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I don't know if I'd say it outright sucks, since I enjoyed parts of it, but I found some elements Redemption Corps to be pretty shoddy. Its portrayal of SoBs was pretty bad. They're written like man-hating dominatrixes, and their Canoness essentially says in the end that she helped to orchestrate the book's events in order to make the protagonist become more awesome. feth, even when I read it as a kid I thought "hang on, Sisters aren't really like this...". It also does this thing where it cuts between different timeframes which was a little confusing.
Apart from that, never come across a Black Library book that I hated. I must be reading them wrong.
Order of the Righteous Armour - 542 points so far.
Well, I just finished Betrayer, and it could probably go somewhere on this list IMHO. I was wholly disappointed and really wouldn't recommend it (despite it being AD-B, I know).
Ultimately, my general dissatisfaction can be attributed mainly to the portrayed ineptitude of the Ultramarines and Roboute Guilliman, and the unbelievable abilities of the World Eaters and Word Bearers. The book appeared to be a story about Kharn and Argel Tal's jaunty stroll - as they (literally) kick chainswords up into the air to catch with their hands - through the massed ranks of Ultramarines; who themselves are defeated at every turn and overcome through the World Eaters being very, very angry. With the events described in the novel, it would be hard to believe that there are [m]any Ultramarines or World Eaters left, not that there was or should be many of the latter anyway. Likewise, too many times were events described as against the odds or hugely lucky.
Really, my discontent is excellently covered in this review off amazon (although I also found the pacing troublesome, which wasn't mentioned); with this and other reviews suggesting I'm not alone in my opinion:
Spoiler:
I'm a fan of the Horus Heresy series and a big fan of Dembski-Bowden who is one of the outstanding writers in the Black Library stable. His writing here is of his usual high calibre with punchy, immersive battle scenes and some excellent characterisation but the problems with the novel are too big to ignore. Some minor spoilers below -
One of the highlights is his sympathetic portrayal of rebellious primarchs Angron and Lorgar. They are shown to be warm, thoughtful, intelligent beings, neither of whom believes they are evil but rather are victims of desecration of their honour by the emperor and the Butcher's nails (Angron) or doing what is necessary to lay bare the emperor's lies and reveal an, albeit unpalatable, truth (Lorgar). Their monstrousness is more subtly revealed by the barely mentioned but obvious fact that the background to their actions is the destruction of civilizations and the ending of billions of ordinary human lives, which they seem barely to notice in pursuit of their personal desires. The background to why Lorgar and Angron are as they are is explored and draws the chain of events leading to the heresy past Horus' vanity and Erebus' machinations back to the Emperor's own actions more potently in this book than in most of the others in the series.
Battle highlights are the titan battles and void combat. There are also great non-combat plotlines such as the continuation of Argal Tal's storyline in an unexpected but satisfying direction and the development of Kharn. There are great new characters such as Lotara Sarrin the world eaters flag-captain and other human and mechanicum characters. In the great non-astartes characters he creates the author tackles the question of how the World Eater's legion could be kept running if all Angron and his space marines want to do is charge the enemy head on at every opportunity. Its a well done reversal of the usual 'even though they were created to be warrior-servants of the teeming human multitudes the god like space marines do everything brilliantly and just allow the humans to tag along'. How Angron's insistance on his marines having the Butcher's nails is destroying the legion and how they cling to brotherhood as everything else that usually defines a space marine is stripped away is movingly explored.
Unfortunately there are also such big holes in the novel's plausibility that they can't be covered over by the quality of the description and characters.
Running at the enemy whilst shouting wins everytime: The problem is that in highlighting the problem with the Butcher's nails and the importance of the non-marine characters, Dembski-Bowden repeatedly points out that the World Eaters are like rabid animals with poor tactics, poor unit cohesion, poor communications, little battlefield command (what tactical direction there is comes from the human flag-captain), friendly fire incidents, little use of combined arms (eg their titan legion bemoans its loss rate as higher than other legions because the world eater marines just don't work in concert with them), poor battlefield discipline, a high casualty rate etc. Despite this we have to believe they slaughter their way through vast numbers of Ultramarines, the most tactically sophisticated, numerous, disciplined, brilliantly led etc legion, on their own territory. And the reason they can do this? Well, its repeatedly explained that its because they are aggressive. Snarling and waving your chainaxe around whilst charging at the enemy slightly more often than you charge your own battle brothers pretty much trumps any fancy tactical, superior firepower, or other nonsense the enemy might try and will always win the day. And even if your casualty rate is stupidly high your legion will somehow never get worn down by attrition. Its so daft that it seriously undermines the whole book.
