Eisenhorn
Writer: Dan Abnett
Review by Joel Cain
Dan Abnett is an amazingly prolific writer and comic writer from the UK. In 2003, he won the award of 'Best Writer Now' at the National Comic awards. Eisenhorn is his omnibus of the novels in the Eisenhorn trilogy: Xenos, Malleus, and Hereticus.
Set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, Eisenhorn charts the career of Imperial Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn, a member of the Inquisition, a secretive society entrusted with the task of rooting out corruption and heretical cults in the Imperium and halting their threat to humanity.
In Eisenhorn, Abnett combines a complex web of interwoven subplots with frequent fast-paced action to form a great and well-balanced book. The numerous fights and battles are well described and enjoyable. The plot is pleasantly unpredictable, even with the added three line story overview at the start of every chapter. Abnett expounds on the worlds in the Warhammer 40,000, adding to the sub-genre, and the book becomes an invaluable addition to fans of this universe. I thought it was a great book in its own right though, even for science fiction readers who are not traditionally Warhammer 40,000 fans.
The book is a massive 764 pages long, so it's good value for money. It's been acclaimed as "amongst the best fiction ever produced by the Black Library" and as a reader, I'd have to concur.
ISBN: 1-84416-156-0