Showing posts with label Sandy Mitchell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sandy Mitchell. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 01, 2023

Choose Your Enemies (WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #10) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Choose Your Enemies
Series: WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #10
Authors: Sandy Mitchell
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 338
Words: 107K


We get introduced to the Eldar Reavers here, or Raiders, or whatever. They’re Space Pirate Elves. That’s all we really need to know. Because Cain fights them, helps them unknowingly and with their help takes down a full Chaos Demon. Meanwhile, Chaos Cultists are taking over the leadership of a Forgeworld with the usual results, hence the demon.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. It was bittersweet knowing this was the last Cain book for some time. Supposedly there is a new novel due out this year and an omnibus of short stories due at the same time, but there is no actual release date, so I’ll believe it when I see it. Choose Your Enemies was published in 2018, so even if a new Cain book comes out this year, chances are good it will be another 5 years before the next one. So this is the last Cain book in my opinion.

One thing I have liked about the Cain books is the little glimpses, usually VERY little, of various non-Empire of Humanity beings. We’ve seen chaos cultists, demons, orks, necrons, tau, tyranids and now eldar. While I would have liked to see a bit more of each, the little glimpse I had felt like enough to give me familiarity with them so I at least knew their name and what kind of creature they were.

These books are not great literature and I don’t expect that. I just want a cracking good adventure story and for the most part, Sandy Mitchell (or whatever his real name is, I simply don’t care if a stupid author uses a stupid pseudonym for some stupid reason because he’s stupid) has always written fast paced, exciting boom boom, shoot shoot, chop chop stories. Kind of like those tasty baskets of bread and butter that restaurants give you before your appetizers and entree can be cooked and served.

★★★✬☆




From Wh40k.lexicanum.com


Commissar Ciaphas Cain and the Valhallan 597th are in the thick of it again, putting down an uprising of Chaos cultists on an Imperial mining world. Though their mission is a success, they find evidence that the corruption might have spread to other planets, and that the forge world of Ironfound could now be at risk. The munitions Ironfound produces are vital to the Imperial war effort in the subsector; its safety must be assured at all costs. As battle explodes across the planet, Ciaphas Cain and his regiment come up against allies and enemies old and new in their fight for victory against the forces of Chaos.


Tuesday, June 27, 2023

The Greater Good (WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #9) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Greater Good
Series: WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #9
Authors: Sandy Mitchell
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 307
Words: 102K




First off, that supposed synopsis from the Lexicanum is just the cover blurb and it is pathetic. I have no idea why some Cain fan hasn’t written an indepth synopsis seven pages long. I mean, this book came out in 2013, that’s been a whole decade for some basement dweller to get bored enough to do that. Come on guys, you’re letting me down here!

While the alien Tau are touted (their whole culture relies on the principle of The Greater Good), they don’t actually have much to do with the novel itself. One of them goes along with Cain as a political liason when Humanity fights a boatload of Tyranids, but that’s it. I was hoping for a whole novel of Cain and some guard units fighting them.

Instead, we get some ultra-stupid Cogboys (the Adeptus Mechanicus) and Ultra-Marines who think they can experiment on the tyranids in safety. Of course, whenever someone makes a dumb decision about the gene-stealing tyranids, that is a big fat sign that someone has been infected by them. And surprise, surprise (no it actually isn’t!), the head cog-girl was infected from some other time. So the planet is not only being invaded by tyranids from space, but it is also being potentially over-run by others already on the planet. What a mess. Cain is able to get everyone to work together and kill so many tyranids that I lost count and hurray and frabjous joy, The Imperium of Man pulls a win out of its collective backside.

This was fun to read. There is no shortage of action, tons of bolter blasting by the ultra-marines, tons of Cain cutting up tyranids with his chainsword and plenty of his aid Jurgen stinking up every room he goes into. In short, this was a perfect Ciaphas Cain novel. Since the last CC book, I have managed to track down the last CC novel so I’ll be reading that next. Then I have a book of short stories about various Tau characters and then I’ll take a break from Warhammer 40,000 until next year.

For various reasons, I have decided to put the ‘synopsis’ part down below. This will be my new SOP for reviews from here on out. End Report
~ Commissar Bookstooge

★★★✬☆





From Wh40k.lexicanum.com

When the world of Quadravidia comes under attack by the insidious tau, only one man can defeat the aliens and save the planet in the Emperor's name: the legendary Hero of the Imperium, Commissar Ciaphas Cain. When the aliens call for a ceasefire, Cain expects the worst, and his fears are answered in the form of the dread menace of the tyranids. As a hive fleet approaches Quadravidia, Cain must try to forge an alliance between the Imperium and the tau – but can he truly trust the inscrutable xenos?




Tuesday, May 16, 2023

The Last Ditch (WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #8) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Last Ditch
Series: WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #8
Authors: Sandy Mitchell
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 304
Words: 97K




From Wh40k.lexicanum.com


The next extract of the Cain Archive which Amberley Vail has chosen to edit and release may strike her colleagues in the Inquisition as an odd choice, since she is dealing with Ciaphas Cain's second visit to Nusquam Fundumentibus, before disseminating the details of his first. However, Vail defends her decision by explaining that the first visit, while instructive enough, was nowhere near as significant as this one...


Part One

Over a regicide game with Lord General Zyvan, Cain learns of the Valhallan 597th's newest assignment: their second deployment to Nusquam, being menaced by Orks yet again. Colonel Kasteen and the rest of the Valhallans are predictably excited, though Cain's enthusiasm for visiting a battle zone (especially one on an Ice World) is as great as it's ever been.


Cain gets ominous vibes from the Fires of Faith, the run-down merchant vessel commandeered as the regiment's transport to Nusquam, but the captain, Mires, assures him that the ship is sound.


However, a few weeks later, when the ship translates from the Warp, the poorly-maintained Geller field fails for an instant - just long enough to let a mischievous Daemon slip on board and possess the body of one of the bridge servitors. Havoc erupts, and though Cain, Jurgen, and the regiment's Chaplain, Tope, are able to banish it, the bridge controls are all but destroyed. Without engine or maneuvering control, the ship has become a deathtrap. They can't assume orbit over the planet, nor can they slow down enough to dock with any shuttles; and they have nowhere near enough saviour pods to debark the whole regiment.


