Anarch (WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #15) ★★★☆☆

 

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Title: Anarch
Series: WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #15
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 372
Words: 137.5K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia & Me

On the forge world of Urdesh, the massed forces of the Imperial Crusade engage in a final bloody battle with the Archenemy commander known as the Anarch, and his elite warriors - the barbaric Sons of Sek. A victory for either side will decide more than just the fate of Urdesh... it will determine the outcome of the entire Sabbat Worlds Crusade. Ibram Gaunt – now serving at the right hand of Warmaster Macaroth – finds himself at the very heart of the struggle. His regiment, the Tanith First "Ghosts", holds the vital key to ultimate success. But as the forces of the Imperium and Chaos square up for the final, large-scale confrontation, Gaunt discovers that the greatest threat of all may come from inside rather than out.

Mkoll, the Ghost's top scout, is captured by the enemy and frees himself and 3 others. They make their way to where Sek himself is giving the final orders for the fight and ambush him. He escapes using the warp, but Mkoll follows and kills him. He makes sure to take his head as proof.

While this is going on, The Tanith are trapped in their barracks by one of the children who turns out to be a Woe Machine and a creature of chaos able to control physical reality. It's a blood bath but Gaunt and an Inquisitor manage to defeat her. Only to find out that her older brother is also a plant. Neither of the kids realized what they were and so the older boy, now a Ghost himself, goes insane and gives in to his nature. He goes after War Master Macaroth himself and is barely stopped from destroying the whole leadership of the Crusade.

With Sek's death and Macaroth's survival, the Army of Humanity wins the Sabbath Crusade. Gaunt is now a big time officer and the Ghosts are his special regiment. No more little fights for them.

My Thoughts:

This was a good ending to the series. Gaunt is now a Big Cheese and as such won't be leading from the front anymore. The Ghosts are a real mix of actual Ghosts, Vergastites and Belladons so them becoming Gaunt's fist is good so they don't get ground up and spit out like most of the Army of Humanity.

I did NOT like the little girl and the young Ghost being Woe Machines. They were never human, were simply in disguise but thought they were human the entire time. Having that ripped away from them was unpleasant to read about and even worse to contemplate. It definitely put the “grimdark” into this book. It was one of the main reasons I was glad this series ended here. I didn't want to read more of this type of thing.

Overall, I have enjoyed this Gaunt's Ghosts series. It has been great ground pounder action with almost no space ship battles. It was a fantastic entry for me into the Warhmmer40k universe since the Horus Heresy series left me dead cold. Gaunt himself was a good character to root for even while not hogging the spotlight. Plenty of other Ghosts survive each book for us to get attached to, but at the same time Abnett has no problem killing them off. That's war for you after all.

My next WH40K series will be the Ciaphas Cain series. Cain is another Commisar, so I'm hoping it will be all ground pounder action as well. But with how this Gaunt's Ghosts series ended, I need a breather from the bleakness of Warhammer40k and so am going to start a different Mil-SF series altogether. Probably get back to the Warhammer40k universe some time in late '22 or early '23. Preventing burn out is every book blogger's duty after all.

★★★☆☆

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The Warmaster (WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #14) ★★★☆☆

 

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Title: The Warmaster
Series: WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #14
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 287
Words: 103K

Synopsis:

From Warhmmer40k.fandom.com & Me

After the success of their desperate mission to Salvation's Reach, Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and the Tanith First-and-Only race to the strategically vital Forge World of Urdesh, besieged by the brutal armies of Anarch Sek.

A bad warp jump takes them away from the universe for 10 years.

However, there may be more at stake than just a planet. The Imperial forces have made an attempt to divide and conquer their enemy, but with Warmaster Macaroth himself commanding the Urdesh campaign, it is possible that the Archenemy assault has a different purpose -- to decapitate the Imperial command structure with a single blow. It is also possible that Sek is after the Eagle Stones rescued from Salvation's Reach.

Has the Warmaster allowed himself to become an unwitting target? And can Gaunt's Ghosts possibly defend him against the assembled killers and war machines of Chaos?

My Thoughts:

This book exemplified everything about why I don't read much Warhmmer40k. It was dark, brutal, gory, filled with despair and in the end hopeless.

I probably would have dnf'd this if this series was going to keep on going. However, I'm pretty sure that the next book, Anarch, wraps up the series. So I kept telling myself “Ok, you've enjoyed the series to date, so one bad book shouldn't derail the whole thing”. It was a close thing though!

I did not enjoy this. Many people are plotting against the Warmaster Macaroth because he's not doing things how they want. Gaunt has to deal with this. The Ghosts are being torn apart by evil scum like Merin and pathetic drugged out losers like Commisar Blenner. Saint Sabat has possessed one of her followers and is leading the charge personally against Anarch Sek.

