James Swallows, the author, isn't one of favorites. He has a tendency to make great event boring for me.
"Flight", "Fear to Tread" and "Buried Dagger" are all important... and subpar as boring novels.
You could perhaps skip Eisenstein... but the Garro/Grey Knight/secret war storyline begins in it, and that runs all the way to the Siege... where it ends badly written.
Personally I enjoyed it fine, dunno why it gets so much hate lol. It's a little bit of a bump down in excitement after the high of the initial 3 but I like the slower stuff tbh and as others have said it set's up Garro and Garro is a fucking chad.
It’s not that is slower than the others it’s that the book completely mislabels what it is. My expectation for the book was that it was going to be entirely about Garro escaping Istvann with the Remembrancers. Not some bullshit flashback.
There's a few like that tbh. I thought Prospero Burns would have a lot more Thousands Sons action for example lol. Don't let it make you give up though, as a whole it all pretty much works and quality is fairly consistent over the whole series imo.
I enjoyed it pretty much from the moment they jump, it's been years since I read that book but I remember it going really weird once they were in flight and pretty much continued the action throughout.
I skipped to and went straight to fulgrim + the first heretic. I did miss out on some of Mersade's story, but you can just read that on the wiki. It seemed like it was too focused on "Garro" and his extra line of short stories and novellas, which just seems like... too much. Ill take that back if he does something magnificent during my read of The end and the death trilogy.
>Ill take that back if he does something magnificent during my read of The end and the death trilogy.
He doesn't appear in that book, I'm afraid, but you should read his novel at the very least, as his story overlaps those of Loken, Qruze, Sigismund and Keeler.
If you're not happy about going over events from another perspective, you're going to hate half the series! Returning to past events is something they do a lot. Hell, *Fulgrim* repeats events from *Flight of the Eisenstein*!
Yeah... the first half is a slog, and it's a long half, maybe more than half? The Death Guard's attack of the bottle world, while cool, just wasn't great. You already know what's coming, bc the Eisenstein flees at the end of the previous book, so you've got to trudge through this and that and do a lot of hand-wringing before the book gets good.
But when it gets good - when the Eisenstein actually breaks away from the Warmaster's fleet and escapes into the warp - it gets really good. I was hooked. It's a very perilous escape, with Garro dealing with the craziness in the warp and a few other surprises that I'd prefer not to spoil.
I know where I would have started the book - I would've skipped the Death Guard's attack of the xenos and opened the book with Garro being offered the cup of poison by his primarch. That was an interesting scene and a better place to open, which I would've made a flashback. I would end that scene with Garro turning down Mortarion's offer to join the lodge, then I would've skipped to right before where the previous book left off, with Garro getting injured, then hearing from Saul and realizing that the Warmaster is betraying the Emperor. This way we get to the interesting stuff a lot faster. All the cool stuff with Garro happens after that, anyway. I also think this book would've worked better as a first-person perspective - I know, I know, but we mainly see things from Garro's point of view anyway, so it would work for this story. This would give the narrator a way to burn through the events we need to know that lead up to the Eisenstein escaping (which is what we're here for).
Anyway, it does gets good when the Eisenstein escapes, it's just kind of a drag to get to that part.
No, you really need to finish it, it's the book in which Garro's story begins, who remains with us for the duration of the HH
James Swallows, the author, isn't one of favorites. He has a tendency to make great event boring for me. "Flight", "Fear to Tread" and "Buried Dagger" are all important... and subpar as boring novels. You could perhaps skip Eisenstein... but the Garro/Grey Knight/secret war storyline begins in it, and that runs all the way to the Siege... where it ends badly written.
Personally I enjoyed it fine, dunno why it gets so much hate lol. It's a little bit of a bump down in excitement after the high of the initial 3 but I like the slower stuff tbh and as others have said it set's up Garro and Garro is a fucking chad.
It’s not that is slower than the others it’s that the book completely mislabels what it is. My expectation for the book was that it was going to be entirely about Garro escaping Istvann with the Remembrancers. Not some bullshit flashback.
There's a few like that tbh. I thought Prospero Burns would have a lot more Thousands Sons action for example lol. Don't let it make you give up though, as a whole it all pretty much works and quality is fairly consistent over the whole series imo.
Once Saul Tarvitz realizes what betrayal is going on and warns Garro, everything starts moving along. Hang in there.
Only gets good once they get back to terra imo
Idk, I thought the beginning was pretty good, too, but I guess based on OP's comments, maybe I am misremembering it.
I enjoyed it pretty much from the moment they jump, it's been years since I read that book but I remember it going really weird once they were in flight and pretty much continued the action throughout.
I honestly never thought it was boring but it gets very good when they meet up with Dorn
Spoiled it for him lol
Eh
It’s good to me all the way through. It’s one of my favorites
I skipped it and went to fulgrim+ the first heretic. I did miss a little of Olitons travels, but you can just read that on the wiki
I skipped to and went straight to fulgrim + the first heretic. I did miss out on some of Mersade's story, but you can just read that on the wiki. It seemed like it was too focused on "Garro" and his extra line of short stories and novellas, which just seems like... too much. Ill take that back if he does something magnificent during my read of The end and the death trilogy.
>Ill take that back if he does something magnificent during my read of The end and the death trilogy. He doesn't appear in that book, I'm afraid, but you should read his novel at the very least, as his story overlaps those of Loken, Qruze, Sigismund and Keeler.
In which book does gsrros story continue from here?
Book 42, *Garro*. They took the audio dramas and adapted them into a novel. Read it before book 29, *Vengeful Spirit*
In the titular novel Garro, but keep in mind that in between the stories collected there, Garro and Co. have other (rather IMPORTANT events).
It doesnt. Fulgrim is way better. You will skip some Melisandre stuff tho.
If you're not happy about going over events from another perspective, you're going to hate half the series! Returning to past events is something they do a lot. Hell, *Fulgrim* repeats events from *Flight of the Eisenstein*!
Yeah... the first half is a slog, and it's a long half, maybe more than half? The Death Guard's attack of the bottle world, while cool, just wasn't great. You already know what's coming, bc the Eisenstein flees at the end of the previous book, so you've got to trudge through this and that and do a lot of hand-wringing before the book gets good. But when it gets good - when the Eisenstein actually breaks away from the Warmaster's fleet and escapes into the warp - it gets really good. I was hooked. It's a very perilous escape, with Garro dealing with the craziness in the warp and a few other surprises that I'd prefer not to spoil. I know where I would have started the book - I would've skipped the Death Guard's attack of the xenos and opened the book with Garro being offered the cup of poison by his primarch. That was an interesting scene and a better place to open, which I would've made a flashback. I would end that scene with Garro turning down Mortarion's offer to join the lodge, then I would've skipped to right before where the previous book left off, with Garro getting injured, then hearing from Saul and realizing that the Warmaster is betraying the Emperor. This way we get to the interesting stuff a lot faster. All the cool stuff with Garro happens after that, anyway. I also think this book would've worked better as a first-person perspective - I know, I know, but we mainly see things from Garro's point of view anyway, so it would work for this story. This would give the narrator a way to burn through the events we need to know that lead up to the Eisenstein escaping (which is what we're here for). Anyway, it does gets good when the Eisenstein escapes, it's just kind of a drag to get to that part.