In the frantic weeks as the ship hurtles toward Nusquam, Mires comes up with a desperate plan: if they can fire up the engines, they may be able to accelerate into a rough orbit. When they try it, however, they clip the planet's orbiting dockyard, and, instead of achieving orbit, hurtle down into the planet's atmosphere. By a miracle, they have just enough thruster ability to make a controlled crash, creating a fair-sized lake of boiling water in the ice instead of a smoking hole. The regiment is padded down in the central holds, and survives with minimal casualties, though several of the crew, including Mires, are killed in the crash (saving Cain from having to decide whether or not to shoot him).


Part Two

Thanks to Nusquam's freezing temperatures, the ice reforms around the ship quickly enough to stop it sinking into the newly-formed lake. But as the Valhallan proverb has it, "things can always get worse." As soon as Captain Federer blasts a hole in the side of the hull that will let the regiment out, they see an Ork warband speeding towards them, attracted by the Valhallans' not-so-inconspicuous arrival. The Valhallans fortify the entrance, but are boxed in, with no way to deploy effectively before the Orks reach the ship. However, Cain sees a downed Kopta crash through the ice, which is still relatively thin on top, and gets an idea.


Unfortunately, having the idea makes him the obvious choice to carry it out. Using the winch from one of the Scout troop's Sentinels, Cain and Jurgen are lowered to the surface of the ice, carrying demolition charges. Federer has advised them that they need to be under the ice to have an effect, so Jurgen creates holes in a few strategic spots with his melta gun. Just as they are finishing, they are set upon by a stray band of Orks. Badly outnumbered, they commandeer one of the downed Warbuggyz and speed clear of the lake.


Federer detonates the charges to satisfying effect, cracking the ice and drowning nearly all of the Orks. At the edge of the frozen lake, Cain looks into the water and thinks he glimpses something, but it is gone too quickly for him to be sure. He and Jurgen speed away from a group of Orks that escaped the lake, but the pursuit cuts off abruptly. Heading back cautiously, they find the Ork vehicles abandoned, and the orks gone without trace. They head back to rejoin the regiment, but Cain is unable to shake the fear that something else is on the planet that neither the Imperials nor the orks are aware of.


Part Three

The 597th establishes its headquarters in the capital city, Primadelving, and gets "stuck in" to the Orks with all the enthusiasm and competence of any seasoned Valhallan regiment. Their success is extremely galling to the PDF and the green companies of the newly-formed Nusquam 1st Guard regiment, who have been battling the Orks with as much enthusiasm but rather less competence. Kasteen butts heads with the Nusquans' newly-minted Commissar, Forres, who seems determined to prove herself by encouraging her troops to charge the greenskins head-on as often as possible.


Cain smoothes things over by pointing out that the Orks' numbers have been thinning on all fronts. Since the concept of retreat is anathema to greenskins, this makes it more than likely that they are consolidating for a major push against one of a few strategic targets.


A few days later, the Governor is alarmed when the city loses contact with two strategic sites well behind the Imperial lines, apparently attacked by Ork Kommandos. One of these, Mechanicus Adept Izembard warns, is a geothermal power station that, if left unregulated, could trigger a volcanic explosion within the next few hours.


Since Forres has already volunteered to lead the first wave of Nusquans sent in as reinforcements, Cain can hardly decline the invitation to lead the Valhallan contingent. He tries to make the best of it, flying with Sergeant Grifen's squad in a Valkyrie to the Shrine ahead of the platoon traveling overland.


When they arrive, the Shrine is deserted, and undamaged to a degree unheard of whenever Orks are involved. Cain is expecting the worst, but the squad double-times to the central control room and Cain starts to manipulate the controls according to Izembard's directions. But in one corner, the troopers find a heap of gory metal parts, as if something swallowed the Tech Priests at the Shrine and threw their bionic parts back up. In horror, Cain yells for the troopers to get away from the walls, as Tyranids erupt from the fissures.


Cain and the Valhallans make a fighting retreat to the Valkyrie. But instead of ordering them back to Primadelving, Kasteen diverts them to the other strategic objective, informing them that Forres and her troops are also under attack.


The second fight is even harder, since the swarm includes genestealers, but with a little ingenuity on Cain's part, they manage to defeat the swarm and extract Forres's surrounded party. With the Nusquans' Chimeras wrecked, they climb aboard a large cargo hauler and plough their way out the front door.


Driving back to Primadelving, Cain catches a glimpse of a few scattered hormagaunts, led by a Warrior, digging in the ice. Knowing it is virtually unheard of for Tyranids to move in such small numbers, he is worried enough to check it out. Just as they are peering over a snowdrift, the ice cracks, and a Tervigon rises. Cain and Jurgen leap aboard the crawler and speed away, but the vehicle hits an inconvenient crevasse and throws one of its tracks, leaving the Guardsmen no option but to make a stand. Their lasguns are fairly useless except against the Termagants being spawned by the monstrous creature, but Jurgen is able to critically wound it with two blasts from his melta.


In her enthusiasm, Forres charges forward to finish it off, and Cain, keenly aware that all eyes are on him, runs forward to restrain her. He stops Forres from being bitten in half by the creature's death throes, but falls down a pit in the ice created by its fall. Looking around, he is horrified to see hundreds, if not thousands, of still-dormant Tyranids lodged in the ice. If they all wake up, the Guard will not stand a chance.


Part Four

Knowing they are outnumbered, Kasteen has already sent astropathic calls for help, but reinforcements from Coronus wil take more time to arrive than they have. Cain adds that he has also sent a discreet message to Amberley Vail, and that a detachment from the Bone Knives Space Marine chapter is also on its way.


Since no Hive Ships can be detected in orbit, where the Tyranids came from is a mystery that nags at the Governor and several others. Magos Izembard announces that, based on his analysis of the specimens Cain brought back, the Tyranids have been frozen in the ice for about seven thousand years - they had no reason to thaw out and wake up, until the Fires of Faith ploughed a boiling hole in the ice. The Tyranids' current numbers and their likely movements are all but impossible to discern, but one thing he can say with certainty is that they will be attacking Primadelving - the planet's biggest population center - before long.


An extract from Jenit Sulla's memoirs clarifies that the Govenor evacuated as many civilians from the outlying habitats to Primadelving as possible, allowing the Guard forces to consolidate their defence, but the Tyranids snapped up many of the slower-moving ones, and the Orks had, in the meantime, managed to re-group and renew their offensive.


Since many of the civilians are refusing to leave their homes, Kasteen asks Cain to accompany one of the evacuation convoys, hoping that the sight of him will convince the rest of the city that the convoys are safe, and preferable to staying behind and being gobbled up. Cain has no objections to leaving the primary theatre for a few days, even if doing so requires him to ride with Sulla.


