Elemental Council

Warhammer 40,000

De: Noah Van Nguyen

Narrado por: Emma Gregory

A Warhammer 40,000 Audiobook

Since the T’au Empire annexed the world of Cao Quo, its benighted human population has caused setback after setback for their new rulers, resisting the light of the Greater Good. Now, an armed rebellion has taken root, led by the ruthless but brilliant Artamax – a Space Marine of the Raptors Chapter.

LISTEN TO IT BECAUSE

Explore the inner workings, politics, and challenges facing members of the T'au as they face a full-scale planetary insurrection from within their own empire. Can a selection of experts from across the castes come together to defeat this insurgency?

THE STORY

In a moment of crisis for the T'au Empire, the enigmatic ethereal Yor’i assembles an elite Elemental Council – a veteran Fireblade, a water caste spy, a peerless air caste pilot, and a maverick earth caste engineer – in the hope of curtailing the growing insurgency on the planet Cao Quo.

But as a full-scale planetary insurrection looms, enemies more cunning than Yor’i’s council could have imagined begin to surface from both sides, and Cao Quo soon finds itself teetering on the brink of being plunged back into a dark age of ignorance, and all-out war.

©2024 Games Workshop Limited (P)2024 Games Workshop Limited

Compelling characters struggling for a victory against the shadowy imperium

My first 40K book. Thought it was a great listen, especially for a Tau fan. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the faction!

Great Tau Lore

The performance of the VA was phenomenal, and the book was downright enjoyable as a book -- not just a Warhammer book.

An interesting look at Tau/human interaction.

Diplomatic battles almost as tense as the real one. a good look at the many methods Tau use for war. Perhaps not as grimdark as many 40k works but still interesting.

Finally a Great Tau Novel!

A great story with captivating insights into the Tau of Warhammer 40,000. The real treat is the characters. All of them are engaging with complex motivations and charm for days. This is NOT my usual experience with 40K novels, and I desperately hope there is more like this to come!

Great story, especially for Tau fans.

I personally am not a big fan of the Tau, but I decided to give this book a try, and was pleasantly surprised by how well done it was. Was easy for me to get confused by all the unusual names at first, but by the end, I knew who was who well enough, and still enjoyed the story writing all the while.

A perfect Ten

Elemental Council feels like a love letter to warhammer fans as well as Tau fans specifically. The author uses the setting to address many of the myths and memes about the Tau, finding a perfect middle ground of making them true but not unreasonable, or formerly true but no longer. This is a story of living up to your own expectations, and the pressure of finding your place in a common cause. I’m very happy with how it turned out, and will be coming back to it again and again.

Exceeding Expectations

I had low expectations since all other Tau books I've listen to were okay at best (I even play Tau). But was I wrong. This is now in my top three of 40k novels now. I hope this author continues making new Tau Novels. I'm tired of Phil Kelly's version.

Not just good, it's a Greater Good.

A book for Tau fans. A warning, your enjoyment will depend on how you feel about the characters and their arcs. Thankfully those characters and their arcs are great. The only real flaw was the antagonizing forces were kept shadowed a bit too long for my taste. It all came together excellently in the end though.

best Tau Book so far

haven't had such a good 40k book in a while. highly recommend it to everyone interested in the greater Good

This is THE T’au book

I was very excited to read this since it was announced. It promised to be a look into the internal structures of the T’au Empire and the relations between members of the different castes and it most certainly delivered.

“Elemental Council” feels like a deconstruction of the T’au Empire, the Greater Good, the caste system, and what it means to be T’au. It explores the supposed righteousness of the Ethereals and asks how much that they can truly represent the Greater Good. It breathes life into the characters and gives them vibrant personalities. The characters are very likable and each one of them has an interesting story and relation to the other characters, whether it’s already existent or developed during the course of the story.

The story shows both hope and despair for the future of the T’au Empire. It shows the good parts of the Empire, as well as showing its failures and inadequacies, all without dwelling one too much. The T’au are allowed to be right, they’re allowed to have good ideas of peace and unity, but they’re also allowed within the story to be misguided and passive to their authoritarian empire that governs them.

The book also adds a lot of potential for future T’au stories, while also not feeling like it’s all too important. And it really feels like an appropriately grimdark story for the universe that it takes place in.

Overall, “Elemental Council” is a superb book that balances deconstruction of the T’au faction with a good story and entertaining events throughout the book. I’d recommend it for any T’au fan or anyone seeking to learn more about the T’au. It was truly amazing to experience and is likely my favorite Warhammer 40,000 book.