Cadia Stands

[Mellow]

For discussion on this newly released novel :)

[veterannoob]

For discussion on this newly released novel

In the queue but a full non-spoiler interview with author is coming soon. Any questions you may PM me or post, for Justin.

[cheywood]

I've got a few questions I guess:

 

How has his background writing historical fiction helped him access 40k as a universe, if at all?

 

Did any historical figures serve as inspiration for Creed? I got kind of a General Patton vibe from him myself.

 

What were his references for depicting the Cadian fighting style and way of life?

 

What is he most interested in exploring in the universe going forward?

[Vesper]

I always felt he was supposed to be your stereotypical general. Since he's the only one to have rules and actual background, they poured all tongue-in-cheek traits generals are credited with.

[Xisor]

Since he's the only one to have rules and actual background

That's not entirely true: http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/straken-ebook.html

 

But I think it's a fair comment generally - Creed came in about the same time as Grimgor Ironhide (one of the most painfully bland characters going) - the defining character trait being "he's quite good, and in the thick of things" (Which you'll note isn't much of a character trait.)

 

I'm fascinated to catch up on Justin's work - "Deadhenge" was a fascinating read, and I've heard positives about the Creed shorts.

Edited September 25, 2017 by Xisor

[HeritorA]

 

For discussion on this newly released novel

In the queue but a full non-spoiler interview with author is coming soon. Any questions you may PM me or post, for Justin.

 

Well - several question about Storm of Damocles ;) This one is very hard.

 

1) Did you get permission to kill tau? Is that a mandatory option from BL ;)

2) How different to write Deathwatch to poor Astra Militarum trump boys?

3) Did you serve?

[HeritorA]

AS for the new 'Cadia Stand'.

It is a very strange novel. It tries to be a chronicle, action drama, follow lore, show the deadlock Astra Militarum is always in. And fail to deliver as an end result.

 

If you take all of the above separately - they are interesting and good. But as a 'one' narrative - they are very hard to comprehend, very chaotic and totally lose all the structural integrity till the middle.

 

Also - as for the main hero (and it is not Creed, but a 'Cadian' trooper/human being in general), due to the main issues above with the story narrative - it is a very insided view.

 

Justin also tries to tied in everything here - SM, Navy, civilians, High Command - as a result we have a mess. At one page you getting to the point of tank battle, 2 raw later SW marines with Wulfen support fight vs CSM etc.

 

Novel suffer trying to be all at once. As a separate stories it will do

[Lord Marshal]

AS for the new 'Cadia Stand'.

It is a very strange novel. It tries to be a chronicle, action drama, follow lore, show the deadlock Astra Militarum is always in. And fail to deliver as an end result.

 

If you take all of the above separately - they are interesting and good. But as a 'one' narrative - they are very hard to comprehend, very chaotic and totally lose all the structural integrity till the middle.

 

Also - as for the main hero (and it is not Creed, but a 'Cadian' trooper/human being in general), due to the main issues above with the story narrative - it is a very insided view.

 

Justin also tries to tied in everything here - SM, Navy, civilians, High Command - as a result we have a mess. At one page you getting to the point of tank battle, 2 raw later SW marines with Wulfen support fight vs CSM etc.

 

Novel suffer trying to be all at once. As a separate stories it will do

 

Shame. After the lack of a Cadian focus in Fall of CADIA I expected the Bolter Porn in this to be on the very low, to non-existent, side of things.

[HeritorA]

 

AS for the new 'Cadia Stand'.

It is a very strange novel. It tries to be a chronicle, action drama, follow lore, show the deadlock Astra Militarum is always in. And fail to deliver as an end result.

 

If you take all of the above separately - they are interesting and good. But as a 'one' narrative - they are very hard to comprehend, very chaotic and totally lose all the structural integrity till the middle.

 

Also - as for the main hero (and it is not Creed, but a 'Cadian' trooper/human being in general), due to the main issues above with the story narrative - it is a very insided view.

 

Justin also tries to tied in everything here - SM, Navy, civilians, High Command - as a result we have a mess. At one page you getting to the point of tank battle, 2 raw later SW marines with Wulfen support fight vs CSM etc.

 

Novel suffer trying to be all at once. As a separate stories it will do

 

Shame. After the lack of a Cadian focus in Fall of CADIA I expected the Bolter Porn in this to be on the very low, to non-existent, side of things.

 

 

It's very strange how this novel was  written into the mess.

 

His previous excursion into that last BL Crusade and defense of Cadia was his unusualy 'big' short 'The Battle of Tyrok Fields'. And it was amazingly good from both the bolter porn, story narrative and character 'creation' sides.

 

His SMB novel 'Storm of Damocles' was also amazingly good > it showed Deathwatch at his best, tau psychology and true terror of warfare. Actually the ending is a bittersweet reminder as to what war really is - The Apotheosis of War.

 

That's why for me it was a must read title especially if that's the new lore of GS put into the novel. As I explained above  in the end result tis a mess.

It follow events of the GS first book to the letter. It failed to deliver on every front (character creation/story/bolter porn). It tries to show what happened to some Kars or sector during the moment Cadia was falling and how other Cadian regiment feel about that.

Then it covers the retreat and absolutely pointless list of events - jumping here, fighting where etc. - just to show how many events happened after Cadia fell and evacuation went.

etc.

[veterannoob]

I'm editing his interview for this week's episode of Combat Phase.

