Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter

This is the limited edition of the Konrad Curze novel, the latest in the Primarchs series, which are a bunch of short novels dedicated to explore some of the mysteries behind the greatest of the Emperor's sons; their origins, philosophies and characters in a way that the Horus Heresy series, already having these characters active as a part of the ongoing Heresy story line, sometimes had to gloss over.

With this novel included, I have only read two of the Primarch novels, mainly because I do not have the money to buy everything I want and never enough time to read them in. The Primarchs series also didn't appeal to me so much, because I'm a collector who needs to read what he collects, which would mean 18 new novels, of questionable quality, which would inevitably include some duds. 

As such I just went after the ones that interested me the most; Angron, because I like the insane rage of the legion, because my first models were World Eaters and because Kharn is a badass. Hell, even my PSN name takes its name from the legion. Lorgar, because of his religious background and reactionary faith in the Chaos Gods, is very close to me, given my own past and struggle with my faith. And of course Konrad Curze, because Night Lords are cool, Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Night Lord trilogy is the best complete story to come out of the Black Library, their colour scheme is awesome, their doctrine is radical, Konrad is the most tragic figure in the Heresy and so on. Needless to say, I was very much looking forward to this novel.

The edition is simply gorgeous. It of course helps that my favourite colour is blue.

The embossing is of course a little over the top (see the first picture), I mean the lightning and skull with wings are on point and pretty cool, but the ropes and bones, and the hooded cloak are just a bit much. But then this is Warhammer, isn't it, a frequent byword for over-the-top baroque ornamentation, grimdark excess and a cool-factor that pretty much is always paid more attention to than decent, surprising storytelling.

The artwork of Konrad is really nice; Mikhail Savier has delivered probably my favourite artwork of the Night Haunter. He looks as noble as only a Primarch can look, yet with a slant to his expression that makes him look as cruel as only Curze can be. This is Konrad at the height of his nobility, but I do have to say that those lightning claws are really unimpressive. Doesn't matter that they take their cue from the Forge World model, and aren't Savier's design, I just don't really picture those when I read 'Lightning Claws'.

But. The novel itself has the very worst of what is derided about the Warhammer license: Excessive gore, violence and brutality to the point where it becomes immersion-breaking, a depiction of evil and insanity that is laughable, a sorely lacking depth of character and a story that reads more like a linked series of event/character-vignettes; it is a novel of the Night Lord Legion's greatest hits. You'd think that this sounds good but, if I'm honest, I'd rather have not read this one.

Now, Konrad Curze is fascinating. He is the Primarch that let himself be assassinated just to make a point. He is a practical demi-god, gifted with prophetic powers, driven mad and cruel by his knowledge of his eventual death and the epic brother-war that would rip the newly blossomed Imperium of Man asunder. He is the lord of the legion of fear, grown into adulthood, friendless and alone, on a planet governed by crime syndicates and gangs, that he rose to be the ruler of, solely through a one-man guerrilla-war of terror and violence.

And the novel does tell some of this, but the way in which it does this, is fragmented. It is disconnected, delivered to the reader as Konrad remembers his past and regales it to an audience of one: A meat-statue of his father, molded together from spit and the bodies of slaughtered underlings.

This in itself is hard to swallow, as it is fucking silly and pretty much constitutes a child's depiction of evil and insanity.

Insanity in the Warhammer universe is frequently given a raw deal, with any exploration or investigation into the origins of that insanity usually relying on the Deus Ex Machina of the malign influence of the Chaos Gods.

And though of course, this is somewhat true here as well; Chaos as the influence that gifts Curze with his gift of prophecy, thus eventually leading him down the path of extremism, Konrad's insanity has always been about his visions having driven him insane, and about his benign and noble Primarch nature having been ruined by a complete lack of nurture and a life of cruel and violent adversity.

But this is simply not what Guy Haley depicts. Haley writes the tale of an insane and cruel child. A superhuman psychopath from birth, who was always fucked up, but who was driven over the edge, into the realm of the ridiculously insane (and I mean that both ways), and who only at a certain point in his life was cursed to see the coming brother-war and his own horrible ending. 

This does not stroke with everything I have read, seen and thought of Konrad Curze.

