Farseer

Warhammer 40,000

by William King

The eldar, an ancient and powerful alien race, enlist the aid of one very special human to help them bring peace to the galaxy and to stop the powerful forces that had nearly destroyed their own race, in the first volume in a new trilogy. Original.

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k, Fiction, Fantasy, Novels

287 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 21, 2002

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Rolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I had to describe these books I’d probably call them a “guilty pleasure,” but honestly I don’t feel guilty at all about reading these books. For those unfamiliar, Warhammer 40K is (among other things) a game you play with miniatures and being that I collect 40K miniatures, part of my enjoyment of these books comes from seeing that world “come alive.” So honestly, I probably don’t expect too much else from a 40K book which makes it a little harder to give an objective review about them. But occasionally I read one that catches me up in the story even more so than the background material, and this book is one of those. While I thoroughly enjoyed the additional background info on the Eldars and the Chaos Characters, I also found myself rooting for the hero anxious to see how it would all turn out. Sure it is not great art. But it great fun.

[Plaguedoctor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I can't really say this was William Kings best 40k book, but it was still enjoyable none the less. It just seemed like it had a slower pace then his other books and if you don't like slow paced books, you probably won't like this one. I'll be honest, I had a hard time getting through a few spots because it just seemed to slow and felt like it dragged a little. I really liked the main characters though. I enjoyed how the main character wasn't a Spacemarine or member of the Imperial Guard and I enjoyed that the main character, who is a rogue trader, had to work together with a Xenos race the Eldar. That's a theme you don't see quite often in 40k books. I found this book to be over all enjoyable, but it's not something I would highly recommend. If you come across this book for cheap then it may be something you might like and be worth picking up.

[Adam Mace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointingly mediocre, due to the very interesting premise, and the annoying cliffhanger ending.

Very few works in 40k focus on a Rogue Trader as the main character, which is quite bizarre given the variety the character type affords.

With that in mind, the RT in this one is kind of left in the background for an Eldar focused plot, which in and of itself could have been good but the one they went with was pretty boring.

I will say though, that the Navigator character was both interesting, and well done, and got a lot more "screentime" than expected.

Worth a read for some of its parts if you can find it cheap.

[Fr. Ambrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The universe of 40k is excellent, and so anything making use of that universe has an unfair head start. William King used a lot of the elements, settings, and lore of the 40k universe to tell a good story. The atmospheric quality of the book is on point, the characters are good. The plot is unfortunately a little straightforward, but still gives a satisfying conclusion. I also wished I could have read some more at the end! On the whole, a very enjoyable little read.

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elves in high fantasy and the eldar in both Warhammer Fantasy and the dark science-fiction of Warhammer 40,000 AD are always depicted as graceful and mysterious. The eldar in Farseer: Warhammer 40,000 (or, more properly the aeldari) include, as the title suggests, a “farseer.” This is a psyker who visualizes a proliferation of the possible strands of the future and decides on the best probabilities. It is a gift, perhaps a curse, and not a science, but it offers important insights into human and aeldari affairs.

In Farseer: Warhammer 40,000, author William King presents the familiar rogue trader character type from the 40K universe as he encounters, indeed, needs the intervention of the aeldari to break his spiral downward. Consistent with the 40K universe, Janus Darke, the rogue trader just specified, has encountered the taint of the warp, an insidious and corrupting link with the gods of chaos. As a result, Darke has lost everything he owned and his reputation, barely staying a jump ahead of the Inquisition (the well-named investigators and executioners of the Emperor—think Judge Dredd with magic).

The aeldari want Janus to transport them to the proscribed planet of Belial IV where some of the mysteries behind the contamination of the 40K universe will be revealed, the grounds for hostility toward psykers revealed. Yet, Darke has enough problems on his plate so he doesn’t want to compound his problems. As often happens, he soon discovers that he can’t even trust those he thinks he can trust. This leads to an exciting shootout and armed chase.

King brings some interesting descriptions into play. There are the dreamstones, mysterious artifacts worth far more than precious gems or gold. The description of them reminds me of “spice” in the Dune universe, but they are not necessary for navigating the warp. Yet, the descriptions of the process of navigation are worth the price of the book. It begins with: “Glittering copper cables flowed from the intricate machinery of the ancients to the interface circlet on his forehead. He stood with his hands clutching the gargoyle brass guardrail taking the feeds from the datacores directly into his mind, and sorting it in ways that only a Navigator could understand.” (p. 89). Later, as he prepares for the ship’s insertion into the warp: “Snakes of cable, needle-tipped, crawled across his flesh and attached themselves to veins and glands.” (p. 129) Still later, “He reached out with his disjointed senses and made contact with the ship. Strangeness flowed over him. He sensed other presences, echoes of old thoughts, shadows that might be those of ghosts. He knew that he was encountering psychic debris, …” (p. 131). For me, these scenes where Simon Belisarius, the Navigator, is interacting with ship and the streams of energy within the warp are some of the finest moments in the book.

Then, just when the reader might have a sense of complacency that the danger has been mitigated, there is the trap within the trap. The forces of Chaos want the artifact on the forbidden planet as much as do our protagonists, and they are willing to burn it all down to get control. Farseer: Warhammer 40,000 is a very satisfying adventure story which also features some solid prose. While it may only seem an average book to those who aren’t into the genre, it is certainly one of the finer novels I’ve encountered under the flag of this intellectual property.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ein weiterer spannender Ausflug in die Welt von Warhammer 40K. Hier gefielen mir vor allem Simon und die Beschreibung, wie er sein Schiff steuert. Eine faszinierende Methode und der Weg ins Hexenauge ist genial beschrieben.

