# Ravenlord by Gav Thorpe



## The Scion of Chemos (May 24, 2013)

Anyone else see this?
Or as excited as I am?


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

The Scion of Chemos said:


> Or as *excited* as I am?


Excited? Gav Thorpe? God no.


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## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Limited edition? God dammit, give me a break.


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Gav Thorpe? Limited edition novella? Nope, couldn't care less.


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## Anakwanar (Sep 26, 2011)

Gav Thorpe? Limited edition novella? No no no


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

Excited? No. Interested? Yes. I'll be getting this but it isn't something to get worked up about in my opinion.

(Wish George Mann would take over writing about the Raven Guard, his depiction of them is the very best in BL.)


LotN


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Gav's writing



*Hasrien’s system was pumping Larraman cells through his bloodstream, which would harden into a protective layer on contact with the air. The downside of this rapid healing with major wounds was the possibility of air bubbles being trapped in the blood vessels, leading to necrosis and cell death if the Space Marine did not receive proper treatment swiftly.* Nestor applied a thinning agent to slow the process and then used the cauteriser to seal the broken vessel more completely. 

After injecting a cocktail of anti-inflammatory and cell-growth drugs, the Apothecary doused the open wound with a compound that would boost the scabbing effect of the Larraman cells coursing through the Space Marine’s system. Within seconds the whole area was encrusted by a quickly hardening scar.

Conventional brain damage seemed unlikely: the wound had barely scratched the Space Marine’s hardened skull. Nestor searched through his memory, recalling all of the rites of diagnosis, but there was nothing that matched this symptom.	

The only thing that was remotely familiar was a malfunction in the catalepsean node – a small organ implanted in the cortex to allow a Space Marine to rest different parts of his brain without sleeping. The dream-like whispering would be explained by damage to that organ. Perhaps the blow had involuntarily activated it or somehow displaced it. As it was, Hasrien was in no fit state to fight: the catalepsean node was only employed on extended duty as it obscured the focus required for effective combat.

*At a loss concerning what else to do*, Nestor helped Hasrien sit up. There was no function of the narthecium that would help.* With nothing else springing to mind, the Apothecary brought his fist down sharply against the uninjured side of the Space Marine’s helmet, jolting his head to the side*. Hasrien slowly turned his head to the left and right and then looked up at the Apothecary, the lenses of his autosenses focussing on Nestor’s face.

‘Brother Nestor?’ said Hasrien. ‘I thought it was you.’ 


_Purging of Kadillus_


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

Malus Darkblade said:


> Gav's writing
> 
> 
> 
> ...


So? What's your point?


LotN


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

It's awful, is what I think he was going for.


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

While I can see and agree with why some hate his work, I have really enjoyed his RG HH work so far. Deliverance Lost was very good IMO. 

However, this constant drip of limited edition bullshit is driving me more and more to less than legal means of picking up BL stuff.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Eugh, I despised Deliverance Lost. Ruined the Alpha Legion that we saw in Legion, along with many other glaring issues.


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## The Scion of Chemos (May 24, 2013)

lol just me then.

Though I would love it if Mann was writing them!


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Khorne's Fist said:


> While I can see and agree with why some hate his work, I have really enjoyed his RG HH work so far. Deliverance Lost was very good IMO.


I'm with _Angel_. Among other things, _Deliverance Lost_ butchered the Alpha Legion. 



Khorne's Fist said:


> However, this constant drip of limited edition bullshit is driving me more and more to less than legal means of picking up BL stuff.


I resorted to that a long time ago. :laugh:


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

Angel of Blood said:


> It's awful, is what I think he was going for.


Why is it bad?



Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> I'm with _Angel_. Among other things, _Deliverance Lost_ butchered the Alpha Legion.


I liked the AL in Deliverance Lost. They seemed like a great Legion of spymasters that had a distinct and unique way of going about things. Could have used some more unique characters but other then that I liked them.

My favourite AL piece has to be _The Serpent Beneath_ for showing the greatest strength and greatest weakness of the Legion in one story. They are the best spies/black ops warriors in the Imperium, and they are too good at it for their own good.



Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> I resorted to that a long time ago. :laugh:


Same here. k:


LotN


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## Terricus (Apr 7, 2014)

Man, give me a ADB night lords book for heresy...not these short stories.