Nobody minds being a traitor: The World Eater human and mechanicum characters in the story are all well described and easy to relate to. They are described as normal people doing their various military jobs. In fact, if you weren't told they were working with the World Eaters you'd probably assume they were loyal imperial citizens. There is absolutely nothing to indicate why any of these characters has turned against the Emperor. One of the major mechanicum characters even keeps a scroll message sent to him from the Emperor because it is precious to him and seems to still consider the Emperor as the Omnissiah he worships. Even odder than this is the reaction of a squad of World Eater dreadnoughts who are woken up having, with one exception, been asleep since not just before the heresy but before Angron was even found. The exception is the former legion master, appointed by the Emperor himself to run the legion until the primarch was found and who ended up in a dreadnought sarcophagus because his mad primarch nearly killed him just after his discovery. On being woken they are given a data upload which explains that their new Primarch - whom some had never met -is part of a rebellion to overthrow the Emperor - whom they were all loyally serving when they went to sleep - and they now need to go kill some loyalist space marines. They all just go off and do it without any indication of being troubled. 'Hey wake up. Listen, I know you loved and served the Emperor and were willing to give your lives for his vision of a galaxy wide imperium where humans would be safe and prosperous when you were last awake but we want to destroy the imperium you nearly died to forge, slaughter billions of the innocent then kill him and anyone who serves him, is that OK?' 'Uh, yeah, sure, count me in.'
Legion fighting legion? That's unthinkable before the heresy..oh, no, wait, no it isn't: One of the tropes that has kept recurring throughout the Horus Heresy series, especially in the early books, is how unthinkable marine fighting marine was before the heresy. Most major characters have agonized over it at some point, the news of it happening has been greeted with shock and disbelief, an ultramine character in Know no Fear was punished for having even contemplated the possibility of it. In Betrayer, the author casually drops in that the Space Wolves and the World Eaters had a full on pitched battle well before the heresy, used by Leman Russ to try to teach Angron a lesson. Which rather makes a mockery of the 'battle brother against battle brother has turned our whole perception of reality upside down its so impossible to even comprehend' lament that characters in the earlier books keep spouting.
Finally there is a personal annoyance - In the 40k universe humanity has spread across the galaxy to every imaginable ecosphere over tens of millenia but, with the exception of the Salamanders chapter who are all black, everyone seems to be white (or sometimes 'dusky' (ie meditteranean)). Not only in the novels but the artwork on model box covers, books, posters or the painted models in White Dwarf every month. Dembski-Bowden tackles this by pointing out in his novel that, unlike other chapters, the World Eaters are drawn from a vast mixture of ethnic types. He points this out immediately before having the only obviously black character, Delvarus, (who comes from a jungle, of course), being taught a much needed lesson in honour and brotherhood by a number of his more noble comrades who, where their ethnicity is described, are white. As one scene in one novel it doesn't really matter but, rather depressingly, it just seems part of the same unspoken and pervasive leaning in GW products. I have to admit, I (JD) didn't notice this bit.
So, the great writing we have come to expect from one of Black library's best writers, marred most particularly by the impossible need to make the utterly tactically inept World Eaters conquer everything in their path and for important characters to be traitors without any obvious reason. Buy it second hand on ebay, don't spend a tenner on it new.
Between this and the disappointing Angel Exterminatus, as well as the motivation-draining changes to Black Library policy, I think I may be finished with the Horus Heresy series once I've completed my own project which relies on its information.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/05/21 12:30:00
"It is the great irony of the Legiones Astartes: engineered to kill to achieve a victory of peace that they can then be no part of." - Roboute Guilliman
"As I recall, your face was tortured. Imagine that - the Master of the Wolves, his ferocity twisted into grief. And yet you still carried out your duty. You always did what was asked of you. So loyal. So tenacious. Truly you were the attack dog of the Emperor. You took no pleasure in what you did. I knew that then, and I know it now. But all things change, my brother. I'm not the same as I was, and you're... well, let us not mention where you are now." - Magnus the Red, to a statue of Leman Russ
motivation-draining changes to Black Library policy
What changes are those?
Edit: I just googled ablutions and apparently it does not including dropping a duece. I should have looked it up early sorry for any confusion. - Baldsmug
Psiensis on the "good old days":
"Kids these days...
