It's been 18 years since “First and Only” was published. I think we’ve all grown used to the Tanith First being in the bad end of things, whether that’s being pulped by Sturm on Voltemand or haunted by a psyker on Jago, and receiving little reward for them. Now in “The Warmaster,” things are going to go their way. For a little while, until fate and the cruel domination of the author’s pen undercuts their celebratory mood.
Let's get the /pol/ bugaboo out of the way first. There are elements of this book that were clearly influenced by "modern" incidents and developments that took place in the 6 years between the publishing of “Salvation’s Reach” and “The Warmaster.” I think, if you know Abnett’s career and the people he collaborates with outside of 40k, certain statements don't come as too much of a shock. They're just dismayingly out of place in the 40k setting, and in some cases they retcon plot elements, both major and minor, in an irritatingly off-hand manner. I can see where they make some sense in the context of certain characters. It's just very jarring when Abnett goes on a rant about the inherent misogyny of the Imperium of Man, and puts words in characters’ mouths about how bad women have it in the imperium.
>‘No sentiment,’ said Ezra. ‘It was a journey and we walked it.’ This was definitely a book where Abnett was cutting out the dead weight. Some characters who really never got much development are killed, and the most saddening is definitely Eszrah. It feels like Abnett decided that he’d forgotten about what his plans were for some characters so he just axed them so it would be easier to focus on the shiny new things. We get the build-up of some new minor characters and a few old ones who have, and remain, somewhat lost among one of the Ghost’s most political and high stakes conflicts to date.
In the aftermath of the Raid on Salvation’s Reach, the Tanith First-And-Only try and fail to return in triumph. A sudden Warp drive failure causes them to emerge 10 years into the future and they immediately find themselves the target of Chaos reavers. What follows is one of the densest, and longest, battles Abnett has ever written. Literally 30% of the book is just the battle for the ‘Highness Ser Armaduke’, in what amounts to a preview of some of the character arcs that play out in this story.
Mkoll starts walking a path familiar to readers of Ben Counter’s Soul Drinkers series. Zhukova gets some fleshing out here, distinguishing her from being just a competent and attractive officer by showing off some innate, untrained stealth skills. Dalin and Ludd get set up for a rivalry that sort of feels like it came out of nowhere, since neither of them are looking at Felyx in a sexual sort of way until they learn that Ibram’s son is actually a daughter named Merity, yet Dalin’s monologue brings up jealous lovers pretty much immediately and telegraphs the whole reveal really early in. Vaynom Blenner falls to pieces. We also start to see the portent-laden unveiling of Dalin’s sister not really Yoncy after the grim events of “A Ghost Return” from 2014’s Sabbat Crusade anthology.
Most importantly, Gaunt finds himself acting as a counselor and a leader of a shell-shocked crew of professional officers and forced out of his comfort zone as a frontline leader of troops.
Anthony Gomez
Actually, the battle scenes are kind of boring. The Space Marines Space Marine, the Chaos pirates go around killing a few nobodies and then get off-screened, and Gaunt spends most of the period trying to act like a political morale officer instead of fighting. The best parts of this first third are the character examinations, and the opening. The poetic first paragraph is a great hook into the book, and the almost lyrical chapter that follows just mesmerized me into taking a deeper read.
There’s also some good humor in the first few chapters, particularly as people contend with the aftereffects of an unexpected Warp translation. The first third could’ve been written almost immediately after “Salvation’s Reach,” because it feels so much more in line with what came immediately before.
>‘The war allowed women to show their strength. It is an empowering moment against the traditional patriarchy that my dear mother is using to the full extent to secure her position.’
It’s the remainder of the book that feels slightly off-kilter. Partly, because of the aforementioned /pol/ bugaboo, but also because of the time skip. Some characters have drastic changes, others act almost willfully stupid, and a few show unforeseen depths. If you do get a bit of a sinking feeling when reading this part of the book, like I did, just try to remember what it felt like when Costin ended up remaining a minor villain instead of reforming or dying after Herodor, or how it felt when Soric came back. They provided some great drama in hindsight, and they really strengthened the impact of their return. Hopefully the events of “The Warmaster” pay off similarly for the characters involved. I didn't really think "The Last Jedi" was a good movie for being solely about the twists, but "The Warmaster" is rather similar in how it is built on surprise plot twists.
