Gregor Eisenhorn is an Inquisitor; a roaming free agent belonging to an enormous galaxy-spanning network tasked with protecting the Imperium of Man from the deadly threats of the alien, the mutant and the heretic.

Eisenhorn might then present a daunting prospect: a sci-fi epic comprising seven hundred and fifty pages of densely packed text in three novels and two linking short stories, set in the deep and almost impenetrable mythos of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40k.

It is a undertaking well worth the reader’s time though, and there’s much to enjoy: the sheer scope and ambition of the novels themselves, the stark yet luxurious world of the Inquisition, the myriad hive and pre-feudal worlds and disturbing alien races encountered, the cast of gun-for-hire heroes and the overall arc of the rise, corruption, hardships and compromise of the earnest and noble Gregor Eisenhorn himself. Even though this reviewer was an avid Warhammer fan when younger, he didn’t understand every reference but somehow this just adds to the overall exotic charm of the books. Abnett revels in the pseudo religious imagery and Latin vocabulary of the Imperium of Man, and the imposing inquisitors themselves, some centuries old, are drawn in the manner of medieval champions or kings with their colourful retinues. At a gathering of the Inquisition Abnett describes the fantastical entourage of one such champion:

Ten inquisitional novices of interrogator rank of below, upheld banners, sacred flamer weapons, caskets of scrolls and slates, gleaming tools of torture on red satin cushions, or open hymnals. Flanking them were four bodyguards in red cloaks, with double-handed broadswords held stiffly upright before their faces. Their armour was ornate, and the full visors had been fashioned and painted with the likenesses of four apostolic saints… The masks were flat-eyed and expressionless and almost naïve, lifted exactly from the representations on illuminated manuscripts of old. A huddle of dark-robed savants waited nearby, and a dozen cherub servitors in the form of podgy three-year-olds with golden locks and the spiteful faces of gargoyles circled around, scolding and mocking, on grav-assisted golden wings.

At its best, Eisenhorn is truly stunning, and Abnett at his best is peerless, depicting and revelling in the murky techno-dark age humanity has fallen into. An extraordinary chapter in the second novel details the returning Imperial Guard’s victory parade through an enormous hive world. Crowds of millions turn out to watch an endless parade of soldiers, god-like Space Marines, superheavy tanks, inquisitors, savants, tech-priests and captured neutered enemy psychics, weaving between the footfalls of colossal battle-titans, passing through city archways so large that clouds form under their  rise. Abnett then tears the scene apart to devastating effect as the forces of Chaos strike: a theme of mayhem and destruction that is repeated throughout the series.

Lovecraft would have been proud of this extension of his other worldy foes. The universe of Warhammer gives this horror a name in Chaos, a home in the warp and the hearts of the easily corrupted, and forms in ancient demon gods. The inquisition is tasked to root out and hold back this evil, but in true Lovecraftian fashion, pays a terrible price in turn.

The characters, while vivid, are slightly singular in their descriptions (with the exception of Eisenhorn himself) but in the last leg of the last book, Abnett uses our familiarity and our expectations against us, as the weight of the mission and the Faustian pacts Eisenhorn has made take their toll on the team. Characters who have remained resolute stalwarts for almost all the series suddenly crumble and buckle, and our hero makes some truly wretched decisions attempting to do what he believes is right.

The only criticism this reviewer can level is double edged: he expected the huge length of Eisenhorn to tell a full story, and instead we are denied a complete resolution at the end. On investigating, the reason for this is because Abnett’s vision is of two more trilogies, following other characters in the story, and Eisenhorn himself seems likely to reappear. It is a slightly bittersweet revelation, as the reviewer was hoping for a tragedy set over three novels, but instead it seems that Abnett is playing a longer game, and one this reviewer is more than happy to follow.

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