Bricky suddenly fell ill with flu and we couldn't record an episode this week, so we are releasing book club episode that we recorded earlier instead of the main episode today, sorry! Hopefully Bricky will feel better asap and we will be back to our regular schedule next week.
I love the fact that monolith guy finally remembered his password! I imagine him on the prow of the necron ship screaming into space in nothing but a bathrobe. “MONOLITHS!”
I kinda feel Bircky and DK didn't get Oltyx's reanimation scene. It wasn't that he was litetally deciding if he wants to be reanimated as Unas or Djaseyrez, but metaphorically. Oltyx had been so hung up on trying to act like a 'proper' king, constantly denying his own nature, and all he got to show for it was a crumbling empire, a burning ship, and his own death. So he just decides to let it all go and be his own dynast rather than chase the shadow of what he thought a dynast should be.
@@Dramatic_Gaming ah, thats fair. Completely agree with the point you made though, i got the feeling that they were reading into things a bit too literally.
@@Dramatic_Gaming For the record, it's Djoseras. May not quite be the first thing you think of depending on your primary language, or especially english.
To me, the constant repetition helps a lot reinforce the point of the Necron idea of self-actualization: that the loss of their soul is not the full reason for their fall, but that without their souls their mind is all they have, and their bodies are moldable to their state of mind. That their traditions of the necrontyr of old are strangling their potential, and that their culture and refusal to deal with their traumas is the real reason before what they call "Viruses" and "Curses". It is funny how consistent this is: all necron characters that are comfortable with themselves and their purpose are essentially mentally intact (Trazyn, Orikan, Lysikor, Szeras, amongst others) while those that force themselves to their preordained "role" slowly degenerate into what they want to avoid, like Oltyx.
The scene where he "dies" is actually pretty straightforward. The shot from the Polyphemus damaged Oltyx to the point of near death, but thanks to Pakhet he was just intact enough for his body to slowly repair itself. We saw in Ruin what happens when he gets rekt like that, and one of them is a temporary loss of memory and identity, as he loses access to everything but raw consciousness. This time the damage was _so_ severe that he become almost entirely disconnected from his own memories for an extremely long period of time, becoming essentially an amnesiac. As his mind and body were slowly rebuilt, that disconnect presented him with a unique opportunity: without any attachment to his prior identity, he got to choose what kind of person his repair systems would build. This is why he emerges a significantly better person; he chooses to remain Oltyx, but also chooses to cast off many of his worst qualities. It's a very Buddhist scene; his near-death experience gives him the opportunity to let go of his attachments, and it is casting off those attachments that allow him to find enlightenment.
You're telling me a necron got blasted and in the time between getting blasted and returning he realized that: "In Heaven and in the Materium, I alone am the Honored One"?
From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the purity of the blessed machine. Bricky clung to his flesh as if it would not decay and fail him. One day the crude biomass he calls a temple will wither and he will beg my kind to save him. But I am already saved. For the Machine is Immortal.
Meanwhile on some tomb-world: the machine cannot feel joy nor can it partake in the pleasures of life, it has no will of its own. I want my soul back you stupid space clouds!
A minor pet peeve of these Book Clubs. When you go on a tangent on a scene you didn't understand. Maybe listen to it again to make sure you got it right? When he died and slowly gained sentience he didn't have any memories. So he is alive, with no memories, which means he is "nobody" before he gets his memories back. But getting his memories does not erase his existence as "nobody". He has lived for many days I think as something with the brain activity as an amoebe or something. As he realises a new part of his body, which must have always been there. That is how slow it feels to him it seems. So living for that long as a nobody that watches a movie of someones life in full and then realising, "oh shit, that was me! And I was an idiot!". Which means he has a dillemma. Does he take up the mantle of this flawed king with all these problems? or does he say fuck it and do what he want with this life he was given as a nobody who just so happened to watch a bitch ass long movie about some idiot prince. Paraphrasing: "But it would be a waste to let all these memories go. Millions of years of knowledge as a matter of fact. Guess I will take up this role as King. But with none of the previous burdens of the Necrontyr life and the 'supposed' things a Necrontyr/Necron Dynast should be like. I'll do it my way!" It was amazing!
I am going to disagree on Neth. He had some great moments (like gifting a throne to Oltyx) but he went out in a good way. He sacrificed for the king without any hesitation which is part of how Necrons are. He wasn't meant to go out in a grand way but just as a another piece of wood being chucked into the fire.
The shear amount of Odyssey references in this book is what surprised me the most as fun nods to the Classic, another story about a long journey where most of the fleet and crew don’t make it. Such as the 3 capital ships pursuing the Necrons each being named after events in the Odyssey - Polyphemus is the cyclops, the Lystraegonians are giants that destroy most of Odysseus’s fleet, and Tyresias is a sage that helps Odysseus commune with the spirits of the dead. Also the Akrops shears the prow off the Polyphemus, echoing the blinding, and the name of the dynasty Ithakas is just Ithaca Odysseus' home island. Plus there's the whole chapter where Oltyx is renamed Noone/Nobody while on the Polyphemus.
I think my favorite line from Zultanehk was when he opens a private voice channel to Oltyx and says "You look like something built by orks and lit on fire. Where is your damn gold young lord?"
My heart broke when oltyx found his royal guard and it was revealed that it was his weapons trainer from back in his youth. That part was by far my favourite part of the book. everything made sense when she says we only protect the king's body. A king's mind is his own.
Oltyx’s mother is never mentioned which leads me to believe she died early to the cancers, and Pakhet became almost like a second mother to him. She does say that she watched him grow and trained him from the earliest days. I got the impression she was like his long lost mother with the way she consoles him towards the end of her life. It makes it even sadder when Oltyx only recognizes her then.
I think you missed it. I remember Dennit doing some weird dance or something and Oltyx going "Now is the time for them to do a miracle." And after Dennit does his freaking dance out comes the monoliths.
I absolutely love the bite scene! IT was so natural and showed so much about the flayer curse. It was not like he was seeing the flash and that guy that tryed to bait him and felt spiraling down in a strangle to keep his mind together but he just did it. I some guy far below you just tryed to bite you. Why should you not bite back? Also he then got suiciding himslefe because he was a man of his word. He said ALL flayed -ones will be thrown of the ship so ALL flayed-ones got thrown of the ship. It is not importand if you a warior, lichguard or nobel. IF it happens you get thrown out of the ship.
You know what? I bet the Ghost Wind is how Necrons see the Warp. They have no soul to sense it, there's literally no reality for them to bend with their advanced drives in irreality. Remember that they've never interacted with the Warp like this, know nothing about it, and are completely opposite to it in their nature. Their sensors are material, Immaterium is just a strange void for them. No wonder they can't perceive anything and the Warp cannot hurt them. No immaterial aspect to act as a contact point without a soul around, only trace interaction with their consciousnesses. It also explains why their clocks behaved strangely and why the ships from such different times were orbiting their destination - Warp plays with time.
Can’t be the warp it spoke n about being something completely different it where the c’tan come from and is at the bottom of reality. If it was the warp the imperial forces would of made comment on a slip space portal. Only reason the imperial went in was because they where allowed to come in.
Imperial ships in Ghostwind is explained very bluntly and clearly before it happens by the conversation between Oltyx and the warlock. "Can they follow us there?" "Not unless you will it". Pretty self explanatory
The books were amazing and showed how varied and incredibly interesting new necrons can be. They're great literature period, not just for 40k but in general.
40:50 Oltyx did say earlier that if the destroyer cult was released, there wouldn’t really be any putting them back or controlling them from that point. He did send them off to fight the space marines iirc, but Oltyx knew that the fate DK described would come up after all the humans were gone
Side charecters were awesome: Neff, Grainmaster, Zoltenec, Lichguard Captain. JUST AWESOME. Edit: THE szene where the monoliths were summond, boi i was like " HE REMEMBERT HOLY SHIT "
For Oltyx's death I feel he died but reanimation Protocols brought him back. When his mind was sort of there he was basically like "I died so I guess I am being reborn, should I be me or pretend to be someone new?" I feel the Aacrops also just had some transmission going with some memories but that's sort of what happened. But he didn't necessarily have the option to be anyone just more like when someone dies but doesn't die they maybe feel it's a chance to be someone new.
