This, the second book in the Gaunt’s Ghosts series, is where Dan Abnett thinks himself completely into the world of Warhammer 40k. It’s almost like a series of Impressionist paintings, or like flicking through the sketchbook of a master draftsman, as he approaches characters, places and situations within the context of the 40k universe, learning its language and creating its stories. As such, it doesn’t have the narrative coherence, the sheer I can’t-stop-turning-the-pages drive of something like the Eisenhorn books, or other Ghosts novels, but it’s richer, in particular for the way it shows an imagination as special as Abnett’s firing into overdrive.