[Garak]

The only flaw I'd assign to Abnett imho is that his endings are kinda abrupt at times. But he makes up for it with interesting world building, characters and combat scenarios (his Titan clashes from Titanicus, his fleet battles or the aerial dogfights from Double Kill are just good and gripping as the tank combat seen in Honor Guard).

[JPK]

I had an unexpected break due to my old Kobo dying, but the new one has arrived and I've started The Guns of Tanith!

BK and T77 how goes? You get through Honour Guard yet?

Vets:

Spoiler

There's a bit of a jump here from the end of HG and I'm slightly confused. Does it explain how Gaunt and Co got from the full disgrace of the end of HG to clearly retaining some command and assisting with the Drop Assault?

[JPK]

Briar King, on 21 January 2021 - 09:46 PM, said:

Nope. On ch 7.

You should read 2 chapters tonight. You can catch me!

[Garak]

@JPK

Spoiler

I believe the successful defense of the shrine at the end of Honor Guard is what salvaged their honor.

[JPK]

Garak, on 22 January 2021 - 12:20 AM, said:

@JPK

Spoiler

I believe the successful defense of the shrine at the end of Honor Guard is what salvaged their honor.

Spoiler

I can see that. It just feels really abrupt. I guess I just kind of expected to see a resolution between Gaunt and Lugo. Or not even a resolution, but at least to see it addressed.

Edit: Turns out that exact thing happened a couple pages later. I should have had a bit more faith, lol.

This post has been edited by JPK: 22 January 2021 - 05:45 AM

[T77]

JPK, on 21 January 2021 - 09:34 PM, said:

I had an unexpected break due to my old Kobo dying, but the new one has arrived and I've started The Guns of Tanith!

BK and T77 how goes? You get through Honour Guard yet?

Vets:

Spoiler

There's a bit of a jump here from the end of HG and I'm slightly confused. Does it explain how Gaunt and Co got from the full disgrace of the end of HG to clearly retaining some command and assisting with the Drop Assault?

Still reading, but slowly, only on chapter 5. Things just got nasty.

[JPK]

Tsundoku, on 15 November 2020 - 11:46 AM, said:

Macros, on 15 November 2020 - 08:53 AM, said:

Can't wait until he meets (leave until book...5/6 BK)

Spoiler

Lijaa Cuu.

You're a nasty piece of work ... you know that?

I finished book 6 last night and immediately went to find this comment to see if it was the character I thought it was.

Spoiler

it was. Fuuuuuck Cuu. Unfortunately, I was right when I called out Bragg meeting a horrible end after reading the short at the end of the first omni. I'm gonna miss the gentle giant. Unfortunately, by doing the right thing for the morale Gaunt did exactly the wrong thing here and I really appreciate that. I really really want Larks to be the one to end Cuu.

I'm going to be slowing down a touch here because I'm doing a group read of the Caine books but I'll still be focusing on book 7 during the in-between times while the slower readers catch up.

[Aptorian]

I'm well into Gaunt's Ghosts 3 now, it's cool but I'd love it if there was something more core to the overall imperial present day status and storyline. Is there anything like that? Like does The Horus Heresy books continue up to present day? Not that I can imagine reading 60 books to get to that point.

I saw some article about some son of the Emperor, Guileman or something, reshaping the empire in the 42K year maybe?

[amphibian]

The Gaunt books will never touch truly upon what the Imperium is doing as an overall strategy or what the Emperor is doing. The war they're part of is a recapture of 100 star systems with trillions of people and the efforts are important to the Imperium in part because of the systems having a link to a saint. However, this war is one of many, many wars being fought simultaneously and is smaller in scale than the Heresy books or the other Space Marine books.

The Heresy books are much more about the main strategies and events of the Emperor, the Primarchs, and Chaos. They don't deal as often with the Tyranids, the Orks, the Necrons, the Tau, and so on.

[Aptorian]

But do the Heresy books continue up to present day or are they stuck around 30K?

I guess I'm asking if there's a main series of books being published that dictate future events in the WH40k universe? Like for example Marvel has a storyline event that happens every few years that pushed the universe forward?

[QuickTidal]

Aptorian, on 09 February 2021 - 04:50 PM, said:

But do the Heresy books continue up to present day or are they stuck around 30K?

