eldargal
04-15-2012, 08:40 AM
Path of the Renegade by Andy Chambers.
Non-spoiler review:
Path of the Renegade follows the quest of Yllithian, Archon of the White Flame, to unseat Asdrubael Vect from his position as ‘tyrant’ of Commoragh. The story is well told, well-paced and while character development isn’t front and centre you do get a feel for the personalities of the main protagonists. It offers a real insight into the culture of the Dark Eldar, how they go about realspace raids, how they vie for power, in short, how Commoragh functions. I’d recommend it to anyone with an interest in Dark Eldar, or Eldar in general as the attitude of the Dark Eldar to their monastic and rustic cousins is elucidated at several points throughout the book. The Harlequins (or a Harlequin) also makes an extremely good, in my opinion (and thus correct) cameo appearance.
One minor criticism would have to be that Mr Chambers does fall into the ‘mention everything in the codex trap’ both in terms of equipment and characters from Dark Eldar history. However this is, as I said, minor and it is softened somewhat by the mention of other equipment no in the codex and some equipment from the old codex not in the new one. Some have said the ending is a bit abrupt, and while it is certainly a cliff-hanger I’m not sure abrupt is quite the right word, I felt it was paced well.
4 out of 5 Weeping Daggers of Shaimesh.
Spoiler-laden rambling review:
I wrote a long and rambly review which was became too hard to read, so instead I’m just going to put things about the book I particularly enjoyed in point form:
Xelian, one of Yllithians co-conspirators was probably my favourite character in the book, as a cranky eldargal prone to berserker rages I really related to this bloodthirsty Archon/Succubus (Succubarchon? Archonubus, hm, no sounds Egyptian). Through her we also get some interesting insights into the way Cults and Kabals work and the fact the line between the two can apparently be very fine. Xelians’ kabal, the Blades of Desire, seems to be as much or more a Wych cult as a Kabal. Even her eventual demise is treated in keeping with the new, enhanced background from the codex, despite being killed it is said that even with her Haemonculi perhaps being bribed it is delaying ’if not preventing’ her revivification. This in contrast to an earlier novel featuring Dark Eldar, where a succubus inexplicably meets her final end because she is apparently too stupid to leave a genetic sample with a Coven and despite the author mentioning revivifications earlier in the book.
While Yllithian plots and schemes and Xelian stomps around being fantastic, it is left to a small group of characters to actually do the dirty work. These are:
Morr, the extremely impressive incubus bodyguard of Archon Kraillath, another of the conspirators, who takes a smiper shot to he eye and a blast pistol to the chest and still manages to hack the hell out of everything.
Aez’ashya, a succubus of Xelians, who injects a welcome bit of feminine gymnastic stabbery to the proceedings.
Kharbyr, a thug/assassin working for Yllithian. Sneaky git.
Xagor, an adorable wrack.
And finally Sindiel, a fallen Ranger who provides a good outsiders perspective of the Dark City and its inhabitants. Also has a brief crush on Aez’ashya before thinking better of it.
Oh, there are also a couple of Redshirt kabalites who amply illustrate the perils of the various locales this motley crew visit.
In the course of fulfilling Yllithians plan to revive one of Asdrubael Vects old enemies, El’uriaq, the Emperor of the fallen realm of Shaa’dom, an Exodite world is raided, an exodite Worldsinger of pure heart (also a bit of a hotty) is abducted and the daemon infested Shaa’dom braved. All of which are well paced and exciting. The realspace raid on the Exodite world was particularly interesting, for its depiction of both a Dark Eldar raid and the surprisingly effective exodite military response. The foray to Shaa’dom is replete with suitably Chaosesque weird Warpy goings on.
A new (I think) concept is introduced, that of Dysjunctions. It is never precisely defined but it seems to be some kind of period of terrible instability and perhaps warp leakage into Commoragh/the Webway with life being made very difficult and dangerous for all over and above the regular difficult nastiness of living in Commoragh. It is first mentioned as a possible consequence of bringing a long dead Eldar back to life, hint hint.
The Harlequins (or a harlequin) makes a suitably Harlequinesque cameo appearance. Love these guys/gals so much.
Terrorfexes get a mention, after being dropped from the new codex! Spoken of being increasingly rare due to the difficulty of finding wraithbone in Commoragh, and somewhat out of fashion as a result.
The talk of Vect and his occassional cameo appearance are also suitably epic, him and his giant floaty ziggurat of death.
All in all, lots of action, insights into the Eldar and much fun had by all except Kraillach. I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel, Path of the Incubus, which will presumably show Morr a little more.
