JH: I think this is being envisaged as the first Minka Lesk novel so you could go straight in, but if you want to get the full setting then reading Cadia Stands gives you the set up. And if you really like stories of common grunts facing down all the horrors of the 40K universe, then there’s a ream of Ursarkar E. Creed stories ( you can find here) which I think have been hugely well received. There’s a murky selection of maybe/maybe not antagonists across that broad spectrum of characters, and the multiple perspectives really help to widen the scope of the story and demonstrate what’s taking place. Having so many viewpoint characters, however, means that the key Cadians don’t get quite as much time in the spotlight as you might expect, and despite what the cover says it’s not always clear whether Bendikt or Minka is really the main protagonist. When she’s on-screen, however, Minka makes for an enjoyable, relatable character with a satisfying blend of youthful naivety and typical Cadian grit. There’s not much chance to get to know her squadmates beyond the basics, but Hill nevertheless captures a great feeling of the camaraderie and tensions between the Cadians in a way which feels unusual for 40k, but familiar in a real-world sense. Prose: The book is written in an astonishingly dry fashion. The author really doesn't spend any time being descriptive. He goes briskly about painting the barest hints of scene, then proceeds onto the events, narrating them with equal briskness. For the first half of the book we are mostly treated to disjointed vignettes of characters used to show us the progress of the war, but again, the author goes about this in a way that feels almost perfunctory, not memorable in the least. 2/5

JH: With any Imperial Guard novels you’re starting in Dan Abnett’s shadow. And Dan is one of the toughest acts to follow. But away from 40K, I wanted to play with a George RR Martin way of telling the story. He has a large cast of disparate characters who allow him to show all the facets of a story. It’s an interesting style to read and write as you are really immersed into the present moment and challenges of each viewpoint character, but it also allows you to keep the pace of the novel sprinting along… Cadia was therefore one of the most strategically important planets of the galaxy. On several occasions the forces of Chaos moved against Cadia and raging battles were fought in the depths of space. Such huge battles were rare, but the constant intrusion of Chaos raiding craft into Cadian space was commonplace throughout the period of the Long War. When a section of a Cadian cemetery's grave markers were deemed illegible, those graves were exhumed and the bones were added to a communal pit. The Cadian belief was that once the names on a grave marker were illegible, the honours of those dead were forgotten. The storm raged for solar minutes that seemed eternities, and then fell away into hurricane winds. They blew over a world forever altered. The continent of Cadia Tertius was gone, obliterated by fire and drowned beneath howling seas. The Krian Fault, bane of the continent of Cadia Tertius since the Age of Strife, had ruptured one last, fateful time, and the planetary crust split apart.Cadia had a special and honoured place in the history of Mankind. Cadia stood upon the edge of the Eye of Terror within a narrow corridor of stable space called the Cadian Gate. This formed the one and only predictable passage between the Chaos-infested Daemon Worlds of the Eye of Terror and Terra. Et bien, si vous voulez de l'action sur des champs de bataille, vous serez bien servi avec ce tome-ci. Comme avec le roman Krieg de Steve Lyons, des combats intenses font rage et des horreurs ont lieu sur toute la planète. Your right on very little fluff existing on Cadia and the same could have been said of Terra before CW started his vaults books. Minka Lesk is one of the soldiers who survived the apocalypse that consumed Cadia. She now fights on to honour the brave souls lost to one of Abaddon’s most audacious gambits .

Lesk knows she must excise this taint of Chaos, for it is not only her life and those of her company at stake but also the honour of Cadia itself. The first BL fiction released to explore the events of the Fall of Cadia, this begins just before the events of The Battle of Tyrok Fields but mostly covers the main thrust of Abaddon’s invasion, shown from a variety of Cadian perspectives. Interestingly, while Ursarkar E. Creed does briefly appear, this is definitely not his story – instead it introduces Major Isaia Bendikt and a certain Whiteshield named Minka Lesk (as well as carrying over a few characters from Hill’s Creed stories), and offers a sort of ‘grunts-eye’, boots-on-the-ground view of the planet’s final hours. It’s really good, just don’t expect the full big picture – that’s not quite what this is. The latest book in the Primarchs series dives into the circumstances surrounding the Primarch’s discovery by the Emperor, in revelations that will shake your understanding of the Great Crusade to the core. The point at which the old ‘5 minutes to midnight’ 40k setting started to change was when Games Workshop started building up to the Great Rift, the huge Warp storm which has split the galaxy in two. Big events included the fall of Cadia, the troubled birth of Ynnead (the aeldari god of the dead), and the miraculous resurrection of Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines. For the sake of ease I’ve referred to this whole era as the Gathering Storm.Read my interview with Guy Haley talking about both Darkness in the Blood and Astorath: Angel of Mercy . The reading works well for describing Minka, an inept, childish soldier promoted beyond her ability, but fails to convey any authority to other characters. While it would be a spoiler to delve into who the book's antagonists are, you might be able to guess who they will be very early on. The story tries to partially disguise it as a secret, but it doesn't quite work. In fact, the book seems to half reveal and half disguise who they are at the start, while also trying to establish their presence as a surprise. It never fully works because of this muddled state, in spite of a few genuinely good scenes which makes it look as if this will all come together in the final few chapters. However, even with this considered, they never appeared to be all that engaging. There's a definite logic as to why they were chosen, but even in chapters intended to flesh them out, I never regarded them as more than an obstacle. Unless they are a force of nature like the Tyranids or (in some cases) the Necrons, this rarely works. The few times it does offer their primary characters a chance to speak also doesn't do much to raise them beyond being a general archetype. Note: All the Adeptus Astartes assets were stripped from Mos Khazner's defence in an attempt to retake the orbital batteries. Their success allowed the Long Retreat. Though their home planet was utterly sundered, the resolve of the Cadians has not been broken. Veteran survivors of the last battle for Cadia, along with regiments of their kin scattered throughout the galaxy, now fight even more doggedly against the Imperium's enemies.