Sabbat Worlds Anthology [Hardcover]

Dan Abnett (Editor), Christian Dunn (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2010

Across the Sabbat Worlds, a bitter conflict is fought, a conflict that can only end in victory or annihilation. The innumerable forces of the Archenemy attack without mercy, and planet after planet burns with the flames of war. Yet even amidst this nightmare, the Imperial Guard stand stoic against their foes. The Phantine Air Corps battle the enemies of mankind across burning skies, while the Gereon resistance tries to break the foothold of Chaos on their beleaguered world and the legendary Gaunt's Ghosts fight in the most violent and bloody of warzones. This anthology opens the gateway to the Sabbat Worlds like never before, featuring new stories from some of the Black Library's best-known authors including Dan Abnett, Graham McNeill, Aaron Dembski-Bowden and many more.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Abnett is the Warmaster as far as I'm concerned!A" - Graeme's Fantasy Book Review I was impressed by how he was a master of battle sequences, and still could create ambiguous three-dimensional characters forced to deal with moral dilemmasA" - Pat's Fantasy Hotlist Abnett's prose grabs you by the throat and forces you to witness the carnage!A" - SFX Abnett does a bang up job of detailing the various settings in the book and bringing the universe to life. It feels lived in, alive - If there's one thing Abnett does well, it's write a kick-butt action sequence.A" - SF Signal Abnett excels at characterisation as well as fast paced action.A" - SF Site " If Dan Abnett held a military rank in the Warhammer 40,000 he would be the 'Warmaster'... Not only does Abnett portray the Imperial Guard structure beautifully but he also does the same job for those that serve within the regiments...'Blood Pact' was bang on the money as far as I was concerned. I'm going to be catching up with this series as soon as I get the chance..." - Graeme's Fantasy Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Dan Abnett is one of the Black Library’s bestselling authors with hit series such as Eisenhorn, Ravenor and Gaunt’s Ghosts as well as several Horus Heresy novels such as Horus Rising and Prospero Burns. He has sold over 1.5 million books and is an award winning Comic Book author to top it off.  He lives in Maidstone, UK. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Games Workshop (October 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1849700109
• ISBN-13: 978-1849700108
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #596,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Creative W40K Stories, December 30, 2010

By 

Sci-fi and history reader (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sabbat Worlds Anthology (Hardcover)

This is a collection of short stories on the Warhammer 40K science fiction genre, set in the Sabbat Worlds system depicted in Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghost series. The one positive about the hardbound version is the larger print font, but is it worth the risk in paying $25 without at least skimming first through the bookstore? What if it stunk and would have wasted my money? But, being a fan, decided to buy the book anyway.

Fortunately, the book is entertaining, but not worth the $25 retail price, (unlike the Warhammer 40K Ultramarines DVD collector's edition, which was a complete waste of money - but that is a different topic). A more reasonable price for this anthology would have been $10 and printed in the omnibus format with larger font.

This book contains eight short stories, two by Dan Abnett, one each by Graham McNeill, Matthew Farrer, Aaron Demski Bowden, Nik Vincent, Nick Kyme, and Sandy Mitchell. The actually stories are 297 pages total.

Before each story, Dan gives a quick introduction about the author and tale about to be told.

The first story is solid and along the Double Eagle arc, about an Imperial pilot transferred to an elite ace of aces squadron. McNeill has done some research on air combat in using terminology to describe the action. However, didn't like the ending as it was predictable.

The second story is creative in depicting how the debris from war is recycled. Farrer does a good job in creating tension in utilizing two opposing viewpoints to tell the story that is quick paced like a 30 minute tv episode.

The third story by Dembski-Bowden is solid. However, a glaring weakness of his stories is they are one-sided in extreme favor of the hero. As in the author's previous novels, his main character needs no saving, and always manages to escape unaided, no matter how badly injured or dire the circumstance.

The fourth story is by Abnett and was published previously. It does a good job using the mystical realm of the living and afterlife with Gaunt, directly after the Only in Death novel.

The fifth story by Vincent is clever, creative, and well written. It describes the Imperial underground resistance against the Chaos conquerors. The world is vivid and cruel after three years of Chaos planetary transformation and terror.

The sixth story by Kyme has a good mystery to solve, but with blatantly stereotypical characters. It has the arrogant Bluebloods who believe in their genetic superiority with only a young Lieutenant who can see the truth. The author tries too hard to create drama, but his lack of research and inability to properly depict military equipment detracts from the storyline.

