Is this the objectively best 40k novel?
No
>>44792499
lol no
>>44792499
>>44792628
These two (I know they're trilogies but I read them in Omnibus format so I consider them single books each) are tied for best, IMO.
But then, BL's best is several steps below any other fantasy or science fiction I've read, IMO. Dabnett and ADB are okay writers who take a really, really shallow but very cool setting and force it to approach the lowest bracket of good fantasy and science fiction.
I don't give a shit how many smug anime girls you post, here are some science fiction and fantasy authors I have read and consider good:
Tolkien
Pratchett
Frank Herbert (though only Dune, Dune Messiah, and half of Children of Dune)
Stephen Baxter
Robert J. Sawyer
Fritz Leiber
Lovecraft
Jules Verne
H.G. Wells
Neil Gaiman
Mike Mignola
Shitty, spotty, incomplete list, but you get what I mean.
>>44793029
Heinlein (Only SiaSL though)
Can't say I've read any Asimov or PKD.
>>44792499
Well that's not Ciaphas Cain, so no
>>44793029
>no R.A. Salvatore
What would you guys recommend for a literary snob?
>>44793029
That's nice. I've read about three-quarters of those as well. But I don't read 40k books because they meet the qualifications of good fantasy or science fiction. I read them because they're 40k. And I like 40k. I would never even think to compare 40k to any of those because I know those would lose. They're not 40k. No, not even Dune.
>>44793029
So glad to know you find the likes of Tolkein, Lovecraft, Verne, and Wells acceptable senpai
>>44793127
>>/lit/
>>44793158
I meant 40K books, silly.
>>44793144
You're twisting my words. I'm a dumbshit without a degree who hasn't read a word of Asimov and started on Leiber this year.
I put Tolkien and other genre staples up their because, as genre staples, they're a watermark. Good sci-fi/fantasy should be roughly similar in quality.
But sure man, once you fuck off back to leddit why don't you post this in one of their cringe boards for all da upboats? That'd fucking show me.
>>44793226
anon...
>>44793029
I'm about to get shot here, but I'm actually not a huge fan of Tolkien's writing, I couldn't get past the first 50 pages of The Hobbit before quitting it. Then again, I wasn't a huge fan of the series in the first place.
On another note, Frank Herbert's son Brian has teamed up with Frank Anderson for some good books as well.
>>44793136
That's the thing though, dude. I love 40k too. I admit its core is terribly put together but what has been done with it over its life as a franchise, that big amalgamated beast of pieces of visual artwork, White Dwarf articles, the rare good codex and BL fluff, the sheer weight of the number of artists and contributors over the years - enough carbon in a small enough area is gonna compress in some places amongst its mass into some blisteringly bright diamonds in a sea of fucking rough, but they're all the more precious for it.
>>44793188
Well, it kinda depends on what aspects of literary snob you care about. For instance, a book that makes the 40k setting feel more alive will earn higher marks from me than one that does not, but that might have had more memorable characters or a more interesting plot.
For instance, Death of Integrity is about two chapters clearing a space hulk because the AdMech asked them to. Nothing extremely innovative, but it answers all of the questions that come with space hulk exploration as well as extremely interesting lore related to the two chapters. Why are terminators used? Why do they go in with such a small number? Why don't they just blow it up? How do genestealers get inside? I consider it one of the best of the Space Marine Battle books not because of how exciting or how good the characters are written, but because it takes a more hard sci-fi approach to 40k and develops rational answers..
>>44793188
not to read 40k books then.
>>44793250
Many on /tg/ will agree with your stance on Tolkien's writing - I won't, however. It's good shit. I'm surprised you didn't like The Hobbit, it's the literary equivalent to wrapping up in a fuzzy blanket with your favourite drink and snack on hand.
Funny though, because I've heard Brian Herbert's approach to Dune embodies none of what I enjoyed about his father's.
