Straight Silver

Straight Silver is the Gaunt's Ghosts novel where Dan Abnett commits fully to the WWI-in-space register the series has been edging toward. The Tanith First-and-Only are deployed to a planet called Aexe Cardinal where a generations-long trench war has been grinding through a continent for so long that the Imperial command structure can no longer remember exactly what they are fighting for.

Abnett handles the trench-warfare material with the kind of careful historical attention that makes the 40K dressing feel earned. The Tanith are exhausted and homesick. The local Aexegarian troops they fight alongside are treated as full characters rather than backdrop. The bayonet of the title is the kind of detail Abnett uses to anchor his battle scenes.

Four stars. Recommended to long-time series readers. Not the entry point (start with First and Only) but one of the strongest in the middle of the run.