As usual, trouble finds Cain regardless of where he is or how he got there. After several hours, the passenger crawler he is riding in is attacked from underneath by a Mawloc, which punches through the viewport nearest to Cain. With a press of screaming civilians at his back, Cain takes the only route he can to avoid being swallowed whole - leaping out of the window a split second before the Mawloc strikes. The Valhallan Sentinels escorting the convoy quickly neutralize the Warriors controlling the Mawloc, but Cain is briefly on his own. Remembering that the beast is vibration-sensitive, Cain improvises: Jurgen tosses him a krak grenade, and Cain shoves it into the barrels of spare promethium lashed to the deck, then cuts them loose. Feeling the thump of the barrels, the Mawloc senses food and swallows them all, just before an explosion guts it. Cain is safe, though exasperated that he is now the hero of the hour yet again.


When the convoy arrives in Underice (the planet's second-largest city), Cain is looking forward to a few hours, or days, of rest, but is shocked to see a series of orbit-capable shuttles parked outside the city. Sulla investigates, and informs that, since the shuttles were intended to ferry the 597th from the Fires of Faith, the Administratum automatically listed them as lost after the ship was destroyed. But because the shuttles were still parked at the spaceport at Primadelving, the Administratum ordered them to clear off and find somewhere else to be "lost." As grating as Cain normally finds Sulla's company, he cannot help but share a moment of rapport with her, as they both mull over the indefatigable stupidity of the bureaucratic mindset.


Sulla brightly informs Cain that she has requisitioned the shuttles, which can take the Valhallans back to the main theatre that very night, without having to waste another long overland journey. Cain tries to sound congratulatory.


Part Five

Back in Primadelving, the shuttles have greatly speeded up the evacuation, although the Governor is stubbornly refusing to let Kasteen declare martial law and "convince" the last few holdouts to leave the city. On the battlefront, things are steadily getting worse, as the Tyranid swarms attacking the city are steadily becoming both more numerous, and much better coordinated. Kasteen, Broklaw, and Cain speculate that some kind of Node is gradually awakening, allowing the Tyranids to act as one.


Magos Izembard announces that he has pinpointed the exact age of the Tyranid specimens Cain brought back. No one considers this very important, but Izembard begs to differ: the Tyranids' arrival on Nusquam coincides more or less exactly with the date when the comet responsible for much of the local geography struck the planet - which means there was no comet, and what hit the planet seven thousand years ago was a full-fledged Hive Ship, which is still buried in the ice and has been gradually re-animating since the Valhallans arrived. Based on the progress of the Tyranids' cohesion, Izembard estimates that they have only hours before the Hive Ship is fully awake, at which point the Tyranids will not only be poised to overwhelm them, but it will send out a psychic call that will draw any nearby Hive Fleets to overrun the entire sector. Cain quails at the thought that, even if they escape the planet, there will be nowhere to hide.


However, he sees an option: a small element of the Imperial forces is stationed outside the city walls, guarding the last functioning geothermal power station on the continent. If they can deliberately induce an overload, of the kind that claimed the other one, the resulting volcanic explosion will destroy the Hive Ship (and the now-all-but-empty city, but that's unavoidable). Once again, Cain, as the idea man, lacks a plausible excuse to duck the job of leading the force.


Cain and Jurgen lead a combined unit of Valhallans and Nusquan Rough Riders mounted on Bikes through the tunnels, fighting off any Tyranids they encounter. But soon they find their way blocked by a Hive Tyrant, accompanied by a full escort of Guards. Under its direction, the Tyranids in their path are as impassable as a wall, and the force at the power plant, being led by Forres, is blocked off. At first, Cain is tempted to call off the mission and run back to the shuttles, but he sees a group of Pyrovores in the Tyrant's escort, and inspiration strikes. The Guard re-target their weapons, and rupture one's stomach, causing a chain reaction as its contents burst into flame and ignite the other Pyrovores, immolating the Tyrant and its Guards. Unfortunately, there is now nothing stopping Cain's force from pressing on.


Arriving at the power station, Cain links up with Forres and they disable the station's safeties and set demolition charges to induce the explosion. But as they are about to evacuate, they are attacked by a fresh wave of Tyranids, led by a Trygon that burrows out of the rock walls. The Trygon is killed, but a rockfall traps Cain and Jurgen in the power station, with Forres and the other Guardsmen on the other side. Grimly, she confirms that they can't tunnel them out. Cain tells her to evacuate with the others, even as he hears yet more Tyranids speeding towards them.


Cain and Jurgen pick up two fallen Bikes and take the only exit available: the tunnel made by the Trygon. This is a near-suicidal risk, but for Cain the choice between certain death and near-certain death is always an easy one. Relying on speed and his natural sense of direction underground, Cain leads Jurgen on a snaking path away from the station, and finds a surface exit, emerging into safety just before the tunnel belches flame from the volcanic eruption. Cain and Jurgen turn and see the Hive Ship's death throes as it is caught in the explosion.


Epilogue

Cain and Jurgen pick up their bikes and prepare for a long, cold drive to Underice, but it turns out to be unnecessary. Cain notices a transport circling overhead, and signals it. When the ship lands, he is surprised to recognize it as a Thunderhawk gunship; the Space Marines have arrived at last.


He is even more surprised when the ship whisks them into orbit intstead of reuniting them with the regiment. Above the planet, they see Amberley's private star yacht orbiting alongside the Marines' Strike Cruiser.


Cain's debriefing with Amberley is a pleasant affair, accompanied by a change of clothes, a hot bath, and a gourmet meal. Over dinner, Amberley questions him closely about Izembard's findings, and is deeply troubled. The Imperium's first official contact with the Tyranids was in 745.M41, while the more complete records maintained by the Ordo Xenos suggest contact with Tyranid bio-forms as far back as M35. But the Hive Ship on Nusquam has been there for at least a thousand years longer, which raises the disquieting possibility that the Tyranids have penetrated much farther into the galaxy than previously thought, and there is no telling how many other hidden hives are scattered around, just waiting for another fleet invasion to awaken them. Cain tries to minimize the blow, reasoning that the chances of another major Hive Fleet invasion are minimal (adding ruefully with hindsight that he was wrong not once, but twice over).


Amberley asks him if the 597th needs him back right away, and he says no, they will likely be engaged in cleaning up the remnants of the Tyranids and Orks on Nusquam for several months. With a smile, Amberley says Cain (and Jurgen) should be able to help her with another "little problem" she has...


Vail ends the narrative there, deciding that Cain's response was both irrelevant and unfit for publication.




