Night Lords: The Omnibus

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All five of these books regard the omnibus and are solid 10/10 essential reads for any self respecting night lord interested in current lore: As with all of Deltrian’s inhumanities, it was something Talos respected as personal, despite his curiosity. ADB is a man who knows how to write a damned good story. His ability to make a damned good story is because the man knows how to make damned interesting and sympathetic characters.

Over the course of “Night Lords: The Omnibus'” three novels and three short stories Dembski-Bowden has the members of First Squad interact with and battle an eclectic cast of allies, adversaries, and some characters who are both. Some of the ones I found especially intriguing were the mutated and monstrous members of the Night Lords Raptor division, the two human slaves Talos employs, and the members of the alien race known as the Eldar. Personally I had written the Eldar off as characters that didn't really resonate with me, but in one of the novels of t“Night Lords: The Omnibus” there's an especially fascinating Eldar antagonist who tests the mettle of First Claw. The aforementioned torture/murder scenes make up my most severe negative critique but the confusing characters make a good second. None seem to have set personalities, changing regularly whenever the plot needs to move in a new direction. This book is full of over-the-top torture and body horror, punctuated by brief attempts at levity that feel out of place in the rest of the grossness. Some of this may be due to writing about a murderous sect in an established universe but other writers of chaos space marines (see: Fulgrim) manage to encapsulate the abhorrent nature of the legions without resorting to chapters describing their deeds in lurid detail.

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Shadow knight - another adb short book , not my favourite but still worth half hour of your time , audiobook can be found here Lord of the night - this one I'm currently just about to read , can't find an audio version of this one but I've been looking forward to this one for months , details the fight between Krieg acerbus and zho sahaal as they seek to claim the Corona box The entire trilogy portrays a band of genuine villains, who you cannot help but root for towards the end. This is because there are countless moments throughout that are absolutely crushing, and that would normally have you cheering for the downfall of the "bad guy", but upon reading them makes you empathise with the characters. Perhaps none more than this when the central figure, Talos, in a moment of pure innocence, after thousands of years of war, terror, and conquest, in the name of a father that hated and abandoned him, simply states he only ever wanted to be a hero. Brutal.

I knew that warrior,' he said with solemn care. 'He was Caleus, born of Newfound, and I know he died as he lived: with courage, honour, and knowing no fear.' I will say this for Dembski-Bowden, he avoids most of the pitfalls that I associate with both Chaos and Space Marines. In the former, the Night Lords are a nice break from the frothing-at-the-mouth murder machines I generally expect from Chaos worshippers. I’m not even sure if the Night Lords truly worship Chaos at all. They’re definitely aligned (and serve Abaddon the Despoiler), but they reject the taint of Chaos, even going so far as to cast out or kill those so afflicted. Make no mistakes though, they are an evil bunch. They murder their way across space, killing innocents in the thousands, all while laughing about their victories. This might be the first time I've ever read a book (well, multiple books) from the point of view of the bad guys. Not just the occasional POV thrown in to see what the bad guys are up to, but presenting them as the protagonists, presumably to at least half-root for. And not just "bad guys", like antiheroes, or even antivillains, but straight up EVIL. I mean, one of them is called the Flayer. Mass torture, viciously sadistic cruelty for its own sake, and wearing other people's skin as cloaks is a normal Tuesday afternoon for these dudes.no matter what allegiance you bear this series is worth reading if for no other reason then to know Yet another point is Talos’ ambivalence towards his human slaves, the evolution of his emotions over time and the complexity of their relationships. They too, just like another Apothecary who is a former Red Corsair Space Marine, develop a sense of belonging and become part of the brotherhood, of this dwindling band of survivors. Mr. Abnett has created a cadre of characters in the Gaunt's series that I have grown to be very fond of. It took a few books, but once I was in, I was in, and EVERY one of their deaths breaks my heart, but it makes the series excellent. Mr. Dembski-Bowden achieved that same level of amazing character pathos in a shorter amount of time with First Claw and the slaves. The Night Lords are cruel, demanding and vicious, but in the context of a universe where there is only war, perhaps no more so than any other entity. The fact that they recognize the cruelty inherent in their lives and the lives around them perhaps make them more sympathetic as characters than the factions that matter-of-fact accept the situations and horrors that people find themselves in.