... I invented the 6th Ed meta back in 3rd ed.
Wait, what were we talking about again? Did I ever tell you about the time I gave you five bees for a quarter? That's what you'd say in those days, "give me five bees for a quarter", is what you'd say in those days. And you'd go down to the D&D shop, with an onion in your belt, 'cause that was the style of the time. So there I was in the D&D shop..."
motivation-draining changes to Black Library policy
What changes are those?
For me, it's the hardback-to-paperback change, the changes to the "coming soon" section so that it will only cover products a week in advance, and the increasing number of limited edition or availability/format items and novellas.
"It is the great irony of the Legiones Astartes: engineered to kill to achieve a victory of peace that they can then be no part of." - Roboute Guilliman
"As I recall, your face was tortured. Imagine that - the Master of the Wolves, his ferocity twisted into grief. And yet you still carried out your duty. You always did what was asked of you. So loyal. So tenacious. Truly you were the attack dog of the Emperor. You took no pleasure in what you did. I knew that then, and I know it now. But all things change, my brother. I'm not the same as I was, and you're... well, let us not mention where you are now." - Magnus the Red, to a statue of Leman Russ
AE was good, but at times it was drab for me. Still nice to see the IW feeling more human instead of robots.
Wherever and whenever they appear they leave only destruction in their wake; they are the Lords of Death, Bringers of War. The Dark Angels.
Oh, you think the darkness is your ally, but you merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but blinding!- Helen Keller
Just Dave wrote: Between this and the disappointing Angel Exterminatus
What was your problem with Angel Exterminatus?
Foremost the heavy handed, and overly numerous, Storm of Iron references.
I feel they robbed the book of tension, as you knew what their fate of certain individuals would be.
Spoiler:
So when Forrix was getting bombarded by his own men, there was no sense of peril: you knew he'd somehow survive (and coincidentally be the only one to do so).
Similiarly, how many major or captain level characters actually died in this book? One (Marius)?
And then the passing reference that Forrix believed that Falk would return to Hydra Cordatus seemed unnecessary and grated too.
I felt the novel dragged in places too, with some scenes feeling overly long.
Spoiler:
Such as the boarding of the Iron Hands' ship (which escaped in a particularly wacky-races-esque fashion), or the walking around on the Angel Exterminatus planet
I didn't mind it not being integral to the storyline, and I liked the insight it gave regarding the Iron Hands (and the characterisation of Falk), but the book left me disappointed: mainly for the above reasons. I would have preferred greater emphasis on how the Iron Hands are managing without their Primarch too.
"It is the great irony of the Legiones Astartes: engineered to kill to achieve a victory of peace that they can then be no part of." - Roboute Guilliman
"As I recall, your face was tortured. Imagine that - the Master of the Wolves, his ferocity twisted into grief. And yet you still carried out your duty. You always did what was asked of you. So loyal. So tenacious. Truly you were the attack dog of the Emperor. You took no pleasure in what you did. I knew that then, and I know it now. But all things change, my brother. I'm not the same as I was, and you're... well, let us not mention where you are now." - Magnus the Red, to a statue of Leman Russ
Just Dave wrote: Well, I just finished Betrayer, and it could probably go somewhere on this list IMHO. I was wholly disappointed and really wouldn't recommend it (despite it being AD-B, I know).
Ultimately, my general dissatisfaction can be attributed mainly to the portrayed ineptitude of the Ultramarines and Roboute Guilliman, and the unbelievable abilities of the World Eaters and Word Bearers. The book appeared to be a story about Kharn and Argel Tal's jaunty stroll - as they (literally) kick chainswords up into the air to catch with their hands - through the massed ranks of Ultramarines; who themselves are defeated at every turn and overcome through the World Eaters being very, very angry. With the events described in the novel, it would be hard to believe that there are [m]any Ultramarines or World Eaters left, not that there was or should be many of the latter anyway. Likewise, too many times were events described as against the odds or hugely lucky.
