The book discussion thread

[Johnway]

Just a slight detour, i thought this PCG article will be more fitting here then in the general discussions topic.

https://www.pcgamer.com/after-more-than-60-books-spread-out-over-18-years-the-horus-heresy-series-is-finally-over-so-please-be-kind-to-the-warhammer-40000-tragics-in-your-life/

I haven't read ALL the books, but it comes pretty close. I might have missed maybe 2 or 3 because i could source them or they didn't excite me and tbh they were story detours that added nothing to the main story. i am reading the siege of terra series and almost finished part 2 of the end and the death so will be writing my relevant comments here.

Yes it has been a really extensive series and not all of it is entirely relevant, you can miss out big chunks and still piece together the main stories as some link stories, characters and events together throughout the entire series. I feel there might be maybe a few more books after the siege of terra, like the retribution and the traitors being chased into the warp and/or the fracturing of the traitor legions into roaming warbands. We still haven't completely seen the outcome of the traitor homeworlds, although there wouldn't be any surprises there (they are exterminated and blown to pieces). Plus we have the story with Roboute Guilliman and Rogal Dorn with the codex astartes or Dorn with the iron cage incident. Who knows? maybe part 3 goes through that part of the history somewhere.

 

[DeanFlames]

Not sure what to read now. There's a lot of books on the market now.

 

[Johnway]

So thats the end and the death Volume 2 of the siege of terra finished. VOL 2 continues the final battle pulling all the surviving characters and stories together during the end times as humanity's demise approaches. We do have some key pivotal story elements such as sanguninus's final confrontation with Horus (if you know your WH40k lore you know the outcome) but also a few plot twists and setting the final battle with Horus himself. its a good read even if the story doesn't really go anywhere.


The other book i've been reading is more a graphic novel series, The wrong earth. The premise is simple enough; what happens when two super heroes swap worlds? Think if adam west's batman swapped with Tim burton's batman. Cue hijinks as the Dragonflymen bring their own brand of justice into world's polar opposites to what is good and what justice means. For earth: omega the city and political system is corrupt and death is a means to an end. meanwhile earth:alpha the city is a fairy tale as the villain's are buffoons and its all good fun.

its an interesting read as each dragonflyman tries to adapt and for Dragonflyman in Earth : omega, its a time to reflect on his past, his methods and to atone for his mistakes (spoilers: he is not a nice person). meanwhile Dragonfly man in Earth:Alpha tries to bring some much needed compassion and try to rebuild his reputation with local law enforcement who want him dead.

Volume 2 carries on a year later with both heroes having adapted to the new world, dispensing justice and making an impact on their respective worlds. At the same time, they try to investigate the mystery behind the mirror portals. What are the mirror portals? Who built them and what are their purpose? An even bigger arc is when both dragonflyman finally meet each other and discuss each other's methods and actions over the past year.

Volume 3 is more a continuation of the story with a few spin off background stories from each earth and some of the story arc at the end of volume 2. When both super heroes and their companions disappear all hell breaks loose as super criminals rule the streets...

Overall a good read. Looking forward to Volume 4.

 

[Johnway]

And so... i've finished reading HH: Siege of terra book 8: the end and the death part 3. we conclude the book the end and the death as all the characters come together to aid the emperor in his final battle against horus. Rather then being one single battle, the book goes into the various other areas of the siege to engage the scope and also the scale and how pivotal the final battle between the emperor and Horus was. interestingly, the story was written in different styles depending on the character. Second person for horus, malcador was first person and the bits with the corswain of the dark angels uses more classic literature words and phrases as befitting on a knight based chapter.

Whilst the book does end satisfactory, it does leave a lot of unanswered questions and it was intentional as namely GW wanted the lore/story to remain mysterious (ie open ended and allow for space/scope for other content).

But yeah, the Horus Heresy series is done. it started back in 2006 and it ends in 2024. No more books in the series apparently. So what next? well maybe i'll go back to some non Warhammer content and catch up on some classic lit and see what happens.

Speaking of classic lit, the other thing i have been reading was the graphic novel the battle. published by 9th cinebook. based on the novel by Patrick Rambaud; illustrated by Ivan Gil, you might remember i mentioned the book berezina, well this was the other book. Essentially it takes place during the battle of Essling, napoleon having taken vienna prepares to cross the danube and do battle with Austria once more around Essling. If i recall correctly, its was an incredibly bloody affair and was the location of Napoleon's first ever defeat. Wasn't disastrous compared to his later battles, but its the turning point where his strategies were less imagaintive and would become more bloody. Plus having been beaten once it revitalizes France's enemies seeing that he could be beaten and opting to resist instead.

