The Armour of Contempt (Novel)
 | |
| Author | Dan Abnett |
| Publisher | Black Library |
| Series | Gaunt's Ghosts |
| Preceded by | His Last Command |
| Followed by | Only in Death |
| Released | 2006 |
| Pages | 315 |
| Collected in | The Lost |
The Armour of Contempt is the tenth novel in the Gaunt's Ghosts series by Dan Abnett.
Cover Description
Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt spent a year fighting as part of the underground resistance on the enemy-held world of Gereon. When he left, he promised that he would bring the forces of the Imperium to liberate Gereon's citizens from their oppressors. Now he has returned, a crusade army at his back, but he finds a world devastated by war and a people irrevocably damaged by the taint of Chaos. Now Gaunt must fight to save Gereon not only from the enemy, but from the Imperium itself.
Synopsis
The Fifth Crusade Army, led by Lord-General Van Voytz, finally advances to reclaim Gereon from the forces of Chaos after over two thousand days of brutal occupation. The majority of the Crusade force is deployed to assault the coastline fortifications known as K'ethdrac'tt Shet Magir, an action which the newly-inducted Dalin Criid participates in as part of an RIP (Retraining, Indoctrination and Punishment) detail. Half of the novel follows Dalin's experiences in basic training and his struggle to survive in the chaos of the battlefield.
The recently re-instated Tanith First is excluded from this part of the invasion and is one of a number of scout/recon regiments inserted deep into the mainland behind enemy lines. As the Ghosts liberate a country town called Cantible, Gaunt is ordered by the Commissariat to make contact with the loyalist resistance in the Gereon Untill, and leads a small team out into the wilderness to do so. Along the way they see the devastating effect of Chaos occupation on the world. However, it becomes apparent that certain individuals have their own agenda for re-taking Gereon.
The storyline of The Armour of Contempt shifts at regular intervals, between the perspectives of Dalin Criid and the rest of the Ghosts. The novel draws its name from a fictional book called The Spheres of Longing written by Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor, the main character of another series written by Dan Abnett.
Sources
| The Founding | A Ghost Return • First and Only • Of Their Lives in the Ruins of Their Cities • Ghostmaker • Necropolis • In Remembrance |
|---|---|
| The Saint | Honour Guard • The Guns of Tanith • Straight Silver • Sabbat Martyr |
| The Lost | Traitor General • His Last Command • The Armour of Contempt • Only in Death • The Iron Star |
| The Victory | Blood Pact • Salvation's Reach • The Warmaster • The Anarch • The Vincula Insurgency |
| Anthologies | Sabbat Worlds • Sabbat Crusade • Sabbat War |
| Other Short Stories | Vermilion Level • Killbox • Viduity • Ghosts and Bad Shadows |
| Background Books | The Sabbat Worlds Crusade • Tactica Imperialis |
| Spin-offs | Double Eagle • Titanicus • Urdesh: The Serpent and the Saint • Volpone Glory |
