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montaagge

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They/Them "Transgender for Everybody!"

I also post serious things on @Montaagge

This is a shitposting account where I walk around #Seattle and pick up dog poop and read #Warhammer #40k books and complain about #Disney products.

Banner Image: I pet Minnie the dog on her head and zoom in on her smile.

Avi: Baby blue T shirt with the Koala Kare logo asks you to "Please not do Ketamine on the Koala Kare changing station" in the bathroom

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@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to random

The thing is that theres a limit on how many holidays I can declare war on. I'ma have to start getting creative, but I dont see myself declaring war on Arbor day.

@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to random

I feel like even though I regularly talk about reading warhammer books, when I look at my recent "read Phules Company" kick it is absolutely more shameful.

montaagge OP ,
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Phules Company is a basic piece of pulp science fiction from the 80s. It contains multitudes on account of that. Robert Asprin will tell you never to make anyone feel less than and on the next page use a racial slur. Reaganomics is the main character. I like the Church that worships Elvis. I like the aliens and how diplomatic everything is. I dont understand anything about the buearacracy but Asprin explicitly holds that in contempt. bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

montaagge OP ,
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So I wasnt going to figure out the law from him. No, I came here to try to get away from. 40k and ended up with "this is just more pulp 80s sci fi and the stakes arent even very high."

In warhammer the stakes are stuff like your soul and your honor and the mission everyone needs you to do and everyone signed up to die already so our lives are already forfiet. Makes it feel important. Not at all like "your mission should you accept it is to build a theme park" which is cute and light and works.

montaagge OP ,
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But because Phules Company exists in the trope of 80s pulp sci fi its about an offbeat commander getting a group of misfits to develop into a family. Its a fine trope. It worked in Lean on Me. But as its a scifi pulp thing I get to "Gaunt did it better. Cain did it better and also was funnier." bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to random

Making the absolutely batshit decision to watch

@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to bookstodon group

I liked the Farsight Books because they are gripping and exciting. They show a lot of stuff about the Tau and the Greater Good and talk about a society growing and developing.

I did not like the Farsight books because in all this talk of a Farsight Enclave independent of Ethereal influence I did not expect them to end on "yeah, technically we are but dont tell anyone around here."

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The cover of Farsight: Empire of Lies depicts commander Farsight in his signature red battle suit gripping a sword in his right hand with a cannon underslung to his left hand.
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@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to bookstodon group

Rip I will always love your obscure works like Psi Man and Sir Apropros of Nothing more than your mainstream work, but its only because those books were strangely formative for me. bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to bookstodon group

Lord of the Night is another Night Lords book where the horror and tragedy dont really set in until the end. Thats what really makes the Night Lord books slap, this dude crashed on a planet, accidently decided to incite religious fundamentalists into class war claiming the emperor sent him. He rationalizes the Night Lords to the many humans he befriends. He wins his crusade with them and recovers a present his dad gave him. It all goes bad after that. bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

montaagge OP ,
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@Armadillosoft bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group I didnt spoil it, I explained the first 15 crazy pages of an excellent book.

@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to bookstodon group

Gazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the WAAAGH!! Absolutely slaps as a book. Its framed as an inquisitor interrogating an ork which is different from Brutal Kunnin or Big Dakka but the stories that captive tells are real propa orky. The ending is fantastic. The way you see a human trying to rationalize the ork worldview is great.Hendriksen is probably my third favorite space wolf now. bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

The cover of the Ghazghull Thraka book is just a closeup of his face. He has a lot of armor on and. Red bionic in his right eye. Big teeth. Proper Orky.
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@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to random

Having finished the Gaunt's Ghosts books I'm not sure where to fething go from there.

montaagge OP ,
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Probably Damocles.

montaagge OP ,
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I enjoyed the Gaunt's Ghost books a bunch. Sometimes it feels like he is just having delusions of grandeur while running a penal regiment, sometimes he is leading pilgrims on a Hajj, its about the Sabbat crusade so its totally outward focus on Imperium v Chaos and you get a sense of what its like to be a camp follower for the Guard. The characters are for the most part charming. S/O to Mkoll, Rawne & Zweil. bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to bookstodon group

Traitor General is a good book. The Gaunt's Ghosts series does keep getting better. I have stopped comparing him to the only other commissar I had liked before him.

Its a stealth mission and they do absolutely crush it and they build up this whole resistance movement, blow up a bunch of stuff and, sure, none of them die, but that comes to more of a thing. Guilliman doesnt have plot armor. Its called the Armour of Destiny. Deus ex Machina just means the Omnissiah bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to bookstodon group

Harry Turtledove wrote a book (Ruled Britannia) once about Shakespeare, and the Spanish Armada had landed and England was under Spanish rule and its actually by far his best because Shakespeare and Marlowe team up to make about Boudica and at one point theres this line

"No Epilogue here, unless you make it.
You want your freedom? Go and take it."

No reason for bringing that up. bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to random

The Gaunt's Ghosts book is okay, its pretty good even. The core problem with it is that he keeps halfway reminding me of another commisar who, sure, takes himself a little less seriously and functionally Cain only really succeeds by being an Imperial Saint with a Blank sidekick so its very different from Gaunt's style of Lead By Example, follow the rules, be kind.

