BL: Path Of The Renegade

I'd more agree with the thought that yeah, Scourges weren't quite as well portrayed, as they are far higher ranked than simple Hellions. I would disagree about the portrayal of haemonculi, though - while Syiin certainly was of the sniveling crawler type, the haemonculi masters and Bellathonis especially were portrayed as quite powerful, intelligent and respectable characters. Yes, Bellathonis was always on the lookout from the whims of Malixian, but that's to be expected - they themselves are in no way in charge of the kabals like the Archons are, and around a nutcase as Malixian one has to beware. At the very same time Bellathonis always had the air of being truly in charge when the arts of flesh were concerned, as I think it was proper.

I agree about Morr. Morr is amazing and makes me anxious for Path of the Incubi. He made me love the Incubi far more than I did before, as it takes strong character to stick to the honorbound code of the Incubi to such a degree that Morr showed.

Makes one ponder about just how deep is his connection with Morr of Warhammer. The image certainly is more than fitting... The bit with namedropping Arhra was also... intriguing. I suppose we'll find out more in the second book, whenever that comes out.

Regarding the sense of the size of Commorragh, I think the only times anyone 'sees' it all are in dreams. As the content of a dream isn't usually straightforward at the best of times, I see no problem with dreaming that one can see all of the impossibly vast Dark City In fact, I think it's even pointed out in one of the dreams that this view is impossible. After all, the satellite realms are compared to jewels, but no-one understands this to mean that they are literally rubies and diamonds

I have only started reading the book today, and have only got to chapter 3; but so far I am disapoointed. The charecters feel too human, their emotions do not flick between extremes like I imagine a DEldar's would. I hate the depiction of the Haemonculi, The Archon's I have met so far aren't mad enough and Commorragh seems to be tiny. Andy Chambers must have some sort of curse as he is able to make me imagine Commorragh as being no bigger than a Shropshire village.

I am committed to finishing it, however, and I really, really hope it gets better.

Cavash wrote:

I have only started reading the book today, and have only got to chapter 3; but so far I am disapoointed. The charecters feel too human, their emotions do not flick between extremes like I imagine a DEldar's would. I hate the depiction of the Haemonculi, The Archon's I have met so far aren't mad enough and Commorragh seems to be tiny. Andy Chambers must have some sort of curse as he is able to make me imagine Commorragh as being no bigger than a Shropshire village.

I am committed to finishing it, however, and I really, really hope it gets better.

Don't worry, it does. I, too, was massively disappointed at first, but when it kicks off it really is a good read.

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really hope it gets better.

Not much. It will start to have some interesting things, but there will also be complete holes in logic and very poor character development.

Compare to Path of Warrior, Path of Seer i must way i am dissapointed.

Azdrubael wrote:

Quote :

really hope it gets better.

Not much. It will start to have some interesting things, but there will also be complete holes in logic and very poor character development.

Compare to Path of Warrior, Path of Seer i must way i am dissapointed.

I would say similar but the final battle in Path of the Seer is so mind-searingly stupid and poorly written that it ruins the book for me.

I just finished Path of the Renegade and I must say it is one of the best Black Library books I have read. I thought the characters and City of Commoragh itself were well portrayed. Keep in mind that while this book is about an utterly alien civilization, it is meant for a human audience. It was also refreshing to read a book about 40K written by someone who had played and understood the game!

I also thought it was a good book ah well personal taste and all that, I actually really dislike Thorpe's writing. I prefer Chambers' style. There are some fluff pieces I dislike, like the mentioned Scourges, and sometimes it feels like he is just repeating parts of the codex. I can forgive the latter as it is probably done so that everybody knows what is being described instead of just blotting down a name only the inside crowd gets.
BL books always had their flaws in terms of background whether because of writers imaginations running wild or simply being uninformed. Only very minor stuff in this book that did not detract from enjoying it.

I agree that the characters are portrayed too human but it is very difficult to not write that way as it would seriously bore or even confuse most readers. These are books for a mass market with a great range of age groups. I think Chambers did well keeping it simple but not too simple.

I also did not get the feeling Commoragh was small, on the contrary, but more strictly organized than I imagined. I always thought there were numerous invisible and constantly shifting political borders if anyone knows what I means. Everything seemed to have been set in stone for ages.

Cannot wait for March next year and really hope to see Morr again! Incubi are cool anyway but he was awesome. I got what I expect from any BL book, a nice story that you read through in a day or two.

I'm afraid to say I was really disappointed with this one, Morr was good, very good, but as for everything else, well it just didn't seem very Dark Eldar, SPOILER - I felt that it was more a book about chaos and how easy they find it to dupe the dark eldar rather than how cunning and just how many layers of plotting an archon is capable of.

Shame because I like Andy Chambers, his skaven tactics article in the back of the army book is one of my nostalgic moments in the hobby, so much so i bought a copy even once it had been replaced by the new version.

Here's to the next one being better.
TBE

Anyone who enjoyed this book and is looking forward to the next installment should read the following thread where Andy Chambers answers some questions...

http://thebolthole.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1586

I finally got around to finishing this book today. I was reserved and a bit disapinted at the first half and I lost interest and put it down, just to pick it up last night and read the last 240 pages. I must admit that it got better the more that I went through, although I think Black Library authors are against me. They always kill of my favorite charecters.
It has a nice ending, but I was expecting something more war-ish. I am looking forward to Path of the Incubus.

Anyone else hankering for a cross over with Gav Thorpes Path books? It's almost like they will, then they dont...

Path of the Outcast and path of the Incubi have potential to over lap.

I have only Just reached the end of chapter three in the this book but I must say I'm also very disappointed. I really feel as If I'm reading about human characters in Eldar skin. I haven't read Gav's path series yet but there is just so very very little in dialogue, mannerisms, emotions, mindsets and outlooks of the dark kin in this book that remotely makes them feel alien and 'different'.

I did however like Chambers depictions of the different districts and tiers of Commorragh and how the arena functioned, that was all very well executed.

SPOLIER!

The appearance of Vect was a huge disappointment! The way he appeared on the gigantic screen was cliche and unimaginative (not to mention comical) that it just elicited a painful moan from me. O and Vect's dialogue in that scene was cringy, uninspired mustache twirling villain anyone?

Either way I will finish it and hopefully my views will change.

I agreed with everything that you had to say in the first half of the book, especially on the humans in DEldar skin point. I do have to say that this changed, in my opinion, in the later chapters when other charecters are introduced.

One thing that somebody pointed out earlier, look out for Morr. Morr's awesome.

I loved Path of the Renegade. I'm aware most BL novels can be hit-and-miss, but this one was quite good by their standards. I feel that the Archons being "too human" is all part of what make Dark Eldar great. Out of all the races, Dark Eldar are the most reflective of current society. Arrogance, power-lust, violence, and complete disregard of others are all powerful elements of those in the higher echelons. In an exaggerated and grimdark context, of course.

My biggest dislike of book however was Asdrubael Vect. Sitting in a floating obsidian tower projecting his giant face reminds me of ever bad, cheese cartoon villain I ever watched as a kid, like the bad guy from Crash Nitro Kart. Personally I think Lord Vetinari from Terry Pratchetts Diskworld novels would make the perfect Asdrubael Vect. His is a special kind of madness.