Bursty reader of sci-fi, crime and urban fantasy. Occasional writer, designer, dancer and software engineer. I am a believer in using the whole range of * for reviewing things (3 is a perfectly acceptable book), but I realize that a lot of systems treat <4 as trash. So I don't use the ratings button and instead put mine in the review.
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On the forge world of Urdesh, the massed forces of the Imperial Crusade engage in …
Another very doctor like book in places (bar the fact the solution is the stout application of las, grenades and swords), this is one of the better entries in the series, even if I'm pretty certain several major plot points for this novel were only thought of during the writing of the previous one.
4/5 books
As war rages in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, Commissar Ibram Gaunt returns from a hellish …
The fighting and the combat is fine, but the handling of the differences in personality between those who went (with the exception of Gaunt) and those who didn't was just flat.
2.5/5 books.
Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt spent a year fighting as part of the underground resistance on the …
Really, this is Traitor General pt 2; and while fine, it's not the book Traitor General was. 3/5 books
This one shows up more of Abnett's other writing credits - it feels like a Dr. Who novel quite often, and it wouldn't have need that many changes to put the Brigadier in charge. But still, nicely detailed and resolved. 4/5 books.
A smidgen mawkish right at the very end, but a solid enough work. Does a decent job at being a standalone while at the same time setting up the next couple of books. 3.5 / 5 books.
Abnett continues to mix-up the warzones the first are being dragged into, along with developing some of the other plotlines a chunk. However some of the characterizations don't quite ring true (Wilder and the surgeon). 3/5 books.
This book shows a shift in focus as it pivots to the bigger picture (a bit). It may also be the point where, on reflection, the series has jumped the shark - it's hard to tell yet. 3.5 / 5 books.
"In disgrace after a catastrophic war, Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and the Tanith First are sent …
A lot in this one, possibly too much - at times it feels a little over-condensed. But otherwise one of the better ones so far. 3.5 / 5 books
On Monthax, Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and his Tanith First-and-Only await the order to advance into …
This is not so much a novel as a collection of short stories illustrating the back-story of most of the main ghosts. Unfortunately, it suffers as a result due to the sheer number of (slightly) incongruous time-skips. While Abnett makes an attempt to pull things together at the end, it doesn't quite come off.
3/5 books
Overview
The Sabbat World have been lost to the Imperium for many long centuries. Now, …
A very much 'boys own' war origin story for Abnett's personal regiment. 100% a beach(head) read, but doesn't claim to be anything more than that. 4/5 books
Penitent (Bequin #2) (2021)
This is a tricky one to cover without the use of spoiler tags. I guess the shortest version is it's a perfectly fine romp with all the twists and turns you expect. However I'd recommend not reading this until the next book is out, to be honest, as this is very much the middle book of a triology and not a complete story. 3/5 books.
This book contains some lovely worldbuilding and some ridiculous set-pieces while simultaneously trying to keep the reader as in the dark as to what is exactly going on until the reveals as possible, which it more or less achieves.
But I don't know that I can recommend the book or not, as more than usual / most, it really isn't a complete book, but instead a very, very long first chapter to set up the following books (which currently only one of the remaining two planned are written).
3-4 / 5 books, depending on whether the rest of the trilogy is worth it.
The closing part of the Ravenor arc, it suffered much less from the literary issues of the previous book and more or less did exactly what you'd want - provide a beach level romp of clashing villains intent on double crossing each other and dashing heroes with their dark secrets that brought the threads of the last two books to some form of closure. While no less complex than the preceeding trilogy, as a whole it lacked the depth of Eisenhorn. 3.5 / 5 books.
For some reason or other this was the third attempt I made to read this book. I'm unsure the exact reason, but I think it was the overhanded foreshadowing of what was going to happen that put me off.
I'm glad I did finally finish it as there was at least some subversion of it; and it remained a readable piece of space opera.
3/5 books.