Really, my discontent is excellently covered in this review off amazon (although I also found the pacing troublesome, which wasn't mentioned); with this and other reviews suggesting I'm not alone in my opinion:
Spoiler:
I'm a fan of the Horus Heresy series and a big fan of Dembski-Bowden who is one of the outstanding writers in the Black Library stable. His writing here is of his usual high calibre with punchy, immersive battle scenes and some excellent characterisation but the problems with the novel are too big to ignore. Some minor spoilers below -
One of the highlights is his sympathetic portrayal of rebellious primarchs Angron and Lorgar. They are shown to be warm, thoughtful, intelligent beings, neither of whom believes they are evil but rather are victims of desecration of their honour by the emperor and the Butcher's nails (Angron) or doing what is necessary to lay bare the emperor's lies and reveal an, albeit unpalatable, truth (Lorgar). Their monstrousness is more subtly revealed by the barely mentioned but obvious fact that the background to their actions is the destruction of civilizations and the ending of billions of ordinary human lives, which they seem barely to notice in pursuit of their personal desires. The background to why Lorgar and Angron are as they are is explored and draws the chain of events leading to the heresy past Horus' vanity and Erebus' machinations back to the Emperor's own actions more potently in this book than in most of the others in the series.
Battle highlights are the titan battles and void combat. There are also great non-combat plotlines such as the continuation of Argal Tal's storyline in an unexpected but satisfying direction and the development of Kharn. There are great new characters such as Lotara Sarrin the world eaters flag-captain and other human and mechanicum characters. In the great non-astartes characters he creates the author tackles the question of how the World Eater's legion could be kept running if all Angron and his space marines want to do is charge the enemy head on at every opportunity. Its a well done reversal of the usual 'even though they were created to be warrior-servants of the teeming human multitudes the god like space marines do everything brilliantly and just allow the humans to tag along'. How Angron's insistance on his marines having the Butcher's nails is destroying the legion and how they cling to brotherhood as everything else that usually defines a space marine is stripped away is movingly explored.
Unfortunately there are also such big holes in the novel's plausibility that they can't be covered over by the quality of the description and characters.
Running at the enemy whilst shouting wins everytime:
The problem is that in highlighting the problem with the Butcher's nails and the importance of the non-marine characters, Dembski-Bowden repeatedly points out that the World Eaters are like rabid animals with poor tactics, poor unit cohesion, poor communications, little battlefield command (what tactical direction there is comes from the human flag-captain), friendly fire incidents, little use of combined arms (eg their titan legion bemoans its loss rate as higher than other legions because the world eater marines just don't work in concert with them), poor battlefield discipline, a high casualty rate etc. Despite this we have to believe they slaughter their way through vast numbers of Ultramarines, the most tactically sophisticated, numerous, disciplined, brilliantly led etc legion, on their own territory. And the reason they can do this? Well, its repeatedly explained that its because they are aggressive. Snarling and waving your chainaxe around whilst charging at the enemy slightly more often than you charge your own battle brothers pretty much trumps any fancy tactical, superior firepower, or other nonsense the enemy might try and will always win the day. And even if your casualty rate is stupidly high your legion will somehow never get worn down by attrition. Its so daft that it seriously undermines the whole book.
Nobody minds being a traitor:
The World Eater human and mechanicum characters in the story are all well described and easy to relate to. They are described as normal people doing their various military jobs. In fact, if you weren't told they were working with the World Eaters you'd probably assume they were loyal imperial citizens. There is absolutely nothing to indicate why any of these characters has turned against the Emperor. One of the major mechanicum characters even keeps a scroll message sent to him from the Emperor because it is precious to him and seems to still consider the Emperor as the Omnissiah he worships.
Even odder than this is the reaction of a squad of World Eater dreadnoughts who are woken up having, with one exception, been asleep since not just before the heresy but before Angron was even found. The exception is the former legion master, appointed by the Emperor himself to run the legion until the primarch was found and who ended up in a dreadnought sarcophagus because his mad primarch nearly killed him just after his discovery. On being woken they are given a data upload which explains that their new Primarch - whom some had never met -is part of a rebellion to overthrow the Emperor - whom they were all loyally serving when they went to sleep - and they now need to go kill some loyalist space marines. They all just go off and do it without any indication of being troubled. 'Hey wake up. Listen, I know you loved and served the Emperor and were willing to give your lives for his vision of a galaxy wide imperium where humans would be safe and prosperous when you were last awake but we want to destroy the imperium you nearly died to forge, slaughter billions of the innocent then kill him and anyone who serves him, is that OK?' 'Uh, yeah, sure, count me in.'