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## gamingharry (Feb 27, 2014)

Gav was at Black Library Live and talked a bit about this project. Effectively this is a direct follow up to Soulforge and details a guerilla war that the Raven Guard are conducting against the traitors, and in this case the Sons of Horus themselves, Gav akined it to the saying "Down but not out" or words to that effect. This is also Part 2 in a Novella trilogy detailing the Raven Guard after Deliverance lost (With soul forge being part one). Also as a last note when this is released limited they should also be releasing the normal edition of Soulforge at the same time for people to get caught up.

Also while on the topic of Novella's, John French is also writing a sequel to Tallaran Executioner for the end of this year, but if that's part of a Trilogy or not I don't know. 

Also Graham McNeill is writing an exclusive novella but as he said to me "I have no idea what about yet", personally I hope its about tieing up the Ancient Rylanor loose end from Fulgrim that I mentioned to him during a q/a and he said he "Had Ideas for involving James (I presume Swallow).


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## Paceyjg (May 12, 2011)

Angel of Blood said:


> Excited? Gav Thorpe? God no.


Agree completely.


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## Anakwanar (Sep 26, 2011)

Fully agree with *Angel of Blood* - Deliverance Lost butchered the Alpha Legion  The best AL in HH, up to this date is 'Serpent beneath'


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## mal310 (May 28, 2010)

Graham has mentioned doing a Novella on the destruction of Olympia, so it could be that. The Rylanor situation needs to be addressed as well.

I’m also sick of the rip off limited edition crap. If they want to do Novella’s fine, just bin the rip off limited edition.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Anakwanar said:


> Fully agree with *Angel of Blood* - Deliverance Lost butchered the Alpha Legion  The best AL in HH, up to this date is 'Serpent beneath'


Whilst I do really like that story, _Legion_ is still the best AL novel for me, and best Horus Heresy novel overall.


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## forkmaster (Jan 2, 2010)

Khorne's Fist said:


> However, this constant drip of limited edition bullshit is driving me more and more to less than legal means of picking up BL stuff.


So am I! Too short and definitely not worth the price! I'll go through these means now a days.



Anakwanar said:


> Fully agree with *Angel of Blood* - Deliverance Lost butchered the Alpha Legion  The best AL in HH, up to this date is 'Serpent beneath'





Angel of Blood said:


> Whilst I do really like that story, _Legion_ is still the best AL novel for me, and best Horus Heresy novel overall.


_Legion_ is the best portayal but Rob Saunders did slightly redeem them after DL and made a better continuation than Gav.



gamingharry said:


> Gav was at Black Library Live and talked a bit about this project. Effectively this is a direct follow up to Soulforge and details a guerilla war that the Raven Guard are conducting against the traitors, and in this case the Sons of Horus themselves, Gav akined it to the saying "Down but not out" or words to that effect. This is also Part 2 in a Novella trilogy detailing the Raven Guard after Deliverance lost (With soul forge being part one). Also as a last note when this is released limited they should also be releasing the normal edition of Soulforge at the same time for people to get caught up.
> 
> Also while on the topic of Novella's, John French is also writing a sequel to Tallaran Executioner for the end of this year, but if that's part of a Trilogy or not I don't know.
> 
> Also Graham McNeill is writing an exclusive novella but as he said to me "I have no idea what about yet", personally I hope its about tieing up the Ancient Rylanor loose end from Fulgrim that I mentioned to him during a q/a and he said he "Had Ideas for involving James (I presume Swallow).


I've been saying this for a long time. They shouldn't do 3 LE novellas in a trilogy. Make a proper damned full novel that isn't LE. No wonders the series is in a stalemate not productively going anywhere. I have no urges to rush to Terra, but I want them to stop doing this. I prefered when it was 3 novels per year, no fricking wait because of hardbacks and only an anthology of shorts every 10 novels or so, not fricking digital shorts every week that you need to read but at the same time gives nothing.


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## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

Deliverence Lost wasn't a book about the Raven Guard. It was about about the Alpha Legion, with Corax thrown in.

It told us nothing, absolutely nothing, about the Legion itself or it's internal attitudes and policies. It told us nothing about the average Raven Guard marine. It didn't even develop the character of Corax beyond what had already been written in other books.

Please, someone, take the Raven Guard away from Gav Thorpe, because he's filling the literary space given to them with bland stodge that imparts no new information or character to them.


