So I've started reading Gaunts Ghost Omnibus

[Mr Bean]

I've heard several times from several people how it's one of the if not best then one of the best of the 40k Book series. And after reading first and Only...

What?
I've just started reading the second book Ghostmaker and this entire series has thrown me asking again and again who the fuck is this? Who is that? That kids is a walking like a quaking like a psyker does no one else notice this? Also who was that? Huh? The Warp knows you? Why is is the Inquisition not being called? What is going on here?

After awhile of making notes and backtracking I got a rough idea of who was who, but Ghostmaker leaves me utterly confused as I'm sixty pages and it seems like twelve planets in. This entire book series to date is chronologically confusing the shit out of me as sometimes it's twenty years earlier only for the next chapter to be present day but not indicate that fact except maybe it's my digital edition but no this next chapter is also twenty years earlier not present day.

What am I missing? Help me out here because I started with Ciaphas Cain and loved that series of books and short stories, I don't mind the grimdark but why am I so confused reading Gaunt?

[fgalkin]

Because frankly, Gaunt's Ghosts are an acquired taste. Pew-pew lasers are not Abnett's strong suit- intrigue is. Read his Inquisition stuff- Eisenhorn and Ravenor, to see where he truly shines.

That said, the series does get better eventually. Ghostmaker is just a collection of short stories that pretends to be a novel, anyway.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Lost Soal]

Ghostmaker is a series of short stories designed to build up the main characters, through memories of past events, leading into the climax. From Necropolis onwards its all chronological.

[Sinewmire]

That kids is a walking like a quaking like a psyker does no one else notice this? Also who was that? Huh? The Warp knows you? Why is is the Inquisition not being called? What is going on here?

Because anyone you sic the Inquisition onto is taken away and bad things happen to them. Is it straining credulity that his friends decide to ignore the signs? The people who see the signs choose to believe that it's just chance or luck or good eyes/ears just as people will kid themselves about illness. Maybe if they ignore it it'll go away?

As for chronological order, the books are all in order, except for Ghostmaker which is, as the other say, a collection of short stories.

[Black Admiral]

Also, in the specific case of Gaunt's flashback to Darendara, the Inquisition is already involved and a Sgt. Tanhause of the Hyrkan Regiments (to whom Gaunt was attached for his cadet service) specifically states that it's the Inquisition that's to be handling their suspected psyker. Tanhause, being an experienced campaigner, also notes to himself that that stuff's the line of bullshit he's heard from a bunch of heretics, cultists, and various other bad hats over the years, it's always bullshit, and after getting a few campaigns under your belt, you learn to just ignore it.

He happens to be wrong in that specific case, but that's the exception.

[White Haven]

The downside of 40k including so many Inquisition-protagonist stories is that it dilutes the reality of the Inquisition for other people living in the Imperium. The Inquisition fucks almost everyone it comes into contact with. They're really, really good at it, and trying to resist just gets you fucked even harder. You don't want to come into even vague proximity of them unless you are actively in the process of being fucked even worse by someone even worse. This is somewhere where the Inquisition's own reputation works against them; nobody wants them involved until things are waaaay too far gone simply because that's where the 'The Inquisition won't actively make matters worse for us' threshold happens to lie.

There are, of course, exceptions, but those are typically Inquisition protagonists, hence why I said that was a downside. They end up giving readers a rose-colored impression of just how horrible the Inquisition is.

[Bedlam]

The downside of 40k including so many Inquisition-protagonist stories is that it dilutes the reality of the Inquisition for other people living in the Imperium. The Inquisition fucks almost everyone it comes into contact with. They're really, really good at it, and trying to resist just gets you fucked even harder. You don't want to come into even vague proximity of them unless you are actively in the process of being fucked even worse by someone even worse. This is somewhere where the Inquisition's own reputation works against them; nobody wants them involved until things are waaaay too far gone simply because that's where the 'The Inquisition won't actively make matters worse for us' threshold happens to lie.

There are, of course, exceptions, but those are typically Inquisition protagonists, hence why I said that was a downside. They end up giving readers a rose-colored impression of just how horrible the Inquisition is.

Master Imus's Transfression comes to mind. This old clerk comes to the Inquisition and says that he's sure he's chaos tainted because the numbers he's working on keep shifting, he's ready to die rather than turn to chaos. The Inquisition basically tell him to get lost, they get hundreds of time wasters each week, he keeps coming back and eventually an interigator takes notice after terrifying the old guy for a bit it turns out that his boss is actually a chaos cultist. The inquisition destroy the guy and his whole legal and illegal organisation. The old guy is left more or less penniless and unemployable, he'll probably be dead on the street in a month, the Inquisition just shrugs and says well you did your duty, bye!

[andrewgpaul]

The downside of 40k including so many Inquisition-protagonist stories is that it dilutes the reality of the Inquisition for other people living in the Imperium. The Inquisition fucks almost everyone it comes into contact with.

In the words of one Commissar, "Bribery and threats are popular methods for getting what you want, but the Inquisition is better at both and tend to resent other people using them."