World Famous Comics: Titanicus (Warhammer 40,000 Novel)
Titanicus (Warhammer 40,000 Novel)
By: Dan Abnett Publisher: Games Workshop Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Games Workshop Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 400 Publication Date: September 30, 2008
Black Library’s best-selling SF author Dan Abnett takes his talents to a whole new level recounting an epic tale of Titans, the massive war machines of Warhammer 40,000.
awesome book this book is amazing. if you are interested in the 40k universe, or just like scifi this is a must read.
Great storyline, though too complex Titanicus takes a break from the normal lines of battle that make up the wealth of 40k fiction. This story follows Legio Invictus, a Titan Legion thats deployed to Orestus, a vital forge world supporting the Sabbat Crusade (which is pretty much Abnetts Dark Tower at this point) to help defend the planet from a sudden incursion of Chaos Titans and skitarii. This helps to illustrate the dichotomy between Imperial nd Mechanicus, as one seems to have all the power in the universe, and the other is essentially at the mercy of that power.
The storyline fatlers slightly by trying to branch together two separate plotlines, involving a stray squad of auxillary PDF with the Titan Legion engagements. While I'm a fan of ground pounders, and Abnett can write that incredibly well, it was hard to hold the squad members in mind, and I kept losing track of who was doing what why, and who was augmeted and who wasn't. The Titan battles are incredibly well written, and the technology at the disposal of the Mechanicus was both impressive and disheartening, in that its knowledge lost that can't be regained.
The other sideplot, which ties nicely to the recently released HH novels was also a good side tag, that helped to round out the ending, and allowed the Mechanicus characters to display more than their normal level of humanity, although it came dangerously close to tossing GW's holy status quo out the window.
All told, the book is great, and only suffered from one very weak thread. I'd happily heard another installment of Titan warfare, but it would probably start to bleed to Mechwarrior at that point. The God Machines don't work well with others, either. Heres hoping the manage to work it into future HH novels as they did here.
Titanicus brings the heat and an engrossing story. I played a lot of 40K in the past and I've always loved the background of the universe the tabletop game is set in. In recent years I've stopped playing but I've always kept an eye on developments in the story. Finally I decided to get into the fiction works based on the universe and Abnett seemed to be the author to buy.
I bought Titanicus.
Amazing read. The book stays true to the established lore while being something other than a regurgitation of material. Abnett weaves multiple individual stories throughout the book cutting back and forth to keep you turning the pages eagerly following their journeys. The battle scenes both Titan vs. Titan and Man vs. Man are excellently done. It's just a well crafted story that doesn't have flaws to pull you out of your immersion. To me that makes a great book.
Great Book, with just a few reservations I never played the tabletop Warhammer 40k Game. I got turned on to it when my brother-in-law gave me the "Dawn of War" video game back in 2006. I enjoyed the game and then saw "Brothers of the Snake" in the new Sci-Fi section of the bookstore a few years ago. I purchased it and got hooked. Since then, I've consumed the Ultramarine Omnibus, all of the Horus heresey novels and all of the Gaunts Ghosts novels.
I have three reservations about this novel that prevent me from giving it five stars. I've listed the reservations as least concerning to most concerning.
First, Dan Abnett's books always tend to get the action going pretty quickly (within first 30 or 40 pages) and the action stays at a high pace until literally the last page of the book. Unfortunately, this sometimes makes the end of his books feel rushed. I had that feeling in Titanicus as well. During the book there were many good and detailed descriptions of Titan versus Titan combat. However, near the end of the book, there is an epic battle against an enemy force of over sixty titans. This "historic" battle is described almost at a high summary level over the course of just two or three pages. I would have liked some more "blow by blow" coverages of this battle.
Second, Dan Abnett likes to juggle alot of characters in his books. This has worked well in the Gaunts Ghosts novels mainly because there were a few characters in the initial books and characters were slowly added over the series. The reader to a new Gaunts Ghosts novel is already familiar with most of the characters. In Titanicus, there are alot of characters, all of whom are new to the reader. It was alot of characters to try to keep track of in 400 pages and I sometimes found myself asking "Now who's this guy again???"
Third, and most annoying point: Dan Abnett will often use terms or phrases that he doens't define. He did this in "Legion" as well, but would often embed the definition later in the book. In many cases, he used terms that were never defined anywhere in the book. I found myself wondering "What is a noosphere?" "What is the manifold?" "Which one is bigger, a warhound or a warlord titan?" "What is a skitarri?" "What's the MRU?" Since Titanicus deals with the Mechanicum, there are alot of technical terms and processes, none of which are really described. I found this to be very distracting. Maybe someone with experience with the tabletop game or the background material might have a better understanding of these terms and this might not be such of an issue to them.
If someone were to ask me about this book, I would say to read Dan Abnett's other books first. I would not recommend this book as a first read for someone new to the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Another Great Book! Another great addition to the W40K series. Battles are described from a new perspective and it is very refreshing as it does not repeat or follow the usual descriptions of "infantry" styled combat. I especially liked how snippets of background information and dialogue make reference to the graphic novel / comic version about W40K titans, also authored by Dan Abnett. Gives it some sense of continuity to those who have followed the W40K story line over the years.
As with other recent books, while it makes reference to aspects of the W40K story line, it does well as a stand alone book as well. Added to the fact that its about a story line not written about much makes this book something for both newcomers and oldtimers alike.
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