>>44792499
Soul Hunter was good. Blood Reaver felt off and the sudden fixation on piss didn't help matters.
reminder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXAvF9p8nmM
>>44793316
That's what I want out of a 40k book. I love exploring Astartes Chapter cultures, I love world-building, I love the "how and why" of it.
That or something that takes a very poetic, mythic, gothic approach. When ADB writes something like: "The sound of The Eighth Legion at war is the sound of wolves and lions slaying another, while carrion birds circle and scream above". Stuff that turns my mental image into a Blanche painting or those hideously beautiful monochrome inkworks from the 3rd-5th ed codices - Karl Kopinski, I think?
I liked The Judges, In Their Hunger, by Dave Annandale and it got me excited to read more from him. Any other experiences with his BL stuff?
>>44793250
>Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
>Good
You've got shit taste anon. Anderson wrote that steaming pile Darksaber.
>>44793464
You can really get a feel for different BL author's work. ADB takes a much more fantasy approach to 40k, whereas Guy Haley (who wrote Death of Integrity) really pushes for harder sci-fi. Abnett tends to lean more towards contemporary, with modern speech and conveniences, whereas Chris Wraight is big on real world historical relations. McNeil likes to handle big events and use big words, and I personally feel the less 40k he writes, the better.
I found David Annandale's shorter works tend to be really good. He sadly had the misfortune of writing Damnation of Pythos, which fell into the unfortunate Horus Heresy category of really not having anything to do with the Horus Heresy.
>>44793593
I'll definitely give Wraight and Haley a try. Cheers.
>>44793250
It isn't exactly the writing style that's impressive about Tolkien's stuff. It's the fact that he created the history of a world from literally creation. It was a work of such scope and with so much detail that you can't help but be impressed.
Sure plenty of fantasy authors have created worlds and many explain how they came about, but he went into so much detail and tracked it all from start to present.
>>44792499
It was all great up until the end where ADB clearly didn't have a clue about eldar. He even chose Ulthwe, the chaos-hunters.
it's not the talon of horus but close
>>44793971
What was the problem exactly?
Uzas did nothing wrong.
>>44793096
>thinking the guy responsible for super special snow flake drow and putting BDSM space orcs in Star Wars is good.
Get out.
>>44795475
>being this pleb
>>44793029
>no Asimov
Kill yourself.
>>44792499
I heard you were talking shit
>>44792499
Straight Silver is my favourite 40k novel.
Personal fave of a non trilogy or series.
>>44795636
That is one of the worst fucking things I have ever read, 40k or not. Fuck whoever recommends this piece of shit, I'd rather read Ward's rules all day than subject my eyes to this crap.
>>44795846
You seem mad.
>>44795846
Your making me want to read it now. I love low tier books like my bmovies .
>>44795636
>le space marines farting in each other's faces and eating shit
>>44796023
wait what
>>44796023
I never claimed it was funny.
Still better than Gaunt's Ghosts.
>>44795846
It's where it all came from, mostly no longer canon but still good if you can double suspend disbelief
>>44796023
And just doing killings because they were ordered to
>>44796092
but Gaunt's Ghosts are good, silly.
>>44796180
The first three are. The rest is shit.
>>44796023
Ebin memes
>>44792499
Its my personal favorite. ADB is one of the 2-3 talented writers that do stuff for BL.
>>44792499
>objectively best
lol
>>44792499
That's an omnibus, not a novel. So no.
And even then...
>navigator bitch getting impregnated by random shitter
>waifu cuckold terrorist marines who are oh so noble
It's shit.
>>44793250
I felt like the Hobbit was written for a younger audience than the Lord of the Rings. That could be part of the problem.
>>44792499
I haven't read NL series yet but heard so much good of it. Someone explain to me why it's so good and in detail.
From what I've understood it shows how fractured NL have become but in what way is it different from the way how WE were portrayed in Betrayer?
I need to catch up on some old stuff before it is retconned or otherwise superseded in the fluff.
Any suggestions of really bad stuff to do first?
>>44796593
Why care about what is or isn't "official" fluff in 40k in the first place?
>>44796468
>cuckold
that word has lost all meaning