Oliver Reyes
Of particular note, I think Vaynom Blenner’s suffered some mischaracterization during Abnett’s hibernation. I mean, I seriously don’t believe the man who actually fucking defied the Inquisition for Gaunt would nurse a grudge that sees him set up Gaunt’s kid for murder/blackmail/extortion. Seriously?
Also, why would nobody in fucking high command, from Cybon on down, think to even talk to the blessed Saint Sabbat during a vital last ditch battle? Why is Macaroth a goddamn hikkikomori? How do you get Lugo as the Vaynom Blenner of High Command? Why is Mkoll no longer a knowledgeable woodsman, but a Khornate killing machine? Who decided that being a bodyguard meant you were stupid? And Zweil now has nothing to do.
But Gaunt becoming a Lord Militant and later Macaroth’s right-hand man, as Kiodrus was Saint Sabbat’s is fucking great. I could not keep the smile off my face as I read those words. After 20 years, Gaunt is finally getting the recognition he deserves, and the Ghost’s are finally going to escape being meaningless dog soldiers to the rest of the Imperium. The political subplot sets up some good dramatic tension beyond the dangers of being shot; I especially liked the reveal that Gaunt was to be installed as the next Warmaster, and it ties in wonderfully to the end of the book, where after burning all his political capital with his closest allies, he’s made Macaroth’s heir anyway. It was also a lot of fun to finally read the characters of these high commanders after they got named in “The Sabbat Worlds Crusade” infobook, though they get even less development than minor nobodies like Jakub Wilder who dies anyway or Gol Kolea.
Daniel Evans
The Felyx Chass/Gaunt subplot goes off in a really fucking dumb direction. There’s a lot more shipping in this novel than in any prior Gaunt’s Ghost story, even more than Salvation’s Reach. And unfortunately, Abnett doesn’t know how to balance it. Nahum Ludd was one of my favorite characters when he was introduced in “His Last Command,” but despite or because of his growing confidence and competence in prior books, he gets sidelined and humiliated this time around so Dalin gets more anime/manga-ish development with Merity. Like, seriously, Abnett pulls the whole “Oh no I walked into the bedroom we share without knocking and found out he was a GIRL!”
While Dalin is not uninteresting, and I especially enjoyed his introduction to the horrors of war in “Armor of Contempt,” he’s kind of an idiot in this book and for some reason after the first third of the book he doesn’t really grow as a character. He ends up being a hapless self-insert sort of character who only has events happen to him without taking any real action, and his weakness is one of the main reasons why Ezra, who in some ways was as much a child of the Ghost’s as Nahum and Dalin were, is killed by Meryn.
Aaron Brooks
>‘As I have trusted you many times. The outcome is what matters, isn’t that what you always told me?’ In some ways, Abnett is at the height of his skill here. He pulls out some beautiful writing, particularly when describing the great knowledge and everyday miracles that are so often ignored in the Imperium, and he really reinforces this sort of mood in the book where everything you expect or hope to see gets undercut. A celebration for Gaunt is rained out, the return in triumph isn’t what anyone expected, the supposed canon error becomes a major plot hole/plot point. Plot events go down unexpected branches, like when Yoncy straight up shreds a squad of Sons of Sek because her personal demon-pet doesn’t want them interfering or when Gaunt trolls Rawne.
In some ways, “The Warmaster” shows Abnett straining and failing to hold it all together. Yoncy and Felyx’s arcs are so telegraphed as to be transparent and thus lack all dramatic and sexual tension. Certain characters act so stupidly or so strangely that you wonder if Abnett is even writing them; everything you know about them just goes out the window, and a timeskip isn’t enough to explain it. Also, while this has always been his way, the antagonists are too plainly the antagonists and the virtuous are too clearly virtuous. There’s very little gray in this book, and it makes for weak political drama.
