Customer Reviews

His Last Command (Warhammer 40,000 Novels)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dan Abnett is not only my favorite Warhammer 40,000 writer, he's one of my favorite writers period. His gifts are many-exceptional characterization, incredible dialogue, and the ability to create concepts within the shared universe of Warhammer 40,000 that compare favorably to writers of science fiction period, not just 40K. He can move effortlessly from the 40K-noir style of the Eisenhorn books, to the cyberpunk-action influenced Ravenor series, to the gritty military tales of the Gaunt's Ghosts series, without blinking an eye. HIS LAST COMMAND, the tenth book in the Gaunt's Ghosts series, continues the trend of Abnett, unbelievably, only getting better as a writer.

HIS LAST COMMAND is a book that is about subverting the reader's expectations, a thing I suspect one of the reviewers of this book, I must respectfully point out, might have missed. At the end of SABBAT MARTYR, it was easy to expect that the next series of books about the Ghosts would pick up the story of Saint Sabbat, and while I doubt Abnett is done with that, he clearly has other ideas about the storyline for the current sequence, THE LOST. Nearly everything you expect to happen in the book is subverted; even the terrain itself is part of the subversion. Gaunt returns from his mission on Gereon (in TRAITOR GENERAL) to find that the Tanith First and Only has been combined with another unit, under the command of Colonel Wilder, and Abnett instantly subverts your expectations by making Wilder, in many ways, as likable as Gaunt. Characters respond to their circumstances in ways that are wholly unexpected, or off balance, subverting what should be the triumphant return of the Ghosts from Gereon. The nature of the enemy being fought is subverted from being typical "possessed by Chaos" 40K stuff and turned into something far darker, far more gruesome, and even a moment of what should be a typical triumph for the Ghosts against all odds turns into utter disaster. And finally, there are at least three different orders that could be "His Last Command", but the one that turns out to be the source of the title, the finale of the last chapter, is sublimely done; in fact, the end of the last chapter of the novel is simply the best writing Dan Abnett has ever done.

HIS LAST COMMAND is a brilliant novel, plain and simple. It doesn't move in the directions that perhaps one expects (based on the announcement that the next Gaunt's Ghost book, THE ARMOUR OF CONTEMPT, is to tell the tale of the liberation of Gereon, setting of TRAITOR GENERAL, it seems apparent that the story is moving in the direction Abnett wishes it to go) but it is well written, filled with the amazing characterization and fantastic dialouge Abnett is well known for, and has me waiting with bated breath for the next novel in the sequence. Brillant.

Dan Abnett has several qualities that many writer's today lack. These qualities include an excellent grasp of character development, an ability to kill off primary and secondary characters without missing a beat, the ability to create a coherent plot, and an editor!

The dynamics of this plot are simple- Gaunt has returned, since no one ever manages to escape a Chaos controlled world many believe Gaunt to have turned traitor. Set this against a backdroup of war, it is after all a Warhammer 40K book, and throw in the dynamic of his regiment having been given to a new commander, and you have an excellent recipe for a rollicking good time.

Perhaps one reason I enjoyed this work so much is because I was formerly an Army Officer and I know what it's like to turn over command to a new person, go off to a new job, and then wander back into the unit A/O "just to say hello". Abnett has really captured the sort of angst that goes along with this experience and the second guessing that goes on when the new commander finds the old commander has shown up in the general vicinity.

I read approximately 400 novels a year and I'm starting to only want to read materiel Dan and his fellow brethren at Black Library Publishing have published.

His Last Command is an excellent introduction to both the Warhammer genre and this series. While it can be read as a stand alone, I would strongly encourage this be read after reading Traitor General, which is now in paperback if I'm not mistaken.

Thanks Dan for a job well done.

1.Before I get on with the review, I must first give a little bit of background before the review will begin to make sense. (to skip this and go straight to the review, go to the 6th paragraph.)

2.As an avid Star Wars genre fan, I looked forward to each new book that came out, with it, adding to the vast collection of science-fiction works I have accumulated over the years. However, after REVENGE OF THE SITH hit theaters, the quality of the works entered a noticable decline, and so I enter a near withdrawal from the genre, reentering only to reread a book for the n-th time. In addition, I was (and still am) an avid wargaming fan, enjoying the relaxed and comradely atmosphere at the various conventions I have visited in the 10+ years I have done it.

4.One of my close friends noticed this, and so introduced me to the world of the Gaunt's Ghosts. Immediately, I was enraptured by Dan Abnett's Style of writing, with his highly explanatory and detailed way of explaining how the Warhammer 40,000 universe flows and relates to the characters. After the first book, FIRST AND ONLY, I felt compelled to read the second, and then the third, and the fourth...

