The Founding: A Gaunt's Ghosts Omnibus

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Gaunt’s Ghosts is a series of military science fiction novels written by the bestselling British author of short stories, The Tanith First-And-Only face their sternest battles yet in the third Gaunt's Ghosts omnibus, containing the novels Traitor General, His Last Command, The Armour of Contempt and Only in Death. In Remembrance - This takes place roughly around the the time the story in Necropolis is drawing to a close. Given how unrelentingly intense Necropolis was, this is a good way to unclench and bring down the reader's adrenaline levels in a controlled fashion. Including this in the omnibus was a very smart choice.

If I was being honest, this Omnibus deserves three stars. The first book - First and Only is fine, but it's the same as most pulpy war stories. Book two - Ghostmaker - is bad. A collection of hit-and-miss short stories wrapped in an unconvincing framework. And a few of the novellas between the books are nothing special. It is pretty sweaty. Deus ex machinae are on clearance sale. Everyone's a Central Casting Northern European war movie archetype in spaaaace. There is a barely-characterized noblewoman who bones the main character for very little reason and gets monumentally horny for him after he books it up the gravity well. But that was expected! It is not a terrible example of any of the above, and I really mean the two stars as an honest "it was okay". It is okay!

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The premise is simple. Gaunt - a Richard Sharpe wannabe - leads a regiment of Imperial Guard from battle to battle, hampered by the incompetence (or malice) of his superiors. You'll get competent prose, bloody action, and lots of different tactical scenarios. In a overall, I know there are people that compare the Dan Abnett series of Gaunts with Sharp series. I'm not a fan of Sharp or its author, so I can't tell if they are close enough, but I can say I felt the battles pretty close. I felt like reading tales of 1 or 2 world war. And for someone that doesn't appreciate the usual war tales, Dan makes of me a happy reader for the humanity of his characters. The Fifth Crusade Army, led by Lord-General Van Voytz, finally advances to reclaim Gereon from the forces of Chaos after over two thousand days of brutal occupation. The majority of the Crusade force is deployed to assault the coastline fortifications known as K'ethdrac'tt Shet Magir, an action which the newly inducted Dalin Criid participates in as part of an RIP (Retraining, Indoctrination and Punishment) detail. Half of the novel follows Dalin's experiences in basic training and his struggle to survive in the chaos of the battlefield. My preference reflects my feelings on the Horus Heresy books that are set in the same fictional universe. While character is more important to the plot, what those characters do and interact do relate to the plot, even when the latter is a bit wobbly at times.

Each novel begins with an extract from a fictional book called A History of the Later Imperial Crusades, which briefly explains the situation in which the Ghosts have been deployed. These extracts are written in a past tense, implying that they were written after the Sabbat Worlds Crusade ends, and do not normally refer specifically to the Tanith First. Warmaster Macaroth's campaign to re-take the Cabal Systems begins with simultaneous advances into the Newfound Trailing Group and to both the coreward and spinward flanks. The Ghosts fight on Fortis Binary in the Trailing Group, and on Menazoid Epsilon in the Menazoid Clasp. 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. I've already written way more than I meant to (as usual), so I'll leave it here. But before anyone tells me, I'm already well aware at least the next two omnibuses are considered to be even better! The prognostications are good! Blood Pact (A Tier) is an interesting retread of Traitor General - this time swapping the roles of the cat-and-mouse game. While the side-adventures of the Tanith First's ensemble make for an amusing sideshow, they make the story less focused than Traitor General was. In spite of this, the two main perspectives (that following Gaunt & co., and the much appreciated Blood Pact) remain engaging and tense.

Publication Order of Gaunt's Ghosts: The Victory Books

I found the book very well written, like the others, but the theme got me bored in the middle of the book. Only the perspective of a very warhammerish final, that usually goes against the odds, kept me reading. And I was not dissapointed with the end, and justice was made. What a rare sentence, to say in warhammer, justice was made, but truth have been told. What saved this book for me was the short story that ends the book 'In remembrance'. The Ghosts participate in the campaign to re-take Phantine and secure the Warmaster's supply lines. Ghostmaker - an introduction to each of the main characters, interspersed between the interminable waiting before a major campaign. Yes, all the characters appear for the first time in the first book (dur), but this is where we actually meet them. 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. Gaunt’s Ghosts books tell us about a commisar by the same name and his men having to fight the most evil and horrendous creatures. The 40k universe is a nightmare, galaxies are full of enemies and races more than willing to extinguish humanity, and it’s thanks to men like Imperial Commissar Gaunt that this is unlikely to happen.