Orks and tyranids. Lots and lots of both. Mayhem and death. Lots and lots of both. At this point things kind of feel old hat. Cain and the 597th have faced both in large numbers and while the setting has changed here, it felt like a retread.

I say that like it’s a bad thing and sometimes it is, but these WH40K books are franchise fiction and as such there is a formula and the writers stick to it and it works (most of the time. Series like the Horus Heresy that go on for 50books without a resolution, well, that’s just a money grab). I enjoy the badguys getting slaughtered and I enjoy the close shaves and I enjoy the action.

I only have one more Ciaphas Cain novel left (there is one more after that but I can’t get a hold of it) and then I have two random Warhammer 40,000 standalone novels and then I’ll be done. After that, I think I’m going to take a break from WH40K and use the time to investigate to see if there are any other characters/authors I might want to try.

★★★✬☆



Sunday, April 02, 2023

The Emperor’s Finest (WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #7) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Emperor’s Finest
Series: WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #7
Authors: Sandy Mitchell
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 288
Words: 102K


From Wh40k.lexicanum.com & Bookstooge.blog

Part One

After his harrowing escape from the Necron Tomb on Inheritus Prime, Ciaphas Cain regains consciousness in the Apothecarion of the Reclaimers' Strike Cruiser Revenant, and makes the acquaintance of the battle force's commander, Captain Gries, and Apothecary Sholer and Techmarine Drumon, who have collaborated on the augmetic fingers grafted onto Cain's hand in place of the two lost to the Necrons. Since Cain was originally assigned as the Commissariat's liaison to the Reclaimers, there is no reason why he shouldn't accompany them on their mission to suppress a rebellion on Viridia.

According to a short excerpt from Jerval Sekara's often-used travelogue, Viridia is a productive Agri World that is the hub of several important mining stations on the surrounding moons and asteroids. The whole system is a vital source of raw materials for the subsector, which explains why a minor civil insurrection on what would otherwise be considered a rustic backwater merited the intervention of the Emperor's own Astartes...

Unfortunately, by the time the Revenant translates into the system, the conflict has escalated into a full-blown civil war. Several elements of the PDF have defected to the rebels, including a small SDF flotilla that attacks the Revenant upon its arrival. These small ships are no match for the Strike Cruiser, and Gries prepares to embark for the surface immediately. Despite the manifest danger, Cain always feels safer on the ground than in the void, and accompanies them in their Thunderhawk.

The rebels are already besieging the capital city when Gries and Cain land inside the Palace and introduce themselves to Governor DuPanya.

The loyalist PDF commander explains that the rebels are divided into several feuding groups, and the Imperials' only advantage is that they are fighting each other as much as the loyalists. But Gries and Cain look closer at the tactical display and notice something wrong: the feuding between the rebel factions is a charade, and they have in fact organized a superbly coordinated cordon around the city - more coordinated, Cain notices, than he would expect from a Guard unit of the same size. Any counter-attack the Imperials launch will have to conceal the fact that they are on to the rebels' trick, or they will close the trap even more quickly.

Gries outlines a three-pronged assault; one detachment of the Reclaimers will secure strategic points inside the city, while another attacks the rebels' armour contingent. A third force is needed to neutralize the rebels' mobile artillery batteries; since the approach will need to be secret, their best option is through the sewer tunnels - a job unsuitable for Space Marines in Power Armour. Cain is unwise enough to point this out, inadvertently making it seem like he's volunteering to lead the mission.

Enter Mira DuPanya, the Governor's daughter and honourary Colonel-in-Chief of the household guard unit of the PDF, who volunteers a squad of her troops, but insists on accompanying them. Cain urges her in the strongest terms to stay behind and let the real soldiers get on with the job, but she refuses to listen. She points out that, as a Commissar, Cain has no direct command authority, and Cain is forced to concede the point (ruefully deciding that shooting her is not an option, if he wants to maintain a good relationship with the Governor).

As they make their way towards the rebels' position, Cain is forced to admit that Mira knows her way around the tunnels, and the anti-intrusion traps. When they are under the rebels' artillery park, Cain reluctantly says he will go up first (not out of bravery, but because he doesn't trust the others' stealth skills).

True to form, Mira insists on following him. Cain manages to mine the rebels' artillery, but another member of their party attracts the attention of an enemy patrol. Cain and Mira are separated from them and forced to flee down a sewer tunnel, alone. There they come across a horde of mutants, led by Cain's worst fear: a Purestrain genestealer. Cain manages to hold off the beast with his chainsword, but the two of them have no where to go as the pack of hybrids closes around them. Just as they are preparing for a semi-heroic last stand, the Purestrain and the rest of the genestealers are scattered by storm bolter fire, as a squad of Terminators from the Reclaimers teleport to their position, guided by Cain's vox set.

With their lives unexpectedly spared, Cain and Mira make a mutual decision to forget their earlier friction and engage in a more "productive" working relationship...

Part Two

As the Reclaimers and the PDF are mopping up the remains of the insurrection and the genestealers, Cain is able to watch the drama from his suite at the Governor's palace, Mira having persuaded her father that his abilities are most needed away from the front lines. Cain is cheered when Guard reinforcements arrive, accompanied by Jurgen, who is still piqued that Cain decided to go off to Inheritus Prime without him.

Captain Gries announces that the genestealers likely came to the planet on a Space Hulk, and their next mission is to track it down. At first, Cain wants no part of the job, but changes his mind quickly when Mira, fearing that he is about to leave the planet, insists that they need to have a serious talk about "us."

After tracking down the space hulk, it is revealed that all the flipping nutjob Emperor people want to invade it to find old tech. So they do. And it is swarming with gene stealers and orks. A massive battle ensues, Astartes die left and right, Cain and Jurgen survive and Mira ends up marrying the planetary governor. The End.



First off, this book typifies why I don’t like the Astartes or to read about them. Arrogant, powerful but then completely overwhelmed and destroyed by creatures that regular humans take care of on a regular basis. I guess I expect a lot more from my “super soldiers” than the WH40K universe does. Plus, with them getting wiped out all the time, how are there any left to actually fight the forces of chaos and stuff? I’ve known this ever since I tried to read the first book or two of the Horus Heresy and is why I almost gave up on the whole Warhammer 40,000 universe altogether.

Thankfully, the Astartes and the Cog Boyz are simply side players and Cain and Jurgen take front and center and dazzle us, well ok, dazzle me anyway. But since I’m the most important here, that’s a Royal Us. Get used to it peasants. Cain gets to fight both orks and gene stealers all at the same time and it’s great. I kept waiting for a Tau contingent to pop in as well, but I was able to overcome my disappointment at that particular lack.

