced on beings and chosen, and the Tau embark on new journey of speading the Greater Good of their own free will by championing freedom but also personal responsibility.

It's not likely but I like o think that's where it's going.

1.) Keep in mind that this is an "Apocalypse Now" like setting, with several "Colonel Walter E. Kurtz" characters not representing official policy of their respective Empires.
2.) Even as a Tau fan, I find this novel extremely well written, even when the main novel focusses clearly on Imperial Guard. Some small fighting scenes in the middle plus the big end fight are nice read though.
3.) Actually, the novel is not quite complete without the two ebooks connected to it: "Out Caste" and "A Sanctuary of Wyrms". The First is an average but okay, 2-printed-pages long pre-story of the Fire Caste commander. The second is a fantastic short story of 10 printed pages (maybe 20 book pages) on a Tau expedition to a hidden human bunker, told from tau perspective (very funny and thought out), featuring a rookie female Water caste member plus the above mentioned Tau commander. While both stories tell side stories not essential to the novel, both add the necessary Tau perspective and are fun on the same quality as the book.
4.) Also released in April is the hardcover 100 pages deluxe novel Shadowsun. All told from Shadowsuns perspective, telling the story where she crashes on a human planet and has to get back. Okay reading for tau fans, maybe not worth the high price for everyone else. Another ebook "The Patient Hunter" about a Riptide pilot is just "rail gun porn" not really worth reading unless your expectations are really low.

I found it to be a very good read. It showed that both empires can do pretty evil things.

After reading it, I want to model some of those steam-punk power armour suits. Those were pretty cool.

I guess I am in the minority here, but this book is killing me terrible bad. I have tried 3 time to read it. Can't. There seems to be more sub plots than you can shake a stick at with a cast of characters too bloated for a stand alone. Now before I get shredded for not appreciating it, I have my own mini library at home with everything from Orson Welles to Black Library. The only other book from BL that was murder for me was "Eldar Prophecy".

I had a choice between firecaste and shadowsun....I chose wrong. As a keen tau player I was hoping for alot more tau fluff

I really enjoyed the book.

My only problem was the ending as I hate books where