The sixth story opens with the guardsmen being thrown around a descending planetary landing craft with an open hatch. Obviously, the author needs to perform basic research into science topics before writing. If one has ever watched a space shuttle landing on tv, the crew are strapped in case of turbulence to prevent them from being tossed around like debris. If one recalls the real life horror in watching one of the space shuttles disintegrate when its hull heat shield was compromised during re-entry, the average person would know when landing from orbit, the craft needs to be completely sealed or catastrophic death occurs. Therefore, the author's opening scene makes no sense, the passengers would either be strapped in harnesses to prevent being thrown around or incinerated during their descent.

The author also describes a scene with a cannon prepared to fire, that is later changed to really being a heavy bolter. Every W40K miniature or videogame player knows the difference between a cannon barrel and a heavy bolter. Either the experienced Blueblood guardsmen are too stupid to know the difference or the author needs to study W40K military terminology again.

The author also makes some blatant military mistakes. Over eight Blueblood companies have landed. Their second mission has one company paired with one from a different Regiment. Hmmm, it doesn't take a military academy graduate to know that if you need two companies to perform a mission, it would make more sense to have them both from the same Regiment and not to mix units.

Plus the author describes having over a million guardsmen sitting at the one location. For what purpose? As soon as the story ends, they are transferred to another location. Duh, why not directly land most of them to the other location and only assign the forces needed for the immediate operation? Seriously, when in W40K does it make sense to have 1 million Imperial Guard soldiers camped out with no direct enemy to fight? It doesn't.

The seventh story written by Sandy Mitchell makes up for the sixth's failings. Different take on the administrative drones that work for the Imperium in trying to rebuild a devastated planet.

The eighth and final story by Dan Abnett is worth the reading. No spoilers aside from involving Gaunt's Ghosts.

Overall the anthology is entertaining, despite some minor quibbles, but too expensive for most. Recommend skimming through if found at a bookstore or library before deciding to purchase the hardbound version. Or one can wait for the paperback version too, for W40K fans the money saved will be worth the wait.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-Edited and Enjoyable Collection, October 4, 2011

By 

Keith W. Harvey "Keith Harvey" (Dallas, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Sabbat Worlds Anthology (Warhammer 40,000) (Mass Market Paperback)

Dan Abnett begins his introduction to Sabbat Worlds, a collection of short stories set in his created portion of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, with the pronouncement: "It seems I can add 'world builder' to my CV." This statement of the obvious should come to no surprise to those readers that have waited with bated-breath for the next installment of the Gaunt Ghosts series. Abnett has a unique voice and an uncanny ability to create scenarios that suck the reader in like a vortex at the lip of the warp.

I've read most of his work and I'm still trying to define the Abnett "voice" or Abnett "style." With Sabbat Worlds, he presents us with an opportunity to enter his universe once again, not only through his own writing and his own voice, but through those of six others. He has gifted us with two tasty treats of his own and six other stories that complement the Gaunt series. These stories explore current themes emerging from Abnett's world and introduce new units and planets to the campaign, while presenting other venues of the war against the Ruinous Powers.

One of my favorite Abnett novels is Double Eagle, a story of the air war. And although it is science fiction, the novel reminds me of the World War II aerial-combat movies I loved as a kid. The first story of Sabbat Worlds, "Apostle's Creed," by Graham McNeill, follows the film formula perfectly but harkens back to an earlier mime--that of the combat ace of World War I. And instead of Phantine XX squadron in Double Eagle McNeill focuses on the Apostle Seven, an elite squadron of ace Thunderbolt pilots. McNeill captures the spirit and excitement of aerial combat in a story that is quite familiar to those of us who love The Blue Max, Dawn Patrol, or Wings.

Matthew Farrer's "The Headstone and the Hammerstone Kings" is the second story in the collection and it is a completely different take on the Sabbat Worlds. Suddenly, we find ourselves in the detritus of the war, following the machinations of the Adeptus Mechanicus. One of the reasons the 40K universe attracted my attention in the first place was because of its dark, Gothic tone; it is a universe of treachery and deceit. Farrer creates a feeling of claustrophobia and angst through his prose style and tone, as he drops us into an alien environment through his use en medias res. As we struggle to understand what is happening, it becomes quite obvious that Farrer is steeped both in the mythos and fluff of 40K and its underlying pathology of paranoia and anxiety.

