#corsairs

So the story is more or less an ex-craftworld Admiral who joins a pirate fleet while said fleet explores diverse areas of the Galaxy to find the best way to go about combating their rival, an Ork pirate fleet with hysterical characters.

So I should lead with this, I am newer to the franchise (only about five years in with a LOT of that being spent on tt gaming and reading Gotrek and Felix) and when it comes to Eldar, I have only read the Ynnari series. That all being said, this book hit almost every mark for what I wanted.

I appreciated the diversity in it a LOT, and no I don't mean the gender diversity. (Personally I don't care if it is or isn't in my book of fantasy space elves but it doesn't take from anything either). We see a great deal of interaction between cultures of the Craftworlders, Drukhari, Corsairs, and even the Exodites. If you want Aeldari, this book is for you. And, while it is a smaller section, they do go to a multi-raced trading outpost hosted by the Votann and one big thing I want to see more of is the more neutral races interacting without shooting on sight more often which this fulfills without losing the grimdark aspect. (I won't go into detail but let's just say they're not all holding hands and singing)

The plot is ultimately predictable with a slight twist I wasn't expecting (but I really should've expected it). The main appeal is not only the settings they travel to but the characters who are filled with personality (and other things, bow chicca bow wow. Yes it's gay). There are some fodder characters where it's decently obvious they're gonna be fodder but there's a couple that I was surprised to see used pretty well in the climax. Also there was more than one occasion where I either chuckled or got a smirk reading the ork sections.

The space battles are lacking a little in my opinion, but that would be in comparison to something like the Halo novels where, if there's naval battles, they go pretty well in on the tactics AND the individual ship's combat. Still good descriptions and visuals throughout the combat though, both spacial and on foot. I couldn't tell you what was missing but it felt like there was to me?

Bigger spoiler below

Underpinning it all, however, was a dark and fierce joy at seeing Taenar unmasked. There he was, sword bloody and eyes tumultuous, having just taken a life. This was as raw, as genuine, as a being could be, and Myrin drank the moment in with a hunger he had not known was in him, fixing every facet of the moment in his mind: Taenar's expression; the tilt of his blade; the fragility of his posture as it tried to suggest bravado, yet communicated an expectation of chastisement or retribution. Perhaps there was even a subconscious desire for it as a reassurance that yes, there were still rules to which he would be held, and that the galaxy was not truly his to do with as he wished. There was little that could be so terrifying to the aeldari mind.

AND THEN THEY FUCKED