[Brother Lucian]

Been working on this book for a while now, but I must say I find it one of the most difficult to read and follow books from Black Library ever. The plot feels extremely disjointed and running in multiple strata, and im starting to wonder if the middle part of the book actually is a prelude to the beginning events. In comparission, I had no problem working on the labyrinthine Atlas Infernal.

I know Peter Fehervari is a new author for Black Library, but if this is what he is capable of putting out, Im not encouraged to read any future offerings from his hand.

 

[Malus Darkblade]

I was waiting for someone to talk about it.

Could you go into more detail? With spoiler tags and all that.

 

[Brother Lucian]

The book is a confusing mess about guardsmen sent to a near death world the Imperium have been fighting with the Tau over for 50 years, becomming a meat grinder. The degenerated human natives siding with the tau, and it seems theres a lot of guard deserters too. A tortured commisar hunting deserters, a guard regiment plagued by awful secrets. An admiral and an conffessor with schemes of their own.

Ill try to finish it, to see if it will make the plot more clear and understood.
Though one thing stood out, the guardsmen in the regiment have an armored group called steambloods, basically wealthy nobles each maintaining a huge clanking suit of armor. Which gave me an impression of an Imperial Knight, an one man titan suit. Could those be attached to the guard in the future, instead of being sworn to the mechanicum, or just an overly creative handling of fluff like C.S. Goto is infamous for?

 

[Alhom]

Thanks alot for your feedback.
I was very excited to read this book, but now, I wonder...

 

[Brother Lucian]

A friend just finished it, he said it was extremely odd. Something which I only can agree about.

 

[CosmicVoid]

Ahh.. not sounding too good then! I'm still going to give it a read though, been looking forward to reading a book with more of The Tau in!

 

[Brother Lucian]

I managed to finish the book and my impressions still stand. While it does present an interesting perspective on things, too many plot threads was left unfinished. And I think it was a rather cheap way the book ended, as if to spare the author any more work on the long term ramifications of the plot and its consequences. Both longterm and for the characters involved.

All in all I can not give the book more than 4/10 and that is generous, a below average book. I found Blood of Asaheim a far superior read for the releases this month.

 

[Brother Subtle]

That's a shame. Been playing a bit of Tau in Dark Crusade this week and its got me all... Tauey. Might wait for a few other opinions on it, if its all the same as this might have to give it the wide berth.

 

[Tawa]

its got me all... Tauey.

Hmm, Fire Warriors and Kroot running around would have made a certain tv program very entertaining :laugh:



Some less than stellar reviews here, I may just give it a miss :wink:

 

[Garrak]

Just saw this. I was wondering if I should cancel my order from bookdepository when they emailed me that my order was on the way. Oh well, guess I'll see how the book is.

 

[CosmicVoid]

I just finished it and actually really enjoyed it! The narrative does jump around to several different characters but their actions are all interconnected and the flashback scenes are incredibly enjoyable, always leaving you wanting to find out more about what happened. There are points though where the story does jump ahead and back in time without actually informing you, there's a point roughly two thirds in that it did this noticeably but aside from that I quite enjoyed it.

Each chapter starts with a diary entry from Commissar Iverson which helps you really dig into what his mind set is, exploring his past (regrets, actions/inactions etc) and for the most part I enjoyed the majority of imperial characters. The Tau feature less than I expected but the glimpses you get of them are really good, showcasing how the Tau choose to fight. The Vespid & Kroot also feature in the book which is nice touch and there's some small parts that explore why humans chose to fight for the Tau.

Overall I enjoyed this a hell of a lot more than I enjoyed Deus Encarmine which was the last book I read. It's probably not going to appeal to everyone but I enjoyed it and I'd say is worth taking a chance on!

 

[Paceyjg]

Book read!

It took me about a month to do the first 100 pages or so and then just a couple of days to finish it.

I thought it was a very refreshing way to tell a story and it really picked up when Iversen started his search for the 'rebels'.