This also goes to show just how inhumane the Imperium of Man actually is. Humanity is a resource that the Emperor uses like straw. For that matter, who is running things anyway? The Emperor is a rotting corpse at the moment, so who runs things, a committee? I never really thought about that until this book, but who makes the Astartes do things? And why haven’t they completely fallen apart trying to take the Emperor’s place? And even if they don’t want to take over, who is running things? People, whether regular or genetically modified supermen, do not do well taking care of their own lives. They need someone to tell them what to do. And a whole space empire would fracture under it’s own weight if there wasn’t a hand on the helm.

I am sure all of those questions have been answered in the other 1000’s of WH40K books, because if I can think of those questions after reading under 50 of them, somebody else must have thought those same questions years and years ago. But I’m not going to go wading through the drek of the Astartes to find the answers. Call me Muhammad. And snap to it bringing that mountain to me, I haven’t got all day you know.

I like books that make me think weird little things like this. It’s fun and easy and if I don’t get my answers, my peace of mind isn’t disturbed.

★★★✬☆


Monday, February 20, 2023

Traitor’s Gambit (WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #6.5) ★★★✬☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title:
Traitor’s Gambit
Series: WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #6.5
Authors: Sandy Mitchell
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 32
Words: 9K



Cain gets involved in stopping a group of renegade humans who want to help the alien Tau by destroying the flagship that is protecting the human’s world. They all die, Cain and Jurgen escape and Cain looks like a hero.

I like that these Cain stories deal with other villains than just the Ruinous Powers (ie, the demons from the warp) that characterized the Gaunt’s Ghost series. It is also quite interesting to see humanity rejecting the Tau because they are aliens and not humans. Their tech is better, their world/universe view seems to have a greater chance of surviving in the long term but even Cain just rejects them categorically. It shows how much the Empire of Man has truly become an Empire of the Emperor. Kind of depressing, but then, the whole point of the Warhammer 40K universe is to be depressing. Thank goodness Cain lightens things up.

★★★✬☆


Friday, January 27, 2023

Cain’s Last Stand (WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #6) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Cain’s Last Stand
Series: WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #6
Authors: Sandy Mitchell
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 326
Words: 110K





This really should have been called Ciaphas Cain versus Space Hitler. Cain is retired and teaching on the world where the Shadow artifact is and suddenly a chaos fleet is on its way to take over the planet and find the artifact. They are led by a small, dumpy guy with a small mustache who can turn even the most ardent Emperor Botherer (Cain’s description) into a full supporter of chaos, who is Space Hitler. It was pretty blatant and made me laugh. Unfortunately, he and Cain only have one encounter and Cain wins by pushing him over a cliff. Yeah, for real. And it made me laugh too. But I was hoping for more fighting between them. Oh well


You’d think from the title and the fact that Cain is in his late 100’s (hadn’t hit 200 yet I don’t think) that this was going to be the last book, but nope, there are at least 3 more and I think I saw that a 10th one recently came out?
* elevator music *
Ok, so it was 2018, but that’s recent as far as I’m concerned.


I was pleased by my read of this and if I could find some more non-Space Marine Warhammer 40K stories, I’d be very tempted to dive into them after this series. Wanting to read more is usually a good sign.


★★★✬☆



Friday, December 02, 2022

Duty Calls (WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #5) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Duty Calls
Series: WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #5
Authors: Sandy Mitchell
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 317
Words: 101K





Cain gets in another scrap on some world and finds a weapon that is capable of turning regular humans into psykers. A rogue priest (? I simply can’t keep straight what various non-soldiers in the Imperium are called. There are so many!) wants to use it to turn humanity into a massive psyker fist and punch out the lights of Chaos. Of course, he’s tainted by Chaos and ignores that psyker abilities are an aspect of Chaos. Thankfully, the woman who Cain hangs out with (not a clue what her name is at the moment) is involved and she’s got some power armor. Plus a genestealer fleet is invading and the world is full of chaos cultists as well.


Cain stumbles from one hairy situation to another, always succeeding, always coming out looking good and always knowing he’s a Hero of the Imperium. It just makes me grin :-) Plus, the action, while not non-stop, is pretty intense. That always helps keep my interest in a franchise fiction story.


Mitchell (the author) continues to impress me with the workman like writing. Sometimes that can be a bad thing, but for franchise fiction, it is pretty much what I want. Get the grammar right, get the syntax correct and don’t have Cain being in two places at once in the story and I’m satisfied. I know I judge other books harder and hold them to a higher standard, but that simply isn’t done for this kind of book or series.


When I want to judge an energy drink, I compare it to a Reign White Gummy Bear and its 300mg of caffeine. When I drink an 8oz Red Bull, I know I’m only getting 80mg of caffeine and something that I imagine tastes like horse piss. I don’t blame the Red Bull for being weak horse piss. It is what it is. Hahahahahaa. So franchise fiction has its limitations and I judge accordingly.


★★★✬☆




Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Death or Glory (WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #4) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Death or Glory
Series: WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #4
Authors: Sandy Mitchell
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 289
Words: 96K

★★★✬☆



Tuesday, September 06, 2022

The Traitor's Hand (WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #3) ★★★✬☆

 


This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Traitor's Hand
Series: WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #3
Authors: Sandy Mitchell
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 303
Words: 97K





Synopsis:


From WH40k.lexicanum.com/


Part One

Aboard the troop ship Emperor's Beneficence en route to Adumbria, Ciaphas Cain is surprised to be hailed by an old acquaintance: Tomas Beije, now regimental commissar of the Tallarn 229th. Cain remembers Beije from the Schola Progenium as a sanctimonious prig, and is less than pleased to see him, though he hides it with the skill of long experience. Beije likewise fails to make a good impression on Colonel Kasteen when they are introduced, as he is unable to hide his incredulity that the Valhallan 597th has a woman as its commanding officer.


In the ship's main hall, Lord General Zyvan briefs the assembled command staffs, explaining why they've been withdrawn from Kastafore with unusual haste: a Chaos warband, calling themselves the Ravagers, escaped an Imperial Navy trap in the Salomine system and their projected course through the Warp will have them invading Adumbria within the next few days. Zyvan's force is the advance guard, whose job is to fortify and defend the planet as much as possible until the rest of the task force catches up.


A brief extract from Jerval Sekara's popular travelogue explains that Adumbria is a tidally-locked planet: the side permanently facing the sun is a baked desert, while the side permanently facing away is an eternally dark icescape. The majority of the planet's population and urban centers occupy the narrow twilight strip between the two zones.


