Titanicus: Warhammer 40,000

40K fiction is tricky to write: at its least, it is thinly-veiled comic book fantasy with over-the-top heroic and villainous caricatures slugging it out for galactic stakes. At its best, it rises to mythic levels and shows us a rich, Gothic universe in all its wonder and terror.'Titanicus' falls on the mythic end of this spectrum. It is both grand and surprisingly intimate of scale, showing us a planetary war from many perspectives. Most surprising and pleasing of all, Abnett does a tremendous job of humanizing the Mechanicus, which are too often painted in broad red strokes as robotic, emotionless, and inhuman. In 'Titanicus', the Mechanicus characters are very clearly all too human despite their modifications. The best example of this is Lord Gearhart, who could very easily have been one of those over-the-top caricatures of Imperial awesomeness, but who is instead central to some of the book's most touching and human moments.There are a large number of parallel and converging stories being told in this book, and I can see how someone new to (or not deeply familiar with) the 40K universe could get confused. For my own part, I very much enjoy the arcane technical terms and almost complete lack of exposition in this book: it draws you deeper into the story and the setting, and if you're paying attention you'll understand what everything means by the end.I only had a couple of minor issues with 'Titanicus'. One is that some of the stories (Tarses/Prinzhorn and Tendant Zink for example) don't get much in the way of resolution by the end. In particular I would have liked to see the ultimate outcome of the conflict between Tarses and Prinzhorn. I also thought that the conclusion of Cally's tale was unsatisfying; I'd be more specific, but I don't want to spoil anything. Lastly, I felt that the Chaos forces seemed a bit too vague and elemental as a threat. The complete facelessness of the Archenemy in 'Titanicus' made their presence in the story feel more like a Tyranid invasion than a conflict with Mankind's most bitterly despised enemies. Given the nature of events later in the story, 'elemental' might have been exactly what was intended here, but it seems like a battle against the Traitors should feel more visceral and intimate.This is the first book by Dan Abnett I've read, but it won't be the last. 'Titanicus' is as epic as its name. Strongly recommended!

What’s not to like. Dan abets the man and I’m not so patiently waiting for him to finish haunts ghost

Titanicus takes a break from the normal lines of battle that make up the wealth of 40k fiction. This story follows Legio Invictus, a Titan Legion thats deployed to Orestus, a vital forge world supporting the Sabbat Crusade (which is pretty much Abnetts Dark Tower at this point) to help defend the planet from a sudden incursion of Chaos Titans and skitarii. This helps to illustrate the dichotomy between Imperial nd Mechanicus, as one seems to have all the power in the universe, and the other is essentially at the mercy of that power.The storyline fatlers slightly by trying to branch together two separate plotlines, involving a stray squad of auxillary PDF with the Titan Legion engagements. While I'm a fan of ground pounders, and Abnett can write that incredibly well, it was hard to hold the squad members in mind, and I kept losing track of who was doing what why, and who was augmeted and who wasn't. The Titan battles are incredibly well written, and the technology at the disposal of the Mechanicus was both impressive and disheartening, in that its knowledge lost that can't be regained.The other sideplot, which ties nicely to the recently released HH novels was also a good side tag, that helped to round out the ending, and allowed the Mechanicus characters to display more than their normal level of humanity, although it came dangerously close to tossing GW's holy status quo out the window.All told, the book is great, and only suffered from one very weak thread. I'd happily heard another installment of Titan warfare, but it would probably start to bleed to Mechwarrior at that point. The God Machines don't work well with others, either. Heres hoping the manage to work it into future HH novels as they did here.

I enjoyed the various characters that are present. Each represented a different element of society and followed them through the progression of the war. Each had different obstacles and learning curves to survive. Each character had tests that were reasonable for the knowledge/skill level they possessed. I was able to 'get invested in them through failure and success.

It was a bit dizzying getting started with so many characters to keep track of, but by the end I was totally engrossed!

Filled to the brim with action, tension, and amazing characters; this remains possibly the finest standalone Warhammer book ever written. The world shattering experience of Titan warfare is truly singular, Dan Abnett remains the uncontested master of Warhammer.

I was looking for reference material to help with my Lancer TTRPG campaign; descriptions of mechs moving, shooting, dying, etc...I couldn't have hoped for a better resource, or a better story. Some say Abnett has rushed endings, I think it was just right. Really.

Does not disappoint, the book is enthralling from the first pages. A departure from the Ravenor series, but Abnetts typical style effortlessly brings these characters to life ...including the God engines!

The book arrived on time ( if I recall correctly ) and it was a smooth transaction. I enjoyed reading it: Dan Abnett is an excellent writer, if you like the subject. Sorry for the belayed review, I promise I'll do better next time. Cheerio.

Dan Abnett bürgt für WH40k-Qualität!Wie kein anderer Autor versteht er es, dem Warhammer-Universum Leben einzuhauchen und es nicht zu billigem Trash verkommen zu lassen. Die Details passen, die Charakter weisen Tiefgang auf und die Geschichten folgen keinem Stereotyp, sondern sprühen vor Kreativität. Ob Eisenhorn, Gaunt, Ravenor oder wie in dem vorliegenden Werk die Titan Legio Invicta - wir legen das Buch zufrieden zur Seite und freuen uns auf den nächsten Abnett.Der Inhalt selber kann kurz zusammengefasst werden. Die Titan Legionen stellen im Warhammer-Universum übergroße Kampfroboter dar, die u.a. die Größe von Hochhäusern erreichen (Imperator-Klasse). Entsprechend groß ist die Kampfkraft und entsprechend wichtig ist der Kommandant (Princeps) eines solchen Titans, der über technische Schnittstellen direkt mit dem Kampfgerät verbunden ist. Interessant ist hier - wie immer - die Mischung aus HiTech und Aberglaube, da im 41sten Jahrtausend viel Wissen im Dunkel der Zeit verloren gegangen ist.Der Planet Orestes wird von einer Legion von Chaos Titanen (die Bösen) angegriffen, die Not ist groß. Die Titan Legio Invicta befindet sich gerade zwischen den Sternen auf dem Weg zum nächsten Schlachtfeld, hört den Notruf und greift in das Geschehen ein. Ist die unbesiegbare Legion tatsächlich unbesiegbar?Dan Abnett liefert uns dazu 602 spannende Seiten....

So many of the Warhammer 40k books can be summed up with “space marines shoot the aliens again”, but Titanicus is different.Titanicus is set during the invasion of a manufactory world. The perspective is split between the towering titan legions fighting to defend their homeworld, and the everyday civilians caught up in the struggle. Instead of the usual point of view of a soldier, we hear the narrative from husbands and wives drafted into the reserves, shop owners trapped in the cities, and scavengers being chased across the desolate wastes. This gives Titanicus a unique feel, which is impressive in a universe that has over 200 books written about it.That isn’t to say there's a lack of action. The bulk of the book is filled with titan combat and frenzied infantry battles, perfectly showing the difference in scale of close quarters hand to hand combat while towering titans level entire city districts with their steps. The violence of the combat in comparison to the depth of the characters is was really makes Titanicus shine.I’d put this up there with some of Dan Abnett’s best work, and definitely in the top tier of Warhammer tie-ins. Good, hard, military sci-fi that still has detailed character development.