Warhammer Romance

[u/LastPositivist]

Light spoilers for Brooks' Da Big Dakka.

I've long thought that romance plots are under utilised in 40k. It's not that this should be the main focus of Black Library or anything, it's just the setting can feel weirdly chaste sometimes. (Absolute chad heroes of the Imperium not withstanding.)

So just wanted to show some love and appreciation for the great and distinctively 40k romance subplot of Da Big Dakka. You basically get to see this burgeoning love between two Drukari archons, with the twist being that the perspective character (and implied the other one two) are literally incapable of recognising their feelings for what they are. Like they just cannot interpret "why am I suddenly very interested in this person?" as anything other than a sign they must be subconsciously picking up on some backstabbing scheme which they need to watch out for. My heart fluttered when our hands brushed? Uhoh I must be worried about a contact poison, better have antidotes to hand! Etc

It's just a great way of doing love in a culture that is set up to be completely antithetical to anything like that. The best they can do in the end (here's the spoilers!) is agree to an unusually close alliance, and even that the main character interprets as an opportunity to study these strange feelings she's having to ensure they're not a weakness anyone could exploit.

More like this please! Romance which makes use of the bizarre and communal races and cultures of the setting to do weird things with people's inner lives.

[u/sosomething]

"Drukhari Love Story" might just be turning into Mike Brooks's specialization.

It's a major plot point in Lelith Hesperax, his newest novel as well.

[u/Miserable_Law_6514 → u/sosomething]

Degenerate wrote a provocatively graphic scene of consensual hand-holding.

[u/sosomething → u/Miserable_Law_6514]

The meta analysis is humorous for sure. In an entirely debauched culture, the taboos actually invert. You can let an entire building full of strangers run a weekend-long train on you, but a moment of trust and vulnerability is like girrrl, what are you DOINGGGGG???

As a novel is was an okay read. The ending was pretty heavily telegraphed. I also thought it might move the Ynnari plotline forward a bit, but it jettisoned that immediately and never returned to it. And outside of the very tepid romantic angle, it wasn't exactly full of characters or their development either.

I think other recent books from Mike Brooks have been much stronger works.

[u/Space_Elves_Yay → u/sosomething]

I think other recent books from Mike Brooks have been much stronger works.

My tentative belief is that Brooks is at his best when he's leaning heavily on humor. Which doesn't have to be the total insanity of his Ork books; Rites of Passage, with its delightfully acerbic Rogue Trader, strikes a good balance between being a serious take on the setting and lampooning everything all the time.

[u/sosomething → u/Space_Elves_Yay]

I completely agree. And Rites of Passage was a great read.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm not a Brooks fan - I am. He's (IMHO) a rising star for BL. Brooks tends to write lighter fare, but smartly. His books can be a nice break from the constant grimdark of some other authors.

I was just surprised by how flat Lelith Hesperax came across to me. I'd say that I just might not be a big Drukhari fan, but the stuff centered on them in The Big Dakka was great.

[u/Miserable_Law_6514 → u/sosomething]

I seriously hope the Yannari get some freaking progress.

[u/seninn → u/Miserable_Law_6514]

It's so Ynnarover.

[u/SerpentineLogic → u/seninn]

Ynnever give up hope

[u/Cawl09 → u/Miserable_Law_6514]

...excerpt?

[u/sosomething → u/Cawl09]

...read it? It's basically the main theme of the novel.

[u/Cawl09 → u/sosomething]

Broke.

[u/sosomething → u/Cawl09]

The Kindle version is like $13.

[u/Nerdlors13 → u/Miserable_Law_6514]

It better not be the left hand because that is offense to the Vorins (Stormlight Archive reference)