The Blades of Damocles (Warhammer 40K: Tau) 2.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Blades of Damocles
Series: Warhammer 40K: Tau
Author: Phil Kelly
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 292
Words: 104K
Publish: 2016

When I read Farsight: Crisis of Faith back in August of last year, I noted how some big events had happened between Farsight and Farsight: Crisis of Faith. It bewildered me and I was convinced that Black Library (the company, I think, that produces the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 books) were a bunch of jackasses who deliberately messed with their readers. Well, this novel is the missing link! It explains everything hinted at in Crisis and explains all the background.

But it is listed as an Astartes novels (the Astartes are the Space Marines, the boys in blue, the gigantic freaks who rule earth as absolute tyrants and are as evil as Chaos itself in my opinion. I HATE the Astartes, hatehatehatehatehate them!) and hence I never would have read this book, not touched it with a 10foot pole, not even glanced at it, if it weren’t for Dave suggesting it as a buddy read, since he knew both Mark and I were interested in Tau stories. I am extremely thankful for that suggestion.

I still hate Black Library though. They are as disorganized as you can possible get. I shouldn’t have to rely on another fan’s information to be able to find out what books are related. That is just fething wrong. So that was my mind set when I started this. Happy that I was finding out what I had missed (in Calibre I am calling this WH40K: Tau 1.5) but pretty angry at Black Library.

Then I find out WHY it was listed as an Astartes novel, because over half the story revolves those fething tyrants. Not just generic ultimate fighters on super steroids, but Named Characters. Who banter and quip while still being ultimate dumb meatheads. I hated them with a passion and I raised a victory cry every time one of the boyz in bloo died. Sadly, the named characters didn’t die, but I can’t have everything. On the Tau side, it was almost as much politics as it was action. Commander Farsight didn’t have nearly enough page time and when he does appear, like I said, politics. It really got under my skin.

The thing that saved this book from being a total loss was the incredible action. When things get going, they REALLY get going. I enjoyed that aspect a lot and if this book had just been about that, probably would have gotten close to 4stars. But, Astartes. That just sank this ship before it even took off.

This was a buddy-read with Dave and Mark, and you can find their reviews here:

Dave’s Review

Mark’s Review

★★✬☆☆

From WH40K.Lexicanum.com

The Imperium of Man takes its bloody revenge upon the expansionist Tau in a war of dizzying spectacle. Chainsword and jump pack is pitted against cutting edge battlesuit technology, whilst the Codex Astartes is matched against the tau Code of Fire. For the first time, the daredevil warriors of the Ultramarines Assault Company go to war en masse, fighting in the skies, in the streets, and even in the prototype testing facilities of the Earth caste. Sergeants Sicarius and Numitor must overcome their hunger for glory as the brightest stars of the Tau Empire, Commanders Farsight and Shadowsun, hunt them to the brink of disaster. As a white-knuckle ride of conflict sees the Space Marines fight through one lethal ambush after another, they must deal with conflicts from within the ranks as well as from without. Tempers run short as battle-brothers fall, ammunition runs out and the course of the war takes ever-darker twists and turns. With two warrior cultures struggling for a vital edge and the body count spiralling towards a terrible conclusion, can notions of honour and duty survive at all?

Only with the advent of a tyranid swarm fleet approaching the Blue Bro’s sector planet do the Astartes retreat.

Farsight: Crisis of Faith (Warhammer 40K: Tau) 3Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Farsight: Crisis of Faith
Series: Warhammer 40K: Tau
Author: Phil Kelly
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 281
Words: 93K

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Well, this wasn’t QUITE as bewildering as Farsight was. This was almost a direct sequel to that novella, so I was building on that foundation. I say a direct sequel, but some big events and some matter of time has passed since then. At the end of Farsight the main character, Commander Farsight, has figured out how to beat the orks and is on the brink of taking back the planet Arkunasha, when he is commanded by the Celestials, the highest level of Tau politics, to abandon the planet. Then the Empire of Man attacks the Tau home system and Farsight is tasked with defending his race. Another battle of greater import draws off the Empire and for morales’ sake the Celestials claim it as a great Tau Victory. Everyone involved knows the reality however.

So that is the background of this novel, which is woven into the ongoing story, bits of puzzle pieces that we the reader are expected to pick out and figure out on our own. I’m not a fan of that style of writing any more. The Wheel of Time series and the Malazan Book of the Fallen series both cured me of that.

