Prince of Crows - Spoilers in Tags

[Soul Hunter]

I finished Prince of Crows in under 10 hours two days ago and I must say that it is frakking fantastic!

Sevatar is without a doubt now one of my Top 5 Warhammer characters. He always has a line, is hilarious either on purpose or without realising it, and has one of the most belligerent attitudes towards the Primarchs I have ever seen. He's also crazy as one stunt unquestionably proves, even a Primarch wouldn't have tried to do what he did. :lol:

After all its not every day that a Space Marine hitches a ride on a fighter by hanging onto the hull one-handed while its in the middle of a dogfight and using it to board an enemy craft. Show me a Primarch who'd dare to do that!

The story itself is damn interesting. Two segments, the first showing the Night Lords final battle in the Thramas Crusade and the second showing Curze growing up in Nostramo Quintus and becoming the King. If any one Primarch needed to have their childhood story told its Curze, he had the most interesting past of all the Primarchs and it explains his reasoning behind his beliefs on justice and his subjugation of Nostramo Quintus. Sevatar's story was just as entertaining, as he pretty much takes the reins of the Night Lords Legion and guides it along its path for the remainder of the Heresy, and helps take part in one crazy as hell assault.

And of course the ending was great, and exciting as it puts the Night Lords in a whole new situation.

Sevatar's story ending with him and many other Night Lords as prisoners on the Invincible Reason, the Dark Angels keeping a tight watch on them. And of course as Sevatar has an escape plan, kill anybody who tries to stop them getting away. I love that this sets up the stage for more stories with Sevatar, and likely will be a major part of ADB's Night Lords Heresy novel Midnight Souls.

Oh and uh Konrad Curze was not captured and is currently somewhere on board the Invincible Reason, but nobody knows where. The Lion is going to be pissed when the mutilations begin. [insert evil laugh]

Another element I vastly enjoyed is Sevatar's ability to make unintentionally hilarious quips. Throughout the story he made me laugh with at least seven quotes that I just found absolutely side-splittingly funny. A few examples here,

(When told that a Commodore has survived an ambush and is now the highest ranking survivor.)
"That makes him the new fleet admiral. Offer him my insincere congratulations on a rank he earned purely by being the last naval officer standing. But what's the bad news?"

(When running into Alastor Rushal "The Raven" on the Invincible Reason)
"You won't believe how I got here."

(When Curze decides to scrap the retreat plan and assault the Invincible Reason.)
"This is why the Imperials always win. They don't get in each other's way. Disicpline may be dull but it has undeniable military application."

(Before leaving the Nightfall to join the attack on the Invincible Reason.)
"I may be gone a while. Try not to get my ship killed."

Another thing I enjoyed was the depiction of the Emperor and Curze meeting for the first time, and the new concepts it introduces.

Particularly that the Emperor complemented Curze, as did Fulgrim, on his rule of Nostramo Quintus by saying it was the model of a compliant world. And yet he is the Emperor so there's no way he could not tell how all of that was achieved. Curze took that as proof that his vision of justice was the correct one, that whether or not his people were happy did not matter. He made them human despite their desire to be otherwise and made a civilisation into a model of compliance through fear and gory punishment.

Plus he saw how the four escorting Primarchs would die. Dorn being assaulted by hundreds of knife-wielding killers, Lorgar screaming under a burning sky, Fulgrim laughing and impossible to fully see, and Ferrus Manus's eyeless head being held by its ocular pits by an armored gauntlet. The latter three we already knew but a hint to Dorn's death is fascinating, dragged down by hundreds of Black Legionnaires aboard the Sword of Sacrilege perhaps?

One thing about PoC that did confuse me slightly was Sevatar's secret, i'm fairly confident I know the answer but there is something else that it could be that I can't discount.

More than likely he's a repressed psyker, one whose suppressed his power from the start and if that's true then he is definitely a POWERFUL psyker, like Ahriman-level powerful. Either that or he too has the gift of foresight that Curze has, and like Curze its killing him.

I think its more likely that he's a psyker since Sevatar was able to enter Curze's mind and as a child could commune with the murder of crows that he was friends with, which is why he's called The Prince of Crows. But if Sevatar is a psyker and even as a child could talk to the crows, which helped him deal with the ever-present headaches and nose bleeds that he got, then he is definitely a strong one.

Next time ADB answers questions i'll have to ask for confirmation on whether Sevatar is a psyker or not.

Prince of Crows gets a 9.4/10 in my books, its definitely one of my favourite Heresy pieces and it makes me anticipate ADB's Night Lords Heresy book even more. I just have one request now.

PLEASE DON'T KILL SEVATAR ADB!! HE'S TOO AWESOME!!


SH

[Londinium]

I finished Prince of Crows in under 10 hours two days ago and I must say that it is frakking fantastic!