Non-spoiler review:
Path of the Renegade follows the quest of Yllithian, Archon of the White Flame, to unseat Asdrubael Vect from his position as ‘tyrant’ of Commoragh. The story is well told, well-paced and while character development isn’t front and centre you do get a feel for the personalities of the main protagonists. It offers a real insight into the culture of the Dark Eldar, how they go about realspace raids, how they vie for power, in short, how Commoragh functions. I’d recommend it to anyone with an interest in Dark Eldar, or Eldar in general as the attitude of the Dark Eldar to their monastic and rustic cousins is elucidated at several points throughout the book. The Harlequins (or a Harlequin) also makes an extremely good, in my opinion (and thus correct) cameo appearance.
One minor criticism would have to be that Mr Chambers does fall into the ‘mention everything in the codex trap’ both in terms of equipment and characters from Dark Eldar history. However this is, as I said, minor and it is softened somewhat by the mention of other equipment no in the codex and some equipment from the old codex not in the new one. Some have said the ending is a bit abrupt, and while it is certainly a cliff-hanger I’m not sure abrupt is quite the right word, I felt it was paced well.
4 out of 5 Weeping Daggers of Shaimesh.
Spoiler-laden rambling review:
I wrote a long and rambly review which was became too hard to read, so instead I’m just going to put things about the book I particularly enjoyed in point form:
Xelian, one of Yllithians co-conspirators was probably my favourite character in the book, as a cranky eldargal prone to berserker rages I really related to this bloodthirsty Archon/Succubus (Succubarchon? Archonubus, hm, no sounds Egyptian). Through her we also get some interesting insights into the way Cults and Kabals work and the fact the line between the two can apparently be very fine. Xelians’ kabal, the Blades of Desire, seems to be as much or more a Wych cult as a Kabal. Even her eventual demise is treated in keeping with the new, enhanced background from the codex, despite being killed it is said that even with her Haemonculi perhaps being bribed it is delaying ’if not preventing’ her revivification. This in contrast to an earlier novel featuring Dark Eldar, where a succubus inexplicably meets her final end because she is apparently too stupid to leave a genetic sample with a Coven and despite the author mentioning revivifications earlier in the book.
While Yllithian plots and schemes and Xelian stomps around being fantastic, it is left to a small group of characters to actually do the dirty work. These are:
Morr, the extremely impressive incubus bodyguard of Archon Kraillath, another of the conspirators, who takes a smiper shot to he eye and a blast pistol to the chest and still manages to hack the hell out of everything.
Aez’ashya, a succubus of Xelians, who injects a welcome bit of feminine gymnastic stabbery to the proceedings.
Kharbyr, a thug/assassin working for Yllithian. Sneaky git.
Xagor, an adorable wrack.
And finally Sindiel, a fallen Ranger who provides a good outsiders perspective of the Dark City and its inhabitants. Also has a brief crush on Aez’ashya before thinking better of it.
Oh, there are also a couple of Redshirt kabalites who amply illustrate the perils of the various locales this motley crew visit.
In the course of fulfilling Yllithians plan to revive one of Asdrubael Vects old enemies, El’uriaq, the Emperor of the fallen realm of Shaa’dom, an Exodite world is raided, an exodite Worldsinger of pure heart (also a bit of a hotty) is abducted and the daemon infested Shaa’dom braved. All of which are well paced and exciting. The realspace raid on the Exodite world was particularly interesting, for its depiction of both a Dark Eldar raid and the surprisingly effective exodite military response. The foray to Shaa’dom is replete with suitably Chaosesque weird Warpy goings on.
A new (I think) concept is introduced, that of Dysjunctions. It is never precisely defined but it seems to be some kind of period of terrible instability and perhaps warp leakage into Commoragh/the Webway with life being made very difficult and dangerous for all over and above the regular difficult nastiness of living in Commoragh. It is first mentioned as a possible consequence of bringing a long dead Eldar back to life, hint hint.
The Harlequins (or a harlequin) makes a suitably Harlequinesque cameo appearance. Love these guys/gals so much.
Terrorfexes get a mention, after being dropped from the new codex! Spoken of being increasingly rare due to the difficulty of finding wraithbone in Commoragh, and somewhat out of fashion as a result.
The talk of Vect and his occassional cameo appearance are also suitably epic, him and his giant floaty ziggurat of death.
All in all, lots of action, insights into the Eldar and much fun had by all except Kraillach. I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel, Path of the Incubus, which will presumably show Morr a little more.