14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent value for W40k reading, February 14, 2009
This review is from: Imperial Guard Omnibus: Volume 1 (Warhammer 40,000 Omnibus) (Paperback)
The book is a collection of three Warhammer 40,000 novels about the Imperial Guard. If one purchases the books separately, it would cost near $30. In this omnibus format, it costs $14, plus there are three additional short stories that further develop the characters in the original novels.
Fifteen Hours describes a new recruit, completely indoctrinated into the Imperial Guard and propaganda, gets accidentally dropped into the wrong planet. He is the sole survivor from his 200+ soldier company and gets attached to a nearly eliminated Regiment. The Regiment is one of many suffering from attrition from years of front line fighting against the orcs, around the same city. 15 hours is the average life expectancy for a new soldier in the city. Will the young and idealistic recruit survive, both physically and mentally in believing the propaganda?
Death World has tough jungle fighters trying to survive orcs, commissars, and the planet's environment. The fighting is fierce and this is my favorite story in this omnibus. Rebel Winter is also well written with an Imperial Guard Regiment trying to survive a mechanized battlefield against the orcs and human rebels.
The one strangely consistent message in all three stories is how incompetent and inept the Imperial Guard Generals are. If this is always the case, then the Imperial Guard units would have been obliterated in far quicker fashion. What is lacking from these stories is how a leader develops and eventually becomes a good general. It is easy to use a stereo-typical bloated general as being the reason why the Imperial Guard is getting annihilated.
Overall an entertaining collection of stories. Just hope that the leaders in future books are better.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A solid intro to the 40K universe, March 23, 2010
This review is from: Imperial Guard Omnibus: Volume 1 (Warhammer 40,000 Omnibus) (Paperback)
This book is another one of the Black Library's growing collection of omnibuses, 3-in-1 book collections that gets you on average $21 worth of bang for your 11 bucks. This omnibus is fairly unique in that it deals entirely with the Imperial Guard, the giant horde of flashlight-toting average joes given a flak jacket and orders, then expected to take down whatever enemy of varying size, green-ishness, spikyness, or in general deadliness they're ordered to, or die trying. Imperial Guard is generally the most down-to-earth fighting force in 40K to write about, thus making this book a good idea for first timers to warhammer literature, or at least first timers who'd rather ease in to it before jumping straight into the heavier stuff(Horus Heresy, Grey Knights Omnibus, Titanicus, etc.).
The three books in this omnibus are all by different authors, and therefore of somewhat varying quality. So here's a blow-by-blow:
Fifteen Hours: One of Mitchel Scanlon's earlier works, this one struck me as a bit mediocre. The book starts up with an in medias res that establishes the mood fairly effectively for the rest of the novel. It then flashes back to an earlier point in time, setting up the protagonist's backstory. Without any spoilers, the book is essentially about a young soldier fresh out of training experiencing war for the first time, and his trouble adjusting to it. It also zooms out to show a little bit of the Guard's command structure and Imperial bureaucracy in a Catch-22-esque satire. There's even some bizarre non-sequitir story about something with little understandable relevance to the plot. As for the writing in general, the plot isn't terribly exciting, the dialoge is rather ham-handed(most notably the fact that the author refuses to incorporate conjunctions into his writing, resulting in frustratingly awkward sentences full of "it is" and "do not" and "can not", which isn't very believable coming from the rather casual disposition the soldiers are portrayed with) and characters aren't developed very well at all, not to mention their names are about as bad as the dialoge. However, this book has a surprising amount of genuinely good moments in it, enough to make it passable. 3/5 stars.
Death World: My personal favorite of the three, this Steve Lyons novel follows the exploits of a squad of Catachans, elite, rowdy jungle fighters who have their own style both in and out of combat that differentiates, even alienates them heavily from the more conventional breeds of Guardsmen. The general plot is that the protagonist's squad goes on a mission to a "Death World", a planet with an exceptionally dangerous ecosystem, to combat an Ork incursion. The dialog in this book is exceptional, and not only are the characters given plenty of attention and detail, but the Catachan style is also very fleshed out. The plot is followable, but overly simplistic. 5/5
Rebel Winter: Steve Parker, author of
Gunheads, another IG novel to check out, offers Rebel Winter, following the Vostroyan Firstborn as they combat the dual threat of Orks and Rebels. Plenty of characters to be seen in this book, most notably because this book switches out from the single platoon style of the previous two to an entire regiment. As such, a lot more dying takes place, both of allies and enemies. Action is decently written, dialog is believable, and the plot doesn't disappoint. Seems slightly bogged down at some points, but overall a good page-turner. 4/5
As previously stated, great intro book. Good for the uninitiated, or even vets looking for a decent read.
Gaunt's Ghosts: The Founding is a great book to get with it, together they'll provide plenty of Imperial Guard goodness, not to mention a nice intro to Dan Abnett's writing.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Introduction to the Warhammer 40k Universe - Imperial Guard, January 30, 2010
This review is from: Imperial Guard Omnibus: Volume 1 (Warhammer 40,000 Omnibus) (Paperback)
This Omnibus was my introduction into the Warhammer 40k Universe. I picked up a copy to kill time in airports between international layovers. The stories in the Omnibus were easy to read. I imagine the authors expected them to be read by a young table top gaming audience. Having said that; Don't pickup a copy of this Omnibus with low expectations, the stories it contains are very good! An enjoyable read, toned with melancholy at times, (especially Scanlon's Fifteen Hours). You don't need to have any tedious codex books, maps of the galaxy, or previous knowledge of anything warhammer 40k, to understand and enjoy this book. Everything you need to know is fleshed out as you read! This is an ideal introduction to WH40k.
So what are the stories about? What is the Imperial Guard? The Imperial Guard is the largest body of fighting men in the galaxy. A vast army of multitudes, drawn from countless planetary forces; crossing the stars, with fleets of battleships. The Imperial Guard attempts to liberate planets, so that they may join the losing war effort to save humanity; from aliens, mutants, heretics, and worse.
In short these are science fiction stories about regiments of fighting men, in a grim dark future (41st millennium), where the very existence of mankind and Earth is threatened.
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