@@kylecampbell2164 That's only because the flux was pulled out into the ghost wind. It's specifically said the nano-scarabs closed the leaking hole before Oltyx's core was completely emptied which might be why his memory was all messed up for a bit
@@utes5532 Sure sure, but the recall prots is a teleportation back to homebase to get patched up. The reanimator construct does a lower grade job *right there.* And narratively, all the groundwork for Mentep to be rebuilt behind the protag's back was laid!
@@derekburge5294 Again, they're in the ghostwind. They can't even communicate properly and not being able to teleport is a constant problem for them. Also I'm pretty sure Xott wasn't "right there" when he was killed
So, I've gone through both books in a couple of days. And honestly? I feel its a lot clearer if you do it like that. Like kinda how the imperium entered the Ghost wind. Oltyx allowed/ wanted the imperium to follow (subconsciously), he just didn't want to admit it. So, I guess he left a door open So both books: Characters _ 8.5 /10 Flow of the story - 6.5/10 Side story potential - 9 / 10 ____ This book would be great to see from the imperial side. Fighting the necrons, pursuing and the horrors of a new dimension. _____ The warlock is bringing the good eldritch horror back. _______ Oltyx becoming the bone/ flayer king _____ I feel like the ghost wind is the direct opposite to the warp. The warp is unlimited energy at its core, the ghost wind is the complete lack of energy. This series offers sooooo much potential for the future. If used correctly it could become the bedrock for an entirely new perspective on the necrons.
I'm kind of with you about the Imperium following them into the Ghostwind. At first I was also like "Wait how did they get in?", but then I after a while I was okay with it. If you really think about it, how they got in is not important to the story. The Imperium pulls off insane million-to-one odds bullshit all the time, it's not too much of a stretch of the imagination that they figured out some way to enter the Ghostwind that would probably only work once.
You completely misunderstood how the Imperium followed them then. They were tracking the psychic energy left by the gold which had the saint's bones mixed in.
Reign is one of those books I love that makes me feel like shit for 2/3rds of the runtime. It’s weird though, there’s such an odd shift at the end when SPOILERS: Oltyx accepts and embraces his curse. It feels almost like a foregone conclusion, and the levity that brings is really nice. Also it took me WAY too long to realize that the book parallels The Odyssey. I mean come on, Odysseus’s home was literally called Ithaca.
also the 3 main Imperial ships are named after the cyclops, man eating giants and a sage in the Odyssey, plus Oltyx himself in the first book travels to his home only to find an usurper and he is later joined by a family member to kill him
You know what, I'm gonna come out in defense of the book and especially Oltyx's spiral. Now I'll admit that I was sat there listening to things unfold and I was just thinking "Oh Oltyx, what are you doing!?" not because it was badly written but because I recognized exactly what was happening even before it fully clicked. As someone with ADHD (which the author has confirmed he also has), the actions of Oltyx, particularly the duel with the rival + aftermath of him killing Mentep is a TEXTBOOK example of a lesser known symptom of ADHD called Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. It's fucking hard to describe if you don't have ADHD, but listening to it on Audible as it unfolded was both validating and fucking heartbreaking. 'Cause you know what? I've fucking been there and in your mind you're absolutely resolute that you're in the right and in the heat of emotion you're willing to burn not just the bridge but the village on the other side, and if someone isn't 100% on your side, even if they're just trying resolve the situation, like "hey, maybe calm down and think this through", that instantly makes them the enemy and it's only when the inferno of rage passes and you're left staring at the empty space where friends used to stand that you realize just how much you've fucked up and it destroys you. Hopefully I'm not the only one who recognizes this and I think my fellow ADHD peeps will agree that Mentep staying dead is important, because it's symbolic of the fact that when you go down that spiral of anger and paranoia and come out of the other side you often have to live with the burned bridges and the once dear friends you've driven away as a result.
As someone who also has ADHD I whole heartedly agree. Oltyx's spiraling was agonising to watch because I could see myself in his actions, I never really questioned it beyond "oh he is convinced he is right and his stress is mounting, people keep bothering him so he keeps lashing out, I really hope he gets to be left alone". I didn't even consider that it was a symptom of my ADHD but this is kind of validating to hear that I am not alone so thank you for taking the time to write this out!
Holy fuck, I struggled with this so much as a teen. I thought it was my bipolar or asbergers, but this describes it to a T, and I'm still vulnerable to it in internet discussions. I've never been formally diagnosed with ADHD but my current psychiatrist and I have recognised a tonne of other ADHD symptoms that I have, and knowing now that this anger I've experienced has a specific cause that I can identify is just... such a relief, if only to know that there's a specific reason rather than it being an unknown. Thanks for this.
A few notes from my study of the book and my comparing notes on Reddit: the ghostwind is considered to be like the basement of the warp. That's how the Imperium traverses it. The warp is the emotions and feelings of the galaxy, the ghostwind is the fundamental laws and rules of it. If the warp feeds the chaos gods, the ghostwind feeds the ctan. By the way, if you got the special edition, Borakka and friends were jettisoned into the Lystraegonian and just hunt scavenging organisms, leaves one alive, and lets them go back to spread the word that something is on the Lystraegonian so they get more to kill.
I mean Menthep was a Mindfocused Cryptec. So even if he couldn´t pull the Trazyn and download himselfe into another body he has probably a backup of himselve on Zod and now his "pet" is looking for a new body for him
I always thought the "Ghost Wind" was actually warp travel, since the warp is an alternative dimension to the 40k one and multiple times in canon its been stated that Necrons do not understand the warp at all. Just what I thought, maybe I missed something.
It not the warp it described as the very bottom of the universe and the place where c’tan come from. Tau 5th codex talks about the void and the warp as separate things
I felt like it was maybe implied that the ghost wind actually is the warp which would explain how the impirium could catch them there. The fact that the captured psyker’s power still worked when it shouldn’t foreshadowed that the imperium fleet would still be able to find them
@@haylongwang3002 if they have the ability to detect warp energy I wasn’t really aware, I was under the impression that it was a complete mystery to the necrontyr and that bio transference had made it even more difficult to perceive and be affected by it
@@ViolentShrike Oh they deffiently dont understand it but they did build things to fight it, in the book itself the ship activated a shielding or something becuse it got the detection of some massive warp incursion from when an imperium ship was making ready to enter real space from the warp next to them. They built these things to combat the old ones back in the day, and the warp is quite lively and coulourfull so im quite sure the void is not it. Though ofcourse thats mearly speculations on my part.
It not the warp, the imperials only went cause oltek wanted them to follow. It described as the place where c’tan come from at the bottom of existence.
The Destroyer stayed on the Draconian and killed the Space Marines. IT was littlery said in the catapult ark that when the Destroyer get woken up from their stasis there were no way to get them back into it and actually controll them. The ship later that Oltix raidet was another one but can´t remember the name
I can already see Bricky´s review for Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1. Bricky:"These are the worst Night Lords I have ever seen! They don´t even fight the Space Wolves properly!"
I read the book instead of listening to the kindle version, and I think they changed the monolith scene. In the book version, there was some nice buildup to the summoning, like how Bricky described.
I'm pretty sure those were a successor chapter of the Blood Angels. Only because of the white Death Company. My favorite part......is when they RELEASE THE MONOLITHS!
Hopefully you get around to Eisenhorn series next. It's really a staple for the warhammer books and i think dk would love it. Not to mention it can then be followed by Ravenor and ... Bequin trilogies. Big emphasis on Bequin there. That one is actually insane.
