The Underwater WelderOne year ago the name Jeff Lemire wasn’t one that was on my radar. I had heard good buzz about his book Sweet Tooth, but it wasn’t something that really grabbed me. All that changed Continue reading
Borderlands: The Fallen
by John Shirley
Borderlands is a fantastic game. It’s funny, addictive, has a unique graphical style and tons of loot to find. The one thing you don’t really think of when it comes to Borderlands is its story. Continue reading
Know No Fear: The Battle of Calth
by Dan Abnett
The 19th book in Horus Heresy series, and I think it’s the best so far. That’s not really surprising to me, it’s written by Dan Abnett, and I find him to be one of the best writers that the Black Library has.
Know No Fear deals with the Battle of Calth, the epic battle between the XIII and XVII legions. The Ultramarines and the Word Bearers respectively. From the word go, this book is non stop, fast paced action. This is a huge, bloody battle between two legions of transhuman killing machines and the book definitely showcases that. Space Marines are genetically designed for war, and their skills are used to the extreme in this book. There is fighting on the ground, fighting on ships, space combat, and surrounding it all is the grievous betrayal by the Word Bearers. The Word Bearers have come to Calth presumably to link up with the Ultramarines and begin a campaign against the hated Orks. At this point the Ultramarines have no knowledge of Horus’ treachery, and welcome their brother legion with open arms. It is tough reading and knowing full well what the Word Bearer’s intentions are, and even tougher when the battle begins in earnest. It begins with a sneak attack by the XVII Legion, and it so brutal, so overwhelming that it’s almost impossible to see how the Ultramarines could survive, let alone retaliate. It’s a roller coaster, and it’s fantastic.
This amazing cover artwork deserves mention.
Dan Abnett does a wonderful job communicating his story. He is constantly shifting scenes. There is so much going on concurrently that you’re never in the same place for more than a couple of pages. It does quite a bit to help show the huge scale of the conflict. The large-scale doesn’t just refer to the battle itself, but also to the cast. There is an abundance of characters, over 75 just from checking the dramatis personae at the beginning of the book. He uses them all, and he uses them well. By the end of the book you’ve come to know these characters very well indeed. A great read.
LTTP (Late To The Party) will be a new feature series on Nerd-Base. The general idea is to feature something that we missed as it was happening, but finally got around to watching after having it recommended repeatedly. In the inguinal article I’m covering BBC’s Sherlock. Continue reading
LegionI love Brandon Sanderson’s work.
The Mistborn series remains one of my favorite fantasy series ever. The man has a fantastic imagination, extraordinary attention to detail, and a great ability to get those things on paper in a truly entertaining way. In all the books of his I’ve read, it’s his magic systems that stand out. He goes to great lengths to explain how and why the magic in his universes work, to the point they are almost as much science as they are magic. Everything is explained, and it all makes sense in the context of the world.
I know Sanderson as a writer of Epic Fantasy novels. His books tell truly epic stories, some getting up into the 1000+ page territory. Knowing that, I was surprised when I found out that his next release would be an 80 something page novella. It seemed like such a huge departure from his earlier stuff, but I’m happy to say that the man doesn’t need 1000+ pages to tell a great story, as it turns out he doesn’t even need 100.
Legion tells the story of one Stephen Leeds, a man with the unique ability to have multiple personae. These hallucinations, he refers to them as his aspects, are real in the sense that he can see them and have conversations with them, even though no one else can. There are quite a few of them, and each has its own specialty. It’s kind of a tough concept to grasp, but Sanderson does a great job of explaining it all in such a few number of pages. It’s a very quick read, but it left me very much wanting more. I would definitely call this project a success.
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