Worst 40K novel listened/read of the 200+I've read

What would have made The Carrion Throne: Warhammer 40,000 better?

Research the material. This book should not made it past the editor's desk. So many flaws in the story that I could not finish the book.Just a few of the many major problems with this book
1. No imperial fist Chaplain would give up his Crozius Arcanum. It would be almost as tall as a standard human and almost to heavy to even lift much less use in a fight

.2. In one chapter the character is said to have swung it as hard as the Chaplain that gave it to her

.3.The inquisitor makes an all out attack with 2 or 3 gunships against an Arbites(40k police) headquarters because they had the audacity to arrest one of his agents. When all he had to do was walk in the front door and show his Inquisitorial Rosette and got what ever he needed. It would be like the FBI attacking a police station with Apache helicopters and SEAL teams when all it would take is a phone call to get a person released.

4. The inquisitor has 2 Stormbirds in his hanger. Really they are over 10,000 years old and are so rare they are almost worshiped by any space marine chapter that has one.

The big one
+++Spoiler Alert+++

5. The 10,000 Adeptus Custodes have spent 10,000 years testing the defenses of the Imperial throne Room. This is pretty much all they do. They literally each have to attempt to breach the defenses from the outside sometimes spending decades on the attempt. THE INQUISITOR IN THIS STORY FIGURES OUT A WAY IN THEY HAVE MISSED IN JUST A FEW HOURS.

These are just a few of the things that made my ears bleed as I listened.

Would you ever listen to anything by Chris Wraight again?

No

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Narration was fine. Not much he could do with a awful story.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Angry that I wasted a credit.

101 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Oh... Wow. Where to start.

This book started well... But quickly took a deep plunge into the warp without the gellar field right away. Interrogator Spinoza was given a Crozius Arcanum by the imperial fist Chaplain she had served with because she is so good at fighting.

If you know warhammer, thats like an inquisitor lord just handing over his Rosette to some random guardsman. It is very literally the symbol of his station as a symbol of prayer for the space marines that follow him, and a weapon he takes into holy battle. That is the pope handing over his Papal ferula to some random guy on the street. It reeks of mary sue-dom and bad writing to make his character look all the more awesome.

Eisenhorn was given a hand crafted masterwork bolt pistol by the deathwatch in recognition of his deeds in uncovering a major heretic plot, destroying an infamous tome of chaotic lore, killing a chaos marine in single combat, and intelligence in suggesting a means of training imperial guard to operate in a pocket realm of alien geometry. That was an amazing moment.

This is trite, forced, hackneyed, and just bad. have it be a power maul, or sword, or whatever. Not one of the most important things a Chaplain wields. For some more perspective, a spent bolt shell fired from a space marine is a Holy Relic. Not like, "i saw jesus in the burn pattern of my toast", but "This is one of the nails used to crucify Peter" There are shrine worlds that their main draw is that they have a single bone from a space marine. And with that people will undergo pilgrimages that will only be finished by their great great great great great grandchildren.

48 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Mediocre story, confusing narration

The story overall was okay. I’ve become accustomed to the likes of ADB and Abnett, and this story did not meet their mark. The characters are shallow and flat throughout most of the story, and are prone to cheesy bouts of anger that belong more in a child’s tale. That being said, the last quarter of the story added some intrigue and depth to the characters. It wasn’t enough to warrant four stars, but the last quarter saved this book from a worse rating.

The narrator is okay, but I had a really hard time telling the difference between Cowle and Spinoza. Their voices sounded very similar to me, and were also too close to the voice of the overall narration. It made it hard to tell who was saying what, as well as confusing me as to whether the words were being spoken by a character or part of the narration.

11 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Great listen for the ride home from work

I started listing to audible books for the ride home in LA traffic. I have always read 40k books and decided to start out with this book as my first foray into audible books. I was very impressed with the detail that described Terra and the story itself had me sitting in my car parked outside the house saying just 1 more minute, till the wife texted me saying to get my butt inside. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book and recommend it to those who love 40k books

10 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Kind of sucks

Okay the performance is really cool. The book really doesn't "go" anywhere until the last hour. It is mostly about a new inquistor coming to Terra who isn't too sure about stuff. There is an interesting story about The Machine Cult trying to smuggle dark eldar to fix the golden throne, but that goes tits up. So the story is mostly about tracking down 1 dark eldar. Honestly kind of shit.

"The Emperor's Legion" gives you a lot more details about the Custodians. Eisenhorn novels are way more interesting. I'd be able to forgive all of this if there was some continuity with other books, but there is not. Well sure 1 of the custodians shares a name with a minor character in "The Emperor's Legion"

This is seriously the only Black Library i've downloaded so far that I've really regretted. It is bad.

8 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Overall very good, not nearly as bad as other say

Other reviews complain about certain aspects of this book and while agree with some, some others I don't agree with.
1. Your right, no chaplain would give an inquisitor his crozius arcanum, let alone an interrogator. That is stupid and stinks of Mary sue's perfume.
2. He doesnt have stormbirds, he has storm EAGLES. Big difference and its not impossible that the mechanicus would produce an inquisition model of it. Seems reasonable.

SPOILERS!

3. So the big plot point is that the big bad is trying to break into the throne and the inquisition + custodes must stop it. The other review says that it's stupid that the custodes wouldnt know how to stop it becuase they've been hunting in the tunnels for ten thousand years. Keep in mind that its the size of a continent and is almost as deep as it is long. Plus they dont all share their knowledge of past hunts with each other. AND the big bad uses a macguffin to blow a giant hole through the outer wall. The inquisitor just saw where there wasn't as many bodies and realized the custodes were going about it the wrong way. I dont agree that its stupid. The reasoning for the big bad to break away from its partners and to go on it's own to the throne was stupid but thats a different issue altogether.
All in all the book was good, added allot of new lore about the current state of life on the throne world. Becuase of this I'm working on a model form of the eternity gate that they described in the book.

6 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Who let them publish this?

Having cut my teeth on Tanith and Eisenhorn, this is the worst warhammer book I have ever read. I think someone pointed this out already but a space marine chaplain giving away his BADGE OF OFFICE TO A LITTLE GIRL is just negligent.

Buy this book if you like cannon armor, overacting, and ludicrous context.

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Good overview of life on Terra

Good listen but not as gripping as The Emperor's Legion. I like these new books exploring life on Terra and additional time spent with the Inquisition.

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

I finally feel like a menial hive scrub

It was good, the day to day description of life was disturbing and the characters were charming enough.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Life on Terra

This book provides excellent insight on life in the 40k grim dark. This is a must listen for everyone that plays 40k.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile