eldargal
07-01-2013, 11:06 AM
I'll try to keep this fairly concise and avoid spoilers. The Carnac Campaign is a trilogy of three e-books portraying the defense of an exodite world by the Alaitoc craftworld against the Necrons. In order:
Nightspear by Joe Parrino
Sky Hunter by Graeme Lyon
Spirit War by Rob Sanders
The main overarching negative done away with first: The Carnac Campaign opens with the eldar being ambushed by the Necrons and ends with their defeat. This isn't a spoiler by the way, it says so right on the Spirit War blurb. In other words this is another tale of the eldar being outdone by their enemies and getting the crap kicked out of them and that really is getting tedious.
Nightspear: My least favourite. It is by no means bad, though the prose may not be to the taste of everyone. The main problem with it is that it is hampered by the aforementioned overarching negative. Illic Nightspear and his elite cadre of Pathfinders are comprehensively outmatched by the Necrons and slowly slaughtered. It is well written, the tension builds up quite well and if it weren't for it being yet another 'beat up the eldar story' it would be really quite good. But everyone comes out if looking like a moron, Illic, the Pathfinders and the craftworlds seers. Unlike the other two books it doesn't really add to our knowledge of the eldar either. 2 out of 5 Pathfinder corpses.
Sky Hunter: The first two thirds of the book are excellent giving some real depth to the Crimson Hunter which I will go into below. The final third basically amounts to the Crimson Hunter shrine the story focuses on and a Spirit Seer and her Wraithfighters throwing themselves at the enemy and mostly dying in an attempt to assassinate the Necron leadership which they had already tried and failed doing in Nightspear. 2.5 out of 5 smoking, burnt out Nightshade interceptor hulks. There is also one tremendous negative for me: Elarique Swiftblade, autarch of Alaitoc introduced in the Medusa V campaign is retconned into a male. Because obviosuly there were far too many prominent female eldar characters already (Jain Zar, Iyanna Arienal, Thirianna). I'm actually going to write to Black Library and hope they amend the e-books and change her back.
Spirit War: The best of three by far in my opinion. A Spirit Seer of Alaitoc is sent to wake a legion of wraith constructs and take them to Carnac as the last line of defense while the craftworlds and exodites evacuates. The outcome is a foregone conclusion but the insight into how eldar experience death in the Infinity Circuit, how the Spirit Seers interact with them in the circuit and the views of the eldar of their necromancy are all very interesting. The battle itself is well written and introduces some of the broader eldar themes such as hubris into it without beating you over the head with them. 3.5 out of 5 Wraith Knights
Overall I'm giving the trilogy a 2.5 out of 5. Not bad writing but let down by another 'bash the eldar' plot and some other annoyances here and there. I don't regret buying them but if BL want to sell more eldar stories then they could at least let the eldar win, I don't have a problem with heroic defeats and whatnot but it gets old when that is all you get and sometimes not that heroic.
Insights into eldar gleaned from the trilogy:
-Crimson Hunters have ejector seats
-Crimson Hunter exarchs are the only exarch who is not a gestalt consciousnesses as the destruction of the Nightshade hunter invariably destroys the spirit stone of the eldar, damning them to be et by Slaanesh.
-Spirit Seers can enter the soulstones of other eldar and touch their minds, it also allows them to survive the destruction of their own body under certain circumstances
-Each eldar spirit shapes its own experience of the infinity circuit after death, in the case presented an ancient autarch is doomed by his own pride and fear of failure into reliving his last battle though he is unaware he is dead.
-The eldar have an interesting view of Spirit Seers and wraith constructs. They abhor the necromancy involved and don't seem to care for Spirit Seers much but they reverse the wraith constructs for their actions
Nightspear by Joe Parrino
Sky Hunter by Graeme Lyon
Spirit War by Rob Sanders
The main overarching negative done away with first: The Carnac Campaign opens with the eldar being ambushed by the Necrons and ends with their defeat. This isn't a spoiler by the way, it says so right on the Spirit War blurb. In other words this is another tale of the eldar being outdone by their enemies and getting the crap kicked out of them and that really is getting tedious.
Nightspear: My least favourite. It is by no means bad, though the prose may not be to the taste of everyone. The main problem with it is that it is hampered by the aforementioned overarching negative. Illic Nightspear and his elite cadre of Pathfinders are comprehensively outmatched by the Necrons and slowly slaughtered. It is well written, the tension builds up quite well and if it weren't for it being yet another 'beat up the eldar story' it would be really quite good. But everyone comes out if looking like a moron, Illic, the Pathfinders and the craftworlds seers. Unlike the other two books it doesn't really add to our knowledge of the eldar either. 2 out of 5 Pathfinder corpses.
Sky Hunter: The first two thirds of the book are excellent giving some real depth to the Crimson Hunter which I will go into below. The final third basically amounts to the Crimson Hunter shrine the story focuses on and a Spirit Seer and her Wraithfighters throwing themselves at the enemy and mostly dying in an attempt to assassinate the Necron leadership which they had already tried and failed doing in Nightspear. 2.5 out of 5 smoking, burnt out Nightshade interceptor hulks. There is also one tremendous negative for me: Elarique Swiftblade, autarch of Alaitoc introduced in the Medusa V campaign is retconned into a male. Because obviosuly there were far too many prominent female eldar characters already (Jain Zar, Iyanna Arienal, Thirianna). I'm actually going to write to Black Library and hope they amend the e-books and change her back.
Spirit War: The best of three by far in my opinion. A Spirit Seer of Alaitoc is sent to wake a legion of wraith constructs and take them to Carnac as the last line of defense while the craftworlds and exodites evacuates. The outcome is a foregone conclusion but the insight into how eldar experience death in the Infinity Circuit, how the Spirit Seers interact with them in the circuit and the views of the eldar of their necromancy are all very interesting. The battle itself is well written and introduces some of the broader eldar themes such as hubris into it without beating you over the head with them. 3.5 out of 5 Wraith Knights
Overall I'm giving the trilogy a 2.5 out of 5. Not bad writing but let down by another 'bash the eldar' plot and some other annoyances here and there. I don't regret buying them but if BL want to sell more eldar stories then they could at least let the eldar win, I don't have a problem with heroic defeats and whatnot but it gets old when that is all you get and sometimes not that heroic.
Insights into eldar gleaned from the trilogy:
-Crimson Hunters have ejector seats
-Crimson Hunter exarchs are the only exarch who is not a gestalt consciousnesses as the destruction of the Nightshade hunter invariably destroys the spirit stone of the eldar, damning them to be et by Slaanesh.
-Spirit Seers can enter the soulstones of other eldar and touch their minds, it also allows them to survive the destruction of their own body under certain circumstances
-Each eldar spirit shapes its own experience of the infinity circuit after death, in the case presented an ancient autarch is doomed by his own pride and fear of failure into reliving his last battle though he is unaware he is dead.
-The eldar have an interesting view of Spirit Seers and wraith constructs. They abhor the necromancy involved and don't seem to care for Spirit Seers much but they reverse the wraith constructs for their actions