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2018/03/10 15:44:34
Subject: Eisenhorn - The Magos book discussion thread (Spoilers)
I will be very upfront, most of this review is going to be negative, but before I dive into this I would like to get a few things out of the way...
If you've been a fan of the Eisenhorn books, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy down at your local book store.
It's a good read, and I promise you'll have a hard time putting the book down once you've started
Abnett does an amazing job tying all the short stories together into a nice satisfying little bow, and Drusher and Macks were fresh additions to the Eisenhorn characters arch.
Overall, the Magos is a good book to gather all the short stories into one big tome along with a new novel that shows us Abnett is going to be finalizing the series very soon!
But why am I giving this a negative review if I'm giving it all these compliments?
Here we get into the spoilers!
Spoiler:
Ever since the first book Xenos, the Eisenhorn trilogy has always been told in the first person narrative. This allows the readers to really sympathize with an Inquisitor
who is beginning to fall from grace. Back during the summer of 2016, Abnett released a short story called The Keeler Image, which again was in the first person narrative and went to show that
Abnett hasn't lost his touch. However, in my opinion I believe Abnett leaving the first person narrative for the Magos was a very big mistake. I understand Abnett needed to incorporate Drusher and
Macks into the scene and their perspectives, however it made the scenes with Eisenhorn less impactful as in previous books. For some reason while reading the Magos, I got this really bad vibe
judging by Eisenhorn's dialogue that I didn't know who he really was anymore. I really was hoping Abnett would have stuck with the first person narrative for his last Eisenhorn book, as the next books in the series
will focus on the perspective of Beta Bequin.
The next thing I wan't to discuss is Enuncia: (the language of the unwords), and the Cognitae.
A lot of the cognitae agents in this story to be quite honest really lacked that element of fear like in the Ravenor trilogy, they just seemed like unskilled organized criminals who know how to shoot a couple rounds with 'okay' precision.
The only real cognitae agent I grew to appreciate was Jaff and her manipulative social skills to blind Eisenhorn that they've managed to breach his inner circle.
On behalf of Enuncia, this really broke the 40k setting for me. I had this same issue with the Ravenor books as well, whenever it got to these parts I just wasn't convinced that this unwords language was even part of the 40k lore at all.
How could such a powerful language go unnoticed by individuals such as Ahriman, Magnus, Horus, etc? Why haven't the chaos gods blessed their followers with such words to break the fabric of real space apart?
This pretty much concludes spoilers.
So with all these complaints as mentioned above, the question still remains: Will I be picking up the next book in the series?
Absolutely!
Even though I did not enjoy the Magos as much as I hoped to, it's still an amazing story even outside the 40k setting.
So tell me, what did you guys think of the Magos?
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/03/10 16:42:27
"What does not kill me is not trying hard enough." _Roboute Guilliman
"Fate is for fools. It is what the weak blame for their failures." _Fabius Bile
2018/03/11 05:11:32
Subject: Eisenhorn - The Magos book discussion thread (Spoilers)
I finished it yesterday, decided to reread all the shorts and previous books in the suggested reading order.
i was very impressed with how well the series stood the test of time and tied together.
Yes early on purists might ( and did at the time of release) complain a bit about some of the tech levels -- the 40k universe doesn't generally use anti grav technology in quite such an everyday fashion -- but I think these are minor nitpicks really.
Personally I found the Cognitae agents to be a bit more plausible this time -- YMMV of course -- I felt that Molotch was a wee bit too OTT in the Ravenor series, especially in, for example, the scene in the cafe.
Was very happy with Drusher and Macks, the former especially getting some great lines in.
And I did love the way that he was able to realise some of the plot points about the location of... places... and so forth.
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
2018/03/30 10:09:59
Subject: Eisenhorn - The Magos book discussion thread (Spoilers)
I did not mind the departure from first person at all (tho it has been a really long time since I read the original trilogy). Really enjoyed it, especially the Titus Endor story.
(It reminded me a lot of a story in Nam Le's collection 'The Boat': "Meeting Elise")
Agree with reds8n on Drusher and Macks, they were great. I listened to the audiobook version and I've gotta say the narrator really knocked both of these guys out of the park (honestly he did a splendid job on everyone).
I'm not sure what to think in terms of stakes. It's been a while but I remember the stakes being somewhat higher in previous entries, but I can't say I really mind. It all felt very connected and intimate, I liked it.
Warning, there will be spoilers. 