Aaron Hughes
At times, it feels like there are now too many characters in Gaunt’s Ghosts. A strange problem, it’s true, but its disappointing when old heroes like Gol Kolea or Elim Rawne just kind of stand around in the background until the plot demands they react. Other viewpoint characters, like Elodie Daur or Bonin get a few pages of watching things happen, and miss obvious signs that something is seriously awry. Others, like Ludd and Baskevyl and Maggs, just get written out of the story so that they don’t interfere with the plot rather than being forced to act stupidly and obtusely.
If you accept that Abnett will retcon things he forgot or will freely change things to suit his new story arcs, “The Warmaster” is a fun, even good Gaunt’s Ghost novel. If you wanted consistency and a focus on some of your old favorites, you’re going to be disappointed. But “The Warmaster” is definitely worth a read; even if you’re disappointed, you’ll get a lot of enjoyment out of it. It might be shallow, and over-reliant on narrative stupidity to drive the plot, but there are enough good Ghost moments to make it a must for any fan of the series.
Grayson Powell
Solid review, user. Pretty much hits all the points of what I thought about the book.
My biggest plot bugbear with it though was the Yoncy is actually daemonically-possessed/awakening psyker and not a girl (???). It felt to me like an entirely unnecessary and frankly overdone plot point, since we already had something similar (and far better written) happen with Soric earlier.
The gender reveal was even more underwhelming, considering we have something similar happening in reverse with Merity/Felyx , and it felt overwhelmingly like Abnett had suddenly decided to retcon her life/gender to make her into a major character. The throwaway line in Salvation's Reach didn't set this up adequately at all, and Kolea's flashbacks left me even more confused about what exactly the chain of events here was (wouldn't Dalin remember he had a baby brother instead of a sister?).
Thomas Peterson
I'm finishing it now, there certainly is some mordern politics in it but it's good to see Gaunts and his ghosts rewarded.
Isaac Gonzalez
See, that's not what I think Yoncy's plot is leading to. Do you remember "Blood Pact" and the witch who traveled with the Etogaur's hit squad? Yoncy was a creation of the Chaos gore mages. She's a meat puppet psyker that reshapes herself to the perception people have of her, hence why she goes from a child to a teen in appearance later in the book. And she's acting as Gaur's instrument in this skirmish over the "Eagle Stones." Or at least, that's my take on it.
Leo Perry
It really felt like 2/3rds a book to me, the climax of Gaunt’s arc but the rest feel unfinished and waiting for resolution in the next one
the real world politicky parts stuff didn’t really bother me, I even like the anime esque twist you mentioned but I cannot stand the plot armor the malignants in the Ghosts benefitted from
And what he did to Blenner is such a waste, his moment during Blood’s pact climax was one of my favorite little snippets.
I miss Merrt
Ryder Watson
Apparently Abnett just took a writing mistake from way back when and used it as a plot point here. Yoncy was referred to as a boy at some point in the first edition of Necropolis, and later books called Yoncy a girl. So now he's retconning that into being a dark plot.
Noah Davis
Yeah, like I said there were a lot of parts where characters had to act really stupid or get written out in order to make elements of the plot work. The malcontents subplot was one of them, and it's still strange to me that Gaunt, Hark, Fazekiel, and Ludd all fail to deal with Meryn despite their suspicions and Gaunt's explicit command.
Though I can't remember if Blenner was in on the reveal of the viduity scam, his story arc in this book is a really whiplash from his actions before it. Even in Salvation's Reach, he wasn't really an antagonist character so much as out of his depth yet still loyal to Gaunt and the regiment. I wasn't even sure if he was taking sugar pills or the illegal pills in the first part of the book, but it certainly sounded like he wasn't a part of Meryn's gang until he went to Wilder asking for more pills.
