Dan's new book - HIVE - is it connected to Darktide?

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Lore Talk & Discussion
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TLDR - Dans new book HIVE and Darktide have very similar themes/ideas.

is HIVE connected to Darktide?

From a lore perspective, no. Absolutely not. Two different worlds in two different parts of the galaxy. There are some eerily similar threads/plots in the book however leading me to ask. Was this book leftover ideas Dan had for Darktide?

Some key plots in his new grand novel about life in a hive city are…

..not a single space marine, not even mentioned

..it starts about a group of battle-hardened soldiers (4 or 5) who meet once a year at the same pub/tavern to reminisce about the war. Some of them are misfits (rejects) who don’t quite get along together but have a common bond that keeps them together.

..Political intrigue with houses that subvert and plant governors who lean towards their agendas, par for course.

…This is a Hive City (1 of 2) that is rife with rebellion, The upper vs the lower (whoever allowed him to call the lower “the neg” should be fired, poor choice.)

…The first Hive city fell, failed and mysteriously went quiet from an unknown threat. You don’t say? The only notes are from an Inquisitor and those notes are classified. (spoilers.. notes speak of cults by the names of Gene and Brood clan)

… Arbities tasked with stopping the rebellion because “they know best” “this is the will of the lex!”

…Gas/Toxins being released through vents of entire sections of the hive city to immediately change the population

…Vox casters/Hive communication systems being taken over and used by the rebellion, only then to be re-taken by the loyalists so they can use it to transmit critical data to those at the top.

Hmm do any of these plots ring any bells for Darktide enjoyers? Reading this book screamed these were the ideas FS discarded. So Dan literally threw it in 2-volumes and lit it on fire.

My only worry is that this means Darktide will not have a certain faction introduced in the game. The big twist in the book is the main rebellion was indeed a plot by GSC to prepare for The Final Day. It’s a true showing of the horrors from the shadow in the warp and Tyranids/Xenos lovers will enjoy these parts, but the book is honestly a giant mess. Think of Rogue One Movie but none of the emotional plot exists (no prequel or sequel to tie it together) and oh, they do not get the communication to the Princess of Alderaan of House Organa. Everything just explodes. What can Dan say but “you’re Welcome!”

The book was clearly missing an Inquisitorial Prescence. Which shows up in Darktide. There was one mentioned in HIVE and directly involved with the downfall of the other hive city but that’s it. That’s literally the only mention of inquisitor. Like if all the inquisitorial writings were used for Darktide?

Other ramblings and about the book to tie into Darktide

This book does illustrate that Tyranids showing up via shadow will just pulp the brains of all our dear flame staff psykers, navigators, warp enhanced beings (even chaos!) and shut down all vox communication so I can see Tyranids being a no-go for Darktide, but maybe not for GSC?

I have been playing more expedition while reading this book. HIVE does a good job of explaining how GSC communicate. The droning sounds, the tinnitus, chittering that feels like communication is happening similar to machinery but a distant level. This is how those rooms in-between sections in expeditions sound like.

The Tyranid menace are described in the book as being flesh color skin, with bone white armor and translucence teeth. Literally a blank canvas to maybe be replaced with an actual hive fleet? None of the GSC refer or even mention fleet, they are just star children. They stitch red circles on their arm patches.

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Dan has a lot of great set pieces and I kept thinking that each characters journey is a level in Darktide. The defending of the munitions station from both xenos threats. The Tidal Wave of oil after some sections collapse. The burning of sectors, walking over mountains of melted glass. Most of the characters story all progresses the same, they have to escape the horror and get out at the end. This is identical to how a darktide mission plays out.

Thanks for taking time to read, I’m curious if other member of the community have read his new book and what thoughts they have on how this may impact or already impacted Darktide. Maybe even people at FS have read the book and can chime in?

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So… you recommend the novel?

Because if it is a “giant mess”, IDK if it is actually good and a bit messy… or is boring and/or annoying.

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It’s a tough recommendation, I’d say yes if you like dans work (and want xenos) but it’s one of his slowest burns ever released.

Honestly, it’s a book that showed me how valuable an editor can be. Similarly to FS and how they release games. Should they have cooked it for another year before releasing it, would that really have made the difference in the long run? Or is “releasing it now” the right thing because that’s the next step in the process?

I can’t answer to FSs’ process but with the book I can answer yes, Dan should have cooked it a bit more.

It gets good, just feels bloated. For context most books on audible are 8-10hr reads, this one is 20hrs. He tried to “Dune” this one or “GoT” it, which is nice in a 40k setting and I believe he is very close to finding a grove but this one just seems to be running on the rumble strips for a while and he’s asleep at the wheel, wake up!

There are a lot of throughlines that parallel to darktide, which is what kept me going wondering if this was a 'tide pitch.

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I understand.

That is why I will give it a try.

Thanks for the book review.

:saluting_face:

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Look forward to hearing back once you finish!

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I tried to like author especially considering his influence and tuber recommendations.

Ravenor is much more like Darktide but the writing style didn’t peak my interest though very much like Darktide. I prefer the funner Ciaphas Cain books.

Ravenor had similar elements of Inquisitor/s tracking down a chaos cult, backstabbing, ect.

Maybe I’ll give it another listen before attempting his other works but generally a lot of too dark of writing in warhammer.

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Dan certainly has his style. Yes, the Cain books are a blast! I wish there were more from Alex Stewart, cough I mean, Sandy Mitchell.

If you’re looking for some new books…

William King has a great 40k series, Ragnar. Its good fun if you can put up with wolf lore. I think the first one is called Space Wolf*. His Gotrek and Felix series are hands down my favorite fantasy series ever written. (Charcarodon series by Robbie MacNiven is up on that list as well)

Also Genefather, by Guy Haley, it’s similar to Cain by way of being absolutely hilarious.

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Dan Abnett really requires full focus to listening so much going on and characters.

Ravenor (Crippled Psyker) is much like Grendyl (Ship-bound Servitor head) working through his agents perhaps with more technology than psyker ability… though Sefoni has plenty.

Instead of investigating stims they track a drug called Fleks.

Then I trailed off thinking of replacing Arbites stim use with special Arbites weapon CDs instead… don’t do drugs kids! DARE

I hear mobian domain was mentioned in Hive did you read anything?

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Yes, I can see the connection. Ravenor is a bit extreme and holds himself in high regard, but specifically leaning away from the radical that Eishenhorn is faced with. He is a very powerful psker and I do not think grendyl has been mentioned as a psyker. He seems more of a machine focused Inquisitor closely linked to the mechanicus. We just do not know enough about grendyl. I can only assume Grendyl must have some latency in psykana to be staying alive like a dreadnought in a coffin and also be that of an inquisitor.

:rofl: Yes. Have you read Eisenhorn? Godwyn Fischig is a great “by the lex” Arbitrator.

Not to my knowledge. If it was in the first Volume I wouldn’t be surprised as I may have glazed off a bit. (and logistically for what is happening it would be hard for me to wrap my head around, but stranger things have happened)