I'm being too harsh. I know. This is because I am extremely biased. I love this primarch. He is Batman and the Predator rolled into one. He is the rule of cool trumps all, an absolute a fan-favourite character who rose to crazy heights of popularity with Aaron Dembski-Bowden's depiction of him in his Night Lord series. And that is probably the problem: Fan-sentiment.

There is always a problem when one starts to reveal the mystery behind a beloved character. The audience will have a bunch of associations and preconceptions in place already, and will frequently find those upturned by whichever writer has been chosen to tackle his origins. This is pretty much what always happens. It is what happened with me here. So, this is on me. Maybe.

But there are other problems; some are fundamental, some are here because this is how Guy Haley chose to deliver his story, some are here because of a blatant unconcern with how the laws of reality work, but the most important one: the worst failure of this novel is that this story and this character that are based on the ideas and questions behind an immutable fate, free will and the gift of prophecy, should have been a god damn masterclass in storytelling and structure, and this novel simply isn't it.

If you love it, however, then you go ahead and enjoy yourself. Good on you for settling for the easy fare, for the third rate fiction, for the vapid and fleeting stories that you enjoy so much.

Just know that it's because of you that I can't have nice things.

Seriously though. It's not quite this horrible, but I genuinely am disappointed and annoyed.

The Island of Doctor Moreau, Beehive Books Edition

Here's an extended look at Beehive Books' Edition of The Island of Dr. Moreau, as part of their Illuminated Editions series.

Started in 2016 by Maëlle Doliveux and Josh O'Neill Beehive Books is a small publisher catering to a selective crowd of art enthusiasts, and rely primarily on crowdfunding for their publishing. They've been enormously successful already.

Take a look at their mission statement on their site. It's a little much, but you can easily understand why they have been so supported in their venture. The passion claws your eyes out.

Beehive Books Mission Statement

If, like so many, you just can't bother clicking a link, click on this picture instead:

Apparently they conduct their business (or do they actually live?) in the clock tower of what used to be a church somewhere in Pennsylvania, which is... just awesome.

Anyway, my copy came in this cardboard box made specifically for this particular novel, which is just incredible.

It's a massive book that quite dwarfs my table.

The sturdy slipcase is embossed with vaguely reflective foil, which as I write it down sounds awful, but in reality the effect isn't intrusive and indeed quite beautiful to look at.

The cover's artwork is stunningly beautiful and completely delivers on evoking the eerie mood of the story itself.

Designed by Maëlle Doliveux, art by Bill Sienkiewicz.

Introduction by Guillermo Del Toro.

The book really features some incredible artwork. There are also some 10 pieces of full colour art in total and all are impressively moody. Though I didn't really imagine the beasts to be looking like how Sienkiewicz depicts them, they do look extremely brutal so... awesome.

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This is my favourite chapter.

By the way here's my review of the novel from last year.

The Island of Dr. Moreau

As an aside: Here's some extra artwork, (as if this post didn't have enough pictures already), and which is not included in the Beehive Books' edition (obviously), but which is instead from Eric Powell's The Goon, and which will show just how strange this chapter is. Powell's adaptation is such an unsettling take on the creatures and I just completely love this issue to bits. I can not help but hear the Sayer of the Law madly screaming the Law to the rest of the beasts.

The very image of insanity.

The specific issue that these pieces are from is from when the Goon has some time to kill at a train station, as he is waiting for the two mob assassins that are coming for him. It's an incredibly dark moment, in a series that has come to be filled with them. Powell draws a nice parallel with his own work, by delivering a direct quote from the novel's ending, to show the Goon's alienation from the rest of humanity as he stands over the brutalized remains of the men that were coming to kill him. It's beautiful and savage.

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Adorable hounds.

Also included: A note by the artist, on the artist (who I was surprised to find I had actually seen something of already; in the Sandman comics), an appreciation of the artist by Guillermo Del Toro, some words on H.G. Wells, Special Thanks to various backers and people who gave their support to the fledgling publisher (some of which were thanked in their online names, though thankfully none of them cringe-worthy), and of course a list of the rest of the Illuminated books... which are out... now? 

Now, apparently The Willows and The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde are already available from the Beehive Books site itself, but as I pre-ordered them from the Book Depository instead (for the discounts and free shipping as I'm not bloody made of money) I will have to still wait a while for my copies to arrive. For The Fairy Tales practically a year. Bugger.