Which leads me off down another rabbit trail. The whole Human Empire is based on the idea that anything supernatural comes from the warp and is therefore tainted by chaos and therefore evil. And yet they have Saints left and right and mystics and nobody bats an eye when a girl claims to be possessed by a dead saint. The inconsistancy is what annoys me.

The biggest issue that got me down was the fact that it appears that one of the children (the Ghosts have a whole retinue along with them, their families, etc) might be an agent of chaos without even knowing it. I'm really hoping I'm wrong, but WH40K books aren't known for their deep and intricate plottings. I hate when children are used in stories like this, even potentially.

The story itself was good, the fighting was FANTASTIC and Abnett's writing was up to snuff. That being said, I am looking forward to this series ending. I am wondering about pushing up my rotation and reading Anarch sooner than I normally would just to get over the goal line.

★★★☆☆

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Salvation's Reach (WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #13) ★★★☆☆

 

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Title: Salvation's Reach
Series: WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #13
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 311
Words: 108K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia

Following the events of Blood Pact, Colonel-Commissar Gaunt and his Ghosts are returned to active duty, and are given one of their most formidable assignments yet; a mysterious space hulk known as Salvation's Reach. According to the turncoat Mabbon Etogaur, the Sons of Sek, a breakaway faction within the Blood Pact commanded by the warlord Anakwanar Sek, have secretly been using Salvation's Reach as an R&D installation; concealing their activities there from all factions, even their overlord, Archon Gaur.

If Sek's covert operations are brought to light, it will shatter the uneasy alliance between Sek and Gaur, sparking an internal feud that will tip the balance of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade in the favour of the Imperium. The Tanith First – reinforced with additional troops drawn from Verghast and Belladon – and a trio of veteran Space Marines are sent to neutralise the facility at Salvation's Reach and gather as much intelligence as possible before they destroy it. However, Gaunt must also see to the protection of the incarcerated Mabbon, deal with the malcontents within the Tanith First, and cope with personal issues that he never anticipated.

A sub-plot in Salvation's Reach follows Doc Dorden's battle against terminal cancer, and his determination to serve the Tanith First until the very end. Another sub-plot explores the relationship between Captain Ban Daur and his new partner, Elodie. Through the latter, readers are granted an insight into the lives of the wives and other civilians that follow Imperial Guard regiments around the galaxy. The novel also features the appearance of Brother Kater Holofurnace of the Iron Snakes, a Chapter of Space Marines that previously appeared in Abnett's novel, Brotherhood of the Snake.

My Thoughts:

I knocked this down half a star because there were some space battle'y scenes and I just don't care for spaceships slugging it. It wasn't bad or anything, I just like groundpounder action.

There's a lot of “hinted at” threats that I sometimes wonder if anyone is going to survive. The rot within the Ghosts, which is typical for most of the armies of man, is really revealed here. It makes you realize WHY the Commissariat exists in the first place and that the Ghost's have been a pretty exemplary unit. The bad apples are starting to bob to the top though. With this being Warhmmer40k, I half suspect that the entire unit will die by betrayal and fail in a critical mission. That just seems like WH:40K flavor :-/

Dorden dying was no surprise given his cancer. However, it seemed like it was supposed to be poignant or something, like previous characters dying. The problem is, you know people are going to die because this is war and what's more, this is an ongoing, intergenerational war.The emotional punch has been removed because it is the ordinary, not the extraordinary.

The inclusion of 3 Space Marines (super beings from another age) didn't do it for me either. They talk a lot about past glory, blah, blah and then toss in how technology has been lost or something for making more of them? I'm not up on my lore, so I don't see why the Empire can't churn them out like candy. Even if “something” has been lost, fething find it or rediscover it again! There are hundreds or more of worlds not being assaulted by Chaos, use them for research and development. I am sure the people directing this franchise have taken care of that issue but it wasn't adequately explained to me at all in this book and just pissed me off with their defeatist attitude.

The fight scenes were what really saved this book for me. The infiltration of the base, finding and disarming boobytraps, then the retreat, it was all in the great groundpounder format that I like.

★★★☆☆

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Blood Pact (WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #12) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot , Librarything & Bookype by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Blood Pact
Series: WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #12
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 243
Words: 99K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia & Me

After the gruelling events on Jago, the Tanith First is removed from active service for the first time since its founding and sent to Balhaut to perform garrison duties. Two years on, however, the Ghosts are becoming restless from the lack of combat and purpose. A number of them go as far as turning to petty crime and other bad habits to amuse themselves. Ibram Gaunt himself becomes increasingly idle and distracted, but remains confident that the Tanith First will return to the front again soon.

