Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #228303 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-03
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 288 pages

Synopsis
In the War-torn future of the 41st millennium, the Sabbat Worlds Crusade has begun. With the massed ranks of the Imperial Guard hard-pressed by the evil forces of Chaos, mankind must prevail - whatever the cost in lives. Commisar Ibram Gaunt has vowed to lead the men of the Tanith First-and-Only safely through this campaign, but they must evade the treacherous scheming of rival regiments just as much as the lethal firepower of the enemy.

Customer Reviews

Heroes rise from the Nameless Hordes !!
When I first started reading Warhammer and 40K, I avoided this series of books like an Ork Boyz Bloodbowl Jock Strap. Not for any logical reason, other than lots of books had been published in the series and I wanted to start on smaller series of books and one-offs to see if the Warhammer universe literature was something that I wanted to get into - not that long series scare me after 80 odd Deathlands books !! So after a year or so of reading the odd Warhammer book, and luckily finding most of the set - bit battered around the edges in a local charity shop - I thought I let Gaunt Ghosts loose on my visual and imaginary senses !!

Right from the start of this book your thrown into the heavy hitting and extremely heavy casualty action of the Warhammer 40K world. There is no slow introduction to the characters in a `Full Metal Jacket' boot-camp like way, you just have to learn their personalities as the story goes along. Though in defence of Abnett, the second book highlights in short stories a lot more of each of the Ghosts characteristics, the fall of Tanith and construction of the Tanith First and Only regiments.

Abnett's vision of the dark human 40k world is gritty and full of deceit, double-crossing, Chaos hordes, Quasi-religious nutters (both good and bad), regimental in-fighting and hidden agendas. The gist of the story basically is about a `Vermillion' classed message that comes into the hands of Gaunt, and how Gaunt tries to keep the data crystal from the hands of the agents of Dravere, whilst fighting off the despicable Chaos armies with his newly founded and acquired regiment of tattooed, bag-piped infantry.

In my own opinion, the only real downside to an otherwise extremely entertaining book was that Abnett in the first hundred or so pages, seems to introduce about 100 different characters - though some of them only tend to last half a page or so - reminding me the book `Fifteen Hours'. The story really only concerns about a dozen characters, but many people may get confused trying to picture characters and animals with no description other than a name, or a mysterious movement. But then imagination takes over and it is easily over-looked ! I'd also like to have read more about the Iron Men / Chaos Iron man hybrid battling each other. Some of the later books in the series also have maps, and a map would have been a bonus.

I would certainly say that whilst the book entertaining and a good read, I would also say that it probably is not one of the first books you should try to read in the 40K universe. If you like the writing of Sandy Mitchell's Cain series, then you should enjoy these.

Enjoyable, and will certainly leave you looking on the shelves for `Ghostmaker'. 5 out of 5.

My 100-word book review
First and Only is the first (but thankfully not the only) Gaunt's Ghosts book, in this series set in the Warhammer 40K universe. The plot gets somewhat tortuous at times but this is offset against some tremendous, exciting episodes of conflict and treachery, as the Ghosts battle against their Chaotic foes, and the author does a good job of establishing the character and backstory of Ibram Gaunt. This is a fine introduction for anyone unfamiliar with this genre or the original board game. For fans of Warhammer 40K fiction, or military SF in general, Dan Abnett is definitely the business.

I couldn't put it down...
Recommended to me by a friend, I was a little sceptical at first as I never actually read a book based on the Warhammer 40k universe apart from a couple of codex's used for the tabletop game, certainly not a full blown novel.

This book introduces Gaunt's Ghosts, the nickname for an Imperial Guard regiment. No time is wasted diving right into the exciting action, but don't let it fool you into thinking it's not plot driven as it did me. The plot is astounding and has everything you could ever want in a war novel, including betrayal, conspiracies, rivalries, and of course battles. I have to applaud the way in which each plot element is introduced in a creative way.

As much as I enjoy reading about the exploits of the regiment, I also appreciate the wealth of background information on the unit and key characters involved, not to mention on Gaunt himself. Even if you know little about the Warhammer 40k universe you will be able to recognize his daring tactical abilities and how he regards his fellow men with admiration and respect, unlike the typical commissar.

This was without a doubt one of the best books I've ever read, so much so I had to order numerous others in the series immediately. I can only hope you find it as thrilling as I did!