Sevatar is without a doubt now one of my Top 5 Warhammer characters. He always has a line, is hilarious either on purpose or without realising it, and has one of the most belligerent attitudes towards the Primarchs I have ever seen. He's also crazy as one stunt unquestionably proves, even a Primarch wouldn't have tried to do what he did. :lol:

After all its not every day that a Space Marine hitches a ride on a fighter by hanging onto the hull one-handed while its in the middle of a dogfight and using it to board an enemy craft. Show me a Primarch who'd dare to do that!

The story itself is damn interesting. Two segments, the first showing the Night Lords final battle in the Thramas Crusade and the second showing Curze growing up in Nostramo Quintus and becoming the King. If any one Primarch needed to have their childhood story told its Curze, he had the most interesting past of all the Primarchs and it explains his reasoning behind his beliefs on justice and his subjugation of Nostramo Quintus. Sevatar's story was just as entertaining, as he pretty much takes the reins of the Night Lords Legion and guides it along its path for the remainder of the Heresy, and helps take part in one crazy as hell assault.

And of course the ending was great, and exciting as it puts the Night Lords in a whole new situation.

Sevatar's story ending with him and many other Night Lords as prisoners on the Invincible Reason, the Dark Angels keeping a tight watch on them. And of course as Sevatar has an escape plan, kill anybody who tries to stop them getting away. I love that this sets up the stage for more stories with Sevatar, and likely will be a major part of ADB's Night Lords Heresy novel Midnight Souls.

Oh and uh Konrad Curze was not captured and is currently somewhere on board the Invincible Reason, but nobody knows where. The Lion is going to be pissed when the mutilations begin. [insert evil laugh]

Another element I vastly enjoyed is Sevatar's ability to make unintentionally hilarious quips. Throughout the story he made me laugh with at least seven quotes that I just found absolutely side-splittingly funny. A few examples here,

(When told that a Commodore has survived an ambush and is now the highest ranking survivor.)
"That makes him the new fleet admiral. Offer him my insincere congratulations on a rank he earned purely by being the last naval officer standing. But what's the bad news?"

(When running into Alastor Rushal "The Raven" on the Invincible Reason)
"You won't believe how I got here."

(When Curze decides to scrap the retreat plan and assault the Invincible Reason.)
"This is why the Imperials always win. They don't get in each other's way. Disicpline may be dull but it has undeniable military application."

(Before leaving the Nightfall to join the attack on the Invincible Reason.)
"I may be gone a while. Try not to get my ship killed."

Another thing I enjoyed was the depiction of the Emperor and Curze meeting for the first time, and the new concepts it introduces.

Particularly that the Emperor complemented Curze, as did Fulgrim, on his rule of Nostramo Quintus by saying it was the model of a compliant world. And yet he is the Emperor so there's no way he could not tell how all of that was achieved. Curze took that as proof that his vision of justice was the correct one, that whether or not his people were happy did not matter. He made them human despite their desire to be otherwise and made a civilisation into a model of compliance through fear and gory punishment.

Plus he saw how the four escorting Primarchs would die. Dorn being assaulted by hundreds of knife-wielding killers, Lorgar screaming under a burning sky, Fulgrim laughing and impossible to fully see, and Ferrus Manus's eyeless head being held by its ocular pits by an armored gauntlet. The latter three we already knew but a hint to Dorn's death is fascinating, dragged down by hundreds of Black Legionnaires aboard the Sword of Sacrilege perhaps?

One thing about PoC that did confuse me slightly was Sevatar's secret, i'm fairly confident I know the answer but there is something else that it could be that I can't discount.

More than likely he's a repressed psyker, one whose suppressed his power from the start and if that's true then he is definitely a POWERFUL psyker, like Ahriman-level powerful. Either that or he too has the gift of foresight that Curze has, and like Curze its killing him.

I think its more likely that he's a psyker since Sevatar was able to enter Curze's mind and as a child could commune with the murder of crows that he was friends with, which is why he's called The Prince of Crows. But if Sevatar is a psyker and even as a child could talk to the crows, which helped him deal with the ever-present headaches and nose bleeds that he got, then he is definitely a strong one.

Next time ADB answers questions i'll have to ask for confirmation on whether Sevatar is a psyker or not.

Prince of Crows gets a 9.4/10 in my books, its definitely one of my favourite Heresy pieces and it makes me anticipate ADB's Night Lords Heresy book even more. I just have one request now.

PLEASE DON'T KILL SEVATAR ADB!! HE'S TOO AWESOME!!


SH

Sounds awesome like all of ADB's stuff, I can honestly say the only thing that I've really had issues with in his work was how 'earth like' his Nostramo was, rather than a hive city meets the Narrows (Batman Begins) meets Victorian Whitechapel hellhole. Other than that the man can do no wrong, so I'm not surprised this is awesome, I wish they'd release it as an e-book already like they did with The Crimson Fist.

