# Impressions of Malodrax by Ben Counter



## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

Just finished the book in one sitting. I found it a pretty good and interesting read, even if it had a little sloppy editing in a few places. Such as using Iron Hands instead of Iron Warriors.
I loved the dark and grim depictions of the daemon world and the horrors found there. Ben Counter is really good at Chaos stuff.

While it had no truly major lore suprises for the reader, we get deeply into the head of Lysander. Seeing the choices he makes, the devils bargains he comes by. And how he overcomes them. 

The book features 2 main storylines and a smaller sidestory that loopingly progresses in the book. His first 'visit' to Malodrax and the return of the vengeance force. As well the exploits of a band of misfits that he trails on the first visit, that eventually becomes fully intertwined with Lysander's own trek.

However theres a pretty significant canon inconsistency in the book.




Warsmith Shon'tu is not the Warsmith ruling over Malodrax, nor being the one whom originally captured Lysander. Instead it is a new one named Kraegon Thul. Nor is there any mention of the Dancers daemons that Lysander supposedly bargained with as mentioned during Endeavour of Will.


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Could you post spoiler examples of his daemonic world description?


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## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

The best daemonic descriptions are unfortunately far too long to be safely reposted here. Like the rather unusual twisted 'engine' employed during the fall of the Shield of Valour.

But here is a few snippets from other places in the book.

The first look at Malodrax by the Vengeance force.



It took a force of will to look on Malodrax itself. Like a void against a void, it forced the eye away from it, something darker than black. If an observer could compel himself to look at it he would see a discoloured orb, its southern hemisphere mottled and decaying like a tumour, its northern half parched and broken as if hammered into pieces. Its northern pole burned with purple flame, and near the equator an open wound oozed molten rock like infected blood. A tormented and suffering world, pulled apart by the unnatural forces that teemed on its surface, infested, befouled and rancid. To this world the Breaker of Darkness descended, the flames of its upper atmosphere licking against the prow.




The Daemon Prince Shalhadar the Veiled



The idealised human form, as chiselled by sculptors from one side of the galaxy to the other, was rendered in solid gold. It was achingly beautiful, painful to look at, with a face moulded into an expression of wisdom and sorrow, majesty and sympathy. A mortal sculptor could never match it. The geometry was too perfect, the emotion too vividly written, to be the product of an artist’s hand. It was forged in the chill fires of the warp, where the thing that was Shalhadar had conjured its body to enthral and bewitch the humans it desired to serve it. Shalhadar was three times the height of a man. He had wings of feathered light. Stained glass was embedded in his golden form, in panels in his abdomen and chest depicting what a mortal mind might make of great powers of the warp – a knot of flesh and limbs, a great burning eye, a host of flying devils. His eyes were glass, deep green and blue, and a light shone through every panel illuminating the air around him as if he swam in a sea of colour. In his hand he held a mace, its head a globe of filigreed gold containing a white flame like a caged sun. His other was fitted with gilded blades on each finger. He wore a cloth of crimson and blue around his waist, flowing in the warm incense-scented wind that accompanied the prince.




The Brood Mother



In the depths of the warren squatted the mother of the brood. The brood hatched from her belly, bursting from cysts in her skin, and they existed to feed her. From their substance she created more offspring and consumed them in turn, a cycle of life and death she had presided over for ten thousand years. She was born from the black blood of Malodrax, the filth of pure corruption that bubbled up from its depths, the pus of an infection that took root when the planet first felt the touch of the warp. The brood mother was everything that Malodrax was. The first Lysander saw of her was the shadow she cast on the wall of her cavern. The place was hung with trophies and trinkets – bones, weapons, polished gemstones, hanks of filthy hair, rotted hunter’s trophies, fragments of eggshells and ancient fossils. Her shadow was at once bloated and spindly, with a massively swollen torso and abdomen, skinny arms and a long, crooked neck supporting a head that hung low like that of a vulture. The shadow played across her collection, flaring with the guttering of the fire that burned in its pit before her. ‘A shelterer from the storm,’ said the brood mother. ‘A fugitive from the embrace of our world. From her touch you have fled like a whipped child and now you come to me.


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

surprisingly well written


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Brother Lucian said:


> I loved the dark and grim depictions of the daemon world and the horrors found there. Ben Counter is really good at Chaos stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah he makes Chaos feel random and unpredictable, and disgustingly fascinating to read about.