I disagree with the take on the imperium following them into the ghost winds. I thought it did a couple important things for the story. It reinforced the idea that the warp is a cancer that has touched everything. There is nowhere it has not tainted in some way and that's the eldritchy horror in the background at all times. It also was fitting that the reveal that Oltyx being petty and taking their gold was the reason they had a bright beacon to follow in the warp even though they wouldn't know where they're going. Oltyx killed many allies thinking they were traitors and when he finally realized he was the reason they could follow them he was out of options and friends. He caused everything and that was a huge blow to him. I also appreciate the imperium being so high on crusadium they don't even consider where they would be going and if they should follow. It pushes the point that the imperium achieves most things from brute without any understanding of what they've done/are doing. I love being human :)
Also, just as like a idk heads up. They weren't actually fighting blood angels specifically, it was the Angel's Encarmine which you know, are BA Successors and have the same symbol but just as a like fun fact
The Necrons know what the Warp is tho. In Ruin, Memteph or however you spell it says that their pursuers are using it and one of the Necron lords goes "The Waarrrrp!" It's one of my favorite line deliveries from Richard Reed. Regardless, it shows that the Ghostwind can't be the Warp because Necrons know what that is
While I really enjoyed the Twice Dead King Books I feel like they don’t translate the actual resilience of the Necrons nearly as well as the Infinite and the Divine. Necrons aren’t just metal robots, but they’re essentially made of a self repairing grey goo that can put itself back together at a terrifying speed. Sure there have to be stakes and the ghost winds probably negate translation, but I feel there are some deaths that just didn’t sit right with me, like Paket dying from a shot to the core, sure the Core is important but if all it takes to kill a Lychguard is a shot to the chest then I feel like Necrons should be dying off at a much faster rate.
It was a blow that nearly took Oltyx as well, they were all already extremely damaged from everything prior. I think Oltyx's arm was still in shambles. I wouldn't compare survivors of a ruined dynasty with what is essencially a madness curse, with two of the most powerfull necrons in the galaxy
I interpreted ghost wind as warp coz it is said that it is mistery to necrons and it is sub demention to normal space where everything is at a base. And Warlock (if I remember correctly) said he is closer to godhood thanks to this discovery. Sorry English is not my first language. I hope it makes sense.
On the subject of the ghost wind, I’m in the process of listening to Talon of Horus and at one point in the early stages of the book the main Khayon and friends go through a webway route and the passage through it sounds eerily similar to the ghost wind. The transit through the webway route is described exactly like the starless, radiatiationless, warpless, and lifeless realm of sense depriving pitch black that the ghost wind is described as. Which begs the question, the webway is made by the Old Ones and since the Necrons can barely begin to understand their technology I think that is why the ghost wind is hard to operate in. Another thing about the webway is that there is more then one type of webway route, also described in Talon of Horus, from simple teleporters to 4d chess cities of undarkness such as Commoragh. Another thing to add is that the ship that Khayon is suffering from similar drive and communication difficulties that the Akrops experienced in Reign. TLDR The ghostwind is very similar to the webway from Talon of Horus so I think it may be weird type of webway route
I loved both of the books, but I feel like Reign was a little bit too focused inside the Acrops and it got a tiny bit dull because of that in areas. That's my only criticism though, the rest was brilliant.
I know I am posting a lot but I have a lot of thoughts. The best part of the Lysycor message for Oltyx was everyone saying "Well that could have been way worse."
if the ghost wind is the warp, or a part of the warp, successfully ramming an imperial vessel makes a tad more sense as they would not be able to use their void shields. If i am not mistaken, void shields disperse all incoming energy into the warp - which will do nothing when you are in the warp with geller fields up to not attract deamons.
I took the ghostwinds as a deeper part of the warp, due to the warp technically being "the sea of souls" you could also characterise it as ghostly wind in a way. It explains the humans use of it, the speed and how they got their through a astrophathic link to the saints bones taking them their via a harsh warp jump.
Ghost wind feels like a warp thing to me. only necron who feel to their organics instincts and became flayed ones navigate it intuitively. it is foreign to regular necrons, yet good old psycher humans go there if needed. maybe they usually avoid it because they very much enjoy not being carved down by flayed ones
The Missing SubMinds and the Focus on more interesting Side Characters was needed for this Book. It shows that our Oh so great King on his own is not so great after all - its the Dynasty as a whole that is the important thing - and showing that the Original Top Heavy structure sucks in the Face of the Curse. The story would not really have worked, especially showing Oltyx' weaknesses if the Author had tried to go about it differently imho
I missed the subminds too, but them missing was needed to show oltyx's vulnerability, limits and inner conflict. How would he have struggled endlessly between expectation of his hecca forming reality and reality saying no with his subminds still in place?
As much as I liked Pakhet in Reign, I think what might've worked better in service for the story is if her role was swapped with Neth's and instead he was the last of Oltyx's guard, by virtue of him being kinda useless and therefore tossed to the wayside until all of Oltyx's lychguard had died. I feel like if it was revealed that this malfunctioning preator he'd belittled for almost the whole time he's known him turned out to be his former teacher and he had burned all memories of him away with the medium it would've served to make his inevitable death aboard the battleship hit a lot harder.
related to new kits get a spotlight, one of the strictly mid Salamanders books has an entire cutaway chapter dedicated to the (new at the time) centurions and how "badass" they are. At the end of the chapter they get blown up by a psyker and are never mentioned again.
I laughed at this so hard. They never realized that the ghost wind was the warp... Necrons have no idea how the warp works... The denizens of the warp and all the energy is energy of the "soul." Something so forign to the nectron they cant even feel it ore comprehend it.
I came to this same conclusion, I think it might also imply that the flayer curse is, or has its origins in warp corruption. Warp entities would be equally oblivious to the presence of soulless necrons in the warp but the energies could still slowly degrade the bodies and consciousness of the necrons
Its not though, its belived that its where the Catan came from. I mean I dont know for sure but the things they did and how it looked is litraly the opposite from the warp
@@haylongwang3002 What do you mean opposite of the warp? I mean according to mortals and most sources the warp is the corrupted sea of souls. the necrons have no way of interacting with defending from or observing such a thing. My guess is the only way they can perceive warp energy is through its effects on real space and matter.
@@Olanius_Pius666 They can still see the effects of the warps and have tools to detect Warp incuriusons. They legit can venture in and also observe the eye of terror. The Void which is speculated to be where the Catan is from is something else seemingly since unlike the Warp which is mortal horrors and quite coulourfull the Void is nothing, pitch black nothingness. Also there would be no reason as to why Flayers would go to the warp.
It not the warp the ghostwind/void is the very bottom of reality. It supposed to be where the c’tan come from. The c’tan are not from the warp. It has a lack of energy and hunger. If it was the warp the imperials would of mentioned it. Read tau 5th codex it talks material realm being in between the warp and the void as separate things
Having issue with the subminds being absent is the same as being upset Fulgrim turned traitor for the HH or Magnus not doing everything wrong. Yes it would have made for better story and made more sense, but the consequence being a lesser fleshed out HH and likely the Emporeror winning and not getting dunked on. The conclusion to the story would have been lesser, if not at all achieved. It was destined to happen and needed for the story to progress and end in the best scenario, which the ending to Reign being the most satisfying ending to a book for a Necron fan.
I love how when Oltyx first gets the new gold covering, they bring up the fact that the gold has human remains in it, the Necrons are disgusted. Ad we, as Warhammer fans, are left to think "Of course the Imperium isn't going to care if some poor soul falls into the gold while they're casting the figurehead." But then we get to the reveal of just what those human remains really were.
If you're ever confused why the Imperium is able to do something you think they shouldn't, just remember: In 40K, everyone is equally OP, but some are more equal than others.
