A Thousand Sons 1
Apr. 3rd, 2025 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quietbluejaySo, this was the very first 40k book I covered so it's basically just me reacting to things...I'll probably be compiling it into 3 posts
Hello! I had to read this so you do too!
Her green eyes sparkled with amused embarrassment, and Lemuel saw why so many desired her. She had a vulnerability that made men alternately want to protect or deflower her. Strangely, she seemed oblivious to this fact.
-why was it necessary to be gross about the female characters. I’m not gonna lie this was what made me drop it when I read the sample, and I didn’t come back to it until AFTER I’d read the Ahriman trilogy. This was a mistake.
-I’ll leave commenting on the oily sweaty muscles for later.
-Magnus’ appearance making people vomit was probably not meant to be as funny as it was
-there is something deeply wrong with the Thousand Sons I swear most of them would fit in with fanon Slytherin also is it literally any wonder they went Tzeenzch (sp??) when you have stuff like THIS:
A warrior’s standing was not simply measured by his proximity to the centre of the spiral, but by myriad other indicators: the position of the warrior next to him, behind him and across from him. Who was obscured, who was visible, the arc of distance between his position and the sun disc, all played their part in the dance of supremacy. Each member’s position interacted subtly with the other, creating a web of hierarchy that only Magnus could fathom.
just stand in line like normal people i beg you
I'm drowning in an ocean of purple prose
Such perfect geometry, such pleasing aesthetics… who could ever wish harm to so perfect a refuge? Soaring silver towers sagged in the heat of the fires, broken glass falling from their high windows and pyramidion-capped summits like shimmering tears. Firelight danced in the glass, each reflecting a great, golden eye that wept tears of red.
it went on in this vein for more than 3 paragraphs. Actually you know what I should make a separate post for the Magnus description at some point.
Magnus would be a Magneto fan
The Emperor spoke of how these men had brought ruin upon themselves and their people by trafficking with powers beyond their comprehension. Seeing Magnus’s interest, his father warned him against flying too long and too high in the aether for selfish gain. Magnus listened attentively, but in his secret heart he had dreamed of controlling the powers these mortals could not. He was a being of light so far removed from humanity that he barely considered himself related to his primordial ancestors. He was far above them, yes, but he did not allow himself to forget the legacy of evolution and sacrifice that had elevated him. It was his duty and his honour to speed the ascension of those
Ahriman has a secret box in his library with “provocative tomes”. I’m choosing to believe this is where he keeps his 26 volume collector’s edition of Twilight.
I will say this for McNeill he is doing a good job of building up the atmosphere of doom
though I hope he doesn’t draw it out as much as Abnett did in Know No Fear
This was not simply an honour guard to welcome a brother Legion: this was a show of force, a warning, and a declaration of purpose all in one. The primarch stood beneath a glorious canopy of white silk held aloft by sixty bronze-skinned Legion eunuchs and attended by eighty-one Terminators of the Scarab Occult.
why
Magnus
Magnus look at me why do you have Legion eunuchs
okay i know that even the GC-era astartes have thralls and servitors
but for what purpose eunuchs??? is this a magic thing?
except they’re just holding up a fancy sunshade
you know what if i was Leman Russ I’d judge Magnus too
Also, if I was doing the drinking game I was thinking about (take a drink every time the word “flesh” is used), i would fear for my liver
it definitely is kind of weird giving the guy who shapeshifts to look hot the name of two female goddesses (Hathor Maat)
I’m remembering all the Ultramarines in Know No Fear being completely shooketh at the thought of Astartes killing Astartes meanwhile Magnus is like “I’m going to kill you” to the Space Wolf captain dude
the framing around Othere’s introduction is kind of romance novel and given what I’ve been spoiled on that makes me uncomfortable.
‘I know well your name, Ahzek Ahriman,’ said Wyrdmake, with a feral grin, ‘for I have long desired to meet you.’
That's a good line to end a chapter on, though.
oh here we go:
the bulked musculature of his smooth torso
now my mental image of Ahriman’s torso is of a cylinder
also lol, Magnus calls the SW captain a whelp
this is after:
-telling him to take off his mask because he wants to see a mans face before he kills him
-threatening to destroy all their ships in orbit
1. Magnus is not a diplomat, to put it mildly
2. Magnus is a great example of how intelligence is not wisdom
Honestly the Space Wolves are currently coming off the better in this conflict.