The current story is about the Tau sending a fleet to reclaim the worlds that the Empire of Man recovered in that unwritten battle. Only politics are involved and lots of highly placed Warrior Caste characters are either sidelined or sent into impossible situations to probably fail and cast doubt on them. The Celestials definitely are NOT good guys.

We also have the Tau really facing the Chaos Gods for the first time. One of them is actually possessed by a daemon and works at undermining the entire fleet. Since the Tau have almost zero psychic ability, they are pretty blind to that aspect of the Universe they inhabit, even after having it rubbed into their little xeno faces when the Psykers from the Empire of Man really let loose.

Overall, I understood more of what was going on but I can’t say I actually enjoyed this any more than its predecessor. The Tau politics are just as dirty as anything seen in the Empire of Man and I do not enjoy that in my fiction. Even in a grimdark universe I need some good guys, not some backboneless wimp.

Not for the Uninitiated or those beginning their exploration of the Warhammer 40K universe.

★★★☆☆

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From the Publisher

Synopsis – Click to Open

The tau are a mysterious alien race, diametrically opposed to the Imperium of Man in every possible way — in their mastery of technology, methods of warfare and social structure. Yet in galactic terms they are a young race, and naive when it comes to the manipulations of Chaos. When promising young Commander Farsight is promoted to lead a crusade across the Damocles Gulf to reclaim the tau’s lost colonies from mankind, the mood is one of optimism. With their mighty fleet, and superior weapons and machines, how can their endeavour possibly fail? However, despite a parade of early successes, Commander Farsight soon faces enemies he wasn’t anticipating, and finds not only his courage but also his soul tested to the very limit.

Farsight (Warhammer 40K: Tau) 3Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Farsight
Series: Warhammer 40K: Tau
Author: Phil Kelly
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 124
Words: 39K

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I read this novella as a buddy read with Dave and Markus. We did our conversing via Whatsapp and it worked out quite well for me. I installed it on my computer instead of just using my phone, so it became an instant messenger. Which allowed me to tickety tack away whenever a thought crossed my mind. It also allowed the other two to discuss various Warhammer 40K books and storylines well beyond my knowledge. It was quite enjoyable, just watching others who knew a subject well to be able to talk about it.

This was definitely NOT a place to start if you have no knowledge of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it isn’t a good place to start for anyone, even those who might be familiar with the Empire of Man. The Tau are aliens and Farsight is a very historical figure. But if you don’t know that going in, as was the case with me, you are forced to wonder why we spend all this time with this apparently random character. If you have a grasp of the history, I’m sure this was a very exciting story.

For me, I was confused completely on my first read through. I complained a lot to Dave and Markus and Markus started talking history. That helped build a framework for me when I read through this again. Without that framework, I’m not sure that even a second read would have been enough.

Overall, while I didn’t dislike this story, I was so at sea for most of it, that it put a real damper on my enthusiasm to read further Tau novels. I’ll read them, but my expectations are quite tempered.

★★★☆☆

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From the Publishers:

The oxide deserts of Arkunasha are red with spilt blood. The orks of Waaagh! Dok have invaded en masse, and the besieged tau settlers are on the edge of extinction. When the famous general O’Shoh arrives to shatter the greenskins at the head of a high-tech army of battlesuits, the tau expect an easy victory, but the battle-hungry orks outnumber the tau four hundred to one, and the planet’s vicious rust storms have a devilish appetite of their own. Can the rising star of the fire caste solve the riddle of Arkunasha’s haunted past before Dok Toofjaw’s monstrous cyborgs conquer the planet completely?
It’s one of Commander Farsight’s defining battles – and features some audacious action sequences, including a vicious duel in a medical chamber that will make you look at Farsight in a whole different way. The story also has all sorts of hints to the origins of Farsight’s famous companions, “the Eight”…

Currently Reading Buddy Read: Farsight

Have started a buddy read with Dave and Markus. We’re reading Farsight by Phil Kelly, a novella about the Tau from the Warhammer 40K universe. We’re going to wrap things up by November 25th, so lots of time. If you have any interest in joining us, leave a comment and we’ll work out the details! Otherwise, shut up, sit back and be jealous of how awesome we are 😉