I finally sat down and crushed
the Ravenor trilogy; Ravenor, Ravenor Returned and Ravenor Rouge by Dan Abnett.
I am a big fan of his 40K Inquisitional stories and have been hooked on them
since the original Eisenhorn books (by the gods those came out so long ago…..).
How
was this trilogy?
Pretty
damn good actually.
PLOT STUFF
The
series starts out with our protagonist Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor ( who is a
super physic guy confined to a floating stasis pod/chair due to being
completely paralyzed and mostly almost but not really but kind of sort of alive
but almost coma level dead-ish). His
little band of Imperial agents is investigating the drug known as “flects.”
These are little pieces of glass that give their users a bit of psychic
ecstasy, but at what cost? Well these “flects” are of course tainted with chaos
warp energy and it eventually causes all sorts of chaos warp shenanigans.
Ravenor and his crew investigate to find/solve the problem and then guess what?
It evolves into something more than just a broken mirror drug trade.
Ummm….those are really the only, and really minor, quibbles I have with this series.
Dan Abnett is still my favorite 40K storyteller, especially when it comes to Inquisition stuff. He paints that world to be as dystopian as it is, but still manages to sprinkle in light and hope to it as well. It was a fantastic read and has me wanting to travel back to the Eisenhorn novels to see where this all began. If you are a 40K universe fan and have not dove into these novels do yourself a favor and do. They are just fantastic stories with some amazing moments, characters and worlds.
The
second book we have Ravenor and his little band of heroes undercover and off
the official Inquisition books. They are now “Special Condition” which means
deep cover and no help from anyone outside their circle. Not only are they investigating
the fallout from the “flect” trade, but also a huge bit of planetary government
corruption, news of some warp entity that may or may not be being “birthed” into
the world and the always prevalent and popular 40K cult shtick to futz with. Then
tie this in with the return of a once dead antagonist to stir the pot further. Of
course since this is the second novel in the trilogy it has a very Empire
Strikes Back ending where the good guys are left reeling and the bad guys have the
upper hand. You know like every good second act story about heroes and villains
has.
Finally,
in the third story Ravenor and his crew have gone fully off the proverbial
reservation. They have partially destroyed an Imperial city and the majority of
a planetary government all in the name of Imperial safety. During their de –brief
it is discovered that the once dead Ravenor antagonist is still alive. Gideon
and crew decide to give chase. However, in doing so have become “rouge” Inquisitorial
agents and that is bad. Rouge Inquisitors are usually hunted down and killed. Now
they are on the hunt and run. There is also the ever present threat of this
warp entity that may or may not have been stopped in the previous story. Throw
in some time travel….because……I’m not sure why? Then the inevitable show down occurs
between pro- and antagonist (that has been slowly building for three novels)
mixed with the arrival of a Lovecraftian nightmare to spice the ending up a
bit.
GOODS
This
is typical Dan Abnett story telling. It is a slow burn story, but with some
really fun twists and turns.
The
characters both good and bad are fun even if they fall it clichés at times.
The
action scenes are just so much fun have a very cinematic feel.
The
multiple story arcs all collide nicely by the end of the trilogy and all pay
off quite nicely.
I
might dislike procedurals, but throw it in a 40K Inquisitor setting and I find
them very entertaining!
It
moves along well with very few slowdowns.
BADS
This
is typical Dan Abnett writing. There is a lot of world building and description
that always isn’t necessary to the main plot and can feel like filler at times.
The
characters and plot fall into some typical clichés at times, but this is not
uncommon in sci-fi/fantasy serialized tales.
Time
travel.
Ummm….those are really the only, and really minor, quibbles I have with this series.
Dan Abnett is still my favorite 40K storyteller, especially when it comes to Inquisition stuff. He paints that world to be as dystopian as it is, but still manages to sprinkle in light and hope to it as well. It was a fantastic read and has me wanting to travel back to the Eisenhorn novels to see where this all began. If you are a 40K universe fan and have not dove into these novels do yourself a favor and do. They are just fantastic stories with some amazing moments, characters and worlds.
No comments:
Post a Comment