I’m not gonna lie- it did feel the book was pushing far. But I feel as if this was what if Hamlet actually took the crown and lived- and we see how that depressed man would go out to rule. Letting his loyal subordinates be sacrificed, paranoid about his rule, uncertain and unwilling to take up that break from tradition. It is only when he is reanimated do we truly feel that he has found his way. After thinking about it- it might have been intentional to feel- all over the place, cause Oltyx wasn’t sure how to rule till literally it broke him lol. I really do find this book interesting after just coming from Ruin
I feel like Ruin is a fun little romp, but Reign has a lot more going on under the hood, and that's why it's not such an easy read. The more the book went on, the more I kept latching on to the concept of the Heka, and the Hekatic Truth - the Will of the King. For a while it just sort of slipped past me as "sci-fi technobabble". But as it went on, it kept being driven home. "Hekatic Truth" was sticking in my ear the same way "Death Mask" stuck in my ear with Infinite and the Divine. But whereas "Death Mask" was a rhetorical flourish, "Heka" was a concept, something I could really mull over. The refrain of the book was that the King's Heka *is* reality. Even Djoseras's quip that, "A King Never Apologizes. He only proves himself right in the end" from Ruin is an echo of that concept. The Warlock tells Oltyx that the humans can only find him in the Ghostwalk "if you will it." After he kills Mentep and exiles Yennek, he "asserts a new Hekatik Truth", as he spins a lie about Mentep being the one to lead the humans after them... And I believe it's shortly after that when the Crusade appears. Oltyx mentions how this clear contradiction defies the assertion of his Heka, and wonders if any other King was so weak as to watch his divine will unravel. Which makes me think the Crusade's appearance is more a manifestation of Oltyx's guilt than anything that has a "logical" explanation. His "Hekatic Truth" is really just attempting to deny his own guilt. There is a certain surreality to the whole Ghostwalk section that really feels like there's more mysticism at play here than hard realism. If you go to this book looking for "hard answers" you'll be frustrated. If you see the Ghostwalk as a manifestation of Oltyx's psyche, it becomes a lot more interesting. Also weird that they were still on the idea that this would be a trilogy. I felt like the ending was pretty final. Some questions may have been left unanswered, but I felt like they were the good questions worth pondering, not something I needed a sequel to resolve.
I mean regarding the Dreadnough, Oltyx is litraly an Necron lord. Why would a dreaadnought be a problem for him? The Marines already got their moment to shine before hand as well. That they even could get that buried in a necron ship with such few numbers was already more then enough.
The (excuse my spelling) lystragonian (blood Angels battle barge or strike cruiser?) was split by zaltonek and boarded by the destroyers, the flagship was actually the polythemus which oltyx boarded and destroyed.
I had the unfortunate experience of watching Last Jedi, and I'll admit not read this book (I just like hearing you guys talk about the books). And yes there are some are some similarities, but not in a way that would make it as bad as Last Jedi. But from what I've heard, i feel the main driving conflict of the story shouldn't be: Dealing with Imperium. But instead: Ultek having to deal with his struggling with his new position of being king. The Imperium I feel should come at the climax of the book, as a way of showing that the conclusion of Ultek's character arc.
Hope we get some sort of story with Xott and the Scarab in the future, just a full on droid adventure like that episode of R2-D2 and C3PO in the Clone Wars.
"cut the ship in half just by ramming it. Why didn't they do that earlier if it was so easy??" Flashback to earlier part of the video when referencing The Last Jedi...
Dummy Oltyx, he literally had a tsundere (Duamehht) and a oneesan (Pakhet) in his court and he never managed to figure it out until it was too late. Yes, go check it again, the author is such a pro he managed to put stealth anime tropes into a novel about alien egyptian undead robots.
I thought reign was a better listen than ruin, especially the parts with oltyx' hallucinations, the parts with the razor and zoltynyck (sic), they're exceptional, and the story truly makes the fleeing necrons mission truly feel desperate.
Drazak!? That sounded familiar so I flipped the necron codex open and it mentions a valgul a fallen lord that has a kingdom of horrors. I remember hearing awhile ago about a kingdom of flayed ones it's awesome that this book connects to it, would be nice to know if valgul and this lord are the same.
34:42 in a forward to the Eishorn books, Dan Abnett talks about getting some inquisitor stuff prelaunch for him to look over, he thought it was so cool that he wrote the first Eisenhorn book from that to tie in, so I would 100% believe GW would send a necron writer info for new minis for a new book before they came out
To Me, ultyx his metaphorical rebirth as king of the flayed ones after his near death - only being saved by his lych guard lady- was on point He was "crawling" back to live, but also through the ghost wind
Ok guys, Ultics death. He barely survived, long and the short the ghost wind spat them out on world and he didn't die. The hole scene is him slowly remembering himself and is a mirror to when he goes through this process in the first book with the dead king and his advisor. He is rebooting essentially, memories slowly coming back online as his consciousness reboots.
Bricky suddenly fell ill with flu and we couldn't record an episode this week, so we are releasing book club episode that we recorded earlier instead of the main episode today, sorry! Hopefully Bricky will feel better asap and we will be back to our regular schedule next week.
I hope Bricky gets well soon! Much love to the three of you!
Dammit, Bricky, I know you like Death Guard but this might be taking it too far. (jk feel better soon!)
Get well soon Bricky (or Shy WILL collect your progenoid gland)
Hope you get well. That being said, the space marines were not Blood Angels, they were their successor chapter: The Angels Encarmine.
again? nice
I love the fact that monolith guy finally remembered his password!
I imagine him on the prow of the necron ship screaming into space in nothing but a bathrobe. “MONOLITHS!”
THIS SCENE WAS FAAR TO SHORT! H
@@Resomius I wish we would've had that scene from his perspective
*CACKLING* MONOLITHS!!!! Heheheh
Turns out his password was password but he thought it would be too simple so he never tried tried it for all his time
Best part of the book
As an Imperium Fan I felt really satisfied when Oltyx realized they were only after them because of his new paintjob lol
That was definitely my favorite reveal. Should've see it coming but it was very satisfying!
Not gonna lie this made me chuckle
He was paranoid about someone betraying him and revealing their location when it was hes new bling out ship doing it for him lmao
Oltyx looking at his new golden paint job: oh fuck
I kinda feel Bircky and DK didn't get Oltyx's reanimation scene. It wasn't that he was litetally deciding if he wants to be reanimated as Unas or Djaseyrez, but metaphorically. Oltyx had been so hung up on trying to act like a 'proper' king, constantly denying his own nature, and all he got to show for it was a crumbling empire, a burning ship, and his own death. So he just decides to let it all go and be his own dynast rather than chase the shadow of what he thought a dynast should be.
Jesus christ how did you mess up his name THAT bad lol
@@Robotron56 because I listened on audible and couldn't find an actual spelling of it.
@@Dramatic_Gaming ah, thats fair. Completely agree with the point you made though, i got the feeling that they were reading into things a bit too literally.
Thought the same thing about his reanimation
@@Dramatic_Gaming For the record, it's Djoseras. May not quite be the first thing you think of depending on your primary language, or especially english.
To me, the constant repetition helps a lot reinforce the point of the Necron idea of self-actualization: that the loss of their soul is not the full reason for their fall, but that without their souls their mind is all they have, and their bodies are moldable to their state of mind. That their traditions of the necrontyr of old are strangling their potential, and that their culture and refusal to deal with their traumas is the real reason before what they call "Viruses" and "Curses". It is funny how consistent this is: all necron characters that are comfortable with themselves and their purpose are essentially mentally intact (Trazyn, Orikan, Lysikor, Szeras, amongst others) while those that force themselves to their preordained "role" slowly degenerate into what they want to avoid, like Oltyx.
Well… Zoltanic, or however you spell the Copper Chad’s name, did say something along the lines of pick your madness and go with it
@@CannibalLemonsFromMars same goes with Yenekh despite being full on flayed he managed to keep himself sane by getting obssessed with hope.