Just a few points:

Is Talos mentioned anywhere?

The thing about the Primarchs deaths, I'm pretty sure we never knew anything about Fulgrim or Lorgar's deaths before. Dorn and Manus were known but as per the IAs, Lorgar is in the Eye and Fulgrim is missing, possibly lording over a planet of pleasure. So those two are new, I think the Dorn stuff is definitely a reference to the Sacrilege, nice to see they haven't retconned that.

I like what you wrote about ADB expanding upon the first meeting between the Emperor and Konrad as well. The idea that the Emperor praised him for how he forced Nostramo into compliance is fascinating. If anything it draws parallels with how the Emperor dealt with Lorgar. Nice to see that Fulgrim is present aswell, I was beginning to think they'd retconned Fulgrim tutoring Konrad out of current continuity, what with short time period between the ECs leaving Horus and heading to Laeran but theres some hope that the old Fulgrim/Night Haunter mentorship is still there

[Soul Hunter]

Sounds awesome like all of ADB's stuff, I can honestly say the only thing that I've really had issues with in his work was how 'earth like' his Nostramo was, rather than a hive city meets the Narrows (Batman Begins) meets Victorian Whitechapel hellhole. Other than that the man can do no wrong, so I'm not surprised this is awesome, I wish they'd release it as an e-book already like they did with The Crimson Fist.

Just a few points:

Is Talos mentioned anywhere?

The thing about the Primarchs deaths, I'm pretty sure we never knew anything about Fulgrim or Lorgar's deaths before. Dorn and Manus were known but as per the IAs, Lorgar is in the Eye and Fulgrim is missing, possibly lording over a planet of pleasure. So those two are new, I think the Dorn stuff is definitely a reference to the Sacrilege, nice to see they haven't retconned that.

I like what you wrote about ADB expanding upon the first meeting between the Emperor and Konrad as well. The idea that the Emperor praised him for how he forced Nostramo into compliance is fascinating. If anything it draws parallels with how the Emperor dealt with Lorgar. Nice to see that Fulgrim is present aswell, I was beginning to think they'd retconned Fulgrim tutoring Konrad out of current continuity, what with short time period between the ECs leaving Horus and heading to Laeran but theres some hope that the old Fulgrim/Night Haunter mentorship is still there.

Nostramo could never really be a great Hive city world because of the crime and sunless state of the planet. Why build all that when what you have now is acceptable?

In answer to your questions and points,

At one point the Covenant of Blood is present during the retreat from Thramas, and its mentioned it will be rejoining the Warmaster's fleet along with other Night Lords who want to go to Terra. No Talos though.

Curze doesn't see Fulgrim and Lorgar's deaths, he sees their ascensions to Daemonhood. Which could be considered a death and rebirth, and of course he could not have known what he was seeing.

It does indeed, it also strengthens the point that the Emperor sanctioned the Night Lords actions during the Crusade. If he approved of Nostramo, why censure them for doing it to other worlds? To make himself the hero. And yeah its clear that Fulgrim and Curze will get along somewhat, Fulgrim is the only one who seems pleased to have found Curze and is genuinely happy to meet him. Dorn and Manus are stoic about it, and Lorgar is sad about how crappy a planet Nostramo is and what poor lives its people lead, clearly this was Pre-Monarchia Lorgar.

SH

[Erazmus_M_Wattle]

I'm not sure I like this mention of Fulgrim dying. He becomes a daemon prince and is alive and well in the 40k continuity. How odd.

Edit: okay. It would help if I'd actually read the book. I'll bow out now.

[Soul Hunter]

I'm not sure I like s mention of Fulgrim dying. He becomes a daemon prince and is alive and well in the 40k continuity. How odd.

As I have just said in my above post Curze saw Fulgrim ascending, not dying. He probably assumed that it was death because he couldn't have known what was actually happening to him.

SH

[Londinium]

Nostramo could never really be a great Hive city world because of the crime and sunless state of the planet. Why build all that when what you have now is acceptable?

In answer to your questions and points,

At one point the Covenant of Blood is present during the retreat from Thramas, and its mentioned it will be rejoining the Warmaster's fleet along with other Night Lords who want to go to Terra. No Talos though.

Curze doesn't see Fulgrim and Lorgar's deaths, he sees their ascensions to Daemonhood. Which could be considered a death and rebirth, and of course he could not have known what he was seeing.

It does indeed, it also strengthens the point that the Emperor sanctioned the Night Lords actions during the Crusade. If he approved of Nostramo, why censure them for doing it to other worlds? To make himself the hero. And yeah its clear that Fulgrim and Curze will get along somewhat, Fulgrim is the only one who seems pleased to have found Curze and is genuinely happy to meet him. Dorn and Manus are stoic about it, and Lorgar is sad about how crappy a planet Nostramo is and what poor lives its people lead, clearly this was Pre-Monarchia Lorgar.

