Farsight: Blade of Truth

Farsight: Warhammer 40,000, Book 3

De: Phil Kelly

Narrado por: Andrew Wincott

Audiobook 3 in the Farsight Series

Deep in the Vior’losan desert, an exile both revered and reviled lives a life of solitude. Farsight has retired his uncanny alien sword and bleeding-edge XV8 battlesuit so that his beloved enclaves can prosper in peace. But when the jaws of a tyranid bio-fleet close in on Vior’los, threatening to devour his adopted home, he must once more take up his blade in its defence.

LISTEN TO IT BECAUSE

Farsight is back! As the legendary commander comes out of retirement, can he deal with both a vicious alien invasion and the plotting of an ethereal to save his home? It's another action-packed tale from the master of the t'au empire, Phil Kelly.

THE STORY

As the tyranids consume the planet of Vior'los and its enclaves, an inside threat emerges in the form of the scheming ethereal Aun’Va, and the fortress world is soon reduced to its last eight warriors. Among them is Torchstar, a young rebel in possession of battlesuits prised from Aun’Va’s iron grip, and as unlikely allies are thrown together in the dwindling hope of victory, Farsight’s ultimate test is still to come.

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A Tale of Established Lore

It’s always a difficult thing to sit through a tale that you know the conclusion of, but you just have to hope for some fun along the way. You get that here, with Kelly’s skill in writing combat scenes being put on display time and time again. On the other hand though, there are characters that don’t get fitting arcs (or ends) and Kelly’s characterization of some of (even the main) cast is jarring at times.

I have long struggled with Kelly’s Tau, and how he seems to envision their plot line(s) moving forward, and this book… well, it just left me to struggle with that for a bit longer. But, full disclosure, I am a Tau (and Farsight especially) fanboy, for most readers/listeners this will be an enjoyable listen about a war against the Tyranids, and in that capacity, this book does a great job at drawing you in.

The one absolute 5/5 part of this audiobook though, is Wincott’s performance. Over the Farsight trilogy, his voice has become synonymous with the Warhammer faction that I love so much, and I cannot think of a greater compliment than that.

Worth a listen without a doubt, though fellow Tau fans will be talking, and/or arguing, about a few scenes for years to come.

All Tau action

Loved that the imperium is not a major feature in this book. Loved the focus on bonding kinship that exists in Tau. Loved hierarchical interactions and felt that we were getting a real taste of what it takes to achieve a galaxy-spanning tau empire.

Didnt like the action sequences as most tau fighting involves ‘super suit’, ‘jetpacks’, and ‘pulse ____’.

Great Lore for both Tau and Nids

if you enjoyed the previous farsight books you will certainly enjoy this one. It does some fun things with his character, and progresses an interesting segment of the Tau narrative.

Insightful story, poor chapter titles

The Farsight novels have been the key factor in getting me to love and appreciate the Tau faction and society. How this story gives a lot of space for exploring the bonds between Tau, the hubris of the Ethereals (and how some Tau can both crave and be repulsed by it philosophically), how people living in even the Sept still feel commonality with the Enclaves, etc, is fascinating.

My biggest gripe, however, is a pattern I've noticed with Black Library audiobooks having auto-generated titles, or transcripted by someone externally with little to no knowledge of the script. It feels lazy and in poor quality that the titles are missing or wrong. Chapter 1, The Swarm, is written 'The Sword'. Chapters 2-4, missing titles. followed by Recanation, The Strom, and The Crow (should be The Crone). I understand publishing is expensive and complicated, but it strikes me as crude that an official published title from an established company has gotten this lazy with something, admittedly small, that just looks this bad, like nobody involved really bothered to even check their work.

insightful

deep insight into Tau culture, and The wickness of the ethereals, and their collective hubris/ignorance

It's ok.

it's a ok book, more of a 4.5 rating than a 4. The one issue is the fact that the shadow of the warp did not effect on the female inquesitor at all. No pain or strain on her soul for her to use her powers, it just took a vacation.

Actually just really good

I think this might be one of my favorite 40k novels. It really delivers on how terrifying it must be to deal with a Tyranid invasion, and delivers on great T'au fantasy. Loved it.

the most uninteresting farsight book

The stuff mentioned in the book's synopsis didn't really leave the impacts it promised. Disappointed.

lackluster finish to the trilogy

I'm a Phil Kelly Fan but this was a stinker. The whole thing feels very unsatisfying.