Cadian Honour

[Knockagh]

I feel very sorry for Justin D Hill having his second Cadian book released today. His first book didn’t get overly well publicised and then the general release has to compete with the start of the solar war.

I didn’t even get to buy this as I was so intent on securing a solar war I didn’t dare try to add another item to the basket. But I will get it and am keen as mustard to read it. If this series works and is popular, it will indeed be down to Justin’s writing because BL aren’t doing him any favours.

[aa.logan]

To be fair to BL, it got a fair bit of fuss around the early ebook release at Christmas.

 

I really *really* enjoyed his first Cadian novel, and the preceding short stories. The way the narrative zipped around, covering so many characters and engagements really worked for me. Also, having read Cadian Honour, I think the fact that his first was covering such a significant conflict was a major part of my enjoyment.

 

This second one is a tad more conventional, with a smaller cast of characters. The fact that the whole novel deals with a lower stake planet is slightly detrimental, but I guess that makes the battlefor Cadia all the more powerful. 

 

Like Anarch it delves more into the effect of constant warfare on the psyche and the damaging effects of Chaos on Servants of the Emperor. 

 

I think I was let down a little by my own high expectations- I was more than happy for the baddies in the book to be

secessionist re-interpreters of the Imperial Cult (can’t remember the branch) rather than *shock twist* duped Chaos cultists; I think differences of doctrine and the Great Rift should lead to attempts at fragmenting the Dark Imperium.

 

and I’m a little mystified that the potential storyline of the Commissar being

suspicious of too-good recaff

didn’t go anywhere. Maybe the seeds have been sown for a sequel there.

 

 

I feel like I’m moaning now, but I’d have loved for tanks to have featured in the novel about an armoured regiment, but that’s just nit-picking on my part...

[DarkChaplain]

At least Justin and co took it with good cheer, judging by Twitter comments.

[Knockagh]

Thanks Logan, it’s a series with plenty of potential and seems to be in good hands.

 

Moving to a smaller cast suits me. Like the Ghosts these are a regiment I want to get to know. The large number of characters in GG has made my life incredibly difficult.

[caladancid]

I bought the first novel in the series and thought it was very interesting, particularly the WWZ style moving POVs.  But I have not gotten the second book and don't plan to right now for one main reason. 

 

I already have ready, and loved, a whole series about a group of soldiers who flee from a lost planet and continue to fight on.  I don't have any urge to pick up a similar series.  I will keep checking out reviews but that is my concern.

[Knockagh]

I bought the first novel in the series and thought it was very interesting, particularly the WWZ style moving POVs. But I have not gotten the second book and don't plan to right now for one main reason.

 

I already have ready, and loved, a whole series about a group of soldiers who flee from a lost planet and continue to fight on. I don't have any urge to pick up a similar series. I will keep checking out reviews but that is my concern.

Different author, different characters and a different conflict. If 40k stayed away from destroying planets just because it’s been done before it wouldn’t really be the 40k we know and love.

I think a regiment surviving Cadia makes for a great story

[caladancid]

 

I bought the first novel in the series and thought it was very interesting, particularly the WWZ style moving POVs. But I have not gotten the second book and don't plan to right now for one main reason.

 

I already have ready, and loved, a whole series about a group of soldiers who flee from a lost planet and continue to fight on. I don't have any urge to pick up a similar series. I will keep checking out reviews but that is my concern.

Different author, different characters and a different conflict. If 40k stayed away from destroying planets just because it’s been done before it wouldn’t really be the 40k we know and love.

I think a regiment surviving Cadia makes for a great story

 

 

That is one way of looking at it. My point wasn't the destroying planets part of that though.

 

You haven't read it, and the only person who has read it and reviewed it in this thread seems to have confirmed that the first book was unique and the second book is less so. It could very well be a fine novel, but without better reviews I wouldn't buy it because it does seem pretty similar in topic to a series that has already been done and was excellent.

[Knockagh]

I haven’t read it no. But neither my friend have you........

 

Anyway I will be reading it and I’m looking forward to it. I couldn’t care if it has similarities to GG. Loads of 40k books have similar themes.

 

I’m more annoyed that I have to pay friggin postage from BL now that I didn’t get to order it alongside Solar War. Bloodsuckers

[JustinDHill]

 

 

I feel very sorry for Justin D Hill having his second Cadian book released today. His first book didn’t get overly well publicised and then the general release has to compete with the start of the solar war.

 No worries. Of course everyone - including me - is very excited about Solar War. But at the other end of the 40K timeline I think the shift in time-line has created a lot of new territory for newer BL authors to colonise - and as a long long time IG player, I feel pretty lucky being able to flesh out Cadia and the Cadians..even if its largely revealed through the memories of the surviving guardsmen. When i landed this project one of the things that shocked me about Cadia, is that apart from Eisenhorn's brief visit, there was almost nothing written about the place... The planet and the Cadians are still a pretty blank sheet. 

 

 

 

 

This second one is a tad more conventional, with a smaller cast of characters.

Funny - I thought Cadia Stands was a much more conventional novel.  Yes, the cast of characters is much smaller, largely because I killed most of them in Cadia Stands - and rightly so. I wanted the fall of Cadia to feel cataclysmic. I also wanted to write a City Fight themed novel. The kind of city fight that you could have on your tabletop - with scraps of regiments struggling over the tallest building on the table...

