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Advent Shorts 2013!

12K views 71 replies 15 participants last post by  Child-of-the-Emperor 
#1 ·
As we know, Black Library has its Advent shorts working their way up till Christmas. Let's have this thread to update about which new we have each day, then for those who buy and read them, can give their opion about it.

Day 1: Advent Day One - Bjorn: Lone Wolf (Horus Heresy)


"The Story: As daemons swarm across the fields of Velbayne, bringing madness and Chaos to all that they touch, Leman Russ and the Rout stand arrayed against them. Packs fight back to back, brothers protecting one another – except for one. The Lone Wolf, the warrior without a pack, stands alone. And somewhere on the battlefield is a foe against which he will have vengeance…"

Day 2! Advent Day Two - Ahriman: Hand of Dust (eBook)


"The Story: On Prospero, a solitary living soul walks across the shattered world. Beneath the ruined spires, Ahriman, exiled son of Magnus the Red and destroyer of his Legion, contemplates what once was, what is, and what may yet be. And amidst the dust of the long-lost paradise world, the sorcerer faces his mistakes and decides his destiny."

I have yet to buy any of them, but might be buying the collectively after the 8th, as we know a audio short by ADB might come then.
 
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#42 ·
Day 19! Advent Day Nineteen - Abaddon: Chosen of Chaos!


The Story: In the aftermath of battle, a group of Black Legion warlords – traitors to mankind, drawn from across the Legions of Chaos and sworn to the Warmaster – torture a prisoner, a captain of the Space Marines. Defiant to the last, the son of the Emperor is prepared to die, his duty fulfilled. But Abaddon, the Chosen of Chaos, has other plans for this brave warrior…

Oh this one I am hyped for!! :D
 
#44 · (Edited)
Quite like this quote from the rule publication on Dante.

In the Time of Ending, we will see the final flight of the Dead Angel’s Host. They rise above us on howling wings. They fall upon us in a celestial storm. At their vanguard flies the Last Archangel.
To the Neverborn, he will be the Death-that-Soars. To you and I, he will be a mortal man bearing the immortal face of his fallen father. To the Imperium of Man, he will be hope.
A warrior of infinite courage. A soldier of infinite sorrows. Beware the golden mask that forever stares and never smiles, weeping tears of frozen gold.’
– From ‘The Mourner’s Prophecies’,
by Sargon Eregesh, Storm Oracle of the Black Legion

If it indeed refers to Dante, it's a great prophecy, even in the end times and at in the Blood Angels final actions, Dante is going to cause terror and mayhem amongst the forces of chaos.
 
#48 ·
It's only a thousand words, so there's not really any spoilers of note.

It does give us an impression of what his Black Legion series will be like though, and it was a very positive impression.
 
#52 ·
Day 20! Advent Day Twenty - Marneus Calgar: Lord of Ultramar!


The Story: In the aftermath of the Bloodborn invasion of Ultramar, Marneus Calgar meets with his Chief Librarian in the shadow of their primarch’s stasis-tomb. As they reflect upon the hardships of the past year and contemplate the future, both Tigurius and his Chapter Master realise that difficult decisions must be made – and a powerful enemy must be faced, lest Ultramar suffer greater losses still.

To be quite honest, I haven't read any Ultramarines from Graham, but his series feels so milked right now. It's almost like I want to tell him "Stop it with this single Chapter and move on to other projects!" I know he can write other interesting stories.
 
#54 ·
Day 21! Advent Day Twenty One - Lucius: The Eternal Blade!


The Story: Renowned as one of the finest duelists the galaxy has ever known, Lucius seeks ever greater challenges against which to test himself. After the Emperor's Children Legion scattered in the wake of their primarch's apotheosis on Iydris, he finds his way into the domain of a similarly legendary swordsman - Sanakht of the Thousand Sons. But which of these infamous warriors carries the greater favour amongst their new masters?

Ooooh this one I'm highly interested about. It's post-Angel Exterminatus.
 
#55 · (Edited)
There seems to be a mix-up with the title. It's meant to be Lucius: The Eternal Blade rather The Eternal Blademaster.

Anyway, I've just listened to it. It was okay.
 
#56 · (Edited)
So...



Poor Horus. He had to destroy about a third of four of the Legions that would follow him in his Heresy. Then he had to lose even more Space Marines because Angron felt the need to go melee against the survivors on Isstvan III. Then he had to deal with the Night Lords falling apart and splitting into who knows how many warbands. To say nothing of the increasing unreliability and degeneration of the World Eaters. Now one of the smallest Legions under his command ...



No wonder things fell apart for Horus in the end.

EDIT: in all seriousness, it sounds like a story for the sake of telling a story. The compliment I paid to Dembski-Bowden on his Facebook page for the Abaddon piece he wrote was that it avoided being exactly that. He managed to squeeze nuance and impact in a tiny story and made what was ostensibly a plug for a novel feel like anything but.

By contrast, I can't help but feel that this is an attempt to make up for the handling of Lucius in Angel Exterminatus. Frankly, I felt like that was one of the weak points of the novel; it didn't really serve any purpose and it went against the grain of Lucius being this amazing prodigy. So what, now we get a short story that emphasizes what a badass this guy is? We knew that before a half fleshed-out character that featured less than almost any one else in the supporting cast (but happened to be a supreme swordsman as well) cut him down to size.
 
#57 ·
You seem to be becoming increasingly more cynical P... I like it. :wink:
 
#60 ·
Day 22! Advent Day Twenty Two - Bjorn: The Fell-Handed!