I guess I'm asking if there's a main series of books being published that dictate future events in the WH40k universe? Like for example Marvel has a storyline event that happens every few years that pushed the universe forward?

Horus Heresy books stay in the 30K era....everything that happens in them happens in that era. The point of them is to show how things got to the way they are in 40K. Like the beginnings of things like the Inquisition for instance.

I'm not sure what the farthest forward thing is the 40K timeline....

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 09 February 2021 - 04:58 PM

[Aptorian]

I'm just so curious about what happens when the Emperor dies or ascends? What about that Machine God? A d the Eye of Terror? And the enormous Tyranid migration? And the awakening Necrons, etc. There's a lot of story set-up. Has any of it been addressed or does it remain backdrop for Role-playing?

[Garak]

Most current stuff would be the Dawn of Fire series that deals with the Indomitus Crusade and various books set around that time (Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work, Mark of Faith, Darkness in Blood, Dark Imperium trilogy, Rise of the Ynnari duology (so far), Space Marine Conquests series, Vaults of Terra series, Watchers of the Throne series, the Psychic Awakening fluff/rulebooks and there's a YT channel that narates what happens in those very well - there's also a book simply called Indomitus but it's pretty bad so I can't recommend it unlike the other stuff I mentioned). These books take place since the Cicatrix Maledictum opened up to whatever is considered present day - the focus in these is the Imperium putting out the bajillion fires that are going on or at least trying to (also shows the other races but usually from the Imperium pov). Though it's an in universe thing that no one is 100% sure of the exact year because the Warp makes a mockery of everything and Warp travel leads to weird shit (you can arrive at your destination before you even left for it or a myriad other weird things). Guilliman actually read what history the Imperium had catalogued and the numerous contradictory dates or bits of info gave him a headache. One of the best things about Dawn of Fire and Dark Imperium is seeing Guilliman's reactions to what the Imperium has turned into - let's just say that horrified is an understatement. Guy had a severe crisis of faith (not the religious kind but the "What was the point of our actions if it all turned to shit anyway?" kind) and his chat with the Emperor didn't help much.

As Amphibian and QT said, the Horus Heresy is only 30k stuff as it tells the story of how things went to shit. Don't yet know about the moment the Emperor is mortally wounded and put on permanent life support, I expect the last book in the Siege of Terra series will deal with that. Though when it comes to the Emperor things are always left up to interpretation. We never get His pov (which I think is good since His way of thinking should be too mind bending for us to understand) and we only see Him and His plans via other characters. And His psychic might is so freaking overpowering that everyone who talks to Him perceives something different. I'll post a quote from ADB, who wrote Master of Mankind:

"With the Emperor, a lot of interaction is about getting out what you put in. You get what you give. Your perceptions and expectations are reflected back on you because that's how the human brain perceives everything (a fact that cannot be overstated; the science behind it is fascinating and all-important), especially when you're talking about someone who exists on that plane of power. At one point the Emperor makes mention of the notion that he's not even speaking, that being near to him allows the conveyance of meaning through psychic osmosis, and communication telepathically. He's not even talking. It's raw understanding filtering through a mind, or just the way the mortal mind comprehends the aura of what the Emperor intends, or, or, or... That's what I mean. TMoM is littered with that stuff. Does he only address the primarchs by number instead of name? Some characters will swear he does that, and doesn't that just perfectly match their perspectives of the primarchs as either emotionally-compromised "too-human" things that think they're sons (Ra), or genetic masterworks that have become galaxy-damning screw-ups that have literally let the galaxy burn and brought the Imperium to its knees, leading people to be exiled from their homeworlds (Land). Do you think Sanguinius will agree? Or care that's what mortals think? The Emperor's portrayal on that isn't even consistent between Ra and Diocletian, two of his Custodians - and on PAGE ONE, the only time he interacts with a primarch himself, and the one and only thing he says to Magnus the Red is...? "Magnus."
Like... that's a pretty strong indication that the interactions which follow are playing by different rules. Ra sees the Warlord of Humanity, just a man, but a great mean, weary and defiant, burdened by responsibility. Daemons see their annihilation, and go insane in his presence. One of the Knights, as they're marching through the Throne Room, is caught in religious rapture, unable to do anything but stare at the glorious halo of the Emperor of Mankind on the Golden Throne. One of the Sisters of Silence, in the same room, literally just sees a man in a chair. Another character, not Imperial, asks a Custodian if the Emperor even breathes. She believes he's a weapon left out of its box from the Dark Age of Technology. (With thanks to Alan Bligh for that one, he adores that theory.) So I don't think it's exactly a spoiler to say that if and when I get to write a character like Sanguinius in the Emperor's presence, or Malcador, they'd have entirely different experiences than Ra and Land. I'd loved to have had that in TMoM, but as much as it would've given wider context, these aren't rulebooks and essays; it would've been self-indulgent for the sake of 'hoping people get it', and cheapened the story being told, which was ultimately in a very narrow and confined set of circumstances. Breaking out of that narrative would be offering a sense of scope and freedom I was specifically trying to avoid in a claustrophobic siege story. Because theme and atmosphere is a thing."