During the journey through the Warp, tensions run high between the Valhallan and Tallarn Guardsmen; the Tallarns express a conservative disdain for regiments that include women, and the Valhallans' response is natural. Commissar Beije comes storming into Cain's office after the Tallarns' regimental unarmed combat champion is sent to the infirmary after a "friendly" bout with one of the Valhallans', Corporal Magot. Cain breezily lets Magot off with a reprimand, explaining that it would be unwise to demote her before her squad is deployed to a battlezone.


In private, Beije admits to Cain that he is surprised by how far Cain's career has come since they last saw each other; he'd have expected any Hero of the Imperium to have become much more pious to the Emperor than Cain was at the Schola. Cain detects seething jealousy under Beije's carefully civil words, and enjoys the moment to the fullest, while maintaining his usual pose of modesty.


As the 597th is disembarking to the surface, Cain accompanies the first shuttle down, which happens to be carrying Captain Detoi's Second Company, which includes the perpetually irritating (to Cain) Lieutenant Sulla and her platoon. To their surprise, vox-traffic from the surface warns that the Tallarns' command squad has come under attack. To avoid the same ambush, Cain orders the shuttle pilot to set down on the vegetable garden of a monastery abutting the starport, and the company deploys behind the enemy forces with gratifying surprise. Cain decides to join Sulla's platoon on the flank, to keep her from doing anything impetuous (and hopefully avoid the main action), but an unwary traffic praetor blunders on the enemy position and flees back towards the platoon, leading a group of pursuers. The Valhallans ambush them, and Cain is surprised at their luridly-coloured and scanty clothes, and their surprising ecstasy at being maimed by lasguns and chainswords. Just as the Valhallans are mopping up, Beije roars up in a Chimera on the way to rescue his Colonel, only for Cain to cheerfully inform him that everything is under control.


A brief excerpt from a history of the invasion explains the political situation on Adumbria: the incumbent Governor died about a year earlier, without leaving an heir, only a welter of squabbling noble houses, with the leading Administratum representative acting as Regent. This unstable situation only became worse when news of the impending invasion arrived.


Part Two

Zyvan briefs the planetary government and the Guard commanders, saying there is no doubt that a Chaos cult is active on the planet, likely preparing the way for the Ravagers' arrival.


To Cain's pleasure, Zyvan tasks him to stay in the capital and liase with the local Arbites, while the rest of the 597th deploys to the dark side of the planet. But danger refuses to leave him alone; a cultist group pilots an aircar into the side of the hotel suite where Zyvan has made his headquarters. A group of luridly-dressed cultists attack, and Cain downs several of them with his chainsword. Then it strikes him that the fight was too easy, and yells for the staff to evacuate the building. Cain's first impulse is to follow them, but his paranoia warns him that there might be a trap waiting outside. Instead, he stays behind, and looks closer at the wrecked aircar, recognizing a bomb. Sure that there isn't enough time left for him to run, he demands a vox-link to a Tech Priest, who talks him through defusing it.


A (mercifully brief) extract from Sulla's memoirs details an early skirmish on the ice side. While performing a routine check on the perimeter sensors, her platoon stumbles across an unauthorized ice crawler which opens fire on them as soon as they challenge it, and their return fire causes it to explode spectacularly, revealing that it was laden with illegal weapons.


Cain visits the regimental headquarters, and he, Kasteen, and Broklaw do their best to analyze the implications (since Sulla, characteristically, didn't leave any survivors to interrogate). It seems obvious that the heretics are smuggling weapons in through the planetary starport, and caching them in hidden bases. When Cain relays their deductions back to Zyvan, he is dismayed when the Lord General comes to the same conclusion and encourages Cain to lead the search of the likely spots on the ice side.


Kasteen and Broklaw are skeptical at first, saying they don't have the time or the manpower to search all the possible sites, but Cain, in a flash of inspiration, narrows it down further by filtering out seismic activity picked up by the sensors that they can trace to local, innocent activities.


Leading Sulla's platoon, along with the regiment's entire Sentinel troop, they happen onto another crawler, which they neutralize and its trail leads them back to the cultists' hideout, a prefabricated habitat dome badly disguised (at least to an Ice Worlder's eye) as a natural snowdrift.


Sulla orders the platoon to assault the hideout, but Cain is squeamish at the troopers (and himself) having to storm any of the entrance doors, which are doubtless heavily fortified. He comes up with another option: grabbing Sergeant Lustig's squad, he leads them to the wall of the dome, and Jurgen creates a convenient entrance with his melta gun.


Whatever they were expecting to find inside the dome, they are all taken aback: the interior is luxuriously furnished and decorated with loud pornographic murals. Cain also notices a sweet, narcotic scent in the air that brings back memories of the Slaaneshi cult he and Jurgen encountered on Slawkenberg. Outflanking the cultists guarding the doors, they are able to pacify it with minimal casualties. In the center of the dome, Cain finds a hidden chamber, and inside are dozens of dead bodies, mutated and warped by sorcery, and surrounded by Chaos sigils. Cain shudders at the realization that some kind of ritual has taken place.


Another excerpt from the history elaborates that Cain's discovery increased the fear of how deeply the cultists had infiltrated the planet's population, although it would be some time before they showed their hand again.


A dispatch from Beije acknowledges Zyvan's order to search the "hot" side of Adumbria for similar cultist hideouts, while making his opinion clear that it is highly unlikely that heretics could be operating under the noses of such pious servants of the Emperor as himself and the Tallarns.


Cain returns to Skitterfall (the capital), and Zyvan's Sanctioned Psyker, Malden, reports on his examination of the cultist site. He recognizes the signs of a summoning ritual, but there is no sign of a Daemon appearing on Adumbria, so the purpose of the ritual is a mystery to him. Meanwhile, Zyvan reports that there is no word from the rest of the task force, so he has to distribute their available forces around the planet, with their limited number of troop ships standing by to ferry reinforcements around as needed.


Part Three

In his bunk at the headquarters building, Cain has a nightmare of Emeli Duboir, who playfully warns him that she'll be coming back soon.


Over breakfast, Cain receives a call from Arbitrator Hekwyn, who has followed the trail of the smuggled weapons from Glacier Peak back to a corrupt freight dispatcher. Under interrogation, the dispatcher identifies his contacts among the cultists. Several of them own warehouses which could easily be stockpiles for more weapons. Eager to avoid anything really hazardous, Cain chooses to accompany the PDF troop raiding one of the more innocuous names, a bordello owner named Kyria Sejwek. He sells the idea to Zyvan by planting the suggestion that Sejwek—given her profession—may have the closest connection to the Slaaneshi cultists.


