Review: Dark Angels: Accept No Failure

Accept No Failure by Gav Thorpe.

I purchased this audio-book back in the fall of 2015 (a year ago next week!) when I visited the Warhammer Store in Turkey Creek, otherwise known as the Knoxville Games Workshop. At the time I had not yet completed my reading of the Legacy of Caliban Trilogy, so I set this aside for later. I recently pulled it out and gave it a listen.

There are two stories contained in this collection:

Accept No Failure and Holder of the Keys.

Accept No Failure is the main feature of course, and much of it is adapted straight from the novel Master of Sanctity. It is a reflection of Deathwing Captain Belial as he looks back on the time he ran into Ghazghkull Thrakka the uber Ork Warlord, who in this script might as well be the Incredible Hulk on meds while encumbered by lots of armored junk. Here is a snippet from the script:


FX – SWORD BEING SHEATHED, CLIP BEING RELEASED FROM PISTOL, RELOAD & FIRING AGAIN. FIVE SHOTS – FOUR AGAINST METAL, THE FIFTH DETONATING IN FLESH 

Sheathing my sword, I reloaded and fired again as the Beast started towards me once more, every shot aimed for the exposed face and skull. Two rounds glanced from the jagged gorget that protected the Beast’s lower jaw. Another pair clanged from the bionic half of Ghazghkull’s head, leaving blackened welts on the metal but not penetrating. My fifth shot hit flesh, deflected from the bony cheek beneath and exploded beside the ork’s ear rather than beneath skin and muscle. 

FX – DEEP, BOOMING LAUGHTER & INCOMPREHENSIBLE ORK SPEECH – GUTTURAL, LOTS OF CONSONANTS 

The chunk of script (above) is from the 2nd disk which includes the scripts for both stories and desktop wallpaper (I recall when the Black Library would include these things as free download...). Personally I got a kick out of Gav's sound FX descriptions. The FX on the audio was quite good actually although I tend to recall this story had a lot of 'crunchy' sounds due to the fight occurring in an old warehouse district. I was hoping to hear ork-speak in that classic deep cockney that the Orks have had attributed to them since the late '80s, and yet I'm thankful that we didn't get the voices from the Space Marine video game ("Die Spayace Mahreene!")

This fight was quite enjoyable to listen to, however it's broken up by events in "modern times" as Belial how seems to regret how that fight ended (obvious spoiler- he didn't kill Ghazghkull). He tattoos himself with admonishments and testimonies as a form of punishment. The FX team has the buzzing of a tattoo gun (although it reminded me more of a dental drill) while his thoughts are narrated. These scenes, and the scenes from Master of Sanctity where he meets his new Deathwing inductees for the first time, felt unnecessary and painfully slow. It could be that I've read it before, and chances are anyone picking this up has read it before as well, but the biggest problem is that it's set in 2nd person while the action scenes are all in 1st person, and far, far more exciting.


Holder of Keys was awesome but lamentably short. To sum it up, a member of the Fallen is being psychically tortured and he recounts how the loyalist Dark Angels attacked Caliban with unbridled furry and that he and his comrades who stood with Luther had to defend themselves. This Fallen was on one of the orbital stations and the battle he describes to Ezekiel is of it's defense. It's an exciting story but it's over far too quickly. I was particularly intrigued by the description of Corswain who in this story is a total bad-ass. In the Legacy of Caliban Trilogy The Sword of Corswain is an artifact that one of the characters is entrusted with taking into battle. The concept of Caliban, particularly the Dark Angel Civil War and it's break-up at the battle's climax, has always intrigued me and it's always fun to see it explored.

Another snippet:

SCENE FIVE – EXT. ORBITAL STATION ATMOS: SPACE BATTLE 

FX – DEFENCE BATTERIES FIRE AGAINST FIGHTER CRAFT; MISSILES FIRE AND EXPLODE 

FALLEN: They had chased us from orbit. There they had spat their hate upon us, spewing fighters from burning flight decks. Like a storm of swords they fell upon our station. We manned the defence batteries. Macrocannons and mass-fusillade laser barrages. A wall of fire, a barrier of lightning, plasma and missiles to fend off the rage of a demigod.

 FX – MISSILES; ASSAULT PODS CRASHING INTO STATION 

Screen shot of the bonus disk menu.