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## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

forkmaster said:


> I've been saying this for a long time. They shouldn't do 3 LE novellas in a trilogy. Make a proper damned full novel that isn't LE. No wonders the series is in a stalemate not productively going anywhere. I have no urges to rush to Terra, but I want them to stop doing this. I prefered when it was 3 novels per year, no fricking wait because of hardbacks and only an anthology of shorts every 10 novels or so, not fricking digital shorts every week that you need to read but at the same time gives nothing.


Amen to that.


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## BlackGuard (Sep 10, 2010)

I'm reading Path of the Eldar, which I believe he wrote. Its actually pretty good to me. If anything, its too fast. He should have broken it down into multiple books for each path. 

As for this book -- I will eventually get it somehow I'm sure. But I grow annoyed with all these novella. I know the Heresy is Black Library's biggest project ever (probably) ... but come on, the cow will run out of milk at this rate.


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

Read _Ravenlord_ and reviewed it on Talk Wargaming. Here is a summary of the plot for those who didn't get it;




The story starts with Corax leading an attack on the prison planet Carandiru. Commanders Soukhonou and Branne are leading different elements of the force in battle, Soukhonou killing some Emperor's Children and overseeing the liberation of the prisoners while Branne and his Raptors are fighting through a force of mutants. Corax kills five Emperor's Children and a few Sons of Horus on his own and prepares to confront the Commandant, while Branne continues to try and rush to Corax to warn him about a traitor in the ranks.

The story then goes back to Corax returning to the Sartora system that he recently liberated from the Sons of Horus. He puts out a call to any and all surviving elements of the Shattered Legions as well as anyone else who is fighting Horus. A few hundred Astartes answer the call including an Imperial Fists Captain who has been overseeing defensive additions to Deliverance and Kiavhar, a loyalist Iron Warriors Warsmith and a loyalist Night Lord. (Sadly the IW doesn't get any lines and the NL has just one.) Corax then finds out that Andreni, the former commander of his bodyguard unit known as the "Shadow Wardens", has just arrived with a small group of survivors from Istvaan where they were presumed dead. Using Balsar Kurthuri, the ex-Librarian from DL who has been re-instated along with the entire RG Librarius, they determine that the newly arrived RG are real and that they are hiding something, but it isn't disloyalty. Andreni tells Corax about Carandiru, a prison world for those who rebel against Horus and Astartes that his armies capture. Corax becomes determined to liberate it and begins a new campaign.

The RG destroy some supply convoys and the Mor Deythan, the Shadowmasters that Sharrowkyn belongs to, infiltrate a power station on Carandiru and kill power for the entire prison complex. The RG attack and after some battle scenes Corax goes to investigate some out of the way buildings that he thinks the Commandant is using instead of the very visible fortress. Meanwhile Soukhonou continues to oversee the liberation but notes that Andreni has disappeared from his assigned task. Commander Branne leads the Raptors, the mutated RG marines from DL, who are steadily getting more mutated but can still function, to assault a very heavily fortified prison. Inside they find an army of mutants and are attacked by the guards, however a chance encounter between Branne and a Raven Guard Techmarine thought lost at Istvaan reveals that the attackers are Astartes who have escaped the prison, and that the mutants were once Astartes whom the Commandant has been using in his experiment. He also reveals that the Commandant is a Raven Guard who sold them out.

Corax enters the fringe buildings after damaging two fighter-craft but is ambushed by a squad of strange warriors that wield never-before seen technology. They prove to be in his league physically and manage to defeat him using both their incredible strength and the experimental weapons that they carry. A group of marines reveals their presence, a few EC's, a Son of Horus and the Commandant who is a Raven Guard. Nathian, who was once a gang kingpin on Deliverance that Corax trusted despite everybody telling him not to, and who Corax elevated to the Legions again despite everyone telling him that Nathian was untrustworthy. Nathian reveals that Corax's opponents are the "New Men" created by Fabius and that they were made using the data the Alpha Legion stole from Corax, though he doesn't reveal the AL's involvement. The New Men attack Corax once more and nearly kill him, before they can end the fight Andreni arrives with a squad of Assault Marines and manages to kill the New Man carrying an experimental lightning gun that was being used to disable Corax's armour. Distracted the New Men nearly overwhelm the newly arrived Raven Guard until Corax re-enters the fight and kills them all quite handily, without their experimental weapons they are no match for him.