Again a pretty good book. I found it interesting and the artwork made the whole story engaging and exciting. I've found myself flicking through the 3 volumes reading through it and starting at the wonderful artwork.

 

[Johnway]

just a quick short story to add to the list: This time its Harlan Ellison's i have no mouth and i must scream.

i can't really go in to the story details as its incredibly short. it appears to be a cautionary tale of man and machines. its not particularly indepth or compelling tbh. it just seems like a machine torturing the last 5 people on earth to vent its anger. i had high expectations and i was left disappointed.

 

[Brian Boru]

3-min chuckle:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CE1t5rJg_c

 

[LuminaNova]

I recently finished reading ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The vivid descriptions of the roaring twenties, complex characters, and themes of wealth, love, and disillusionment left a lasting impression.

 

[Johnway]

2 more books finished.

First one, the phoenix project by gene kim. Its a story about Devops, IT and how to help your business. The premise is that Bill is the next in line in becoming head of IT at failing company. The story is about him learning to manage this IT teams and manage work so that the company becomes profitable again. Not exactly the most rivetting book, but it does try to teach some of the principles of running a successful IT department. Working in IT i was sympathetic to events in the book and i was hoping it would teach me more about being a better member of IT as well as help with improving it in real life. But meh.

The next book, The difference engine by william gibson and bruce sterling A steampunk story set in victorian london where the Radical industrialists and their new steam technology rule the british empire. Theres some story of someone trying to create the first super computer and theres some action of sorts. Now, thats like a wishy washy summary of the story. Honestly, i wasn't paying that much attention, i was reading the book but the overall story is just all over the place. Too much spent away from the story and nothing feels overly coherent or relevant. The last few pages of the book i was just baffled what the hell was i reading. It was just a whole load of newspaper articles, backstory etc. Nothing about the difference engine, its significance etc. It seems like characters are wheeled out, there is some luddite action, a shootout at the docks and some crime load is arrested or something then some random person is the over arching villian somewhere. Just like william gibsons other books, i found it a struggle to read, the only reason i read it was because the book inspired the chaos engine video game.

Incidentally the chaos engine has no links to the book. Presumably just steampunk victorian london. Would i recommend reading the book, nope. One to miss!

Going back to reading something more interesting. The next one is an award winning short story...

 

[gibbs45]

Finished A Killer's Mind by Mike Omer - a great detective book. It's the first one in the series, and I want to get the second one for sure.
If someone here is into detective books - try that one.

 

[Brian Boru]

teach some of the principles of running a successful IT department

Reminds me of the most readable biz book I read, The Goal by Eli Goldratt. It's a novel which focuses on a mentor advising a CEO, using the Theory of Constraints—which at its simplest is about identifying and minimizing successive bottlenecks as one way towards continuous improvement. Good book, readable and informative.

like william gibsons other books, i found it a struggle to read

Yeah, I don't think I finished Neuromancer, not in one sitting anyway—his style is very dense, very… um, frantic? But of course, a very important work—then again, so was Ulysses and I also found that very hard to digest

 

[Johnway]

Yeah, I don't think I finished Neuromancer, not in one sitting anyway—his style is very dense, very… um, frantic? But of course, a very important work—then again, so was Ulysses and I also found that very hard to digest

Neuromancer was pretty complex, feel the author doesn't do a proper job clearing the complexity. it gets worst in the sequels like count zero and mona lisa overdrive where AI voodoo gods get created and various baddies are introduced. perhaps its me though.

But i digress, the next book was the short story Flowers for Algernon by Daniel keyes. The story revolves around Charlie Gordon, a janitor with an IQ of 67 being given life changing surgery that makes him a genius. The story is written like a diary as we read and visually see his development throughout the story. As Charlie intelligence increases he finds that he is just as lonely and sad as he was when he was mentally challenged. As his intelligence increases, so does his emotional IQ. Gone is his child like innocence and he soon discovers that "friends" were simply messing with him and he finds other peoples intelligence too low for him to communicate or have a conversation at his level - including the brain surgeons who performed the surgery. But Charlies new found genius is bittersweet as he slowly regresses back to previous levels and he has deal these events as well as to new found experiences.

its not the longest story but its written pretty well and we get to read how Charlie gordon tries to deal with the events especially when the situation is flipped, whereas before he was naive and kind in ignorance and then has to deal with loss /fustration in a period of a few weeks.

its not a long book, you can easily finish reading it in less then 2 or 3 hours but its pretty good. Apparently he rewrote the book into an actual novel. so it might be something i might try to find, but the story is pretty much the same.