Recently I tried to get deeper into Imperial Fists fluff and bought some novels and novella (Seventh Retribution, Malodrax, Endeavour of Will). Honestly - coudnt finish any of it..Horrible writing style, terrible dialogs, blank characters, poor described fights..Its obvious, that Ben is good in describing Chaos things - those were really good. But just this. So why "Chaos guy" is writing about Space marines? Why oh why? How do you feel about it, Imperial Fists? Or maybe you liked those books? Im used to read such authors like Dan Abnett (Eisenhorn and HH), James Swallow (Blood Angels and HH), Graham McNeill (Ultramarine series and HH), Gav Thorpe (Dark Angels series, Purging of Kadillus). While Im not always liked some ideas or turns in scenarios, I was fully satisfied with their fluent writing style. With every one of them, in every book. Interesting dialogs, deeper descriptions when needed (why character does this or that), main protagonists in strong picture - everything is clear when you passing pages, you feeling like in a good movie. When I took Ben Counter's novels, I just cant force myself to read more than 1-2 pages per day. Plenty of scenes so messed up that you must go back and re-read it only to find that there was nothing important hidden in it, just complicated and jumping thoughts...
It was good, but it wasnt about IF I somehow suspecting that for HH novels editors require a lot more from the writters, than for the Space Marine battle series or any other non HH book. My mentioned books looks like student's creation, not pro BL writer
Personally, I consider him to be the Tim Burton of Black Library. Even at his worst, you can usually find a few interesting gems here and there to enjoy, or at least appreciate his ideas. Many don't like his writing style, but it tends to show a broader focus and surprising level of density which works in certain scenarios. While it might not work all too well when it comes to a single long-running focus without any shifts or changes, in the right circumstances it can add serious weight to otherwise seemingly minor sub-plots or one off bits. For example, his Grey Knights series tends to do this exceptionally well, outlining the nature, life and the grimy, forlorn existence of a lone cargo hauler captain better than what i'd expect of many other authors, save for Abnett. As for his novels involving the Imperial Fists, they're sadly hit and miss. If he gets something utterly right at the start, they'll remain stellar throughout, but if he screws up or has a problematic idea then they're going to range from flawed to unreadable. Sadly most of his books involving Dorn's chapter seems to have never gotten beyond flawed, so while they might have some enjoyable ideas, they don't live up to some of his past books. That said, I will say that he's one of the few authors i'd trust to handle the Imperial Fists in terms of the casualty department. Whatever else is found within his books, they're rarely made out to be chumps or do anything short of go down swinging even when fighting insurmountable odds, as opposed to the fodder they're all too often used as. Opinions aside though, if you want to see just how bad some published writers can be, try reading Chuck Wendig's novels sometime or even Kevin J Anderson. Counter's hardly exceptional, but there are people who produce far, far worse material than he.
Thanks for clarifying a bit, havent read any of your later mentioned authors, so cant compare Counter with worst - only with best. All the time I was pretty astonished about how good "all" BL writers are writing. Seems even there are flaws Forced myself to proceed with Seventh Retribution - Imperial Guard scenes managed pretty well, also Scout's investigation on refugee camp. But every scene with Imperial Fists makes me weep Im pretty sure that most RP lovers here could write a lot better...
The major problem is that he's dealing with Imperial Fists, a chapter characterised by being basically made out of stone. There's only so much you can do with a Chapter that well established and with those personality traits, it's probably why I was drawn to Space Wolves, they have a basic template but most characters are unique and not cardboard cutouts. Also please for the love of everything sacred in 40k don't consider the Horus Heresy series to be the cream of the crop, those books ruined the Heresy.
Well, Black Templars are sons of Dorn too, but their novels are really good Ultramarines should be even more boring and strict due to blind following of the codex, but Graham manages them so damn well. Im really not pointing into Counters lack of ideas in general, mainly to his strange and hard to read style. Same with HH novels - most of them are well writen, easy to read and everything flows well usually, leaving scenario twists aside..
Black Library is....kind of odd, the quality between it's writers and their subjects varies so wildly that I would imagine if you put it in chart form it'd make a decent rollercoaster. The idea that Nick Kyme can write something I love as much as Perfection but at the same time an abomination as horrifically bad as Deathfire will forever confound me. Ben Counter is an anomaly, in that at his best he's good, and at his worst he's average. As Killbo pointed out, even his bad books have ideas that are worth playing around with.
Yeah BT's are great because they're different, they go non-codex and batshit crazy which makes them interesting, Imp Fists don't have that, and I can't believe I'm saying this but, Smurfs have the potential to be interesting to, they do follow the Codex but they have all this Romanesque background and individual personalities to work with that the Fists sadly don't get because of the personality traits fostered by their geneseed.
Honestly? in my mind the Ultramarines have always been interesting. But like the Grey Knights, the book of Ward casts a long shadow....
