RENEGADES: LORD OF EXCESS REVIEW!

Hey everyone Rho here! Today we're reviewing the Warhammer 40,000 novel "Renegades: Lord of Excess" by author Rich McCormick. As always with my reviews I do not discuss specific spoilers, but will discuss the larger themes and narratives.
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[@Iceisnice1]

All hail Josh Reynolds, still beloved by all. May his headcanon survive, even if ours cannot.

[@Nyctophora]

Aye, he will not be forgotten.

[@joshley1320]

I miss him he was one of the best writers

[@weatherreport9227]

I really hope this helps gear up for that Emperors Children refresh. I keep getting teased with it, which is very Slaanesh but still irritating

[@jamesmacken9501]

After this outing and the seeing the effort put in to the Exemplary Battles book for the Emperors Children, I'm left far more apathetic than excited for anything 3rd legion related in future.

[@captainglitterbeard4531]

You called it! Not days later they announce an index.

[@spookyghostwriter3110]

Well. Another Renegades book. That’s interesting. I wonder if this is going to become a running series with the 9 traitor legions, maybe a Red Corsairs book, and a general Renegade chapter or two.

[@arcahmwinters70]

As long as the Night Lords one is about Decimus.

[@alexanarchy8858]

@@arcahmwinters70I agree

[@maleksamman1948]

Just finished the audiobook, and thought this was splendid! I loved all of the conversations, as it really got into the heart of what living as insatiable hedonists does to you, your friends, and your entire society. I was actually happy to see all of the side characters, as it built a more complete picture of what life on this planet was like, before and after the descent of angels. I felt like this book highlighted the inevitable doom that befalls the 3rd legion. Comradery is a sign of weakness. Everybody is selfish. And yet, there's that wish for brotherhood that cannot be erased. It's sad, and brutal. Loved the tragedy of it all!

[@Luchiop]

How a noise marine thinks: snare clap kick snare. Fruity loops 4 Time signature.

[@pedropierre9594]

Saw it yesterday on the Black Library hoping you’d review it 😂

[@bryandeans9949]

Now for the spoilers. Emperors Children are my fav traitor legion. Waiting for that upcoming release.

[@Vortklox]

Iv noticed a common thread between the novels i enjoyed most. They (as you say) concentrate on one or maybe 2 characters primarily. I think of the necron novels. Bequin series. The lion latest book. Belasarious. Fabius. My favorite older book is the unremembered empire. This pulls in lots of characters but always returns to guiliman. And achived this dance back and forth to various characters masterfully. A very hard thing to do. It we dont spend prolonged periods with characters its so hard to truly care about their plot. I understand that in 40k novels the writers flit from character to character in order to emphasise the scale and richness of the setting. But we by now know that. And id prefer if they concentrated on building bonds with inderviduals in their tales. Its what exites me. Getting to realy understand what makes them tick rather than building an awareness of the scope and vastness of the universe that im already aware of.

[@jagerdergroe8604]

>Emperor's Children are the least shown of the traitor legions That moment when you forget that Night Lords even exist because they get so little love in 40K

[@pedropierre9594]

Its because they are kind of lewd

[@epicwaba6424]

They already have the best series of books in 40k

[@ThanhNguyenTrung-kv4tt]

This book was a genuine surprise for me. A lot of different stuffs are thrown in together that lead you from one surprise to another. Albeit, the ending leaves some to be desired but a good book, regardless. Better than my last read, Leviathan. lol.

[@RSBurgener]

I thought this book started off with a bang, then the tone changed and I found it difficult. It didn't reach the heights of fun I was hoping for. Then it ends very quickly and somewhat satisfyingly. It's no Storm of Iron, but it's not terrible either. It has some flaws you need to get past to enjoy it.

[@sircashew1097]

With the exception of Fulgrim’s primarch series book, I have always been cautious to read into the 3rd due to the depths of their depravity. I’m torn on whether to give this book a shot, because it does sound interesting, or hold off still

[@jamesmacken9501]

There's isn't as much depravity one one would expect of the 3rd in the book to the point you could change some details here and there and have a fairly generic chaos warband being awful in the usual chaos manner. I personally found the book a chore to read. I'd honestly recommend giving it a pass and reading something else.

[@2012sonora]

Just my feeling, but GW doesn't seem to know what to do with the Emperor's Children. One of the better aspects of 40k is that while it's crazy violent and insane, we don't often see children getting killed or women getting, ahem, you know. The big R just isn't fun, you know? (For men anyway, there's a whole subset of female readers who love it.) And that's without getting into current cultural currents, where some people get very very angry about things like androgyny and sex being portrayed in negative ways. No i don't think the EC are in any way representative of any real world group, but remember how some people lost their minds over the cinematic trailer last year? So trying to portray the EC properly risks running into a whole lot of problems. I think there's a way to do it, but it's super tricky.