SH

Cheers, I'm slapping myself on the head

that I didn't realise those weren't deaths but were ascensions for Lorgar and Fulgrim. It would have been stupid if Curze could see them dying as daemons and not be a big puzzled by that.

About Nostramo, it didn't always have to have been such a useless place, after all there had to be some kind of worth in the planet for it to be settled despite it's rather horrible environmental condition. Indeed it's IA described it having thousands of factories and exporting large quantities of adamantium. I always saw Nostramo more as somewhere that was once successful and had crumbled and fallen over the centuries, hastened by the take over of crime lords and the like. Essentially a hive Gotham City but que sera it's no biggy, just a different view. Now I need to get my hands on this novella.

[MiyamatoMusashi]

Just to mention that I largely agree with the OP that Prince of Crows was phenomenal; I mini-reviewed it as part of the Shadows of Treachery book as a whole, you can find my thoughts here if you're interested.

[Lupe]

I'm not sure I like this mention of Fulgrim dying. He becomes a daemon prince and is alive and well in the 40k continuity. How odd.

Well, aside from the ascension theory (I've not read the story yet, so I don't know if the exact wording rules my ideas out), it could be a nod to the old rumours that Curze's visions were imperfect. Or, it could be that the deaths were mutually exclusive. Either two different potential outcomes for the Heresy, or something different altogether (i.e, glimpses of a Dornian Heresy-style alternate future).

[Soul Hunter]

Well, aside from the ascension theory (I've not read the story yet, so I don't know if the exact wording rules my ideas out), it could be a nod to the old rumours that Curze's visions were imperfect. Or, it could be that the deaths were mutually exclusive. Either two different potential outcomes for the Heresy, or something different altogether (i.e, glimpses of a Dornian Heresy-style alternate future).

It kinda does, for Lorgar at least,

"He saw this warrior crowned in psychic fire, screaming up at a burning sky."

And for Fulgrim,

"He saw this final giant in only the faintest of images; always slithering and laughing, never entirely visible."

Its pretty clear that its their Ascensions to Daemonhood.


SH

[Sqallum]

Sounds great. I am defenitely buying this I also like the new names, like Rushal and the ship, Nightfall. Eagerly awaiting Midnight Souls

[Dead.Blue.Clown]

Sounds great. I am defenitely buying this I also like the new names, like Rushal and the ship, Nightfall. Eagerly awaiting Midnight Souls

What's Midnight Souls?

[Sqallum]

Yeah, I was wondering. But the OP said your new book was called that. I guess it is untrue since you would know if you were writing it

[Sqallum]

and likely will be a major part of ADB's Night Lords Heresy novel Midnight Souls.


SH

There it is.

[Soul Hunter]

Yeah, I was wondering. But the OP said your new book was called that. I guess it is untrue since you would know if you were writing it

I remember ADB mentioning it on his blog as a possible title for a Night Lords HH book. He must have changed his mind.

Sounds great. I am defenitely buying this I also like the new names, like Rushal and the ship, Nightfall. Eagerly awaiting Midnight Souls

Alastor Rushal was cool, though he isn't your common Night Lord.


SH

[Dead.Blue.Clown]

I remember ADB mentioning it on his blog as a possible title for a Night Lords HH book. He must have changed his mind.

Oh, I see what's going on now. I was lost for a bit, there.

You may be misremembering, good sir. Never mentioned Midnight Souls.

There was Lost Souls, many moons ago, but for the last X years the title I've mentioned in public has been Nightfall.

[Soul Hunter]

Oh, I see what's going on now. I was lost for a bit, there.

You may be misremembering, good sir. Never mentioned Midnight Souls.

There was Lost Souls, many moons ago, but for the last X years the title I've mentioned in public has been Nightfall.

Ah I see my mistake. Well no matter the title its definitely something to look forward to.


SH

[Sqallum]

How is Rushal 'different' from many Night Lords? Does he not kill people for the fun of it?

[Soul Hunter]

How is Rushal 'different' from many Night Lords? Does he not kill people for the fun of it?

Oh no he does, he's...

A Raven Guard who either defected or was captured during the Istvaan Massacre, and was apparantely tortured and de-tongued by Sevatar afterwards. He's now one of the Kyroptera, one of the seven leaders of the Legion.

LotN

[kaimarion]

Where can I find a copy of Prince of Crows?
Checked the BL website and can't find it.

[Soul Hunter]

Where can I find a copy of Prince of Crows?
Checked the BL website and can't find it.

Wait for Shadows of Treachery to be released. Its a part of the anthology.


SH