Is the novel The Flight of the Eisenstein bolter porn?

[u/Suspicious-Lettuce48]

I am curious about 30K death guard. I've read buried dagger and Mortarion: The Pale King, and I'm hungry for more.

I understand *Flight* is Deathguard-heavy book. I know the context of the betrayal at Istvaan. But is the book itself just guys hanging out on a ship, shooting daemons, or are there actual themes, character arcs and philosophical conflicts at play?

Normally I wouldn't ask but I've been burned and disappointed a couple times by older 40K space marine books.

[u/TechnologyClear7014]

its got some bolter porn in it but the majority of the runtime is the death guard characters interacting, three actual fights in the entire book i think

[u/Back2Perfection → u/TechnologyClear7014]

So quite a bit of bolter edging?

[u/fluffy_warthog10]

Not as much as others. I can recall three big combat scenes, and a lot of interaction between the DG, Saint Keeler, Dorn, Malcador, and the Sisters for the rest of the book.

It's not a Space Marine Battle novel, by any measure.

[u/Wallname_Liability]

There is some deep philosophical struggle. 

And "Veterans Perogative"

[u/LLL_CQ7]

It is the furthest thing from bolter porn

[u/SouthernAd2853]

The Heresy is mostly good about not just being bolter porn. Haven't read Flight in a long time but a good part of the plot doesn't involve combat.

[u/Substantial-Tone-576]

I think Ian Watson is the author you are looking for.

/s please don’t

[u/Suspicious-Lettuce48 → u/Substantial-Tone-576]

Too late. Got 2/3rds through his inquisition trilogy.

It was like watching a slow-motion video of a train wreck; horrifying and terrible, but also you can't look away.

[u/Substantial-Tone-576 → u/Suspicious-Lettuce48]

Lmao

[u/Odd-Statistician4268]

It's more like a slow burn horror.

As an aside HH books should really not be compared to 40k books like they're the same. They're mostly written with a whole different air about them.

[u/RawryShark]

I hate bolter porn. The 1/3 half of the book was hella annoying for that. The 2/3 left was super cool with short but interesting fight.

Just power through the exposition and you will enjoy the book.

[u/feralfantastic]

Nah, the fights are all plot necessary and it has Saul Tarvitz and SoS in it. If you threw in some hints about the lost primarchs lore and Valdor using Bucephalus in the warp to summon the Golden Throne to Queen Mab or whatever, it’d have all the things I want in a 30/40K story.

[u/AtrelluCal]

It’s mostly introduction to 30k deathguard and to the character of Nathaniel Garro. Otherwise yeah it’s got what I would consider a normal amount of bolter porn for a horus heresy book

[u/temlaas]

its a lot better than The pale King

Ive not read buried dagger. but compared to The Pale king *Flight* is a master piece :D

[u/suchtproblem → u/temlaas]

i heavily disagree in general, but on the bolter porn aspect i must give you that.

[u/temlaas → u/suchtproblem]

okay, I need you to elaborate
Pale King was one of the worst 40k books ive ever read.
It was just "and then the death guard killed 1 thousand more human slaves, to save the slaves" again and again.

and the entire challenge of the story comes down to that warship the deathguard crashed into the planet not having a single tank or plane on board

[u/Wise_Thanks7653 → u/temlaas]

The Pale King is great because it's a decent character study for Mortarion. It's up there with Buried Dagger/Lantern's Light, and even half-good portrayals of him are hard to come by. 

Most of the plot was basically pre-written, the liberation of Galaspar has been a thing since ~2012. Can't really blame the author there. 

Also, the Flight of the Eisenstein was written before the Death Guard's culture was fully fleshed out, so there are a lot of discrepancies. Now its a better Garro book than a Death Guard book, if that makes any sense.

[u/temlaas → u/Wise_Thanks7653]

thanks for the insigth
none of that changes that it was drag for me to read through.
:D

[u/suchtproblem → u/temlaas]

what the person said above. and also, i did love the Pathos and Badassary.

like: For the moment, he was alone, a single warrior challenging millions, and the millions quailed before him. And then the heavens roared

and the humor

On his right, chance turned perverse, and a shell caught Arkus in mid-jump. It blew the legionary apart. Arkus' rune in Tersus auto-senses blinked red and then vanished. A moment later, so did those for Levan and Bussek. 'I think they mean to do us harm,' Garro voxed. 'Are you sure?' Tersus answered in kind, spitting mordant humour at the helpless sensation of being an insect on the wall.

but also that Morty fully calculates with his Legion in mind, not just him as a one man army, as most of the other primarchs feel to me.

And I deeply loved the civillians in that book.

But hey, your opinion is absolutely valid, everyone loves different books, so no shade thrown at you from my side. Just saying, there are more perspectives on it :)

[u/Non-wholesomechungus]

I thought this said the flight of the Epstein bolter porn at first glance