• Did I like it? Yes I did. However, I found it the 2nd story was over too soon, which is a shame because it was far more interesting to me than the first one.  
• Was it hard to put down stop? No,  it was like I was hoping for a bit more info on the Dark Angels, another snippet of revelation to the overall Dark Angel Story.
• Could I care about the characters? Belial comes off as a bit whiny to me, especially in the scenes where he is petitioning the Dark Angel inner circle to allow him to pursue Ghazghkull. . But then, in Gav's books most of the Dark Angels are somewhat like this I guess, so I suppose it works.The change in POV maybe a factor as the older Belial seems to be in a constant state of self-torture while Belial the younger is something of a bad-ass. Ghazghkull's portrayal as a monster as opposed to an ork military genius (albeit, an insane one) felt wrong to me. It also felt wrong to me that he would be alone and cornered in a warehouse and not completely swamped with mobs of orks all competing to be in his new retinue. I understand why it's presented this way, as from the Marine's perspective, the Orks are just big dumb aliens and Gav's just trying to present them as such here. In the 2nd story, it's a bit challenging figuring out exactly what's going on with the psychic-torture scenes, but the Fallen's recanting of the battle was very well done. 
• Did the writer truly grasp how the 'world' of the 41st millennium works in the sense that it doesn't betray or retcon previously established (as I know it) lore? Gav's knowledge on the Dark Angels has got to be uncontested at this point. The 2nd story describing the attack on the orbital station was particularly awesome, focused, and well done. 
• Was I being talked down too? Not so much. 
• How predictable is this story? The 2nd story wasn't predictable at all, heck it's over so fast. The first one is some what predictable as anyone who know the 40K universe knows that Ghazghkull isn't deceased yet, and this is a flashback, so it's all a matter of figuring out how Belial gets out of this encounter alive. 
• Do I recommend this book? Only for the hardcore Dark Angel reader and collector. This isn't something I would recommend to the casual 40K fiction fan and especially not for some's introduction to the Dark Angels. 

Imagines and text snippets are Copyright Games Workshop and are used here for review purposes and are not intended as a challenge to Games Workshop's Copyright. 

Book Review: Lord of the Night

 Lord of the Night by Simon Spurrier.

I stumbled upon this book at a local used bookstore. I had never heard of it before, and the synopsis appeared to have a cool plot liken to a Dark Heresy game which easily snagged my interest. I think I have said if before, but I really think from a fiction standpoint, the Warhammer 40,000 universe, particularly the Imperium -it's culture, laws, religions, history, etc.- is best presented in the stories using the Inquisition as protagonists.

I quickly devoured this book.

The basic set up is that a space hulk crashes onto a hiveworld, with it's sole occupant being a Chaos Space Marine, Zso Sahaal, a Raptor of the Night Lords Legion. He awakens to the sight of scavengers plundering the wreckage of his vessel. In particular, they steal a treasured item that he has sworn to safe guard for many millennium. he tracks down these scavengers to the Hive City of Equixus where he begins a campaign of revenge and (literal) chaos.

Also on this Hiveworld is an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos named Kaustus along with his entourage of pompous henchmen. His 2nd in command is Mita Ashyn, an Interrogator who is also a psyker. Having psykic visions of the arrival of Zso Sahaal and the carnage he will bring, Mita tries and tries to get her lord to focus on dealing with this new threat, and the interplay is deliciously harsh between these two characters. So harsh that one wonders if Mr. Spurrier was citing personal experience with an asshole ex-boss, as it's that harsh.

This book is divided by the points of view of two characters: Mita and Zso, with each chapter alternating between each. It was a very clever way of telling this story and it helped to keep the events fresh and intriguing. Ultimately, you saw the point of view of Zso and as a reader, you couldn't help sympathizing with his point of view, his world view and motivations, by the end of the book. If anything you come to see the Imperium, with it's zealous laws and rigorous adherence to the maintenance of normalcy and order, as the thing that you despise.