As usual, serendipity makes a mockery of Cain's efforts to keep himself out of trouble. As soon as the PDF Chimera approaches the bordello, they come under fire, mostly from prostitutes wielding heavy weapons with astonishing familiarity. Unfortunately, Jurgen takes Cain's order to find the nearest cover as an instruction to drive the Chimera straight through the bordello's wall. Cain reluctantly leads a squad into the interior, dispatching the "joygirls" at the weapon emplacements.


He is stunned when Amberley Vail appears on the staircase, approaching him with a coquettish smile. The PDF troopers are similarly befuddled, even when "Amberley" reaches out and touches one, killing him instantly. As soon as Jurgen reaches Cain's side, "Amberley" disappears, to be replaced by the rather dumpy figure of Madame Sejwek. With a sneer, Cain informs her that impersonating an Inquisitor is a capital offense, and shoots her with his laspistol. In the depths of the bordello they find another sacrificial chamber, heaped with bodies. Grimly, he concludes that, as with Glacier Peak, they have arrived too late to stop whatever ritual the cultists were conducting.


In a dispatch to the higher office of the Commissariat (which is never sent due to the increasingly turbulent Warp currents around the planet) Beije "regretfully" suggests that there may be something suspicious, even sinister, about the fact that Cain has now been on the scene of two cultist summoning rituals and, in both cases, has arrived too late to do anything about them.


In the next meeting of the command staff, Zyvan introduces his ship's Navigator, Lady Gianela DiMarco, who informs them all that the Warp currents are shifting in a way she's never seen before, and these shifts coincide with the times of the summoning rituals. It seems clear to her and Malden that the heretics are trying to do something to the space surrounding Adumbria, but neither of them can say exactly what. Before they can debate the matter any further, Zyvan receives a message from the Navy pickets, informing him that the Ravagers' fleet has arrived in the outskirts of the system. The invasion has begun.


Although severely outnumbered, the Navy picket ships give a good account of themselves, managing to cripple or destroy the invasion fleet's advance ships and delaying the Ravagers' landfall for a few crucial days.


Cain returns to the 597th at Glacier Peak, where Kasteen is grimly assessing the odds: a Chaos invasion force is inbound, a daemon may be running around somewhere, and an unknown number of well-armed insurgents are hiding among the population, just waiting for the Guard to turn their backs. Zyvan calls their headquarters to report that the Tallarns did indeed find another ritual site (after bothering to look for it, his acid tone makes clear). Unfortunately, Malden and the other psykers were unable to examine the Chaos sigils, since the Tallarns burned the site to the ground as soon as they discovered it. Looking at the map of the planet, Kasteen notices something that has escaped everyone else's notice: the three ritual sites form a triangle bisecting the planet. If there is a pattern to the sites' locations, they may be able to divine the site of the next one.


Part Four

The Ravagers finally arrive, landing in a haphazard storm of shuttles that is rather baffling to the Valhallans' tactical sensibilities. As the perimeter companies begin to engage, Cain excuses himself from the command center (which he's painfully aware is an inviting target) and joins Detoi's Second Company, which is being held in reserve.


Naturally, that is the moment when one of the shuttles comes down all but on top of them, disgorging fanatics screaming "Blood for the Blood God!" Given their preference to close range and use melee weapons instead of their ranged arms, the Chaos soldiers are contained and eliminated without much difficulty – at least Cain thinks so until someone screams "unstoppable...!" over the vox, and a squad disappears off the net. Lt. Faril sends in reinforcements, which unluckily sweep Cain along with them as he is trying to slip back to the command center. To his secret astonishment, they are so cheered by his presence that they start shouting his name like a battlecry.


Cresting the ridge where the squad disappeared, Cain sees his worst nightmare: a Khorne Berserker, a full-sized Chaos Space Marine of the World Eaters Legion. Cain is about to turn and run, when the monster leaps to avoid the flurry of lasbolts fired at him, and lands in front of Cain. Cain's duelist reflexes take over, and he is able to parry or evade the vicious swipes of the Berserker's chainaxe, and even scores a glancing hit on his Power Armour with his chainsword. Cain buys himself just enough distance for Jurgen to drop the Berserker with a melta blast.


After the initial attacks are repelled, Zyvan reconvenes the command staff and analyzes the enemy's pattern. Cain realizes that they are not facing an invasion as much as they are caught in the middle between two feuding Chaos factions; he knows from hard experience that the Ruinous Powers are bitter rivals with each other, and for followers of Khorne and Slaanesh to be working together is virtually unheard of. Picking up on his reasoning, Kasteen looks at the map and realizes that the Ravagers weren't making a coordinated attack on the Guard forces, they were trying to reach the ritual sites. Colonel Asmar admits that he hadn't considered that possibility, but it could be equally possible on the hot side. With a little luck, Zyvan finishes, they can deduce the site of the final summoning ritual.


Part Five

The second enemy wave is launched at the planet. The Valhallan Guard forces are hard-pressed, but Kasteen insists on leaving Second Company aboard their one available drop ship, in case reinforcements are needed elsewhere.


Cain is unable to stop worrying over where the last summoning ritual will take place. If Kasteen is right and the other three sites form a pattern, then the fourth point will be somewhere in the equatorial ocean. Cain asks the Arbites to check shipping activity in the area, but Zyvan dismisses the theory; according to Malden, the ritual would need to take place somewhere in contact with the solid part of the planet.


While driving around in a Salamander with Jurgen, trying to find the safest spot possible, Cain is unlucky enough to happen across a corrupted Leman Russ tank, butchering a squad of hapless PDF troopers with its heavy bolters. Jurgen disables the tank with his trusty melta, but the turret is still able to traverse, and starts turning toward the dropship. With the surviving PDF troopers idiotically swarming over the disabled tank, Jurgen is unable to take a second shot, so Cain rushes them aboard the dropship and orders the pilot to lift off immediately to avoid the tank round.


While the shuttle is in a holding pattern above the battle zone, Arbiter Kolbe calls with news; during their check on maritime traffic, they lost contact with an oceanic dredger, a sort of floating manufactorum designed to extract minerals from the ocean floor—physical contact with the solid part of the planet. Cain immediately orders the pilot to head for the dredger, while calling Zyvan over the vox. Zyvan is unavailable, but Malden hears enough to confirm Cain's theory, and warns that the ritual will likely take place in the next few hours.