I actually liked the fact that, all of a sudden a character you have just been introduced to, is suddenly dead etc.

Well worth buying imo.

 

[Lord of the Night]

I absolutely loved Fire Caste. This is the grimdark, unrelenting and insane 40k that you read about so often. The Dark Man definitely had some Lovecraftian undertones, and the madness of Phaedra well captured the idea of insanity in warfare and that comes from the mind being dissociated.

I would really recommend that more people read this book. It's fantastic, best IG novel out there in my opinion. And this is coming from someone who when it comes to the Guard only likes Ciaphas Cain and nothing else.

One thing that I think Fehevari did that was perfect for the setting (Both Phaedra and 40k in general), was not having an answer to every question the book poses. One scene in particular, which he has actually told me has no correct answer to it, is the best example of that, you don't know whose right or wrong and it's up to you to decide what is true and what is false. What other 40k novel gives you that option??

http://thefoundingfields.com/2013/04/fire-caste-peter-fehervari-review-lord-night/?fb_source=pubv1

I reviewed FC a little bit ago, that should sum up the rest of my opinion quite nicely.

If I had to describe this book in a single equation i'd say it was this. Heart of Darkness + HP Lovecraft = Fire Caste


LotN

 

[locustgate]

The book reminded me of Heart of Darkness, oh god I hate that book. But this was an ok book, I'm not going to condemn it or give it any awards. It showed how easily the Imperium is corrupted and how easy it is for humans to fall to chaos,

At several points I expected the zealot recruit to start raving and screaming "Blood for the Blood God" I'd bet if he survived he eventually would of fallen.

, also it shows how some tau can be giant douches.

 

[Lord of the Night]

The book reminded me of Heart of Darkness, oh god I hate that book. But this was an ok book, I'm not going to condemn it or give it any awards. It showed how easily the Imperium is corrupted and how easy it is for humans to fall to chaos.

At several points I expected the zealot recruit to start raving and screaming "Blood for the Blood God" I'd bet if he survived he eventually would of fallen.

Also it shows how some tau can be giant douches.

It also shows how easily they, we, go mad.

He would have. I asked Peter about Audie Joyce and he says that his intent with that character was to show that you don't need intelligence to succeed in 40k, just faith. Joyce was a bit simple-minded, he had a child-like level of intelligence and he just put his faith in the wrong person and the wrong belief. Peter says that he would have eventually slipped down the red path, but he would have called Khorne the God-Emperor until the bitter end.

Those Tau were, I think, what the Tau were like before the Ethereals came and what they are like when the Ethereals are not around. Each one still in a sense believed in the Greater Good, but each one believed that their way was the correct way and that the others needed to follow their Caste's leadership.


LotN

 

[Ferrous_Ironclaw]

i'm about halfway through Fire Caste. it's an alright read i guess. nowhere near the best of the black library, but not close to the worst either. if you need a 40k fix and have read everything else that's out, go for it. or read betrayer again.

 

[Garrak]

So I was a little worried seeing as a lot of the early reviews were bad. Boy, I'm glad I don't follow those 100%. I really loved this book. It's Apocalypse Now meets 40k and that's always a good thing. I liked the large cast of characters and what the author did with them. It would have been cool if he'd shown the Tau some more but it's fine. I'm hoping he writes some more 40k, he's certainly knows how to do grim dark.

 

[Lord of the Night]

Truthfully Fire Caste is a very esoteric novel and because of that it isn't for everyone. Either you like it or you don't, but it's the style that I think will make some dislike it rather than the actual writing. Peter Fehevari does the esoteric madness and grimdark nature of 40k very well, he really grasps what it's about.


LotN

 

[Ferrous_Ironclaw]

I liked the large cast of characters and what the author did with them. .

did get kinda hard to keep track of who was who. had to keep looking back to the character list until like halfway through the book. still enjoying it though...

 

[Stephen74]

and the flashback scenes

I have come to the opinion that any book or film or tv show that uses flashback scenes is commiting :suicide: I'll give this book a miss.