• Did I like it? Yes, very much so. 
• Was it hard to put down? No, however I did find Zso's flashbacks to the good old days of chilling with The Night Haunter started to get a bit repetitious however these ultimately served a purpose to the over-all story in the end.
• Could I care about the characters? Indeed. Again, one develops sympathy for Zso (even though he just slashed to death a room full of arbites) but it's Mita that I really rooted for. Mostly because I too have experienced in my day the frustration of working for a boss that I just couldn't get along with, just couldn't communicate with, yet damnit I wanted to get that prick to like me and to acknowledge that the work I was doing was good and valuable. That is a good summery of the Mita and Kaustus relationship I think. Another interesting character that was fun to encounter on page, and this guy, or one like it, and I could definitely see putting into a Dark Hersey game, is Pahvulti, a renegade from the Adeptus Mechanicus. A lot of fun ideas this character inspired, and his appearances throughout this tale definitely made the story more interesting.
• Did the writer truly grasp how the 'world' of the 41st millennium works in the sense that it doesn't betray or retcon previously established (as I know it) lore? Or is this the work of a hack chasing a paycheck vs. establishing his mark on the ever-expanding 40k universe? This is no hack fiction here my friends, but this is total Inquisitor-style 40K! It was actually refreshing to read this after reading Gav Thorpe's Dark Angel stuff. However this book has that typical ending that one can expect from Inferno!-era novels, but handled in a good way. I was particularly keen on how he handled the Underhive and other details of hive life without getting lost in the minutiae. 
• Was I being talked down too? No, the story-telling was smooth, and felt very "right" to me.
• How predictable is this story? Not very. Although the story has a way of tricking you into thinking you know what's going to happen next. 
• Do I recommend this book? In fact I do. Here is a link to the ebook version.

Ebook cover. And the lamest GW cover art EVER!

Book Review: Path of the Archon

And now we have the third part in Andy Chamber's Dark Eldar Trilogy: Path of the Archon. And what a brilliant conclusion that it was! A very satisfying finale! And all-in-all, a very satisfying trilogy. Especially after reading this after I completed the reading of Ravenwing, This was superior writing, superior pacing, and just, well, superior.

+++Possible SPOILERS ahead, so beware!+++

This books begins pretty much were the previous book, Path of the Incubus, left off. Path of the incubus dealt with our assortment of protagonists (or is every character an antagonist? -it's really very debatable!) venturing on separate journeys through the war-torn Eternal City of Commorragh in the aftermath of the reality disturbing event called the Dysjunction. In Path of the Archon, we're picking up right where we left off as the tyrannical leader of the Dark Eldar, Asdrubael Vect, is tying up loose ends and killing those that defy him. Especially those who caused the Dysjunction in the first place. One suspect in particular is the Archon of the White Flames, Yllithian, who is returning to his fortress having just completed the mission he was sent to perform for Asdrubael Vext, and having failed to have been killed by his would-be assassins, is preparing to openly defy Vect, thus setting the stage for the rest of the book.

Unlike the other two books, this book never leaves Commorragh, and we focus on what will become a civil war between the forces aligned to Vect and those who have thrown their lot in with the upstart Archon of the White Flames Yllithian. I really liked how Andy described and brought to life this merciless and cruel ancient city. More importantly, how he described the machinations and schemes that Vect uses to hold onto his power and the ruthless methods in which we see him employ them. Vect is illustrated quite well in this book and we actually get closer to him than we have in this series so far. Indeed, he's virtually unattainable in the first book, only making a public appearance via hologram. In the 2nd book we see him when selected Archons are requested to meet with him in his palace in Corespur, way up in the dangerous reaches of High Commorrah. 

But in this book, we see lots of Vect, and get a sense of why Commorragh needs him. Much like in modern times where we see dictatorships ruling in opulence over a beaten down nation only to see said dictatorship end and the now divided nation falls back into age old feuds and rivalries. It's pretty clear by the end of the book, Vect is that allegorical dictator. Vect keeps the "peace" by sheer fear and presence alone. Without him, the Dark Eldar would gleefully slaughter themselves. Not that Vect truly cares about Commorragh as much as he does his own power, again, like that modern dictator. We are shown also the amazing lengths and the level of power-plays that Vect will resort to in order to hold on to his rule. Death-toll be damned. 

One such weapon, that I am eager to spoil -but won't- is so awesome, and so obvious, that I will be shocked if these don't become a unit type in the next version of the Dark Eldar codex. If it did, it would be an instant "must-take" unit!

Also there is a lot about the mysterious Mandrakes and the Shadowrealm of Aelindrach where they dwell. Indeed, the Mandrakes are having a civil war of their own which climaxes when we have a cameo from a character from the game, the Decapitator, who has a jolly good time doing what he does best!

Did I like it? I loved it! And the whole trilogy as a whole was quite good, even though the 2nd book had some sluggish moments getting at the characters from their points 'A' to their points 'B', it was satisfying as well, and allows this installment to move very quickly.

Was it hard to put down? It was! And I started it during a tough time and it was a well needed escape. 

Could I care about the characters? To a degree, yes. But understand, Motley the Harlequin is the only character resembling a "good guy" in these books, so by default I found myself rooting for his survival. 

