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Summary: Warhammer 40000 fans rejoice
Review: "In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war" "Men of Tanith, do you want to live forever! " -Commisar Ibram Gaunt In the year 40,000, mankind fights a thousand battles on a thousand worldsagainst a thousand enemies. The imperial guard, the mainstay of mankind's army, is made up of thousands of regiments from hundreds of worlds. The novel, "First & Only,"by Dan Abnett, chronicles several battles from one regiment. Before one can understand the story, one must know some of the background of the Warhammer 40,000 galaxy. from hereon in I will write this review from the perspective of the year 40,000. Long ago, a race of highly technologically advanced aliens, The Eldar, ruled known space. The Eldar wanted to experience every possible emotion. In their culture, cults began to rise. These groups went out and killed and tortured for fun. Little did they realize that every soul the released from its flesh was being consumed by the young dark god, Slaanesh. When it had collected enough souls, it used its power to burst from the realms of chaos into what we call realspace. It pouredinto the galaxy, consuming the main planets of Eldar control and creating what we call the Eye of Terror, a place where chaos and the universe as we know it collide. Chaos spread out through the galaxy. Meanwhile, mankind was plunged into a dark ages brought on by our increased technological knowledge. One man formed what we call the Adepes Asteres, or the space marines to purge the taint of chaos from all known worlds. This man became the ruler of all mankind, and is now known as the Emperor. However, one of the leaders of a space marine chapter, Horus, was tainted by chaos. Soon his and several other chapters of space marines attempted to destroy the Emperor. A huge war was fought, and ended at the very gates of the palace of the Emperor. The Emperor himself teleported onto Horus' flagship with a squad of his most trusted marines, and after a fierce battle, managed to kill Horus in hand to hand combat. However, the Emperor was fatally wounded in the fight. He was brought back to earth and encased within the golden throne, a machine that gives him life, though he cannot speak or move. The Emperor is now revered as a god. However, many chaos tainted space marines escaped into the eye of terror, where time does not exist as you or I perceive it, and still live on today. Hundreds are tainted by chaos and must be dispatched. On the planet of Tanith, the imperium called that they must muster a regiment for the mighty impurial guard. However, Several chaos ships fallowed the impurials to Tanith and destroyed the planet after only one company had been mustered. This company came under the command of Commisar Gaunt, and became known as Gaunts ghosts, or the first and only because they were the first and only company from Tanith. The men are sent on a routine mission against chaos cultists on the planet Fortis Binary. What they discover there is both chilling and vastly important, and leads them on a quest that effects not only the company, but possibly the entire impurim. Worst of all, The company learns that the worst enemy is that from within. Overall, I found the book, First and Only , highly enjoyable. It contains action, suspence, and several plot twists that you never see coming. As you may or may not know, Warhammer 40,000 is a table top, stratagy game. The book is much more injoyable if you play, or at least know something about the game and its bacround. Several parts in the books, such as some of the technology and alien races will not make a lot of sense without knowledge of the game. Still, the book can be fun, and fans of science fiction may still enjoy it evem if they do not quite understand all of it. Overall, I found this book highly enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Plenty of Pulp to Gulp!
Review: As a middle-aged, over-educated person who has read tons of literature (Hemingway to Marquez, Tolkein to Lewis, Shakespeare to Beaudelaire), occasionally I need an easy, fun read with plenty of little hooks and tie-ins to keep me interested. Basically, the man's equivilent of the romance novel in terms of emotional satisfaction and interest. Abnett delivers in every chapter of this book. I found it hard to put down and distracting to real life at times. Fortunately, I was on a vacation, so there was plenty of airplane time to read the whole book in a couple of days.
As a former military officer and holding a degree in history, I found the book inoffensive regarding 'historical' detail. At times, one might almost say that it is TOO faithful to history as we know it now and TOO familiar. The trench warfare sequences are close to actually WWI battle stories, while the 'special mission' aspects are straight out of 'Guns of Navarone' movies and actual commando operations such as stories of the British SAS, etc. That having been said, I think it will satisfy people who do not like their sensibilities overly stretched with imaginative (and therefore unlikely in their view) battle scenes. However the Chaos plot aspects involve demons and insanity, so are best characterized as hard-core sci-fi.
Like most characters favored by authors, Col. Gaunt is heavily favored by fate and manages to survive many close calls. Like Col. Kurtz in 'Apocolypse Now', you just know that he's going to survive as dozens die near him. However he is a tragic, ruthless and yet somewhat compassionate character. Or at least as compassionate as a commissar of the Imperial Guard can be.
And if you are a 40K fan, I think you will find all the 'fluff' to be in synch with the rest of the 40K universe. The book centers on Chaos and the Empire, the heart of the 40K plot theme.
To finish, excellent and engaging light read, on par with any mystery novel, romance novel, action novel, hack literature on the market. Should appeal to anyone who is interested in military science fiction like David Drake.