In private, Cain confides to his reader that he'd have liked nothing better than to speed into orbit and grab the first warp-capable craft available out of system; however, there was a void battle going on at the moment, and he also knew from painful experience that there is no hiding from some threats, especially Warp-based threats, and your only hope of surviving one is to confront it before its purpose is completed.


Arriving on the dredger, Captain Detoi deploys the Second Company, though they find the cultists heavily dug in. He and Cain conclude that they have little choice but to order a direct assault, but they are interrupted when a small courier shuttle touches down nearby. Beije marches out accompanied by a squad of Tallarns, smugly declaring Cain under arrest for desertion.


Part Six

Cain tries to talk sense into Beije, who scornfully replies that Cain can't hide his cowardice behind his fraudulent reputation any longer; he's been looking for any excuse to escape the main action, and has hijacked a whole company of Guard soldiers to do so. In the midst of this tirade, Beije makes the awful mistake of tossing in an insult to the Valhallans' "petticoat Colonel", which trails off when he takes in their murderous expressions. In a level voice, Cain says that Beije is free to say whatever he wants about him, but Beije will apologize to Colonel Kasteen or face Cain in a duel.


Seeing that Beije's Tallarn escorts at least have some sense in them, Cain insists that their mission on the dredger is in deadly earnest – a fact which is reinforced when a force of five World Eaters teleport onto the dredger and hurl themselves at the entrenched Slaaneshi cultists. The defenses which presented such a formidable obstacle to the Guardsmen barely slow the Traitor Marines down, and Cain, seeing an opportunity, orders the squads around him to follow in their wake, while Detoi keeps the rest of the company dispersed, keeping the other cultist defenders pinned down. Beije orders his own men to follow Cain, ostensibly to stop him escaping.


Traveling cautiously along, they dispatch several wounded cultists, and encounter one of the World Eaters, severely wounded. Seeing them, the enormous figure rushes them with his bare fists. Again, Cain's duelist reflexes take over, and he disables the World Eater with a well-placed stab from his chainsword, through a rent in the ceramite armour left by a cultist's krak grenade. The World Eater falls, and Jurgen finishes him off with his melta. The Valhallans cheer, and the Tallarns are awestruck; from then on, as far as they're concerned, Beije is part of the landscape.


They breach the doors of the dredger's chapel just as the cultists within have completed their summoning ritual, and the daemon emerges from the Warp: Emeli Duboir, no longer a mortal woman. She lazily tears the last surviving World Eater in half, and sweetly informs Cain that she is about to transform Adumbria into a Daemon World; half inside the Warp, half out, a world remade to her liking and a conduit for any number of daemonic hordes to pour into the Materium.


As with their last meeting, she invites him to join her and enjoy the sublime pleasures Slaanesh can offer. But Cain, whose self-preservation has always outweighed his self-indulgence, replies, "Frak this!" and charges. Under normal circumstances, Emeli could kill him with a flick of her hand, but rears back in surprise as her power is nullified by Jurgen's presence at Cain's side. With her link to the Warp severed, the Guardsmen's weapons can actually hurt her. But she lashes back, and the small wounds from lasbolts aren't doing enough damage. Even a hit from Jurgen's melta that burns away half of her face doesn't drop her, and she smashes Jurgen to the ground in rage. Cain is defenseless, and she rises above him, preparing to rip him to pieces.


Then there is a hurricane of lasbolts, and she is torn apart and disappears, either dead or banished. Cain turns and sees the remainder of Second Company in the chapel, Captain Detoi cheerfully explaining that he decided to bring them up when Cain didn't vox. One of the few surviving cultists – who happens to be one of the hopeful heirs to the Governorship from the aristocracy – says defiantly that Slaanesh is eternal. Cain retorts that Slaanesh may be, but he's not, as the cultists are marched out at gunpoint. Cain turns to Beije, who has been practically rooted to the spot since the Daemoness appeared, and says he looks forward to the tribunal.


Epilogue

After the campaign on Adumbria is wrapped up, a tribunal of senior Commissars is convened, at Beije's insistence, to assess the merit of his charges against Cain. Cain prepares to meet his fate stoically, even though he knows that reason and common sense are hardly the most abundant qualities among the upper levels of the Departmento Munitorum.


The results are all he could have wished for; with the aid of some information discreetly provided by Zyvan, the tribunal exonerates Cain of all charges, and finds that his actions were heroic, and probably crucial to the salvation of Adumbria. Then the Commissars turn to Beije, and inform him that he is being charged with conduct unbecoming his station, and stripped of his rank pending a more formal court martial – which, if he's found guilty, will almost certainly end in execution.


Cain rejoins Kasteen and Broklaw outside the court room, and Beije staggers out in a daze a few seconds later. Cain reassures him that he will speak in his defense, testifying that his actions – however pig-headed – had only the best intentions. Privately, Cain reflects that as much as he detests Beije, shooting him is not going to do anyone much good; and he would much prefer for Beije to owe Cain his life for the remainder of their days.


Cain politely asks Beije when they may meet for their appointment; Beije, having seen Cain's skills with chainsword and laspistol firsthand, offers a humble apology to Colonel Kasteen for any offense he may have given, then makes as dignified an exit as he can manage (which is not much). Cain, in a mood to celebrate, invites Kasteen and Broklaw to see if one of his favorite restaurants in Skitterfall is still standing.



My Thoughts:


So, here's a complaint that isn't directly related to the book. Why do some of the book get the Full Synopsis Treatment, like this one, and others are left to hang out like dirty laundry that nobody wants? Where's the love from the Warhammer 40K groupies? Ok, I'm done with that now.


I enjoyed this story and the short story I previously read, The Beguiling, really helped me to know what was going on. The vampiress from that story makes a comeback and appears to be a demon in disguise or something. Whatever she is, she's bad news and while she's apparently destroyed, I never believe anything of Chaos is gone until I see the body burning. And even then sometimes I still don't believe it :-)


There is another Commisar and he's a weak, by the book, selfish and petty kind of guy. He's also inept and causes more problems than anything. I was kind of hoping he'd get eaten, gruesomely, by the vampiress, but no such luck. Sometimes it can be hard to be a reader, you know?


While I enjoyed the short stories I read featuring Cain, he does much better in a full novel. I zipped right through this and could have read another for breakfast, but my iron will obviously kept me on the righteous path of book rotation. Sometimes I'm so amazing that I amaze even myself. Feel free to bask, there's no charge.


★★★✬☆