Leider hapert es bei William King ein wenig am Tempo. Die Kampfszenen scheinen gleich schnell stattzufinden wie die gedanklichen Vorgänge der Helden. Das macht die Geschichte grundsätzlich etwas zäh.

Trotzdem las ich gerne in dem Buch, da ich einfach immer wieder gerne in dieses Universum einsteige und es erkunde.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent story, if a rather quick read.

[Christopher Byram · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this when I was 12, pretty interesting book.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Weird pacing. Most boring warp travel scene of all time.

[Ignacio · Rating 3 out of 5]

that cliffhanger was annoying... the story felt a but underwhelming

[Michael T Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is my favorite novel William King has done for Black Library that I've read (out of all the G&F ones - I like Trollslayer better, but it's a collection of short stories, NOT a novel - and the first three Space Wolf novels). Here's why. It really feels as if King is just having fun with this one (for the most part - one glaring exception below). This reminded me a LOT of Barrington J. Bayley's "Eye of Terror." We have a rogue trader & his ship going into the Eye of Terror, and a bunch of crazy stuff going on around the edges. BJB's "Eye" was way less focused than this novel, but probably a bit more fun because you simply never knew WHAT might happen, but this is a close second. Also, we get some interaction with the Eldar, but not SO much their mystique is spoiled. As much as we can intuit what a farseer does, it's never actually spelled out, which is nice.

In general, there's not a lot of spelling out here, which I appreciated. I think that's the worst aspect of the Space Wolf novels - at times, it seems King's precis was, 'turn the rule book into an action novel somehow?' And he did an admirable job, I must say, but it can get tiresome. Except for ONE SINGLE CHAPTER, this book shies away from that. The chapter in question is an overly long explanation of how a Navigator gets through the Warp, the terrors encountered, etc. A few lines - nay, even a few paragraphs on this? Fine. An entire chapter that's over 5% of the book? Oy. It's taxing. Skip that chapter.

But quickly we're pulled back into the fun, and introduced to a Slaneesh-worshiping Chaos Space Marine, which is amusing, & something you don't see very often. It all leads to an ending that is suitably 40K, and, of course, this is the ONE King novel where I've thought at the end, 'I'd really like to see where this goes next.' and it has no sequels. Sigh. C'est la vie.

[Stephan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As long as you remember that this is an older publication. That the fluff or background material has changed over the years, then this is a pretty good read.
No, this is actually a good read no matter what. It's witty, have some nice characters and, for once in a 40K novel, not that much focus on the action.

We get to follow a rogue trader very down on his luck who's contacted by a pair of Eldar. The aliens are asking him for a ride to the Eye of terror and promises a lot of money for the trouble. If they survive.
Lot's of daemonic shenanigans, a Chaos space marine who got some serious issues (even for a Slaanesh-workshiper) who's got a spaceship with even bigger issues:

She looked old but huge, a warship of the most ancient Imperial design… A massive head grinned from the prow. It was shaped like the tip of an enormous phallic member bearing the scowling features of some ancient daemon.

It's a charming, entertaining and awesome story. The only problem is that the action scenes are not well described as they are either skipped entirely or very muddy. The ending is not good either as it's very obviously intended as a first part in a series. But we never got any more novels than this first one.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rogue Trader Janus Darke joins forces with a pair of Eldar to thwart the plans of the Demon Prince Shaha Gaathon.

Fascinating account of how the Eldar created Slaanesh.

One of the Eldar is Farseer Auric, the other is assassin Athenys.

They travel to Belial IV in the Eye of Terror.

Chaos Marine Zarghan Ironfist was with Fulgrim's Emperor's Children at the First Founding.

Many plot threads are not resolved, setting the stage for sequels.

[Alexander Draganov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book with interesting ideas and stromg ending. However, it was slow moving at times and in the hands of a better author would have been more exciting. In terms of characters, I wanted more from the Eldar and the assassin, but unfortunately was stuck with a boring Navigator character for much too long. My true rating of the book is 3.5, but as it mostly because of a surprise ending, I give it three.

[Octa · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to see superhuman Astartes doing cool shit, this isn't the book for you. If you wonder what it feels like to be a budding psyker, how chaos twists itself around you, how it actually feels to meet an Eldar or be a Navigator, this is the book for you. Rarely does a black library book deliver both on a good, gripping story and deliver a good look into what daily life feels like for different people in the Imperium. The twist at the end was also unexpected and well written.

[Christian]

Eldar have a Rogue Trader bring them to a planet in the Eye of Terror to get a kick ass sword all the while being pursued by Slaanesh minions. I missed King's character's introspections. This is a very basic plot that should have spawned a sequel but it seems that it never did. Still not what I would consider an Eldar novel.

[Brian Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good 40K story from William King.
Janus Darke is a sown on his luck rogue trader, having once been the man who could do no wrong.
When an Eldar Farseer offers him and his crew a commission, he doesn't have much choice but to accept.

Keeps moving at a good pace, the main characters are well written.
Interesting ending, would be good to find out what happens after.

[Aleksejs Miščuks · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh.

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an interesting book, a masterly plot twist and an inspiring glimpse in the Warhammer world.

[75338 · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best passages of the Black Library on pp 38-39. Twenty years later I found it again.