Did the writer truly grasp how the 'world' of the 41st millennium works in the sense that it doesn't betray or retcon previously established (as I know it) lore?  Same answer as last time. I will say that with most of this lore released to the buying public after Andy left, it is amazing just how firm his grasp is on conveying how the Dark Eldar function as a society. 

Was I being talked down too? No. The tone in these books, as well as the pacing, are just right. 

How predictable is this story? To a degree, you got to sort of foresee the outcome here, just for the sake of status quo, however Andy throws enough twists and turns to keep you second-guessing the outcome. 

Do I recommend this book? Absolutely! 

Book Review: Path of the Incubus

First off, I got to say that I really, really anticipated the release of this book! I was in the book store each week searching for this thing as I was unable at the time to find the actual release date. I wasted no time diving into this and like the 1st novel in this series, Path-of-Renegade, I had a hard time putting it down. It did take me a long time to finally get around to a review.

Path of the Incubus is an absolute direct sequel to the previous book Path of the Renegade and if you simply pick this book up without first reading the previous book, well, you might be able to figure some things out, as Andy Chambers does explain who every one is and what they are about, but still, you would be missing out on a very cool read and everything in this book will make a ton more sense.

The title is a tad misleading, as you find yourself following a lot of paths actually, not just that of the incubus, although you will learn that it is his path that is the most crucial to the survival of the dark city. There are 3 main paths, or rather journeys, taking place here. (Although not one of these main 3 journeys I was particularly amused with the two death machines that are programed to hunt down and assassinate someone, that well, I shalln't spoil it!) So, there are 3 paths we follow. First of all, everyone's journey here is a direct consequence to the end of the last book as the dark city of Commorragh ir reeling from the after-effects of a dysjunction that threatens to tear the dark city and it's pocket dimension apart. We see this in the form of daemonic attacks in the lower level that sets two of the previous book's secondary characters, Xagor and Kharbyr, with two rival archons and their parties on a quest to get up to the higher, and deceptively safer (like there is such a thing in Commorragh!) level. This particular journey was one of my favorites to follow and I really like how it ends and sort of sets up the next book.

The 2nd path involves someone we assumed was left for dead in the last book. Needless to say I won't spoil it, but this also sets up the next book too. A favorite aspect of this part of the story is the description and the battle of the Gorath, one of the captured suns or ilmaea that provides heat to Commorragh. Fascinating stuff, and quite an epic battle. Oh, and a personal appearance by Asdrubel Vect that is quite chilling and villainous.

And the 3rd path, the one that really holds this whole story together, yet not directly, is the path of Morr, the incubis from the previous novel and his tag-a-long companion Motley, a harlequin trouper that is determined to convince Morr that he can, and should, personally undo the dysjunction that he caused. This path is quite epic, as we see Morr beat his way through his fellow Incubi and even fight one of the special characters from the Codex! It is also a very well done view on the interaction and attitudes of craftworld elder and their dark kin, as well as the exodites whom we again are treated to more of their culture and background. You could really pull a well rounded ecology article on the exodites from these two books. Also we learn more about the Harlequin thanks to the loose lips of Motley.

Did I like it? Yes, very much. My only complaint was I felt that we didn't get as good of a taste of Commorragh as we did in the first book, as everything was in a start of recoil and reaction to the dysjunction. But still, the paths of all these characters were all enjoyable to follow and I loved how they ultimately weave together.

Was it hard to put down? Sometimes. I confess that I found some bits dragged in parts, particularly in the Morr story. But "vision quests" never made for good reading to me.

Could I care about the characters? Yes. The whole vile lot of them! In particular I found myself missing two characters that escaped the end of the last book that never popped up in this one, and I am itching to know their fates....

Did the writer truly grasp how the 'world' of the 41st millennium? It's Andy Chambers! He gets it better than most of the hacks that BL allows to write Space Marine stories for Hammer and Bolter, so yeah, there is no better person (save Jess Goodwin) that I would rather have take me on a tour of all things elder.

Was I being talked down too? Andy kept the same vibe that he had in the first book. I would say that this one seemed a bit more desperate and with less cloak and poisoned dagger but that would be untrue as this book has plenty of that double-cross stuff at play that one truly expects to read about when it comes to Commorragh.

How predictable is this story? More so than the last one, but still with a few twists and turns that one couldn't see coming.

Do I recommend this book? Yes. Unless you just hated the first one, then I see no reason to recommend this book or, well, any book to you.