Legion fighting legion? That's unthinkable before the heresy..oh, no, wait, no it isn't:
One of the tropes that has kept recurring throughout the Horus Heresy series, especially in the early books, is how unthinkable marine fighting marine was before the heresy. Most major characters have agonized over it at some point, the news of it happening has been greeted with shock and disbelief, an ultramine character in Know no Fear was punished for having even contemplated the possibility of it. In Betrayer, the author casually drops in that the Space Wolves and the World Eaters had a full on pitched battle well before the heresy, used by Leman Russ to try to teach Angron a lesson. Which rather makes a mockery of the 'battle brother against battle brother has turned our whole perception of reality upside down its so impossible to even comprehend' lament that characters in the earlier books keep spouting.
Finally there is a personal annoyance - In the 40k universe humanity has spread across the galaxy to every imaginable ecosphere over tens of millenia but, with the exception of the Salamanders chapter who are all black, everyone seems to be white (or sometimes 'dusky' (ie meditteranean)). Not only in the novels but the artwork on model box covers, books, posters or the painted models in White Dwarf every month. Dembski-Bowden tackles this by pointing out in his novel that, unlike other chapters, the World Eaters are drawn from a vast mixture of ethnic types. He points this out immediately before having the only obviously black character, Delvarus, (who comes from a jungle, of course), being taught a much needed lesson in honour and brotherhood by a number of his more noble comrades who, where their ethnicity is described, are white. As one scene in one novel it doesn't really matter but, rather depressingly, it just seems part of the same unspoken and pervasive leaning in GW products.
I have to admit, I (JD) didn't notice this bit.
So, the great writing we have come to expect from one of Black library's best writers, marred most particularly by the impossible need to make the utterly tactically inept World Eaters conquer everything in their path and for important characters to be traitors without any obvious reason. Buy it second hand on ebay, don't spend a tenner on it new.
Between this and the disappointing Angel Exterminatus, as well as the motivation-draining changes to Black Library policy, I think I may be finished with the Horus Heresy series once I've completed my own project which relies on its information.
Lemuel Gamon was black one of the remembrancers in the first three Horuse heresy books was black.
In regards to the WE/WB victories in Betrayer dont forget that the WE/WB armies had their Primarchs with them Primarchs are a huge equalizer.
The night of the Wolf was not common knowledge outside the Worldeaters and Space Wolves.
There where allusions in prospero burns that Space maine vs Space marine battle had occured before
godking wrote: Lemuel Gamon was black one of the remembrancers in the first three Horuse heresy books was black.
The black thing was neither something I noticed, nor my comment.
In regards to the WE/WB victories in Betrayer dont forget that the WE/WB armies had their Primarchs with them Primarchs are a huge equalizer.
Sometimes, yeah. But they didn't have their Primarchs...
Spoiler:
... During, say, when Kharn and the World Eaters charged at the Ultramarines and somehow overcame the shield wall. Or Kharn and Argel Tal seemingly slaughtering the Ultramarines at Nuceria; nor in the moments when it was described how they were often defying the odds/with huge luck. Nor the 42 ships of the Ultramarines fleet losing.
The night of the Wolf was not common knowledge outside the Worldeaters and Space Wolves.
There where allusions in prospero burns that Space maine vs Space marine battle had occured before
I'm aware, but it still takes away both the mystery of Russ' comment, and the incomprehension of the Heresy itself. That wasn't my comment, nor one of my major qualms, but I think it's a fair point.
"It is the great irony of the Legiones Astartes: engineered to kill to achieve a victory of peace that they can then be no part of." - Roboute Guilliman
"As I recall, your face was tortured. Imagine that - the Master of the Wolves, his ferocity twisted into grief. And yet you still carried out your duty. You always did what was asked of you. So loyal. So tenacious. Truly you were the attack dog of the Emperor. You took no pleasure in what you did. I knew that then, and I know it now. But all things change, my brother. I'm not the same as I was, and you're... well, let us not mention where you are now." - Magnus the Red, to a statue of Leman Russ
godking wrote: Lemuel Gamon was black one of the remembrancers in the first three Horuse heresy books was black.
The black thing was neither something I noticed, nor my comment.
In regards to the WE/WB victories in Betrayer dont forget that the WE/WB armies had their Primarchs with them Primarchs are a huge equalizer.
Sometimes, yeah. But they didn't have their Primarchs...
Spoiler:
... During, say, when Kharn and the World Eaters charged at the Ultramarines and somehow overcame the shield wall. Or Kharn and Argel Tal seemingly slaughtering the Ultramarines at Nuceria; nor in the moments when it was described how they were often defying the odds/with huge luck. Nor the 42 ships of the Ultramarines fleet losing.