What makes Dembski-Bowden's character work even more resonant, haunting, and powerful is that the choices his characters make have very real consequences. Over the course of “Night Lords: The Omnibus” characters I liked and identified with got injured and some even died. So the stories had a thrilling almost anything can happen vibe to them. On top of all that, Dembski-Bowden has managed to include romance. Not only romance, but well written romance between two characters (non-Astartes, mind you) in a place and time that we didn’t expect. Come on, this is Warhammer 40k, a Universe where there is only war. It takes a nothing short of a genius to get believable romance on the paper in such a grim-dark future, and the author has hit top marks here, again. Unfortunately, this makes character work difficult. When almost all your POVs are ancient immortal superhuman evil space knights who relish inflicting terror and pain and act as though they have any fair claim to moral righteousness whatsoever, it's hard to have much variety. Dembski-Bowden tries, to his credit, but most of the Night Lords are kinda interchangeable, with only one or two quirks or changes in appearance to distinguish them.Jain Zar, the Storm of Silence, the Phoenix Lord of the Howling Banshees themselves in this book was what I would expect a normal Howling Banshee Exarch to fight and act like. There were a few loose ends left at the book that I was left a little confused over. Such as what happened to Deltrian without a navigator, considering he held all that previous gene seed.

I felt that Talos was doing some things without much explanation as to why he was doing those things. He makes some pretty big decisions without seeming to put much thought into them. When Talos & co meet the arch regent for the first time, the regent asks them: who are you and why are you slaughtering my people? Talos answers that he doesn't need to give him answers and is about to kill him when the Night Lords suddenly urgently need to leave. When they return to the regent a while later nothing had changed but for no reason the regent became a VIP. Talos now needs him to tell him where the astropath guild is and there is plenty of time where Talos informs the regent of all their plans and ambitions. Yet he was initially just going to axe him, no questions asked? It makes no sense. A safe and shadowed place - details events after the thramas crusade , free audiobook can be found here

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Throughout the trilogy, we are offered perspective on the actions of the tenth through the eyes of those humans they rely on to do the things that hulking, armoured murderers either can't or just plain won't do. Septimus and Octavia are slaves of Talos - the former his artificer and pilot, the latter the navigator for the ship tenth company travel in, The Covenant of Blood. Septimus has been enslaved for a number of years before we meet him, whereas Octavia is captured during the course of the first novel, so we get the viewpoint of someone who has already come to terms with their position in life and someone who is forced to. The reactions of Septimus and Octavia to the things the Night Lords do are a large part of the character building, helping to provide much needed perspective on what would otherwise just be a collection of stories about evil beings doing evil things. The presence of Septimus and Octavia in what is a persistently dangerous environment really gives the reader someone to root for too - even if you aren't swayed to the side of their captors by the grey morality of the universe, you still hope the two slaves will make it out alright, as they have had no choice in their fates. Crafting a narrative which is asking the reader to be on the side of characters who revel in acts of terror and slaughter takes some skill, and it's laudable that Dembski-Bowden pulls it off with such apparent ease. The story, the persona's, the feeling of the world and the desperate universe the Night Lords and their slaves find themselves in all come together near the end of the story, and you'll be moved to tears as everything finally unfolds. Mercutian might be a bit more on the noble side like Talos, but even he falls prey to the Night Lords trait of enjoying the slaughter and torture of those they've conquered or defeated. The clichés help rather than hinder. It is grimdark universe with the Dark Lords being a particularly unsavoury and self-hating bunch. Pretences of "both-sidesm" are barely sustained for the first novel. The overarching plot veers wildly between insightful and rudderless. I need my fun, and the Night Lords omnibus has just enough characterisation to keep it interesting, with variations on the archetypes. The best character isn't even a Night Lord but the starving three eyed Navigator Octavia. If you can use the clichés well with the occasional surprise, then why not?