Review: Farseer

Farseer by William King.  Despite my efforts to write these reviews without spoilers, naturally some are bound to occur even when describing characters, so, be warned, SPOILERS AHEAD! While recently reorganizing my paperback book shelf, I stumbled upon this book that I truthfully do not recall buying. Being self-contained, and by Bill King, I decided it looked like an interesting diversion while waiting for Pariah to be released and taking a break from reading the original Ian Fleming 007 novels.

Part of the attraction toward this book was that it was by William King, whose work on the Space Wolf novels, and Gotrek & Felix novels, as well as some very important and long lasting Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 background elements were undeniably crucial evolutionary steps in both world's post-'80s development. They still are! So a short self-contained novel by him seemed like a perfect morsel to munch on over these past autumn nights, right?

The story starts off in a very... how should I say it? "D&D module-esque" way. For those of you that have never played a classic D&D module, they tend to start off with all the characters gathering in a bar or tavern, somehow coming together awkwardly before being led by the nose on an adventure which usually climaxes at a specific destination point (castle, tower, dungeon, etc, usually this place is in a forbidden locale or is specifically forbidden) while typically being lured there by the promise of riches. We've seen this in movies and TV as well:  a half-drunk anti-hero is discovered, usually having fallen from a previous grace and fortune and now is wallowing in drunken obscurity to be plucked up by someone who desperately needs this anti-hero to "get over it" and be a real hero! Shit, I may have just gave away the 1st half of this book...

...because Janus Darke is that drunken anti-hero wallowing in drunken failure. A pathetic man who was once a powerful Rogue Trader, Janus is now an in-debt drunk wasting what little fortune he can find on bad gambling choices. The "someone" are the pair of Eldar characters you see flanking him on the cover: Auric, a Farseer and Athenys a..., well, I'm not sure, but she proves to be quite a bad-ass! I assume she might be an Autarch or some-such warrior who is no longer adhering to her warrior path. Never-the-less, I found her to be the most interesting if not the most under-developed character in this tale. So they find Janus Darke, and ask him to take them to the "forbidden destination", the planet of Belial IV, in the Eye of Terror. This plot structure is quickly established, and as a reader I thought the journey would be the bulk of the adventure as the characters navigate their way around the Eye of Terror etc.

Nope! Instead we have to deal with the fact that these eldar have chosen Janus Darke, and King is not going to let Janus off of his failure perch that quickly. Janus has to somehow retrieve his ship, survive his girlfriend Justina's attentions (hehe), and survive the gangsters who want him to pay off his gambling debts. All of this turns into some interesting hive world adventures, although I felt while reading this King could have developed the hive world on Medusa better, as it felt more like the descriptions you'd read of a fantasy port city than of an over-populated hive world. Regadless, all of this makes for a fun read, as you learn that Janus Darke is being hunted down by a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh, Shaha Gaathon, who wants to possess Janus.

Although this all made for fun reading, my favorite elements of the books had to do with Simon Belisarius, Janus' partner and Navigator. I enjoyed reading how the Navigator house he belongs to has a centuries-old outstanding debt with Craftworld Ulthwe which the eldar have come to collect from him. I was also thrilled to read Kind's description of the journey through the warp and what it was like to make such a journey into the Eye of Terror. Players of the Rogue Trader RPG should read this passage alone as required reading before sitting down to play.

Another fascinating detail here was the history of Belial IV itself. King describes this shattered eldar crone-world through the eyes of Janus whose visions reveal to him (and us) the corruption, fall and destruction of the eldar race and this world and the birth of Slaanesh.  This is fascinating reading, and even if you find the rest of this book difficult to grind through, these parts are well worth it.

And without revealing too much more or touching on how this all ends, I have to mention Zarghan. Zarghan is a fallen Space Marine from the Emperor's Children Legion. The funny thing is that he's bored with constant orgies and other such silliness that his minions are involved with, but is totally getting his rocks off on wanton slaughter and inflicting pain in combat while blaring loud music into his ears. (..'Noise Marines: Live at the Palace of Pleasure'?)  He actually wonders if he would make a better khornate follower at some point, which makes for a far more interesting character than if he was a more stereo-typical Chaos Marine.

Despite how predictable I thought the book was starting out, I didn't foresee the outcome, but when some of the reveals occurred I found myself physically face-palming... ("Auric...rhymes with Elric...got it..."). However, over-all, this was a good book. Again, the most rewarding elements were the details on Belial IV, the history of the Eldar Fall and the birth of Slaanesh, and the final chapters of the book which are pretty much a dramaticly written massive blood-orgy of combat.

