Fire caste {40K} review

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sonofccn
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Fire caste {40K} review

Post by sonofccn » Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:46 pm

Edit: Put this in the wrong forum, stupid...

Disclaimer: All opinions are my opinions and should be taken with a grain of salt.

Firstly if "Fifteen Hours" is the Great War in space "Fire Caste" is Vietnam. To which madness, losing/finding oneself in the "Jungle" and possible redemption play important tones in the story. Suffice if you were expecting straightforward stormbolter action you will be disappointed. Same if you were expecting a Tau centric novel, while important to the plot they are secondary. Lastly if you were more accustomed to light hearted fare, such as Commissar Cain, Hero of the Imperium, novels, like I am you’ll be disappointed. The book pretty much thrives on Grim Dark but then considering the whole Vietnam thing that isn’t surprising.

The plot itself concerns a "blacklisted" Regimental officer fighting his own demons and his troops who are dispatched to a backwater mote of a world the Imperium is well on its fifth decade in fighting over. A world were the commanders are mad and the orders are brutal, even by the IOM's standards, and betrayed by it the regiment decides to go into the jungle. To fight the enemy their way without hindrance of Command. And after them follows a frayed and breaking Commissar.

And this, I think, is the chief problem of the book. Our viewpoint character, such as we have one, is introduced at the tail end of an otherwise unconnected prologue, itself from the viewpoint of someone who won't reappear till near the end, and then forgotten about, save for intermediate journal entries, for a third of the story as we are introduced to a slew of new characters, most of whom die, and then spends another third meandering into the plot for reasons which are at best contrived if not nebulous. In a nutshell the guy who's pulling the strings for the whole thing wants the main character, a Commissar, to execute someone.

In a similar vein I found the writer’s use of loads and loads of characters and their frequent deaths to “thin the herd” made it hard to really fix on and relate to the Confederates. Just when it seemed one was becoming a view point character you could follow he’d end up dead, more than once “off screen” while you were following another viewpoint. I understand it hammers home the cruelty of war but I had trouble “caring”.

Another, perhaps bigger, issue I had was the wasted potential. The "Sea Spider" alone was skin crawlingly fantastic and could have fueled a story alongside his fanatical priest/enforcer. Then there was the pious Imperial slowly converting to worship of Khorne, that could have been an interesting process to focus on and keep with the madness theme, and the Arkhan Confederates themselves whom came across as an interesting "faction". Think space Confederates mixed with some New England touches, they love their Founders for instance, and touches of steampunk. Fleshed out more and centered around the civil war in their backstory, specifically the Chaos taint, I think they’d been a fun addition to Germanic Kreigers and Soviet Valhallans

Which is not to say the novel was bad. The action scenes were quite nice with the Tau's diverse army keeping everything fresh and exciting. One moment the Guard is dealing with arrow shooting savages, the next their under drone attack. And during it all the Kroot, Tau, or Vespid are displayed properly "alien like" and frightening. Balance was a little off at times, such as when a sentinel killed a Hammerhead, through it helped to maintain the "tension".

Overall, despite my bellyaching, I'd still rate the story three stars out of five. It was a decent read, at times page turning, with brutal but fun battle scenes. Certainly better than "Fifteen Hours" in my opinion, the story had a point and concludes it in a dramatic, serviceable if not quite satisfying manner.

Lucky
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Re: Fire caste {40K} review

Post by Lucky » Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:12 am

sonofccn wrote: Balance was a little off at times, such as when a sentinel killed a Hammerhead, through it helped to maintain the "tension".
How did the Sentinel take dow the Hammerhead? It sounds unlikely as apposed to impossible.

