Path of the Outcast Review

[eldargal]

Path of the Outcast by Gav Thorpe.

Non spoiler review:

Path of the Outcast tells the story of Aradryan and is the final entry in Mister Thorpes Path series. I really enjoyed it, the story and pacing were excellent and it was compelling enough that I read it in two long sessions becaus I coudl hardly put it down. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I did Path of the Seer, but that is because I really loved the protagonist of that book rather than any flaw in the writing. It neatly and credibly brings the threat to Craftworld Alaitoc to a conclusion which bar a few nitpicks is very satisfying.

4/5

Gav Thorpe says he hopes to return to eldar in a couple of years time, and I hope he does. While I feel the invasion of Alaitoc could have been handled a bit better the series is really great and Path of the Outcast is a worthy end to it.


Random spoilery bits:



-Aradryan is a real arse. The quintessential bored rich kid who talks tough when he is in a position of strength but falls apart when things turn against him.
-Morai-Heg was the first eldar god to get et by Slaanesh.
-The decadence and power of the pre-Fall Eldar Empire is well illustrated when the protagonist and a corsair/harlequin band visit a crone world that was in its entirety a palace to one eldar lord.
-The craftworlers have access to all kinds of terrible pre-Fall weapons but they don't see the need to use them but god help you if they do.
-Thirianna survives!:p
-The corsairs used a temporary webway portal to suck the reactor core out of an IoM orbital station.
-A solitaire appears and is pretty damned nifty.

Major plot spoiler(s):
-The IoM invasion of the craftworld is ultimately stopped when Aradryan pleads with the chapter master of the Sons of Orar and explains they are being manipulatd by at traitor governor who wants revenge on Aradryan for killing his son. The IoM find Alaitoc through the intervention of a Dark Eldar dracon who also wants revenge on Aradryan. Ultimately though a relief fleet from many other craftworlds arrived and the Imperium forces were threated with mutual annihilation if they didn't sod off. I found this quite plausible and convincing personally, though I do think the marines were made out to be a little OP.

-At the end Thirianna shoulders much of the responsibility for the catastrophe by claiming that because she manipulated the exarch-formerly-known-as-Korlandril into getting the seer council to investigate the thread of fate leading to these events that she facilitated them coming true. This rather annoyed me because the whole damned seer council investigated and none of them said 'hey wait a minute, what if we are facilitating this coming true?'. No, much more sensible for the newbiest seer on the craftworld to take responsibility. Silly bint.

[DrLove42]

As I've said in the past the marines were a bit OP in all the books combat. It seemed each one was an unstoppable behemoth that nothing the eldar could bring except Super heavy weapopns could stop.

I like it that the marines see sense as it were. The the Chapter Masters loyalty to his men, in protecting them is more important to him than the destruiction of a craftworld. it also suggest that the Imperium wouldn't attack a craftworld for no reason (whatever the traitor lord told them to get them there)

We also learned Eldar have sex for fun!
Thirianna taking the blame for causing the situation again seems very Eldar. We're a bit emo like that :P

[eldargal]

Yes the Marine thing was hardly new, it's a (minor) flaw through the whole series. they were certainly unstoppable behemoths right until Thirianna needed to kill a bunch at the end of Seer.:p

I really liked it to, it continued the whole shades of grey (the good kind) IoM that it used to be, with rampant xenophobia yet embassies on some craftworlds.

Well if you think about the series as a whole, Korlandril was mosntrously arrogant and angry and was ultimately stripped of everything. Aradryan was a bored, spoilt brat who was ultimately humbled (spectacularly) and is about to embark on the Path of Grieving in order to deal with it. Thirianna became a seer to feel in control and ultimately believes she controlled the fate of the entire craftworld for better or worse. But the fact she takes responsibility for it when the entire seer council would be complicit if indeed blame can be apportioned (given the fickle nature of prophecy) it shows of all of them she is the only one who maintained her arrogance even if she did grow as an eldar.:) That's my interpretation anyway.