Events turn as Gaunt is summoned to Balhaut's Commissariat headquarters. A senior officer of the arch-enemy has been captured, and refuses to speak to anyone but Gaunt. The Inquisition is attempting to secure custody of the prisoner so that they may handle him their own way. The prisoner insists that he wishes to help the Imperium, but this claim is met with speculation by Gaunt. However, he is forced to protect the prisoner and go to ground in the city when a Blood Pact insertion team storms the facility in an attempt to silence the prisoner. With heretical witchcraft influencing the populace and a determined hunter pursuing them, who can Gaunt turn to for aid? And what information does the traitor general know that prompts the enemy to openly assault an Imperial stronghold?

The Inquisition gets involved and is as much after Gaunt's blood as the Blood Pact members. There is a running battle for a day before the Ghosts come to Gaunt's aid, destroy the Blood Pact, reveal the Inquisitor to be an agent of Chaos and generally kick butt and help destroy the city. Gaunt gets rewarded and everybody prepares to go back to the front lines instead of going stir-crazy on leave.

My Thoughts:

2 years is a long time. Since it happens between books it is really hard to accept and fathom. It doesn't “feel” like 2 years so you're just kind of left dangling and have to accept it as authorial fiat.

When I started this book I was pretty meh and wondered if my reading rotation had let me down. I really considered dropping this for a rotation and move on to the next book. Thankfully, I stuck to it and I was not let down. Once I got past the “Oh, it's been 2 years and we're going stir-crazy being on leave and leading a peaceful life” and things started happening, wham, it was game on. I loved the mirror image this was to Traitor General and seeing the Ghosts in a slightly more relaxed environment was fun.

I ALSO liked seeing how the Blood Pact insertion team worked and how their magic was conducted. When the Inquisition got involved I wasn't sure what to expect, maybe a battle of Techno-Magics but whatever I was expecting, I did NOT see the ending coming, not by a long shot. It was great though!

Abnett continues to impress with his writing here. While not an indepth character study, he's able to reveal new little tidbits that help flesh Gaunt out (hahahaa, get it? Flesh out, Gaunt? Never mind). The revelation that Gaunt could possibly have been Warleader of the Crusade was a real stunner for sure.

Overall, another thoroughly enjoyable entry in the Gaunt's Ghosts series.

★★★✬☆

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The Iron Star (WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #11.5) ★★★☆☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot , Librarything & Bookype by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Iron Star
Series: WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #11.5
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 58
Words: 10K

Synopsis:

From the Publishers & Me

Set between the events of Only in Death and the forthcoming novel, Blood Pact, The Iron Star follows Colonel–Commissar Gaunt and the Tanith First and Only across an unknown and mysterious warzone. Here, they face the their old foes, the Blood Pact. But how are long–dead Ghosts able to fight at Gaunt’s side against the enemy, and who are the watchers? The key to it all lies in unravelling the mystery of the iron star.

This short story ends with Gaunt waking up from surgery after being rescued by the Tanith from the Blood Pact. He'd been tortured almost to death and only the efforts of the Ghosts keep him from crossing the bridge into death.

My Thoughts:

I knew this was a short story but for some reason I had completely forgotten that Gaunt had been taken by the forces of Chaos in “Only in Death”. So while I knew this was some sort of dream, I was pretty confused without the salient fact of HOW Gaunt was on death's door.

I really should have read this immediately after Only in Death instead of waiting my usual time between books in a series. Abnett was aiming for the discombobulated, drugged out feeling and by george, he did an admirable of conveying just that. I was weirded out the whole time I was reading this.

For 58 pages I think these couple of sentences covers all that needs to be said.

★★★☆☆

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Only In Death (WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #11) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot , Librarything & Bookype by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Only In Death
Series: WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #11
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 237
Words: 100.5K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia & Me

On the fortress-world Jago, Lord-General Van Voytz addresses the Tanith First personally. He 'asks' the Ghosts to secure an empty stronghold to the east of Elikon, the central Imperial bastion on the planet. It is clear from the start that Gaunt resents these orders. After six days of marching through Jago's desert-like terrain and enduring dust-storms, the Ghosts reach their objective: Hinzerhaus, dubbed the house at the end of the world.

As they attempt to secure the fortress, the Ghosts make numerous discoveries. There is no water source on site, the maps that they have been given of Hinzerhaus are inconsistent and incorrect, and strange echoes fill the halls. Many of the men become convinced that the place is haunted. These findings only cause more issues when the Blood Pact attempt to storm Hinzerhaus, and the Ghosts are forced to mount a defence against a superior foe. At the same time, strange apparitions begin to eat away at the courage and morale of the men...

