Black Library authors discussing their favourite Black Library books...
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| Path of the Warrior
by Gav Thorpe
Chosen by David Annandale
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| "I adore Gav Thorpe's entire Eldar trilogy, but I must choose one book, and so I'll choose the first: Path of the Warrior. |
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The task of this book is not an easy one – there are no human characters here to speak of, except as antagonists, so the challenge is to give us protagonists who feel properly alien while still inviting our engagement and sympathy. Path of the Warrior does this admirably.
On top of that, we get a rich, convincing sense of the culture of Craftworld Alaitoc, and a layered sense of the majestic tragedy that is the path of the Eldar. We see this on the macro scale, in the events confronting Alaitoc, but on the personal as well, as we follow the transformation of Korlandril from artist to warrior, and the full, terrible loss that comes with that transformation. |
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| And as if that isn't enough, Gav pulls off a stylistic tour de force that made me gasp when I realised what was happening. The Exarchs speak in hexameter triplets. The effect is subtle, and makes the Exarchs even more alien and forbidding. Not only that, but what is more fitting than to have these legendary warriors speak in the meter of the epics of old? As a reader, I was delighted by the experience. As a writer, I am agog with envy and admiration." |
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| You can buy Path of the Warrior now and see for yourself what David loves so much. And join us next month for another Hall of Fame entry, chosen by another, different, David… |
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