# Path of the Warrior Review|Spoilers*



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

Last night I received and finished the first Eldar novel in Black Library, I dont count _Eldar Prophecy_ for obvious reasons. And it was spectacular, portraying the Eldar in a beautiful way and showing the darker side of them through the Exarchs.

The novel was amazingly written and the Eldar are incredibly alien while having a few human traits, and we even see the Imperium from the Eldar view, they see Guardsmen as mindless fanatics and Space Marines as fearsome foes and enemies that match even the Aspect Warriors. The Eldar's use of subtle body movements as conversation is quite prominent in the novel, with gestures and body movement being as plentiful as actual conversation, and showing how they are very important to the Eldar and are as subtle as language.

The story begins on Craftworld Alaitoc with Korlandril, an Eldar on the Path of the Artist who is content with his life, and his friends the steersman Ardryan and the poet Thirianna, whom Korlandril harbours feelings for. After a disagreement with Ardryan over his latest piece and being rejected after finally admitting his feelings to Thirianna, who has decided to take the Path of the Seer, Korlandril succumbs to Khaine's embrace and is taken to the Striking Scorpion Temple.

There Korlandril meets the Exarch Kenainath who begins teaching him in the Aspect of Khaine's Shade and meets his fellow Scorpions, Arhulesh a young and eager warrior, Elissanadrin a strong and loyal friend, and Bechareth a mute warrior with a very dark past. Korlandril joins his first battle and soon after his life changes forever, where he will be lost upon the Path of the Warrior.

Plus near the end three legendary characters make their appearances. The Cry of the Wind, Baharroth. The Harvester of Souls, Maugan Ra. And the Shadow Hunter, Karandras. Three of the Phoenix Lords join Alaitoc for its battle against the Imperium of Man, and while only Karandras actually speaks and interacts with the characters he is very well-written and I hope to see more of the Shadow Hunter in the future.

We are also given some insight into the Fallen Phoenix Arhra who, according to Kenainath, fell to Chaos and brought Daemons to the Shrine of Asur. He fled after his coup failed and started a new path, the Path of the Fallen Phoenix. However when the Incubus are mentioned later they are not hinted or referred as the Fallen Phoenixes. Perhaps there is something else out there?, a darker Eldar path just waiting to strike.

The pace of the story is very well-done and features a very different style of combat. The characters are not Astartes who can charge head-first into battle and be confident of victory, and they are not Guardsmen who can march with unlimited numbers and strike as the hammer. They are shadows that strike fast, hard and then fade to strike again. The stealthy and quick fighting styles of the Striking Scorpions are very interesting, and the names for the maneuvers are quite well thought.

High Point: The closing scenes of the novel when Phoenix Lord Karandras dies fighting the Dreadnought so that Bechareth may continue to live and seek redemption. 

It is revealed that Bechareth is a former Dark Eldar Incubus who surrendered in a boarding action and was given a chance to redeem himself by the Exarchs of Alaitoc.


And when Morlaniath gives his life so that Karandras may live again, to fight on until the Rhana Dandra. Both of these scenes were very potent and showed that the Eldar still have some hope left in the bleak universe that is the 41st Millennium.

One other part that I enjoyed very much was a glimpse into The Fall. Karandras as a child meeting the man who will forever change his destiny, Arhra the Phoenix Lord of Scorpions. And we learn that but for a simple choice Karandras might well have become a Dark Eldar.

Low Point: The death of Korlandril to become Exarch Morlaniath was quite a shame as I felt the character of Korlandril had barely had the surface scratched. However when Korlandril died the true death after Morlaniath gave his life for Karandras's that avenue has been cut off permanently, a very bold move but I feel that Korlandril could have gone so much further.

So while it has its faults this is truly a great novel and hopefully a foreshadow of more Eldar novels to come, perhaps the dominance of humanity in the novels is coming to a close. I give _Path of the Warrior_ an 8/10.


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## dark angel (Jun 11, 2008)

Sounds like a very cool book! One I will definatly order, and hopefully get in the next week or so. Can you say what Chapter(s) feature, and how prominent they are?


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

Ill assume you mean Aspects. The Striking Scorpion Aspect is most prominent, and you gain a huge insight into how the Aspect works, how its members train and what their philosophies are, and how they feel about the Fallen Phoenix having created them.

You dont get as much insight into the other Aspect Temples from a neutral view however while Korlandril trains Kenainath talks about the other Aspects as the Scorpions view them. There is also a brief insight about the Dark Reapers early on, and about the Warp Spiders later on. In the battle scenes every Aspect from Howling Banshees to Swooping Hawks to Warp Spiders are present.