Which is fine, but its still close enough to prompt a comparison to Caiphas Cain and its not a comparison that anyone should invite

montaagge OP ,
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The role of Commissar can be an interesting one but to make it work as a PoV character you do need to focus on the playboy with a golden heart angle and that is fine but... Sandy Mitchell will always have done it better.

montaagge OP ,
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Like, what if Cain's books werent funny isnt bad because those books have a lot going for them but reading Gaunts Ghosts is just like... but what if it was funny?

montaagge OP ,
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My favorite part of the Cain books is that they are edited by his widow. Amberley writes notes in the margins and she has a lot to say about Jenet Sulla. She thinks it is funny that Sulla took Cain at face value, but she often adds chapters from Sulla's autobiography. Introducing such a chapter at one point she says "applies her considerable martial talent against the Gothic language." And as I have more and more books I keep coming back to how harsh that diss is. bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

montaagge OP ,
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The core problem with the "Gaunt isnt as cool as Cain" thesis is that the Gaunt Books came out about 15 years before the Cain ones, so its pretty obviously an influence. It was also written before the Heresy was and in that series you do see a massive shift in how seriously Black Library took itself.

montaagge OP ,
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I think that probably a third of Cain's books open with the words "I've made a huge mistake."

And, the contrast really has me respecting him more than before but, thats crazy because I loved those books. My list went 1. Infinite and Divine 2. All of the Caiphas Cain books 3. Scars

And it was a good entry angle for me. I went on to enjoy the Heresy and Big Dakka and when I looked at "I am burning through a book every 39 hours, badass." But I wouldnt have got into it w/o Cain.

montaagge OP ,
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And so, while earlier in the series I was talking about how Gaunt is just budget store Cain. Honour Guard represents a point in the Gaunt's Ghost series where it is obvious that they are very different people. I still think it comes off with Cain looking better, but it also does make Gaunt more interesting. @bookstodon @40k

@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to bookstodon group

Reading the Ultramarines books is convincing me that Graham McNeill has pretty bad ADHD. bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

montaagge OP ,
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Theres not any excuse of ignorance either. He was working with dark elves. He had a copy of the necron codex. He knew that C'tan shards name and intentions. It would make more sense to join a genestealer cult.

montaagge OP ,
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I have some frustrations with the writing style, but Warriors of Ultramar just kinda slaps as a book. Half of it is about training PDF soldiers. The ganger plotline is great. It ends in the most Ultramarines fashion possible (someobe being a tattletale). bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

montaagge OP ,
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I wouldnt say the same for Dead Sky, Black Sun yet though. Warriors was a solid narrative arc. Dead sky is... well... I hate most books set in the Eye of Terror. I liked Sea of Souls a bunch but they spent the whole book trying to get there from page 1 so no spoilers but its a good book.

montaagge OP ,
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I think the funniest thing about the Ultramarine death vow thing is that it comes from a place of "if you had followed the codex you would have died on that mission. You survived ergo you are exiled." And the response of "How can I make it right?" Gets the answer "I have a mission that is impossible according to the codex."

montaagge OP ,
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Like, does the codex astartes approve of you showing up to the operation in a daemon train? No, but its okay, you werent in the chapter while you were doing that.

montaagge OP ,
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Chapter's Due is... a satisfying conclusion to the series. It isnt the best book in the Uriel Ventris Chronicles. Black Sun is great and Courage and Honor and Nightbringer are actually all better books. But, it does tie up most of its loose ends. It also gives you a broader perspective on the Chapter because it has Calgar and Sicarius as PoV characters but also thats kinda why I like it least. Its more deus machina than the others. I like when are about making sacrifices.

@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to bookstodon group

You know, I hate Pet Sematary and all of that, but theres a plotline in Strange Dogs that hits all the same notes and I kinda love it. It builds up so much in the books. Sometimes in the TV show because they only do the Pet Sematary plot it feels like a relief because in the books its actually so much worse. bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to random

Theres a spectrum of in the novels that range wildly. Sometimes its a silly Commisar Cain book where to make it grimdark you have to realize that the narrative is presented by his widow. Sometimes its The Damnation of Pythos and it has just mega depressing vibes and because the promise of progress has been restored in Dawn of Fire it can be hard for them to handle that, but, with I felt like it failed really hard at that.

@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to random

Rofl, In most books everyone is scared of the navigators and dont hang out with them but to the Night Lords a navigators sanctum is the spot to chill and the legion serfs are just all there talking about "she's so relatable and cool." Is the most "to the Joker Crazytown is Normaltown" thing I have seen yet from this setting. Ave Dominus Nox I guess.

montaagge OP ,
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It reminds me of the Caiphas Cain books because you end up with a lot of weird scenarios where someone is like "Wow you're a big hero" and the internal monologue is completely disconnected from that. Its one of the imposter syndrome books and its about the edgelords.

montaagge OP ,
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Also, plenty of Night Lords stayed loyal, at least a thousand because there is a chapter somewhere I read about where there was a system that was lost in the Heresy and the last word was that the Night Lords took it and fell to infighting and when the Imperium was cleaning up later they showed up and it was a totally pacified loyalist system and they had space marines looking out for them but you know its a busy galaxy, they are out there being big heroes.

montaagge OP ,
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I am just going to have to find the Carcharadon books because I just read Cathecism of Hate and it wasnt bad but it did not hold up to any of the Night Lords books bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

@montaagge@dice.camp avatar montaagge , to bookstodon group

Having read the Heresy books, the Rise of the Beast's Search for Vulkan is pretty funny. In the Heresy it took like 4 books for the Salamanders to find him and they were looking hard. In the war of the Beast its like one Imperial Fist and he just finds out where Vulkan is and goes there and asks for a hand. bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group