It certainly sounds more likely then Hammerheads being run over by Imperial Guard tanks I heard happened in a different book.

sonofccn
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Re: Fire caste {40K} review

Post by sonofccn » Fri Mar 15, 2013 1:45 am

At the height of his arc he ignited his undercarriage thrusters and set the leap on fire. Pushing his customised machine to its limits he soared across the lake to intercept the leading Devilfish. It was an insane, outrageous move that was almost heretical in its abuse of the machine’s tortured spirit, but then the machine itself was a heretical construct, twisted far beyond the sane limits of the Sentinel pattern by his obsessive tinkering. It was something more than a Sentinel, just as Vendrake himself had become something more than a man in this moment when the world had become something less than real. This is my Thunderground. His Sentinel came down hard on the tank, cracking its carapace and sending it into a wild spin. Calculating trajectories in a blur, Vendrake leapt across to its neighbour with his talons extended and his autocannon blazing. The landing raked deep grooves into the second Devilfish’s canopy and the bullets tore it wide open. And then Vendrake was leaping again. This is my redemption. Intent on Machen’s barge, the Hammerhead never saw him coming. Its gun was powering up to fire when the Sentinel slammed down onto its barrel. The ion cannon exploded like a miniature sun, disintegrating the tank’s canopy and the Sentinel’s legs.

Peter Fehervari. Fire Caste (Kindle Locations 5831-5843). Black Library.
Here's the relevant passage, Make of it as you will.

Lucky
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Re: Fire caste {40K} review

Post by Lucky » Sun Mar 24, 2013 5:06 am

sonofccn wrote:
Peter Fehervari. Fire Caste (Kindle Locations 5831-5843). Black Library. wrote: At the height of his arc he ignited his undercarriage thrusters and set the leap on fire. Pushing his customised machine to its limits he soared across the lake to intercept the leading Devilfish. It was an insane, outrageous move that was almost heretical in its abuse of the machine’s tortured spirit, but then the machine itself was a heretical construct, twisted far beyond the sane limits of the Sentinel pattern by his obsessive tinkering. It was something more than a Sentinel, just as Vendrake himself had become something more than a man in this moment when the world had become something less than real. This is my Thunderground. His Sentinel came down hard on the tank, cracking its carapace and sending it into a wild spin. Calculating trajectories in a blur, Vendrake leapt across to its neighbour with his talons extended and his autocannon blazing. The landing raked deep grooves into the second Devilfish’s canopy and the bullets tore it wide open. And then Vendrake was leaping again. This is my redemption. Intent on Machen’s barge, the Hammerhead never saw him coming. Its gun was powering up to fire when the Sentinel slammed down onto its barrel. The ion cannon exploded like a miniature sun, disintegrating the tank’s canopy and the Sentinel’s legs.
Here's the relevant passage, Make of it as you will.
So a heavily modified Sentinel got in a lucky burst at extremely close range that caused some fully charged capacitors on the Hammerhead to explode and basically destroying it? That isn't too bad I guess. It sounds like a golden BB type thing.

I'm more bothered by the armor on the Tau tanks cracking so easily from the physical impact. That doesn't make much sense.

Is there any chance of this being an unreliable narrator?

sonofccn
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Re: Fire caste {40K} review

Post by sonofccn » Wed Mar 27, 2013 2:15 am

Lucky wrote:Is there any chance of this being an unreliable narrator?
Not really. Except for some journal entries its all through your standard omniscient narrator viewpoint.

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Re: Fire caste {40K} review

Post by Lucky » Mon Apr 01, 2013 8:22 am

Lucky wrote:Is there any chance of this being an unreliable narrator?
sonofccn wrote:Not really. Except for some journal entries its all through your standard omniscient narrator viewpoint.
I thought that there was something about the Inquisition editing things in Cain series? Have i heard wrong?

If the Cain books can be edited versions then why can't thing?

sonofccn
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Re: Fire caste {40K} review

Post by sonofccn » Mon Apr 01, 2013 12:30 pm

Lucky wrote:I thought that there was something about the Inquisition editing things in Cain series? Have i heard wrong?
No you heard correctly, the Cain books are , in-universe, his memoirs which have been edited and formated by Inquistor Vail.
Lucky wrote:If the Cain books can be edited versions then why can't thing?
I would say its unlikely in the extreme, we are presented with no evidence we are viewing an archived text like we do in the Cain's books and it would be unlikely anyone would know and care to write about this incident, which is overall unflattering to the IOM, at least with an Imperial bias. Ultimatly through if that "balances" things for you knock yourself out.

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