May Book Haul

Not too many books came in through my door this month but the few that did were of exceptional quality.

Let's start with the biggest one first:

I've posted some pictures of this one here and there by now, but I'm so taken with the Beehive Books edition of the Island of Dr Moreau that I'm going to give it it its own post. It is that beautiful.

Same here: the Limited Edition of Konrad Curze's primarch novel will also receive its own post.

I've already read it too, so expect some of my thoughts when I get to it. I was pretty negative until about halfway through when I just started to give in and enjoy myself. The writing and choice of storytelling are... not great, but damn me if the presentation isn't gorgeous.

Two science fiction Masterworks that I've been aware of for the longest time.

I have no clue what The Stars My Destination is about, but I do know that its main character is on a quest of vengeance, and ever since I read the Count of Monte Cristo I've always been very much into vengeful characters and apparently this is also one of those genius-level works of literature.

Roadside Picnic is famous for inspiring pretty much every work of Chernobyl-disaster-style fiction. It all began when 1979 saw the release of "Stalker", a very loose adaptation of this little novel, which is a very moody, very weird movie about a man, a 'Stalker', who takes two visitors into the forbidden 'Zone' in order to search for a room that can grant the desires of anyone who enters it.

I saw it a while ago after I learned that this is where the Stalker videogames came from. I've only played the Shadow of Chernobyl one, but I remember it had some incredibly eerie atmosphere. I don't think I ever finished it, mainly because my computer was so bad that I ended up getting too frustrated too continue.

Picnic is also partially responsible for the Metro universe, which is just phenomenal.

The Crying of Lot 49 I picked up because Abalieno from Loopingworld has a reference to it on his book/idea blog, in the blog's layout itself where he quotes: "We Await Silent Tristero's Empire."

The book's title itself too just summons up crazy imagery, in my mind at least.

John Gardner's Grendel, which I'm already reading as I post this, as my 4th out of 5 reading goal of this year.  Though its page count is small, Grendel is a Gollancz Fantasy Masterwork and as such I will be taking my time with it.

I finished reading Beowulf, which was genuinely eye-opening; it's such a hugely influential work and still very readable, depending on your translation, though I did find that the barrage of names and references to earlier bits of Geat history did get rather tiring after a while, though the active-Beowulf stuff was very engaging.

Yes, I know, I know: I'm a barbarian. I'm even appalled at myself.

Anyway, Grendel is obviously based on the Beowulf poem, and it revisits the beginnings of the poem as Beowulf faces off against Grendel, but this time in the first-person view of the monster himself, whose past and psyche are put on display and who is portrayed as the anti-hero to Beowulf's villain.

It's eh... very down to earth.

Weirdly compelling though.

And then, lastly; the Manga Horror Fantasy Epic: Berserk.

Deluxe Edition Volume 1.

And it is Horror firstly, fantasy second.

I've read pretty much all of this crazy, nasty, gruesome, fucked-up, shocking, excessive volume already, and I was genuinely shocked at some of it. The book collects only the first 3 of the 40 volumes out now, so there's a lot deluxe editions still to come.

It's very good in a guilty pleasure sort of way.

From the first page it's obvious that this we're in the realm of Grimdark with this one.

Sex, violence, nightmare darkness, demons, sometimes all of it at the same time.

If you're not easily shocked and if you like your thrills, this one might be for you. 

I wasn't really that much into it until the Guardians of Desire arc was done, but by then I was very much sold on the whole thing.

Strangely, a lot of the mood and elements remind me of the earlier Slaine comics.

I find Manga hard to swallow, and I'm pretty new to it really, having only read some Junji Ito for my Horror fix, But I always knew I wanted to check out Berserk.

Dark Horse's Deluxe editions seemed like a good way to get into it, being cheaper than buying the volumes separately and of course, the prospect of having a whole collection of sexy hardbacks on my shelves is just too damn appealing to resist. 

Pick the best of every type of fiction and genre to read, watch and listen to, go to the top to find enjoyment, and if they come in eye-catching editions, all the better.

...This is again going to be expensive, though.

As if I didn't have enough stuff left to collect.