Amazon and Games Workshop sign agreement to develop WARHAMMER 40,000 projects for the screen

As reported a year ago, Amazon have announced a comprehensive alliance with British wargaming company Games Workshop. The deal will cover Games Workshop's popular Warhammer 40,000 science fantasy setting and will allow Amazon to develop multiple television and film projects based on WH40K games and novels, both live action and animated. Amazon have also confirmed that everybody's favourite geek-thespian, Henry Cavill, will play a key role in their projects as producer, creative overseer and actor in at least one of the properties.

Whilst previously Amazon and Games Workshop had merely entered into talks, those talks have now progressed to signed contracts.

Warhammer 40,000 is a multimedia science fiction/fantasy/horror franchise. Set almost 39,100 years in the future, the property depicts a time when humanity has successfully gone into space and colonised more than a million worlds scattered across our galaxy. Faster-than-light travel is only possible via the Warp, a chaotic realm wherein dwell the evil Chaos Gods. The influence of the Chaos Gods is felt on many worlds, with Chaos cults falling victim to their evil and undermining the Imperium of Mankind from within. Alien races such as the Orks, the Eldar, the Necrons, the Tyranids and the Tau also post threats of varying degrees to the Imperium. The Imperium itself is also not the best place to live, with millions of people dying every day in the service of the God-Emperor of Mankind, toiling in misery on mechanical Hive Worlds or dying in the service of the Imperium's vast armies and space fleets. Chief among the Imperium's defenders are the Space Marines, genetically-engineered super warriors in towering power armour.

The franchise began in 1987 as a tabletop wargame, which remains the biggest-selling property in the genre, but has since branched out to over 500 works of original fiction, including novels, comics, audio dramas, animated films and video games.

This isn't Hollywood's first rodeo in the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium. Four years ago Games Workshop agreed to option out the Eisenhorn series of novels by Dan Abnett with a view to developing a TV series to be helmed by Man in the High Castle and X-Files producer Frank Spotnitz. It is believed that Spotnitz held discussions with Amazon, whom he worked with on High Castle, but the project did not move forwards at that time.

Eisenhorn remains a reasonable starting point for the franchise, with a cast consisting of mostly human characters with only occasional appearances by the Space Marines (the signature faction of the setting) and daemonic forces. This is an easier entry point versus the total gonzoid epic war insanity of something like The Horus Heresy series.

It is also possible Amazon might look to develop a series based on Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series, which features relatable characters belonging to the Imperium's regular human army, the Imperial Guard. However, both Amazon and Games Workshop may be keener for something that front-and-centres the Space Marines and other core factions like the Orks, Tyranids or Necrons.

Cavill is a noted Warhammer franchise fan. He's appeared in videos to discuss the lore and his love of painting Warhammer miniature figures, and spoken of his appreciation for several of the spin-off video games and novels. He has even corrected confused interviewers over the differences between the Warhammer and WarCraft universes.

Games Workshop, Amazon Studios and Vertigo Entertainment will collaborate on the first project, the details of which have yet to be revealed, with Cavill tapped to star and executive produce, as well as extending his advice over other projects in the franchise. Games Workshop and Cavill both appear to be keen for any adaptation to hew close to the source material and not deviate purposelessly away, which seemed to become a bone of contention between Cavill and Netflix over their work on The Witcher.

GW and Amazon have indicated they will spend the next year working on the details of the first adaptation, so it will likely still be several years before any project actually appears on-screen.

Amazon to develop multiple WARHAMMER 40,000 projects with Henry Cavill to produce and star

Amazon have announced a comprehensive alliance with British wargaming company Games Workshop. The deal will cover Games Workshop's popular Warhammer 40,000 science fantasy setting and will allow Amazon to develop multiple television and film projects based on WH40K games and novels, both live action and animated. Amazon have also confirmed that everybody's favourite geek-thespian, Henry Cavill, will play a key role in their projects as producer, creative overseer and actor in at least one of the properties.

This isn't Hollywood's first rodeo in the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium. Three years ago Games Workshop agreed to option out the Eisenhorn series of novels by Dan Abnett with a view to developing a TV series to be helmed by Man in the High Castle and X-Files producer Frank Spotnitz. It is believed that Spotnitz held discussions with Amazon, whom he worked with on High Castle, but the project did not move forwards at that time.

Eisenhorn is a reasonable starting point for the franchise, with a cast consisting of mostly human characters with only occasional appearances by the Space Marines (eight-foot-tall, genetically-engineered warriors who are the signature faction of the setting) and daemonic forces. This is an easier entry point versus the total gonzoid epic war insanity of something like The Horus Heresy series.

It is also possible Amazon might look to develop a series based on Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series, which features relatable characters belonging to the Imperium's regular human army, the Imperial Guard. However, both Amazon and Games Workshop may be keener for something that front-and-centres the Space Marines and other key factions like the Orks, Tyranids or Necrons.

Cavill is a noted Warhammer franchise fan. He's appeared in videos to discuss the lore and his love of painting Warhammer miniature figures, and spoken of his appreciation for several of the spin-off video games and novels. He has even corrected confused interviewers over the differences between the Warhammer and WarCraft universes.

Games Workshop, Amazon Studios and Vertigo Entertainment will collaborate on the first project, the details of which have yet to be revealed, with Cavill tapped to star and executive produce, as well as extending his advice over other projects in the franchise. Games Workshop and Cavill both appear to be keen for any adaptation to hew close to the source material and not deviate purposelessly away, which seemed to be a bone of contention between Cavill and Netflix over their work on The Witcher.

This project is very early in development.

