The Black Library

[ravener2759]

lol, you mean when he was dressed as a twist? that was funny. my favorite part so far ws at that warmasters parade thing, with the rogue alpha plus psykers. i also liked the part with the curor vult, where eisenhorn unleashes cherubael on the curor vult and the daily visits with cherubael on the ship. i also enjoyed the part on cadia, wit the karskin. and of course i loved the part when eisenhorn and nayl were disguised as twists at the mind auction or whatever it was called. asically any part with cherubael really.  

[Hoxtalicious]

I love the Eisenhorn cameo in Ravenor Returned, where they think that he's dead. "The station was destroyed during the battle." I love how the antagonist tells his minions that he might still be alive.

Abnett created tragic heroes in regards to Inquisitor. Gregor Eisenhorn and his love for the pariah Bequin and Gideon Ravenor, crippled in body, but strong in mind.

I still find the first chapter of Ravenor, where he sifts through the minds of the people (and corpses) in that city. Same with Eisenhorn really, I like how he describes himself;

"Gregor Eisenhorn, inquisitor, puritan, Amalthian, forty-two years old standard, an inquisitor for the past eighteen years. I am tall and broad at the shoulders, strong, resolute. I have already told you of my force of will, and you will have noted my prowess with a blade. What else is there? Am I clean-shaven? Yes! My eyes are dark, my hair darker and thick. These things matter little.
Come and let me show you how I killed Eyclone."  

[ravener2759]

Lt_Brookman

I love the Eisenhorn cameo in Ravenor Returned, where they think that he's dead. "The station was destroyed during the battle." I love how the antagonist tells his minions that he might still be alive.

Abnett created tragic heroes in regards to Inquisitor. Gregor Eisenhorn and his love for the pariah Bequin and Gideon Ravenor, crippled in body, but strong in mind.

I still find the first chapter of Ravenor, where he sifts through the minds of the people (and corpses) in that city. Same with Eisenhorn really, I like how he describes himself;

"Gregor Eisenhorn, inquisitor, puritan, Amalthian, forty-two years old standard, an inquisitor for the past eighteen years. I am tall and broad at the shoulders, strong, resolute. I have already told you of my force of will, and you will have noted my prowess with a blade. What else is there? Am I clean-shaven? Yes! My eyes are dark, my hair darker and thick. These things matter little.
Come and let me show you how I killed Eyclone."

<.<
lol, that confirms my suspicions  

[berserker_girl]

Well, I finished the Konrad trilogy today. I liked it alot, the best fantasy trilogy I have ever read. Ferring does such a great job of keeping you guessing the whole time. All my suspicions... were proved wrong. I reccomend that any serious BL reader gets these books.

I started Honour of the Grave. The style is very different than the usual style of BL authors, if there is a usual style. But its good so far, only about 25 pages in right now.

++And I posted a short short story in the story thread of the rp section. Tell me what you think!  

[Warlord Kartanus]

I just read on of the Space Wolves books, i think it was Wolfblade. I still have yet to read thse, becausei cant seem to find the f-ing things:

First and Only

Ghostmaker

Straight Silver

Traitor General

His Last Command

((do either of the first two gaunts ghosts books tell how Tanith was destroyed? it doesnt seem like anyone(save necrons and tau and those guys that made the genestealers have tech enough to destroy a world.  

[Hoxtalicious]

The second novel, Ghostmaker tells about how Tanith is lost.

And obviously, you have never heard of "Exterminatus" then.  

[berserker_girl]

Nothing like the smell of charred planet in the morning.

I'm starting the Orfeo trilogy! SO far the first book is really good, can hardly put it down. I like the writing style, and the fact that this is an older story. It has some things I had never heard of before.  

[Hoxtalicious]

I tried reading Zaragoz, but somehow, I didn't like it. One day, I am still going to try and finish it, but not now. Same with Eye of Terror, another really old book, not a great read, but something I must finish one day. I've started on the Hammers of Ulric and while it's filled with the cliches of a band of stereotype warriors (The leader who questions his abilities, the old wardog, the gambler, the raging drunk, the old man who lost the will the fight and the young impetious warrior) it should be an entertaining read, as long as the cliches don't get worse.  

[berserker_girl]

You have to love stock characters. ( rolleyes ) I haven't read many BL books with blatent stock characters/cliches in them (atleast in the main characters), except maybe Nightbringer and Star of Erengrad. Its funny because GW created their own stock character, the unstoppable warrior against Chaos. There was a long period of time where I didn't read any BL books because I got tired of reading it in every book.

I never did get around to reading Eye of Terror. Have you ever read Status: Deadzone?  

[Hoxtalicious]

I can live with stock characters to a certain degree, but they mustn't be so bland! What I like about Caine is, while he's something of a coward, he's braver then he thinks. The Kal Jerico novel is trying to be funny, but fails in my eyes, trying to be both heroic and a parody at the same time.

Status: Deadzone has some great stories in it, I love the stories revolving around Nathan Creed(sp?), the bounty hunter with akimbo pistols. I love the story of him facing off against the infernomancer. Skelters Circus was a nice story as well.  

[berserker_girl]

Caine is the guy that got me back into Warhammer novels, just for that reason. He was a totally new kind of character that I had never read before, and I love "his" books. Even the supporting characters aren't too "bland," I like some of them as much as Caine.