The title of the novel is part of an old Imperial proverb; only in death does duty end. The beginning of each chapter opens with an extract from Commissar Viktor Hark's field journal, which is written in a font which resembles handwriting. This style changes slightly at points when Nahum Ludd scribes on Hark's behalf. The novel re-introduces Agun Soric, who was absent from the previous books in the 'Lost' arc.

The book ends with the Ghosts holding out until reinforcements arrive and it is revealed that all of the hauntings have been the result of one of the former Tanith Ghosts, now a chained up Psyker, trying to reach out to his old friends. He asks to be killed and Nahum Ludd, as the acting Commissar, fulfills the request.

My Thoughts:

If ever a book should have been an October/Halloween book, this was it. It was just filled with ghosts of the Ghosts, creepy old faceless women, wurms that grind through solid rock that only some of the Ghosts can hear and a general disquietude that conveyed an understated dread and painted everything bleak. It was perfect. For Halloween. For Pre-Christmas, it wasn't nearly so good.

I still did enjoy this. The Ghosts continue to get ground up like hamburger, death is not only present but the only reality and the creatures of Chaos just keep on coming. Where do these creatures come from? I know some Chaos creatures are turned humans, but where do the rest of them come from? Where is “Planet Chaos”? If something exists and it can be killed, figure out what kills it and do it. Don't fight the spread, fight the source. To me, WH40K has always been a bit weak on the where's and whyfore's of this kind of thing. Or it might just be that I'm not well read enough in this universe. This isn't my Bible after all! :-D

Overall, this was another good entry in this series and I have no real complaints. It's not the book's fault that it should have been read in October, hahahahaaa.

★★★✬☆

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The Armour of Contempt (WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #10) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede  
all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization
and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot ,Librarything & Bookhype by Bookstooge’s
Exalted Permission

Title: The Armour of Contempt
Series: WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #10
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 340
Words: 92K

Synopsis:

This is the story of the liberation of Gereon. The book starts out by introducing us to a new character, Dalin Criid, the adopted son of Tona. He's going through training and the plan is for him to get into the Ghosts once he graduates.

The Ghosts, along with a bunch of others, are tasked to retake the planet Gereon. It turns out High Command thinks there is something special about Gereon that resists Chaos and they hope to discover what that is and to replicate it.

Dalin is not sent to the Ghosts and must endure his trial by fire with a lowly group of reject Guards. He survives but hears the voice of his adopted father Caffron several times giving him advice which saves his life.

The Ghosts are tasked with retaking a small village and establishing contact with the remnants of the Resistance. High Command then imprisons all of the resistance to test them for the ability to resist Chaos. There is nothing Gaunt can do. At the end of the book, when the Ghosts are leaving, the Resistance is spirited away by the remaining Ghost Resistance scout MkVenner and head off into the wilderness to hide and survive.

My Thoughts:

I think this was the grimmest Gaunt's Ghosts book yet. Dalin being introduced as a character and his trying experience, we really get to see how the men in the trenches experience warfare. They're cannon fodder, nothing else. We also get to experience a Commisar that is more typical than Gaunt. Both of these experiences make the reader realize just how unusual both the Ghosts and Gaunt are.

I guess this was a contrast book. So far the Ghosts series hasn't been that grimdark and I've almost slid into thinking that maybe the Warhmmer40k Universe wasn't that bad. This was a stark reminder that yes, it is a horrible place and even the supposed Good Guys aren't really Good Guys, they're just not as horrific as Chaos. Heck, if I was even a semi-powerful force I'd be trying to liberate my own corner to live in. Feth the Emperor and feth Chaos. In my system every child would have a pony, there would Free Pizza Friday every Friday, all the woman would wear long skirts, all the men would have curly beards and wear suspenders and we'd all sing Nordic'ish songs with lots of “j”s in the words.

But back to THIS book. Caffran dying at the end, at the hands of a terrified child, well, that just was the grimmest part. The person he was trying to save is the one who kills him seems to hold the very essence of what Warhmmer40k is all about. I'm just thankful all the books haven't been like that and I hope the rest aren't. We'll see though.

★★★☆½

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His Last Command (WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #9) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: His Last Command
Series: WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #9
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 361
Words: 98K

Synopsis:

Gaunt and most of his crew make it off Gereon after 16months of fighting a guerilla war. Suspected of Chaos Taint, the entire team is slated for execution without hearing one word of whether Gaunt's mission was a success or not. One lone Commissar believes Gaunt and gets him an audience the man leading his sector, the man who sent Gaunt to Gereon in the first place. Due to their actions and continued suspicion of Taint, Gaunt is stripped of his field command becomes just a Commissar again. The other Tanith's are folded back into the regiment that the rest of the Tanith have been integrated with.