Did I like it? I did. But things really started to get interesting as the book was winding down. Clearly, and this isn't evident or obvious until the last few pages, but King was setting this up for a sequel, which never happened and I wonder if it ever will...

Was it hard to put down? Um...no, not really. I kept at it, but I didn't thrist for it like I did the last batch of BL books I had read.

Could I care about the characters? Janus, not so much. I felt that he was being protrayed to us as a bit of a dumb-ass jock-like character. In fact, looking back on it, I just don't see how this guy was ever a Rogue Trader in the 1st place! I just don't see how he got a crew to follow him, unlike Belisarius. Also, I am undecided on just how to pronounce his name: Is it JANus? Perhaps with a Nordic twist: YANus? Or something weird like JAWnus? I just read it as JANus and moved on. I was more concerned about the eldar characters, but more so because I wanted to learn more about Athenys. Auric was what he was: a Professor X in an eldar outfit.

Did the writer truly grasp how the 'world' of the 41st millennium works in the sense that it doesn't betray or retcon previously established (as I know it) lore? Or is this the work of a hack chasing a paycheck vs. establishing his mark on the ever-expanding 40k universe? Yeah, he's Bill King! However, this story did come off in places as a bit hacked. However, the story kept moving and even though it could've used more descriptive elements on Medusa, at least it didn't get bogged down in over-developed minutiae either.

Was I being talked down to? I didn't think so, but when the story focused on Janus, I couldn't help but want something horrible to happen to this guy. He reminded me of Jimmy Bond from the old Lone Gunmen TV show...

How predictable is this story? It starts off very predictable, until you realize that that you've ploughed halfway through the book and we haven't left Medusa yet! The most unpredictable parts weren't in the ending or climatic battle, but in which subplots were left unresolved. The ultimate fate of Justina remains unresolved, and well, clearly a sequel would be appreciated at some point.

Unused pic I drew for some 40K fanzines back in the '90s.



Book Review: Path of the Renegade

When I found out that a novel by Andy Chambers was finally coming out from the Black Library, I was very excited. For those who do not know who Andy Chambers is, he was one of the most influential members of the Warhammer 40,000 game studio back in the '90s during the final years of 1st edition until the launch of 4th edition 40K in 2004. I would have thought his return to writing 40K background would've been tyranid focused considering how much influence he had on their design and background, but I was pleasantly surprised to find he was doing a book (the 1st of a trilogy no less!) on the Dark Eldar.

The Dark Eldar were hinted at, eluded too, and simply mysterious until they were rapidly launched upon the gaming world with the onset of Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition. In fact the starter set came with a ton of the plastic foot troops. However their background was left quite vague, essentially summed up as 'mean pirate elves who will steal your family and make them fight to the death for their amusement in their hidden web-way city. ...did we mention that they were mean? Oh, and they have lots of spikes!'  In fact, the Warhammer 40,000 community was somewhat confused: were the Dark Eldar the 'Slaaneshi Eldar, or a new twist on Eldar Pirates?' My good friend, 'the Doctor' and I were working on a 40k Fanzine back in the late '90s and had the honored privilege of interviewing Rick Priestly (the All-Father of Warhammer) and directly asked him this question to which his seemly confused response was...'The Dark Eldar ARE the Slaaneshi Eldar." Which led into a discussion about the lack of background that made any sense for the early 3rd edition 40K Codex's.

So, many years later, and even many years after Andy Chambers has since left GW (I heard he got married and moved to Cali!) the new Dark Eldar book arrives with a wealth of background, and finally, everything makes sense! Without simply repeating it all here, the previously mentioned question is dealt with, in fact the background fits so well that all of the established Eldar lore since the '87 Rogue Trader book finally makes sense! If you're a gamer, and have this Codex, I would encourage you to re-read it. And then pick up Path-of-the-Renegade.

What a deliciously vile book! Everything you could expect or want from a Dark Eldar book! Torture! Pain! Deception! Convoluted plots and treachery afoot throughout! And Mr. Chamber builds on the background extraordinarily well. So well in fact, that a non-gamer could pick this book up and comprehend the Dark Eldar, Craftworld Eldar (from the Dark Eldar perspective at least) and, much to my delightful surprise, the Exodite Eldar(! ) without ever playing a game of Warhammer 40,000!

The plot, summed up as vaguely as I can in an attempt to reduce any spoilers, is that a few ambitious Archons, essentially 'nobles' in the caste system of the Dark Eldar society, are eager to remove from power Asdrubael Vect, the ruler of the Dark Eldar who officially goes by the title of The Tyrant (if only our leaders were this honest!LOL...ahem...). I will reveal nothing more about the plot, only that a crucial element of it requires a raid on an Eldar Exodite Maiden-World.