The Story: After the battle is over, as the fire burns and the blood dries, tales are told and sagas forged. And no warrior of the Space Wolves is the hero of more stories than Bjorn the Fell-Handed. On Moreal, Finnvid tells of the heroics he witnessed from the ancient Dreadnought as Bjorn battled a foe beyond understanding, but one with which he was strangely familiar…

Told you there would be another of Bjorn! ;)
 
#61 ·
By the by, in the Lucius short, the eponymous character isn't sure about how he came back from death in Angel Exterminatus, but we get a heavily implied answer from the author:

 
#62 ·
Day 23! Advent Day Twenty Three - The Sanguinor: Exemplar of the Host!


The Story: For seven years the Blood Angels have warred against the Great Devourer on Skylos. For seven years they have fought and bled and died. Now, the war is almost over, and only a handful of the sons of Sanguinius remain. As they prepare to make their last stand, thoughts turn to the Sanguinor, said to arrive and bring hope in moments of great peril. But the Sanguinor is just a legend. It isn’t real… is it?
 
#64 · (Edited)
It's not that he got beat, though; it's how he got beat.

Lucius is actually a well-developed character. He has strengths and weaknesses, he possesses a personality - however unlikeable - and has motivations. Do all of the above still need to be fleshed out more? Sure. Graham's conceptual vision (see in the latest Black Library blog) is, in my opinion, more interesting than the execution we've seen thus far. The internal conflict that he mentions, between Lucius' desire for freedom discipline and his need for discipline, is something that needs to be realized.

Lucius' defeat at the hands of Loken worked well because it played into his strengths and weaknesses. We saw how the swordsman's arrogance can cause him to lose. Later, though, we saw why this haughty swordsman is as good as he is: he doesn't make the same mistake twice. In that sense, both characters were done justice: Lucius wasn't used as a punching bag for the hero or as a caricature, and we saw that Loken wasn't this invincible guy who always wins by virtue of being the protagonist.

Ditto for Lucius' appearance in the closing chapters of Galaxy in Flames. He is clearly a better fighter than Saul Tarvitz, but he's not necessarily the smarter of the two and the canny loyalist is able to stall him long enough for reinforcements to come to the rescue. The swordsman is forced to flee, his treachery is defeated, and the author didn't need to resort to an artificial plot device to defeat the villain.

By contrast, Sharrowkyn is just that plot device. He has little personality or depth other than the fact that he's a killing machine. He has "unparalleled knowledge of ambush tactics". He's an amazing sniper. He's even better with a sword. He has magical Raven Guard disappearing-reappearing powers. And, worst of all, he's only there to be this badass warrior. That's what sucks about Lucius losing to him. There were a dozen different ways Lucius could have discovered his immortality. Yes, meeting someone who was even better is valid on paper, but the execution was simply poor.

At the end of the day, this will probably be another topic that we need to agree to disagree on. In my eyes, Lucius getting beat for the sake of seeing him get beat is about as valid as Huron Blackheart making a guest appearance for the sake of having a big-name character show up. Such is life! :)
 
#65 ·
By contrast, Sharrowkyn is just that plot device. He has little personality or depth other than the fact that he's a killing machine. He has "unparalleled knowledge of ambush tactics". He's an amazing sniper. He's even better with a sword. He has magical Raven Guard disappearing-reappearing powers. And, worst of all, he's only there to be this badass warrior. That's what sucks about Lucius losing to him. There were a dozen different ways Lucius could have discovered his immortality. Yes, meeting someone who was even better is valid on paper, but the execution was simply poor.
Those are also some of the reasons why I've never liked Sharrowkyn as a character.
 
#66 ·
I totally understand your argument that he is just a plot-device, but as the simple man I am, I look past that and finally see one bad ass Raven Guard for a change! But he should have been explored more deeply prior at hand, I can agree. :)

Day 24! Advent Day Twenty Four - Sammael: Lord of the Eternal Hunt!


The Story: Supporting the White Scars on Gehöft, Sammael, Master of the Ravenwing, prepares to aid Kor’sarro Khan against the plague-ridden warriors of Chaos. But when an ancient secret is revealed, Sammael must choose between the bonds of brotherhood and pursuit of the oldest foe of his Chapter.

Could potentially be interesting. Weird that Ben Counter would be the author though. Also as we in Sweden celebrate one day ahead of everyone else: MERRY CHRISTMAS or HAPPY HOLIDAYS everybody!! :grin:
 
#67 ·
Day 25! Advent Day Twenty Five - Cypher: Guardian of Order!


The Story: For a select few amongst the First Legion, the Northwilds of Caliban hold a particularly dark secret. At the command of Luther himself, young Librarian Zahariel accompanies the Lord Cypher on one of his mysterious forays into the unknown depths. But an ancient evil is stirring once more and, with rumours of galactic civil war creeping back to their home world, it may have already sunken its claws into the Dark Angels Legion...

So Zahariel and Cypher finally makes a return here! Horus Heresy none the less.
 
#68 ·
Just got home from the holiday's and decided to sit back and give the Cypher audio a listen. Found myself running into the same problem that plagues me in almost all Audio Books. I couldn't tell who the fuck was talking lol, I was constantly getting Cypher and Zahariel mixed up once they began conversing. Also, is anyone able to explain the ending? Zahariel's revelation is not sparking any memories for me, maybe I have to go back and reread Descent of Angels and Fallen Angels? I have no idea how to spell what the voice actor was saying so I cannot simply look it up on Lexicanum :laugh:
 
#71 ·
Thank you, I figured it was a plot thread from the Heresy DA books that I have just since forgotten. It has been so damn long since I last read those books... About the only thing I remember from them is El'Johnson passing along the siege tanks to Perturabo lol....
 
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