The Beast Arises: start reading now18/11/15
There are just nine days until The Beast Arises… That’s right, in nine days, Black Library’s new event series will launch with ‘I Am Slaughter’ by Dan Abnett. You can subscribe to the entire series now (with a fantastic pre-order discount), and as an added bonus, subscribers will be amongst the first to read (or listen to) the first four chapters of ‘I Am Slaughter’. To access the extract, pre-order either the eBook, audio or combined The Beast Arises subscriptions, and the extract will be added to your Black Library account, ready to download.

 RedFox wrote:
I want the First Heretic in HC !

what's going on with the hardcover releases?

There are just three days to go until The Beast Arises event series begins. Today, we can reveal the artwork from two future covers in the series.

A grim looking Space Marine of the Deathwatch hoists a heavy bolter and a Sister of Silence charges into battle. Could we be seeing the origins of the Deathwatch and the reason the Sisters of Silence are no longer around in Warhammer 40,000?

There's only one way to find out. Subscribe to The Beast Arises to guarantee that you're amongst the first to read (or listen to) every book in the series – and if you pre-order before Saturday, you'll get all 12 for the price of 9!

 BrookM wrote:
Actually interesting that at that time in Imperial history the Deathwatch already exists and that the Sisters of Silence are still around.

 Haighus wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
Actually interesting that at that time in Imperial history the Deathwatch already exists and that the Sisters of Silence are still around.

I agree. Damn, they've actually caught my interest a bit! I may read some of these books (after my huuuge backlog of HH novels).

Joyboozer wrote:
Grim looking space marine? Not how I'd describe him. Least space marine looking head I think I've ever seen.

beast_gts wrote:

 Haighus wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
Actually interesting that at that time in Imperial history the Deathwatch already exists and that the Sisters of Silence are still around.

I agree. Damn, they've actually caught my interest a bit! I may read some of these books (after my huuuge backlog of HH novels).

Yes, this caused some fluff arguments at our club. The Sisters aren't meant to have survived the Heresy, and the Deathwatch is apparently very recent to 40k - although no-one could cite sources (the Deathwatch RPG says they were formed centuries ago).

 reds8n wrote:
http://www.blacklibrary.com/black-friday



.. with the exception of one or two of the WFB/AOS stuff I think I already own everything on sale.


.. ah well, payday isn't until Monday anyway.

 nels1031 wrote:
I read "I am Slaughter" by Dan Abnett last night/early morning.

I'll go over some stuff that I liked, and do a spoilerific summary for those that have no intention of reading the series. It should go without saying that the summary is not exhaustive and I probably missed alot of cool, key parts, but its there for folks to get a loose grasp.

Spoiler:

What I liked:

1. Imperial Fists calling their companies "walls". Its either a salute to their defence of Terra during the Heresy or just goes to show how much defence is so intertwined with their dogma/organization.
2. The Fists have battle names that they use rather than their real names. Was strange at times, but it beats the quasi- greek/roman naming conventions we're used to. Thats partially where the title comes from, a Fists captain named Slaughter. But then a new character appears towards the end and shows the true meaning of the word.
3. The sense of triumphalism that permeates the Imperium at this time reminded me of the early Heresy books, prior to any treachery. Its a glimpse of what could have been. Was funny to read some say that Astartes are no longer necessary and are needless expenditures.
4. The Imperial court intrigue was suprisingly not boring or tedious. You can start to see how corruption/bureaucracy starts to get overwhelming.
5. Gulliman makes an appearance! But only as an honorific for the human Lord Commander of the Imperium.
6. Officio Assassinorum head honcho is the perspective character of all the Imperial Court and he's as devious as you'd expect but he seems to be all about keeping the Imperium running, despite corruption and such.
7. When the Orks finally appear...
8. Heresy damage on Imperial Fist armour is never repaired, which seemed impractical, but was a great image, as the wounds of that war will never heal.
9. The size of the Ork warboss. From the description, he makes Gazghkul Thraka look weedy.

Brief summary:

The Imperial Fists are on the verge of eradicating a prolific, migratory xenoform, codenamed "Chromes" because of their armor, on a planet named Aramantua. Don't recall the Xenos official name, if its even given. The xenos are putting up a fierce resistance but are being ground down nonetheless, as the might of nearly all of the Imperial Fists, sans the Terran garrison, are there fighting or about to deploy. A Magos Biologis character in the novel comments that the xenos aren't aggressive by nature, but something changed and they are invading Imperial space, getting as close to 6 weeks from Terra. We as the reader can guess, but its a mystery to the Imperium, save the Inquisition who seem to know something is awry, but for reasons of their own, are annoyingly tight lipped.

Just as the final Chromes nest is about to be besieged, and the Fists waiting in orbit are about to decend to support the first wave, gravity bubbles/spikes start to wreak havoc on the ships, pulverizing them outright or causing catastrophic damage. Planetside, things aren't much better. The gravity shenanigans happens at greater frequency, and seems to destroy nearly everything.

Switch back to Terra, and they get word that something calamitous happened at the planet that the Fists were invading. The threat still isn't fully understood, and after some political maneuvering, a small expeditionary fleet, along with the IF garrison, is sent to investigate. They arrive at the planet and see that the fleet is gone, apparently destroyed, and the planet is in its death throes, or at least decimated beyond recognition. The IF garrison launches a landing but it in turn is also jacked up by the gravity surges and only a few survive. On the surface they eventually link up with other survivors, including some battles with Chromes. The Magos Biologis character, driven partially insane after six weeks in the hazardous conditions decodes a message that had been sent to the planet in an alien tongue repeatedly since the gravity surges started. "I Am Slaughter" or other colorful variations of it is the translation. Then after a final massive gravity swell , a moon sized object appears in the sky.

Its Orkish in origin, which takes everyone by suprise. The Orks were supposed to have been decimated and driven off into the frontier ever since Ullanor broke their collective back. The Ork moonbase is hollow and has a warpgate/tellyporta at its center, giving it unlimited resources/reinforcements, in addition to its own overwhelming firepower and shielding. The moon literally belches a fleet that sends landers to the surface and attacks the expeditionary fleet in space. The magos biologis, who is familiar with Orks, sees them and comments that they are using tactics never before seen and are equipped with weapons and armor of quality never seen before, even at their height at Ullanor. The planet is overwhelmed, the fleet is gunned down, the Fists apparently wiped out and the Ork Moon begins to feed on it by using tractor beams to pull it apart or strip it. Sorta like the main bad guy from Transformers the movie, the cartoon one from the glorious 80's.

A warning is sent back to Terra about the magnitude of the threat. The Inquisition and Assassinorum, each in their own, and possibly opposing way, begin to do their thing so that any weak links, or detriments to the coming war are removed.

I enjoyed the book and its a great start to what I hope continues to be a great limited series.