schaferwhat‽ wrote:Whilst it wasn't an anti-climax the end did sort of just peter out I think which detracted from the overall feeling a bit. I'm not sure if it was just that the pages of aftermath whilst interesting had no drama to it and seemed just to be a list of what the survivors were going to do next because I actually think the whole battle with Magnus kinda was underplayed for the epic encounter it could've been but obviously I understand that Magnus wasn't there to kick ass and take names so much.
Ah, sorry to hear you didn't enjoy the ending, Schafe. One of my big worries throughout was how to handle Magnus in the closing scenes, so it's a shame the choices didn't work for you. As for the 'epilogue' passages, I felt it was important to have a final chapter to reflect on the impact of the battle and to tie up a couple of loose ends, but YMMV. Glad you enjoyed other bits of it.
schaferwhat‽ wrote:I'd be curious to know what your thoughts were as you read Prospero Burns, talked with Dan and BL and had to stumble your way through the wolves. I do appreciate that until the book is on general release you may not be so open to talking about it so I can wait. I'll crack on with Sword of Vengence so that I can ask questions you may be able to answer.
Your summary of the Wolves' psychology is interesting, and (I think) pretty close to how I feel about it. Jim's comment about the BAs is right - the attraction in writing about these chapters partly stems from their, ahem, warped personalities. That's the joy of 40K - even the good guys have been irredeemably tainted, and there's a noble, albeit tragic, edge to how they deal with their inescapable flaws.
In BotF, I was conscious of the timetable. This is M32. No one really knows what a hellhole awaits everyone in M41 - they're still working out how to function in the Age of the Imperium. The SWs more than most: they're down to about 2,000 marines (a little more if you count surviving Wolf Brothers), everyone thinks they're savages, their mission as the Emperor's guard dogs has definitely failed, their primarch's wandered off and the Wulfen curse hangs over their shoulders like a bad smell. So, despite all their bluster and undoubted martial prowess, the more foresighted among them are going to be thinking hard about their place in the universe.
That's why Wyrmblade is allowed to do what he does, and also why Magnus gets under Ironhelm's skin so much. The Space Wolves had a very definite role before the Heresy kicked off. In M32, at least in my take on things, they're torn between a kind of nostalgia for that (all the rituals, the tradition, etc.) and a nagging doubt about how to function in the more complex, more compromised post-Heresy galaxy.