Cadian Honour

An interesting look into the Cadian mindsetm Am happy to see one of the more popular guard have anothe shot at redeption. THE ACTION IS FAST PACED and well directed. A but one dinensional specially for the supposedly more human guardsmen but still a fun read

This picks up after the events of Cadia Stands and the short story The Battle for Markgraaf Hive, and sees the surviving Cadians at a low ebb as they regroup both physically and emotionally. While it’s labelled as ‘a Minka Lesk novel’ on the cover, the focus within the Cadians is actually split between General Bendikt trying to uphold his people’s honour and Minka just trying to cope with her own private demons and adapt to the new realities of her life. Those two provide the primary Cadian viewpoints, while there are quite a few further viewpoint characters as the narrative moves across various political, religious and military players. Exactly what each faction’s objectives and loyalties are is only gradually revealed over the course of a plot mixing explosive military action with a little political and religious manoeuvring and some interesting takes on classic 40k themes like the risks of blind faith and the value (or otherwise) of tradition.

Hill does a great job of building on his work in Cadia Stands, continuing to illustrate the character of the Cadians and demonstrating why they deserve their standing within the Imperium’s military, the latter coming across particularly well in the competitive almost-schadenfreude they inspire in other regiments or forces and the way that spurs them onwards. There’s lots to enjoy for Guard fans here, even if the multiple viewpoints mean the expected protagonists aren’t quite as well developed as you’d expect, and the pace occasionally slows down while new characters are introduced into the mix. Overall it’s a valuable, engaging addition to the ever-growing body of Imperial Guard stories, with a tone and feel that’s distinct to Hill’s style and sets it nicely apart from the rest. On the basis of this it should be fascinating to find out whether the Cadians can survive in the long term now that their world is gone and their reputation so badly damaged.

A stellar book filled to the brim with action, bloody mayhem, and tension. I love all things Cadia related, so this book was an easy sell to me. I loved everything about it.

I decided to pick up a copy of Cadian Honour because the Cadians were always a faction of the Imperial Guard I had an interest in. Stoic defenders, situated right in line of where every Chaos incursion passes. They have pushed back numerous Black Crusades … but no more.

Now the Guardsmen and women of Cadia find themselves without a world to call their own. With no home, no way to re-populate their regiment when they inevitably take losses, they are, quite literally, the last of a dying breed.

The whole premise of Cadia’s fall seemed horribly beautiful and appealing to me as a fan of Warhammer 40,000. Unfortunately, I can’t say that my interest was in any way sated after reading Cadian Honour. The book starts relatively well, but then it settles into what I can only describe as mind-numbing tedium for the first 65% or so. That’s not to say that there isn’t some good old-fashioned grim-style violence, but it just felt like it all was more ‘for the sake of putting it in’ rather than for furthering the story.

The novel is billed as a ‘Minka Lesk’ novel. This is borderline false advertisement. Minka Lesk is in the novel, but to say it is a novel based around her is about as honest as saying that the Lord of the Rings was a ‘Samwell Tarly’ novel because he featured in it for parts. The point I am driving at is that Minka Lesk appears in less than a third of the novel. Most of it is spent focusing on incredibly slow world-building that features around the religious and political factions of the world they are on. The parts with Minka mostly feel like her babysitting a bunch of guardsmen that have little to no depth of character and it just felt dull. I was expecting something a bit punchier than I got.

The book wasn’t all slow tedium. After you get that out of the way it really does pick up and gets quite interesting for the remainder of the novel. I don’t feel the incredibly slow-burn was warranted considering the fact that the vast majority of it didn’t feel like it impacted the end at all. The parts that did could have been explained far quicker and still had the same high-octane, adrenaline-filled ending that we had.

I am guilty of not having read the first in this series. I hadn’t been aware there was a book that came before it when I picked it up. That being said, I don’t feel as though I needed the first one to get enough out of this one. I know I moaned about lack of character depth and those characters could have been expanded on in the first book, yes? Nah, they couldn’t. Those guardsmen Minka was babysitting were brand new squad members to her. I only really feel like I remember a couple (the ones Minka had issues with) as the rest were just names that were mentioned in passing. So I don’t feel I sold myself too short by not picking the first book up, but just in case, I will be giving this book a 3 rather than a 2 that I was flirting with.

The ending did make me curious as to where things go from here and, admittedly, I’d e interested in finding out. I just don’t want to put myself through two-thirds tedium to get to one-third excitement again. Nor do I want to spend any more time reading a book that I feel an attachment to the characters is near-impossible.

The book is well done keeping you on edge and wondering what will happens next.
After finishing the second book in the Cadian is series it leaves you with questions that are hopefully answered soon.