[@sircashew1097]

@@jamesmacken9501 alright, thanks for the recommendation 😄

[@lordlankore1887]

First! lol, now to watch the video

[@jamesmacken9501]

After reading the book I wouldn't recommend even big fans of the Emperors Children bother with it. The characters are nothing to write home about and I actively wished the main character would get killed off and replaced by halfway mark. You'll know Xantine's opinion of the events on Harmony and Canticle City because he won't shut up about it every other chapter. The handful of battles Xantine finds himself in often require his opponent to not go for the kill for him to come out victorious or outright Deus ex machina's to save him. The plot is not very strong and it's twists and turns can be predicted from a mile away and if you were hoping for some new information or concepts around the 3rd legion or slaanesh you'll find thin pickings. From how 3rd legion warbands operate to the legions degradation to noise marines and a host of other things, you're better looking to other books where the concepts are better handled and explored.

[@Overonator]

Have you rated anything below a 3 out of 5?

[@myonlyfriendtheend4958]

god I miss josh reynolds ALSO I'd recommend the bloodied another new short story and its by a new author who did a great AMA on reddit

[@FnRenner]

Wish there was a way to tell by the thumbnail if there were spoilers or if it was a full review. Some of us don't mind spoilers.

[@tramico96]

Renegades: Iron Warriors????? Please...LOL

[@paulkelly3247]

I reckon the powers that be will make them lost primarchs female what are the odds 😢

[@keoghcf]

i didnt like it, chaos marines should terrify humans and reduce them to awe, but when xantiel confronts the governor he has no fear of him

[@jiveturky3000]

least is NL imo

[@SpliffingBrit]

Wow im early

[@insaniam_convertunt_scientiam]

Well hello there, ladies and smokers.

[@douglastarbox7640]

shame they didn;t they didn'tget the clone Fulgrim.

[@AngelWolf12]

It's honestly a bit of a sloppy book. Like Rho said, it spends WAY too much time on side characters. There are more side characters than there is time spent on the Emperor's children, the supposed subject of the book. Also if you're still introducing side characters in chapter 27 of 28, your editor needs to step in. Speaking of, it's clear this story was written and edited in chunks, because of the massive time skips between parts. But this also shows the different versions of the story peak through editing. Like the main character, Xantine, a true Son of Fulgrim and noble from Chemos...except towards the end of the book when he's from a random recruiting world. Or his main weapon being a reforged Eldar spear turned into a saber. Or it's a ancient Legion Charnable saber sometimes. Like I said, sloppy.

[@headlibrarian1996]

I’d expect that sort of thing from multiple uncredited authors.

[@RSBurgener]

I noticed a lot of what you're saying. I feel like the tone is inconsistent. In some sections it's brash and badass. In others its downright depressing. It's really slow in parts and then it speeds through what's happening. I wanna say that both Xantine and the Primaris dude had possession of the Anguish rapier at the same time!

[@JackFury316]

🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡

[@akumaking1]

It would be nice for a Chaos vs Clone Fulgrim event. But knowing GW they’ve probably already forgotten about it.

[@rehanashrif8167]

It's not a plot point, clone-grim served his purpose for the one novel he was supposed to be in.

[@sond.lollipop8919]

GW technically don’t have rights too use or ever even talk about clonegrim again. The author of it left and took all his ideas with him legally. So unless that specific author comes back clonegrim has effectively been retconned out of possible future canon.

[@Nyctophora]

@@sond.lollipop8919 I believe that when someone writes for GW they have to cede the copyright to GW, so this isn't true. Even if it ought to be, morally.

[@sond.lollipop8919]

@@Nyctophora no Josh Reynolds’s who wrote the clonegrim character and story plots has openly said clone grim was just a mcguffin side piece for fabulous biles stories that in the end he didn’t like how they went so when he left black library he took the rights to the idea of clone grim with him so it cannot be used. GW has respected this that’s why clonegrim has NEVER been mentioned again even in separate trazyn and bile storylines.

[@jamesmacken9501]

​@@sond.lollipop8919 Source?

[@DanteKahn]

The 3rd Legion were never that interesting anyway. A cheaper copy of the blood angels and an exemplar of human arrogance is all I’ve been able to see of them. - Sincerely a White Scar. ⚔️

[@DominusNox106]

The 3rd are peacocks strutting in the yards of their betters. Your Cousins, A Night Lord.

[@giominus7402]

I love Slaanesh and Knight content so glad to know this book is less combat more talky talky.