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cwoac Locked account

cwoac@bookrastinating.com

Joined 1 year, 5 months ago

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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The Anarch (2019, Games Workshop, Limited) No rating

On the forge world of Urdesh, the massed forces of the Imperial Crusade engage in …

Abnett swings back to Dr.Who

No rating

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

Honour guard (2015, Black Library) No rating

"In disgrace after a catastrophic war, Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and the Tanith First are sent …

A book perhaps slightly over-trimmed

No rating

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

Ghostmaker (2000, Warhammer) No rating

On Monthax, Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and his Tanith First-and-Only await the order to advance into …

A time-skipping anthology

No rating

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

A difficult book to review.

No rating

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.

Pariah (Bequin #1) (2012) No rating

Simply a long chapter 1.

No rating

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.

Ravenor Rogue (Ravenor) (Paperback, 2008, Games Workshop) No rating

If you've read the first two books, you already know you are going to read this.

No rating

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.

Ravenor Returned (Inquisitor Ravenor) (Hardcover, 2005, Games Workshop) No rating

The difficult middle child?

No rating

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.