I've never heard a single person mention reading one of Mike Brooks' books, but they're constantly pushed to the fore.
I get they're trying to find a replacement for Dan Abnett since he's getting on, but why not their former golden boy ADB? Why not Robert Rath, whose books people are surprised by how much they enjoy?
Is it because he does the modern thing of putting all his labels in his bio? Or because he can shit out what seems to be a book every three months?
The most notable thing about Mike Brooks is his haircut, and the sad thing is he knows it.
I really enjoyed this book. It's not pretentious in the least, it's not lore raping, the writer has a solid grasp of the source material and loves the setting. I liked the characters and their interactions, I liked the plot and I liked the prose. Compared to morons like abnett or adb this guy came off to me as a fan who wanted to add to the setting he loves and did a pretty good job. I still occasionally reread certain parts. I don't know about the writer's bio or his other books, just wanted to say I really liked this one.
Forest walking does more damage to the setting than almost anything in the past two decades.
Corax turning into a bird was worse
Both of these are based as frick.
/tg/ is known for having terrible tastes and turning into brain eating morons whenever black library comes up don’t mind them
Salty slopmuncher detected
Alright then, I'll give it a go.
for free at least
>liked the prose
That book was DOGSHIT anon. I liked the plot too, but it was written horribly
>Mike Brooks
>(d)eaf
What does this mean? He can't be really deaf, he gave an interview on WarhammerTV.
Capital D "Deaf community" is kind of a weird scene. The ones who think curing hearing disorders is genocide of the Deaf peoples. Of all things this guy at least swerves that. He probably uses a hearing aid or something.
It’s over
oh no, I have his Alpha Legion book "Harrowmaster". Haven't read it yet. is he shit bros?
Read the book and form your own opinion.
Why form my own opinion when I have a tiny, angry internet echo chamber to tell me what to think?
It's good but Alpha Legion are played straight (no I am Alpharius, or we are secretly loyalist stuff).
>or we are secretly loyalist stuff).
You play them with primaris models and then have them secretly be chaos who are secretly loyalist chaos.
I sighed with relief after not finding any of his books on my shelf. His name looked familiar so I got worried for a second.
His Ork books are fun. Warboss (because of Snaggi Littletoof and the Speed Freek boss) > Brutal Kunnin > Da Big Dakka (Mainly because his OC Ufthak dunks on DEldar to a ridiculous degree even in terms of Elf Jobbery)
I think it's because people liked the book.
>Mike Brooks
>Brooks.
>Books
It makes sense to me.
would you write on-spec for 1 cent per word?
ADB certainly does not write quickly, so that's definitely a consideration.
>Or because he can shit out what seems to be a book every three months
Gee I wonder why a company that pumps out multiple novels a month might value an author with that skill?
I liked the book.
>when Lion and his new equerry are discussing the galaxy they're in after 10k years
>they agree it's weird and disastrous
>Lion expresses a desire for just one of his brothers to still be around
>"Even Russ?"
>long, long moment of consideration
>"Even Russ."
>even after the War of Wedgies, my lord?
>not to mention the shortlived but terrible Skirmish of Swirlies.
Even Russ
had a hearty laugh
I think there's a reasonable middle point between the 2 extremes of:
>40k is a serious political ideology and Black Library is only fanfiction
and
>40k was always a comedy setting a la Benny Hill and you should win dice rolls by having a mustache
Just because something originated as a pastiche and especially if something is fiction meant to play in, it doesn't mean it can't aspire to be intelligent and high quality.
Is this how Russ remembers the time he tried to sucker punch Lion, but then Lion knocked him unconscious?
To be fair Russ was having fun it's Lion based austim that made him square Russ. He covered the werewolfes tracks so it compensates
Russ was raging when he started the fight. Lion was just fighting back evenly. As soon as Russ started acting like it was a joke Lion decided he'd let Russ burn out his rage enough, cold wienered him, and left.
Reminder that the Lion knew about the Wulfen too, and said not a single word to anybody. He covered it up, had the data erased, and had all the Dark Angels who knew sworn to secrecy on pain of death.
that's what I said... here's a pic of best primarch for effort. am still curious if the reason the writer made the Lion cover it up because he didn't want to deal with that potential subplot
>that's what I said
homie that's what you TRIED to say in your aneurysmese
It was to compare The Lion with Horus.