[Anggul]

It really was a beautiful, amazing book. I actually felt my emotions soar and plummet along with Aradryan's, which is something that I can't usually say even for most books that I love. Aradryan is, I think, a brilliant example of an Eldar who is really torn apart by the far-ranging and eccentric nature of the Eldar. No doubt he is intended to look like an arse a lot of the time, but I think the idea is also for us to pity him at the same time, because every now and then his thought process shows that he is often just trying to think of the thing that would let him make the most of his existence, but he is constantly pulled further and further by the promise of greater experience, in brilliant representation of what led to The Fall. He is a victim of his nature as an Eldar as much as his own foolishness. I suppose I see him as less of a dick, more of a fool who can't control himself and his urges. Korlandril was similarly lost, but his problem was anger rather than a desire for the rush and thrill which the Dark Eldar run themselves on, whereas Thirinanna was going for exactly the opposite of theirs, desiring control. In a way Korlandril gained the greatest solution to his problem, and gained peace, becoming one with an Exarch, tempering his fury with the collective wisdom of the Exarch. It did then go further in Phoenix Lord, which was quite sad because no sooner had he gained peace than his conscience was lost in Karandras. I found what happened to him brilliant though as soon as I thought about Karandras. Karandras saw what Arhra became after perfecting his art and realised that it was fuelled only by a desire to slay and destroy, so tempered the aspect with the hunting, stealthy and stalking aspect, combining self-control with the slaughter to teach one to master their rage. This reflects what happened to Korlandril beautifully. As for Thirianna, she was warned early on not to pursue only vaguely possible divinations which she sought after only because of her curiosity about certain things. She sought out Aradryan and what he might cause specifically and then pursued it to obsession, her short time as a Farseer still naive compared to the wisdom of her teacher. It reflected nicely how careful the Eldar must be, even with their power, as the focus on one thing and not thinking outside of that thing (evidenced by the fact that she didn't think that perhaps her calling to Aradryan would cause the problem, just as her teacher warned), can lead to much sorrow. A great gift but requiring stern discernment and sometimes blocking out one's own feelings which isn't easy, especially for an Eldar. I also love how she didn't just forget how to be a fighter and was quite capable of killing filthy Mon-Keigh. I always found it stupid how Warlocks apparently used to be Aspect Warriors, but are only I4. :P

I also loved the little bit at the end, finishing the Introspections On Perfection, which brought all of this together by saying how although The Path is a focus, each Eldar can still make mistakes upon it, bringing great reflection upon the combined story.


Oh, and the moment with the Solitaire was something I had been waiting to see since I first read about them many years ago, and it was far and away one of the most fulfilling and awesome things that I've ever read as an Eldar fan. In fact the entire bit on the Crone World was one of the most enjoyable things I've ever read. Go Harlequins.

[Archon Charybdis]

Just finished it, and overall I was very pleased. A lot more happened with a lot more action than in either of the previous books, and sometimes the hand-waving of reasonable stretches of time made it feel a bit disjointed, it was still a very enjoyable read. I don't know if I'd call Aradryan a "spoiled rich kid" but he definitely developed an ego. He became enamored of his own power and freedom (as many Corsair Princes do) but he accepted responsibility and felt overwhelming regret and sorrow for the consequences of his actions. I thought there was a satisfying and appropraite conclusion to his overall arc.

I also loved orbital station raid, that was a pretty cool fight.

Minor fluff quibbles:
-Even approaching a Solitaire is supposed to be major bad juju, but they didn't address that at all, he was treated just like any other (majorly badass) Eldar.

-How does Maensith avoid the thirst without torturing or wearing a soul stone?

-Anyone else notice how despite Incubi no longer being depicted as an Archon's bodyguards in the codex, all the BL authors are still depicting them as bodyguards? Not that I'm complaining, I find Incubi infinitely cooler and more interesting than a Court of the Archon.