The Exodites have very little background in 40k. So much so that only models in Epic scale have ever been produced. It's one of the 'missing' armies for 40k, which is essentially, at least in the beginning, Warhammer Fantasy Battle in space. Using that analogous approach, Exodites would essentially be Wood Elves in Space. This is actually not as silly as it sounds, in fact the epic models were quite inspiring and I know many people who have attempted model-conversions of Exodites, as they seem to fascinate a lot of eldar players and modelers alike. I could be wrong, but I believe Andy Chambers had a role in the creation of the Exodites back in the day when Epic 40K (Space Marine, as it was called at the time) when he wrote his first White Dwarf article on the Knight Titans. If you want to learn more about the Exodites, you need to pick up this book about Dark Eldar! If you want to learn more about Dark Eldar and their evil city Commorragh, pick up this book! If you want to know more about the Dark Eldar connection with Slaanesh ('She who thirsts') than pick up this book!

• Did I like it? Heck yeah! This was an even faster read for me than Atlas Infernal!
• Was it hard to put down? It really was. Granted, with my life-style, I read most of this in airports and hotel rooms. Andy has a very fluid writing style, and I found it almost comforting.
• Could I care about the characters? Oddly, yes. But it's made clear quite early on that only a fool would expect anyone to come out of this book alive, but I was glad -and actually surprised to a degree- to see who the survivors actually were...
• Did the writer truly grasp how the 'world' of the 41st millennium works in the sense that it doesn't betray or retcon previously established (as I know it) lore? Um, yeah. In fact, very few people know it better! Even though I think the bulk of this 'new' Dark Eldar background was written, officially, after he left GW, I can't help but wonder how much of it was truly figured out by the design team back in the '90s...regardless, he did a great job with it!
• Was I being talked down too? Honestly, no.
• How predictable is this story? Not very. It was constantly changing with all it's wicked little plots...

Now, what should I read after this? I'm tempted to give Gav Thorpe's Eldar Path books a try. I'm curious to know if Andy Chambers path and Gav's path will cross at some point...

A book review: Atlas Infernal

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I've spent the last 2 months working virtually non-stop, with only a brief window in February to do a bit of painting. However I do find time while traveling and before bed to immerse myself into the world of 40K fiction.

This is the 1st book that inspired me to write a review.

I haven't come up with any sort of 'scale' that reviewers and blogs like to use, and I honestly think such things are always a bit misleading, I mean, it's not like people who write Amazon reviews are professional copy editors with stacks of degrees in literature to back up their opinions or anything and I certainly am not either! Rather I will just tell you what I think based upon a few broad guidelines:

• Did I like it?
• Was it hard to put down?
•  Could I care about the characters?
• Did the writer truly grasp how the  'world' of the 41st millennium works in the sense that it doesn't betray or retcon previously established (as I know it) lore? Or is this the work of a hack chasing a paycheck vs. establishing his mark on the ever-expanding 40k universe?
• Was I being talked down too?
• How predictable is this story?

I'm sure I could come up with more, but you get the idea.

My 1st review is on the book I just read over the course the past 17 days and finished on a plane about 2 hours ago. It's called Atlas Infernal by Rob Sanders, published by Black Library,  and it's set in the 41st Millennium of the GW's 40K universe during the time of Abbadon's Black Crusade.

1st off, I need to establish that for the past 2 years all I have been reading in the way of fiction is the Black Library's Inquisition line of 40K books. For the most part, I consider a lot the Space Marine stories to pretty much being 'war-porn' with somewhat simple plots, usually with a twist where the protagonist dies -cause that what makes this stuff "grim-dark"! Oooow! But when I started GMing Dark Heresy for my gaming group, I found that I needed some deeper inspiration. The Eisenhorn, Ravenor, and Cain omnibuses were all great and enjoyable reads and definitely fit the criteria I listed above and the needs for inspiration for Dark Hersey. Upon completing Defender of the Imperium, I began looking for something else...and what do you know, this new book leaped out at me!

This is a story featuring the character of Inquisitor Bronislaw Czevak, a name that's been around for 20 years at least as a quotable expert on either Chaos of Eldar lore being as he is the only known human visitor to the Black Library, usually seen in small quotes found in Warhammer 40,000 rulebooks. But this is his first featured novel. This is a tough novel to really delve into as it's easy to throw out spoilers on a book with this many twists.

