Rating: 
Summary: Not the best military sci-fi I've read, but not bad.
Review: The third of Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series, Necropolis is set in a hive-world. Unlike the first, second, and fourth books, plot here takes second place to battle: Necropolis reads more like "a history of the Vervunhive siege with focus on Commissar Gaunt and his men", than "a story about Gaunt and his men during the Vervunhive siege."This isn't inherently bad. Abnett knows how to write combat, and his large-scale ("under Colonel X, the second regiment moved west to reinforce the gates") descriptions are as good as those of any military historian. The action scenes are good, and there's enough of them. And yes, there's at least a token semblance of plot. One reason I like the Ghosts series is the number of recurring characters. Perhaps fifteen or twenty 'named' characters who show up again and again; I like the familiarity, and the occasional character developments (some characters don't change - Larkin and Corbec are basically the same at the end of this book as they were at the start of the first - but others get promoted, learn things, or whatever.) Overall, excellent multithreaded military sci-fi. The quality of the action and Abnett's excellent writing more than makes up for the plot deficiencies.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring examples of the resiliency of the human spirit ...
Review: This book tells the collective story of how humanity can rise up from the deepest depths of despair to grab victory from the closing jaws of defeat, rallying the besieged to acts of heroism, self-sacrifice, and glory.
Reading this book reminded me of WWII accounts of cities holding fast against invading armies. The individual tales of courage and devotion to duty in the face of overwhelming odds, were uplifting and awe-inspiring. It strengthened the respect and gratitude felt towards those realworld veterans of our countries past wars. For those of you familiar with WH40K, you will thoroughly enjoy the battle sequences and the "fluff" included regarding the overall Crusade and the seemingly small part played by the Tanith First-and-Only. The descriptions of the Hive city and its vastness are wondrous, making me wish some ambitious director (Peter *cough* Jackson *cough*) would take this series to their hearts and bring it to the big screen. I would thoroughly enjoy watching this on film. It would be like taking HBO's "Band of Brothers", George Lucas's "Star Wars", and Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" and melding them into a 7-8 part mini-series or a series of movies 2 1/2 to 3 hours long! The way Dan Abnett brings us into the individual experiences of front line soldiers, helps bring to us both the horrible carnage and waste of war, as well as the tremendous courage, fortitude, and devotion of duty and faith that are the heart and soul of every trooper of the Imperial Guard (and PDF of Verghast)! The beginning of the book is wonderfully written, first bringing us into the local politics and what appears like a simple conflict between two rival Hive cities, then accelerating the story along as war breaks out and the stalwart, but horribly outclassed defenders are forced to call for aid from off planet. This whole segment of the book is more like a prologue, as the actual story begins with the arrival of the Imperial Forces. To give us perspective, it is immediately made apparent that the Tanith First-and-Only are perceived as a mere specialist regiment of stealth troops, given low status among the other higher profile regiments of the task force assigned to Verghast. As you might expect, their significance changes dramatically, paralleling the prominence of their commander. Now, if I could just find a way for them to work better on the game table! (But that's for another forum) Whether you enjoy war stories, Sci-Fi, WH40K, or simply a well-written story with well-developed characters and an engaging plot - you WILL enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Gaunt marches on
Review: This is third installment of the tribulations of the Tanith First and Only. Chronicling the planetside battle of an isolated hive city against the chaos-spawn of a neighbor, Abnett again thrusts Gaunt and the Ghosts into a seemingly impossible task. Despite being vastly outnumbered and outgunned, and suffering casulaties that cannot be recovered, the Ghosts persevere, fighting only to extinguish the blight of chaos, the same that destroyed their home world Tanith. As in the previous two Gaunt's Ghosts books, we see a gradual whittling down of the Ghosts, due to the attrition of war. But we also see the improvement in skill of those that Abnett has chosen to focus on, these being the best of the Ghosts. It is these extraordinary few that are most responsible for safeguarding the lives of their fellows, as they are the most capable soldiers. We also see some good development in Gaunt himself, as he is able for the first time to truly command a battle, rather than following orders from above. Thus is he shown to be more capable than anyone previously thought. This novel, like all the Warhammer 40k books, is rife with violence, but what is expected in a universe at war? Especially brutal is the slaughter of innocent, defenseless civilians by the chaos forces, used by Abnett to illustrate the futility of anything other than extermination of the chaos forces, for they seek nothing but the same. Nevertheless, some of the scenes seemed rather gratuitous, and that is the only reason this novel did not receive that fifth star in my ranking.
Rating:
Summary: Gaunt marches on
Review: This is third installment of the tribulations of the Tanith First and Only. Chronicling the planetside battle of an isolated hive city against the chaos-spawn of a neighbor, Abnett again thrusts Gaunt and the Ghosts into a seemingly impossible task. Despite being vastly outnumbered and outgunned, and suffering casulaties that cannot be recovered, the Ghosts persevere, fighting only to extinguish the blight of chaos, the same that destroyed their home world Tanith. As in the previous two Gaunt's Ghosts books, we see a gradual whittling down of the Ghosts, due to the attrition of war. But we also see the improvement in skill of those that Abnett has chosen to focus on, these being the best of the Ghosts. It is these extraordinary few that are most responsible for safeguarding the lives of their fellows, as they are the most capable soldiers. We also see some good development in Gaunt himself, as he is able for the first time to truly command a battle, rather than following orders from above. Thus is he shown to be more capable than anyone previously thought. This novel, like all the Warhammer 40k books, is rife with violence, but what is expected in a universe at war? Especially brutal is the slaughter of innocent, defenseless civilians by the chaos forces, used by Abnett to illustrate the futility of anything other than extermination of the chaos forces, for they seek nothing but the same. Nevertheless, some of the scenes seemed rather gratuitous, and that is the only reason this novel did not receive that fifth star in my ranking.
Rating: 
Summary: Another good Warhammer novel
Review: While I enjoy the space marine novels better, the Gaunt's ghosts series has not disappointed me yet. Necropolis had alot going for it; large scale warfare, squad combat, personalizing the characters to the point you either like or dislike them, and it follows a good storyline.
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