You don't like reading about war, and lots of violent action (seriously, avoid these books like the plague). However, things take a strange turn when Sanian actually does become the host for the Saint's spirit, after Sabbat's true incarnation perishes in the assault. Innokenti deploys nine specialist assassins to the Civitas Beati under the cover of the invasion. Their purpose: kill the Saint and shatter the morale of the Imperials. With the Imperial fleet all but destroyed and surrounded by an enemy who has multiple advantages over them, the Ghosts face one of their most daunting challenges yet. His regiment idling behind the lines on Balhaut, Gaunt finds himself opposing a Blood Pact infiltration team seeking to eliminate an enemy defector. 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.

This is the first three books of the Gaunt's Ghost series, often lauded as some of the pinnacle of W40K writing (that's how I came to read this). Personally, after reading the first 7, I find this series massively overrated. The first trilogy is not terrible, though, the three books here are of quite varying quality. 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! 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. The way he ended the book was also pretty decent, a couple of loose ends from previous booked were tied up and stuff. In his last book, Only in Death, he seemed to have a new style of writing which was kind of fitting into the situation and setting.So far the characters seem a fairly standard Mil-SF lot, including the honourable, commander who cares for his men... Abnett normally avoids big themes in his books, or rather he hides them very well, but here the theme is family. We have a woman from the previous book who is now adjusting to life as an officer's lady. Reunions both welcome and unexpected, and how close family ties can both help and hinder a unit. One thing I really like was how he showed the regiment preparing for the raid. They had floorplans of the target, and these were laid out in empty hanger spaces so the troops could rehearse every expected step, train on room-clearing, and learn the other guy's job as well as their own. This is what real units do. It was a nice touch. Necropolis is and remains a stone cold classic of the genre. It's the most "human" of these books. Remove the weird ending with the demonic cultists, and the midsection set piece with the meat puppets, and it could be any good narrative work about World War Two. Gaunt’s Ghosts is a series of military science fiction novels written by the bestselling British author of short stories,

I haven't read this series since high school, and so I went into it fully expecting it to not be nearly as good as I remembered. The Iron Star, originally published 2008 – ISBN 978-1-84416-716-6 (not included in ISBN 978-1-84416-819-4) Ghostmaker (F Tier) is a bizarre book. This novel contains the most convoluted plot of the entire series, and is absolutely the least enjoyable. Relative to every other book in the series, it absolutely deserves the F grade. Very little action, nearly impenetrable intrigue, non-existent character development... If I had been buying each book sequentially from first to last, I might have quit the series after this one. It was that bad.The storyline of The Armour of Contempt shifts at regular intervals, between the perspectives of Dalin Criid and the rest of the Ghosts. The novel draws its name from a fictional book called The Spheres of Longing written by Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor, the main character of another series written by Dan Abnett. I managed to finish this book in a record time of one week and two days. My normal reading speed for omnibuses of this size was around 3 to 4 weeks, but this book was special. A Ghost Return • First and Only • Of Their Lives in the Ruins of Their Cities • Ghostmaker • Necropolis • In Remembrance and Only is the first book in Gaunt’s Ghosts series. Generally, like many novels opening a series, this book is about setting the tone of the entire series: who are these Gaunt’s Ghosts, where do they come from, who is Gaunt. This is a brilliant series opener that revolves around Ibram Gaunt and his regiment of Imperial Guard known as Gaunt’s Ghosts.

In such circumstances, the rulebook of Imperial Guard warfare was clear: if in doubt, move forward. If Sek's covert operations are brought to light, it will shatter the uneasy alliance between Sek and Gaur, sparking an internal feud that will tip the balance of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade in the favour of the Imperium. The Tanith First – reinforced with additional troops drawn from Verghast and Belladon – and a trio of veteran Space Marines are sent to neutralise the facility at Salvation's Reach and gather as much intelligence as possible before they destroy it. However, Gaunt must also see to the protection of the incarcerated Mabbon, deal with the malcontents within the Tanith First, and cope with personal issues that he never anticipated. The jungle world of Monthax is the setting for the end of Ghostmaker, when Gaunt and his men encounter the alien Eldar as they struggle to wipe out a Chaos infestation. The Ghosts have to co-operate once again with the Royal Volpone 50th, and with an inquisitor who had accused Brin Milo of witchcraft. They discover an ancient portal leading to one of the Eldar's craftworlds, self-sustaining cities in space, which the inquisitor, Lilith Abferquan, closes after the alien Farseer guarding the portal dies. At the end of this battle, the Ghosts lost an excellent leader, Sergeant Lerod. First and Only is the first novel in the series (and, in fact, was Abnett's first published novel), introducing Gaunt, his regiment, and the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. While deployed in the theatres of Fortis Binary and Menazoid Epsilon, the Ghosts become embroiled in a plot by an ambitious general officer to supplant Warmaster Macaroth as supreme commander of the Crusade force. Mostly it seemed like a bunch of contextless action sequences who's main aim was to invent new and gorier ways for those around the main cast to explode into sprays of shattered organs...Every settled planet in the Imperium of Man is subject to the Imperial tithe: as many able-bodied men as that planet can provide to feed the meat grinder of The Emperor's wars. Gaunt arrived on the planet Tanith to review his new troops at about the same time as the Chaos forces, on their way to safety, passed by Tanith and burned the planet to cinders. Barely half the new Imperial Guard unit escaped. There were no other survivors. Gaunt's new unit was christened the Tanith First and Only. Necropolis is a significant point in the series; at the end of the novel, the under-strength Tanith First receives an influx of replacement soldiers from the militia and general populace of Vervunhive. A number of major characters are introduced in the novel. A short story titled In Remembrance directly follows the siege of Vervunhive, and is included in The Founding (the first Omnibus). The Ghosts participate in the campaign to re-take Phantine and secure the Warmaster's supply lines. Dan Abnett writes some good action scenes; although some of the actual warfare, weapons and tactics seem a bit out of place in a SF setting (it opens with a set piece that's more or less out of WW I trench warfare, complete with poison gas...) 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.