Farsight

Legends of the Dark Millennium

by Phil Kelly

The oxide deserts of Arkunasha are red with spilt blood. The orks of Waaagh! Dok have invaded en masse, and the besieged tau settlers are on the edge of extinction. When the famous general O’Shoh arrives to shatter the greenskins at the head of a high-tech army of battlesuits, the tau expect an easy victory, but the battle-hungry orks outnumber the tau four hundred to one, and the planet’s vicious rust storms have a devilish appetite of their own. Can the rising star of the fire caste solve the riddle of Arkunasha’s haunted past before Dok Toofjaw’s monstrous cyborgs conquer the planet completely?

Read it because
It's one of Commander Farsight's defining battles – and features some audacious action sequences, including a vicious duel in a medical chamber that will make you look at Farsight in a whole different way. The story also has all sorts of hints to the origins of Farsight's famous companions, "the Eight"...

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks, Novella

117 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 31, 2015

About the author

Phil Kelly (born 1977) is the Creative Lead for 'Warhammer: Age of Sigmar' in the Games Workshop design studio.

He has written over 60 gaming books in the last twenty years.

He has also written several Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar and Warhammer Horror books and audio dramas for Black Library.



Librarian Note: there is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Dawie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this must be a new personal record for me. Finish a book in 4 days??? Helps that the story was not a snooze fest and did nof waste time moving along. Not bad for my Tau focused read!

[Viridios · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The light of every new sun throws shadows of its own”

[Anthony Giordano · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Farsight is an action-packed novella which centers on the actions of Farsight during the Arkunasha War. Before I get into further detail, let me say this: I know that most 40K readers are read-up on the canon and lore, but if you are like me, and only have a cursory knowledge, read up on Farshight's wiki entry first. He is a very intriguing character. The big question then becomes: does the story do justice to the legend? Well, I have to say that I really, really like this novella. But it falls more firmly into the mold of actioner than character study. And I think that was the best choice here; you can't help but get sucked into and thoroughly enjoy this tale.

The Tau bio-habs of Arkunasha are under siege by the monstrous Waaagh! of Dok Toofjaw. The sheer size of the ork assaults, and the placement of the habs is starving each individual location out, as supply lines have been broken, with little hope of re-establishing. To make dread matters even more hopeless, there is a matter of a strange phenomena on the planet: deadly, violent rust storms which seemingly have a mind of their own (and which inflict rather peculiar injuries on those caught in them).

Descending into this seemingly hopeless quandary is the celebrated Farsight and his team. The would-be savior enacts some pragmatic, sneaky, fast-strike attack plans, crafted around existing knowledge of ork behavior. Unfortunately, things do not work out so well. Facing censure from his colleagues, he must re-evaluate his tactics, study the bestial xenos further, and deduce the cause of the mysterious "ghost storms", if there is to be any hope of saving the Tau citizenry.

There are many things that Phil Kelly packs into Farsight to make it a solid read. Let's look at some of them:"

You can read my full review of this novella here:

http://hachisnaxreads.blogspot.com/20...

[George Ramos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unquestionably one of the best Warhammer 40k books I've read. It tells a personal story from a character who is actually likable, a major change from basically every other 40k book I've read. I would be happy to read more about Farsight and the T'au.

[Drake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuing on my journey through the Tau written works, I decided to start my read through Phil Kelly's work with this short little story about Farsight's part in the Arkunasha conflict, how he got his red armor, and the origins of other things that seem like they'll be important in later works. I have no idea how tackling this before everything else will color my expectation or affect my reading in the future, but if I'm honest, I don't expect it will by much.

Overall, I'd say it was a good read. Not amazing, but definitely not bad, necessarily. It took some time to adjust to Phil Kelly's style of writing and his take on the Tau, and I'm still not sure if I'm there yet or not. I like the ideas present in the story. There's some decent mystery built up around the nature of the planet which is fun to uncover, and Farsight shows off some decent strategizing later in the book that sells you on the idea that he's a clever and unconventional Commander. Broad strokes? I like what's here.

What bogs me down now and again are smaller things here and there. FULL DISCLOSURE: I'm reading this directly after Fire Warrior, so it's impossible for me not to compare the two even without trying. That being said, it was interesting coming from that book where the Tau speak, for the most part, with a cadence and way of interacting with one another that felt natural, while the Tau here have phrases and behavior that feel stilted, I think? I very well could just need to get used to it though. The only part that felt odd enough to take me out of the story entirely was the strange posturing with the sword and the chair in the beginning. IYKYK; what the hell was that all about?

I am disappointed in the difference with how Crisis Suits are piloted. Some kind of strange eye-movement based control, while novel, just doesn't compare to having your brain become one with the Suit! But, maybe that's just because this takes place much earlier in the timeline and the Suits don't have that functionality yet? Fingers crossed...

All in all, a good read, aside from a couple weird aspects I don't totally like. Can knock it out in a weekend and it'd be worth the time spent.

[Griffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short story featuring one of the big T’au characters, showing one of his early victories, and how he got the name Farsight. There was nothing objectively wrong with the story, just that the writing style was very dull for me. It dragged the story along and it never pulled me in. It just made what should have been a memorable tale rather forgettable.

[Станислав · Rating 4 out of 5]

Против ожидания это оказалось хорошо написано. Блёклые тау обрели характер некотурю объёмность, следить за ними довольно интересно. Против обыкновения орки представлены не только ревущей зелёной волной, но и также имеет свои, пусть и упрощённые персоналии. В конце ждёт небольшой сюжетный поворот. Бодро.

[Sontaranpr · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick and dirty read. Farsight gets his name and defeats a planetary invasion of Orks from a Tau settlement. We get to see the origin of the AI Broadside as well as more of Farsight's dissatisfaction with how the Empire is run.

[Benjamin Ho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid Read

Short, but decent build up of the fire warrior who will become known as Commander Farsight. Wish there was a bit more world building and exposition on Mentor Y’eln. This story could definitely have been a few chapters longer, but what does exist is greater good stuff!

[James Heathcote · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Short but good, good intro to farsight, any tau lover should pick this up. Nicely paced with good action, recommend!

[Kristof Schenck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good starter for T'au enthusiasts, only a bit short, starting the next one in the series asap!!!

[Leighton Lambert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great 40k book about the Tau. Would recommend to anybody interested in the Tau.

[Tichey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good little short story about Commander Farsight's campaign upon Arkunasha. Provides a nice insight into the roles of the different Tau Castes in a wartime scenario. The only down point I had to this book was the way the Tau were written, entirely too human for an alien race. Still definitely worth the read.