The Armour of Contempt (WH40K: Gaunt’s Ghosts #10) ★★★☆½

~ Bookstooge


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Title: The Armour of Contempt
Series: WH40K: Gaunt’s Ghosts #10
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 340
Words: 92K


Synopsis:

This is the story of the liberation of Gereon. The book starts out by introducing us to a new character, Dalin Criid, the adopted son of Tona. He’s going through training and the plan is for him to get into the Ghosts once he graduates.

The Ghosts, along with a bunch of others, are tasked to retake the planet Gereon. It turns out High Command thinks there is something special about Gereon that resists Chaos and they hope to discover what that is and to replicate it.

Dalin is not sent to the Ghosts and must endure his trial by fire with a lowly group of reject Guards. He survives but hears the voice of his adopted father Caffron several times giving him advice which saves his life.

The Ghosts are tasked with retaking a small village and establishing contact with the remnants of the Resistance. High Command then imprisons all of the resistance to test them for the ability to resist Chaos. There is nothing Gaunt can do. At the end of the book, when the Ghosts are leaving, the Resistance is spirited away by the remaining Ghost Resistance scout MkVenner and head off into the wilderness to hide and survive.

My Thoughts:

I think this was the grimmest Gaunt’s Ghosts book yet. Dalin being introduced as a character and his trying experience, we really get to see how the men in the trenches experience warfare. They’re cannon fodder, nothing else. We also get to experience a Commisar that is more typical than Gaunt. Both of these experiences make the reader realize just how unusual both the Ghosts and Gaunt are.

I guess this was a contrast book. So far the Ghosts series hasn’t been that grimdark and I’ve almost slid into thinking that maybe the Warhmmer40k Universe wasn’t that bad. This was a stark reminder that yes, it is a horrible place and even the supposed Good Guys aren’t really Good Guys, they’re just not as horrific as Chaos. Heck, if I was even a semi-powerful force I’d be trying to liberate my own corner to live in. Feth the Emperor and feth Chaos. In my system every child would have a pony, there would Free Pizza Friday every Friday, all the woman would wear long skirts, all the men would have curly beards and wear suspenders and we’d all sing Nordic’ish songs with lots of “j”s in the words.

But back to THIS book. Caffran dying at the end, at the hands of a terrified child, well, that just was the grimmest part. The person he was trying to save is the one who kills him seems to hold the very essence of what Warhmmer40k is all about. I’m just thankful all the books haven’t been like that and I hope the rest aren’t. We’ll see though.

★★★☆½

40 thoughts on “The Armour of Contempt (WH40K: Gaunt’s Ghosts #10) ★★★☆½”

                    3. Well, if I interpret the “Reverse the Polarity because of the Flux Capacitors” theory correctly, it completely invalidates the Multiverse theory. So unless Elvis grabbed a spare flux capacitor on his way out, he’s out of luckl.

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  3. I also want to sign up for free Pizza Friday’s! I am really glad you are still continuing this series man. Is Gaunt still around or was this a new era Ghosts novel? I need to get reading on this series some time again, I feel guilty that you are further in it than I ever will be.

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  4. Both the Gaunt novels as well as the Eisenhorn series are very high on my Warhammer 40 K to read lists😀 I do like the darker stories to be honest (although admittedly this one sounds really dark). Lol…I’m up for free pizza friday’s too by the way! As long as there is some ironing thrown into the mix too! 🤔😂😂

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    1. My only interaction with him is through WH and my first interaction was the first Horus Heresy book. I disliked it so much that I gave up on the whole franchise. So when I saw that Gaunt was by him, I was wicked hesitant. Thankfully, it’s turned out fantastic 😀

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    1. I would not quit this series JUST because it got grimdark’er 😉 but it would make me hesitate about picking up another wh40k series after I finished this one.
      I must amend the above.
      I know the series has an ending point, so I’m sticking it out to the end, with all the usual caveats. If I was reading these as they came out and I didn’t know if there was an end in sight? That’s a tough question.

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    1. You won’t get any pressure from me to commit to any WH40K series. I’m probably as surprised as anyone that I’ve read this many 😀

      As for Psychic Grandma, I think I’m going to have to put that particular bit of fun out to pasture later this month.

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      1. Btw, is ironing a thing in your household? I know people who iron everything religiously, even underwear, and I know people who iron only their white shirts for job interviews/weddings and some such…

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              1. Hah, I knew you’d ask! 😀
                I value my sleep and like natural materials. So for sheets my favorite is cotton sateen (well, I’d prefer silk satin, but sadly that’s a bit beyond my price range ;)) And cotton sateen doesn’t require much ironing, but still it’s better when ironed.
                Here’s the confession of my luxury side! 😀

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                  1. All right 🙂
                    1) sheets are softer are more feel pleasant to skin (importance of this point is probably dependent on your sleepwear or lack of it)
                    2) ironing helps kill dust mites (if you have allergies that’s actually no 1.) 😉
                    3) looks nicer!

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