[Chris*ta]

Gav Thorpe says he hopes to return to eldar in a couple of years time, and I hope he does. While I feel the invasion of Alaitoc could have been handled a bit better the series is really great and Path of the Outcast is a worthy end to it.

Gav Thorpe discussed what he plans to do in the future at the talk I was at the night before the Aus GD.

He said he'd like to write more Eldar, and he was planning to do a number of books. Each one would be about a specific Phoenix Lord, and their adventures on a specific Craftworld.

I wouldn't hold your breath though, he is planning to write some stuff around the Tau first, so was talking about the Eldar stuff not coming out for two years.

He said some more stuff, but maybe I should start a new thread for it. Not least to avoid the Path spoilers :D

[eldargal]

Does want book about Jain Zar! Also, please do post a new thread with information in.:p

[eldargal]

I just noticed an inconsistency between Path of the Outcast and the established background. In one of the third edition codices it is stated that black is the eldar colour of mourning, but PotO says white is the colour of mourning. Shocking!:p

[DrLove42]

Maybe it varies from craftworlds?

Chinese mourning colour is white, compared to our black

[eldargal]

Probably, though I think black makes more sense. The original eldar moon Lileath was white so I rather assumed they would associate with virtues of that goddess.

[Chris*ta]

Is the colour being used in the same context? I mean maybe the bereaved wear black, but they paint the coffin white, or something like that, anyway.

Or, y'know Gav didn't remember that one little reference ;) especially if it wasn't an Eldar codex.

[Anggul]

Minor fluff quibbles:
-Even approaching a Solitaire is supposed to be major bad juju, but they didn't address that at all, he was treated just like any other (majorly badass) Eldar.

-How does Maensith avoid the thirst without torturing or wearing a soul stone?

-Anyone else notice how despite Incubi no longer being depicted as an Archon's bodyguards in the codex, all the BL authors are still depicting them as bodyguards? Not that I'm complaining, I find Incubi infinitely cooler and more interesting than a Court of the Archon.

I noticed the Solitaire thing too. It's said that anyone who actually has a conversation with one ought as well kill themselves right away rather than face the horrible fate awaiting them. I suppose he did face a rather horrible fate, but no-one seemed to say anything about the Solitaire at all.

Incubi are indeed still hired out as bodyguards, that's their main job, they're mercenaries. Pretty much anyone can hire them, but I imagine only Archons and the like have the resources to do so, as their price is probably rather high.

[eldargal]

Well I only brought it up as a joke.:p

Is the colour being used in the same context? I mean maybe the bereaved wear black, but they paint the coffin white, or something like that, anyway.

Or, y'know Gav didn't remember that one little reference ;) especially if it wasn't an Eldar codex.

-Well the harlequin background has been rather heavily changed since it first appeared in whatever WD it was back in 1991 or so, it could be that the Solitaire being bad luck thing is no longer the case or only applies if you approach them first knowing they are the Soliaire or god knows what.

-We know Dark Eldar can 'redeem' themselves somehow and we know the drain increases as you get older. It could be that she left Commoragh when she was relatively young so she was able to stop feeding on souls and stem the drain before it became so entrenched that she needed a soulstone? Just speculation, might be worth asking Mr Thorpe on his blog.

-As Anggul said, they are now members of a warrior sect (dark aspect almost) that are the only trustworthy denizens of Commoragh so they continue to be hired as bodyguards. More than just hired too, the designer round table videos with Phil Kelly and Jes Goodwin say that some kabals may actually have entire incubi temples within them sponsored by the kabal somehow.

[DrLove42]

Comes down to Incubi being the most "trsutworthy" of Dark Eldar. They take theirs oaths seriously

Path of the Incubi apparantly Morr is being hunted BECAUSE he killed his Archon - the fact he was dead and in fact a demon hiding in his skin is not known to others

[Poseidal]

Any more info on Eldar society within?

Incubi, at least in principle, are about the killing and shouldn't care for politics though sometimes other ambitions stir up within them. Drahzhar is 'pure' of such things, moreso than others.