The Lion was either disliked or not rated at all by most of the primarchs because of his (perceived) arrogance, secrecy and uncompromising attitude. Horus was universally liked for his charisma and glib tongue. Yet when Horus' most beloved brother confided in him about the blight plaguing his legion, Horus used that information to lure him into a trap to try to kill him and corrupt his legion. Meanwhile, Lion finds out similar info about a brother he has enmity with, and who had also come to blows with him and insulted his honor (perceived but HUGE deal for Lion). Yet what does he do, when he figuratively has Russ by the balls? He completely conceals the info and never speaks of it again. It was basically to show that at their very core, Horus was a manipulative piece of shit while Lion is a true knight.
>'The Lion never spoke of it,' Russ said. 'Never. He could have told the Imperium of our sickness and made it worse for me, but even in his anger he said nothing.' The primarch mused on it. 'He could keep a secret. He saw our imperfection, and he suffered it to remain, and that was the heart of his nobility. In the end, then, he truly was better than us. The archetype of Legions, the First of all. If I owe him anything, it was for that.'
Am now interested in seeing a Corvus Lion interaction, their legion might mesh well, and Corvus was the only one seeing Horus for the twat he is
Yeah, I think both their personalities and their war doctrines would mesh really well.
>Corvus was the only one seeing Horus for the twat he is
Corvus generally has this thing going where he's the most based person in any room he's in but he's also really subtle and humble so it slips by most people. Kind of like his power lmao.
Ferrus and Vulkan also weren't too huge a fan of Horus. Well, Vulkan liked him personally, but Vulkan liked almost everybody, he didn't agree with how he did a lot of things.
You want to see Lion threaten to kill Corvus for not fighting Horus hard enough? Because that's what happened and Russ had to intervene.
Nta but he's mellowed considerably since his nap. See above about the "Even Russ" bit. Also when the book and his model were announced people were all "Oooh he's totally gonna fight Guilliman!" But the first thing he thinks when he hears Roboute is up and about is "I am not alone.." so he'd be happy for whatever help he can get I expect
>Lion threaten to kill Corvus for not fighting Horus hard enough
That's fricking moronic, Lion would have known that
>Raven Guard got fricking shredded in the drop site massacre
>Corvus wanted to fight on Terra to the death but The Emperor forbade him from sacrificing the rest of his legion in their least favorable type of warfare
>The reason they had time to prepare defenses was Corvus delaying the shit out of the traitors with hit and run tactics despite his legion being on life support
It reeks of trying to flanderize The Lion as an unreasonable prick when he's anything but.
>The Lion as an unreasonable prick when he's anything but.
If you're a DA fanboy you can have that interpretation but he was during the great crusade
I would classify him as a reasonable prick with terminal autism. For example, when he bombed the shit out of one of Guilliman's worlds despite being told not to, he was operating under sound logic, he wasn't doing it just out of spite. I guess he lost his mind when he saw what happened to The Emperor, same as when he stabbed Russ.
>when he bombed the shit out of one of Guilliman's worlds despite being told not to
He did not break the letter of his word. It literally didn't count. Besides, it worked.
40k is all of these things at the same time and it's easy to understand why. Dozens of writers have contributed to this setting and GW has never really enforced any kind of consistency other than stuff like "Blood Angels wear red armor". Some writers did try to actually say something political. Others don't care. People really need to stop trying to force everyone to accept their narrow idea of what 40k is supposed to be and just enjoy it on their own terms
just because people say 40k is "serious" doesn't mean you need to attach "political ideology" to it
But anon
Everything is political :^)
Not being political is itself a political stance :^^^)
I appreciate moments like this; it reminds you that they did see each other as some sort of fractious, screwed up, albeit still, family.
I have cousins I grew up with that I've had similar thoughts about.