After 16 years, 63 books and 26,881 pages, THE HORUS HERESY is finally coming to an end

Black Library and Games Workshop have announced the actual, final novel in The Horus Heresy, their absolutely massive prequel series to their Warhammer 40,000 science fantasy setting. The series began in 2006 with Dan Abnett's Horus Rising, so it is only fitting that Abnett is bringing the saga to an end with The End and the Death. However, the story proved too titanic to fit into one volume, so will be published in (at least!) two books.

The Horus Heresy is the story that provides the mythic underpinning to the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Set ten thousand years before the "present" in the setting, the saga tells of the rebellion of the Warmaster Horus against his father, the immortal Emperor of Mankind. Horus believes his father has become a despot and a tyrant, wanting to be worshipped as a god. However, Horus has also been manipulated by the insidious forces of Chaos. Almost half the forces of the Imperium of Man join Horus in his rebellion, designed to overthrow the Emperor and "free" humanity. However, many legions remain loyal to the Emperor, leading to a desperate, seven-year war that will determine the fate of humanity and the galaxy.

The End and the Death is also the final book in the Siege of Terra sub-series. This eight (now nine+) volume series depicts Horus's final gambit, a breach of the defences around the Solar system and a full-scale assault on Holy Terra with almost his entire remaining army and fleet, relying on a Warp Storm to prevent reinforcements from reaching Sol before he can overthrow the Emperor. The previous seven books in the sub-series - The Solar War, The Lost and the Damned, The First Wall, Saturnine, Mortis, Warhawk and Echoes of Eternity - depicted the monstrous fight raging for the throne world, not to mention the culmination of many subplots as various enemies face off for the last time. The End and the Death sees the depiction of the most iconic event in Warhammer 40,000's lore, when the Emperor directly intervenes in the war and faces his son Horus for the final time. But that is only part of the story.

Abnett is the Black Library's most acclaimed and biggest-selling author (not to mention Britain's third-biggest selling science fiction author, behind only Peter F. Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds) and recently delivered a stunning two-part finale in his Gaunt's Ghosts series, with the brilliant duology of Warmaster and Anarch (not the final books in the Ghosts series, but the final for a while). Delivering the end of the series is a huge order, but Abnett will hopefully rise to it.

The stats for The Horus Heresy are mind-boggling. The series will now comprise 63 books in the core series (55 novels and 8 short story collections), 48 audio dramas, 2 art books, 2 script books and 1 graphic novel. The combined page count of the main series (not counting the last two) is 26,881 pages in paperback, or two Wheel of Times with an entire Song of Ice and Fire to follow up (though Horus Heresy books have fairly large print, so I suspect the word count is not quite so insane, with some estimates placing it around 7 million, which is about 1.6 Wheel of Times).

The End and the Death: Volume 1 is due for publication in 2023.

Double Eagle by Dan Abnett

The liberation of the Sabbat Worlds is in full swing. The overextended Crusade invasion front is now under flank attacks, with the world of Enothis proving a pivotal flashpoint. With the war raging over a vast continent, the battles hinge on the forces of the Aeronautica Imperialis, the atmospheric fighter and bomber wings flown by the Imperial Navy and the Imperial Guard. The Phantine XX, fresh from their victory on their homeworld, are deployed to Enothis to help mount a last stand against the Archenemy.

Double Eagle is a spinoff from Dan Abnett's signature Gaunt's Ghosts series of science fantasy military adventures, in particular the fifth novel in the series, The Guns of Tanith. Fortunately, references to the events of that novel are slight and familiarity with that book, the Gaunt's Ghosts series in general or even the wider Warhammer 40,000 universe is not required to enjoy this novel.

Double Eagle is, basically, the Battle of Britain But With Lasers. Previous Warhammer 40,000 books largely focused on the ground war involving the human Imperial Guard and the genetically-engineered, superhuman Space Marines, with occasional nods to the armoured divisions and the space fleets, but this is the first book to really delve deep into the air force. Influences from World War II movies and books about the air war over Europe and the Pacific are clear, although (as is often the case with WH40K) there are sacrifices to realism in pursuit of the rule of cool. Despite being set an unfathomable 39,000 years in the future, the aircraft in use by both sides are far slower than, say an F-15 Strike Eagle and they seem to have less fuel than a Hurricane (given how curtailed dogfights are before someone has to bug out).

Once you accept that - and you have to if you want any hope of enjoying the many excellent stories in this setting - then you can kick back and enjoy the book. This is Dan Abnett doing what he does best: assembling a collection of flawed, relatable characters, putting them through the grinder of war and telling a great-action-packed page-turner in the process. Double Eagle starts a bit slower than many of his books - the result of a need to introduce a dozen or so major new characters (and reintroduce a couple of characters from The Guns of Tanith, which most readers may have forgotten about) rather than being able to pick up with a well-established cast from an ongoing series - but soon kicks into gear as we witness the air war for Enothis unfolding in its full glory.

In fact, I wondered if Abnett had made a bit of a mistake by having such a large cast and the need for each main character to have their own story arc, given the need to also depict the war in its full scope and explain the intricacies of air combat, all in a very tight page count. However, Abnett, as usual, delivers with aplomb. The widely-scattered characters and storylines converge satisfyingly at the end of the book for a major battle and most of the storylines are wrapped up quite satisfyingly

Double Eagle (****) won't be winning awards for originality, but it is Abnett delivering another perfectly-executed barrel roll of action, strong characters and addictive writing. In fact, Double Eagle scores more highly than much of his work because, being so independent of other series, it works very well as a stand-alone novel that can be used to sample his writing style and skill. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.

A sequel, Interceptor City, has been promised for fifteen years but is still a fair bit down on Abnett's schedule (as he is currently working on the Horus Heresy's concluding arc and on his third Inquisitor trilogy). However, Double Eagle does not end on a cliffhanger and can be enjoyed on its own merits.

