#Never make an Aeldari angry

[incorrect-primarchs-quotes]

Inquisitor girl: Ah! You're done for, I'm in your ship with my men and I'll take you head personally.

Yrliet:

Yrliet: * proceeds to one-shot every fucking one in 1 turn *

[ramblingaboutspaceelves]

Isha’s Lament...

Was kinda what I expected. Full spoilers for the book btw.

Right off the bat I’m happy to inform y’all that this was NOT another “last guardian” situation at all, which was my biggest fear. *wipes sweat*

Here’s the summary, obviously spoilers:

Book opens with our main dude, Brakus, a deserter from the Astra Militarum now for hire, and some other people (the most important being a cyborg/ex skitarius named Exactius that returns later) on a dead ship that’s being absorbed by the blackstone fortress. They take some random treasures from it and then return to Precipice, this big ol station with all sorts of aliens, humans and mutants wandering around. Brakus sells his trinket at the market and goes about his business, but after returning, everyone on Precipice starts to get sick, even the aliens, from some unknown plague.

We then meet Amalynn, our ranger lady on the cover. She finds Brakus because of the trinket he sold, with help from another alien running stuff on Precipice who we don’t see again till the end.

She tells him that it isn’t a plague, but a contagious psychic weapon which gets called the scourge. It’s later revealed this is an aeldari weapon aboard Isha’s Lament, the ship from the beginning, and where they have to go back to. (Hence the name of the book) She says that they have to return the artifacts and destroy/disable the weapon or it’ll kill everyone. (Apparently removing the artifacts, which were literally just a cup and a bandolier messed up some psychic stuff and started the weapon?? I dunno fam)

Now this group - Brakus, Amalynn, Exactius, and a literal drukhari hekatrix named Maugra who just randomly joins them (for real this girl comes out of no where and serves no real purpose besides saving them once) go to the Blackstone Fortress to stop the weapon.

Shenanigans happen and by the end they all reach Isha’s Lament. Turns out some chaos bois want the weapon too for their own stuff. They fight and Amalynn disables the weapon but Exactius is injured. In order to stop the remaining chaos bois from taking over the weapon after they’re gone, Exactius stays behind and self destructs on the ship. (after asking Amalynn to cut off his head containing some data and giving it to Brakus)

Everyone escapes and the day is saved. (no, really!) Our alien ladies disappear without another word and Brakus returns to Precipice, feeling more at home than before. Though of course it’s implied the fortress has more up its sleeve.

The main characters:

Brakus and Exactius are the best characters for me. It would have been easy to make Brakus a stand-offish butt, but he’s actually a pretty cool dude. His homeworld was destroyed by tyranids, and he has a lot of guilt for deserting. Despite being raised to hate aliens, he’s friendly enough and he tries to work with all his teammates, even worries about abandoning them at one point.

Exactius is cool too and there was definitely more to him, but we unfortunately didn’t get to know much about his story.

Here’s Amalynn and Maugra’s characters detailed, respectively: Angry asshole who’s sad about her people, and pointy Asshole who doesn’t care and just wants to cut things. That’s it, you’re welcome.

I find Maugra more interesting, (her and Brakus relate with each other to some degree, since they both want things to fight) but Amalynn was sooooo one dimensional it hurt. And the problem with Amalynn isn’t that she’s an ass, it’s just, that’s it, that’s all folks.

I mean this is more of a personal annoyance, but the Haughty Elf ™ character has gotten a little old for me, like by all means it’s well and good but when every. single. aeldari seems to have the exact same aloof personality without any other dynamic to their character, it does begin to get a tad bit repetitive no?

In conclusion:

Was it a bad story? Not at all! In fact I liked a lot of parts of it, especially if you put aside any preconceived ideas and just enjoy it for what it is. You’re just not gonna get much out of it if you’re an aeldari fan, though some of the world building was nice. It’s always interesting to see humans and aliens coexisting to some degree in 40k.

Still, compared to Severed it looks like I got the short end of the stick huh, @obyronxzahndrekh ? I’m excited to read it though! I’ve never really been too involved with the necrons so I’m glad one of the first books I get about them does them justice.

[ivorytowerblr]

NaNoWriMo 2017: Aug 23rd

I bid a sorrowful farewell to @astralune, a koala-ty friend as he makes his way from my home to the west coast for more friendo visits.

Word Count: 488 Monthly Word Count: 14699 Previous: November (Masterpost); December (Masterpost); January (Masterpost); February (Masterpost); March (Masterpost); April (Masterpost); May (Masterpost); June (Masterpost); July (Masterpost); August: Week One (Aug 1st-7th) Week Two (Aug 8th-14th) Week Three (Aug 15th-21st) 22nd.

“Those are bold words for someone who uses them,” I say. “They’re suffused into your being.  No one dives more deeply into the Great Ocean than you do, splashes in its tidepools and bathes in its power. How can you say it’s dangerous?”

“I know better than any how and why it is dangerous,” Surya says. “Psychic powers are not a gift we humans were meant to have. It is an accident, a fluke, a… mutation in our genetic code. It’s better to set it aside and let it die out from all of us.”

“That isn’t hypocritical to you?”

“The Warp only brings madness!” Surya snaps, and I take a step to the side, nearly stumbling on the path. He catches my arm as fast as lightning to steady me. His next words are calmer. “I know that you are young yet, and your visions show you a distant future, but  you must listen to me, Munir. Magnus. Control your powers. Shackle your gifts. The Great Ocean is just like the seas of old, infinitely deep and deadly in the dark.”

“I live in a desert and next to a river,” I say. “I have never seen an ocean. The river is our lifeblood and its dangers are far less than those of dying of thirst, starvation, or exposure from the sun. It can be and is dangerous to pluck reeds when the current can pull us under, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.”

“You don’t understand--”

“You keep saying that and yet you refuse to explain yourself!” I cry out, and my voice seems to echo across the desert. “You speak of ignorance being sheltering as though walking past the crocodile and getting eaten is somehow less painful and deadly if you aren’t aware that the crocodile is there.”

“I told you--”

“You told me about your war and your so-called Old Ones and how you feared to be made one,” I say. “You speak of belief but it doesn’t have anything to do with psychic powers!”

“Only the creations of the Old Ones have psychic powers,” he says, and my mouth closes. “The Aeldari and the Krork, and a few other races, of which there are no survivors, or there shouldn’t be. That means the psychic power humans have was introduced to us from outside our gene-pool, making it a foreign invader to our person. I have power, but I don’t trust it, and neither should you.”

“You startle me and frighten me both,” I say. “How can you be sure?”

“From the moment I realized what I had to the present day and beyond, I have searched for the source of psychic power in humanity.” Surya lets out a breath in a short, angry huff. “Some have theorized it means humanity is evolving into something greater, but they are very wrong. The change that we’re undergoing makes us less human and not more.”