-i feel like removing the ability for your soldiers to panic would be far more useful than removing the ability to fear
-how on earth did the TS manage to conquer any planets on their own i must ask
-current theory Magnus went and did Aang’s marble trick in front of the planetary leaders
-McNeill is once again Gross when women show up on page, i will spare the exact quote
-also this whole book is like…kind of horny is a plausible deniability way?? i don’t know how to describe it. It’s really not enhancing the reading experience
-Magnus received one (1) sympathetic moment, his main redeeming quality is that he does in fact care about the TS and they were the reason he decided to go deeper into the Warp, to save them
-greasy tentacles. okay. moving along.
the snake: bro im a daemon
magnus:
‘Daemon is a meaningless word, a name to give power to fear.’
‘I know, isn’t it wonderful?’ smiled the serpent, coiling around Magnus’s legs and slithering up his body. Magnus did not fear the serpent. He could destroy it without effort.
you know im kind of getting tired of slithering things
no more slithering things grabbing people and wrapping around them to drag them off into the depths
society has moved beyond the need for slithering things
This book has just been a slog tbh.
Timeskip and…ITS A BIRD WORLD I LOVE IT except for the fact that they’re, you know, conquering it ;-;
As well as this lost strand of humanity, Heliosa was a world that belonged to the creatures of the air. The skies were alive with flocks of every description, from tiny, insect-sized creatures that fed on guano to rabid pterosaurs that hunted from lairs in hollowed-out peaks. More than one Imperial craft had been lost to bird strikes before weapon systems were modified to provide continuous clearance fire.
me @ the birds: you’re doing amazing sweetie
‘What happens here after we leave is not our concern.’ Ahriman shook his head.
‘But it should be,’ he said. ‘Guilliman has the way of it. The worlds his Legion wins venerate his name and are said to be utopias. Their inhabitants work tirelessly for the good of the Imperium as its most loyal subjects. The people of these worlds will be reluctant citizens of the Imperium at best, rebels-in-waiting at worst.’ ‘Then we will return and show them what happens to oathbreakers,’ snarled Wyrdmake.
hey. Ohthere. Oaths given under duress aren’t valid.
current evaluation of Leman Russ: I don’t like him either, but he’s not quite as obnoxious as Magnus yet
Hello! I had to read this so you do too!
Her green eyes sparkled with amused embarrassment, and Lemuel saw why so many desired her. She had a vulnerability that made men alternately want to protect or deflower her. Strangely, she seemed oblivious to this fact.
-why was it necessary to be gross about the female characters. I’m not gonna lie this was what made me drop it when I read the sample, and I didn’t come back to it until AFTER I’d read the Ahriman trilogy. This was a mistake.
-I’ll leave commenting on the oily sweaty muscles for later.
-Magnus’ appearance making people vomit was probably not meant to be as funny as it was
-there is something deeply wrong with the Thousand Sons I swear most of them would fit in with fanon Slytherin also is it literally any wonder they went Tzeenzch (sp??) when you have stuff like THIS:
A warrior’s standing was not simply measured by his proximity to the centre of the spiral, but by myriad other indicators: the position of the warrior next to him, behind him and across from him. Who was obscured, who was visible, the arc of distance between his position and the sun disc, all played their part in the dance of supremacy. Each member’s position interacted subtly with the other, creating a web of hierarchy that only Magnus could fathom.
just stand in line like normal people i beg you
I'm drowning in an ocean of purple prose
Such perfect geometry, such pleasing aesthetics… who could ever wish harm to so perfect a refuge? Soaring silver towers sagged in the heat of the fires, broken glass falling from their high windows and pyramidion-capped summits like shimmering tears. Firelight danced in the glass, each reflecting a great, golden eye that wept tears of red.
it went on in this vein for more than 3 paragraphs. Actually you know what I should make a separate post for the Magnus description at some point.
Magnus would be a Magneto fan
The Emperor spoke of how these men had brought ruin upon themselves and their people by trafficking with powers beyond their comprehension. Seeing Magnus’s interest, his father warned him against flying too long and too high in the aether for selfish gain. Magnus listened attentively, but in his secret heart he had dreamed of controlling the powers these mortals could not. He was a being of light so far removed from humanity that he barely considered himself related to his primordial ancestors. He was far above them, yes, but he did not allow himself to forget the legacy of evolution and sacrifice that had elevated him. It was his duty and his honour to speed the ascension of those
Ahriman has a secret box in his library with “provocative tomes”. I’m choosing to believe this is where he keeps his 26 volume collector’s edition of Twilight.