Branne's warnings arrive too late, but Corax goes ahead anyway and confronts Nathian in the reactor room. Nathian reveals that he actually did believe in Corax and would have died for him, but Corax abandoning the fight with Curze and Lorgar on Istvaan broke his faith and that when he was left behind, buried under a pile of dead Word Bearers that he killed himself, he was found by Lorgar who preached to all the marines abandoned by their Primarchs on Istvaan. Many listened and became traitors themselves. Nathian was permitted to oversee the experiments to turn captured Astartes into New Men, and he shames Corax for daring to claim that his attempt with the Raptors is any different to what Fabius is doing now. Nathian shows Corax that he has disabled the safety on the reactors and they are primed to explode, and then in a bid to hurt Corax he commits suicide leaving Corax with the realization that he somewhat responsible for what happened to Nathian. Corax shuts down the reactor, the code that Nathian used was his old prisoner number and Corax knew that he was never an original thinker and made a lucky first guess. Corax notes that Andreni has been acting similar to Nathian, both called Corax by his first name Corvus and acted insubordinate and only barely respectful, ever since he returned and demands to know what Andreni's secret is. The RG barely escaped Istvaan, Nathian made a deal with Lorgar to do so, so how did Andreni do it? Andreni reveals that he was part of a group of RG, Salamanders and Iron Hands and that their plan was for the Salamanders and Iron Hands to assault a depot while the RG commandeered a transport to escape. But the transport was better defended then they anticipated and to ensure that they escaped, the RG abandoned the other Legionaries to their fate. Corax muses privately that both Andreni and Nathian believed in him, and that belief led them to each commit a different betrayal.

The planet and the prisoners are liberated but the failed New Men must be dealt with, and because he won't give special treatment to anyone, the mercy executions of them fall to the Raptors whose combat zone it was. The Commanders express reluctance to have the mutated Raptors execute men in the exact same situation as them, but they have no choice. One of them muses that they are monsters executing monsters, and Corax privately wonders if that is what they have all become.




LotN


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## Straken's_Fist (Aug 15, 2012)

Looks like I am the only one who actually enjoyed 'Deliverance Lost' lol Have to say I enjoyed 'Legion' more though (just finished it).


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## forkmaster (Jan 2, 2010)

Lord of the Night said:


> Read _Ravenlord_ and reviewed it on Talk Wargaming. Here is a summary of the plot for those who didn't get it;
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I had my suspicions that EC would be a part of the story and it feels like Thorpe keeps pushing this idea that the Raven Guard has a special vendetta only with the Word Bearers. Though it seems this story has more tragical depth and it finally begins to built more upon that guilt which would lead to Corax actually leaving everyone behind. I also like the idea of more survivors leaving Isstvan, meaning there are more than just those 4000-5000 Corax managed to save. I also like the idea of more traitors from the traditional loyalist Legions.
 Thanks for the "short" summary!  I'll definitely get this when it's not LE anymore.


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## Roninman (Jul 23, 2010)

Didnt like his AL on Deliverance lost aswell. They were superb in Legion, they should have kept them more in backround in novels to keep their mystery about legion.

I loved Gav's Angels of darkness though, one of best standalone books from BL.


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## deepsix81 (Dec 24, 2011)

Didn't get this, and almost certainly won't until it is released in 'normal' format. But that summary was _brilliant_ and the story sounds awesome. Thanks,


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## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

Good synopsis, Lord of the Night - thanks! 

One thing I don't really like, to be honest, is the attempt to create some sort of moral equivalency between the loyalists and the traitors. Let's be clear:



There is a *huge* moral gulf between Corax choosing not to execute the Raptors, who became monsters because of the Alpha Legion's sabotage, and Fabius freaking Bile performing experiments on unwilling subjects, and then alternately torturing them or driving them insane before expending them as cannon fodder.

Furthermore, the attempts to guilt-trip Corax ("You abandoned me on Isstvan!") seem disingenuous, at best. I mean, really? By his own admission, Nathian was buried under a pile of bodies. And yet he's shocked that his comrades thought he was dead? Sigh.


Beyond that... do you *really* have to ask why that particular scene from _Kadillus_ was bad? :wink:


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