The Sabbat Worlds Crusade by Dan Abnett

On the 266th day of the 755th year of the 41st millennium, the Imperium of Man launched a full-scale invasion of the Sabbat Worlds: one hundred and sixty star systems with a combined a population of 17 trillion souls. Over the preceding two centuries, the region had fallen prey to the depredations of Chaos cultists and other followers of the Ruinous Powers. Over the course of the next thirty-seven years, the Sabbat Worlds Crusade would cost billions of lives but deliver trillions from the grip of the archenemy, through a combination of bold strategic ingenuity and desperate fighting on the ground, in the air and in space. A small but important role would be played by one company of the Imperial Guard in particular: the Tanith 1st, popularly known as "Gaunt's Ghosts." This is the story of the war on a grand scale.

For the past twenty years, Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series has been one of the most popular (and almost certainly the best) military SF series in the world. Its mix of effective characterisation and impressive military action has been highly compelling, effectively replicating the appeal of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels but in the future, and in the Cthulhu-meets-Aliens milieu of the Warhammer 40,000 space fantasy setting. The Sabbat Worlds Crusade is the sub-setting for these books, effectively a corner of the wider 40K setting which Abnett has made his own, depicting a vast war on a mind-boggling scale.

Despite the detail and attention poured into that war, it has remained firmly in the background. Abnett has instead correctly focused on the events and characters up-front in the novels, making them compelling reads with the background material interesting but not essential to enjoying each book in turn. Over the years the background has gotten fleshed out, via two short story anthologies and a previous companion book published when the series was barely half its current length. This book is a reprinting of the previous companion volume but on a much grander scale, with all-new material on the latter half of the war bringing the story up to date as of the fifteen book in the series (Anarch).

The first thing to note is that this book is a thing of beauty. It is hefty, published on high-quality paper and features a colossal amount of high-quality artwork from the talented art department at Games Workshop. Some of the artwork is reprinted from previous book covers, but a lot of it is new, most notably a handsome (if somewhat stylised) fold-out map of the entire Sabbat Worlds region. The book also features a ribbon book mark and the pages are edged in gold, making it a handsome volume for your shelf without completely destroying your wallet.

The text is mostly a linear account of the war, opening with the causes of the conflict and the deep-seated historical background before focusing on the politicking of Warmaster Slaydo to get the war approved and underway. The opening stages of the war to the decisive battle at Balhaut are recounted in detail, before Slaydo's death and the rise of the far more mercurial and temperamental Warmaster Macaroth to replace him, which coincides with the rise of Ibram Gaunt and the Tanith First and Only, as recounted in the novels. The book then continues to outline the course of the war, through events readers of the main novel series will be familiar with and other battles that have never been mentioned in the books.

Something I was very impressed by is that Abnett doesn't fall into the common companion volume trap of making the book a redundant retelling of the events of the books. This is the very thing that Raymond E. Feist did in his Riftwar companion book, Midkemia: The Chronicles of Pug, neglecting previously unknown lore in favour of telling the reader a story they'd already read and making the entire project redundant. You've already read the novels, you don't need to read a summary of them again. Abnett instead focuses on other theatres of conflict and other battles, mentioning the Ghosts only in passing when their activities have a discernible impact on the overall course of the war, which is surprisingly limited. That's not to say the Ghosts are ignored though. Sidebars and chapters on weapons, vehicles and kit feature the Ghosts prominently, many of whom get their first official artistic depictions in this volume.

The writing is pretty solid, although your investment in it will depend on your enjoyment of detailed military accounts of completely fictional campaigns. There clearly isn't much character work going on here, Abnett relying on the reader's familiarity with the novels and a few sidebars fleshing out commanding figures in the campaign. There is some interesting stuff for future books though, with one account of a major aerial dogfight feeling like setup for Interceptor City (the much-delayed sequel to Double Eagle, Abnett's Battle of Britain-aping dogfight novel), and the final chapter setting up the next and final phase of the Crusade, the battles that will no doubt feature in the final arc of the Gaunt's Ghosts series, although that's still a few years off.

Amongst companion books, The Sabbat Worlds Crusade (****½) is very decent. It gives the reader lots of new information and puts the events they are familiar with in a new context. It provides setup for future books and features a lot of fantastic artwork. The production value of the book is exceptional and it certainly makes for a very impressive gift for a fan of the novels. Negatives are pretty minor: you're not going to get much out of this if you haven't read the novels (natch) and some may bemoan the lack of a further level of detail (like full orders of battle, although these can be found in the entries on the crusade in the various 40K wikis) or summaries of the novels (again, these can be found online). Some may also question the wisdom of publishing this volume now rather than when the series is fully complete, especially since only four to six novels appear to remain in Abnett's plan for the series.

The book is available now from the Black Library.

Live-action WARHAMMER 40,000 TV series in development

In a startling move, Games Workshop have teamed with veteran US TV producer Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files, The Man in the High Castle) to bring their massive Warhammer 40,000 gothic space opera universe to live-action television, starting with an adaptation of Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn series of novels.

The Eisenhorn saga currently consists of eight novels in three sub-series (with two more novels on the way). The opening Eisenhorn Trilogy (which is actually now four books) tells the story of Gregor Eisenhorn, an Inquisitor whose job is to root out heresy in the Imperium of Humankind and destroy Chaos cults. He is supported in this by a team of investigators and soldiers. Eisenhorn is prepared to use whatever steps are necessary to defend the Imperium, but when a much greater threat is revealed he decides to take some unorthodox and dangerous steps to destroy it, including turning the enemy's own evil powers against it.

The subsequent Ravenor Trilogy follows a former student of Eisenhorn's as he builds his own team and takes on a new threat to the Imperium. The in-progress Bequin Trilogy focuses on a female Inquisitor and a showdown between Ravenor and the now-disgraced Eisenhorn.