The scene where he "dies" is actually pretty straightforward. The shot from the Polyphemus damaged Oltyx to the point of near death, but thanks to Pakhet he was just intact enough for his body to slowly repair itself. We saw in Ruin what happens when he gets rekt like that, and one of them is a temporary loss of memory and identity, as he loses access to everything but raw consciousness. This time the damage was _so_ severe that he become almost entirely disconnected from his own memories for an extremely long period of time, becoming essentially an amnesiac. As his mind and body were slowly rebuilt, that disconnect presented him with a unique opportunity: without any attachment to his prior identity, he got to choose what kind of person his repair systems would build. This is why he emerges a significantly better person; he chooses to remain Oltyx, but also chooses to cast off many of his worst qualities. It's a very Buddhist scene; his near-death experience gives him the opportunity to let go of his attachments, and it is casting off those attachments that allow him to find enlightenment.
It was really wild his hold ressurrection scene, hot damn I loved that. I think it was extremely good
So he was Necron Buddha?
You're telling me a necron got blasted and in the time between getting blasted and returning he realized that:
"In Heaven and in the Materium, I alone am the Honored One"?
From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the purity of the blessed machine. Bricky clung to his flesh as if it would not decay and fail him. One day the crude biomass he calls a temple will wither and he will beg my kind to save him. But I am already saved. For the Machine is Immortal.
Necrons, meanwhile: *GIMME YO SCROTES!!*
'Scripture of the Taloned Cog'
v.09 ''Wary of those that wander"
*a little bit of rust and tectonic activity disagrees heavily*
Meanwhile on some tomb-world: the machine cannot feel joy nor can it partake in the pleasures of life, it has no will of its own. I want my soul back you stupid space clouds!
sorry I put bricky in the vault were you saying something?
A minor pet peeve of these Book Clubs.
When you go on a tangent on a scene you didn't understand. Maybe listen to it again to make sure you got it right?
When he died and slowly gained sentience he didn't have any memories. So he is alive, with no memories, which means he is "nobody" before he gets his memories back. But getting his memories does not erase his existence as "nobody". He has lived for many days I think as something with the brain activity as an amoebe or something. As he realises a new part of his body, which must have always been there. That is how slow it feels to him it seems. So living for that long as a nobody that watches a movie of someones life in full and then realising, "oh shit, that was me! And I was an idiot!". Which means he has a dillemma.
Does he take up the mantle of this flawed king with all these problems? or does he say fuck it and do what he want with this life he was given as a nobody who just so happened to watch a bitch ass long movie about some idiot prince.
Paraphrasing: "But it would be a waste to let all these memories go. Millions of years of knowledge as a matter of fact. Guess I will take up this role as King. But with none of the previous burdens of the Necrontyr life and the 'supposed' things a Necrontyr/Necron Dynast should be like. I'll do it my way!"
It was amazing!
I am going to disagree on Neth. He had some great moments (like gifting a throne to Oltyx) but he went out in a good way. He sacrificed for the king without any hesitation which is part of how Necrons are. He wasn't meant to go out in a grand way but just as a another piece of wood being chucked into the fire.
"The praetor met an end as noble as his station allows."
"Alas for his station, then."
Not to mention , Neth is...incompetent. Going out in a sacrifice to save his King was probably his best outcome.
Neth wasn't incompetent, he was just new money and didn't know how to act in social scenarios. So they thought he was an idiot
The shear amount of Odyssey references in this book is what surprised me the most as fun nods to the Classic, another story about a long journey where most of the fleet and crew don’t make it. Such as the 3 capital ships pursuing the Necrons each being named after events in the Odyssey - Polyphemus is the cyclops, the Lystraegonians are giants that destroy most of Odysseus’s fleet, and Tyresias is a sage that helps Odysseus commune with the spirits of the dead. Also the Akrops shears the prow off the Polyphemus, echoing the blinding, and the name of the dynasty Ithakas is just Ithaca Odysseus' home island. Plus there's the whole chapter where Oltyx is renamed Noone/Nobody while on the Polyphemus.
I think my favorite line from Zultanehk was when he opens a private voice channel to Oltyx and says "You look like something built by orks and lit on fire. Where is your damn gold young lord?"
"Oltyx, my dude. Where is your drip?!"
It’s funnier if you take it as the guy knowing that the gold he has on hand will paint him for the humans to follow
My heart broke when oltyx found his royal guard and it was revealed that it was his weapons trainer from back in his youth. That part was by far my favourite part of the book. everything made sense when she says we only protect the king's body. A king's mind is his own.
Oltyx’s mother is never mentioned which leads me to believe she died early to the cancers, and Pakhet became almost like a second mother to him. She does say that she watched him grow and trained him from the earliest days. I got the impression she was like his long lost mother with the way she consoles him towards the end of her life. It makes it even sadder when Oltyx only recognizes her then.
This was originally meant to be one book but it was so long GW decided it should be 2. So Nate had to setup a bunch of new stuff to expand it some.
That makes a LOT of sense
Classic 2nd book syndrome
And? Didn't really feel like that.
Oltyx suffers the worst fate among the necrons; he's eternally an angsty teen.
I think you missed it. I remember Dennit doing some weird dance or something and Oltyx going "Now is the time for them to do a miracle." And after Dennit does his freaking dance out comes the monoliths.
"The only help he can provide is impossible"
"I must now revise my estimation of what is possible"
I absolutely love the bite scene! IT was so natural and showed so much about the flayer curse. It was not like he was seeing the flash and that guy that tryed to bait him and felt spiraling down in a strangle to keep his mind together but he just did it. I some guy far below you just tryed to bite you. Why should you not bite back?
Also he then got suiciding himslefe because he was a man of his word. He said ALL flayed -ones will be thrown of the ship so ALL flayed-ones got thrown of the ship. It is not importand if you a warior, lichguard or nobel. IF it happens you get thrown out of the ship.
You know what? I bet the Ghost Wind is how Necrons see the Warp. They have no soul to sense it, there's literally no reality for them to bend with their advanced drives in irreality.
Remember that they've never interacted with the Warp like this, know nothing about it, and are completely opposite to it in their nature. Their sensors are material, Immaterium is just a strange void for them. No wonder they can't perceive anything and the Warp cannot hurt them. No immaterial aspect to act as a contact point without a soul around, only trace interaction with their consciousnesses.
It also explains why their clocks behaved strangely and why the ships from such different times were orbiting their destination - Warp plays with time.
he noctalith of the ship would of been freaking out if they were in the warp.
Can’t be the warp it spoke n about being something completely different it where the c’tan come from and is at the bottom of reality. If it was the warp the imperial forces would of made comment on a slip space portal. Only reason the imperial went in was because they where allowed to come in.
Imperial ships in Ghostwind is explained very bluntly and clearly before it happens by the conversation between Oltyx and the warlock. "Can they follow us there?" "Not unless you will it". Pretty self explanatory
The books were amazing and showed how varied and incredibly interesting new necrons can be. They're great literature period, not just for 40k but in general.
40:50 Oltyx did say earlier that if the destroyer cult was released, there wouldn’t really be any putting them back or controlling them from that point. He did send them off to fight the space marines iirc, but Oltyx knew that the fate DK described would come up after all the humans were gone
By far one of the best book I’ve read, with an ending that has never tasted so bitter yet so sweet at the same time.
Side charecters were awesome: Neff, Grainmaster, Zoltenec, Lichguard Captain. JUST AWESOME.
Edit: THE szene where the monoliths were summond, boi i was like " HE REMEMBERT HOLY SHIT "
"He summoned the monoliths"
"The wizard came from the moon"
For Oltyx's death I feel he died but reanimation Protocols brought him back. When his mind was sort of there he was basically like "I died so I guess I am being reborn, should I be me or pretend to be someone new?" I feel the Aacrops also just had some transmission going with some memories but that's sort of what happened. But he didn't necessarily have the option to be anyone just more like when someone dies but doesn't die they maybe feel it's a chance to be someone new.
i've been thinking that this is how trayzin manages to switch bodies
Except it's explained that reanimation protocols don't work in the ghost wind.
@@kylecampbell2164 That's only because the flux was pulled out into the ghost wind. It's specifically said the nano-scarabs closed the leaking hole before Oltyx's core was completely emptied which might be why his memory was all messed up for a bit
The part about 'Mentep is dead' that annoyed me so much was that Xott was stated to be a reanimator canoptek at least twice!
