[image error]It’s an odd couple story in a Warhammer-40K-like universe.

Kel Cheris, infantry captain, gets too creative winning a battle for her empire. She’s punished with a special mission: recapture the Fortress of Scattered Needles, which has been taken over by heretics. Shuos Jedao, the ghost of a general who massacred his own army 400 years ago, will be stapled to her to advise.

The best part of Ninefox Gambit is the dynamic between Cheris and Jedao. Is Jedao lying? What does he want? The book makes...