One of my favourite (official) art pieces for that very reason is the betrayer cover, there's not much art of primarchs actually fighting side by side like brothers
>Lorgar is such a c**t even his act of mercy condemns a dude to eternal servitude while he just wanted to die
It's a dick move but I always liked how the closest we got to a chaos bro moment was the pacifist/weakest primarch fighting alongside the most aggressive one, not much art of primarchs fighting together, or even different space marine chapters for that matter
Oh but I do like Lorgar. I prefer Perturabo punting Angron using facts and logics (and xeno tech)
Also Lorgar like Perti revealed himself during the heresy, plotting and combat-wise. His legion too
As long as it doesn't have a real plot significance like saving another primarch
Lion can also only sorta control it. Like yeah when he can see where he's goin - ship to surface for example that makes sense. I bet he couldn't be like: "I want to walk to Terra real quick."
>I bet he couldn't be like: "I want to walk to Terra real quick."
Until the plot needs him to
This is literally the answer. In the over-realm of forests where he goes, and where the Watchers of the Dark are, he can speak to the Emperor, and he could forestwalk to Terra if he followed the right paths. But he needs to find the paths.
His reaction when hearing about Abaddon is great too.
>‘No,’ Zabriel continues, ‘the greatest external threat to the Imperium is probably Abaddon.’ Lion El’Jonson looks at him curiously. ‘Ezekyle Abaddon? First Captain of the Sons of Horus? He still lives?’
>Lion spends half the book complaining about why he feels so slow and frail
>everybody else is dumbfounded or just plain confused by his complaining
>because all they can even see when he fights is an unstoppable blur of motion, murder, and death
>and the Lion is complaining that he feels slow
There are some good moments, yes.
>when the Great Crusade veteran Dark Angels absolutely destroy the chaos warband thats been hyped up for the entire book
>"You don't fight fair!"
>"You think we conquered the galaxy by fighting fair!"
>No fair
>Yes.
That sounds awful. I am now reduced for having read it
It was one Chaos dude who wanted a 1v1 fight for honor. Not all of em.
That's not even the best part. That's following him shitting on Guilliman for having dared to try and improve on the Emp's designs back in 30k, implying he would prefer Russ over Guilliman, and following it he thinks "Russ was never right about anything, but there was a savage nobility in him even being wrong." or some shit like that.
With that and the
>"Now I know you are a fake, Magnus never hit that hard"
Lion just seems like the kind of big brother who can destroy you with a glare and a one liner.
Holy shit what tripe.
40k books are shlock and always have been, the question is whether you personally like their particular kind of shlock or not.
I'm just impressed at this level of anti-shilling you guys can manage trying to make this gay primarch sound
>d00d, it's SOOO HECKIN EPIC the way he shits out some basic b***h Marvelesque sassy one-liners!!!
>I would be an EMOTIONAL WRECK if ge was my older brother!!!
>ultimately, 40K is a story about family...
I had never been less interested in Liam's Big Gay Adventure In Warp Narnia until
Jesus Christ what a sad mindbroken c**t you are.
>Marvelesque
Yup, that's a mindbroken c**t, alright.
>if you don't like me gushing over poorly written franchise tripe then you must be sad and broken!!!
Brand worshipers are some of the weirdest motherfrickers out there.
>People who claim that lazy writers copy popular media are sad and mindbroken
Robert Downey Junior will never do coke with you, bro
lion is a homosexual and the worst primarch
Why did Lion blow up the traitor Primarch’s planets instead of rushing to Terra? Was it to slow down Horus by getting him focus on his rear?
making as much noises as possible to allow Sangi to fulfill his destiny. In their eyes it's Sangi that comes to Terra not them. Also vengeance in case it's already dead
They know they can't make it, only one can due to warp bullshit, so they fight to make sure the Blood Angels get the last ride home. Dark Angels and Ultramarines have to take the long way around.
Denying the traitors their prime recruitment grounds, disrupting supply hubs, vengeance, etc. It's a sound strategy, considering that they can't get to Terra immediately.
pretty much copium considering they were bombing chemos and nuceria which were abandoned by the EC and hated by Angron respectively. The only big one was cthonia. Later they retconned the scouring era attack on barbarus to be a dark angels attack in the heresy to make them seem less like they wasted their time
It's because old fluff had him sitting out the heresy to see who'd win, and new fluff had to explain why he wasn't at Terra without relying on the old version.
Not that anon.
Wasn't that Jagathai?
Nah, he was always at the siege.