The current battle is to take some sacred domes that appear to be made in the Emperor's honor from the 31^st millennium. Gaunt proves that the whole setup is a Chaos trap to end the Sabbat Worlds war. A last minute evacuation allows the space forces of man to wipe the planet clean. Gaunt is proved correct and the suspicion of Chaos, by the Inquisitors anyway, is removed. Whether Gaunt is given back his Colonel'cy remains to be seen.

My Thoughts:

Well, Abnett just ignores how Gaunt and his get off Gereon. Ok, he gives it some lip service and a mention of their guerilla warfare but really, it is just glossed over like a cutscene from an old video game. I do have to admit that Gaunt came across as rather dumb in the beginning. He acts like he's never dealt with chaos taint or what things look like from an outsiders view. And honestly, given how severely the Empire deals with taint, he should just be thankful they did make it out alive.

Other than that, I had no complaints about this. The Tanith and Vergestites are folded into yet another undermanned company and make up a full company. The leader of said company is loved by all and gets killed, so you know that in another book, two at most, Gaunt is going to take over and make them all Ghosts. If the Ghosts were chocolate pudding in the first book, by this time they've had so much vanilla pudding added that they are neither chocolate or vanilla. But they aren't tapioca, so that is all that matters!

Lots of action and fighting, so absolutely no issues on that front. Thankfully, that side of these books is staying pretty consistent.

Ps, I am going to start hosting only the bigger pix on google drive. 22K covers are not going to be an issue. That way I don't have to change the way I write my reviews, which is the worst of sins in my book (hence why I am so against the block editor).

★★★☆½

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Traitor General (WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Traitor General
Series: WH40K: Gaunt's Ghosts
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 416
Words: 105K

Synopsis:

From WH40k.lexicanum.com

Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt is asked to lead a team of guardsmen on an infiltration mission to the planet of Gereon, held by the forces of Chaos in order to eliminate a captured traitor Imperial Officer who holds secrets pertaining to the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. Gaunt leads eleven of his regiment to the planet where they are met by Jerome Landerson, a member of the Gereon Resistance. Landerson and the resistance lead the Gereon Twelve across the planet the fortress where the Imperial Officer is being held. Before getting there the team has to deal with chaos garrison soldiers, glyphs and wirewolves as well as the Chaos Space Marine Uexkull. To escape their pursuers Landerson leads Gaunt and his team into the Untill, home of the Partisans, an old rebel force who opposed the Imperial Government centuries ago. The Untill is a large dark swamp filled with poisonous creatures, the most notable of which being a large species of moth. The Tanith and the resistance meet with the Partisans and help defend them from Uexkhull and his squad of Chaos Space Marines. It is through this action that Gaunt is given Eszrah ap Niht, son by his father, the Chief of the Partisans. The Tanith and Resistance then leave the Untill and make for the occupation fortress.

Meanwhile the traitor or pheguth, as it is called by the Chaos forces is being kept prisoner by the forces of Chaos Magister Anakwanar Sek under the command of Mabbon Etogaur. The pheguth is protected by the life-ward Desolane, a sexless beast risen from birth to protect its wards with its life and brutally gruesome martial skills. The pheguth was captured by Chaos forces whilst on an Imperial Transport awaiting trial for desertion. However as the pheguth knew sensitive secrets the Commissariat psykers put a mindlock on him, locking away his memories and identity. The pheguth is then subjected to the prying claws of the Magister Sek's psykers as they try to peel back the layers of psychic encryption on the pheguth's mind. The process is excruciating but eventually meets some success. The pheguth remembers that he is in fact Lord General Noches Sturm, leader of the 50th Royal Volpone. Realising that he must of been betrayed by the Imperium and especially Gaunt, he begins to help Mabbon Etogaur form, train and discipline the Sons of Sek, a new chaos army modelled on the Imperial Guard. It is planned that the Sons of Sek will grow to rival the Blood Pact in strength, allowing Magister Sek to challenge Archon Urlock Gaur for leadership of the Chaos forces in the Sabbat Worlds.