I do agree that it felt unfinished. There were some subplots that really could've been tied up in this one but instead it's almost all left hanging.
Sebastian Ortiz
Bring back Cuul!
Carter Martin
I expected the plot twist to be either Macaroth was dead and a computer was running everything, like in that one Ghost in the Shell episode or Macaroth really wasn't even there and was just giving orders by runner because he was busy luring Sek onto the battlefield to strike the finishing blow. The real twist was a total surprise to me, if only because it was so weirdly out of character for an Imperial general.
Cameron Gutierrez
I hate Meryn. He's giving me fucking PTSD Cuu flashbacks.
Jose Rodriguez
Abnett reuses archetypes a lot.
Levi Taylor
Why would you say that? he did nothing wrong.
She was sweet
Zachary Lee
...
Christopher Clark
What's the twist?
Robert Phillips
See Macaroth is just hiding.
Angel Perry
Did he rape Felyx?
Joshua James
Nah he raped a random woman on the third book i believe. But i don't think felix virginity is secure for much longer either.
Anthony Ortiz
Meryn raped a random woman in Necropolis? I really don't remember that.
Brody Smith
No Cuu did the raping
Angel Williams
He had a hard life
Michael Cook
All the new GW words being thrown in is a little jarring. 15 books in, and suddenly they're not Imperial Guard anymore. They just start throwing around "astra militarum" like they've been saying it all their lives and not just because GW had a copyright fit.
I'm glad he stopped using the word "lasman" (mostly) though. I mean, he never used the word once and then in Salvation's Reach the word was like a 12 year old discovering some new catch phrase with how much he used it.
Kevin Long
Yeah, and Tauroxes everywhere. Though maybe he really meant Tauroses?
Adam Torres
wait what? Now I am no expert on 40k lore but I was always under the impression that 40k was always pretty equal when it comes to gender.
Xavier Lewis
like to elaborate, it makes sense that out of all the world controlled by the Imperium of man, there would be some that are sexist or follows traditional gender roles. The imperium cannot even standardize their technology levels yet people except them to standardize culture? And really? The Imperium is misogynistic? I suppose that's why we get female inquisitors and a whole army of badass females.
Samuel Long
I have to agree with the notion that Abnett is trying to juggle too many characters. Way too many odd character developments and sudden ends.
I did find the sudden misogyny rants very jarring though. Mainly because in a sense Abnett had already covered this in previous books. Verghast women fought and joined Gaunt's Ghosts and nobody made a fuss. Now all of sudden its a fight against the patriarchy. Abnett did a great job of just putting women into the story and it flowed naturally. I think its an irony that by making a deal of women in 40k he ruins his implementation of women in 40k.
Overall though, I think this book suffered from "the middle of a trilogy" syndrome. Everything in this book is basically a set up for the next one which really sucks because previously almost every book he wrote before could stand on its own without needing to rely too heavily on reading the previous novels. I got into the series this way. This book is basically all prologue for the next. If Abnett wants to improve his craft he should stop trying to find ways to insert his new found politics into the story and work on writing a book that can standalone as its own story and still set up great for the next one.
Isaiah Campbell
God dammit I was so looking forward to this book and now I don't think I'm going to even read it so I can preserve my current memory of the series.
Though I admit I didn't even know this was coming out since I stopped reading 40K books 3 years ago.
Yoncy is still referred to as a boy in my copy of the Omnibus so I don't think it was ever changed.
That mistake is not as bad as how in how Armor of Contempt Dalin knew Kolea was his real dad but in the next book he didn't.
Owen Foster
Well not according to The Warmaster.
There are a few sections where it just rants on about misogyny. Like, Zhukova complains that she is just "automatically" assumed to be using her sex appeal to attach herself to successful military officers when that was what Daur explicitly said she tried to do back in Vervunhive and that she tried to get him. Mkoll is like >Yeah, it's real unfair >Now let's talk about your career >Be a scout and remain a Captain which pretty much sets her up for taking over the Scouts when Mkoll dies in the next book.