I will say this for McNeill he is doing a good job of building up the atmosphere of doom
though I hope he doesn’t draw it out as much as Abnett did in Know No Fear
This was not simply an honour guard to welcome a brother Legion: this was a show of force, a warning, and a declaration of purpose all in one. The primarch stood beneath a glorious canopy of white silk held aloft by sixty bronze-skinned Legion eunuchs and attended by eighty-one Terminators of the Scarab Occult.
why
Magnus
Magnus look at me why do you have Legion eunuchs
okay i know that even the GC-era astartes have thralls and servitors
but for what purpose eunuchs??? is this a magic thing?
except they’re just holding up a fancy sunshade
you know what if i was Leman Russ I’d judge Magnus too
Also, if I was doing the drinking game I was thinking about (take a drink every time the word “flesh” is used), i would fear for my liver
it definitely is kind of weird giving the guy who shapeshifts to look hot the name of two female goddesses (Hathor Maat)
I’m remembering all the Ultramarines in Know No Fear being completely shooketh at the thought of Astartes killing Astartes meanwhile Magnus is like “I’m going to kill you” to the Space Wolf captain dude
the framing around Othere’s introduction is kind of romance novel and given what I’ve been spoiled on that makes me uncomfortable.
‘I know well your name, Ahzek Ahriman,’ said Wyrdmake, with a feral grin, ‘for I have long desired to meet you.’
That's a good line to end a chapter on, though.
oh here we go:
the bulked musculature of his smooth torso
now my mental image of Ahriman’s torso is of a cylinder
also lol, Magnus calls the SW captain a whelp
this is after:
-telling him to take off his mask because he wants to see a mans face before he kills him
-threatening to destroy all their ships in orbit
1. Magnus is not a diplomat, to put it mildly
2. Magnus is a great example of how intelligence is not wisdom
Honestly the Space Wolves are currently coming off the better in this conflict.
-i feel like removing the ability for your soldiers to panic would be far more useful than removing the ability to fear
-how on earth did the TS manage to conquer any planets on their own i must ask
-current theory Magnus went and did Aang’s marble trick in front of the planetary leaders
-McNeill is once again Gross when women show up on page, i will spare the exact quote
-also this whole book is like…kind of horny is a plausible deniability way?? i don’t know how to describe it. It’s really not enhancing the reading experience
-Magnus received one (1) sympathetic moment, his main redeeming quality is that he does in fact care about the TS and they were the reason he decided to go deeper into the Warp, to save them
-greasy tentacles. okay. moving along.
the snake: bro im a daemon
magnus:
‘Daemon is a meaningless word, a name to give power to fear.’
‘I know, isn’t it wonderful?’ smiled the serpent, coiling around Magnus’s legs and slithering up his body. Magnus did not fear the serpent. He could destroy it without effort.
you know im kind of getting tired of slithering things
no more slithering things grabbing people and wrapping around them to drag them off into the depths
society has moved beyond the need for slithering things
This book has just been a slog tbh.
Timeskip and…ITS A BIRD WORLD I LOVE IT except for the fact that they’re, you know, conquering it ;-;
As well as this lost strand of humanity, Heliosa was a world that belonged to the creatures of the air. The skies were alive with flocks of every description, from tiny, insect-sized creatures that fed on guano to rabid pterosaurs that hunted from lairs in hollowed-out peaks. More than one Imperial craft had been lost to bird strikes before weapon systems were modified to provide continuous clearance fire.
me @ the birds: you’re doing amazing sweetie
‘What happens here after we leave is not our concern.’ Ahriman shook his head.
‘But it should be,’ he said. ‘Guilliman has the way of it. The worlds his Legion wins venerate his name and are said to be utopias. Their inhabitants work tirelessly for the good of the Imperium as its most loyal subjects. The people of these worlds will be reluctant citizens of the Imperium at best, rebels-in-waiting at worst.’ ‘Then we will return and show them what happens to oathbreakers,’ snarled Wyrdmake.
hey. Ohthere. Oaths given under duress aren’t valid.
current evaluation of Leman Russ: I don’t like him either, but he’s not quite as obnoxious as Magnus yet
