Book Review // Ghostmaker by Dan Abnett
Sometimes you pick up a book, and you just enjoy it so much that you can't put it down. That is what happened here. I picked up this book in a thrift store for a dollar, which is amazing, and better yet, it was written by Dan Abnett, one of my preferred authors. So let us not waste more time and get into the view.
Book Title: Ghostmaker
Author: Dan Abnett
Publisher: Black Library
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Commercial Fluff:
"The origins of Gaunt's Ghosts are revealed. Tanith's First and Only are put through the wringer as they overcome their home world's destruction and battle the forces of Chaos. The story's packed with action and suspense with a unique focus on single Imperial Guardsmen performing acts of heroism that will go uncelebrated and unremembered by the Imperium at large."
The Review
First, these tales are all from the short stories written for Black Library's Inferno magazine (a now-out-of-print short story magazine). The overriding Monthrax mission links these stories together. I feel the easiest way to do the review is to explain the overall tale, then the short stories, and then finish the main arc.
The Gaunt's Ghosts are stuck on Monthrax, a heavily covered jungle world with a mysterious secret at its heart. With elements of the guard facing off against a chaos splinter cell that has fled from their defeat at Balhaut. Before each tale, a page is dedicated to Gaunt as he moves around the encampment, meeting up with different characters. Each encounter sparks a short story about the character in question. Then, the final chapter is all about the Monthrax mission. I enjoyed this storytelling style; it gives us the chance to learn and build some backstory for the main characters, and it also shows they aren't a newly formed regiment and have battle experience.
Gaunt himself sets up the first two stories as he surveys the planet Monthrax. His flashback heads back to the Founding Fields of the Ghosts. As the newly promoted Colonel Commissar, Gaunt is sent to what seems like a backwater forest world with a hint of chaos. As far as Gaunt is concerned, Tanith is hardly better than a feral world. The men looked pale and had dark hair and skin covered in tattoos. Then, during the day of the muster, a splinter Chaos fleet attacks Tanith, a mere faction of the fleeing forces from their Balhaut defeat. Facing death on Tanith, Gaunt orders all able men to be evacuated from the planet. Even Gaunt himself would have nearly been killed by the attackers if not for his assigned pipe player, Milo, who saves his life. Having just barely escaped, Gaunt is shocked to find out that all the assigned officers have perished on the planet, having stayed till the end trying to save troopers. We are then left with a regiment with no officers and a hatred for Gaunt. But this soon all changes as Corbec, Rawne and Milo face off against Gaunt about leaving their world to burn. Expecting punishment for confronting Gaunt, they are instead promoted to Colonel (Corbec), Major (Rawne) and Adjutant to Gaunt (Milo). We then get to see the new regiment in action at Blackshard and how the newly appointed officers, the charismatic Corbec and the bitter Rawne, play out and handle their first outing in charge.
The next flashback starts as Gaunt watches the Ghosts play a game. This story has the Tanith battling Chaos (unsurprisingly, as it is the Sabbat Crusade), this time on the world of Voltemand. This story introduces us to the Volpone Bluebloods for the first time. A heavy elite mechanised regiment from a rich world, but they are also the operational theater's leadership and view the Ghosts as little more than barbarians to be used up, thus they deploy the Tanith into some of the most dangerous forward positions. Ultimately, the enemy's position falls, thanks to the work of a Ghost Sergeant named Cluggan. The Ghost's rejoicing is short-lived, as the Volpone commander orders an artillery battalion to fire on the Tanith's route back to the mainline of the Guard; 300 men, including the hero Cluggan, die in the bombardment. This is the beginning of a growing resentment that builds through the series.
Then we follow Mkoll, the most skilled scout in the regiment, leader of the scout detachment and a pure woodsman at heart. Whilst searching for remnants of Chaos traitors on the dangerous world of Ramillies 268-43. A mistake by one of his scouts sets off the planet's deadly flora (think cactus that can shoot its spines!) and attracts the attention of a damaged and visually impaired Chaos Dreadnought. Mkoll, thinking quickly, can use an overcharged Lasgun and the pointy cactus plants to overcome the much larger Chaos brute. This was a highlight tale for me as Mkoll takes pride in his work and refuses praise—a true hero.
Then we reach Corbec's tale set on Caligula. Gaunt, Rawne, and several others are separated from the main of the Ghosts during a landing action gone wrong due to enemy sorcery. Whilst Gaunt struggles to lead his companions to safety through enemy lines, Corbec has to take command, fearing he is the only surviving officer. Whilst the Ghosts clear out the target city block by block, Corbec and his command squad stumble across a Chaos Daemon! Guard-issued weapons prove ineffective against this Warp-spawned monster, so Corbec is forced to retreat. Corbec soon realizes this is the reason for the storm that rages above and calls in a favour from a navy friend stationed above the planet. Using Corbec's coordinates, they launch a battery strike against the daemon, utterly destroying the beast and bringing an end to the storm raging above, restoring sensor equipment a locating Gaunt and his team.
The following short story is all about ''Mad'' Larkin, the unit's most elite crazy sniper. Larkin has seemingly abandoned his unit and fled from a battle. Using an Imperial chapel to hide out, he starts suffering headaches and seemingly starts talking to an Angel statue (did I mention he is mad?). As his conversation with the Angel goes back and forth, Larkin sets up his rifle, claiming that his scope is the only thing that shows him the truth, then during a fit Larkin snipes Nokad, the leader of the local Chaos forces, before finally passing out. Hours pass, and Larkin is stirred by Colonel Corbec, who finds him, shivering and prone and soaked in urine, telling him he is the battle's hero. Larkin ends the tale by looking at the angel. Was he mad, or was he visited by a saint?
