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Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

Just finished Warmaster, the return of Guant's Ghosts after 6 years in limbo.

My spoiler-free review for Amazon:

This book has all of Abnett's strengths but also his weakness

After a six-year absence Gaunt's Ghosts return with a new book. For a while now this series has been pretty predictable - the Ghosts arrive on a new world, get a hopeless mission with inadequate support, and somehow pull off a victory with one or two minor characters dying in the last 10 pages. In many ways Warmaster was a pleasant surprise with several twists upsetting the comfortable formula.

Without spoiling anything, as the Ghosts return from their last mission their ship is ambushed and boarded. Fighting their way free they arrive at a 'safe' world only to be caught up in both an enemy plot and the byzantine politics of the Imperial High Command. And things will never be the same again.

It's a strong showing from Abnett with skillful use of his large cast and great world-building.

Unfortunately his major weakness is also on show, his inability to finish books. I've noted before that sometimes it feels like Abnett was running out of pages and just wrapped things up as quickly as he could. This time it feels like he didn't make it. Several major plots are left in limbo as the book ends. A major battle just stops (for the second time in the book), with even the characters in the book puzzled about what happened. The last page has the start of a meeting, with several important matters discuss and then just stops. It's not really a cliffhanger ending, just a general feeling of incompleteness. I almost wondered if the printer had forgotten a chapter or two.

If another Gaunt's Ghosts books comes out soon that might not be a problem, but if there is another six-year gap it will be very frustrating.

The book also could have used some supplementary materials, a list of characters, maybe a map of the city or organizational chart for the regiment. With such a large cast it could be a useful reminder for readers, especially after such a long absence.

Still it was a fun read, and I'll be back for more.


After this UNMARKED SPOILERS BE WARNED!

Still there?

OK then

As I said the ending was very frustrating for me and my big question here is whether the reason the battles were aborted (the boarding action in the beginning and siege in the end) is a mystery that will be solved later or just an example of Abnett writing himself into a corner and taking an easy out.

Then as the book ends Colonel Commissar Gaunt becomes first Lord Militant Commissar Gaunt and then Vice-Warmaster Guant so where can the series go from there? Write out Gaunt? Rename the series Rawne's Raiders? Somehow put Felix in charge? Or will it refocus on Gaunt filing intelligence reports and chairing council meetings? Or will they find a way to put him back in the field?

 
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

Wow, no one cares, I guess that 6 year gap really killed interest.

 
   
Made in gb
[MOD]
Villanous Scum







That six year gap did not do the series any favours, even more so as the books have been hard to get hold of in recent years. I found it hard to remember who quite a lot of the minor characters were and found it tiresome to keep checking.

Overall I thought the book was pretty poor, the pacing was bad, the ending was pretty dumb and I also was left with the thought of where from here? I also really had trouble with the daughter thing, in the grim darkness of the 40k who really gives a flying fig about someones sex and if they really did give a gak then why not just have the op and change back later? It came across as all a bit Éponine and massively pointless.
Was not very impressed with the actions either.

My overall take was not positive and I thought it was one of the weakest books so far but I am reserving full judgment until I can read the full series back to back again.

On parle toujours mal quand on n'a rien à dire. 
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

 ingtaer wrote:
That six year gap did not do the series any favours, even more so as the books have been hard to get hold of in recent years. I found it hard to remember who quite a lot of the minor characters were and found it tiresome to keep checking.

Overall I thought the book was pretty poor, the pacing was bad, the ending was pretty dumb and I also was left with the thought of where from here? I also really had trouble with the daughter thing, in the grim darkness of the 40k who really gives a flying fig about someones sex and if they really did give a gak then why not just have the op and change back later? It came across as all a bit Éponine and massively pointless.


Y'know I had the same thought. Even in these primative times we can take care of minor problems like someone being the wrong gender, surely in the grim darkness of the far future it would a simple outpatient proceedure no?

Was not very impressed with the actions either.

My overall take was not positive and I thought it was one of the weakest books so far but I am reserving full judgment until I can read the full series back to back again.


Reread the series back to back? Your fandom sir is far deeper than my own.

 
   
Made in gb
Aspirant Tech-Adept




UK

I thought it was ok, but one of the weaker books in the Gaunt's Ghosts series.

Here's what I took from it:

Spoiler:
What it seems to be alluding to is that the Sons of Sek recovered the Eagle Stones from the Inquisition and that's why they retreated.
It also sounds like Yoncy Criid is some sort of warp spawn, although what happened to the actual Yoncy (the boy) is a mystery, and how nobody realised until now that the child had changed gender.
I also assume Mkoll is dead after his waking up as a 'ghost' and now being MIA. That is unless for some reason Mkoll was the actual target of the raid and was taken away alive, although that seems too much even for the 40k universe.
What on earth Dan Abnett has planned for Gaunt's daughter I don't know, perhaps just another story arc for Meryn to be an donkey-cave.




Imperial Soup
2200pts/1750 painted
2800pts/1200 painted
2200pts/650 painted
217pts/151 painted 
   
Made in ca
Stone Bonkers Fabricator General






I definitely still care Kyoto, Gaunt's Ghosts is my favorite series, but I've found that Black Library stuff is a surprisingly unpopular topic on Dakka. I loved the book but agree the most "to be continued" book ever in the series. The publication gap was brutal I don't usually reread books but after a few chapters in I found I couldn't remember anything about Salvation's Reach and had to go back and reread that. I forgot that Gaunt even had a kid! I'm glad I did because I didn't really like it that much the first time around but liked it a lot more this time. It has a lot more character development and introductions than any other book and I guess I'm more "mature" now or something and appreciate that over non-stop action. I think that's why I liked this one too. The interdepartmental politicking was the best part and the status and fate of Macaroth really was a page turner.

I got the Special Edition because I've my aforementioned super-fandom and in the afterword Abnett says this arch will basically be one giant super-book broken into 4 parts. So all the dangling plotlines with Kolea, Yoncey and the mid battle pause will be continued in the next one. Of course let's not forget about Mkoll!!!


 
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

That's good to hear, hopefully he'll be back to his former prolific writing speeds.

The bit with Macaroth was disappointing. THe signs are pretty clear Macaroth is not qualified to stay in command but it's just as obvious Gaunt is not qualified to take over. You don't just rise from commanding a regiment to being a 5-star theater commander.

I thought there'd be something about the other generals planning to use Gaunt as a pawn, maybe it will come up later.

 
   
Made in ca
Stone Bonkers Fabricator General






I don't know if I agree Macaroth isn't up to the job. He's very up to date on every single detail of the crusade. Of course that's the problem he's lost in the weeds but I guess that's better than the opposite where you'd have an absentee commander who has no idea what's going on and only holds his position because of some political clout. Gaunt gave him a crucial piece of intel he didn't have, that about a third of his General staff had lost confidence in him because of his infrequent personal appearances. Now that he knows that he's addressed it and in a professional matter too so I think he's fine. He's even named an heir apparent just in case.

As for using Gaunt as a pawn and all that I thought it was refreshing how non-nefarious all parties involved where. Even Van Voytz just wants what's best for the crusade.

We get our dose of deviousness with Meryn, that evil fether!

 
   
 
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