Having reached the resistance safehouse near the location of the pheguth Sturm's location, Gaunt asks Landerson to have the resistance gather their forces so that they may make a strike on the fortress. The resistance does so, getting slaughtered in the process but allowing Gaunt and his strikeforce to slip in to the fortress and fight their way to Sturm's room. Upon Gaunt and his ghosts entering his room, Sturm finally remembers certain important moments in Vervunhive, concerning his desertion and his dishonourable conduct. Sturm, once again faced by Gaunt, asks once again for the right to commit suicide. Skeptically, Gaunt grants this request, allowing Sturm to finally regain some of his honour through blowing his own head off. Desolane enters the room at this point and is enraged at his charges fate, flying into a fury beating Gaunt and Mkvenner in personal combat, taking three lethal toxin-laden quarrels from Eszrah's reynbow and is only killed by a close range hotshot from Feygor who uses Larkin's sniper-pattern lasgun.

My Thoughts:

This was Grimdark, through and through. Yet I enjoyed every page. There is a lot of page time given over to Chaos and how it affects everything. I actually appreciated that, since I don't play WH40K or have much reading experience. It helped fill in some gaps. Needless to say, Chaos is truly insidious and this book shows just how it warps everything it comes into contact with, even those directly fighting against it. I'll come back to that.

There are currently 16'ish books in the Gaunt's Ghosts series but without that knowledge, you'd think this was the last one. With Gaunt and a select few of the Tannith Ghost's abandoned on a Chaos controlled world at the end of the novel, I don't see how the story will proceed. I've assiduously avoided reading anything about the future books so as not to ruin the surprise of how they get out of this mess, but considering it is a Warhammer40K setting, I don't imagine it will be easy or pretty. I'm guessing a lot of blood, guts and extremely dirty politics.

Back to the chaos. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm simply not going to learn much about the Emperor or how Anti-Chaos operates (it definitely isn't Order, that is for sure). Sometimes those opposing Chaos are just as bad and you wonder, why bother to fight Chaos if this is what you're going to have to deal with in return? The corrupting influence of Chaos is definitely showcased here, as the Resistance on the planet have had to take on the control worms (there is no better description for it) of the enemy simply to move around without being killed. Those worms change them, even in little ways and it is central point for Gaunt and his Ghosts about whether they can be trusted or not. I have a feeling that that idea of Trust and being warped by Chaos will play a bigger role in the upcoming books.

This was a great read for what it is and probably one of the best of the series so far. I'm looking forward to how the author is going to extricate Gaunt and Crew from the Chaos world and reintegrate them back into the larger group of Ghosts.

★★★☆½

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Sabbat Martyr (Warhammer 40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #7) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Sabbat Martyr
Series: Warhammer 40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #7
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 416
Words: 104K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia & Me

At the request of the reincarnated Saint Sabbat, the Tanith First-and-Only is summoned to the remote and tactically insignificant world Herodor. The Civitas Beati, a holy city dedicated to the Saint, is under assault from a legion of Blood Pact, led by Enok Innokenti. While the Ghosts prepare to defend the city alongside the local PDF force, Gaunt learns the truth of the situation: the woman posing as the reincarnated Saint is Sanian, an esholi whom the Ghosts encountered on Hagia. Utterly convinced that she is Sabbat, Sanian has clearly lost her mind. Lord-General Lugo – whose career has been unstable since his disgrace at Hagia – plans to use her as propaganda, and does not care that she is an imposter; he believes that he will be forever remembered as the man responsible for a miracle in the Sabbat Worlds. As far as untold thousands of pilgrims, Imperial and archenemy troops are concerned, Sanian is the true Saint.

However, things take a strange turn when Sanian actually does become the host for the Saint's spirit, after Sabbat's true incarnation perishes in the assault. Innokenti deploys nine specialist assassins to the Civitas Beati under the cover of the invasion. Their purpose: kill the Saint and shatter the morale of the Imperials. With the Imperial fleet all but destroyed and surrounded by an enemy who has multiple advantages over them, the Ghosts face one of their most daunting challenges yet.

The title Sabbat Martyr is a reference to the psychic message experienced by a number of Ghosts in Honour Guard. Ultimately, it is one of the Ghost's most beloved leaders who becomes a martyr in Sabbat's name, as he gives his life defending her from the final assassin.

Sabbat takes down Innokenti and with the death of the Chaos leader, the Chaos forces retreat and are eventually destroyed by reinforcements. Cuu is revealed as the final traitor and is killed. The book ends with one of the Ghosts, who has been getting messages from himself that have saved innumerable lives, being handed over to the Psykers and his final message being “Help Me!”

My Thoughts:

For whatever reason, I struggled with this book. I had to check to see if it was written by Abnett because the writing just wasn't zinging along like his previous books in this series. Part of it was there were a couple of space battle scenes and I don't care two figs for space battles. I don't dislike them, but it doesn't draw my attention. However, even the ground pounder action felt almost like it was a gaming scenario from a WH:40K miniatures game instead of a battle in a story.

