Ghost Warriors is a novel which is as ephemeral as its title and whilst having a lot of potential; it fails to solidify in enough places to really grab the reader or to live up to its promise. Despite all its flaws though it is worth reading as one of the small number of Aeldari novels in the Warhammer 40,000 range.
I have not read many of the Warhammer 40k novels since around book 19 of the acclaimed Horus Heresy series but this one was in my local library, and I have always been interested in the Aeldari faction even though I never actually collected them. As a result, I decided to give this one a go and whilst it was a pleasant read and could make a starting point for sequels; it left me feeling more than a little flat in many ways.
The story is set against the backdrop of the new Aeldari sub-faction, the Ynnari, who are trying to bring about the awaking of the Aeldari God of the dead so it will destroy Slaanesh. The faction leader is looking to do this without the death of the entire Aeldari race and is instead pursuing the croneswords which were the fingers of an ancient dead Aeldari God. It is against this backdrop that the story is set, and it focuses on the return of a long lost craftworld (a giant worldship) called Zaisuthra which was one of the first to flee the fall of the Aeldari people. One of the key figures of the Ynnari, the seer Iyanna of Craftworld Iyanden is involved because her family were resident on Zaisuthra and as a result she, Yvraine (the leader of the Ynnari) amongst others head to the newly returned world in order to find the Gate of Malice which will lead them to the Well of the Dead and hopefully the tomb of the ancient Aeldari Eldanesh along with the final cronesword. At the end of this they find Zaisuthra corrupted by genestealers and also ending up fighting a shard of the wargod Khaine before the story ends with said shard tamed and turned to the service of the Ynnari.
Now that’s a high-level view but equally it pretty much tells you most of the story; and that’s one of the main problems with this book. It feels very shallow. Yvraine as leader of the Ynnari is very one dimensional and has little in the way of growth. Indeed, what little bits of character we see are more in mind of a bratty princess than a herald of the God of the Dead. The Visarch gets a very slight character arc towards the end but again it is limited, though in is case that makes more sense, and secondary characters come in and out of the story with precious little to give them any real presence or meaning. The only character that has a solid arc is Iyanna and a lot of her backstory was already pre-existing in the Eldar/Aeldari codices from down the years. Iyanna is an interesting character and there is scope there for her to be a central figure in a series of books but despite standing out in this book it is a case of casting a very dim light in an ocean of grey.
There are some things though that are well done, and I have to praise the descriptions of Iyanden. The scenes in the Ghost Halls are excellent and add a lot to the existing background lore of this craftworld which has, in my opinion, been almost criminally neglected by Games Workshop. Likewise, the internecine politics and issues of the Aeldari are well worked and you get a real sense of the tension and angst, but this is always against the dull and grey background of weak characters and a plotline which runs from a to b to c without any real explanation as to why that is happening.
I don’t actually think this is an author issue as I have read other books by Gav Thorpe, and they have been excellent; this feels like a story which has been constrained to not push lore to far and depart to much from the events of the codex Aeldari. Something similar happens with the recent necron fiction in that they feel like little snippets rather than a fully developed book line in the manner of the space marine novels featuring Uriel Ventris for example. It’s a token book for me and whilst the author is clearly doing his best, he is working with a source material that Games Workshop seem happy to neglect for ninety percent of the time.
Overall then this is a pleasant read with some interesting concepts, nice world building and one decent character arc; but it lacks enough substance to make it a truly great read.
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