Double Eagle

Rating:
Summary: Abnett's expertise extends to the air
Review: Double Eagle sees the focus put on the pilots of the Imperium, specifically a group of fighter- and bomber-pilots who were first seen in one of the Gaunt's Ghosts novels. As per usual, Abnett has superior character development. This book, as with all his others, is truly a page-turner.

Something of an aside to the Ghosts storyline, this novel takes place on a planet suffering from a Chaos invasion in the Sabbat Campaign that Abnett has written so much about. (In fact, there are some references to the Ghosts storyline, but not so that the reader is left confused.) As with Abnett's other works, we see comparatively little of the enemy in terms of internal thoughts, only getting that before they interact with the heroes. There is only one such villain, actually, an ace of aces who seems unstoppable. He makes several appearances, always defeating those he faces, or driving them to extreme measures to flee.

One of the primary characters is the flight commander of the Phantine XX fighter wing. She is a great character, mixing in-combat skill with concern for her wingmates. Others in the unit also provide great characters, the old nice guy, the new kid trying to prove himself. The planes are also like characters, given their jinxes and idiosyncrasies. The unit really is a whole, from machine, to tech, to pilots.

Another arc of the story deals with a bomber pilot who is in another unit. He was saved by one of the Ghosts in another novel, and feels he is on borrowed time, that he should be dead. He meets a woman who has lost pretty well everything, and they find in each other that which they were missing. This is really my favorite part of the book. The human side.

There is a great deal of air combat, which Abnett delivers with exquisite skill. I could feel all the losses and exult in the victories as though I were there. There are a number of close calls, tight squeezes, near-misses. All those things that make such situations interesting to read.

This novel shows again that Abnett is the best of the WH40k authors, at least in my opinion. Despite the lack of a well-determined enemy, this book is a great read. After all, the reader is supposed to feel for the Imperium, not those who hate all life. In that respect, the lack of depth in the enemy is perfect. However, as has been occurring more and more of late in new release books, there were a number of typos. Not the British-American differences in certain words, which I have grown accustomed to through Abnett and the rest, but simple lack of proofreading, I believe. The story was so great, though, that I overlooked that entirely in my rating.

Rating:
Summary: What happened at page 50 - 51 !
Review: Well, the book itself would get a 4 to 5 stars, but unlike what others readers said here, in my book, there was no minor printing problems or grammatical errors, I had a little note that said :

From the editor

We apologize, the force of Chaos acted against us, page 50 and page 51 are inverted, sorry for the inconvenience.

I paid 30$ (full price) of my hard earned cash, and I expect to be treated with respect and decorum from the publisher, they knew they had a problem with the first printed edition, so what do they do, do they swallow their pill, push back the release date, and re-print the book properly, loose some money but keep the trust and respect of their readers (clients) and know they will buy more product from them in the future, NO !

They say to themselves let's sell it, full price, let's rack the cash in, and forget about trust and respect ! and lets not mention this, maybe peoples will still buy our books after that.

NO !

Because of this, I lost total trust and respect in Black Library, this will be my last book I will ever buy from them, (from a reader that bought over 50 books from them so far), and spent well over 800$ in the last 5 years. So for 30$ you will lose hundreds of dollars from me alone !!!

So Black Library, enjoy my last 30$, you'll never see a dime coming your way from me again.

Rating:
Summary: A fun look at a seldom seen aspect of the 40K universe
Review: Yet another strong offering from Abnett, Double Eagle is the story of an Imperial world beset by chaos invaders during the height of the Sabbat Worlds campaign. Told largely from the perspective of the beleaguered Imperial pilots charged with slowing the chaos tide until off-world reinforcements can hopefully arrive, the book gives us a taste of the 40K universe rarely experienced. At first, I wasn't certain whether Abnett could keep my attention for a few hundred pages with such a relatively narrow focus. I need not have worried, however. Thanks in large part to a wealth of rich, three dimensional characters and frequent accounts of gripping aerial combat, I remained captivated through the last page.

If Double Eagle has a fault, it's that the chaos invaders are presented as a faceless, nameless horde with little character or individuality. Abnett wasted an excellent opportunity to create a small, elite cadre of enemy pilots who might have shed some much welcome light and understanding on the chaos psyche. Instead, the reader is treated to only the briefest of glimpses of the one enemy ace who is given a name. This character had a great deal of potential but sadly, that potential was never really realized. It's a shame that Abnett did not see fit to create antagonists as nuanced as the other main characters in the book.

Despite the above criticism, I would still highly recommend Double Eagle to any fan of either Abnett or the Games Workshop family. I suspect that it will probably be a long time before another Black Library author treats us to such an exhaustive or entertaining look at this one small corner of the 40K universe.