The night of the Wolf was not common knowledge outside the Worldeaters and Space Wolves.
There where allusions in prospero burns that Space maine vs Space marine battle had occured before
I'm aware, but it still takes away both the mystery of Russ' comment, and the incomprehension of the Heresy itself. That wasn't my comment, nor one of my major qualms, but I think it's a fair point.
The shieldwall bit i agree with it should never have been written that way Rage and courage cannot break a shieldwall in a direct assault unless you hugely outnumber the warriors in a shield wall.
Kharn and Argel are elite Astartes champions I have no issue with them slaughtering dozens and having a fair amount of ''heroes'' luck .
Other then Sevatar Amit or Sisigmund there are are very few warriors who can beat Kharn or Argel Tal in a one one fight.
With two Phalanx size ships and the brilliance of Lotara ican see the Ultramarines losing that many ships what should also be considered is that the UM fleet was cobbled together after the battle of Calth.
The shieldwall bit i agree with it should never have been written that way Rage and courage cannot break a shieldwall in a direct assault unless you hugely outnumber the warriors in a shield wall.
Kharn and Argel are elite Astartes champions I have no issue with them slaughtering dozens and having a fair amount of ''heroes'' luck .
Other then Sevatar Amit or Sisigmund there are are very few warriors who can beat Kharn or Argel Tal in a one one fight.
With two Phalanx size ships and the brilliance of Lotara ican see the Ultramarines losing that many ships what should also be considered is that the UM fleet was cobbled together after the battle of Calth.
Please use spoilers (I know I've had quite a few plot points previously spoiled due to the staggered release policy).
Spoiler:
I agree that they should be capable of slaughtering dozens, but with the way it was described - and them saving each others lives god knows how many times - it seemed to be even more than that. And yes, they are clearly capable of beating most in one-on-one fights, but these weren't one-on-one fights: they were pitched battles against arguably the most strategically astute Legion there is.
Fairly sure the kingships were smaller than the Phalanx - albeit not by masses IIRC - and even so there was only one kingship present; against an enemy that outnumbered them by 14 times (with Guilliman's fleet's strategies seemingly questionable also). The tattered nature of the Ultramarine fleet is a good point, but even Lotara's calculation's predicted the World/Bearers losing (or at least losing more than a ship).
"It is the great irony of the Legiones Astartes: engineered to kill to achieve a victory of peace that they can then be no part of." - Roboute Guilliman
"As I recall, your face was tortured. Imagine that - the Master of the Wolves, his ferocity twisted into grief. And yet you still carried out your duty. You always did what was asked of you. So loyal. So tenacious. Truly you were the attack dog of the Emperor. You took no pleasure in what you did. I knew that then, and I know it now. But all things change, my brother. I'm not the same as I was, and you're... well, let us not mention where you are now." - Magnus the Red, to a statue of Leman Russ
DA's Forever wrote: Surprised how many people are throwing out Legion. Legion was great IMHO, loved that book. Only one I would throw on the chopping block for sure would be Battle for the Abyss. Absolute waste of paper
People hate the ending. And by ending I mean that twist ending of "the loyal marines decide to listen to xenos when the Imperium warns that Xenos lie and and attempt to missguide Humans and join the traitors because by destroying Humanity they are fulling the dream of the Emperor of Mankind but they do this because they are really loyal."
The book itself could be good but that entire end is enough to completely ruin the book.
The only good thing about the book is the character of John Grammaticus, who sadly
Spoiler:
stepped out of an airlock
The actual Legionnaires came across as trying way too hard to be all enigmatic and mysterious.
The shoe-horning of Alpha Legion into everything is also quite annoying, like gaking all over Corax's story for example. But that's Gav Thorpe, who writes alternate universe emo crap, so I pretty much ignore his contributions.
The Emperor is actually Alpharius! Trollolololol!
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/05/23 03:37:27
I like gav thorpe, while he isnt amazing it is a fun read.
Wherever and whenever they appear they leave only destruction in their wake; they are the Lords of Death, Bringers of War. The Dark Angels.