This is a very canny move by Games Workshop. Bringing the full epic scale of the Warhammer 40,000 setting - complete with city-sized battleships, skyscraper-sized war mecha, eight-foot-tall superhuman warriors, Cockney wideboy orks, insane magic and even more insane technology - to television is probably impossible even if you had five times the budget of Game of Thrones. But the Eisenhorn stories are much smaller in scale, with a strong focus on a small cast of characters engaging in investigative and undercover work. This will allow the Warhammer 40,000 universe to be introduced gently to sane viewers and will allow them to expand to other parts of the setting later on.

Fans may be slightly disappointed they're not going for something like the Horus Heresy straight out of the gate, and in fact this series probably won't even feature the iconic Space Marines in a major role (a couple of Deathwatch Space Marines play a role in some of the later books, but not up front), but it's a smart and interesting choice by Games Workshop to get casual viewers interested in the setting.

Before we get too excited, though, it should be noted this is a development announcement, not a formal greenlight. Spotnitz needs to get a studio and TV company interested in actually making the show.

Anarch by Dan Abnett

Ibram Gaunt is now the First Lord Executor of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, the adjunct of Warmaster Macaroth. His unit, the Tanith First and Only, is now among the elite forces defending the forge world of Urdesh from the invading Chaos troops under the command of Anarch Anakwanar Sek. Urdesh has become the crucible for the entire war, with both Macaroth and Sek in-theatre and determined that only one will walk away. But the battle for Urdesh marks another flashpoint, the awakening of a threat that has been growing within Gaunt's own ranks for decades...

I imagine the pitch meeting for Anarch went a bit like this:

"You know the Red Wedding from Game of Thrones?"
"Indeed."
"How about that, but..." *leans forwards* "...as an entire novel?"
"Ooh."

Anarch is a book that takes absolutely no prisoners, preferring to slice them into a thousand pieces of screaming blade death instead. The fifteenth Gaunt's Ghosts novel and the concluding book in the "Victory" arc takes a whole host of character arcs, subplots and storylines that have been percolating across the entire series (a long time; the first novel, First and Only, was published twenty years ago) and sets about tying them off with utterly ruthless, remorseless efficiency.

The story unfolds on several fronts. In the first, one of the First's most veteran soldiers, Mkoll, has been taken prisoner by the Archenemy and subjected to interrogation. This storyline follows Mkoll as he endures the trials of captivity and tries to find a method of escape. In another, enemy troops who infiltrated the capital of Urdesh in the previous novel, The Warmaster (to which this is less of a successor and more of a direct continuation) set about attacking Imperial forces whilst a special, elite unit tries to steal back the vital artefacts seized in Salvation's Reach. Different companies of the First have to blunt both attacks, which is where we get a lot of "classic" Ghosts action: last-ditch plans with little chance of success, heroic holding actions, brave last stands, improvised defences etc. This is all stirring stuff, although the body count is higher than some may be expecting.

Where the book goes cheerfully nuts is in the supposedly impregnable Imperial compound itself, when Abnett reveals a hitherto unknown talent for full-on, Event Horizon levels of body and existential horror. Not only is the battle in the undercroft of the palace utterly horrific and surprisingly visceral, but it's also ruthless on a scale we've not seen before in this series. Gaunt's Ghosts has occasionally played into the long-running military series cliche of killing off barely-named recruits and background soldiers whilst major players live to see another, lucrative day, with the occasional major death to keep things fresh. Anarch cheerfully says to hell with that and starts scything down major, long-running characters with at times almost wild abandon.

Killing characters for the sake of it can be rather pointless, but here Abnett gives almost each death meaning and resonance, concluding storylines stretching back as far as the first novel but particularly from the third, Necropolis (to the point where a re-read of Necropolis, or at least reading through a detailed plot summary, may be advisable to refresh the memory). Not only do some old favourites bite the bullet in this book, but some other characters, long missing on side-adventures, reappear and rejoin the team in this novel, which at least helps balance things out. Still, things will never be the same again for the Ghosts after this book, always a relief in a long-running series where the temptation to not shake things up and keep playing it safe must be strong.

Anarch (****½) is one of the finest novels in the entire Gaunt's Ghosts series, being atmospheric, foreboding, horrific and fantastically-written, as well as featuring Abnett's signature excellent action set-pieces and strong characterisation. It brings the entire series to a climax but not a conclusion; the Crusade is not yet victorious and more battles lie ahead. Abnett is busy helping finish off the Horus Heresy mega-series and then his own Bequin trilogy, so it may be a few years before we rejoin the Ghosts, but Anarch leaves the series on a fine - if bittersweet - note. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.

The Warmaster by Dan Abnett

The Tanith First have completed a near-impossible strike mission to the remote enemy outpost of Salvation's Reach. As well as stealing a vast amount of intelligence material from the enemy, their attack has triggered an internal conflict within the Chaos armies between Sek and Gaur, allowing the Crusade to reach new levels of success. But a warp mistranslation on the way home throws the First into a dire new battle, as Gaunt and his team have to face a desperate Sek in battle on the forge world of Urdesh, and face a renewed threat from within the Crusade's own leadership.

The Warmaster is the fourteenth novel in the Gaunt's Ghosts series and the penultimate volume in the "Victory" arc. It was also released after an unprecedented five-year publishing gap in the series, the result of internal realignments within the Black Library and Games Workshop.

As a result, the book takes a little while to rev up to speed, with a somewhat disjointed narrative that attempts a lot of ideas - the Ghosts being shipwrecked in deep space, visited by Chaos horrors and suddenly in the thick of urban warfare and political intrigue on Urdesh - before the story comes together.

