Customer Reviews

Honour Guard (Gaunt's Ghosts)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dan Abnett's war-weary Imperial Guard regiment faces its greatest challenge to date... a mission that will either sway the whole course of the Sabbat Worlds campaign or destroy the last survivors of Tanith completely. Following the failed seige of a shrineworld's capital city and the loss of several of his key commanders, Commissar-Colonel Gaunt is branded as incompetent. As the forces of Chaos scream in from the Warp to finish the domination of the planet, Gaunt is given one last chance to redeem himself before facing the judgement of the Commissariat. Leading an honor guard formed from the battered remnants of the Ghosts, Gaunt must penetrate deep into enemy territory to secure an ancient artifact. The combined might of the Chaos horde hunts for the same talisman, and forces the Tanith First and Only into a final, bloody last stand.

Honor Guard is full of the fast-paced combat action that marks each book in the Gaunt's Ghosts series. Abnett supplies several unexpected twists that keeps the reader absorbed in the regiment's struggle to survive. The book is yet another great drama set in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe and well worth the read for fans and new readers alike.

With Honour Guard, Dan Abnett continues his Gaunt's Ghosts series with another tightly-written, action-packed war novel. the fourth book in the series, Honour Guard actually is the beginning of the Sabbat Crusade story campaign. The first three novels in the series introduces Colonel-Commissar Ibrahim Gaunt and his Tanith First and Only Regiment.

This time around certain high-ranking elements in the Sabbat Crusade Army has blamed Gaunt and his Ghosts for a battlefield loss that was orchestrated by some behind-the-scenes. Honour Guard is pretty much a story about redemption and spiritual discovery for Gaunt and the troops in his regiment. We actually see Gaunt brought low by outside forces, most of which are actually officers in the Army who are jealous of his sudden rise to power and popularity amongst the regular troops. It was refreshing to know that Gaunt was human after all and not some super-commander who could do no wrong and who could brush off any drawbacks with aplomb.

This time around, Abnett's battle scenes are more centered towards fighting between armored units with infantry in support. Again, Abnett must have good knowledge of military history because the battles leading up to the final stand in the end is very similar to the armor battles which occurred on the roads of the Dutch countryside during the Allies ill-advised Operation Market Garden.

Honour Guard is a worthy successor to the first three Gaunt novels that precedes it. Here's to hoping that Abnett continues is hot streak. I highly recommend.

Jeff Barden's review here summarizes this excellent book perfectly. The fourth in the Gaunt's Ghosts series, Honour Guard puts a new twist on the saga -- and that's what's so great about Dan Abnett. He could easily rest on his laurels and crank out the sort of flat sci-fi that Gibson once referred to as the "golden ghetto," shoddy pulp that sells simply 'cause it's sci-fi, or in this case, sci-fi game fiction. But with each novel, you can tell that Abnett is stretching himself, trying to grow as a writer and to take his stories in new directions.

After finishing Honour Guard, I tried to read Gav Thorpe's 13th Legion. I put it back on the shelf after about 20 pages. It was a joke compared to Abnett. I may pick it up again, when I get tired of waiting for a new Abnett, but I won't be fooled -- I'll be reading it to keep myself immersed in the 40K universe, not 'cause I'm expecting really good sci-fi. For that, I'll wait for Gaunt's Ghosts Book Five.

As with the previous three Gaunt's Ghosts books, this one is action-packed and contains very well-defined characters. The Ghosts from the previous books continue to be fleshed out and the relationships between the soldiers continue to mature. In this book, Abnett focuses a much greater proportion of the fighting on tank battles, which made for extremely exciting and visual scenes and kept me going to Forgeworld to check out the designs of the various units. Another aspect of this book that stands out is the revealing of weakness within Gaunt himself, getting stuck in a rather dark and depressive mood through much of the book.

The main plot of the book revolves around what most of the Ghosts feel is their last campaign under Gaunt. Seemingly sent on a suicidal mission after loosing favor with his bosses, Gaunt finds himself in a desperate fight to attain a goal that he is unsure about. Reverence and dedication to the ideals of Saint Sabbot is stressed in this book and a lot of history behind the Sabbot Worlds Crusade is revealed. The last half of the book is just awesome and I bet most people read it all in one sitting.

Highly reccomended

I'm typically not much of a reader but I must say, after having picked this up on a whim, Dan has me hooked. Any fan of sci-fi and/or military themed books should not hesitate to check this series out. Prior knowledge of the 40k universe isn't necessarilly required but after reading a bit you may find yourself compelled to look more into the mythos of one of the most vivid and well-realised fictional worlds ever created.

Abnett does a wonderful job of depicting the surreal haze of frontline combat while never letting the reader feel lost in it all. His sense of pacing and penchant for pinning down even the most trivial of details serves well to keep the reader interested and involved in what is going on. For a book about war and combat there is a surprising ammount of introspection and character development that really gives his writing the feel of a well-scripted movie rather than just a book about faceless people in some random battle on some generic, far off world.

Read this.. and all the rest of Abnett's books... now!

It was a good book, but the ending was much too rushed. Another chapter of epilogue would have been great. Only thing I can think is that he knew he would be writing more in the series and didn't think a proper ending was necessary. The tank battles in this book were sweet, but for infantry fighting the Guns of Tanith was a better book.

My only complaint is the climax of the story, the point to which the entire novel's plot has been building, takes about a paragraph to resolve. I kept thinking...thats it? Thats all it took? I loved the story up until that point, and the books following were up to the usual standard of great action, well defined characters, and breakneck pacing.

In contrast to the two preceeding books, Honour Guard jumps right into the fray at the get-go. Even though I am only four books into the series I am impressed with how each book is built around its own concept. Many series at this point have began recycling things to a degree but not so here. In this story we'll see that the impressive Ibram Gaunt is not without a few charactor flaws of his own as he continues to fight the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. This time the Ghost's will travel with members of the Pardus tank regiment and a few locals to the shrine of Saint Sabbat. The road trip style story is cool and the addition of the tank fighting brought in an interesting element. Rack up another one for Mr. Abnett, this is a great Imperial Guard novel!

Certainly not one of my favorite Gaunt's Ghosts books, but still notible. The first half has everything i would expect from a Dan Abnett book: Action, Excelent Dialogue, and some of the best character development in any books i've read. But the second half is very...awkard...the whole "chosen ones" things is very vague, and the style seems different somehow. I won't give away the ending, but i had to read it agian because i kept saying to myself "wait, what?"
Over all when i was finished with the book i didn't regret spending my time reading it.

What better premise for a book? Not just any trip, but one with tanks, of course. Honour Guard is an extremely grabbing tale in the Gaunts Ghosts series because there is a whole lot of emotion running through this story. Awesome to read, another great by Dan Abnett.