He died in the ghostwind, and the ghostwind prevents recall protocols
@@utes5532 Sure sure, but the recall prots is a teleportation back to homebase to get patched up. The reanimator construct does a lower grade job *right there.* And narratively, all the groundwork for Mentep to be rebuilt behind the protag's back was laid!
@@derekburge5294 Again, they're in the ghostwind.
They can't even communicate properly and not being able to teleport is a constant problem for them.
Also I'm pretty sure Xott wasn't "right there" when he was killed
Oltix himself killed Mentep, If he tried to revive Mentep it would be like going against the king's will, Xott would be immediately exectuted as well.
So, I've gone through both books in a couple of days. And honestly? I feel its a lot clearer if you do it like that.
Like kinda how the imperium entered the Ghost wind. Oltyx allowed/ wanted the imperium to follow (subconsciously), he just didn't want to admit it. So, I guess he left a door open
So both books:
Characters _ 8.5 /10
Flow of the story - 6.5/10
Side story potential - 9 / 10
____
This book would be great to see from the imperial side. Fighting the necrons, pursuing and the horrors of a new dimension.
_____
The warlock is bringing the good eldritch horror back.
_______
Oltyx becoming the bone/ flayer king
_____
I feel like the ghost wind is the direct opposite to the warp. The warp is unlimited energy at its core, the ghost wind is the complete lack of energy.
This series offers sooooo much potential for the future. If used correctly it could become the bedrock for an entirely new perspective on the necrons.
I'm kind of with you about the Imperium following them into the Ghostwind. At first I was also like "Wait how did they get in?", but then I after a while I was okay with it.
If you really think about it, how they got in is not important to the story. The Imperium pulls off insane million-to-one odds bullshit all the time, it's not too much of a stretch of the imagination that they figured out some way to enter the Ghostwind that would probably only work once.
Yeah, I read both back to back and it felt quite good that way. I honestly didnt even notice the whole repetition complaints.
You completely misunderstood how the Imperium followed them then. They were tracking the psychic energy left by the gold which had the saint's bones mixed in.
Reign is one of those books I love that makes me feel like shit for 2/3rds of the runtime. It’s weird though, there’s such an odd shift at the end when SPOILERS:
Oltyx accepts and embraces his curse. It feels almost like a foregone conclusion, and the levity that brings is really nice. Also it took me WAY too long to realize that the book parallels The Odyssey. I mean come on, Odysseus’s home was literally called Ithaca.
also the 3 main Imperial ships are named after the cyclops, man eating giants and a sage in the Odyssey, plus Oltyx himself in the first book travels to his home only to find an usurper and he is later joined by a family member to kill him
You know what, I'm gonna come out in defense of the book and especially Oltyx's spiral. Now I'll admit that I was sat there listening to things unfold and I was just thinking "Oh Oltyx, what are you doing!?" not because it was badly written but because I recognized exactly what was happening even before it fully clicked.
As someone with ADHD (which the author has confirmed he also has), the actions of Oltyx, particularly the duel with the rival + aftermath of him killing Mentep is a TEXTBOOK example of a lesser known symptom of ADHD called Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. It's fucking hard to describe if you don't have ADHD, but listening to it on Audible as it unfolded was both validating and fucking heartbreaking.
'Cause you know what? I've fucking been there and in your mind you're absolutely resolute that you're in the right and in the heat of emotion you're willing to burn not just the bridge but the village on the other side, and if someone isn't 100% on your side, even if they're just trying resolve the situation, like "hey, maybe calm down and think this through", that instantly makes them the enemy and it's only when the inferno of rage passes and you're left staring at the empty space where friends used to stand that you realize just how much you've fucked up and it destroys you.
Hopefully I'm not the only one who recognizes this and I think my fellow ADHD peeps will agree that Mentep staying dead is important, because it's symbolic of the fact that when you go down that spiral of anger and paranoia and come out of the other side you often have to live with the burned bridges and the once dear friends you've driven away as a result.
Holy shit someone else gets it
Dude it didnt even click whit me but your completely correct
As someone who also has ADHD I whole heartedly agree. Oltyx's spiraling was agonising to watch because I could see myself in his actions, I never really questioned it beyond "oh he is convinced he is right and his stress is mounting, people keep bothering him so he keeps lashing out, I really hope he gets to be left alone". I didn't even consider that it was a symptom of my ADHD but this is kind of validating to hear that I am not alone so thank you for taking the time to write this out!
godamn, on point
Holy fuck, I struggled with this so much as a teen. I thought it was my bipolar or asbergers, but this describes it to a T, and I'm still vulnerable to it in internet discussions. I've never been formally diagnosed with ADHD but my current psychiatrist and I have recognised a tonne of other ADHD symptoms that I have, and knowing now that this anger I've experienced has a specific cause that I can identify is just... such a relief, if only to know that there's a specific reason rather than it being an unknown. Thanks for this.
Oltyx running his mind on the Ghostwind after his death was alluded to earlier by Memthep and the Warlock, but yea it was very unclear.
A few notes from my study of the book and my comparing notes on Reddit: the ghostwind is considered to be like the basement of the warp. That's how the Imperium traverses it. The warp is the emotions and feelings of the galaxy, the ghostwind is the fundamental laws and rules of it. If the warp feeds the chaos gods, the ghostwind feeds the ctan.
By the way, if you got the special edition, Borakka and friends were jettisoned into the Lystraegonian and just hunt scavenging organisms, leaves one alive, and lets them go back to spread the word that something is on the Lystraegonian so they get more to kill.
I mean Menthep was a Mindfocused Cryptec. So even if he couldn´t pull the Trazyn and download himselfe into another body he has probably a backup of himselve on Zod and now his "pet" is looking for a new body for him
Xott*
I always thought the "Ghost Wind" was actually warp travel, since the warp is an alternative dimension to the 40k one and multiple times in canon its been stated that Necrons do not understand the warp at all. Just what I thought, maybe I missed something.
It not the warp it described as the very bottom of the universe and the place where c’tan come from. Tau 5th codex talks about the void and the warp as separate things
I felt like it was maybe implied that the ghost wind actually is the warp which would explain how the impirium could catch them there. The fact that the captured psyker’s power still worked when it shouldn’t foreshadowed that the imperium fleet would still be able to find them
But there where litraly just a void, idk if that would count as the warp, also they have warp detectors
@@haylongwang3002 if they have the ability to detect warp energy I wasn’t really aware, I was under the impression that it was a complete mystery to the necrontyr and that bio transference had made it even more difficult to perceive and be affected by it
@@ViolentShrike Oh they deffiently dont understand it but they did build things to fight it, in the book itself the ship activated a shielding or something becuse it got the detection of some massive warp incursion from when an imperium ship was making ready to enter real space from the warp next to them.
They built these things to combat the old ones back in the day, and the warp is quite lively and coulourfull so im quite sure the void is not it. Though ofcourse thats mearly speculations on my part.
In Ruin tho the Necrons know what the Warp is when they identify the Imperium was coming
It not the warp, the imperials only went cause oltek wanted them to follow. It described as the place where c’tan come from at the bottom of existence.
The Destroyer stayed on the Draconian and killed the Space Marines. IT was littlery said in the catapult ark that when the Destroyer get woken up from their stasis there were no way to get them back into it and actually controll them.
The ship later that Oltix raidet was another one but can´t remember the name
I can already see Bricky´s review for Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1.
Bricky:"These are the worst Night Lords I have ever seen! They don´t even fight the Space Wolves properly!"
I read the book instead of listening to the kindle version, and I think they changed the monolith scene. In the book version, there was some nice buildup to the summoning, like how Bricky described.
So weird, I was so confused when they said there wasn’t any preamble to the summoning but could have sworn there was. This explains it.
I'm pretty sure those were a successor chapter of the Blood Angels. Only because of the white Death Company.
My favorite part......is when they RELEASE THE MONOLITHS!
