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Can anyone recommend some good Eldar books? In particular anything Ulthwé.

There just aren't many.

Gav Thorpe's Path of the Eldar trilogy is really good. He's the author that knows most about the actual lore of the setting.

Andy Chamber's Dark Eldar trilogy was pretty good, but not as good. Once again though, he understands the setting.

Basically everything else with an Eldar in it does not portray them properly.

 DarknessEternal wrote:
There just aren't many.

Gav Thorpe's Path of the Eldar trilogy is really good. He's the author that knows most about the actual lore of the setting.

Andy Chamber's Dark Eldar trilogy was pretty good, but not as good. Once again though, he understands the setting.

Basically everything else with an Eldar in it does not portray them properly.

Ok thanks for the heads up. I might check out the Gave Thorpe ones as I do enjoy his style of writing.

The two Phoenix Lords books are excellent. I just finished them both. Asurmen and Jain Zar

Personally, I found Path of the Dark Eldar to be much better than Path of the Eldar as a book series - a stronger plot and much stronger characters. However, it naturally includes much more in the way of Dark Eldar, Harlequins and even Exodites than Craftworld Eldar.

The Phoenix Lord books are probably a good bet for you, here. Asurmen is decent and Jain Zar is great. If you haven't read Fracture of Biel-Tan yet, make sure you do so as it's great for any Eldar fan.

Yeah Fracture is great. Lots of interesting little snippets.

 DarknessEternal wrote:
There just aren't many.

Gav Thorpe's Path of the Eldar trilogy is really good. He's the author that knows most about the actual lore of the setting.

Andy Chamber's Dark Eldar trilogy was pretty good, but not as good. Once again though, he understands the setting.

Basically everything else with an Eldar in it does not portray them properly.

I'm of the opposite opinion, thinking the Dark Eldar Path books were great but found the Eldar path books a little boring. Gav Thorpe may know the setting in general, but he made a massive mistake in the Path books which I found very annoying, by drastically underestimating the size of a craftworld. He numbered the Eldar population of Aliatoc, one of the major craftworlds in the setting, in the Millions. That would put the entire Craftworld Eldar population at lower than or around one billion. Infinitesimally small, not in the ''fading race few in number'' kind of way, but more along the lines of ''couldn't realistically impact the universe in any major way'' kinda way. It's suggesting that the population of India is more than a presumably galactic power. The plot was slow moving but not terrible, I did especially enjoy Path of the Outcast with the Rangers trip to the Crone World, but the entire invasion of Aliatoc but such a small force made the Eldar faction look really weak and wasn't especially well done.

The Dark Eldar path series, at least the first and third books, are mostly plot driven, unlike the Eldar Path books. This isn't bad, because the plot isn't bad, it's essentially a cut and dry problems or quests being undertaken one at a time. It makes up for this by switching between the various view points of different characters (some more likable than others) going about different tasks so it never really gets wrapped up in itself. The second book is where the series peaks imho, with two hilariously different stand out characters (Motely the Harlequin being a joy to read, he also has a starring role in the Novella Masque The Vyle which is unnecessary but fun) being paired up in almost a buddy-cop fashion. The series also rewards you much more than the Eldar Path books for actually knowing the fluff of the army already, with many of the tidbits from the old Codex (the 6th Ed one, not the latest one) being included in nod-like fashions and several Cameos for the Dark Eldar special characters of the era and book three gives a major supporting role to Vect himself.

If your looking for a character driven book series, The Eldar Path might well be the better option. But if you are looking for an 'Eldar' book, the Dark Eldar Path series gives a more well-rounded whistle-stop tour view of Commarragh and it's denizens than the Eldar Path does with the Craftworld.

Valedor by Guy Haley.

I have read just about every Eldar novel there is except for those abominations by Goto. Andy Chambers and Guy Haley write much more fluidly and give more earthy visceral descriptions (particularly Andy Chambers) as compared to Gav Thorpe, whose writing is at times sparse in detail and a bit stilted or laconic. Gav seems to dwell more on the mythological and lifestyle aspects of the Eldar, and his plots seem to hit all the right plot points except...somehow they just don't have that emotional feel that I get from Andy Chambers and Guy Haley in comparison. It is a matter of writing style.

Having finished Carrion Throne by Chris Wraight, I admit I am impressed as he seems to be among the best writers BL in his use of words and language. I wonder if he would ever turn his hand to Eldar or any other non-Imperial tale.


Addendum: Gav Thorpe's blog has announced the separate publishing of the Eldar short story Dark Son which revolves around the Striking Scorpion Bechareth or rather his former life as the Incubus Kolidaran.

Gav Thorpe also gives an interview:
http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/e/2/f/e2f6057f8f225669/Splintermind_Episode_34_Gavin_Thorpe_Jain_Zar_Interview.mp3?c_id=15988161&destination_id=227626&expiration=1501959652&hwt=bc324021e513900abb8bb8984d1d22ff

Unfortunately at around 128 minutes, Gav Thorpe gives details that really blow the continuity of the Jain Zar novel out of the water. Earlier he had said Jain Zar was set pre-Fall and also had a story thread post-Fall but pre-Horus Heresy. However the details he drops about Vect in both the book and this interview show it cannot be pre- Horus Heresy because he describes a Vect in control of Commorragh and the noble houses devastated. That did not occur til long after the Horus Heresy.

https://gavthorpe.co.uk/2017/06/29/june-2017-qa-part-2/

His reply to my pointing out the continuity still doesn't correct unless we assume a very unreliable criminally incompetent narrator. Even if the timeline was off by a millenium, M34 instead of M35 being the time when Vect rose to power would still make it post-Heresy.

I remain disappointed that the main Eldar author at BL can make such glaring timeline error involving Vect, a character he originally invented. Frankly I don't even know why the insistence on it being pre-Heresy since as far as I can tell, there is nothing in the plot that specifically requires it to be so.

As mentioned earlier, Path of the Eldar and the Dark Eldar trilogy are solid bets. Jain Zar and Valedor were also joys to read. Though this was only for about four or so chapters they also kick ridiculous amounts of ass in the fifth TBA book and in my opinion almost acquitting them for losing all those Avatars over the course of ten millennia.

@IracundusMade What also kind of confused me about where precisely Jain Zar fell in the 40K timeline was the fact that the Seer Council basically treats Eldrad as the FNG of the Council, yet in the Fulgrim book in HH and in TBA he was already a Farseer of significant standing.