Rating: 
Summary: Book Review : First & Only
Review: First & Only by Dan Abnett is intreguing, action packed, and inventive. Throughout the book if some one fails to read the title of the chapters, he will become lost. In the first eight pages, six people die in a space fight. The book give you little hints as to the final objective but one it is discovered andwen the reader knows what it is, they will finally see the little hints throughout the book. This book uses numberous conficts and battles that keeps the reader intrested. Commisar Gaut, the main character, used his brain to acomplish the goals. When he knew that his company couldn't beat the train from point to point and get ran over, he used his inventivness to get his men saftly and quickly to the core of the enemy. To those who know the Warhammer 40,000 universe, this will please them and they will probably read the entire book before putting it down. For those who don't know the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the book will leave you with suspensful conflict.
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Summary: In the Emperor's Name read this book!
Review: First and Only is an excellent novel. Fans of Warhammer 40,000, and war novels in general will really enjoy this tale of Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and his "Ghosts" of Tanith. Gaunt is a compelling protagonist, ruthless yet compassionate, and the characterization of the men of the Tanith First Regiment really lets you know and care about each soldier. The plot has numerous twists, and the suspense builds until you won't be able to put this book down. If you enjoyed First and Only, DO NOT MISS Dan Abnett's second Gaunt's Ghosts novel, Ghostmaker.
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Summary: Not Just For DieHard WarHammerites
Review: First off, I don't play Warhammer. Not because of any bias, but because I a)don't have the money required to buy all the pieces and game sets and b)I don't have the time, even if I had the money. But I've always been intrigued by the game, with its scenario and mythology. When I came across this novel, written by Dan Abnett, I picked it up. I've loved Abnett's comic book work on LEGION, and was sure I'd enjoy his work here, as well. I did. The Warhammer universe is dark. Boy, is it dark. The opening half of the book is just one long, bone crunching battle. Even if you have no idea what the hell is going on, you can't help but feel involved. The second half of the book deals with more of a conventional plot, intriguing as it is. Even though this is a 'sharecropper novel', there is no stinting of creativity, and 'First and Only' reads like a good, solid dark SF novel. I felt shades of Heinlein's 'Starship Troopers' here, I felt nods towards Clive Barker horror, but most of all I just enjoyed Abnett's deft handling of characterization. A fun read. Maybe I'll have to start saving up for my own Warhammer game.
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Summary: excellent
Review: great introduction to warhammer 40k, I can't wait for more ....
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Summary: A good old-fashioned war story w/ a scifi twist.
Review: I have enjoyed playing the Warhammer 40,000 games from Games Workshop and even collected several hundred painted figures. When I found out that they were going to start publishing novels based on this game, I made sure to pick up copies of the books when they appear.
One of the first I picked up is Dan Abnett's satisfying novel about an Imperial Guard Regiment and its commander: Colonel-Commissar Ibrahim Gaunt. The regiment is called Tanith First and Only for the fact that the homeworld they were recruited from was destroyed by a surprise attack on the day of their deployment. This fact gives the story and its many characters a certain humanity that most scifi action novel do not have. These are people who have lost everything they know and love. The only thing they have left is each other.
The action in this novel is fast-paced and very brutal. Its very reminiscent of the dime novels about battles during World War 2. This story doesn't glorify war and actually shows war at its most brutal and ugliest.
Dan Abnett has set up a good base from which to write successive sequel novels dealing with Gaunt and his Ghosts. This book really conveys the theme and idea behind the Warhammer 40k games. Fans of the games will love this book and fans of scifi books as well.
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Summary: Great piece of science fiction
Review: I simply wanted to weigh in on this book. I was very pleasantly surprised at the action, storyline, characters, etc. This little book is far more than some sidline marketing tool. Mr. Abnett writes very well indeed, and I would rate this one right up there with some of the best in my collection.
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Summary: So Much Better Than I Thought
Review: I wasn't familiar with the Warhammer universe, and really figured this would be another throw-away sci-fi action novel. However, Dan A. does an excellent job of capturing the gothic flavor of his imaginary universe. The overall plot is strong, and plays out well through flashbacks. I'd recommend it to other non-Warhammer 40k fans.
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Summary: A fun tale filled with quite a bit of action
Review: I'm not a gamer of the Warhammer 40k universe but I've taken a definite interest in the WH40k books since Dan Abnett's First and Only story of the Tanith Ghosts. Dan Abnett's Tanith First & Only tales aren't filled with the depth or complexity you'd find in an Orson Scott Card or Joe Halderman tale but helps to provide the meat and backbone of the science fiction genre. First & Only is a solid tale of the Tanith "Ghosts". The "first and only" regiment of light infantry troops to make it off a homeworld that was lost to them by the forces of chaos. Packed with lots & lots & LOTS of action, First & Only is a great read from beginning to end with fully fleshed out characters and a vivid view of the grim battlefields from the eyes of the light infantry scouts. He does an incredible job of giving the reader the perspective of not just the main character but quite a few characters from the "Ghosts". I'd recommend all of the series (I'll be writing a review of all five books) but you'd definitely want to make sure you start out with the First and Only.
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