I haven't read the Kal Jerico book, and honestly, might not. I like Necromunda alot, but Kal just never did it for me. I have read Salvation though, and once I got passed the slow start, I thought it was a really good book. (I've always had a thing for Houses Goliath and Escher, and it more than gave me enough action between the two). I still want to read Survival Instinct, Junktion, and Fleshworks; first I have to finish the Orfeo series.

Have you noticed a change in style when you compare the older late 80's early 90's books with the ones published these days (2000+)? I have, but its hard to put a finger on just what the difference is. I think it might be that the older authors put more work into character development, not saying that most modern BL authors don't. What do you think?  

[Hoxtalicious]

One of the things I noticed with older novels is that there is more of a physical relation involved. Ah screw it, they have more sex in the old novels then in the new ones. (The Vampire Genevieve has some parts dedicated to that amongst others) The new batch of books are quite tame. This is most likely due to aiming at a younger audience. The new line of novels are more directed at action and while some shine in this, old novels really take the time to set the scene, settle you in and give the plot plenty (some would say, too much) room to develope. Granted, the new novels also have a story, but some feel bland, cliche or even, uninspired and predictable. Some do make up for that with cinematic moments. Dead Sky Black Sun has some pretty, cinematic moments, such as Uriel ripping himself free of a daemon womb. Cheesy? Yes, but it has a nice mental image for some reason.

The thing is, the novels are still too much of the "heroes in shining armour" variant. I dread reading Dead Sky, Black Sun at first, only loving the chapters revolving around Warsmith Honsou and his enemies. I still chuckle as I think of how he kicks a sleeping Bloodthirster in the head for "sleeping on the job". True, stories need their heroes, but the ones that prevail against all odds is getting tedious. Or that they can only succeed through a great sacrifice or loss.

I really recommend Survival Instinct, it's nice to read about a psycho b***h once in a while and I found Andy's attempt at writing the novel really good. I love how she carves up a bounty hunter with her chain sword, slashing him to ribbons just to vent her pent up rage.  

[berserker_girl]

Wow, you really hit it on the head there, Lt.! I think, given what you said, that the older novels are more realistic. ( ninja ) But they are deffinately for an older audience that can appreciate what they have to offer. However, some of the newer novels harken back to the old days; Eisenhorn surely has more of the maturity of the older novels.

Mad Donna (and House Escher for that matter) was what got me into Necromunda in the first place. I just thought she was so cool! What I really want to see though, is a story about Brakar the Avenger! That would kick so much a**! xd  

[Hoxtalicious]

Well, Eisenhorn and the game Inquisitor for that matter, are more or less aimed at a slightly older audience in my opinion. Draco. Draco is one of those first novels ever written, hence it's great contradictions with the current fluff. Same can be said of the first Gaunt's Ghosts novel, with the Iron Men thing. According to many, it was something that Abnett shouldn't have done, as it made people think that the Necrons were created by the Imperium. I'm still hunting for old novels, as I want to know how it was in the old days. I am very keen on getting my hands on a copy of Farseer amongst others, one of the first (and sadly, only) books written around xenos.

Though I must admit on stock characters, the third novel in the Vampire Genevieve series, "Beasts in Velvet" has a really cheesy title character, Filthy Harald, an Old World version of Dirty Harry, complete with a Mignum throwing knife and a mean streak a mile wide. (Then there's also the subtle hints at the Dirty Dozen group and the list can go on forever.) But it's one of my favourite reads, so I'm not ragging on this one, even if paid to do so.

Andy said that he would pen other novels as well, so who knows? I'm looking forward to Flesh Works, penned by Nick Kyme of the UK WD. But my biggest hope is that they'll start a novel range around Mordheim, that would really make my day. I've already got Ulli and Marquand, a fun graphic novel to read if in for dark humour. Dark and silly humour.

Still, I'm a pathetic fanboy, I'll most likely buy each novel and read them at least once. Only good novels will be read over and over and over again, something I rarely do. They need to stand out with something! I've read Ravenor a dozen times and even bought the softback version so I could take it on my trip abroad, I've read Necropolis so many times that the spine of the book is brittle and cracked. A well read book should show this.  

[berserker_girl]

No matter how many times I read a book, I always make sure I don't crack the spine. And I haven't read one Gaunt's Ghosts novel, I can't find any of them here; thank the gods for Ebay! ( xd )

I collect the old books too! And just like you, I'm interested in reading about how things used to be. The oldest book I have right now is a Warhammer anthology called Wolf Riders. Its good, but it has some slightly big differences with modern Warhammer. I have a copy of Farseer, its one of my favorite books, and one of the few that I've reread.

One of the biggest differences about Zaragoz is that there was no mention of Sigmar. Morr and Manaan were mentioned, but beyond them, it was all about Solkan and Arianka, two of the Gods of Law. (Since reading Zaragoz, I've read more about them and I really like them. Its sad that the chance of GW bringing them back is more than slim; they proved rather unpopular to the majority of people, or so I read.)

A book series on Mordheim would be awesome, particuarly something dealing with the daemon guy who lives in the old pit fighting stadium (I forgot him name!). I still haven't read Ulli and Marquand, but I've heard many good things about it. And Fleshworks is deffinately on my "need to buy" list.

I'm a serious fangirl when it comes to Warhammer novels (not so much 40k). Grudgebearer by Gav Thorpe, read it atleast three times, in a row (its a very good book.) Ravenor got a similar treatment, though I only have the hardback. -cringe- I don't like cracked spines. I try so hard not to crack the spines of my books. Even when a friend asks to borrow a book of mine, I always tell them not to bend the spine, and show them how I hold the book when I read. Its just an "OCD" thing.