[HeritorA]

I'm editing his interview for this week's episode of Combat Phase.

I hope you prepared not 'comforting' messages for the interview too? Cause a little bit of critic will do wonders to the author next book.

[veterannoob]

http://traffic.libsyn.com/combatphase/ep_215_-_Cadia_Stands_wJustin_Hill__Wyrd_pt_2.mp3

 

We are joined again by Dave Taylor before we conclude Robert's interview with Aaron from Wyrd on game balance, then Justin Hill joins us to chat Cadia Stands! his new BL book.

@JHILLAUTHOR

Edited October 7, 2017 by veterannoob

[veterannoob]

Asked your question exactly as is :) I don't mind questions but I don't air interviews of all criticism :) 

[Mellow]

I finally got round to finishing this one. Although it’s good to finish it to find out what roughly happened I think by the end of the book I was sick and tired of the bloody word enfilading

 

It was written too many times and I don’t know who the author was but he may as well just stop writing entirely. He is no good when others are so much better.

Edited October 14, 2017 by Mellow

[DarkChaplain]

Only read the prologue so far, but damn me, that was a good one. The type of prologue you could read stand-alone and still be impressed.

[Knockagh]

Very late to the party here but I’ve just read this book recently and can’t sing it’s praises high enough. A really great novel. I know there is another book in the works and I’m pretty sure we could have a new gaunts Ghosts type of series starting here. There are lots of great characters I hope to see develop.

Really hope this is a series that runs and runs.

[Xisor]

If you've not checked out all the associated shorts by Hill, they're excellent too. Not 100% needed for the novel, but great extras given that Hill's writing & characters, and his depiction of Cadia overall, is very enjoyable!

[DukeLeto69]

Had completely ignored this book on release but sounding like maybe I should grab a copy!

[Knockagh]

Had completely ignored this book on release but sounding like maybe I should grab a copy!

I had ignored it too. Probably due to a mixture of not really enjoying the new setting and not knowing the author. Also for some reason I don’t remember BL doing much of a hard sell on it. It’s the fall of Cadia though, Cadia is kind of a massive thing in 40k. I would have thought BL would have pushed the events of the Black Crusade a little harder particularly the fall of Cadia.

This book is a brilliant attempt to follow lots of peoples stories across the battle. It’s pretty shooty which I’m not usually a fan of but I loved it here.

It definitely a scene setter, in many ways it mirrors the opening of the gaunts Ghosts series with a massive tragic event forming a bond between a group of survivors. In Cadia stands we don’t learn that much about them but it describes the terrifying scene as the soldiers fight an unwindable battle and scramble to escape. The book ends with a fascinating unit of soldiers who share a terrible bond and I for one want to know where they go from here.

The guard have proven themselves popular in the past in BL but seem to have dropped out of favour in recent years, probably due to the success of the heresy, but I think there is no story like a good guard story.

I hope we have many sequels with these hero’s shouting ‘Cadia Stands!’ as their battle cry

[Slan Drakkos]

Recently read through this and I gotta say, I loved it.

 

I actually appreciated how the story jumped around because it's not the tale of one person rising to prestige, it's the story of the few survivors of Cadia fighting, standing, and dying for the Emperor and their beloved planet. I also liked how the characters that are focused on are the ones that make minor appearances in the beginning because it really felt like a small amount of foreshadowing.

 

Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of action in the book. But you know what, it's not just violence and explosions for the sake of violence and explosions. We're getting an actual play by play of how Cadia is systematically being beaten. We already know what happened with Creed and his lot but we don't know what's happening with the rest of Cadia.

 

Also my favorite part of the book is probably when

this group of guardmen are fighting a bunch of heretics and they see a crap ton of tanks basically materialize on the horizon (the tanks are all cadian) and they're just like "where the hell did they come from? Only a tactical genius could........CREEEEEEEEEEEED!"

[Knockagh]

I revisited this over the last few days on audio. Every bit as good as the first read. The audio book is read fantastically well. David Seddon reads it, don’t think I’ve listened to anything by him before but I definitely would do so again. The Newcastle accents suit the Cadians really well. He also gives you chills with that horrid commissar at the evacuation.

Highly recommend this if you have an audible credit.

[Xisor]

I revisited this over the last few days on audio. Every bit as good as the first read. The audio book is read fantastically well. David Seddon reads it, don’t think I’ve listened to anything by him before but I definitely would do so again. The Newcastle accents suit the Cadians really well. He also gives you chills with that horrid commissar at the evacuation.

Highly recommend this if you have an audible credit.

That's very pleasing to hear. I've been very fond of the Audibles with more forthright regional accents - Warhammer feels weird with a fairly neutral accent!

 

(There was a lovely Welsh-ish accent on a dwarf in one I listened to recently, which was a delight.)

[DukeLeto69]

So in another thread some time back I gave Justin D Hill a slightly hard time as I was not fully sold on Cadia Stands. I got (and liked) the Dunkirk vibe but the constant change of POV characters and disappearance for half/more of the book of the person I was lead to believe was the lead character, just didn't work (for me).

 

Justin was a total gent about it.

 

In the last few weeks I read Terminal Overkill (and loved it, really loved it) and yesterday finished Cadian Honour. What a stonker of a book. Really really good. Also touched on some old lore stuff that has me salivating at prospect BL might "go there" at some point. So that is a 2/3 ratio for me for Justin (and Cadia Stands was still pretty good!)