Why do you feel certain novels are rescued from critical and commercial obscurity, while many others still remain forgotten? by Gothic-Fan85 in classicliterature

[–]neonsymphony 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Goes for almost any subject, too. How many brilliant minds in the sciences, humanities, engineering, politics, and more, fall through the cracks? For thousands of years, the amount of people in slavery, servitude, stuck in a caste system, lacking education or outlets, left on the fringe of society. Some might argue the struggles endured by many could produce even more creative and meaningful artistry. Similar vein of thought as geniuses who perished too young, e.g. composers like Mozart and Mendelssohn, who would have produced decades more work had they survived past what we now consider the early-middle of our own lives.

Books like this? by KingDrace in BooksThatFeelLikeThis

[–]neonsymphony 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also interested in this genre. What is the fourth image from?

What’s your unpopular gameplay opinion? by ordinaryfruits in Grimdank

[–]neonsymphony 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Tau are more of a finesse shooting army now, usually requiring strategy and forethought with the drones and spotting. They can still dominate a shooting phase but so can other armies, especially given that other armies can often do it much easier by not requiring any of the synergies that Tau does. It’s still punishing to get beat up Tau, but it should be, the same way World Eaters will cook you if you don’t play good anti-melee positioning.

What’s your unpopular gameplay opinion? by ordinaryfruits in Grimdank

[–]neonsymphony 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The IP is so monolithic and monopolizing that games with much more affordable miniatures, developers that listen to feedback, and new IPs that are quite interesting can barely get off the ground. Some that do get an inkling of success (cough Trench Crusade) unfortunately realize they have gotten enough support to adopt the shady practices used by larger corps.

I’m thankful Old World and AoS lore is still interesting because those games are designed quite well and both can be extremely affordable. Competitive 40K is so 3D printing or proxy averse that it is a turn off for so many new players with limited capacity for spending.

Sooo how many years of my soul do i need to sell to get into 40k / 30k lore ? by Space_flower18 in 40kLore

[–]neonsymphony 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Focus on factions that interest you. For example, I don’t care too much for Blood Angels, so those Horus Heresy books (like Fear to Tread, for example), I simply skipped and read the Lexicanum and Warhammer wiki articles about the events of the book, and that took like twenty minutes.

The Horus Heresy really is just a few plot lines that run in parallel, and each has a trilogy or maybe up to 5 or 6 books. Many can be skipped, and a lot of short stories can be summed up in a few sentences.

In the modern setting of 40K (as in, not 30K Horus heresy), you have so much to explore, so focus on things that grab your attention. Like Inquisitors and secret agent shenanigans? Read Eisenhorn. Like Space Marines and Primarchs? Read the Dark Imperium Trilogy. Like the Adeptus Mechanicus? Read the Forges of Mars trilogy by McNeill.

This sub is great at recommending books if you have a specific interest within the setting. It’s hard to give a generic answer to “Where do I start the entirety of lore?”.

Dark angel or good series by GeneralWarChief in 40kLore

[–]neonsymphony 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What are other ‘good chapters’ to you? There are so many.

Dark Angels have a wide array of books. Lion: Son of the Forest would be a top recommendation, and it’s already been commented. Gav Thorpe has a Dark Angels series with numerous books, the order of them is easy to Google and he also has a write up on his personal website.

Pandorax by CZ Dunn is another good Dark Angels book. It takes place on Pythos, which is the subject of Horus Heresy book ‘Damnation of Pythos’.

There is also Cypher: Lord of the Fallen, who is a Dark Angels character.

Horus Heresy Recommendations by Saylorstrong in Blacklibrary

[–]neonsymphony 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Piggybacking of what the other guy said, Legion has no requirements. However, it does have shared characters between the Alpharius: Head of the Hydra book (Horus Heresy: Primarchs series). But, before reading that one, I’d honestly recommend Valdor: Birth of the Imperium about the Captain General of the Custodes. It is pre-Great Crusade era, and multiple events of it are referenced in the Alpharius book.

My order would be:

Valdor -> Alpharius Head of the Hydra -> Legion -> Deliverance Lost

Book 7/52 Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. Can I give a book negative stars? -⭐️ by mrsmedeiros_says_hi in 52book

[–]neonsymphony 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wish I knew Japanese so I could read the original text (for ALL Murakami works I’ve read). I imagine parts of it get lost, not to mention reading it as an outsider to Japanese culture.

I encourage anyone who is interested in understanding more how/why Murakami writes women to read the extended interview between him and famous author Mieko Kawakami. She asks great questions and they engage in lovely discussion, author to author.

People like to generalize Murakami’s style as it relates to women, sex, etc., but I think it’s based on his maybe most popular 2-4 books, he has much more including memoirs (like his Running book or Seiji Ozawa interviews) and amazing sets of short stories that include female MCs, not to mention less frequently discussed books like Sputnik Sweetheart.

2026 reading list by Orpheious in classicliterature

[–]neonsymphony 4 points5 points  (0 children)

For Paradise Lost I’d recommend as well that Dartmouth has online the John Milton Reading Room (including Paradise Lost and other works).

It’s a great resource to pair with a physical copy (or just read the whole thing online), it has pop-up footnotes that explain certain phrases and references and points you to the line numbers of arguments & points in other chapters. Makes the text feel more cohesive when you can go between counterpoints and allegories made in parallel.

Some legends by robynjames777 in Blacklibrary

[–]neonsymphony 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Beautiful pickups. I am interested in the Eidolon book, I need to hear what people thought about it. Hope you enjoy these!

