Solid on it's own, benefits from the wider oeuvre

This is a good follow-up to Double Eagle, and it's probably stronger than that novel. But it isn't quite up to the better Gaunt stories, because it doesn't have as fleshed out a cast, or as interesting an objective, end point or impact as in some of those.
It's strong for a 40K novel, if I had to give it a numerical score on that basis, it'd be a strong 8.
But for a Dan Abnett novel, it's pretty middle of the road, closer to 6 or 7 by the standards of his other work.

It's nice to visit a long-time side character though, and that she's very different in a very believable way from when we last encountered her, is testament to Abnett's grasp of his character's, the places he puts them, and the larger weave that he's always working on,
He's managed to make the air action coherent and compelling, which is always impressive. The new characters are just pretty good , at least in my view, and that's based on having read most of Abnett's books. At this point, the archetypes are bit too obvious for me. They're still well written, but I've seen them a half dozen times before, and so have you if you've been keeping up.
The biggest criticism I have for this story is that there isn't really a goal or objective for the main character, or anyone. It's the middle of a war of attrition, which is fine, but nobodies particularly interested in changing that in this story. Everything goes along quite procedurally, then a b-plot established in the prologue starts coming up a little over half way through, and is then resolved without much fanfare or interest (at least from me) in the close.
And our main characters opinion changes, but she, herself, doesn't really. It feels like a bit of a side story as is, solid for an episode, but it's not gonna be anyone's favorite.
Despite my criticism I think there's enough flesh on these bones for more stories from these characters, and in this warzone. And I expect that if Abnett goes on to write more stories in this space, my opinion on this book will soften, and grow fonder, because as a series Pilot, it's pretty good!

If you like any of Dan Abnett's other books, you'll have great fun with this and you already know that Toby Longworth reading it is gonna be a great time.
If you've not gone through any of his books though, or only the Horus Heresy ones, I wouldn't suggest starting here, because it's sort of a legacy-sequel to Double Eagle, and it does take place after a lot of events from the Gaunt's Ghosts series.

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Nice to see the genre visited again

Some interesting ideas on how to get the story back to dog fights in a very 40k way.

A number chekhov's gun to clock on they way, so keep score.

Another good outing in the Sabbat crusade sandbox and look forward to the next!

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Good ole Danny boy. We love you

Perfect again!
Can’t wait for the end of the bequin novel, please hurry up, it’s killing me

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Superb

Excellent follow up to Double Eagle. Absolutely fantastic. Abnett needs to do another sequel. The Aeronautica Remembers. Splash 1.

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Superb

No complaints whatsoever, the storytelling and characters were classic Dan, made me want to go listen to all the Gaunts books again

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