Oh, you think the darkness is your ally, but you merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but blinding!- Helen Keller
"It is the great irony of the Legiones Astartes: engineered to kill to achieve a victory of peace that they can then be no part of." - Roboute Guilliman
"As I recall, your face was tortured. Imagine that - the Master of the Wolves, his ferocity twisted into grief. And yet you still carried out your duty. You always did what was asked of you. So loyal. So tenacious. Truly you were the attack dog of the Emperor. You took no pleasure in what you did. I knew that then, and I know it now. But all things change, my brother. I'm not the same as I was, and you're... well, let us not mention where you are now." - Magnus the Red, to a statue of Leman Russ
I enjoyed Legion except for the ending, likewise for Titanicus.
The problem with knowing how the Heresy ends and the fate of the primarchs can be overcome with good writing and making the journey to the known ending fun and interesting.
The books that fail, fail for other reasons than we know from the beginning that the Emperor kills Horus and eventually Leman Russ wanders off for a six pack and doesnt come back to the fang.
The whole Grammaticus plot with the Cabal is one of the things that is degrading the series, that was just a very bad direction to go.
All around, I loved Legion with my favorite characters easily being Soneka and Bronzi. Admittingly, I felt like the ending was rushed and came too soon, but I figured that the Acuity was something beyond human comprehension and just had to be the undeniable truth no matter where one's allegiance lay prior to witnessing the Acuity.
As for my least favorite... Hammer of Daemons. First time I read it, I liked it. Then again, I was heavily medicated and probably would've liked Justin Bieber if someone put it on. Second time I touched it, I just wanted to use it for kindling.
Gods? There are no gods. Merely existences, obstacles to overcome.
"And what if I told you the Wolves tried to bring a Legion to heel once before? What if that Legion sent Russ and his dogs running, too ashamed to write down their defeat in Imperial archives?" - ADB
Still cant be like renegade, actually i imagine it is. My issue with renegade is the lack of punctuation now i know i am spotty with that, but i am not an author that writes books for money.
1. Trying to make things too evil, ever heard of forgotten realms and the drow, he just copy-pasted a bit from that then threw in stuff to make them sound evil.
2. The author did not know when to add commas, or periods. I mentally had to add them in and it detracted from the immersion that the book could've had.
Still it was a fun read, and it helped me figure out i want a Victorian styling on the kabalite true born.
Wherever and whenever they appear they leave only destruction in their wake; they are the Lords of Death, Bringers of War. The Dark Angels.
Oh, you think the darkness is your ally, but you merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but blinding!- Helen Keller
Finally a book about White Scars my favorite Chapter!
Nope, its a book about Tau, Rogue Traders, and wait --- recycled plot twist a crazed Inquisitor! ZOMG SO ORIGINAL!
I forgot about that one.
Also - the hunt for voldorius.
I did think I didn't like the White Scars - but then I enjoyed the Brotherhood of the Storm. So I think it might just be those two books I didn't like.
Its because ordinance is still a word.
However, firing ordinance at someone isn't nearly as threatening as firing ordnance at someone.
Ordinance is a local law, or bill, or other form of legislation.
Ordnance is high caliber explosives.
No 'I' in ordnance.
Don't drown the enemy in legislation, drown them in explosives.
thelordcal wrote: The problem with Hunt for Voldorius was a book explaining what basically took three paragraphs in the Space Marine codex to do wasn't a great idea.
This, and the free can of mustache wax you got with every purchase - so you could, you know, twirl your mustache every time you read the bad guys dialogue.
Veteran Sergeant wrote:Oh wait. His fluff, at this point, has him coming to blows with Lionel, Angryon, Magnus, and The Emprah. One can only assume he went into the Eye of Terror because he still hadn't had a chance to punch enough Primarchs yet.
Albatross wrote:I guess we'll never know. That is, until Frazzled releases his long-awaited solo album 'Touch My Weiner'. Then we'll know.
warboss wrote:I marvel at their ability to shoot the entire foot off with a shotgun instead of pistol shooting individual toes off like most businesses would.
Mr Nobody wrote:Going to war naked always seems like a good idea until someone trips on gravel.
Ghidorah wrote: You need to quit hating and trying to control other haters hating on other people's hobbies that they are trying to control.
ShumaGorath wrote:Posting in a thread where fat nerds who play with toys make fun of fat nerds who wear costumes outdoors.
Marshal2Crusaders wrote:Good thing it wasn't attacked by the EC, or it would be the assault on Magnir's Crack.
Order of the Righteous Armour - 542 points so far. 
One can only assume he went into the Eye of Terror because he still hadn't had a chance to punch enough Primarchs yet.