Cadian Honour

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Had Cadia not been famous for holding so long against the odds, it is likely the other planets in the system would have capitulated or given up almost immediately. No normal world could stand in the face of the horrendous, sanity-devouring armies that descended upon the Cadian Gate in such terrifying measure. However, the wider systems of Cadia, Belis Corona, and Agripinaa stood fast. This offers a ‘boots on the ground/grunt’s eye view’ perspective on the fall of Cadia, told from multiple Imperial Guard viewpoints and reflecting the chaos and confusion as the Cadians reel from Abaddon’s invasion.

This monstrous kinetic strike wiped out most of Cadia's defenders, destroyed the network of Cadian Pylons and tectonically destabilised the world. 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. It was the fourth world of the Cadian System, and its surface contained a wide variety of terrain types and ecosystems, including frozen tundras, temperate plains, wind-swept moors and the great native axel-tree forests.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. There’s lots to enjoy for Guard fans here, even if the use of multiple viewpoints means 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. One out of every ten Cadians was recruited into the Interior Guard, regardless of ability or achievements, and as a result some of the most able human soldiers in the galaxy spent their entire Imperial military service on Cadia. The troops of the Interior Guard were amongst the most skilled fighting men in the Imperium, the equal of many other worlds' Imperial Guard regiments. ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them? Some amongst the Cult Mechanicus believed the spires to be the work of the Necrons, or their mortal antecedents the Necrontyr, but then there were those on Mars equally convinced that the pylons were constructed by the Old Ones for the sole purpose of destroying the Necrons and their former C'tan overlords.

Cadia guarded the only known navigable route to and from the massive Warp rift known as the Eye of Terror, a passage called the Cadian Gate. The world's dangerous proximity to the Eye of Terror made it necessary for the people of Cadia to heavily fortify the planet. JH: Cadia Stands was an attempt to capture a planet-wide battle within one narrative, focusing mainly on a city fight setting. With Cadian Honour I wanted something different – to use a Guard story to flesh out the wider implications to the rest of the Imperium of the Fall of Cadia. The cast is a microcosm of all that’s going on in the Imperial post-Cicatrix Maledictum. When the Cadian 101st arrive on Potence they think they’re getting a cushy deal. Many of the surviving Traitors were put to the sword, but the majority of the Traitor Legions escaped into the great Warp rift known as the Eye of Terror in the Segmentum Obscurus, a region of space where reality and the insanity of Chaos collide as the raw psychic energy of the Immaterium pours into real space-time. 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. JH: Minka Lesk is the Cadian who starts Cadia Stands (‘She is four. It is time to learn….’) now grown up, and still reeling from the fall of the Cadian Gate. She’s the pivotal character, and the face of the book – one of the best BL covers I’ve seen – which is awesome!

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JH: The Cadians held the Cadian Gate for thousands of years, and now it has fallen. ON THEIR WATCH. That’s a huge mental wrench. They have failed, and now they have to make it up, and that’s impossible, because the Imperium has been torn into two. The less you know about WH40K, the more you’ll enjoy Cadia Stands. Ostensibly a plot-centric novel, the author starts well with two diverse POVs: an officer and a grunt. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t provide them with character arcs and then introduces another ten viewpoints in hopes of painting a coherent picture of War Zone Cadia. Yet even armed with a literary montage, the result fails to enlighten anyone and is ultimately unsatisfying. 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 . 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…

However, some scenes were enjoyable or entertaining to read (I won't spoil them) but there were too few and far between for me. Cadian Regiment - The 203rd Cadian Regiment fought beside the 2nd Company of the Ultramarines Chapter that was commanded by Captain Titus during the Imperium's liberation of the Forge World of Graia during the events of Space Marine. The regiment's remaining forces were commanded by 2nd Lieutenant Mira.Shadowsword continues the story of the Baneblade crew as they join a Shadowsword super-heavy artillery company as close support. With the fate of three star systems in the balance, the tank’s commander faces harsh truths about the nature of the Imperium and his place in it, giving you a different perspective on the duty and honour of the Astra Militarum.