<![CDATA[Latest posts for the thread "Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down?"]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/31.page JForum - http://www.jforum.net Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down?
My main concern is the almost excessive amount of combat in the novels. In First and Only and Ghostmaker, I could handle the onslaught, because it was broken up with interludes that offered insight into Gaunt and the main Ghosts. However, Necropolis, good as it was, was an absolute nonstop feast of carnage. To its credit, that seemed to be the intent, given the ridiculous scale of the conflict it needed to cover in a rather short page count. But I'm worried that the proceeding novels will fall into repetition, constantly throwing these huge numbers and massive battles into the stories with little regard for pacing or offering reprieve for the reader.

The only other Sabbat Worlds material I have read was the short story collection. So I ask you, does Gaunt's Ghosts let up at any point, slowing things down or settling into a more personal scale? Or does it continue to escalate to the point where Vervunhive seems like a minor skirmish?]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129312.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129312.page GMT Re:Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down?
Stick with them, they get better and better. Dan just sucks at spaceships. ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129326.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129326.page GMT Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down?
There are indeed quite a few large set-pieces, as is befitting for the setting, and warporn has always been a big part of the series, but in the later stories, the big war becomes more of a backdrop, with the Ghost's being involved in more specific, small-time roles.

I won't spoil anything, but to vaguely provide some examples, in the second omnibus, a sizable chunk of the overall story arc focuses on a black ops type mission, where only Gaunt and a few of the ghosts embark on a secret mission behind enemy lines. The two stories that take place after the second omnibus has thus far focused more on Gaunt and his sub-plot, and less of "WW2 all day erry-day".]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129333.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129333.page GMT Re:Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down?
 Badgerous One wrote:
You get much smaller scale stuff later on, one book is just 48 long and has no " battles" a few fire fights but only a few participants. It's also the first book to make me well up at the thought of loosing a character.

Stick with them, they get better and better. Dan just sucks at spaceships.


Would that short story be In Remembrance or The Iron Star? Both of those made me feel more for the characters in such a short time than the entirety of Necropolis.

I get that Necropolis is really the turning point for the series, with the Verghast element introduced into the Ghosts, but it really could have done with some more fleshed out subplots. I thought that Dorden and Curth were going to have a neat little murder mystery side story, but that got put on the backburner and quickly resolved in half a page at the end of the book.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129337.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129337.page GMT Re:Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down?
I mentioned it on Facebook and tagged dan Abnett in it. I got an apology for making me practically burst into tears on a bus full of chavs at 11pm lol]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129408.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129408.page GMT Re:Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down? WH40k is all about?]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129466.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129466.page GMT Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down? BL, and the gaunts ghosts books are still my favorite.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129700.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129700.page GMT Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down?
Like The Walking Dead, the thrill of "who's gonna die next" is only interesting when anyone can die. Once it's established that everyone will die, the story loses its luster. ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129723.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129723.page GMT Re:Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down?
 btr75 wrote:
I like the battles in the first Omnibus, particularly Necropolis. Isn’t the backdrop of unending war what WH40k is all about?


I didn't dislike the fighting in Necropolis, I just felt that there was too little in between the battles to give them more punch when they appeared. I felt that there were several potential subplots in the story that were set up early, only to be forgotten until the end or dropped altogether. Stuff like Curth and Dorden's investigation into Worlin's massacre, or more time focusing on Gol Kolea's guerrillas outside the Curtain Wall to break up the Zoican wave.

There is only so many times I can see the words Ochre, Vast, Sheer, and Scale before it gets numbing.

I want to see what happens next, I'm just worried that I'll start to get bored if every half page another gargantuan battle breaks out.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129731.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129731.page GMT Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down? ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129754.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129754.page GMT Re:Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down? http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129809.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5129809.page GMT Re:Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down?
 Arcsquad12 wrote:
 btr75 wrote:
I like the battles in the first Omnibus, particularly Necropolis. Isn’t the backdrop of unending war what WH40k is all about?


I didn't dislike the fighting in Necropolis, I just felt that there was too little in between the battles to give them more punch when they appeared. I felt that there were several potential subplots in the story that were set up early, only to be forgotten until the end or dropped altogether. Stuff like Curth and Dorden's investigation into Worlin's massacre, or more time focusing on Gol Kolea's guerrillas outside the Curtain Wall to break up the Zoican wave.

There is only so many times I can see the words Ochre, Vast, Sheer, and Scale before it gets numbing.

I want to see what happens next, I'm just worried that I'll start to get bored if every half page another gargantuan battle breaks out.


I agree that some of those sub-plots went to pot. I would have liked to see a little more with them. Editors probably wanted to reduce the word count.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5131831.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5131831.page GMT Re:Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down? http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5132094.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5132094.page GMT Re:Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down? http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5132329.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5132329.page GMT Gaunt's Ghosts: Toned Down?
In fact, there's one whole book where they're forced into an old meatgrinder, and Gaunt spends a great deal of time trying to get his unit out of it before they're ground into a fine paste, focusing less on the warfare, more on the changing nature and role of the ghosts. ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5133096.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/497728/5133096.page GMT