Hopefully you get around to Eisenhorn series next. It's really a staple for the warhammer books and i think dk would love it. Not to mention it can then be followed by Ravenor and ... Bequin trilogies. Big emphasis on Bequin there. That one is actually insane.
THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN!!!
I disagree with the take on the imperium following them into the ghost winds. I thought it did a couple important things for the story. It reinforced the idea that the warp is a cancer that has touched everything. There is nowhere it has not tainted in some way and that's the eldritchy horror in the background at all times. It also was fitting that the reveal that Oltyx being petty and taking their gold was the reason they had a bright beacon to follow in the warp even though they wouldn't know where they're going. Oltyx killed many allies thinking they were traitors and when he finally realized he was the reason they could follow them he was out of options and friends. He caused everything and that was a huge blow to him. I also appreciate the imperium being so high on crusadium they don't even consider where they would be going and if they should follow. It pushes the point that the imperium achieves most things from brute without any understanding of what they've done/are doing. I love being human :)
Also, just as like a idk heads up. They weren't actually fighting blood angels specifically, it was the Angel's Encarmine which you know, are BA Successors and have the same symbol but just as a like fun fact
Was interesting to find out that their Death Company are painted white unlike other BA successor chapters, sets them apart.
I thought the ghost wind was the warp, that’s why the Necrons don’t know about it.
The Necrons know what the Warp is tho. In Ruin, Memteph or however you spell it says that their pursuers are using it and one of the Necron lords goes "The Waarrrrp!" It's one of my favorite line deliveries from Richard Reed. Regardless, it shows that the Ghostwind can't be the Warp because Necrons know what that is
While I really enjoyed the Twice Dead King Books I feel like they don’t translate the actual resilience of the Necrons nearly as well as the Infinite and the Divine. Necrons aren’t just metal robots, but they’re essentially made of a self repairing grey goo that can put itself back together at a terrifying speed. Sure there have to be stakes and the ghost winds probably negate translation, but I feel there are some deaths that just didn’t sit right with me, like Paket dying from a shot to the core, sure the Core is important but if all it takes to kill a Lychguard is a shot to the chest then I feel like Necrons should be dying off at a much faster rate.
It was a blow that nearly took Oltyx as well, they were all already extremely damaged from everything prior. I think Oltyx's arm was still in shambles.
I wouldn't compare survivors of a ruined dynasty with what is essencially a madness curse, with two of the most powerfull necrons in the galaxy
I interpreted ghost wind as warp coz it is said that it is mistery to necrons and it is sub demention to normal space where everything is at a base. And Warlock (if I remember correctly) said he is closer to godhood thanks to this discovery. Sorry English is not my first language. I hope it makes sense.
The noctalith of the ship would of been freaking out if they were in the warp.
It described as the place where c’tan come from at the bottom of reality so can’t be the warp
"They are in the walls. They are in the _FRAKKIN_ walls!"
Bricky is right on the destroyers being sent to the dragonian. they got it "as a gift"
On the subject of the ghost wind, I’m in the process of listening to Talon of Horus and at one point in the early stages of the book the main Khayon and friends go through a webway route and the passage through it sounds eerily similar to the ghost wind. The transit through the webway route is described exactly like the starless, radiatiationless, warpless, and lifeless realm of sense depriving pitch black that the ghost wind is described as. Which begs the question, the webway is made by the Old Ones and since the Necrons can barely begin to understand their technology I think that is why the ghost wind is hard to operate in. Another thing about the webway is that there is more then one type of webway route, also described in Talon of Horus, from simple teleporters to 4d chess cities of undarkness such as Commoragh. Another thing to add is that the ship that Khayon is suffering from similar drive and communication difficulties that the Akrops experienced in Reign. TLDR The ghostwind is very similar to the webway from Talon of Horus so I think it may be weird type of webway route
I really hope lych guard get quantum hammers just like the ogdobek lych guard have
I loved both of the books, but I feel like Reign was a little bit too focused inside the Acrops and it got a tiny bit dull because of that in areas. That's my only criticism though, the rest was brilliant.
I know I am posting a lot but I have a lot of thoughts. The best part of the Lysycor message for Oltyx was everyone saying "Well that could have been way worse."
My favorite part was when the technomancer said to buckle up 3 seconds before they fired the trebuchet
if the ghost wind is the warp, or a part of the warp, successfully ramming an imperial vessel makes a tad more sense as they would not be able to use their void shields. If i am not mistaken, void shields disperse all incoming energy into the warp - which will do nothing when you are in the warp with geller fields up to not attract deamons.
It not the warp the necrons knew what the warp was in the previous book
I took the ghostwinds as a deeper part of the warp, due to the warp technically being "the sea of souls" you could also characterise it as ghostly wind in a way. It explains the humans use of it, the speed and how they got their through a astrophathic link to the saints bones taking them their via a harsh warp jump.
24:02
I see that shy is familiar with the best anime of all time
Ghost wind feels like a warp thing to me. only necron who feel to their organics instincts and became flayed ones navigate it intuitively. it is foreign to regular necrons, yet good old psycher humans go there if needed. maybe they usually avoid it because they very much enjoy not being carved down by flayed ones
The Missing SubMinds and the Focus on more interesting Side Characters was needed for this Book. It shows that our Oh so great King on his own is not so great after all - its the Dynasty as a whole that is the important thing - and showing that the Original Top Heavy structure sucks in the Face of the Curse. The story would not really have worked, especially showing Oltyx' weaknesses if the Author had tried to go about it differently imho
I missed the subminds too, but them missing was needed to show oltyx's vulnerability, limits and inner conflict. How would he have struggled endlessly between expectation of his hecca forming reality and reality saying no with his subminds still in place?
Neth deserved better
@@mgrove5759 it’s more impactful when you read both books back-to-back in one sitting
@@joshtompkins1538 Agree. Neth felt forgotten and wanted to go out in his own accord. I felt it was well done.
My best guess is that the Ghostwind is actually the warp or at least connected to it in someway
It not the warp necrons know what the warp is the ghostwind is described as the place where the c’tan come from and is void of all energies.
The whole bit with Am-Het was fascinating.
Don't know what book bricky read but I got the build up for the monoliths
Maybe audiobook was slightly different at that point
"I'm in your Ghost Wind."
As much as I liked Pakhet in Reign, I think what might've worked better in service for the story is if her role was swapped with Neth's and instead he was the last of Oltyx's guard, by virtue of him being kinda useless and therefore tossed to the wayside until all of Oltyx's lychguard had died. I feel like if it was revealed that this malfunctioning preator he'd belittled for almost the whole time he's known him turned out to be his former teacher and he had burned all memories of him away with the medium it would've served to make his inevitable death aboard the battleship hit a lot harder.
related to new kits get a spotlight, one of the strictly mid Salamanders books has an entire cutaway chapter dedicated to the (new at the time) centurions and how "badass" they are. At the end of the chapter they get blown up by a psyker and are never mentioned again.
I laughed at this so hard. They never realized that the ghost wind was the warp... Necrons have no idea how the warp works... The denizens of the warp and all the energy is energy of the "soul." Something so forign to the nectron they cant even feel it ore comprehend it.
I came to this same conclusion, I think it might also imply that the flayer curse is, or has its origins in warp corruption. Warp entities would be equally oblivious to the presence of soulless necrons in the warp but the energies could still slowly degrade the bodies and consciousness of the necrons
Its not though, its belived that its where the Catan came from. I mean I dont know for sure but the things they did and how it looked is litraly the opposite from the warp
@@haylongwang3002 What do you mean opposite of the warp? I mean according to mortals and most sources the warp is the corrupted sea of souls. the necrons have no way of interacting with defending from or observing such a thing. My guess is the only way they can perceive warp energy is through its effects on real space and matter.
@@Olanius_Pius666 They can still see the effects of the warps and have tools to detect Warp incuriusons. They legit can venture in and also observe the eye of terror.