A lot of things are left up in the air for people to speculate about and some others are kinda just left dangling much the annoyance of some people. Warhammer however has never done the Marvel thing (to use your example) of current story line and such. For much of it's existence the latest point in the timeline was stuck at end of 999.M41 when the 13th Black Crusade was just starting. Think of it more like a setting to fill with stories than an ongoing narrative.

Lexicanum has a good Timeline of events by the millennium: https://wh40k.lexica...m/wiki/Timeline Obviously some are more detailed than others and the bulk is in M41.

This post has been edited by Garak: 09 February 2021 - 09:25 PM

[amphibian]

The Emperor will be Schroedinger's Cat - neither dead or alive - for a very long time.

The Machine God is explored a bit, possibly linking into the Necrons.

The Tyranids have been explored some and we know now there's multiple swarms.

The final answers are going to be incredibly slow to arrive if they do and so much of the setting needs to stay open for smaller story lines to happen and make Games Workshop money.

[Zeto Demerzel]

Still soldiering on through the Siege of Terra and I've tried *very* hard not to be spoilered about the outcome of the Heresy (haven't read anything else from Warhammer 40K apart from the Horus Heresy books [read just about all of them, numbered or otherwise]). I just snuck a peak at the above posts and that very nearly put paid to my long vigil.

Anyway, I just finished The Sons of Selenar and Saturnine and they were both great. Earbooking Fury of Magnus now and that's been pretty good too. It's an absolute pleasure reading Dan Abnett and Graham McNeill after going through a slew of Guy Haley and Gav Thorpe books. Don't know if I can hold on and wait for the four remaining books because my copy of The Founding is starting to look reeeealy tempting.

This post has been edited by Zeto Demerzel: 11 February 2021 - 12:11 PM

[Garak]

Oh sorry, didn't realize. The good bit is that there are only 4 books to go and the Siege will be over. Book 5, Mortis, already had it's Limited Edition release so the regular should be out in the next few months.

[amphibian]

Zeto Demerzel, on 11 February 2021 - 12:10 PM, said:

Still soldiering on through the Siege of Terra and I've tried *very* hard not to be spoilered about the outcome of the Heresy (haven't read anything else from Warhammer 40K apart from the Horus Heresy books [read just about all of them, numbered or otherwise]). I just snuck a peak at the above posts and that very nearly put paid to my long vigil.

Anyway, I just finished The Sons of Selenar and Saturnine and they were both great. Earbooking Fury of Magnus now and that's been pretty good too. It's an absolute pleasure reading Dan Abnett and Graham McNeill after going through a slew of Guy Haley and Gav Thorpe books. Don't know if I can hold on and wait for the four remaining books because my copy of The Founding is starting to look reeeealy tempting.

I apologize for my posts affecting your read.

I thought a certain plot point was universal knowledge because it's mentioned in the foreword to just about every WH40k book or game.

I will spoiler up future talks about that.

[Garak]

It is one of the things serving as a foundation for the setting so it's easy to overlook that anyone starting with the HH won't know about it.

Speaking of the HH, are you also reading the Primarch novellas?

[amphibian]

I read all of the early books in the HH series and then started picking and choosing which authors I read because some are a considerable amount better at handling the setting than others.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 12 February 2021 - 04:56 AM

[Chance]

amphibian, on 12 February 2021 - 04:55 AM, said:

I read all of the early books in the HH series and then started picking and choosing which authors I read because some are a considerable amount better at handling the setting than others.

I started reading the series a few years ago, but ran into one or two authors that I found barely readable.

Seen some recommendations but what did you found worth it?