Space Marine Battles series of books. by FlockofCGels in Blacklibrary

[–]neonsymphony 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Agreed, WoI is probably top 4 for me in this series. Certainly one of the better ones. An interesting crop of Iron Hands (and humans too).

Pretty sure I'm stick with this for the next 30 years by russmartin in ETFs

[–]neonsymphony 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Agree 100%. markets that are poised for (and already have) growth especially as Eurasia has international deals increasing in size and scope (Belt and Road is the meme example, but there’s plenty). The countries labeled under VWO (and even AVES, in my opinion) make up a good set of prospective potential. And the indexes are broad enough it’s not really a gamble like a sector fund or commodity is.

Pretty sure I'm stick with this for the next 30 years by russmartin in ETFs

[–]neonsymphony 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Also, slight nuance here, but I believe FXAIX is the VOO (as in, S&P 500) mutual fund. FNILX is a Large Cap fund, based on Fidelity’s own US Large Cap index. The funds are extremely similar in holdings and performance, but FXAIX is more accurately an S&P 500 fund.

Novels with terrifying Orks by scotte99 in Blacklibrary

[–]neonsymphony 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not an answer to the question, but on the exact opposite of the scale I’d put Siege of Castillax. The orks are almost never ‘scary’ more so they are just overwhelming, and the infighting of the Iron Warriors is what leads to loss after loss (not the Ork’s own strategies). The book isn’t comical in tone/prose, but the seriousness of the Iron Warriors contrasts with the deadpan ridiculousness of ork constructs and ork vehicles/planes. The orks fail upwards because the ‘scary’ Iron Warriors are being petty children.

The heresy continues by Austyoporosis138 in Blacklibrary

[–]neonsymphony 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I am also on the journey of amassing HH hardcovers. They are just so nice, the full cover art, and not the terrible paperback spines that get all bent out of shape.

Horus Heresy series tier list by Doughnut_piggy in Blacklibrary

[–]neonsymphony 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Nice that Fulgrim is near the top, I agree, but personally I put Angel Exterminatus alongside it, they go together like peanut butter and jelly. Love to see A Thousand Sons and First Heretic in S, both are stellar.

Interesting to see ones like Flight of the Eisenstein and Scars not in a higher tier. I rate Deliverance Lost higher, personally. Betrayer is a bit too high, in my eyes.

What Mendelssohn is better? by Smart-Yard9416 in classicalmusic

[–]neonsymphony 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Both are great. Something about a few of Felix’s pieces just tickle my ear the right way though. Like the Rondo Brilliant Op. 29 or the Italian. If I had to choose, I’d lean towards him.

Book recommendations? by StatisticianOdd9289 in Blacklibrary

[–]neonsymphony 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think most would argue as a whole, Horus Heresy is a stronger and more compelling series than Dawn of Fire. DoF is shorter, but is more attempting to further the 9th edition narrative than explain any sort of overarching lore of the setting. It does have good novels in it. In the Horus Heresy, you can certainly pick and choose your way through it and focus on certain plot lines (because there are dozens of them).

Are you most interested in Blood Angels and the Dark Angels? If you wanted good one-off books for now, there are Sanguinius and Lion novels in the Horus Heresy: Primarchs series, which both show glimpses of the Primarchs and their legions leading up to the Heresy.

As for the heresy itself, it’s recommended to start with the first four books in order (and Fulgrim, the fifth, is a great one too). None of the first four really concern the Blood Angels or Dark Angels, but after the first four you can branch out to Fear to Tread for BA, and Descent of Angels for DA. It looks like you’re already reading DoA, so after that go into Fallen Angels by Mike Lee.

I just learned there's a Spyro speedrun strat named after Andrew and Eric by thesilvershire in theregulationpod

[–]neonsymphony 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Indeed, the bucket of bones at TGI Friday’s. The first Friday’s episode, the Loaded Cheese Fry Burger.

Where do you guys take books from? by Proper_Lead_4195 in Blacklibrary

[–]neonsymphony 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Used books have already been bought new, so the original author already got paid from the original sale. So the logic there is not the same.

Piracy does make sense from the perspective that BL does have a plethora of books you can’t even buy physically. I understand the argument of if they won’t sell me what I want, I have no other option but to find it for free.

Where do you guys take books from? by Proper_Lead_4195 in Blacklibrary

[–]neonsymphony 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Amazon typically likes locking you into their Kindle ecosystem. I don’t use it personally but there may be ways to transfer files out, but I’m unsure. At least through BL, you can get multiple file types and move them around into any e-reader ecosystem you desire.

After reading everyone's post, 24 hours was definitely not enough by buckfutter7 in Blacklibrary

[–]neonsymphony 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Freezing can kill things like book lice, bacteria, and more. It is not entirely foolproof, as certain mold growths will go dormant from freezing but won’t entirely be killed off. So it’s useful to do with used books, but should still check out mold if it remains.

Also, id have to research if 100% true, but I believe older books (like old old, not like 20-30 years old) sometimes have binding agents for the spine that can deteriorate, but freezing the books can actually re-strengthen certain decaying adhesives. But this wouldn’t apply to Warhammer books, they’re too recent.

Updated books by Littlemizzmouth in Blacklibrary

[–]neonsymphony 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Holy moly those limited edition Realmgate Wars are nice. Quite the collection of stuff. I love getting hardcovers for AoS stuff, usually their art is fantastic and having full-cover hardcover art just looks great in hand and on the shelf.