When it does, the results are impressive. We are fourteen books into this series now and we've never even met the guy in charge of the entire operation, and in fact (as Abnett's Sabbat Worlds Crusade companion book makes clear) the Ghosts have been operating on the fringes of the main war effort. Their actions have occasionally been decisive and even affected the main course of the war here and there, but only to a small degree. That revelation gives a real sense of scale to the war - in which tens of thousands of Imperial starships are carrying hundreds of millions of Imperial Guard troops, millions of support vehicles, thousands of Space Marines and hundreds, if not thousands, of skyscraper-sized Titans into battle across dozens of star systems simultaneously - which is remarkable. The Warmaster does a good job of pivoting the action, so suddenly the Ghosts and Gaunt are right in the middle of the key decisions being made for the entire war effort.

Abnett's key gifts are characterisation - finding ways of differentiating the two dozen or so characters of import within the Ghosts, plus various recurring side-characters - and action. He makes you care about the characters and their stakes. Like Bernard Cornwell before him (as tired as the "Sharpe/Uhtred in Space" comparisons are, they remain somewhat apt), he paints these soldiers as individuals with their own strengths, weaknesses and quirks, and makes you care about what happens to them (even the cowards and malcontents). That continues through The Warmaster, with an astonishing array of subplots being furthered in a remarkably constrained page count.

The Warmaster (****) does a good job of bringing together plot threads from the previous books in the series and making it feel like the war has reached a decisive turning point. The temptation to carry on this series forever must be strong, but in this book it does feel like the end of the Crusade is starting to lurch into view. On the minus side, aside from the slightly choppy opening, the ending to the book does feel a bit perfunctory for a Gaunt's Ghosts novel, although the reasons for this become clearer in the following book (Anarch), which is less of a successor and more of a direct continuation of this novel. No five-year wait this time for the next part of the story, fortunately. The book is available now in the UK and USA.

Salvation's Reach by Dan Abnett

The Tanith First and Only, the Ghosts, have been newly-reinforced by fresh troops from Belladon and Verghast and are preparing for their most audacious operation yet. Using intelligence gained at great cost from a Chaos prisoner, the Imperium has located Salvation Reach, a top-secret research facility for the Sons of Sek, their most tenacious foe in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. The Ghosts and several powerful allies having to mount a spaceborne assault on the facility, a single surgical strike which may decide the fate of the entire Crusade.

Salvation's Reach is the thirteenth novel in the Gaunt's Ghosts series (and the second in the "Victory" arc) and marks a new phase in the massive conflict known as the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. The Ghosts aren't taking on an enemy head-on, but are instead manufacturing division in the enemy's ranks, trying to turn the Blood Pact and the Sons of Sek against one another so the Crusade can take advantage of the division and secure victory. It's a difficult, ugly mission and one that most Imperium forces wouldn't be able to handle, but for the clandestine Ghosts it's a task more suited to their talents.

The previous book in the series, Blood Pact, was good but atypical for the series, focusing more on a much smaller-scale conflict. Salvation's Reach is a return to mass engagements, but in a different context, with the Ghosts have to take part in hostile boarding action on a space habitat hidden deep inside an asteroid. Along the way they have to take part in an absolutely massive space battle (which will have Battlefleet Gothic fans cheering), deal with a shapeshifting Chaos assassin and negotiate - delicately - with the three Space Marines assigned to help them with the mission.

The action side of things is, as usual, well-handled with the requisite fighting, brave last stands and tactical discussions all being quite good. However, the heart and soul of the series has been Abnett's handling of the characters, from Ibram Gaunt all the way down to the lowliest, greenest new recruit in the Ghosts' ranks. The character arcs are uniformly handled superbly, with several slow-burning story arcs extending across the series coming to startling climaxes in this book (with several callbacks to Necropolis, still arguably the best book in the series and certainly so far the most important). Several beloved characters bite the dust, but more impressive is the way character relationships are developed. The best scene in the book is where a stoic and merciless Space Marine solves one trooper's long-standing medical problem in one swift action and restores his life and military career (previously thought over) to him, without ever breaking character or the tone of the series.

On the negative side of things, there's a few cliches I could have done without (such as hitherto unknown family members showing up unexpectedly), but otherwise Salvation's Reach (****½) is a gripping, excellently-executed science fantasy war novel with a brilliant line in characterisation. It is available now (alongside Blood Pact) in The Victory: Part 1 omnibus (UK, USA).

Dan Abnett's THE WARMASTER confirmed for December release

The Warmaster by Dan Abnett, the fifteenth novel in the highly popular Gaunt's Ghosts series, has been finally scheduled by Black Library for release in December this year.

The book is the third of four novels in the Victory sub-arc (to be followed by a novel provisionally entitled Anarch), itself apparently the penultimate series in the much larger Gaunt's Ghosts series, with possibly two novels in the final series (subtitled Archon) to wrap up the saga. However, these plans may have changed.

The Warmaster was originally scheduled for release in 2013. The reasons for the lengthy delays are unclear: Abnett was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2009 which delayed his work on the Horus Heresy series as he adjusted to medical treatment, but apparently the problems caused by this are years in the past. Abnett has also been working for Marvel Comics, his work in demand since he created the modern iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy series (which the two movies are based on). However, Abnett has always produced a prolific amount of comics work alongside his novels without issue in the past.

More likely is the fact that Black Library and its parent company, Games Workshop, have been going through numerous convulsions and changes in the last few years. They have nuked their classic Warhammer fantasy setting, lost several high-profile authors and, bizarrely, deleted the omnibus editions of their novels and reprinted the individual books for a higher cost than the omnibuses, which has gone down like a lead balloon with fans and has put off potential new readers. Games Workshop's release schedule has slowed to a crawl recently with very few novels put out, the Horus Heresy series still nowhere near a conclusion after eleven years and forty-one books and the company seemingly focused on finding ways of selling existing material rather than producing new work.

