A Sabbat’s World Novel by Dan Abnett

Dan Abnett has made a new warzone with the Sabbat Worlds in his Gaunt’s Ghost series and he returns to the same series, but with aerial combat in Double Eagle.

From the book:

While the Space Marines and Imperial Guard rule the battlefields of the Sabbat Worlds, the skies belong to the Imperial Navy. On Enothis, the enemy are threatening to halt the Imperial advance. Daemonic forces push into Imperial territory, thousands of refugees flee across the deserts and an infamous Chaos-tainted pilot, Khrel Kas Obarkon, rules the sky, his skill in the cockpit matched only by his kill tally. The ace pilots of the Phantine Twentieth Fighter Corps are the Imperium’s only hope for victory.

Have you ever wondered what the Battle of Britain would look like but set in the Warhammer 40k universe. Well have no fear, Dan Abnett has thought about it as well and he brings you the answer!

The Phantine Twentieth are a strange breed, being part of the Imperial Army (Astra Militarum) and not the Navy, because the world they come from has very little land and lots of sky! Of course there are rivalries with the Navy and with the local airforce and transfers between the three groups as planes are shot down, pilots are stranded and rescued, and others are promoted.

It’s a fast moving, well designed story with a few story lines but not too many as to be confusing. Abnett has also avoided the temptation to mention the Ghosts, as an aerial wing would not be concerned about a unit they have no link to. The combat is well described and you can imagine you are in the middle of the combat or watching an old WWII film.

Great fun, and definitely recommended if you like Gaunt. It’s also a great introduction into the Sabbat Worlds if you’re not sure you can commit to the entire Ghost’s series.

— Declan & Eeyore

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