That Hideous Strength returns us to Caligula and "Try-Again" Bragg's tale. "Try-Again" is the giant Ghost in the company and the strongest able to carry a heavy bolter solo; the only problem is his aim sucks (hence the nickname). He comes across as a gentle giant, and most people view him as simple. So when Gaunt places him in charge of protecting a convoy, everyone assumes that Gaunt has written them off. Soon, the convoy is attacked, crossing a desert, and we get to see Bragg in action, fending off the attackers until the Imperial Navy can deploy bombers to end the threat of the bandits forever. It's at this point Bragg reveals that not only was the convoy a feint to draw out the criminals (devised by Gaunt and Bragg) but that he was also able to determine the identity of the traitor with the convoy who sold the information on the raiders in the process. It's a fun tale that helps make Bragg more than a walking gun.
The following short is about Gaunt and Rawne trapped behind Orkish lines on the ice world of Typhon Eight. While Rawne contemplates killing his hated foe, Gaunt, the greenskins attack, forcing the two to work together to survive. The pair commandeer an Orkish vehicle and make a danger-fraught escape. As they do so, Rawne loses his traditional Tanith knife, saving Gaunt's life from boiling chemical liquid. Gaunt then gives Rawne his knife and asks the major why he saved him...Rawne replies that one day, he will be the one to kill Gaunt on equal terms, not in a cowardly way.
The old Medic Dorden is the focus of the tale. Set in the world of Nacedon, the Ghosts encounter an abandoned farmhouse filled with the Volpone Blueblood's wounded as they prepare to retreat from a Chaos counterattack. Gaunt, whilst preparing to pull out the regiment, claims they can do nothing for the injured soldiers (their regiment has already left them to die). Medic Dorden insists that he be allowed to stay and try to defend the wounded with a small detachment of ten Ghosts. Gaunt barely agrees, and Dorden and nine other Ghosts dig in. As night comes, the Chaos Cultists begin to attack. The Ghosts and those of the Bluebloods can fight and stage a desperate defence, fending off an initial attack. But when the enemy forces begin to position artillery support, the battle seems lost until Gaunt, who has united with the main line of the Imperial troops, directs the Guard's artillery to target the Chaos unit, inflicting heavy causalities and breaking the assault.
"A Simple Plan" features Caffran, the youngest of the Ghosts at eighteen years. Follows the Ghosts as they attack a refinery on a planet called Sapiencia. After the navy boys mess up the landing, the poor Ghosts must survive the deadly waters before hitting the beaches. Having arrived first, they are told to act as reserves for the heavier units. Pissed off by the thought of this, Caffran and a small detachment follow a set of tunnels behind enemy lines and ignore the order to retreat. Here, they face the enemy on their own, completely unsupported. During a brutal firefight, they demolish a refinery tower, barely escaping its destruction. Still, the enemy commander Sholen Skara, convinced his lines had been overrun, begins sacrificing his troopers to Khrone, weakening his lines and allowing an easy victory for the Guard units pushing up the beach. Caffran is offered the opportunity to execute Skara, but Caffran believes forcing Skara to live with his shame is the worst punishment they could dish out.
We then reach Brin Milo, Gaunt's adjutant and the only non-military personnel to survive the destruction of Tanith. His tale begins with Gaunt thinking about how his uncanny ability to anticipate events will get him in trouble again one day. Hence begins "Witch Hunt," where Milo's ability and participation in a gambling scam puts Milo under the scrutiny of an Imperial Inquisitor called Lilith. As the unit prepares to disembark on Monthrax (yes, we have caught up to the main story), the Inquisitor, who has been sent to investigate reports of witchcraft on Monthrax, is put onto the scent of Milo by the Ghosts' Blueblood rivals. In an interrogation, it initially seems that Milo's odd talents might lead to his execution. Still, instead, he reveals a more mundane explanation for the rigged game, saving his life for now.
Now we have hit the last chapter, and it is all about Monthrax, as the Ghosts are ready for a counterattack as the enemy over-commits themselves, exposing their flanks. As the Ghosts start to engage with Chaos throughout the jungle, Mkoll seeks out a ruin he glimpsed in passing while scouting earlier. To his surprise, he finds it under heavy siege by a vast horde of Chaos Cultists. Meanwhile, an unnatural storm has let rip, confusing the troopers' minds and spawning Chaos abominations within the Jungle. Although Lilith and Gaunt are initially worried about the storm being a filthy Chaos magic trick, it is soon discovered that the source of the storm is a group of the ancient Eldar race who seek to close one of their Webways entrances on this world. Using their mind tricks, the Eldar convinces a group of Ghosts, led by Major Rawne, that they are on Tanith, fighting to save their world from Chaos! With Rawne's Ghosts working with the Eldar, they can hold off the initial attack, giving Gaunt and Lilith time to figure out that the storm originated at the ruins. Mkoll is also found surrounded by dead cultists and reports of the activity at the ruins. The Ghosts and Blueblood forces join up and push against the flanks of the Chaos horde at the ruins, allowing themselves to also fall under the Eldar's spell to bolster their efforts. Once the horde is dispersed, Lilith finds the Farseer, now too weak to close the Webway. She uses her power to seal the gate forever and passes through with the Eldar survivors to the Craftworld beyond. Gaunt and his Ghosts regroup, worn but strangely filled with pride at the opportunity, however falsely created, to reverse the retreat at their Founding and seemingly fight for their homeworld.
And with that, the book ends. I enjoyed this; the short story format helped keep the story going while allowing us to build up the characters in our heads without having to read twenty books. Dan Abnett's writing is enjoyable and absorbing, and I can't wait to read the next book.
Mkoll's tale was my favourite, closely followed by Caffran's, and I look forward to reading more about these characters! As always, thank you for joining me and reading this entire post. I hope you enjoyed it.