I figured that would be a problem ever since I read the Sentinels of Terra supplement. Really a bad choice on the author's part, Shon'tu is a very interesting character and one that only he has used, so no reason to not use him. Instead we get a new guy who I assume doesn't survive the novel, would have been better to have a more established character and further flesh out the rivalry between Lysander and Shon'tu.

I will give Malodrax a read in the near future, but i'm not burning to read it as I am things like Talon of Horus and the coming Archaon novel.


LotN


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Reading _Malodrax_ now and just reached Chapter 5. So far I like;

Kraegon Thul. He not only looks IMMENSELY badass, but I liked his statement that loyalists know nothing about honour. I hope there is some kind of connection with Shon'tu so that this book can fit with the Codex lore, but if not I suppose we can just fill in the blanks ourselves.

Counter's depictions of Chaos are as usual on another level from any other author, even ADB. Seriously, Counter just understands the inherent insanity and random nature of the Ruinous Powers. Will get back to the book in a bit, looking forward to seeing what other monstrosities Counter has put to paper here.

Also this exchange,

_"You chose the wrong ship."
"You chose the wrong god."_


LotN


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## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

I'm seriously thinking about getting this. In terms of quality, would you say this is closer to the Soul Drinkers series... or _Galaxy in Flames?_


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## piemelke (Oct 13, 2010)

I was in my local store yesterday, book had a 35 % discount, was thinking about 7th retribution and decided not to buy this one


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## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

piemelke said:


> I was in my local store yesterday, book had a 35 % discount, was thinking about 7th retribution and decided not to buy this one


Its way better than 7th Retribution. I would rate Malodrax on par with Daemon World, which I found a pretty good read.


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## piemelke (Oct 13, 2010)

ok, cheers


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

http://www.talkwargaming.com/2014/01/black-library-review-malodrax-by-ben.html

My thoughts on Malodrax are above.


One thing I really enjoyed about this novel is the end twist;




Malodrax is the real villain of the story. It sucks people in and then uses them in it's demented quest to find a soul worthy of ruling it, it manipulates heretics, Chaos Lords and Daemon Princes alike to achieve it's goal. The idea that it is constantly testing everyone on it's surface is an interesting one, each of it's lords has failed the test and it tries to draw in new heretics with the promise of knowledge and power. That the planet may even be alive, in a Daemonic sense of the word, only makes it more interesting, could Malodrax in essence be just a Daemon shaped like a planet, or could the planet itself have a Daemonic version of a World Spirit, or something else entirely.



I also liked the Inquisitor's story;




But of course he was an idiot. All Xanthites are. He tried to use Chaos as a weapon and ended up dead for it. I think that he crossed the line when he traded his Interrogator/lover simply for entrance into a Chaos stronghold, that was the moment he went from an Inquisitor dabbling in something he shouldn't to a full-fledged heretic. That was the moment his soul was damned. I think the moral of his story is that ultimately Chaos cannot be used to fight itself, because it will use you to further it's goals while you think you are fighting it. You can't fight fire by throwing fire at it. Same for Chaos. And the Inquisitor's statement at the end that he would do everything he did again if given the chance proved he did not learn this lesson, he made the mistake that knowing Chaos and using it are the same thing, they are not. That he believed fellow Inquisitor's destruction of Chaos artifacts rather than understanding them was foolhardy is yet another mistake, knowing Chaos does not mean you need to delve into it's trinkets and corrupted tools, all that doing that does is ensure your damnation in one form or another.




LotN


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## piemelke (Oct 13, 2010)

I am at 70 % now and the book is actually rather ok, to my surprise, thanks for the advice LOTN.
What I do not understand is the link with this:
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Fall_of_Malodrax#.Us2BM_RDuE1 ?
is this a different battle ?


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## Brother Lucian (Apr 22, 2011)

piemelke said:


> I am at 70 % now and the book is actually rather ok, to my surprise, thanks for the advice LOTN.
> What I do not understand is the link with this:
> http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Fall_of_Malodrax#.Us2BM_RDuE1 ?
> is this a different battle ?


Yep, that is an entirely different battle. But theres a definite disconnect somewhere, given that Shon'tu is not present at all in Malodrax. Which he shouldve been according to the original fluff for Lysander.


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## piemelke (Oct 13, 2010)

cheers,


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