Anyway, the good news is that The Warmaster is coming out and hopefully we will see the remaining books in the Gaunt's Ghosts series quite quickly afterwards. Abnett is also working on Penitent, the second novel in the Bequin trilogy (ending the storylines begun in the excellent Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies), which is likewise eagerly awaited by fans.

There will also be a companion novel to The Warmaster. Matthew Farrer has written a stand-alone Space Marines Battles novel called Urdesh which will take place simultaneously with The Warmaster, but it will not be necessary to read both to enjoy either novel.

Meanwhile, there is no word on Paul Kearney's Warhammer 40,000 novel Umbra Sumus. The book was pulled from release in 2015 when its series title, Dark Hunters, was ruled as infringing the copyright of Sherrilyn Kenyon's urban fantasy series Dark-Hunters. GW has yet to announce if the book is going to be renamed and reissued. Kearney has recently released a new Warhammer 40,000 novel in the Space Marine Battles line, Calgar's Siege, however.

There's now an EISENHORN video game starring Mark Strong

Kind of. Pixelhero Games have teamed up with Games Workshop to release Eisenhorn: Xenos, an action-adventure game based on the first novel in Dan Abnett's superlative Eisenhorn trilogy.

The game, as Rock Paper Shotgun describes, isn't a freeform title but is instead a sort of narrated graphic novel, with you intervening at key moments to direct the action. Those expecting something like Mass Effect or even Relic's Space Marine game will be disappointed. This is something a bit more like a Telltale Adventure, although possibly with even less real interaction.

Still, for seeing Dan Abnett's gritty blending of Warhammer 40,000 insanity with noir fiction by way of outright SF weirdness on screen, it has some curiosity value.

Gaunt's Ghosts: Blood Pact by Dan Abnett

Two years have passed since the ferocious battle for Hinzerhaus Fortress on Jago. The Tanith First and Only won a famous victory, but only at a horrendous cost in lives. Battered and bleeding, the Tanith First finally won a respite, being rotated back to sector HQ on Balhaut for a well-earned rest after ten years on the front lines.

However, two years of inaction has led to problems with discipline, training and morale. In the midst of these problems, Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt is summoned to a clandestine meeting. An agent of the archenemy has been taken prisoner and wants to give up valuable intelligence...but the Blood Pact have been sent to silence him by any means necessary.


Blood Pact is the twelfth novel in the Gaunt's Ghosts series and marks the beginning of the fourth distinct story arc in the series, "The Victory". The opening of the book feels like Dan Abnett is taking a deep breath after the mayhem of the previous novels, which featured some of the bloodiest and most frenzied battles in the series to date, but it's not too long before the action kicks in again. Blood Pact is a short novel taking place over one single night and morning of carnage as the Blood Pact - the Ghosts' sworn rivals - arrive to carry out a suicide assassination task, succeed in splitting up the Ghosts and also take advantage of internal divisions as the Ghosts find themselves still under suspicion from the Inquisition about their mission to the Chaos-tainted world of Gereon years earlier.

As usual with a Gaunt's Ghosts novel, the pace is blistering, the action is superbly-handled and the characterisation shines. Gaunt's return to the world where he lost his former command but gained a new one adds new shades to his character. Background Ghosts nicely come to the fore, such as Maggs, whilst we touch base with a few key Ghosts who've been lower in profile in the preceding books. However, Blood Pact does feel like a lesser entry in the series. Perhaps it's due to the increasing frequency between novels (Blood Pact was released in 2009 and one more book, Salvation's Reach, in 2011 with nothing since), but Blood Pact feels a little like too much set-up at a moment in the series when it feels like it should be perhaps more decisively moving towards a conclusion. This can be seen in the fact that while a few key characters get a lot of time in the sun, numerous other Ghosts (including many who played key roles in the preceding few books) suddenly drop into the background. If Gaunt's Ghosts was a TV series (and we can but hope), this is the relatively low-key opening to a new season which is reacquainting you with all the characters before the big storylines kick in.

On that basis, Blood Pact (***½) does a good job of setting up its immediate sequel, Salvation Reach, and tells a rollicking good action story. Not one of the best books in the series, but still an effortlessly enjoyable slice of military SF from the best author in the subgenre. If you want to read the book, Blood Pact is currently only available as an ebook from the Black Library direct. However, the entire series is being rolled out in new editions, so it should be back in paperback in a few months.

Dan Abnett on future writing plans

With the thirteenth Gaunt's Ghosts novel out in a matter of weeks, Dan Abnett has been doing the interview rounds and has shed some light on his forthcoming projects.


In this print interview, Abnett confirms that Salvation Reach - due out next month - is the second in the fourth Gaunt's Ghosts arc, 'The Victory'. There will be two more books in this arc, followed by a fifth arc of either two or three books.

In this video interview, Abnett confirms that he is returning to the Inquisition setting of the Eisenhorn and Ravenor books for a third and final trilogy, known as the Bequin series (with the unofficial subtitle 'Eisenhorn vs. Ravenor'). The first of these new books should be out late next year.

Meanwhile, the second Triumff novel, The Double Falsehood, appears to have been delayed until early 2012, though no firm release date has been set yet.

Dan Abnett pens DOCTOR WHO Ice Warriors novel

A strong claimant to the title of Busiest Author Alive, Dan Abnett has announced he will be writing this year's big Doctor Who hardcover novel, following on from last year's effort by Michael Moorcock.


The book is entitled The Silent Stars Go By and will pit the Eleventh Doctor, Rory and Amy against the Ice Warriors (who are way overdue an appearance on the new show), my favourite antagonists (who are sometimes good guys) from the original series. It will be published by BBC Books on 29 September.