How magic is treated (I was going to say works, but that's not accurate) in this universe still baffles me. It is supposedly of Chaos and therefore tainted. But then you have whole Departments of the massive army dealing with the magic, ie, the Psykers, etc. So why don't they take in everyone with some talent and use them until they become too tainted by Chaos? Why put them “under the question”? Then you have the whole “Emperor Protects” thing, where the people are basically invoking the Emperor to protect them with his magic and you have reincarnated saint like Sabbath. How does that square with everything? All magic can't be bad, but it is treated like it is.

The body count is pretty high and even with the injection of the Verdegast volunteers from a couple of books ago, the Ghost's are going to need a fresh dose of people to keep things moving along. At some point though the Tanith Ghosts will lose their identity if that were to keep up. My guess is by the end of the series they're chewed up to nothing and the few survivors are rolled into other units. We'll have to wait and see.

Finally, the biggest reason this was dropped half a star is because of the end of Lijah Cuu. That miserable son of a gun has been a cancer within the ranks of the Ghosts and caused so much trouble that his ending should have been appropriately horrific. Instead, he's dispatched like a rabid dog with just a couple of shots. Bam, he's dead. No justice for the horror and betrayal he's committed ever since we met him. That just stuck in my craw and was like vinegar and gall.

Even with all that complaining, I still enjoyed the book enough to continue on with the series. Obviously I won't enjoy every single book and I guess this one just falls into that “I mostly enjoyed it but didn't love it” category.

★★★☆☆

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Straight Silver (Warhammer 40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #6) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Straight Silver
Series: Warhammer 40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #6
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 416
Words: 107K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia

Still under the command of Van Voytz, the Tanith First is deployed as part of the Imperial Expeditionary Force to Aexe Cardinal, where a deadlocked land war has been raging for forty years between the Aexe Alliance (a handful of loyal nation-states) and the Chaos-corrupted Shadik Republic. Warmaster Macaroth insists that the Aexe Alliance is to remain in command of the campaign, with strained success. The Alliance employs methods of warfare considered obsolete and inefficient according to the modern standard tactics of the Imperial Guard.

Gaunt is quickly frustrated with the brutal strategies and lack of reliable intelligence, and disagrees with the deployment of the scout-specialist Ghosts as grunts in the trenches. Van Voytz and Count Golke – the Alliance/Imperial liaison – negotiate with Alliance Command and agree to a compromise: one half of the Tanith First is sent to the northern Montorq forests to scout the area, while the other is redeployed to the Seiberq Pocket – the most dangerous section of the war zone – where they are tasked with infiltrating the Shadik lines and destroying the enemy's newly developed siege guns.

Straight Silver is the first novel in which the Tanith First does not see a campaign through to its conclusion: after successfully taking out the siege-guns in the Seiberq Pocket and repelling a Blood Pact flanking manoeuvre in the Montorq Forest, the Ghosts are withdrawn from the front lines and redeployed to Herodor.

My Thoughts:

Another book in the series that doesn't disappoint. Action, politics within and without, drama, tension, this is everything I want in a ground pounder sf book.

The story line about Lija Cuu (who is an insane psycho who kills his allies as easily as the enemy) ramps up and Mad Larkin (a sniper who seems to be one of the better guys) pretty much loses it. Larkin is completely intimidated by Cuu though, so I'm not sure that justice for Cuu will come from Larkin. Cuu is definitely set up as the Bad Buy within the Ghosts. He cleverly kills another Ghost this time around and once again it is blamed on the enemy. Cuu makes me want to kill him (which is the whole point of the character, but still...)

The greater political game was good in that it put Gaunt in his place. Not that it was necessarily enjoyable to read about a competent man being over-ruled time and again and watching the bad decisions play out, but it keeps him from becoming a Candidate for Emperor in the reader's minds. Gaunt is a great commander but he's not in overall charge and the story does a good job reminding us of that.

While these books are not great tomes of literature, they are still well written, enjoyable and I can see why Abnett has made a name for himself as an author of franchise fiction.

★★★☆½

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The Guns of Tanith (Warhammer 40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #5) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Guns of Tanith
Series: Warhammer 40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #5
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 416
Words: 104K

Synopsis:

WH40K.Lexicanum.com

In the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, the heretical forces of Chaos are fighting back hard. Dangerously overstretched, their supply lines cut by degenerate enemy troops, the Imperial forces grind to a halt. Colonel-Commissar Gaunt and the Tanith First-and-Only must recapture Phantine, a world rich in promethium but so ruined by pollution that the only way to attack is via a dangerous – and untried – aerial assault. Pitted against deadly opposition and a lethal environment, how can Gaunt and his men possibly survive?