Gaunt describes Major Pasha, the new Vervunhive commanding officer from the last book, as having a >...powerful, presiding, maternal force. A different wisdom. That isn't "properly valued" by, I dunno, the readers? Because it certainly can't be the 1800 or so Guardsmen she brought to the regiment.
And there's like 2 full pages of Felyx just going off about how Verghast is a misogynistic patriarchy so House Chass is viewed as a weak ruling house for having Merity leading them.
Luis Howard
>That mistake is not as bad as how in how Armor of Contempt Dalin knew Kolea was his real dad but in the next book he didn't. Yeah that confused me so hard when I first read Only In Death. I thought they just both mutually decided it was too weird to acknowledge or something, but that just made it weirder.
In The Warmaster, I'm surprised that Novobazky is never brought up considering Blenner was considering him a role model at the end of Blood Pact and being influenced towards being a better commissar.
Ethan Young
>It might be shallow, and over-reliant on narrative stupidity to drive the plot, but there are enough good Ghost moments to make it a must for any fan of the series.
Ryan Parker
i see. Honestly it was not as bad as I thought, and I mean complaining about a particular world in 40k being sexist does make some sense I guess. When I read what OP wrote, I thought it was going to be a lot worst.
Michael Morgan
God that sounds like shit.
No one cared about female soldiers in the previous books or Chass being led by a woman. Rawne's not girlfriend is the only one who ever used sex appeal to get stuff.
It probably varies per planet but for the most part gender doesn't seem to matter.
Robert Reyes
yeah, that is what I am saying. To claim the imperium of man as a whole is sexist is really stupid and bullshit. Sure some planets might be sexist but that does not make the whole imperium sexist.
Jaxon Cooper
Nah, Abnett kept it contained to a single group and even made sure to have Dalin point out to Felyx that regardless of how Hive nobility thought, the Ghost's were far more integrated. I think the idea he was going for wasn't to just rag on the idea but to actually show that you can integrate people together so completely the start to not even notice anymore.
I liked it anyway.
>Chass being led by a woman. That gets brought up and explained, and it's not like there were any other House leaders who were women, in fact it's part of Ol' Man Chass' worries in the book Verghast is introduced in, if I remember.
Abnett didn't claim it was, just one planet.
I liked it though, another solidly "good" book in a genre filled with hack shit.
David Hernandez
Cool, thanks for the clarification.
Jeremiah Torres
No problem, guy.
If you do pick it up, I hope you enjoy it, it's a fun little read if you don't pick it up expecting Dostoyevsky or something.
Noah Reyes
well I have read First and only and enjoyed it a lot, and also enjoyed ravenor by the same author, so I think I will enjoy this too. Right as soon as I read all the other guant's ghosts novels.
Liam Sanders
>complaining about a particular world in 40k being sexist does make some sense I guess
It's not that it exists, but that it's so totally jarring when you see something that literally reads like SJW propaganda just thrown into 40k.
Eli Baker
>SJW propaganda Really?
Reaaaaaaaaaally?
It didn't come out of nowhere, he brought up the issues of Verghast politics and the Officers looks before this point, and it get's resolved with someone pointing out that soldiers form bonds, which isn't exactly far-fetched.
Sounds more like you're upset it got brought up at all rather than what was actually said.
Julian Edwards
people have their opinions about these things. After learning the context behind this, it was not really what I expected at all.
Lucas Campbell
It's fine if they don't like it, but it really isn't propaganda.
Brody Hall
yeah that is true, but we live in the day and age where people will call just about anything propaganda regardless of the context. I remember when overwatch first announced Moria, people were already complaining about how she was just a token transexual character, before blizzard even revealed her characterization.
Xavier Cook
Did you do one of these for Master of Mankind? Given how divisive that book is, I'd be interested to hear your opinion.