It starts off with an aged, I mean venerable, Grand Inquisitor Czevak engaged in a heated debate with other Inquisitors including the Monodominant (basically ultra-fanatical zealot Inquisitors) Inquisitor Malchankov who is immediately established as an adversary that Czevak is going to have to watch his ass for.

"I claim your blood, Czevak. Do you hear? I'm coming for you High Inquisitor..." -Malchankov

And indeed he does, with machinations that essentially push Czevak into the hands of the Eldar when he disrupts Czevak's expedition into a crashed Eldar craffworld that has him abducted by Harlequins and taken away to the Eldar Webway. As the story unfolds many year's later Czevak's assistant, Raimus Klute is now an Inquisitor in his own right, who has devoted his entire career searching for Czevak, So much so that he has turned to some extreme radicalism in this pursuit. He succeeds in finding Czevak who is now rejuvenated and very eccentric, and insanely knowledgeable having been imprisoned for years in the Black Library of Chaos by the Eldar. Now he's on the run, and he has in his possession the Atlas Infernal, a very powerful book that sort of maps the web-way.

 Comparing these two Inquisitors, Czevak and Klute, to the role playing game or the other Inquisitor books, one can not help but take a keen interest in their retinues. We have Torres the Rogue Trader, who probably spends much of her time regretting being involved with these people as her ship gets busted up the further you delve into this book; a renegade tech-marine who has a few awesome scenes, particularly against some Grey Knights and a Khorne Berserker; Epiphani the witch, whose skills are used in lieu of the navigator who has gone mad and spends his days in a gibbet cage; and Father, the servo skull familiar of Epiphani who is in fact actually her father. Strangely enough, he was probably my favorite secondary character just for the weirdness of it all. Joaqhuine the Idolatress, an immortal Living Saint seems to exist in this book as Sander's twisted need to endlessly torture someone to the point that one might think he came up with these ideas while binging on Highlander movies.

I already told you about Malchankov, but he's a lightweight compared to the real villains of this book: Ahriman and his Thousand Sons Space Marines. Seriously, Rob did a great job making me think that Czevak was totally screwed and NOT getting out of this book alive. I was truly fearfully of Ahriman whom I think is more powerful here than his table-top stats would suggest, at least in the current incarnation. The Eldar, or rather the Harlequins that hound Czevak throughout this novel, I thought were handled very well. I'm always fearful that writers will fail to keep them 'alien' enough and force human qualities to them that are familiar as opposed to strange. In this I felt that Sanders did a good job and didn't lower them to our level.

In his efforts to out-smart his many enemies, and to also evade them, Rob Sanders pretty much takes Czevak on a tour of the Eye of Terror, to the strange systems of cold stars (hehe), to worlds abandoned by the Imperium and left to decay, to fantastical spacial environs that boggle the mind, yet still revealing the real struggle of the abandoned or lost occupants of the Eye, living out their days as misguided servants of the Emperor or damned to face the predations of Chaos. If left me wanting to send my Dark Hersey player characters there to chart the varying degrees of madness they could cope with.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read, and it left me with a sense of 'no one is safe-no, really' that Black Library wants their books to have but rarely pulls off without it feeling 'gimicky'.

Did I like it? Yes!

Was it hard to put down? Not always, but when it hits it's strides, which this story does a few times, this books has some serious hooks! There is a chapter where the whole team ends up in what I can best sum up as the 'Inquisition's basement' that was absolutely riveting! I was definitely working on a lean mix the following morning from having a tough time putting this book down with that chapter.

Could I care about the characters? Actually, yes. This book really left me wanting a resolution to a particular prisoner of Ahriman's fate (not going to spoil this at all).

Did the writer truly grasp how the 'world' of the 41st millennium works in the sense that it doesn't betray or ret-con previously established (as I know it) lore? Or is this the work of a hack chasing a paycheck vs. establishing his mark on the ever-expanding 40k universe? Yeah, Sanders did a pretty good job here. I didn't get the feeling like I often do from some of the Space Marine short stories in the various anthologies that he was just reading the product info page off the the Games Workshop website, no, Rob did his homework!

Was I being talked down too? Nope. I had no problem staying engaged.

How predictable is this story? Not very! Most of the Inquisitor novels are very much like this. I really think these are the best of the 40k novels so far, granted I haven't read a lot the Space Marine ones

I think, if sales support it, this could easily spin off into a reoccurring series. There is enough plot threads and a few hooks dangling to easily launch a second book. I know I would buy it!

-Neverness