The Warp Spiders surprised me the most. Other Eldar view them as suicidal and nihilistic, risking their lives because they believe nothing matters. They stand apart from all other Eldar and do not fraternize with any outside their own Aspect.


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## dark angel (Jun 11, 2008)

No, you mentioned a Dreadnaught so I assumed Space Marines were in the novel....My bad.


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

Hmm oh yes they are. Just one Chapter and their name isn't mentioned, they seem to have a red and white colour scheme though.


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

Lord of the Night said:


> Hmm oh yes they are. Just one Chapter and their name isn't mentioned, they seem to have a red and white colour scheme though.


Blood Ravens? Anyway, a nice review; though may I inquire as to how you received your copy so early?:laugh:


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

I set a reminder on Black Library to inform me once it was available to order, and then I ordered it. I was surprised how quickly it came.

Its a very good book but with the protagonist dead I dont see how Gav Thorpe can continue on with it. Perhaps _Path of the Seer_ will be dedicated to Thirianna, but I feel he should have kept Korlandril alive. Though I do want to know more about the Fallen Phoenixes, they aren't Incubi so what are they?. Plus it was interesting to see Bechareth, a former Incubi given a second chance. Dark Eldar are products of their environment, they aren't born evil. They are made evil through their lives, some Eldar do recognize that and Bechareth is proof. He chose a life of honour as a Craftworld Eldar and a Striking Scorpion.


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

Lord of the Night said:


> Its a very good book but with the protagonist dead I dont see how Gav Thorpe can continue on with it.


I think I read in his blog that it was never his intention to have the same characters throughout the series, whilst using "series" in a very loose sense. The three stories are just meant to explore the three paths an eldar warrior can follow, as opposed to having a central story or characters featuring in all of them.


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## jams (Sep 19, 2009)

i've just finished reading it and i must say it was a thoroughly enjoyable read. i just hope gav thorpe continues the fight from where it left off at the start of the next book as the fate of alaitoc is hanging in the balance

well worth a read and a billion time better then that abortion of a story that goto churned out :shudders:


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## spaceballs_2001 (Jul 25, 2010)

Hi guys
I was happy when I heard the news of an eldar book was coming out. Although when I saw who was writing it, I was a little worried.
But after reading the book, I was pleasantly surprised. It was an enjoyable quick read. Some parts a bit childish but other parts REALLY well done. I hope this is the beginning of a change in direction for writing for Eldar.

The previous lot of crap produced by Goto was painful and I’ve NEVER wanted my money back after reading a book before!

So it would be fair to say that, it was not going to be hard for black library to do a better job.

The weakest part of the book for me was, that I felt he missed the beauty and artistry of the Eldar. The Eldar are supposed to be deep. And therefore the characters are a little flat. I understand that he might be trying to give us an insight into the ways of the eldar without getting too hooked onto particular charecters. Which is quite a good idea. Just not sure he pulled it off?


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

One thing about Eldar that after reading _Path of the Warrior_ I started to understand was that yes Eldar are deep, they are mysterious, intricate and trickery masters. They are experts at manipulation and are aloof and near impossible to figure out.. at least all the Eldar that we see in the other novels are.. and they are all Farseers.

Every Eldar that has more then just passing roles are Farseers, or Warlocks. _Path of the Warrior_ focuses on the Exarchs, the Aspect Warriors. They dont do manipulation or mystery. Just straight up bloodshed. And yet despite this I thought Gav Thorpe made them quite deep and interesting, especially the Exarch's multiple personalities all combined into a single form.

However the next novel _Path of the Seer_ should fill us with mystery and intricacy that we come to expect from the Eldar who weave through the fabric of reality and time to protect their dying race from an early grave.


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## Roninman (Jul 23, 2010)

I was for years expecting someone to write book from eldar pov and was really worried about execution. Because this must be one of hardest books to write so far on 40k setting. But when i heard Gav will be the writer, this book was very high on my Have to buy list.

And it turned out to be really good indeed. Theres lots of insights on how Eldar live their lives on craftworld, great revelations about Aspect warriors and how they are different to regular eldar. And i liked the ending really much.

Gav is truly master of Elves and Eldar, his Dark Angels have been the best too.


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## Serrated Man (Mar 3, 2010)

*uses Necromancy to bring thread back from the dead.

So I just finished this novel last night. I gotta say I really liked it, although I felt some parts were pretty lame. 

High Points: Korlandril beginning to lose control, becoming a exarch. Especially the several slips of the tongue (for example when he said 'I just want to find something to kill') and going to the shrine of the hidden death and putting on the exarchs armor.

Low Points: I felt the parts before he started down the path of the warrior were weird. Also when 3 phoenix lords shoved up ... I felt that was pretty lame, as was all the interactions with Karandras.

Overall solid read, more Eldar POV novels please! 8/10


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