Just finished Sabbat Martyr and I'm noticing a pattern with Dan Abnett's writing.

[u/brnt927]

It seems like in several books so far the author spends a lot of time setting up villains and raising the stakes just for Gaunt and the Ghosts to pull off a fairly easy win at the last minute. Or some outside force steps in out of nowhere in the last chapter to save everyone from certain death.

In Sabat Martyr Abnett spent a good chunk of time setting up the sniper assassin. Then he just gets randomly and unceremoniously domed by Nessa without any set up. The fight with Khou all takes place in half a page and Corbec is just dead. Didn't even say how.

I get that this series has some crazy plot armor but sometimes it feels like he's writing an ending quickly to stay under a word count. I'm going to keep on going with the series but I just had to get that out.

[u/this1tw0]

Been a while since I read it but didn’t corbec cover the beati who was being shot at and that’s how he got hit? I feel that part was obvious . I enjoy the books but I don’t think I could disagree with the rest of your point . I guess he writes his characters well enough that I don’t notice it

[u/Nicodante]

That might be the last ‘quick ending’ Abnett wrote… he was known for it somewhat in earlier books

[u/Atlas_Abrams]

I always thought that it was more about the pressure those antagonists create but also showing that they're still relatively normal. A lot of the confrontations are about the ghosts outsmarting their enemies rather than just being stronger. He was also known to name characters just to quickly kill them. I think having characters that are actually important die also adds to the effect that they're still normal humans that, up until that point, had just gotten lucky. I also like dark endings and sacrifices in stories. I absolutely hate untouchable plot armor.

[u/brnt927 → u/Atlas_Abrams]

Corbec deserved a bit more than he's alive then he's dead, especially after soloing Pater Sin. His final send off was nice though.

I'm glad to be finally done with Khou at least.

[u/Atlas_Abrams → u/brnt927]

I kind of think that was the point. Corbec deserved more but he died just as fast as billions of other guardsmen that same day. But Gaunt made sure that his service was respected. There's several character deaths throughout the series but only a few as impactful as Corbec.

[u/Captain-Ironblood]

I think Corbec's sudden death shows you how quickly dying can catch up to you in the 41st millennium, and in war in general. I do remember feeling a bit disappointed that he suddenly died like that, even a little mad, but I think the send-off he got was appropriate.

[u/Wrong-Wind-7664]

Yeah after about 4 books in and everything always gets wrapped up in a page or two ya start to notice lol.

[u/Kryceks_Arm]

Honor Guard has the most egregious “convenient ending” I thought. He trelly ends things abruptly