Aaron Dembski-Bowden's "Regicide" employs the image of the chess-like game that pops up regularly in the Gaunt series. In this story, we are re-introduced to the Blood Pact and we see the death of Warmaster Slaydo, Gaunt's mentor. The story reminds me of early Gav Thorpe with its focused battle of wits between a Blood Pact witch and a member of the Argentum, another elite Imperial Guard unit. "Regicide" delineates some of Gaunt's history before the Ghosts.

The next story in the collection, "The Iron Star," by Abnett also fills in some of the blanks. This story, which I will not discuss in detail, is emotional and poignant. I dare you not to cry. It serves as a bridge between Only in Death and Blood Pact.

The "Cell" by Nik Vincent, similar in tone and style to Abnett's work, shares themes with Traitor General, my favorite Gaunt novel. The story is intimate in scope, well-written, and appropriately creepy in a LeCarre sort of way.

Nick Kyme's "Blueblood" is solid 40K, Imperial Guard fiction, focusing on a Volpone Battalion, arriving on a planet in preparation for an invasion. Even behind enemy lines, however, the Ruinous Powers are at work. 'Blueblood" furthers the religious themes that are prevalent throughout the Gaunt series and introduces strong characters that deserve further exposure.Kyme shows he's in total control of his material.

Just as McNeill's story was a bit of a pastiche, so too is Sandy Mitchell's "A Good Man." He very carefully delineates a 40K story following the plot of Graham Greene's and Carol Reed's "The Third Man." There is even zither music playing in the bars and tavernas of the ram-shackled Verghast. A lot of fun and very well-written.

The final piece of the collection is a novella by Abnett, entitled "Of Their Lives in the Ruins of Their Cities." I will not spoil the story for you but simply say it is a brilliant piece of writing. It is a truism now to write that Abnett writes well about soldiers at war. But unlike many hard-core military science fiction novelists, he has a sentimental streak and a heart, which reminds me of John Ford and Rudyard Kipling.

This collection could have been twice the length. I hope there are additional volumes.

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than most WH40K anthologies, September 2, 2011

By 

Ironwolfe (Bona Na Croin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sabbat Worlds Anthology (Hardcover)

IF you are new to the Warhammer 40,000 universe, don't start here. No, there's nothing wrong with the Anthology, actually it seems like all the contributing writers took a step up in their storytelling to honor Abnett's creation. Maybe that's because Abnett's Gaunt's Ghost series is the crown jewel of the WH40K universe. Maybe it's because Abnett has woven such a rich tapestry with his series that the starting points for most of these stories is a bit higher than the standard fair for the WH40k realm. I have read the majority of the WH40k novels and anthologies out there and this anthology is among the best. Most of the the short stories are creative and contain numerous references that GGhosts fans will recognize and chuckle at. Unfortunately unless you are familiar with the GGhosts series, some of the technology and terms can be confusing. As for the short stories, not a single boring one in the bunch. Ranked in order of my preference, Abnett's 2 excerpts from the GGhosts past are the best of course followed by G. McNeill's fast paced story about the Imperial fighter pilot aces known as the Apostles. Air combat is probably the most under written portion of the WH40k universe and McNeill does it justice. Just reading gave me the feeling of a high G turn. Dembski-Bowden's Regicide is another standout. His story of a captured trooper playing for time before his murder was a great vehicle to tell the death of the Warmaster Slaydo which occurs early in the GGhosts series. I disagree with an earlier reviewer that DB made the hero of the story unkillable. In WH40K, Guardsman who aren't leather tough Marine b@st@rds don't often live past the opening chapter. Nik Vincent's underground resistance story is a gritty gem with a perfect plot twist. Sandy Mitchell's look at the rarely mentioned life of an Administratum clerk in a recovered Hive city is straight Noir but inspired none the less. Even MAtthew Farrer's look at Chaos tainted heretics attempting an insurrection with "dead" warmachines on a recovered world had bright spots of action and plot. IF there is a weakness, it's the BlueBlood story by Nick Kyme. Yes it technical flaws that will drive Gamers nuts but overall the problem was just that I liked everyone in the story better than the BlueBloods but I guess that's intentional. Finally, my test for a successful short story is if I felt like I wanted the author to flesh out a novel based on the teaser of the short story, in this, all the author's efforts, maybe not Kyme, left me wanting another installment. A very satifying read and a great deal in paperback.