Vincula Insurgency

[Petitioner's City]

So who else read Vincula? Much love for it, although the Rawne in it felt too late books compared to early Rawne - but it's good, because early Rawne was a bit flat, nice to see the smarter man he'll emerge to be here.

 

Anyway, I loved that Dan brings some depth to the Sanguinary Worlds in it, from an ethnographic perspective, and the idea of imperial fringes/nominal identity (something part of real world understandings of empire, which are nodal rather than all fixed). Loved the ideas of cultural archetypes too - again some wonderful real world history blown up to the scale of thousands of years across space. And loved the elements of the recent Volpone book - the Sloka, for example.

 

Just bloody brilliant, and very intriguing, especially the idea of a parallel Tanith line - and the idea of tattoos, bodyart and symbols connecting the Sanguinary worlds and "near-Imperial" worlds of the region. Happy art historian here

 

Also as a bridging novella, it does do so well at following on from the first two Ghostmaker chapters, and of course Dan's delight at writing characters he hasn't in years due to death, with the exception really of Gaunt, Rawne and - briefly recently - Milo. Just such a delight. I wonder where the next novella will take us, and how far it jumps ahead/who will be the focus of it?

 

So much love for this wee tome.

 

From the Abnett-verse thread.

Edited May 24, 2022 by Petitioner's City

[Sothalor]

I just finished this one as well.

 

I liked it, albeit not super fond of some potential direction for the Ghosts. Agree that Rawne's characterization here feels more like the later, nuanced Rawne of post-Straight Silver.

 

This one feels a bit more like a world-building piece fleshing out some of the "little" details of the Sabbat worlds than a Ghosts-centric novel. It covers things like post-conquest occupations and difficulties with ethnic/demographic make-ups, security concerns, zone permeability and insurgent mobility, etc.

 

It's kinda weird; if this had come out like... a dozen years ago, undoubtedly we'd all be drawing parallels to Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

But it didn't feel like "muh GWOT in spess," which is a credit to Abnett's skill in leveraging the potential of the 40k setting.

 

I particularly liked the parts with the Administratum researcher speaking with Gaunt and Rawne, asserting that yes, humanity does indeed share a common root to Terra no matter the current ethno/tribal/planetary identification. It's one of those things that we take for granted, but makes total sense if you stop and think about it for a bit - yeah, groups of humans scattered across space with lost and missing records would most likely end up with a bunch of disparate and varied origin stories and beliefs.

 

Incidentally, the ethnic and linguistic stuff isn't new to Vincula; some of it popped up in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade sourcebook as part of the broader background.

 

 

In regards to the Tanith implications:

 

I think the implication of Tanith tattoos with wider regional (the Sabbat Worlds) tribes and cultures is neat; it adds some texture to the idea of Tanith itself.

I could go either way on the Nalsheen stuff. Back when it was just MkVenner and his martial arts skill, that was fine. Sorta goofy, but not verisimilitude-breaking. This presentation of the Nalsheen arts, though... It soars straight into magical kung fu wuxia territory. It's sort of jarring, like watching the SEAL team in Zero Dark Thirty breach the Abbottabad compound to be attacked by Li Mu Bai from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

I also think it was a mistake to have Dorden be the one explaining the various cultural implications of the Tanith tattoos, especially the Nalsheen stuff. How would Dorden - the unit doctor responsible for routine exams as well as emergency care - not see Ven or Milo's tattoos? He's never like, "by the by, Brinny-boy, I noticed that Robby Ross you've got is actually the mark for our mythical secret martial scout society?"

It just seems like it would have been cleaner if it'd been somebody else, maybe say Dorden's son or another Ghost that dies relatively early on, just to close off that potential plot hole. Or maybe Corbec, to have his death be that double whammy of losing the regiment's soul as well as this piece of their planet's history and culture.

 

But those are just nitpicks; Vincula Insurgency is a solid read with some worldbuilding to add texture to the Sabbat Worlds and some welcome page-time with bygone characters.

Edited May 24, 2022 by A Melancholic Sanguinity

[Roomsky]

Ghost Dossier: The Vincula Insurgency - Dan Abnett

 

I guess it's present-tense month between this and Huron.

 

This was typical Abnett brilliance, I loved it despite said tense always taking a while to get used to. It does really help with some of the stylized, high-octane staccato sentences Abnett seems to favour of late though; I think it was a justified choice here.

 

I'm impressed at how well this works as both a prequel to the later stories, and as a pretty decent entry point into the series. As someone without much love for First and Only and Ghostmaker, I'm glad this stands well enough as an alternative, pre-Necropolis beginning - it's very economic with its character introductions and fleshes out the pre-Vervunhive cast better than First and Only, IMO.

