I enjoyed Path of The Warrior, and have yet to start on the other two. I really need to find more Eldar-focused books, but outside of Amazon I don't think I have many options.
There's a collection of books on Ibooks called "The Eldar" that has a dozen or two stories there for $60. It's quite the collection, actually, going from the Path of the Eldar/Dark Eldar to some of the less popular ones like Farseer and Valedor. If you're finding yourself falling flat on books, it's a good thing to pick up.
The path of the seer was the best one. The protagonist in the other two were rather... flat. Now, that being said, I have read them about 3 times.
Writing Eldar is pretty tricky - it's inherently non-human - so it's in many respects way easier for Dan Abnett to write top-notch Inquisitor / Imperial Guard novels, than it is to write anything for the Eldar. All Abnett needs to do to nail his books is translate WW1 and WW2 stories into 40k - everyone has lasrifles instead of bolt-actions - occasionally a space marine runs by and murders everything in a blur. Sometimes a demon shows up - but for the most part it's just WW1 & 2 with lasers. Pewpew. (Which is not to say I am not a huge fan of his work) Writing Eldar is tricky - because nothing is analogous - their emotions aren't our own - their society isn't comparable - their experiences, mortality, and logic is alien to us. That's what makes them interesting - but it's virtually impossible to get the same depth that our own long lineage of human stories provide as parallel to the Imperium-based 40k novels. Part of me is honestly tempted to take a crack at it - from the completely opposite approach to what the current Eldar authors have tried. They have all tried to find some parallel to human stories, and write accordingly - editting for Eldary-ness where applicable. Instead, I think I'd approach it the backwards - recognizing just how alien it all should be to us - rather than attempt to find human parallels, essentially writing for maximal incomprehension. Conversations that make implications that leave the (human) reader almost lost as to what is going on. Relationships which have odd emotional reactions to seemingly innocuous stimulus - two Eldar greet one another as friends, it begins cordially - then radically shifts as one becomes irate, the other Eldar comprehends the problem: the human reader is left baffled. Battlefield choices which make almost no sense - the enemy turns to retreat - the Eldar could pursue - instead they turn and flee as well. Or vice versa - they should retreat, and have an easy way to leave (ex. webway) - instead they fight and die to the last: the farseer told them to, and they all understood and complied without quarrel. Or they could have the opportunity to strike - and in any other 40k novel, any other race would seize the opportunity - but the Eldar pass right by: it wasn't their objective. It would be a novel in which nothing makes sense, the reader sees characters, comprehends that they have personalities, and that they communicate to one another - but is left otherwise lost: like trying to watch a foreign movie without subtitles. You can kind of understand the plot - you think - but then something else happens and you're lost again. Then suddenly there is a sex scene out of nowhere and you're super confused because you didn't catch that those two characters were flirting before. Then someone betrays someone and you just throw your hands up and go, "Okay - I don't get it - I give up trying to get it". The reader must surrender to the incomprehensible and alien plot
I actually read the Gaunt's Ghost series as well as The Greater Good, and I'm not terribly impressed. Gaunt's Ghosts was a masterpiece for the first maybe 4 books. After that, the characters got clingy and not very 40k-esque. I mean, you lost a "main" character every now and again, but the core characters of the series never really died. Rawne was fine through-and-through, as well Curth and Kolea. Mkoll is just retardedly good at stealth towards the end and Criid was the iconic female protagonist. The only thing that really surprised me in the series was when Spoiler Dorden dies from his suicide run after learning he has less than a day left due to cancer Besides that, The Greater Good was really not one of his best works either. I found that the "Commissar who is really so much of a coward to avoid battle, but always manages to find it and crown himself a hero" was really cliche. The whole suppressing the synapse of a hive fleet with astropaths is game breaking to fight against Tyranids and might have been pushing it. All and all, I wouldn't want to see a Dan Abnett series for Eldar. Sure, it'd be nice because it'd put more books on the market, but I don't think he's the kind of writter that will bring much to the table in terms of lore.
I think one of the problems with Eldar novels is that there are so few of them. 40k novels really rely on intertextuality and in-universe knowledge. Space Marines have such a vast collection of stories, and they're marketed way more. While reading any Imperial story, it's hard to unknow all the stuff about the Imperium, and that knowledge colors the text a lot. We need good authors, but we also need more stuff in general to add more reference points and fill in gaps. The Path series was cool because it filled in some history of a less popular craftworld, Alaitoc. It also reflected some Eldar psychology in the narrative structure of the series. It's three different sides of the same story, where many things are defined then redefined based on perspective. It's not like Imperial stuff where it's assumed that propaganda has a role in it; the series as a whole kind of represents some of the Eldar mindset, especially the path system. I would be nice if there was a Karandras novel that referenced his part in Alaitoc's fight. Build up more of that web of plot points instead of referencing the same four of five things involved with the Eldar. Ruled the universe, Fall of the Eldar, She Who Thirsts, trickery, Eldrad.
