The Emperor's Gift: Discussion

[Soul Hunter]

I got The Emperor's Gift weeks ago and read it in two days, my review on The Founding Fields (Lord of the Night) sums up my feelings on it, but to sum it up into three words these are appropriate. Awesome beyond belief!

Has anyone else gotten this and read it? And if so what are your thoughts on it? Here are mine, with spoilers.

SPOILERS

Hyperion turning out to be Zael Efferneti from the Ravenor trilogy was a bloody shock. I still find it hard to picture that scrawny kid becoming one of the Knights of Titan, and being the one who broke Angron's Black Blade at the First War for Armageddon just makes it even more epic. I also felt that his 'psychic mirror' ability finally proving its worth, making him an ideal candidate for Grey Knights training due to the nature of their squad bonds, was very cool. In Ravenor his power seemed fairly weak, that it got him into the training to be a Grey Knight despite his higher than average age is quite a statement about his power.

The 40k Space Wolves are awesome! I'll never forgive them for what they did to Prospero and the Sons, but after this novel I can't not respect and admire Logan Grimnar for his actions, but i'll always hate Russ and the 30k Wolves. He was willing to start a civil war with the Inquisition over the lives of a few million soldiers. In 40k a few million doesn't even make it as a drop in the ocean, and Grimnar refused to let them be annihilated just for seeing something they shouldn't have seen or hearing about things they weren't mean to hear about. His killing of Grand Master Joros is one of the best scenes in the book, and his promise to remember him until the Wolftime is chilling. Bjorn's cameo was great, and the reverence that Annika and Hyperion displayed to him was very interesting. Its not often you meet the last man alive who fought with Russ and the Emperor and who isn't a Chaos traitor.

The ending was fantastic. The Bell of Lost Souls is even better than I could have thought, its ringing is so loud that anyone in the tower not secure in the safe zone will be killed by the sound alone. It was cool seeing this obscure piece of 40k lore brought to life for TEG's ending, and its very fitting that it rings each time a Grey Knight dies.

SH

[Londinium]

I'm a big fan of ADB but I find the Grey Knights to be a bit of a snoozefest (especially given their recent horrible background overhaul). So I was wondering whether it was a good enough read to enjoy even if you can't stand the Grey Knights? To be fair, I used to really dislike the Word Bearers aswell but TFH really changed my view on them, so maybe I should give this a try anyway.

[reds8n]

I finished this just t'other day and can really only echo the OP. IMO this is the best book yet by Mr. "' clown", some truly great and memorable moments in it. Well worth picking UP ASAP.

Proper edge of seat stuff when they go down to fight Angron, wore a nail out as I read it !

[ThePope]

Better than Void Stalker?

[Sqallum]

Somehow Even better, yes
Sqallum

[Poncho160]

How have people got his already?? Its not released till next month i though. Also can someone tell me why its priced at £17.99? Is it a hardback? Cheers

[reds8n]

It is indeed hardback, no dust jacket, the artwork is printed directly onto the cover.

Whole thing looks very swish and I do prefer the slightly bigger size... gettin' old maybe !

[shadowhawk2008]

Its been released at conventions like Eastercon, Salute, Adepticon etc.

[Soul Hunter]

I finished this just t'other day and can really only echo the OP. IMO this is the best book yet by Mr. "' clown", some truly great and memorable moments in it. Well worth picking UP ASAP.

Proper edge of seat stuff when they go down to fight Angron, wore a nail out as I read it !

Indeed that was an incredible fight.

When Angron was described as being bigger than the Bloodthirsters... you could almost feel the despair. I think that moment summed up why a Primarch Daemon Prince is greater than any other Daemon in the Warp. Only Doombreed could eclipse them, perhaps.

SH

[shadowhawk2008]

Well, not just Doombreed but all the other "ancient" Great Daemons - Ann'grath, Kairos Fateweaver, Skarbrand, Skulltaker, Zarakynel, Ku'gath, Scabeithrax, Epidemius, The Masque and so on.

[Ominous Anonymous]

I only just finished it myself.

I loved any part the Space Wolves had to play, and the entire 'cold war' part I actually found to be more tense than the fight with Angron. With the latter, you already know how it ends but I honestly couldn't figure out how the Months of Shame were to end. What I liked best was the way ADB used the more meta-specific debate of how the Ward codex is different from the older fluff, and took the almost uber-puritan mindset of the new fluff to it's natural conclusion, and showed how untenable it was and how the Wolves would react to it.

I don't know if I like it better than Helsreach, but the latter third of the novel was handled perfectly.

[Shadow Walker]

Well, not just Doombreed but all the other "ancient" Great Daemons - Ann'grath, Kairos Fateweaver, Skarbrand, Skulltaker, Zarakynel, Ku'gath, Scabeithrax, Epidemius, The Masque and so on.

Ann'grath was defeated in Aurelian novella and Lorgar was not a Daemon Prince yet. I also doubt that daemonic heralds like Masque etc. could stand a chance against even non daemonic Primarchs.

[shadowhawk2008]

Aurelian is not as straightforward a story as you might expect. Lorgar's defeat of Ann'grath is a layered defeat with nuance.

[Simo429]

I wrote this review a couple of days ago as you will be able to see, absolutely loved the book.

[sheppe]

Now aVailable to purchase from BL - keenly downloading the ebook now!

[Scrotrot]

In stock on Amazon for £11.69

[goldenhorde]

[spoiler]The Space Wolves are great, especially Bjorn. However, the Grey Knights are a bit iffy, though I'd put that down to the new Codex rather than ABD. They have much much less character than ABD's amazing Night Lords. It just makes no sense that fully initiated Grey Knights, almost statistically nonexistent perfect balance of psyker, warrior, and pure soul, get turned into techmarines or retire from active combat into a librarium. If you produce a Grey Knight, he should be completely tasked to hunting daemons and making new Grey Knights until the moment he dies. Also, where were the High Lords of Terra (not to mention the Space Wolves' allies among the Chapters) while the Inquisition made war with a First Founding Chapter and exterminated so many worlds in less than a year? If the Imperium really is 1-2 million worlds, then even a couple of these Inquisitorial rampages every few centuries does incredible damage (burning, say a couple dozen). /spoiler]

[shadowhawk2008]

Who is going to maintain their armoury if not Techmarines of their own order?

[stormblade]

Mars priesthood specifically requisitioned by Ordo Malleus.
just an idea

[shadowhawk2008]

Mars priesthood specifically requisitioned by Ordo Malleus.
just an idea

And yet they are not of the order (chapter) itself