5.Finally reaching the 10th book, HIS LAST COMMAND, I feared the worst that could happen: the potential ending of the series. However, to the atestment of Abnett's writing abilites, my fears proved unfounded, as he ends it so that, although, yes, this could be the end, enough it let open to continue the series onward.

6.As for the story itself, the tale begins as Gaunt and the rest of the commando team that left to Gereon (in the previous book, TRAITOR GENERAL) begin to be reintroduced into the services of Warmaster Macaroath, and more specifically, Lord General Van Voytz. After a brief struggle to see if the team was 'tainted' on their 16-month long mission, However, because of his 'unusual' rank, that of colonel-commissar. For those not acquainted with the generalities of the Imperial Guard command structure, the commissar is essentially a political officer, (i.e. WWII Russian military) there to both frighten and inspire the common soldier and officer into better preformance, through the use of speeches and on-the-spot executions. Having been force to relinquish his colonel rank, Commissar Ibram Gaunt, was again turned down to return to his unit, as his services and experience were needed on the 'Second Front,' a collection of attacks on Chaos-held worlds by the less-experienced regiments. As for the rest of his team, they were returned to active serivce to their old unit, the Tanith 1st (First-and-Only), only to find it combined with another unit, the 81st Belladon (becoming the 81st/1st), and put under the command of one Colonel Wilder, who actually proves to be a capable and inspiring leader...

Nearly on par with Gaunt himself.

7. I won't give away the rest of the story, as I am sure you will enjoy it far better not knowing the ending, but I am happy to say that you shall not be dissapointed.

The team that went to Gereon came back different. You do not spend that long on a Chaos-held world and not have it affect you. It changed the way they fought. It changed the way they lived and thought, the way they trusted. All of those changes were alterations forced on them by the simple need to survive. Gereon left its mark on them. They developed an instinct, a type of hunch, a sensitivity, a little inkling that rang alarm bells when things were not right. They learned to sense the vibrations of Chaos. Because of this, they survived and returned from the dead to their people. Also because of this, they were not trusted and found themselves before a tribunal.

Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt has been missing so long and presumed dead that his unit, the Tanith First-and-Only, has been redeployed. Eszrah Night, a Gereon partisan who has attached himself to Gaunt, follows Gaunt on the trip homeward. They learn that the Ruinous Powers are on the move and that the Warmaster may very well find himself stabbed in the back. Since the higher-ups would not believe anything from a possibly tainted resurrected hero, Gaunt would just have to find a way to force them into listening and believing.

In the meantime, the Ghosts are sent back to the front lines where the men they meet will learn to do things a new way, the Ghost way, or die.

**** The first few chapters of the book are intense. Gaunt's Ghost fans are witness to their heroes returning and how they are treated. But then things slow WAY down. There are many battles, but nothing really gets done. It comes across to the reader as simply filler pages. Then, as usual, a little past the half-way point, things begin to happen. The real story begins. From then on, you will not be able to pull yourself away. I only took away one star due to the several chapters of slowness because the author managed to show the reader that the "new" Ghosts actually teach the fresh, green, recruits how to think under stress. Readers actually see the cherries mature into decent fighting men. A wonderful addition to the series! ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Returning from over a year behind enemy lines Gaunt and his Ghosts return to the Imperial Guard to find their unit has been disbanded and they are suspected of treason. But soon the Ghosts are caught up in a fresh offensive by the forces of chaos!

A short review of this is: if you liked the other books you'll like this one.

A longer review is that this is typical of Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts books; it has the same strengths and weaknesses we've all come to expect. As usual the first third of the book is excellent. Abnett quickly introduces new characters and a new world and breathes life into them. The second third drags a bit but is full of action. But the ending just feels pointless.

Abnett got his start writing the never-ending soap operas of comic books and I think it shows in this series. Character development and subplots advance with glacial slowness, moving forward in inch or two in a 400 page book while the action scenes take center stage. The problem is the action scenes have become increasingly irrelevant, we know that none of the named characters is in any danger.

Obviously I'm still reading them, and I gave this 4 out of 5 stars but the pacing and the irrelevance of the battle scenes continues to bother me.

In HIS LAST COMMAND, Gaunt's Ghosts have returned from their mission on Gereon, a Chaos controlled planet, to Ancreon Sextus where war is also raging, in a continuation of the story of Gaunt's Ghosts. They have been changed which is frightening to those around them. They changed in order to survive on Gereon, but others think the transformation may be more sinister; therefore, they are put in internment camps and questioned.

