The start of the trilogy we have all been waiting for -Eisenhorn and Ravenor are back

[plawolf]

http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/pariah.html

How did this slip under the radar until now?

It's stuff like this that makes me wish I could fast forward real life.

[Dalleron]

Sounds more like the end, or beginning of the end, in my eyes.

Correct me if I wrong because I read Eisenhorn a long time ago, but didn't Ravenor show up near the end with an Eldar Farseer of some sort, thereby making him a heretic as well. I do the Inquistion likes to bend the rules so to speak,

[Gotthammer]

Eldar aren't, as far as I know, xenos horribillus so can be consorted with under the right circumstances by some classes of people. It's a bit of a grey area though.

Great to see the series kicking off again (for the last time).

[entendre_entendre]

Oh, WIN. Let's see how Mr. Abnett handles this battle of epic proportions.

[L192837465]

I just xenos'd my pants.

This is nearly the happiest day ever. It will only be topped when The Hobbit comes out and the books are actually released.

[Psychosplodge]

There is only one trilogy.... (http://youtu.be/AxAEo3CWeq8) etc etc (nsfw)

[arget8]

Well, nobody expects the inquisition... ;-)

[Psychosplodge]

Our chief weapon is surprise....

[PRoeske]

Great!

[Dragonlv8]

This excites me. A lot.

[MajorMcNicol]

Wow, thanks for pointing this out. I read the original Eisenhorn novels when they came out - what was that, 10 years ago? more? - maybe now is a good time to re-read them!

[MattHoell]

Woohoo!!

I thought the 3rd Abnet Inquisitor trilogy was supposed to be a brand new Inquisitor. Either way great news!!

[Mr_Circle]

Oh Man! I am looking forward to this!

[Warmaster Primus]

Has anyone heard any news from the Black Library live event that was held recently? Even a release date would be cool.

Comparing this to other books revealed on the BL site, I'd say we have at least a year until we see it hit shelves.

[orksforthewin]

Cant wait to just see the cover art. I might be more excited to see there teams slugging it out more than the actually R vs E throwdown.

[ragnarcissist]

so i take it that ravenor is worth reading? i read eisenhorn and loved every second of it but never got around to reading ravenor.... isnt he in a wheel chair or something? how can that be entertaining??

[Soss]

Ya how are the Ravenor books? I read the Eisenshorn series and loved it but the character of Ravenor just doesn't seem interesting for me. Are they a good read? How would you rate them versus the Eisenhorn series?

[Maleclypse]

Is it going to be a series or the final novel.

[papa smurf]

I love both of these book series! I find the premise kind of strange though, considering (if I remember correctly) that Eisenhorn has been in contact with Ravenor while having a daemonhost under his command. REALLY want to read this.

[Frostclaw]

If I recall from the online discussions DA's done about the concept, it's going to be the Bequin Trilogy.

Bequin, for those of you who've read Eisenhorn, is the lady untouchable that (not going to drop a spoiler) for some reason gets taken out of play in the trilogy, but remains a possibility for a returning character throughout Ravenor.

So, I guess Bequin's either the protagonist of this trilogy, or her ultimate fate will be decided between Eisenhorn and Ravenor, wrapping the whole trilogy of trilogies up.

I imagine there will be some short story releases to go with this, as Dan's said once or twice that some of the stuff that happens off-stage during Ravenor is actually fleshed out (like Aexe Cardinal), and he'd like to write stories for some of the retinue characters.

Whether this will actually involve Gideon going out to bring Gregor to justice or the two of them working together is still anybody's guess, and knowing Dan, it might end up being a bit of both. But Eisenhorn is most definitely waaaay off the reservation, and Gideon's last little escapade cannot have put him in the Inquisition's good graces.

[mjasghar]

lets look at dan's previous inquisitor story - the comic one. The older inquis goes of the deep end and is hunted down by his pupil. The pupil seems to die at the end of book 2 - but it's likley book3 he would be alive but highly cyborged. Maybe even goes radical himself to ge revenge.
Now, the big thing with Eisenhorn was he loved Bequin but her untouchable aura would have made him insane - esp as he is even more psychic now.
What happened at the end of Ravenor? Fauke - an untouchable- seemingly has his ability burnt out by long time exposure to an emerging psyker. So, untouchs DO HAVE SOULS. It's just this aura that makes it seem like they don't, like a spiritual vortex.
So, Eisenhorn gets corrupted by Cherubael. He steals Bequin and exposes her to psychic power to wear down her aura so he can live happily ever after.
But the way he does it is super radical so ravenor gets sent after him.
In the process, a greater evil is revealed, they join foorces against it, and Eisenhorn dies to prevent it, possibly sacrificing his eternal soul.

[Warmaster Primus]

mjasghar - I'm guessing that's mostly speculation or your personal theories. That said, those are pretty good theories. Do you have a source?

[George Labour]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but in the Gaunt's Ghosts novel Armour of COntempt isn't there a bit of foreshadowing that eventually Ravenor has to put Eisenhorn down?

Also I've been waiting for this trilogy ever since I read the author's introduction in the Ravenor Omnibus. ^^

[iheartgrimdark]

So exited for this. I read Ravenor so hard that the book exploded. True story.