The novel begins with the Tanith First training to take part in the airborne assault on Cirenholm, a dome-city perched above Phantine's toxic Scald. The archenemy's elite Blood Pact have captured the city, which the Imperial forces plan to use as a staging ground for their campaign to reclaim Ouranberg, one of Phantine's largest cities and a major source of promethium. After the Ghosts successfully infiltrate the Blood Pact's defences and prevent a disastrous loss for the Imperium, Lord-General Van Voytz re-considers his approach on the Ouranberg invasion.

A number of Ghosts are hand-picked to form specialist kill-teams, placed in a regime of additional jump-training and covertly deployed into Ouranberg prior to the invasion. Codenamed Operation Larisel, their mission is to kill Sagittar Slaith; the Chaos commander of the Blood Pact holding Ouranberg. Doing so will break the morale of the Chaos worshippers and enable the Imperial forces to recapture Ouranberg with greater ease. The task is made more daunting with the prospect of thousands of Blood Pact troopers and Loxatl mercenaries standing between them and their target. However, the rest of the Tanith First face their own trials as they await deployment; a great unease is brewing between the Tanith and the Verghastite soldiers, and a crime case involving several Ghosts highlights this divide.

My Thoughts:

Something about ground pounding marines in a science fiction setting really does it for me. While the Horus Heresy deals with demi-god levels of warriors, Gaunt's Ghosts are nothing but baseline humans. The common man fighting the forces of Chaos with gun and sword.

Both invasions, the first being a general free for all with everyone and the second with 4 teams of 4 infiltrating and attempting to assassinate Slaith, are just jam packed with fighting. More fighting than you could shake a Power Sword at!

The little side story about about the divide between the original Tanith and the newly integrated Verghastites keeps things from becoming to fight'y, if you know what I mean. Plus, the whole murder of a civilian and Cuu the bastard incriminating another Ghost added some spice to the story. I have to admit I'm looking forward to Cuu getting his just desserts, hopefully in an appropriately horrible way.

★★★☆½

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Honour Guard (Warhammer 40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #4) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Honour Guard
Series: Warhammer 40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #4
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 416
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

From the Wiki and Me

The Ghosts are sent to the Shrineworld Hagia, religious capital of the Sabbat worlds and homeworld of the revered Saint Sabbat herself, to reclaim the holy world from the clutches of Pater Sin and his so-called Infardi. During their campaign to reclaim the Doctrinopolis – the planet's central city – Gaunt, who has command of the ground forces, is forced into a trap set in one of the most holy structures in the city. A warp-beacon is activated in the process, and a Chaos fleet advances on Hagia to obliterate the Imperial forces.

With just eighteen days until the fleet (large enough to wipe out the liberation force even if the fleet were a quarter its current size) arrives, Gaunt is given one last chance to redeem himself by the arrogant and pompous Lord-General Lugo: recover the Saint's remains and holy relics from the Shrinehold in the Sacred Hills for evacuation. The Ghosts are appointed as the honour guard of these relics, and together with units from the Pardus armoured regiments they form a convoy and journey into the mountains. However, much of Sin's Infardi horde has pulled back into the hills; leaving the Ghosts with no choice but to fight the heretics while at the same time fighting the elements and navigating the unfamiliar terrain.

Several of the wounded, left back in the city, start hearing a voice telling them “Sabbat Martyr” in their heads. They band together and meet Gaunt at the shrine. Turns out they are all needed to activate a secret weapon left by Sabbat to protect her homeworld. The Psychic Weapon is activated and destroys every creature on the planet with the taint of Chaos. It also destroys the chaos beacon and scatters the approaching chaos fleet.

My Thoughts:

As long as you turn off your brain about the super psychic weapon (as in, why aren't those things being studied and recreated now, instead of lying around for 6000 years), this was a lot of fun to read.

Abnett mixed things up by introducing a whole host of armoured tanks to complement the Ghosts and their being strictly infantry. Not a big mechanized tank fan though, so it didn't do much for me. I did like that Abnett addresses how taking on new “Ghosts” affects them as a unit.

Gaunt is revealed to be a very religious man, with him venerating, if not worshipping, Saint Sabbat. Since there hasn't been any of that to date, I wonder if I'll see any more of it in later books. I highly doubt it however. It came across as more superstition than devotion though. I suspect most of that is because the religious side of Warhammer 40K is some paint on it, not something integral to it like a load bearing beam.

Gaunt gets in trouble with the over-General and while he succeeds at the end of the book, what happens politically wasn't written about. I suspect that will play a big part in the beginning of the next book.

★★★☆½

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