Ravenor Rogue

I finally finished the third in this series and it was really good. I am now a big fan of Dan and am looking forward to reading his other novels. I held back on 5 stars for the first two novels as i had to see how it all turned out, ie the payoff. The payoff was well done and bittersweet, just the way I like it. Sort of a HP Lovecraftian Daemon in the end but as a big lovecraft fan that worked for me. The characters, the red herrings and the twists drove this puppy. Heck, I even felt for the secondary antagonist Mr. Molotoch, by the end of it all..

The only thing I didn't like was that it ended. It keeps a high pace from start to finish and wraps up the Ravenor series nicely. Dan Abnett is a great writer and I can visualise the incredible scenes in his stories with ease.

Dan Abnett is one of my favorite authors, and is definitely one of the best of those who write for game franchises. You can always count on him to deliver a good, solid adventure story, and Ravenor Rogue is no exception. Although I preferred his Eisenhorn series, Ravenor and his team are good fun too. If you like 40k and you love a good read, you could do worse than to pick this one up!

As always Dan Abnett proves the streotype of trash scifi run and gun novels apart with innovative characters, vivid and imaginative locales and a worthwhile plot. When it comes time for the action you care about who wins and have a strong mental image of what is happening. My only complaint is that the end seems robbed, similar to Eisenhorn. I get the feeling that Dan was told he better get an ending tacked onto this series quick. It speaks the the content of the subject matter that a rushed ending from Abnett is still of so satisfying.

Mr. Abnett's creativity is remarkable, from comic books (Wallace and Grommit, Ghostbusters), to medieval fantasy (Warhammer) and science fiction (Warhammer 40k). This third book in the Ravenor series concludes the hunt for a human criminal mastermind that spanned decades in the Warhammer 40k universe. The characters and events depicted partially coincide with Abnett's Eisenhorn trilogy. The planetary map in the book is also very helpful in explaining the universe and locations depicted. This book opens differently from the prior two he opens from the villain's first person point of view. Throughout the series, the only first person view was of the hero Inquisitor, Ravenor. The one thing that Abnett does extremely well is describing locations and the environment, setting the scene to the reader. Characters also have distinct personalities and traits that make them unique. Being a hardbound book, the print is larger and makes a good book for collectors and fans of the series. There are only a few action sequences with the majority of the book passing between scenes from both the protagonist (Inquisitor Ravenor) and the antagonist (Molotch, the mastermind) trying to plan and chase each other. The views and actions of the supporting characters makes the book flow from scene to scene and enjoyable to read. The question from the book (and all his previous writings on Inquisitors fighting evil) is how do we as individuals view what is right and wrong, for not only ourselves, but for society as a whole. Can evil be used to combat evil and can it be controlled? When we see something that is obviously bad, are we able to see the truth or do we ignore the signs? And sometimes, when we see the truth and want to do sometime to stop an wrong, are we able to do what is right? The scene where Interrogator Thonius, possessed by a daemon for years, kills a random bystander with Ravenor (located next to him) sees nothing with his companion ready to draw her weapon but is unable to stop Thonius exemplifies this theme. For years Thonius was possessed by a demon, but Ravenor was unable or unwilling to make the connection, despite the hints and changes that were occurring. Even when the daemon's energies were released in a battle, Ravenor didn't even consider his lifelong subordinate as a possible source. At the end of the book, there is closure to the chase. The series was enjoyable and it was a fun book to read. There is also an excerpt on Abnett's upcoming book, Brothers of the Snake, at the end of the book.