Ravenor Rogue by Dan Abnett

Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor is hot on the trail of his resurrected nemesis, Zygmunt Molotch, but faces criticism from his fellow inquisitors for the death toll his operations on Eustis Majoris have caused. With Molotch on the run and millions of lives still in danger from the prophesied rise of the daemon Slyte, Ravenor is forced to go rogue to complete his mission.


Ravenor Rogue concludes the Ravenor Trilogy in fine style. As usual, Abnett delivers a superior slice of action and adventure, but here engages in some unexpected meta-commentary on how long quests (including series climaxes, like this one) often end in an anti-climax due to expectations being raised. Both Ravenor and Molotch discuss how their seventy-year feud will end in one of their deaths, but as they are both defined by this rivalry that day will not necessarily be a triumph for the victor. A pretty well-established idea, but here treated with a degree of thorough seriousness which is unusual.

Of course, this does not slow down the furious pace (as usual, Abnett packs a hell of a lot into 250-odd pages) or interrupt some well-handled character development (although, after two books of being built up, Zael doesn't have a lot to do). On the more negative side, the book does end in a somewhat over-the-top (even by Warhammer 40,000 standards) sequence which feels like the author had binge-read the entire Cthulu mythos before writing it. Expect tentacles. Lots of them.

Ravenor Rogue (****) brings the sequence to a generally satisfying climax, although there are a few unanswered questions for the eventually-promised third Inquisitor trilogy. The book is available now as part of the Ravenor Omnibus in the UK and USA.

Ravenor Returned by Dan Abnett

Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor and his team have evaded a lethal trap and returned incognito to Eustis Majoris. Aware that some of the planet's law-enforcement agencies are involved the flect trade, Ravenor invokes Special Condition status, going deep undercover and gaining the ability to deal with the crisis any way he sees fit.


Ravenor Returned is the second novel in the Ravenor Trilogy and, unusually for an Abnett WH40K novel, does not stand alone, instead picking up almost immediately after the events of the previous book (the omnibus edition incorporates a short story where Ravenor is briefly reunited with Eisenhorn and receives a dire warning of events to come). Ravenor and his team are back on Eustis Majoris, able to operate only on their own with no official assistance, whilst their various adversaries are continuing to forward their own plans.

One of the more notable changes to Ravenor Returned from the previous novel is that there are two factions opposed to Ravenor with their own complex plans in motion and we get POV chapters in both camps, building up a much more complete picture of what is going on. This gives rise to some of Abnett's better-realised adversaries, such as Lucius Worna and Revoke, as their agendas also clash (rather amusingly, in one case) with one another as well as the Inquisition. But once again the main focus of character development is on Ravenor's team as they continue to face their own challenges and issues (some pretty major ones, in one case).

Complaints are few. Sholto Unwerth and his splendidly entertaining diction gets disappointingly little page-time, whilst Ravenor himself is a little bit of a blank slate compared to his very well-realised team-members and Eisenhorn.

But overall, Ravenor Returned (****½) is a very fine continuation of the series. It is available now as part of the Ravenor Omnibus in the UK and USA.

Ravenor by Dan Abnett

Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor is one of the finest agents in the Inquisition, the former protege of the infamous (and now missing) Gregor Eisenhorn. Badly wounded in the catastrophe on Thracian Primaris, Ravnor is restricted to a life-support chair but his formidable psi-powers remain undimmed and his allies and agents are among the best in their fields.


Ravenor's latest case leads him and his team to Eustis Majoris, capital world of subsector Angelus, on the trail of 'flects', a new drug that induces a form of psychic ecstasy in the subject. Believing the drug trade is being influenced by Chaos, Ravenor joins forces with the planet's law-enforcement agencies to bring the ruinous trade down but discovers many different competing interests are involved in the case.

The Ravenor Trilogy is a successor work to the earlier Eisenhorn Trilogy, spinning off several supporting characters into a new story (although there are some story connections to the earlier work). It is also a more developed, much deeper tale than the former. Whilst Eisenhorn was three separate stories linked by some continuing subplots and elements, Ravenor is a much bigger, more epic story split into three acts. As a result Abnett has more time to develop the stories, characters and the background setting (in this case the pollution-wrecked hive world of Eustis Majoris), achieving a deeper and more resonant story than in any of his previous works (although the accumulative narrative drive of the twelve Gaunt's Ghosts novels is impressive).

Whilst the action and consequences are large-scale and epic, this is also correspondingly Abnett's most intimate story, with more of the story focusing on Ravnor's team (the psi-warrior Patience Kys, the acrobat-turned-assassin Kara Swole, street-smarts urchin Zael, the cultured data-miner Carl Thonius, and more) and their interrelationships rather than excuses to blow stuff up (although there's enough of that to satisfy most action fans). The supporting cast is also well-defined, with some excellently-portrayed villains and some great secondary roles (Sholto Unwerth and his tendency to quasi-Vancian dialogue in particular).

On the negative side, Ravenor doesn't really stand up as a stand-alone novel with a lot of the story left unresolved at the end (although as the first book in a trilogy this isn't entirely surprising), and arguably the promise of the first half where Abnett's prose is markedly superior to what has come before (as solid as that was) is dissipated in the second where explosions and gun battles become more prevalent.

Overall, however, Ravenor (****½) sees an already-decent author upping his game to new heights and delivering one of his best novels to date. The book is available now in the UK and USA as part of the Ravenor Omnibus.

Eisenhorn: Hereticus by Dan Abnett

Gregor Eisenhorn has survived clashes with the forces of Chaos, an encounter with a little-known alien species and internal politicking within the Order. But it may be that he cannot survive his own hubris. When his residence is destroyed and most of his staff assassinated by unknown attackers, Eisenhorn discovers that an old enemy has returned to plague him, an enemy whose actions he himself must take responsibility for. To defeat this foe Eisenhorn has to invoke the very powers he is pledged to destroy...