 

I really love the premise of the Ghosts trying to keep the peace and battle insurgents after more conventional "victory." It along with the smaller page count seems to have facilitated Abnett cutting the fat (BIG EPIC BATTLES!) in favor of character, intrigue, and ratcheting up the mystery and tension. I've heard a few out there who dislike the new plot thread this sets up, but I think it works. Planets are very large, after all. Even the short Abnett-ending doesn't rankle, as it's proportional to the rest of the book, for once.

 

If I had to complain, well, planets are very large. I don't know if I buy the cultural habits focused on here were omnipresent across all of Tanith. I also found the Rawne plotline, well, it was too good to be trite but it was definitely my least favourite and the least interesting. I mean it was still damn good but it was the closest the book had to going through the motions.

 

Amazing stuff, and a Must Read with no caveats. Even if you're not into Gaunt's Ghosts yet, here's a great place to start.

[Taliesin]

What would you say are the Gaunts Ghosts novels that are even better than this book?

I like the ones that focus on the characters of both the Gaunts but also do some work on characterizing the antagonists.

[DukeLeto69]

What would you say are the Gaunts Ghosts novels that are even better than this book?

I like the ones that focus on the characters of both the Gaunts but also do some work on characterizing the antagonists.

For me the best five GG novels are (in no particular order):

 

Traitor General

Blood Pact

Warmaster

Anarch

Necropolis

[Roomsky]

What would you say are the Gaunts Ghosts novels that are even better than this book?

I like the ones that focus on the characters of both the Gaunts but also do some work on characterizing the antagonists.

 

It's hard for me to rank the better entries in the series, they're all outstanding and often for different reasons. I definitely think Vincula is top tier for Gaunt's Ghosts, so I'd rank it alongside everything in The Victory and most things in The Lost.

 

First and Only, Ghostmaker, Guns of Tanith and Sabbat Martyr are really the only entries I'd describe as anything less than excellent, though.

Edited May 25, 2022 by Roomsky

[Sothalor]

I really like the arc of Salvation's Reach, The Warmaster, and Anarch. 

 

I think through those novels an experienced Abnett is working with a full arsenal of established characters and relationships as well as a backlog of worldbuilding and background (one of the benefits of a long-running series).

 

 

For character moments, I'd suggest that Armour of Contempt flies under the radar a fair amount. From Dalin's shipboard training to the Ghosts' return to Gereon, Gaunt's reunion with Curth, Cirk's realization of what Imperial liberation looks like, MkVenner's last appearance, Caffran... it's rife with poignant, painful moments.

 

It wouldn't work so well as the first, or maybe even third, book of a series. But as the tenth novel in a series, it does a great job of twisting that emotional investment knife.

[grailkeeper]

Just finished it on my kindle. I didnt get the extra stuff.

 

I didn't like the ending. On the one hand its a Steven King style "and then it ended, the end" style ending.

On the other, a lot of things not really getting resolved is realistic. I suppose if it had been longer they might have been. Its a kick in the teeth, but Dan Abnett has kicked our teeth in a fair few times with the ghosts now.

 

Just because I don't like the ending, doesn't mean it isn't a good ending. 

[Sothalor]

It is a fitting expression of the West's recent experiences with insurgencies. There's no neat wrap-up with a bow. No signed end to hostilities nor victory parades.

 

Especially for the soldiers involved. Every veteran I knew who participated in Iraq or Afghanistan had a similar broad story; "went over there, got bombed/shelled/mined, most of the time couldn't tell the locals from the insurgents, lost some buddies, and then got shuffled out. Hope it went better for the next batch of guys (it didn't)."

[Cactus]

This was in my pile of BL books from Christmas and I finished it yesterday. I was in the 'we don't NEED any Ghosts prequels' camp and I still am, but I did enjoy revisiting characters that aren't in the current narrative. Mkvenner and the Nalsheen is my favourite of Abnett's mysteries, above even the Yellow King, so I liked the cultural background and anthropology. That said, the reveal of that tattoo at the end felt like a twist for the sake of it rather than an important revelation. Unless it's meant to suggest the Nalsheen are psychic?

 

I wasn't too bothered by the adversaries' supernatural abilities. A martial tradition that shares an origin with the Nalsheen but has developed under Chaos influence should be freaky and wrong.

 

Overall a solid Ghosts story that lacked the usual emotional connection to the ongoing narrative but profited by trading it for an emotional connection to where the series used to be. I can see the value in adding more of these more mature war stories to flesh out the early period that's mostly action tales for teenage boys (what hooked me in the first place!).

Edited January 31, 2023 by Cactus