Gabriel Evans
No, he's never brought up "gender issues" within the Ghosts before this in this manner. Criid to a very small extent when Cuu didn't respect her might be considered an issue of Verghast officers, but nothing other than that. Banda and the other snipers and heavy weapons teams aren't involved in any of that. The issues aren't even resolved; Zhukova just bitches about being treated like a pretty woman when she benefits from it, Pasha doesn't do squat despite being set up as having her magical female wisdom, and Felyx's whole situation is totally unresolved at the end of the book.
It is propaganda. It's so very obviously propaganda. If you read the book and didn't think it was propaganda dropped into a story where it didn't suit the context of the setting, you're already brainwashed.
Jace Rodriguez
I haven't read it yet. MoM came out in the time where I gave up on doing reviews because Snakewood broke me from doing reviews. Ironically enough it was because the rape in that book was so disgusting it ruined my objectivity. I'm also not a big fan of Horus Heresy novels since the series has dragged on so long. But I might pick it up and review it next month.
Which reminds me: >June 27, 2015 >I had hoped to review Dan Abnett’s The Warmaster this week, but the release date was a filthy lie. I still think it was a worthy read, but it's not perfect, especially not for something that took as long to write as the goddamn A Dance With Dragons.
He actually did bring up Merity Chass' situation as a female heir in Necropolis, not in detail but it's there.
>The issues aren't even resolved A cliffhanger? Shocking.
>Zhukova just bitches about being treated like a pretty woman when she benefits from it I'd say she did a bit with Mkoll there.
>Pasha doesn't do squat despite being set up as having her magical female wisdom A set up in a book that ends in a cliffhanger? Wild.
>Felyx's whole situation is totally unresolved at the end of the book. An unresolved plotline in a book that ends in a cliffhanger? Wild.
Nah, the point Abnett seemed to be getting at was the problems outside the Ghosts didn't matter because the Ghosts would accept you however you were, Zhukova's personal hangups and Felyx's worries were used to illustrate the point by Mkoll and Dalin.
But then again, I suspect nothing I say will make you actually see that while the book is trying to illustrate the authors view on something it isn't propaganda.
Keep on being paranoid I guess my dude.
Eli Smith
So it's the SJWarmaster?
Owen Sanchez
Not entirely. The SJW part is like half a chapter total throughout the book. It's just really really obvious and jarring. It's like watching Star Trek and someone praises the Nazis.
Alexander Hughes
My personal theory is that, after the timeskip, everyone's brain is a little fried, explaining the weird behavior.
Lucas Moore
to be fair the GW writers and developers have always been massive SJWs, they're just having to actually make a point of it now because burgers cannot into irony and having a bunch of fasc as fans is damaging to their public image
Wyatt Rogers
One of the most jarring things is the use of the nonsene terms 'astra militarum' and 'tempestus scions' whenever they refer to the imperial guard or stormtroopers, also an ogryn dies after getting shot twice and the ogryns all run away from a scrap like scared children where they would have at least had a go with whatever tools they had to hand.
Jose Sanders
I agree with everything you said. I'd just add that I found the first part in the ship too mong for little value. It's basically exposition, which, granted, was necessarily after all those fucking years waiting I forgot many of the characters. But still, long exposition and in turn the book ends up too abruptly to my taste. I waited too long for such a short book.
Then, as I said, I agree with every single point.
Jason Ross
I agree with what the others said. It's jarring and comes out of nowhere. And it's really heavy handed. It took me out of the book, so that's not good for me.
Michael Price
I agree. Having to wait so goddamn long for a book so short kinda makes it bitter.
As to MoM, I recommend reading ADB's AMA on reddit, he actually goes at length about it at some point. He's a bit cuntish here and there, although understandably so, the guys were cunts as well and he probably took a lor of flak for that anyway. Anyhoo, he explains why he wrote this and that, and it actually makes sense. I wasn't very satisfied with MoM, notably with the Emperor's portrayal, but now I'd say I kinda agree with ADB. His Chaos boner is still annoying but him writing Empy makes more sense now that I've read what he was thinking.