The Void which is speculated to be where the Catan is from is something else seemingly since unlike the Warp which is mortal horrors and quite coulourfull the Void is nothing, pitch black nothingness. Also there would be no reason as to why Flayers would go to the warp.
It not the warp the ghostwind/void is the very bottom of reality. It supposed to be where the c’tan come from. The c’tan are not from the warp. It has a lack of energy and hunger. If it was the warp the imperials would of mentioned it. Read tau 5th codex it talks material realm being in between the warp and the void as separate things
Having issue with the subminds being absent is the same as being upset Fulgrim turned traitor for the HH or Magnus not doing everything wrong. Yes it would have made for better story and made more sense, but the consequence being a lesser fleshed out HH and likely the Emporeror winning and not getting dunked on. The conclusion to the story would have been lesser, if not at all achieved. It was destined to happen and needed for the story to progress and end in the best scenario, which the ending to Reign being the most satisfying ending to a book for a Necron fan.
I love how when Oltyx first gets the new gold covering, they bring up the fact that the gold has human remains in it, the Necrons are disgusted. Ad we, as Warhammer fans, are left to think "Of course the Imperium isn't going to care if some poor soul falls into the gold while they're casting the figurehead." But then we get to the reveal of just what those human remains really were.
I enjoyed this book, gave me new understanding of the necrons, would love to see a full army of the flaid on the table top
If you're ever confused why the Imperium is able to do something you think they shouldn't, just remember: In 40K, everyone is equally OP, but some are more equal than others.
The Evocative Medium was what brought the memory of Oltyx back.
I’m not gonna lie- it did feel the book was pushing far. But I feel as if this was what if Hamlet actually took the crown and lived- and we see how that depressed man would go out to rule. Letting his loyal subordinates be sacrificed, paranoid about his rule, uncertain and unwilling to take up that break from tradition. It is only when he is reanimated do we truly feel that he has found his way.
After thinking about it- it might have been intentional to feel- all over the place, cause Oltyx wasn’t sure how to rule till literally it broke him lol. I really do find this book interesting after just coming from Ruin
Oltyx:
Zultanekh: so Oltyx got no bitches and no bling?, Zultanekh think so....
Did Zultanekh like Reign as much as Ruin?... I think not.
But did he enjoy reading every minute of it.... Yeeeesssss.
I feel like Ruin is a fun little romp, but Reign has a lot more going on under the hood, and that's why it's not such an easy read. The more the book went on, the more I kept latching on to the concept of the Heka, and the Hekatic Truth - the Will of the King. For a while it just sort of slipped past me as "sci-fi technobabble". But as it went on, it kept being driven home. "Hekatic Truth" was sticking in my ear the same way "Death Mask" stuck in my ear with Infinite and the Divine. But whereas "Death Mask" was a rhetorical flourish, "Heka" was a concept, something I could really mull over.
The refrain of the book was that the King's Heka *is* reality. Even Djoseras's quip that, "A King Never Apologizes. He only proves himself right in the end" from Ruin is an echo of that concept.
The Warlock tells Oltyx that the humans can only find him in the Ghostwalk "if you will it." After he kills Mentep and exiles Yennek, he "asserts a new Hekatik Truth", as he spins a lie about Mentep being the one to lead the humans after them...
And I believe it's shortly after that when the Crusade appears. Oltyx mentions how this clear contradiction defies the assertion of his Heka, and wonders if any other King was so weak as to watch his divine will unravel. Which makes me think the Crusade's appearance is more a manifestation of Oltyx's guilt than anything that has a "logical" explanation. His "Hekatic Truth" is really just attempting to deny his own guilt.
There is a certain surreality to the whole Ghostwalk section that really feels like there's more mysticism at play here than hard realism. If you go to this book looking for "hard answers" you'll be frustrated. If you see the Ghostwalk as a manifestation of Oltyx's psyche, it becomes a lot more interesting.
Also weird that they were still on the idea that this would be a trilogy. I felt like the ending was pretty final. Some questions may have been left unanswered, but I felt like they were the good questions worth pondering, not something I needed a sequel to resolve.
I mean regarding the Dreadnough, Oltyx is litraly an Necron lord. Why would a dreaadnought be a problem for him? The Marines already got their moment to shine before hand as well. That they even could get that buried in a necron ship with such few numbers was already more then enough.
I can feel WARP overtaking me, it is a good pain! MEMES for MEME LORD KEK for KEK throne!!!
The (excuse my spelling) lystragonian (blood Angels battle barge or strike cruiser?) was split by zaltonek and boarded by the destroyers, the flagship was actually the polythemus which oltyx boarded and destroyed.
I had the unfortunate experience of watching Last Jedi, and I'll admit not read this book (I just like hearing you guys talk about the books). And yes there are some are some similarities, but not in a way that would make it as bad as Last Jedi. But from what I've heard, i feel the main driving conflict of the story shouldn't be: Dealing with Imperium. But instead: Ultek having to deal with his struggling with his new position of being king. The Imperium I feel should come at the climax of the book, as a way of showing that the conclusion of Ultek's character arc.
44:00
Summary.
Remember the Failed Harvest?
So yeah it’s like that but it’s smart enough to form some type of a identity and pick from the gestalt.
Hope we get some sort of story with Xott and the Scarab in the future, just a full on droid adventure like that episode of R2-D2 and C3PO in the Clone Wars.
"cut the ship in half just by ramming it. Why didn't they do that earlier if it was so easy??"
Flashback to earlier part of the video when referencing The Last Jedi...
I feel like an actual discussion on the book with your patr(e)ons before recording could have enlightened you to some degree
Dummy Oltyx, he literally had a tsundere (Duamehht) and a oneesan (Pakhet) in his court and he never managed to figure it out until it was too late.
Yes, go check it again, the author is such a pro he managed to put stealth anime tropes into a novel about alien egyptian undead robots.
Every time they said Lystigian instead of Polyphemus I died inside.
I've found myself saying Necron Supremacy so much with this book
It could be that a warp drive does wonders in the ghost winds.
DK congratulating bricky at the beginning of the video is so wholesome omg
DK’s take on Reign sounds like the plot of Episode 8 of Star Wars.
I thought reign was a better listen than ruin, especially the parts with oltyx' hallucinations, the parts with the razor and zoltynyck (sic), they're exceptional, and the story truly makes the fleeing necrons mission truly feel desperate.
At the end of the book, Oltyx activated Goblin Mode. Gobblin' up all these imperials. Ayyyyy.
I think leaving as much time as you do between reading the book and doing these hurts these episodes quite a bit.
No! It's not out in Germany yet! I'll have to watch this stream another time!
Just listen to the english version so you can enjoy Richard Reed! I did it and my english isn´t the best!
Drazak!? That sounded familiar so I flipped the necron codex open and it mentions a valgul a fallen lord that has a kingdom of horrors. I remember hearing awhile ago about a kingdom of flayed ones it's awesome that this book connects to it, would be nice to know if valgul and this lord are the same.
As always Shy’s editing carries this video
The way that you guys describe Zoltanek(?) makes him sound Recoome from DBZA lol
34:42 in a forward to the Eishorn books, Dan Abnett talks about getting some inquisitor stuff prelaunch for him to look over, he thought it was so cool that he wrote the first Eisenhorn book from that to tie in, so I would 100% believe GW would send a necron writer info for new minis for a new book before they came out
To Me, ultyx his metaphorical rebirth as king of the flayed ones after his near death - only being saved by his lych guard lady- was on point He was "crawling" back to live, but also through the ghost wind
Neth(?)s sacrifice showed how deeply embedded loyalty is in necron culture and mindset and how little ultyx deserves said loyalty and devotion.
Ok guys, Ultics death. He barely survived, long and the short the ghost wind spat them out on world and he didn't die. The hole scene is him slowly remembering himself and is a mirror to when he goes through this process in the first book with the dead king and his advisor. He is rebooting essentially, memories slowly coming back online as his consciousness reboots.
A king needs a throne
32:13 probably the most hilarious thing iv ever heard