[mjasghar]

in armour of contempt gaunt goes on about ravenor's works - inc how he wrote about the fall of his mentor eisenhorn to chaos.
so ravenor is still respected - i.e. his books not suppressed amongst the schola progenium at least.
Dan has said next trilogy will be from bequin's perspective - so she will be returned to life. Indeed, we know ravenor has her 'on ice'
the third eisenhorn book, he realised it was her he loved but 'that way lies madness' - because she's an untouchable.
third ravenor book we know how untoucability can be removed permanently.
the short story where they meet up again eisenhorn seems blase about Cherubael, he has it flying him about.
pretty strong hint, esp if you've read his comic strip Inquisitor. Also, remember authors hate leaving stories unfinished. I'm sure he'd love to use some of the unpublished 3rd series.

[imperialsavant]

:) Will definately pre-order this one.
I still have all the Eisenhorn & Ravenor books from way back & still go back & reread them from time to time.

[Haggis McMutton]

can't wait for this 'bequin' trilogy!

[TheWildRider]

As much as I'm excited for this new trilogy, I'm also going to miss the retinue of both Eisenhorn and Ravenor. While both characters were masterpieces, I read those books for the guys in their retinues. People like Harlon Nayl or Godwyn Fischig were so badass, and now they've died or gone home :(

[MajorMcNicol]

@ Frostclaw - whoa, interesting. I always really liked Bequin. Can't say much more without giving anything away, but that's interesting to consider the third trilogy going in that direction..

[inquisitorsog]

Oh no.
Please let this not be true. Eisenhorn trilogy is one of my favorites in all of 40k fiction.

But Abnett's so turned me off after the 7th or 8th Ghosts novel, Double Eagle, and the Ultramorons movie (And boy, did they ever earn that nickname in that movie) that I don't know that I can bring myself to read anything where he's not constrained like he is by the HH series.

[plawolf]

Pariah is already finished afaik, and is due out in November this year. It will probably be available digitally in October. That is just 6 months away!


As much as I'm excited for this new trilogy, I'm also going to miss the retinue of both Eisenhorn and Ravenor. While both characters were masterpieces, I read those books for the guys in their retinues. People like Harlon Nayl or Godwyn Fischig were so badass, and now they've died or gone home :(

I think you might be in for a pleasant surprise then. ;)

**Spoilers, don't read any more if you haven't read the Ravenor triology or short stories**










The retinues is where I would expect most of the action and drama to be focused on.

Fischig might be dead, but Nayl isn't, and will almost certainly make a return, along with Bequin and Medea.

I would expect there to be some very interesting moral dilemmas when the loyalties of the likes of Nayl and Kara are split between the old and current masters.

Just a few stabs in the dark as to some of the things I would consider doing if I was writing it.

In terms of kicking it all off, well, I actually see Kara as the key.

At the end of the last Ravenor book, she was in some pretty deep doodoo for concealing the fact that Thonius was possessed by the Daemon from Ravenor. Somehow, I don't see the =I= taking a sympathetic view of aiding and abetting a daemon.

There is no way Kara would not burn for what she did, but she is too great a character to kill off so lightly. But if in swoops Eisenhorn and rescues her from being executed by the =I=, well, that saves Kara and also gives Ravenor a reason to go after Eisenhorn.

On a similar theme, Ravenor himself is in some hot water over disobeying orders and all the mess he caused when going rogue to hunt Molotch. If Kara wasn't important enough or close enough for Eisenhorn to risk crossing the =I= to save, Ravenor would be. Especially if Eisenhorn needs Ravenor's help to avert some disaster or defeat some evil.

Afterwards, Ravenor hands himself in to the =I=, and is offered the chance to redeem himself and his band, if he hunts down Eisenhorn.

In terms of divided loyalties between the retinue members, I can actually see Patience being a prime candidate to be turned if Eisenhorn were to say, locate or even rescue her long lost sisters.

Remember, Ravenor lied to her when he first encountered and recruited Patience, he told her they were dead, when they were just taken and almost impossible to track down. If she ever found out the truth, it would fundamentally shake her trust and loyalty to Ravenor. If given the chance of being reunited with her sisters, I can easily see her being willing to turn on Ravenor in exchange.

In Salvation's Reach, it was mentioned the Ravenor 'died badly', being betrayed and murdered by a trusted aid would certainly fit that bill.

[TheWildRider]

Personally, I think that Ravenor gets served with something akin to Uriel and Pasanius's Death Oath in "Dead Sky, Black Sun." Rorken tells him to bring Eisenhorn in, or take him out as a way of redeeming himself.

You're also forgetting that Abnett has stated that Bequin will be the focus of this next trilogy. My most viable theory is that Eisenhorn comes after Bequin for whatever reason. Either for her untouchability or because he's madly in love. Whatever the rational, the psyker battles between Ravenor and Eisenhorn are going to **** so much **** up.

[Hive777]

Wow, looking good. It was the Eisenhorn and Ravenor books that got me into 40k to start with, so I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Has anyone here read the Gaunt's Ghosts stuff from Abnett? I've thought about reading them, but wasn't sure if they were comparable to the Eisenhorn/Ravenor stuff in terms of quality.

[Maleclypse]

So we can expect first book to be Ravenor and Eisenhorn as enemies, second book as reluctant allies and third book as they deviate and one of them goes too far for the other to stomach and we end with one of them "dead". Does that sound about right?