The Founding: A Gaunt's Ghosts Omnibus

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The novel also features the appearance of Brother Kater Holofurnace of the Iron Snakes, a Chapter of Space Marines that previously appeared in Abnett's novel, Brotherhood of the Snake. The Civitas Beati, a holy city dedicated to the Saint, is under assault from a legion of Blood Pact, led by Enok Innokenti. Chaos - which dominates the Black Library (Warhammer/40k publishing), and is almost entirely the antagonist in all these Imperial Guard (or Space Marine) stories, I can no longer merely see as the 'gnarly evil dudes with horns, and oh look, cool daemons! The creature was a dog, if a dog could be the size of a horse, if a horse could move as fast as a hummingbird.

There are 3 novels (and 3 independent short stories) here - and like I would do for anything else, I put it away on my shelf for a while in-between each novel and read something totally different. A short story titled In Remembrance directly follows the siege of Vervunhive, and is included in The Founding (the first Omnibus). The Tanith First-And-Only are among the most legendary of these regiments of Imperial Guard, and at their head stands Commissar Ibram Gaunt, unflinching in duty and unrelenting in combat. Throughout the book, we are taken back and forth in time, as characters remember the founding of the regiment and Gaunt remembers his past, while still a child and teenager and, afterwards, as a young commissar-in-training with the commissar-general Delane Oktar.

The story crests and we truly learn what it means to be Ghosts, we see the nefarious underworks of political rivalry, we see how hubris will destroy entire populations.

feel, like Abnett made a deliberate point of opening the gates, shifting the macho-man's world of these 40k stories into a new, somewhat more balanced realm. Höfundurinn hefur magnaða innsýn í hið mannlega ástand og er alveg hreint einstaklega lunkinn í því að skrifa sannfærandi persónur og spennuþrungna atburðarás. It's only weaker because it's really just a series of very loosely strung together short stories, without the space to build into something more. The book also establishes the Ghosts' rivalry with the "Royal Volpone" guard regiment and their commanding officer, Colonel (later General) Sturm, which plays out in the subsequent novel Necropolis.

The beginning of the novel is told from many perspectives – ranging from the rich nobility to low-class civilians – and tells of the opening phases of the siege on Vervunhive. After the Ghosts successfully infiltrate the Blood Pact's defences and prevent a disastrous loss for the Imperium, Lord-General Van Voytz re-considers his approach on the Ouranberg invasion.