The Eisenhorn Trilogy reaches a satisfying conclusion in Hereticus, where some of Eisenhorn's more egregious mistakes from the first two volumes return for an accounting. The series is fairly obviously charting Eisenhorn's 'fall' from grace (if nothing else gives it away, it's on the cover blurb), but this isn't George Lucas's bull-in-a-china-shop approach to the downfall of Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels. Each decision Eisenhorn makes is logical and understandable on its own, with a downward spiral only discernible from a distance.

A central facet of the story is the relationship between Eisenhorn and the daemonhost Cherubael. In the first two novels Cherubael was in control of this relationship, but in the third he is Eisenhorn's captive and occasional ace-in-the-hole. Yet is Eisenhorn really in charge of the daemon or is Cherubael exactly where he wants to be to bring about Eisenhorn's total corruption? As the novel continues this question appears to have several possible answers but, surprisingly, we are not given a definitive answer. Exactly how much of what has transpired in the trilogy is random luck and how much is down to the daemon's machinations is left up to the reader to decide, which is an interesting tack, possibly taken to account for different readers' different levels of disbelief.


As the final book in the trilogy, Hereticus works well, answering long-standing questions and bringing the primary story arcs to a close. The fact that the ultimate fate of the surviving characters is unknown is a little odd (aside from Inquisitor Heldane, who crops up almost 400 years later in the Gaunt's Ghosts novels), until you realise that Abnett plans more books featuring these characters. The Ravenor Trilogy follows the adventures of some of Eisenhorn's allies and associates, whilst Abnett has plans for a further trilogy which will resolve some outstanding elements from both series.

That said, Hereticus (****) gives enough immediate closure to make this a complete trilogy in itself, and one that is well worth a look. The book is available now as part of the Eisenhorn omnibus in both the UK and USA.

Eisenhorn: Malleus by Dan Abnett

After a century of hard fighting, the Ophidian sub-sector has been reclaimed for the God-Emperor. A mighty triumph is held on Thracian Primaris to celebrate the victory, but the day is blighted by a tragedy so vast in scale it shocks even the battle-weary Imperium. Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn investigates the source of the atrocity, even though his own reputation has become blighted by reports of his unorthodox methods. As the investigation unfolds, Eisenhorn discovers links with a case from a century before and heads for a showdown with the daemonhost Cherubael and his unknown master...


The second volume of the Eisenhorn Trilogy picks up the story a century on from the events of Xenos, with Eisenhorn and his allies (some old friends and new faces) plunged into a new investigation. As with almost all procedurals, there is a point where the detective is implicated in wrongdoing and has to go on the run to prove his innocence, which is the point Eisenhorn reaches in this book. Mildly cliched, but Abnett handles this storyline with aplomb, with logical use made of Eisenhorn's allies and resources. The story also pushes Eisenhorn a little bit more towards the dark side as he has to become more ruthless to defeat his enemies, which also risks cliche until Abnett throws a couple of clever curve-balls towards the reader in the closing chapters (the motivations of the antagonist are well-thought-out, making good use of the Warhammer 40,000 universe though, once again, foreknowledge of the setting is not required to enjoy this trilogy).

Malleus (****) is a well-written sequel to Xenos and continues the triloy in fine form. The book is available as part of the Eisenhorn omnibus now in the UK and USA.

Eisenhorn: Xenos by Dan Abnett

Gregor Eisenhorn is an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos, charged with exposing and exterminating heretics, mutants and aliens who pose a threat to the Imperium. On the unwisely-colonised planet Hubris, where the population waits out immense periods of darkness in cryogenic suspension, Eisenhorn decisively concludes a six-year manhunt for the traitor Murdin Eyclone. But the elimination of Eyclone raises new questions and hints at fresh conspiracies. Eisenhorn and his retinue have to tackle rival factions in the Inquisition, followers of Chaos and inscrutable alien creatures as they follow the investigation to its bitter, and exceptionally violent, end.

Thankfully not the present cover.

Xenos is the first book in Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn Trilogy. This trilogy is set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe but, as with many series in this setting, is self-contained. For example, the Sabbat Worlds Crusade that features in Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series is set many thousands of light-years away and over 500 years later in the setting's continuity. In fact, not just the immediate setting but also the subgenre is different: whilst Gaunt's Ghosts is a war series focusing on the lives and activities of soldiers, Eisenhorn is detective SF (I'm tempted to say more in the line of Richard Morgan's Kovacs books, but Eisenhorn predates Kovacs by over a year). It's a much smaller cast and a tighter focus, told in the first-person from Eisenhorn's POV. Whilst the POV structure initially appears limiting, Abnett cleverly employs it to give hints to the reader of things not being as they appear. Eisenhorn's blind confidence that he will always do the right thing is called into question by his actions, meaning that his actions and motivations have to be carefully scrutinised by the reader.

There are also some good SF concepts being explored in this book. From the complex day/night cycle on Hubris which the colonists are determined to overcome in the face of common sense to the dizzying 'tetrascapes' the alien saruthi employ as meeting places, there are some cool hard SF ideas being played with here. Abnett also continues to give good battle. Whilst large-scale war scenes are not the order of the day, there are some solid action sequences. Abnett also gives us our first look at the Space Marines in action in his work (the Space Marines play no role at all in Gaunt's Ghosts) when Eisenhorn has to team up with an Astartes of the Death Watch chapter to handle a particularly dangerous part of the mission.

This is an earlier novel for Abnett, so lacks some of the polish of his more recent work, but he handles the shift in tone and subgenre very well. Xenos (****) is a solid SF detective novel. It is available now in the Eisenhorn omnibus (UK, USA) along with its two sequels and two related short stories.