Finally, they are allowed back into battle as the forces attack Sparshad Mons, a step-city ruin on Ancreon Sextus, which appears to be filled with the enemy. Not many people want to listen to Gaunt, even though he is an expert warrior with sharpened senses. Nothing is as it seems as the battle progresses and Gaunt must find a way to get his superiors to understand what he knows. Will Gaunt ever convince them that what they are seeing is not really what they are seeing?

Dan Abnett has written a sequel to a story that I think you would need to read before tackling this one. After a spell, things did become clearer and I was able to pick up the storyline. The characters were well flesh out and the writing was smooth but the story did move a bit slow in places when some of the battles were taking place. There were many battles and a lot of dying on the battlefields. Strange monsters inhabited the land and only Gaunt knew where they came from. The monsters were fascinating in that they could not be killed in a normal way. Only Gaunt's Ghosts knew how to get rid of them.

Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

While this was a worthy entry in the series it was not as captivating as some of the other books. The story starts strong right out of the gate and then dwindles somewhat until the finish. The last book "Traitor General" really shook things up and this story was probably necessary to help get things back on track. I still found this to be an enjoyable read and look forward to finding out what happens next to the Ghosts.

This book has everything you expect from war: politics, morale problems, relentless and unpredictable foe. Dan Abnett really gets under your skin and puts you right in the midst of the action. I especially appreciate how he gets into the role of the Commissariat. This is something that has been missing from his previous offerings, with Gaunt being really more of a commander than a morale officer. But this aspect of the character really shines as he goes about his business and also leads the other commissars. The Ghosts get a chance to shine too, never you fear. Enjoy!

As an aside, it would help if you read Traitor General first as it leads into the motivations of the different characters. However, you can still start fresh with this book as Mr. Abnett does a good job of setting the stage (without being repetitive for those of us who did read TG).

...one of the best series I've had the pleasure to read. Dan Abnett has done it again with his latest addition to Gaunt's Ghosts. This installment reunites the Gereon suicide-mission survivors with their former regiment, the Tanith First and Only who have been integrated with another crippled regiment, The Belladon Eighty-First. Commissar Ibram Gaunt has been stripped of his Colonel rank and redeployed away from his former regiment, suspected of being tainted by Chaos on Gereon.

What follows is a gripping warstory that touches on many facets of a soldier's life. The Gereon survivors are shadows of their former selves. They are truly "The Lost". Coming home from a suicide-mission, they are treated like the enemy simply because it was deemed impossible to return without being corrupted by Chaos. Unable to tell their comrades what happened on Gereon, they are self reliant to the extreme, and trust no one.

His Last Command is a brilliant book, with incredible action, brilliant dialogue, and at times touching moments between brothers in arms.

This work marks M. Abnett's tenth novel of Gaunt's Ghosts series. It continues the saga of Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, the "Tanith First and Only" Imperial Guard regiment, and all the other supporting characters that we've grown to know over the past nine books: Major Elim Rawne, Major Gol Kolea, Larken, Dorden, and many others. It also introduces a number of other worthy characters, including Colonel Wilder and Junior Inquisitor Lapp.

Dan Abnett is by far the most talented of Black Library's stable of regular authors writing fiction set in Games Workshop's popular Warhammer 40K universe. His other worthwhile contributions include the Eisenhorn Trilogy, Ravenor series, and a host of other novels and graphic novels. He excels at immersing the reader in the environment, writing believable characters, and giving us villains with just as much complexity and charisma as the heroes.

At its core, this novel is about combat trauma: what happens when exposed to too much of it, as in the case of Guant's kill-team just returned from the horrors of Gereon; or what happens when exposed to it for the first time, as with most of the other units in the book, fresh from the founding fields. The veterans must find ways to regain some of their humanity, and the green troops must find their source of courage while fighting in the compartmented city of Sparshad Mons. We also see Gaunt doing the regular work of the Commissariat - as opposed to commanding a regiment - for the first time in a long while, giving the reader some interesting insights into that organization.

The action writing is exceptional, really driving home the confusion of combat. This was clearly well researched. The dialog is another high point, capturing the spirit of military personnel in any era. However, while extremely well written and engaging, the plot seems just a little forced. You tend not to care while reading because the pacing doesn't give you much of a chance to think about it, but as you look back in retrospect, you may find that some things worked out a bit too conveniently. This is not a major failing, but may leave an aftertaste when you put it back on the shelf.

Overall: this is a worthy addition to the Gaunt's Ghosts series, highly recommended to 40K fans and still good for any general sci-fi fan. However, it's something of a "connecting tale" for the series rather than a climax.