Titanicus

[CELS]

Hey guys,
Seems things are kind of quiet here in my absence. I hope it's just because people are busy with exams and stuff, so we can all get back to chatting and discussing in december. Actually though, I'll probably have a new computer on wednesday, so I'll be back and ready to go. I've got some few ideas that have been swirling around in my head while I've been gone.

Anyway, time for a positive book review after my last tirade about the travesty that was 'Descent of Angels'. And of course, it's Dan Abnett. This time, I've read Titanicus, a glorious novel about Titans. This is 40k war porn in all its glory, by the Jenna Jameson of 40k war porn, mr. Abnett.
Character development? Nope.
Interesting dialogue? Nope.
Plot twists? Nope.
Big guns, robotic walkers and lots of explosions? Yes, sir!

And it's still a pretty cool novel. Granted, it doesn't exactly add very much to the 40k universe, unlike Abnett's wonderful Inquisition novels. It does, however, leave you sweating and dishevelled after a series of nerdgasms, and it just made me want to run over to my Titan miniatures and play with them.

So why does Abnett get away with something as blatantly shallow and cheap? Well, because he's a very good writer and keeps things interesting by including a few original characters, using a rich and innovative language (constantly creating new terms and expressions, which gives his novels a unique flavour) and because he's probably one of the few BL authors who does research about real combat and warfare. For one thing, he's actually clever enough to write that most Titan engagements are resolved at a range of several kilometers, whereas the traditional 40k imagery would have you think that Titans (like everything else in 40k) need to be within a stone throw of their enemy (or preferably in close combat) in order to be effective.

Of course, I am slightly disappointed that Titanicus didn't really reinvent the Titanicus organisation in the same way that his Eisenhorn novels added such great depth to the Inquisition. Sometimes, however, it's nice to just leave the exploration of politics and philosophies in the background and focus on what we all came to see.... mechanical walkers, crushing buildings in their stride, protected by adamantium and energy shields, carrying enough firepower to level entire cities and blowing up everything in sight. 

[Kage2020]

...constantly creating new terms and expressions...

LOL.  MvS, author of the Liber Chaotica series, recently pointed out that Abnett has adopted the term "humanocentric," which is of course made up by the fans to discussion the focus of GW on the Imperium (rather than the more anthropocentric).  So, sure, he certainly does create new terms...

As to being away?  Mea culpa.  I'm jammed at the moment and with everyone else posting less, it's hard to motivate oneself.  I really will get the other SR up there shortly, though...

Kage

[CELS]

Oh, I didn't know. Who coined that term then? At any rate, I think the relationship between "terms created" and "terms borrowed" is solidly in Abnett's favour. As he pointed out in a recent interview, a lot of words in 40k like "vox" for "radio" seem to be common tongue now and people have forgotten where they came from.

He did add some nifty concepts in regards to the advanced technology and information processing of the Adeptus Mechanicus, actually making them sound extremely advanced compared to the rest of the Imperium. The reason you don't see Mechanicus priests sitting in front of computers is because they're all connected directly through mental augmentation which allows them to basically "see" oceans of information with their enhanced eyes. Just glancing at an object or person will present them with vast amounts of data. Not really like Neo from the Matrix, but more like having a hyper-advanced OS hardwired into your brain.

Like I said in my original post, this novel doesn't really have any significant implications that change or enrich the 40k background significantly as a whole... but he sure paints quite a picture.

[Kage2020]

Who coined that term then?

I'm the first person that I remember using that term, though that doesn't mean that I coined it at all.  Same with "Rule of Cool," "Dark Heresy: the Mooking," and a suite of others.

I also wasn't saying it was a bad thing, except in strict literary terms.

He did add some nifty concepts in regards to the advanced technology and information processing of the Adeptus Mechanicus, actually making them sound extremely advanced compared to the rest of the Imperium.

Care to post a quote?  Up to now the best example of a TechPriest can be laid at the feet of Farrer in Legacy (IMHO).

The reason you don't see Mechanicus priests sitting in front of computers is because they're all connected directly through mental augmentation which allows them to basically "see" oceans of information with their enhanced eyes.

Ha!  That's very similar to an idea I posted a year-or-so back with regards to "data havens," but there we go.

Kage

[CELS]

I'm the first person that I remember using that term, though that doesn't mean that I coined it at all.  Same with "Rule of Cool," "Dark Heresy: the Mooking," and a suite of others.

Ok then.
You might want to google the "rule of cool", by the way. It certainly seems to have caught on...

Care to post a quote?  Up to now the best example of a TechPriest can be laid at the feet of Farrer in Legacy (IMHO)

Erm, no, not really, sorry. It's one particularly long quote, combined with a number of mentions spread throughout the book which illustrate the complexity of the so-called noosphere. Basically, Dan Abnett describes the vast amount of information that is available to tech priests and the way this information is transposed on the world around them. Just by looking at a person, they know his/her name, rank, history, etc. Assuming the noosphere recognises the person or is able to piece together the information from their appearance (uniforms, etc). There were some other implications as well, I believe, but the point was basically that it was hard for non-augmented people to understand the effects of having such a tool at one's disposal, thus making it even more difficult for other humans to relate and communicate with the Mechanicus adepts.

[Kage2020]

You might want to google the "rule of cool", by the way. It certainly seems to have caught on...

Ha!  Then it's possible that I independently created it.  Certainly, it is my understanding that I was the first to begin to use it on the various 40k hobbyist forums.

Erm, no, not really, sorry. It's one particularly long quote...

Ah well.  Guess I'll have to wait and perhaps get the book, although the Horus Heresy series is certainly not as appealing as it once was.

Assuming the noosphere...

That term sounds familiar.  Where have I heard it before? Hmmn...

Kage

[MAGELORD]

As soon as his goes to softback cover, I WILL OWN IT!

[Haarken]

A tiny little bit of threadomancy here but...

I've had this book since Christmas and have only just got around to reading it, I'll be honest I struggled to get into, the first few pages hardly gripped me in the way Abnetts other novels have done in the past and its one of the very few novels i've had to come back to after not getting into it first time around. Thankfully I was a little more forgiving second time around.

 The engine on engine combat was wonderfully gripping although in contrast to CELS comment, I felt that Abnett all too often fell in to the trap of placing the titans right next to each other, I never felt as though he properly described a long range duel between two titans. I enjoyed the different perspectives that Abnett gave us of the titan, though I thought many of them could have been stronger. I did think that the book was too short and that the sequences towards the ends were a little rushed, I was left feeling a little disappointed, a new threat appears and is just as quickly dispatched, I didn't think it was entirely necessary, the book could have ended beforehand  or gone on much longer quite satisfactorily. I also felt as though some of the loose ends hadn't really been tied up by the end, they weren't integral to the main plot but I was left wondering what had happened.

Still it was a really good inspiring read, it got an old beetleback warlord onto the painting table as one of the first few models of my soon to be published painting log and it got me thinking about the Mechanicus in a whole new positive light.

[CELS]

Agreed, the end felt rushed, but I think Abnett's novels are always like that. Like you, I always wonder what happened to the minor characters, after the heroes go on to face their next adventure.

Let me know when your painting log is online, I'd love to see it.