If I remember the only source about him sitting the siege out was from a traitor marine. I presume he didn't have a big role in the heresy before the whole books compared to Guilliman or Sangi
It's because its Primarchshit. The writing is fricking terrible. The people defending this book have never read a real piece of literature in their fricking lives, Brooks is insufferably bad, just like Haley.
No one claimed otherwise
>this homie wants to read 40k for the high-brow writing
The setting started off as a blatant ripoff of Dune and 2000 AD as well as a satiric criticism of Thatcher. The only way to enjoy it is subjectively and morons who want to argue that it's actually objectively good are chiefly responsible for ruining it, and are the same mouthbreathers that complain about ''Primarchshit'' or ''bolter porn'' or whatever. Yeah, no shit, Primarchs and Space Marines are 90% of its popularity, who gives a frick about Eldar or the deep lore or whatever.
>as well as a satiric criticism of Thatcher.
Lmao no
>Primarchs and Space Marines are 90% of its popularity, who gives a frick about Eldar or the deep lore or whatever
that's a bingo
Because Michael Brooksberg is the right kind of people.
My favorite part is where Lion does an epic backflip and kills Angron in one blow so hard his head explodes and then looks over at the Risen Fallen next to him and goes
>uh, so THAT just happened!
It was so epic. Epic for the win!
He didn't do that and internally noted he was slower than before
The problem is that the Lion is the only one who perceives himself as being slower, and it's more a function of his innate Warp link and perception of himself being old. Nobody else thinks he's slowed at all, if there is any change it is imperceptible to anybody other than him.
Maybe it's gonna matter (lol) against targets that know how to fight like Fulgrim or Magnus
>He didn't do that
Goddamn primarcucks are terminally autistic
What are you actually trying to say?
Why is Dante still wearing the Sanguinus mask in this book, didn't Guilliman also tell him to take it off?
Because he has it on his model, dipshit
ADB has become a moron that is slowly sapping any fun out of chaos. They're just now removing all the shit he weaseled into the game itself about how there is no chaos undivided. He really can't top his earlier books.
Josh Reynolds was the paragon of basedness in BL, and he left bc they kept not letting him do what he wanted to do and forcibly changing large parts of his books, making them worse.
The Fabius Bile books are pretty fantastic. Josh Reynolds pretty obviously wanted to write a Dark Eldar book at some point which is why Lukas the Trickster and Bile 3 are both stealth Deldar books. I wish they would have let him do it.
I don't think that was ADB, that felt like a GW mandate.
This guy can't write Mechanicus to save his life. People who read Brutal Kunnin thought the Mechanicus parts were bad because it was a distraction from the Orks but they were just genuinely bad. I enjoyed reading about the Mechanicus in Skitarius and Day of Ascension, I would gladly take a break from Orks for some of those Admech, but Brooks writes them like a bunch of insubordinate openly heretek idiots, to a lore breaking degree.
The Dark Angels are one of the Legions of all time. They are the Ist and therefore the best. Johnson is talented and balanced in every possible way and has no particular flaws. Most vanilla Legion by far.
>Johnson is talented and balanced in every possible way and has no particular flaws
He is hard specced towards warfare and has terminal tunnel vision, those are massive flaws that screwed him over in the first place. The fact that he's trying to slowly rectify some of them is called character development.
>The Superhuman General created from scratch to be a Galactic Crusader is TOO good at war and works with a strategic laser focus that his 19 other Super Brothers, their legions and the entire Militarum and Administratum can't clean up
Yes, Mary L Sue is just so flawed and interesting and her character development is to think more before doing what he was made to do
Mike gets repeat gigs because he's fast, and always meets deadlines.
He gets high profile character books because despite not being good, he doesn't try to deviate from anything established and put his fingerprints on things in a way that can slow a book down and mean BL's editors actually have to work.
He's also been writing for BL for about five years, and is seen as a safe pair of hands.
Yep, his stuff is middling slop a chatbot will be able to churn out in a couple of years, but if you've got a primarch on the cover, why bother courting a better author? Shit's gonna sell
I like his Ork books.
I made my girlfriend listen to Helsreach on a very long roadtrip and now she says she might want to get into 40k as either Black Templars or Admech. How fricked is her (and my) wallet?
actual 40k, 2000 points with games workshop models? exterminatus, sir
did you make her eat all the eggs too