Enforcer

[Grailkeeper]

I recently bought the omnibus shia calpurnia novels and I'm finding it tough going. Its dull and complex with a lot of it so far centering on her (and the readers) difficulties with local customs - such as how posture inicates rank during a conversation. This is hardly gripping. But on the other hand the little feast day primer is really good.

I hate giving up a book without finishing it

Can anyone tell me- NO SPOILERS PLEASE- if its worth struggling on and it gets better or is it all dull stuff- "Why the underbutler was weaing a valets double quilted ruby sash instead of a single quilted blood red sash" - (made up example)

I always had a thing for arbites

[scadugenga]

Sorry, I gave up on it too...

[chromedog]

There are little bits of action scattered throughout them, with large amounts of tedious minutiae amongst them.

They were better than anything CS Goto ever wrote though (but my cat's litter tray leavings are a more enthralling read than CS Goto's stuff).

Not a patch on Ravenor or Eisenhorn though.

[Faultie]

They're definitely books for those looking to learn more about the mechanisms of the Imperium, and how the majority of worlds operate when they're not being devoured by Waaaghs/Hive Fleets/Necrons/etc.

If you're looking for Marine-wank or 'SPLOSIONS!, then you're reading the wrong book. If you're looking for grim-noir mystery style novels that shed light on various parts of the imperium usually overlooked or glossed over, then keep reading. You'll be rewarded.

[scadugenga]

There is nothing noir about Enforcer. Or anything Black Library has produced to date.

You want real noir--go read Chandler. You want good, really good sci fi noir? Go read Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon."

[Faultie]

There is nothing noir about Enforcer. Or anything Black Library has produced to date.

You want real noir--go read Chandler. You want good, really good sci fi noir? Go read Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon."

Hyperbole aside, you do bring up good Authors.
However, when discussing 40k fiction, we seldom have that luxury. It's the price we pay for reading books set in the ridiculous space-world of a corporate-owned IP. I'm not saying it's bad (I like the grimdark universe a great deal), but it's a different yardstick.

[scadugenga]

Hyperbole aside, you do bring up good Authors.
However, when discussing 40k fiction, we seldom have that luxury. It's the price we pay for reading books set in the ridiculous space-world of a corporate-owned IP. I'm not saying it's bad (I like the grimdark universe a great deal), but it's a different yardstick.

There's nothing hyperbolic about what I said. I just disagreed with your statement about the novel being noir, and provided examples of actual noir. :)

[DarkLink]

There is nothing noir about Enforcer. Or anything Black Library has produced to date.

You want real noir--go read Chandler. You want good, really good sci fi noir? Go read Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon."

Same reason I don't read many BL books. Even the best of them can't really compare to many independent novels/series, like The Acts of Caine, or Mistborn.

[scadugenga]

Same reason I don't read many BL books. Even the best of them can't really compare to many independent novels/series, like The Acts of Caine, or Mistborn.

Acts of Caine? Are you talking about Matt Stover's books?

[Grailkeeper]

I find black library generally is average to below average but it passes the time and I love the setting. If you want a great read try Simon R. green.

But in the Enforcer novel that I have read so far EVEN THE MAIN CHARACTER finds the local cultural minuate dull, confusing and mostly irrelevant- if the main character finds it hard going how is the reader supposed to enjoy it?

[DarkLink]

Yeah, I used to read a lot of the Star Wars novels, and same thing there. Most are ok, every once and a while there's a pretty good one, but really good ones are very few and far between.


Acts of Caine? Are you talking about Matt Stover's books?

Heck yeah. They're fantastic, so long as you don't mind blood, gore, very detailed fight scenes in which people have body parts torn off, lots of language, some more language, casual murder (mostly on behalf of the badguys. Mostly), some literal sh!it wallowing, and the like.

But the main character, Caine, is quite literally the single most bad@$$ character of any book, movie, tv series, etc that I have ever seen. The plot is very well thought out, and there's some pretty deep metaphysics/philosophy hiding under the surface.

So if you haven't read them, I highly recommend them.


Incidentally, just about any of Matthew Stover's books are very good. He's written a couple Star Wars books, and despite the limitations in what he can do with the material, they're still very good books. In fact, Traitor is probably the single best Star Wars book I've ever read. It also has just about the most awesome character death I've ever read, though you have to get through about 15 books in the series to get to it.





Edit: Oh, and the Mistborn trilogy, by Brandon Sanderson, is also an extremely good book. Not bloody and gorey (for the most part), but with a clever plot. In fact, imagine if the Empire from Star Wars, but instead of in space it's set in the South during the slave years of America. Vin (Luke Skywalker), gets recruited by Danny Ocean and his team of thieves to pull a heist on the entire empire to free the Skaa (slaves).