Honour Guard

Rating:
Summary: Gaunt's Ghosts Take On A Suicide Mission
Review: Dan Abnett's war-weary Imperial Guard regiment faces its greatest challenge to date... a mission that will either sway the whole course of the Sabbat Worlds campaign or destroy the last survivors of Tanith completely. Following the failed seige of a shrineworld's capital city and the loss of several of his key commanders, Commissar-Colonel Gaunt is branded as incompetent. As the forces of Chaos scream in from the Warp to finish the domination of the planet, Gaunt is given one last chance to redeem himself before facing the judgement of the Commissariat. Leading an honor guard formed from the battered remnants of the Ghosts, Gaunt must penetrate deep into enemy territory to secure an ancient artifact. The combined might of the Chaos horde hunts for the same talisman, and forces the Tanith First and Only into a final, bloody last stand.

Honor Guard is full of the fast-paced combat action that marks each book in the Gaunt's Ghosts series. Abnett supplies several unexpected twists that keeps the reader absorbed in the regiment's struggle to survive. The book is yet another great drama set in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe and well worth the read for fans and new readers alike.

Rating:
Summary: Gaunt's Ghosts Take On A Suicide Mission
Review: Dan Abnett's war-weary Imperial Guard regiment faces its greatest challenge to date... a mission that will either sway the whole course of the Sabbat Worlds campaign or destroy the last survivors of Tanith completely. Following the failed seige of a shrineworld's capital city and the loss of several of his key commanders, Commissar-Colonel Gaunt is branded as incompetent. As the forces of Chaos scream in from the Warp to finish the domination of the planet, Gaunt is given one last chance to redeem himself before facing the judgement of the Commissariat. Leading an honor guard formed from the battered remnants of the Ghosts, Gaunt must penetrate deep into enemy territory to secure an ancient artifact. The combined might of the Chaos horde hunts for the same talisman, and forces the Tanith First and Only into a final, bloody last stand.

Honor Guard is full of the fast-paced combat action that marks each book in the Gaunt's Ghosts series. Abnett supplies several unexpected twists that keeps the reader absorbed in the regiment's struggle to survive. The book is yet another great drama set in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe and well worth the read for fans and new readers alike.

Rating:
Summary: Killer Talent!
Review: Honour Guard finds the notorious regiment of Gaunt's Ghosts embroiled in yet another of the many campaigns to liberate a stretegic cluster from the clutches of Chaos.

On one of the holiest worlds to the crusade, Gaunt had been charged with the reclamation of the holiest shrine. But the forces of Chaos are well-prepared, and Gaunt suffers a disgrace. Basically broken in terms of military command, Gaunt is given one last mission to redeem himself before beign forcibly retired and allowing the Ghosts to be dispersed. He is to seek and recover a most important and ancient artifact.

This novel, as with all the Ghosts books to date, is filled with great amounts of carnage and violence. But this is the depiction of a most unprecendented war, one in which the enemy has only a regard for madness and suffering, as well as a hatred of all that is stable. And against this we have a single great leader, not only fighting the enemy, but dealing with jealousy and prejudice from different units and superior officers. As he has done in the three previous books, Abnett lets us see new sides to almost all the characters. This is a great talent, as the personalities never stagnate, and it keeps the reader interested. I highly recommend this book, not only to Warhammer 40k players, but to any that like well-written science fiction.

Rating:
Summary: More great Gaunt action
Review: Honour Guard finds the notorious regiment of Gaunt's Ghosts embroiled in yet another of the many campaigns to liberate a stretegic cluster from the clutches of Chaos.

On one of the holiest worlds to the crusade, Gaunt had been charged with the reclamation of the holiest shrine. But the forces of Chaos are well-prepared, and Gaunt suffers a disgrace. Basically broken in terms of military command, Gaunt is given one last mission to redeem himself before beign forcibly retired and allowing the Ghosts to be dispersed. He is to seek and recover a most important and ancient artifact.

This novel, as with all the Ghosts books to date, is filled with great amounts of carnage and violence. But this is the depiction of a most unprecendented war, one in which the enemy has only a regard for madness and suffering, as well as a hatred of all that is stable. And against this we have a single great leader, not only fighting the enemy, but dealing with jealousy and prejudice from different units and superior officers. As he has done in the three previous books, Abnett lets us see new sides to almost all the characters. This is a great talent, as the personalities never stagnate, and it keeps the reader interested. I highly recommend this book, not only to Warhammer 40k players, but to any that like well-written science fiction.

Rating:
Summary: It wasn't bad
Review: It was a good book, but the ending was much too rushed. Another chapter of epilogue would have been great. Only thing I can think is that he knew he would be writing more in the series and didn't think a proper ending was necessary. The tank battles in this book were sweet, but for infantry fighting the Guns of Tanith was a better book.

Rating:
Summary: Killer Talent!
Review: Jeff Barden's review here summarizes this excellent book perfectly. The fourth in the Gaunt's Ghosts series, Honour Guard puts a new twist on the saga -- and that's what's so great about Dan Abnett. He could easily rest on his laurels and crank out the sort of flat sci-fi that Gibson once referred to as the "golden ghetto," shoddy pulp that sells simply 'cause it's sci-fi, or in this case, sci-fi game fiction. But with each novel, you can tell that Abnett is stretching himself, trying to grow as a writer and to take his stories in new directions.

After finishing Honour Guard, I tried to read Gav Thorpe's 13th Legion. I put it back on the shelf after about 20 pages. It was a joke compared to Abnett. I may pick it up again, when I get tired of waiting for a new Abnett, but I won't be fooled -- I'll be reading it to keep myself immersed in the 40K universe, not 'cause I'm expecting really good sci-fi. For that, I'll wait for Gaunt's Ghosts Book Five.

Rating:
Summary: Deus ex Dei Machina
Review: My only complaint is the climax of the story, the point to which the entire novel's plot has been building, takes about a paragraph to resolve. I kept thinking...thats it? Thats all it took? I loved the story up until that point, and the books following were up to the usual standard of great action, well defined characters, and breakneck pacing.

Rating:
Summary: Abnett continues to impress with this 4th installment...
Review: With Honour Guard, Dan Abnett continues his Gaunt's Ghosts series with another tightly-written, action-packed war novel. the fourth book in the series, Honour Guard actually is the beginning of the Sabbat Crusade story campaign. The first three novels in the series introduces Colonel-Commissar Ibrahim Gaunt and his Tanith First and Only Regiment.

This time around certain high-ranking elements in the Sabbat Crusade Army has blamed Gaunt and his Ghosts for a battlefield loss that was orchestrated by some behind-the-scenes. Honour Guard is pretty much a story about redemption and spiritual discovery for Gaunt and the troops in his regiment. We actually see Gaunt brought low by outside forces, most of which are actually officers in the Army who are jealous of his sudden rise to power and popularity amongst the regular troops. It was refreshing to know that Gaunt was human after all and not some super-commander who could do no wrong and who could brush off any drawbacks with aplomb.

This time around, Abnett's battle scenes are more centered towards fighting between armored units with infantry in support. Again, Abnett must have good knowledge of military history because the battles leading up to the final stand in the end is very similar to the armor battles which occurred on the roads of the Dutch countryside during the Allies ill-advised Operation Market Garden.

Honour Guard is a worthy successor to the first three Gaunt novels that precedes it. Here's to hoping that Abnett continues is hot streak. I highly recommend.