I didn’t look at any of the authors while reading the books, but while reading Thousand Sons (now finished) I was seriously wondering “does this author even like scifi/fantasy?” he has Magnus speaking like you’d imagine some uncaring Hollywood accounting suit would write while pumping out a minimum effort script to cash in on some familiar IP. Magnus and Ahriman alternate between moron and genius as the plot demands. Worst of all, as you said, it’s just boring as hell until the end. Checked the author partway and saw he also wrote False Gods, “yep that makes sense.” Horus is moron for plot in that too, with all the dialogue someone who doesn’t like scifi/fantasy would write to make fun of it.

I wonder if TS is so fondly remembered just because the last 10% is actually good. The Sons coming together for a final stand despite the betrayal of the Emperor and their own primarch, that’s all super interesting! If it started at the Council of Nykea chapter, TS would be a great novella.

I alternate between kindle and audiobook for maximum efficiency, thanks Emperor for having the options!

I’m glad you enjoyed Thousand Sons! The size and different flavors of the 40k Novelverse is part of the excitement.

The Sons being up their own asses and not being nearly as smart as they think they are is apparent, my gripe is that we’re beaten over the head with that fact for half the book before anything interesting happens.

This full sequence happens 3 times in the first third alone (entering the mountain, the titan, and tentacle hugs):

1. Ahriman watches as handsome and sexy genius Magnus does something everyone thinks is suicidal/insane
2. Magnus is in trouble! Thousand Sons onlookers scream/cry/freak out. All is lost! Sexy Primarch-san noooooo
3. Cut to Magnus’s perspective: “hehe I’m so smart nobody knows how smart I am but me”
4. Magnus is okay! Rejoice! Ahriman cries tears of joy.

Then the scene where Ahriman and Magnus exposit to Lemuel so we the reader can be spoonfed the history felt like a scene that should’ve been left in the rough draft. I can’t believe self-important Magnus would take such an interest in a rando mortal, even if they are Ahriman’s pupil, and so excitedly regale them with the tale of the bird pieces.

I’m powering through and nearly done, it really picks up after the council of Nykea. IMO, the book should’ve started there as the rest could’ve been an email. Until then, all on-screen Thousand Sons all horrifically unlikable and not even in a fun way like the Sons of Horus.

Also not arguing and it works for folks. Magnus being an ouroboros of head-to-ass should’ve worked for me, but McNeil’s dialogue pains me even when not trying to make an inherently unlikable person seem sympathetic. Hopefully Abnett can flesh em out in Prospero Burns.

Legion sounds like my next stop after 1K Sons series, but should I read First Heretic->Battle for the Abyss first, or go straight to Legion then Know No Fear?

Angron books are something to look forward to then!

At least Siege of Terra is something to look forward to, eh?

Can’t speak for defaults or large subs, just anecdotal stuff from the few times when I browsed on desktop since Friday.

One of my favorite subreddits /r/progmetal is still private with a message to join the discord instead. Glad they’re staying dark.

Others seem like business as usual, but I don’t have any data obv.

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Thank you! Thousand Sons more like Thousand Corrections

Thank you! More color for sure, it’s daunting to learn all this color theory stuff but super fun to experiment.

Any recs for bases? I think I really stepped up my game between dudes, rubric ghosts first, then rust terminators, daemon prince last. Feel like the daemon prince one is solid, but not sure what to do for my next round of sorcs.

I don’t know what I don’t know, there may be glaring noob errors that seasoned painters may immediately spot. Never painted anything before these guys.

My biggest problem is all the tiny detail. I’ll correct something, but then need to fix another color, which then needs me to fix the previous, back and forth doing micro corrections until completion. Painting some exalted sorcs now and the trim is killer.