Gav Thorpe actually writes a reasonable novel (Malekith)

[IBBoard]

I've finally finished reading Malekith by Gav Thorpe. I think I got it for Christmas in 2008, but took a while to start reading it. A couple of trips to Brussels and all the waiting in the airport that entailed helped me get some longer periods of reading in. Turns out it was quite a good novel.

I must admit, I hadn't expected a Gav Thorpe novel to be all that great - I remember him from old White Dwarf mags and so I thought it was likely to be GW giving him novels because they made money and he was an old-timer.

The book was a bit strange to begin with because of the style - very archaic in a lot of its wording - but given that it is a book about the Sundering and the fall of the Dark Elves then it is quite fitting and works well once you get used to it (a bit like the first-person narrative in Eisenhorn novels). I've read some of the High Elf background, but not the Dark Elf background, so the general plot and details were interesting. I didn't realise Prince Imrik was quite as old as he seems to be, or that it would have been Malekith who was one of the main elves who first made contact with the dwarves, but there was plenty of plotting, intrigue, and good imagery.

Oddly, other than the Dan Abnett novels (particularly the Inquisitor ones) I much prefer WH novels over 40K novels, even if I do prefer 40K for gaming now

[snowblizz]

Really, I really prefer the 40k ones. More interesting perspectives. The fantasy ones tend to be rather alike. Even Dan Abnetts WHFB book wasn't really that good.

But yeah, Gav is actually a pretty decent author. By GW publishing standards at least. i wasn't totally enamoured with his Last Chancers novels but the other stuff, providing I actually have read some (I forget) wasn't bad.

[NBKFuzzy]

I liked Last Chancers, but not my favorite. There is very few Eldar books out there, and I would love to see more. I have only read a few warhammer books, I mainly look for 40k.

[IBBoard]

I think Dan Abnett's 40K novels work for me because they focus on the people and "normal" civilisation (e.g. Eisenhorn in a Hive World). Most of the other books are okay, but I just find the Space Marine books so dull because it is super-humans who go stomping in, blow a few things up, scatter bodies everywhere and leave with hardly a scratch.

The WH novels, on the other hand, work as a cross between action-adventure and some almost historical components with a few magical components thrown in. I guess I can just visualise the WH novels better as I read them, where as the 40K setting is quite alien in terms of technology and so ends up unimaginable or absurd in my head.

[snowblizz]

I can agree in some ways with the Space Marine-ness problem of 40k. But those books featuring Space Marines I've read aren't so bad in that regard. The Space Marines are truly in trouble and definitely just don't walk over the opposition.
I've read Soul Drinkers Omnibus (excellent BTW), Ultramarines Omnibus (good, but a bit goody two shoes, though ties in with other books in a superlative way) and Space Wolfs 1st omnibus. In all of these the Space Marines are actually interesting characters, flawed and they struggle with various issues, super human powers or not won't help you when your character is cracking.

Yet I agree there is generally too little written from a non-Imperium non-human viewpoint. I of course lack insight into Chaos myself. Mainly faceless bad-guys action movie style.

[F1rstborn]

Quick question- was it Gav Thorpe that wrote the Dawn of War series or Chris Robertson?

[IBBoard]

The first Dawn of War book was C.S. Goto, and by all accounts that I read it was rather rubbish and mainly just seemed to be a tie-in book. It looks like Chris Roberson (no "T" in there) wrote the DoW2 book.