Product Description

The Inquisition moves amongst mankind like an avenging shadow, striking down daemons, aliens and heretics alike with uncompromising ruthlessness. Notable amongst their number is Gregor Eisenhorn. In these three novels - Xenos, Malleus and Hereticus - popular Gaunt's Ghosts creator Dan Abnett tracks the Inquisitor's career from zealous upholder of the truth...to possible collaborator with the very powers he once swore to destroy. Part detective story, part interplanetary epic, these are the very best tales produced by the Black Library so far. Includes all three novels, plus two linking short stories, "Backcloth for a Crown Additional" and "The Curiosity", in one must-have package.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16853 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 768 pages

Review
"'Abnett is the gold standard.' - Enigma" "'Abnett's punchy, pacey style fits perfectly.' - SFX"

About the Author
Dan Abnett lives and works in Maidstone. After graduating from Oxford, he worked as an editor before turning to writing full-time. His work includes the popular Gaunt's Ghosts series. Dan was recently voted 'Best Writer' at the UK National Comic Awards.

Customer Reviews

Awesome.
I started reading this expecting it to be your average run of the mill 40k fiction, having read a few of said books before; I wasn't really THAT much into the whole Inquisition thing - initially I bought it merely because I wanted a hefty book that would take me some time to finish.

Having said that, this now ranks as my no. 2 most fave book of all time (and I like to think I've read quite a few). The whole thing just drags you right in and you have to physically force yourself to stop turning the pages; right from the start it's pretty action packed all the way to the end. My only beef with it is that some of the characters come and go, and it would have been nice to see some of them develop a bit more (I'm a big fan of Midas) before their exit.

Even so, you do get engrossed in the characters (although you still somehow feel that you are kept at arm's length from the main characters emotions, but you come to realise that this is more due to the pretty emotionless state that he exists in anyway), and when they do suffer some injustice or other it really grates on you.

It's not a pretty story, especially towards the end, but then again if you wanted a book without plenty of death, you wouldn't be coming near a 40k novel ;)

WELL worth the read. One of the few books I've read twice in less than six months.

On a similar note, the Ravenor novels are of a similar standard; not *quite* as good as Eisenhorn, but not far off.

Flawless
Dan Abnett is without doubt one of the most gifted writers of science fiction as a genre, let alone Games Workshop publications. This compendium version is absolutely flawless - Personally I found Eisenhorn rather reprehensible by the end of the main storyline, but that's because i'm a reactionary old monodominant (read the book to find out what THAT means!) but this makes the book even better in my view. If an author can force you to form moral opinions about a fictional and abstract character, then that surely means he's an awesome writer.

Utterly absorbing - highly reccomended to fans of GW and those who are not: the book is incredibly satisfying to read either way. If you don't yet have any Black Library books, ensure that you get this one first. It's so broad in theme, as well! Science fiction, obviously, but also Crime/Tragedy/Comedy/Romance/Thriller/Horror/War/Detective - a bit difficult to classify beyond that, obviously... :)

Must have.
This was recommended to me by many members of the Black Library forums, in fact it's practically always mentioned as the first choice and after reading I can see why. All the 40k books I've read have centred on huge battlefields, taking perspectives from the front lines on some war-torn world. They were brutal and bloodthirsty, yet no matter how good those books were, I always felt I was missing something. Eisenhorn filled the void.

The novel gives an outlook on imperial society, visiting a huge variety of worlds getting involved in their customs and culture, yet the life of an inquisitor is far from peaceful. The enemies of mankind such as the heretic are devious and Eisenhorn must be equally resourceful and cunning if he hopes to survive. The collection also shows a change within the inquisitor as he turns slowly from a strong minded puritan against all forms of heresy, to a radical, using the weapons of chaos against their former masters despite the corruptible nature of chaos. Luckily I'm glad to say this change was slow and realistic to the point where you may believe he was justified and had no other choice, unlike a certain whiny skywalker who goes from accidentally killing one of his masters to butchering several children in less than 5 minutes...

So to summarize, this is a must have as it's one of the best books I've ever had the pleasure to read.