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Hello Dakka,

I have a friend who enjoys the Sisters of Battle and I was wondering what are some of the good Black Library books that I can recommend to her.

Faith & Fire
Hammer & Anvil
Red & Black

are the recent ones available from Black Library. There are other books that have SoB in them, but those are the ones that have SoB protagonists.

These three, mentioned up above, are, I think, pretty much all there is for SOB-as-main-characters books for BL. I like them well enough, I guess, but they could certainly be better.

Daemonifuge maybe?

That's more a graphic novel, but still pretty good.

And some folks aren't so big on Daemonifuge, although I enjoyed it.

I'm reading the "The Death of Antagonis". It's from the " Space Marine Battle Novel" series, and this one in particular is about the Black Dragons chapter, BUT, one of the main characters is a very special canoness. This canoness is made of awesome and win, hell, even the Space Marines are somewhat uncomfortable near her. Her back-story alone made me go "DAYUM!".

Besides the ones previously mentioned and this one, I don't remember other books where the SoB are awesome (like they should) instead of being horribly murdered. And being useless. And weak. And a complete shame... *sigh* BL authors, why do you hate the Sororitas so much?

P.S: I found a review of the book and it had this hilarious bit

"The Death of Antagonis also introduces one of the coolest 40K characters in a long, long time:

The Canoness Errant Setheno.

I am not (was not?) a huge Sisters of Battle fan per se. But holy! Setheno hits the pages of The Death of Antagonis with a bang and steals the limelight from everyone in the book, including the novel’s (eminently cool) main character Volos.

If someone from Black Library is reading this, chain David Annandale to his desk and have him write a Canoness Setheno novel. Or three! Do it now!

Setheno is one of my favourite characters from Black Library in a long time. She is just the kind of quirky, grim-dark being that can only really exist in Warhammer 40K. She would be comical elsewhere, but fits in 100% here."

No, really, this SoB is just AWESOME.

Did Blood of Ashaim had some? Can somebody post if this book is any good....

The novel "Grey Knight" also features a Sororitas army plus their boss as a minor protagonist. Good novel. From the time when Grey Knights and Sororitas were friends

Hammer and Anvil (or was it Faith and Fire, I forget now) does feature the Sisters, however I would not call it a good book. It existed to a). Show off the new Necron units and b) showcase the Sisters ignoring all previous fluff in order to be awesome and overpowered. Honestly, there was more plot armor than any 5 Ultramarines books put together . I have not read the other one in the series, Faith and Fire (or Hammer and Anvil, depending on my memory ), but I imagine it would be the same.

You could also try Helsreach. Totally awesome book and does feature the Sisters in it.

Wait, you mean because Sisters get to be protagonists in their own novel, they are given plot armor like all the other protagonists in all the other novels? Gee, it's almost like the women characters are being treated as equal human beings to the protagonists in other books, we better fething stop that now and bash the authors for it then.

 Melissia wrote:
Wait, you mean because Sisters get to be protagonists in their own novel, they are given plot armor like all the other protagonists in all the other novels? Gee, it's almost like the women characters are being treated as equal human beings to the protagonists in other books, we better fething stop that now and bash the authors for it then.

Thanks for the many responses! I think ill pick uo Faith & Fire and Hammer & Anvil as those two look like they will go well together.

Ah no Melissa, it is because the author completely ignored the basic fundamentals of Necron tech and the limits of the Sisters capabilities. I also didn't like the Fall of Damnos, for the exact same reasons.

Not really.

The Necrons aren't all-powerful deities on the battlefield.

They are however more formidable than the Sisters of Battle.

Legion of the Damned:

Mainly because the Sisters are effective and not just there to die in droves.

Duty Calls has some tradiitonal Sisters fare as does Helsreach

 Void__Dragon wrote:
They are however more formidable than the Sisters of Battle.

That's entirely debatable.

Necrons are more formidable man for man (Well, robot for woman), much harder to put down, have vastly superior technology, are logistically superior due to not needing to eat or re-equip themselves, they can react to adverse battle-conditions more quickly due to processing information than the fastest Imperial cogitators... Sister of Battle advantages are Acts of Faith. How do those stand up in comparison?

 Melissia wrote:

 Void__Dragon wrote:
They are however more formidable than the Sisters of Battle.

That's entirely debatable.

Self-repairing, eternal, emotionless robots with a penchant for breaking gods far outclass humans in power armor.

Also, Void, the book is Hammer & Anvil and it was indeed poorly written.

Fester McAgue wrote:

 Melissia wrote:

 Void__Dragon wrote:
They are however more formidable than the Sisters of Battle.

That's entirely debatable.

Self-repairing, eternal, emotionless robots with a penchant for breaking gods far outclass humans in power armor.

Constantly decaying, mentally decrepit robots who have barely maintained function as the years go by.

The new Necron lore was unkind to the rank and file Necrontyr.

And despite all of that they are still stronger, tougher, and better equipped than the Sisters of Battle.

"Barely maintained function" is something of a blatant lie when you consider what they have done.

 Void__Dragon wrote:
And despite all of that they are still stronger, tougher, and better equipped than the Sisters of Battle.

And yet they're less skilled, less motivated, and naturally far less blessed by the Emperor than Sisters are, considering Sisters are capable of performing feats that appear miraculous.

 Melissia wrote:
And yet they're less skilled,

Prove this claim.

less motivated,

The absence of identity gives a Necron Warrior limitless determination. They will only stop if tactically viable.

and naturally far less blessed by the Emperor than Sisters are, considering Sisters are capable of performing feats that appear miraculous.

The Acts of Faith could only dream of achieving the reality-sundering effects of Necron technology.

What a surprise, an antagonist is depicted as incompetent and conflicting with previous fluff while the protagonist basks in plot armor and fanwankery.

Someone stop the presses.

I second Mr Morden- SoB die just like everyone else...That's all my bolter needs to know.

 Void__Dragon wrote:
Prove this claim.

The average Necrontyr's mind has deteriorated over time according to the lore, and this is represented in the stats on the tabletop-- Sisters have better ballistics skill than Necron Warriors do.

 Void__Dragon wrote:
The absence of identity gives a Necron Warrior limitless determination.

The Sisters have the same limitless determination and more. Forcing the necrontyr to retreat due to losses was, for a long time, an inherent gameplay attribute, while Sisters were capable of lasting far longer simply out of sheer determination and faith.

 Void__Dragon wrote:
The Acts of Faith could only dream of achieving the reality-sundering effects of Necron technology.

Necron technology can only dream of reproducing the reality-mocking effects of a true miracle.


Your claim that it is utterly impossible that Sisters could defeat Necrons is founded in fanwank, not in the lore. I'm not claiming that Sisters will always beat Necrons, but the fact remains, Sisters are a very well equipped, superbly skilled military force, and possibly the best motivated force in the galaxy. They can and do accomplish things which are thought impossible. Whining about such a superbly equipped, elite military force being allowed to have a victory IN THEIR OWN FETHING BOOK just looks kind of sad on your part.

Dang... I thought this was a post about getting a hold of White Dwarf 379 and 380... need me some o' dems...


Faith & Fire was wicked awesome. I loved the characters in that book. I plan to rebuy a copy of it just to have on my shelves.


EDIT:

Personally I think the Sisters could wipe the floor with the Necrons.

 djphranq wrote:
Dang... I thought this was a post about getting a hold of White Dwarf 379 and 380... need me some o' dems...

At the moment, you have ebay and that's about it I think. I see a few copies floating around for fourty bucks, but who knows if they're still available.

Faith and Fire had a sequel and a prequel I think. [/looks it up on Lexicanum] Red and Black is the prequel, an audiobook, and Hammer and Anvil is the sequel.

I need to listen to Red and Black... haven't had the pleasure yet.

 Melissia wrote:
The average Necrontyr's mind has deteriorated over time according to the lore, and this is represented in the stats on the tabletop-- Sisters have better ballistics skill than Necron Warriors do.

Oh? Is that so?

How strange... I have the Necron codex open right now, and they have WS and BS values of 4.

And in the White Dwarf update, Battle Sisters have WS 3, BS 4.

The average Necron doesn't have a "mind" in the way human beings do. What it does have is combat programming that enables them to be fairly skilled combatants. Per the tabletop, more-so than a Battle Sister.

The Sisters have the same limitless determination and more. Forcing the necrontyr to retreat due to losses was, for a long time, an inherent gameplay attribute, while Sisters were capable of lasting far longer simply out of sheer determination and faith.

That is only demonstrative of the Sisters' failure as generals. The Necrons are entirely capable of a war of attrition, but are intelligent enough to not make a war such.

Also, that "inherent gameplay attribute" is long-gone. The Necrons are the single most implacable in body and mind faction in the setting.

Necron technology can only dream of reproducing the reality-mocking effects of a true miracle.

Interesting assertion. Can you show me the Sisters of Battle rewriting the fabric of history with their Acts of Faith? Maybe stripping a human being to the bone and less, atom by atom?

Your claim that it is utterly impossible that Sisters could defeat Necrons is founded in fanwank, not in the lore.

Strawman, point out where I claimed that.

I'm not claiming that Sisters will always beat Necrons, but the fact remains, Sisters are a very well equipped, superbly skilled military force, and possibly the best motivated force in the galaxy. They can and do accomplish things which are thought impossible. Whining about such a superbly equipped, elite military force being allowed to have a victory IN THEIR OWN FETHING BOOK just looks kind of sad on your part.

Yet you have complained about the Space Marines being "Movie Marines" (Per your words) in the Deathwatch RPG (Their book), and as such not representative of their formidability in the fluff. And about Marine spank in general, really. But of course it is good when Sisters of Battle do it, yes?

I take a much more reasonable stance: Plot armour in too thick amounts is bad, no matter who it is applied to. Whether it is an Ultramarine Captain jumping on the head of a Daemon Prince and stabbing it once, killing it (After the Daemon Prince just tossed and destroyed a Baneblade), or some other example that I can't think of for some reason.

I'm not whining, you on the other hand, are resulting to ad hominems and clearly are upset.