Cadian Honour sets up what I hope will be a new part of the Imperium that will act as a battlezone for the Cadians to fight over, and sets up some 

 

 

 

I already have ready, and loved, a whole series about a group of soldiers who flee from a lost planet and continue to fight on.  I don't have any urge to pick up a similar series.

calancid - you're perfectly entitled not to buy. Superficially there are similarities. Hell - it's common grunts with lasguns facing up against the horrors of the universe. (And both series written by bald men....)

 

At the BL Weekender I  complained - half in jest - that Dan had already written all the classic IG set ups - and he told me - quite rightly - that there are lots of great stories tropes left.  Following in Dan's footsteps is tough. Really tough. But i think that's good because it forces you as a writer to do better. And the real story is not the setting or the battlefield, but the characters and their experience, and Minka et al are very different to Gaunts Ghosts. They're Cadians who have the misfortune to have been alive when their people failed in their 10,000 year mission to protect the Imperium. That's frekking epic. And each Cadian will experience that differently. Those who were there. Those who weren't - and think in the back of their mind that if they or their regiment was there, then perhaps they could have done something to change fate.... 

The story is about that as much as it is about the guns and explosions. 

 

 

 

I’m more annoyed that I have to pay friggin postage from BL

 

Punishing Pete: yeah. That sucks. ;-)

[aa.logan]

Justin D Hill

 

Since you’re here- the

too-good recaff

incidental detail or a thread for a future story? It’s been nagging at me for months now...

[JustinDHill]

Incidental detail. Well, really, it was a possible story thread, that I decided I didn't need and left in as false lead to keep the reader guessing. 

 

 

Edit: though maybe it will be the start of a new thread... 

[ruralguardhipcat]

I picked up the ebook version around Christmas. Really enjoyed it. It is a different type of read and story to the first book, but is well done. Good mix of action, and the Cadians coming to terms with their changed place in the galaxy.

[Knockagh]

Nice to see Justin dropping into the trenches to visit the grunts! Appreciate your input.

 

Your right on very little fluff existing on Cadia and the same could have been said of Terra before CW started his vaults books.

The new 40k era has some great opportunities for storytelling. Nihilus and it’s darkness as ADB has started with the spears and Gav with his Eldar brilliance. The surviving Cadians are a great story in the new mess.

The guard are a wonderful faction to read about. I love to read about all the crazies but it takes a good guard novel to let me see how brutal and truely messed up it all is. We all know humans after all. Seeing the new look Imperium through the eyes of defeated cadians is about as brutal as I can imagine. Cadia Stands was a frantic story,it was total overwhelming defeat, it was humiliation. I want to see how they respond when life moves to a new normal.

This story has fantastic potential. The BEF after Dunkirk, the allies evacuating Gallipoli or the march of the 10000 men are great examples of defeated armies making themselves into heroic legends. How these groups were viewed at the time I’m sure is completely different to how we see their heroism today and almost certainly very different to how they saw their own defeats.

I had the privilege of knowing a Dunkirk veteran and it was clear he didn’t view it as his finest hour. He also felt very hurt that no official recognition was made of the troops involved, no medal was commissioned. I remember he bought a small badge made by a Dunkirk veterans association which he wore on his jacket. It was for him a very difficult event to have been part of in many ways. So while he felt annoyed no medal was commissioned I do wonder if one had would he have worn it? He later fought in North Africa and then in Burma but clearly he saw a distinction between those in his regiment who had been there since France in 1939 and those who came into the fight later. Defeat for an army and its effects on the soldiers are huge.

[JustinDHill]

 

 

 The BEF after Dunkirk, the allies evacuating Gallipoli or the march of the 10000 men are great examples of defeated armies making themselves into heroic legends. How these groups were viewed at the time I’m sure is completely different to how we see their heroism today and almost certainly very different to how they saw their own defeats.

 

There are two types of Cadians now. Those who were on the planet, and those who weren't.

 

They're both feeling shame and guilt and harbouring recriminations against the other group. The ones who were there failed, and the ones who weren't there weren't frekking there! 

 

But the Cadians are still the toughest humans in the Imperium. In fact, that's the only thing they have to hold onto any more. If they can...because other elite guard units will be gunning for them. 

 

In the eyes of the other regiments the Cadians had everything the Imperium could give them, and they failed. 

 

 

 

 

I love to read about all the crazies but it takes a good guard novel to let me see how brutal and truely messed up it all is. 

 

Yeah. It's truly frekked up. 

[caladancid]

 

 

 

I feel very sorry for Justin D Hill having his second Cadian book released today. His first book didn’t get overly well publicised and then the general release has to compete with the start of the solar war.

 No worries. Of course everyone - including me - is very excited about Solar War. But at the other end of the 40K timeline I think the shift in time-line has created a lot of new territory for newer BL authors to colonise - and as a long long time IG player, I feel pretty lucky being able to flesh out Cadia and the Cadians..even if its largely revealed through the memories of the surviving guardsmen. When i landed this project one of the things that shocked me about Cadia, is that apart from Eisenhorn's brief visit, there was almost nothing written about the place... The planet and the Cadians are still a pretty blank sheet. 

 

 

 

 

This second one is a tad more conventional, with a smaller cast of characters.

Funny - I thought Cadia Stands was a much more conventional novel.  Yes, the cast of characters is much smaller, largely because I killed most of them in Cadia Stands - and rightly so. I wanted the fall of Cadia to feel cataclysmic. I also wanted to write a City Fight themed novel. The kind of city fight that you could have on your tabletop - with scraps of regiments struggling over the tallest building on the table...

Cadian Honour sets up what I hope will be a new part of the Imperium that will act as a battlezone for the Cadians to fight over, and sets up some 

 

 

 

I already have ready, and loved, a whole series about a group of soldiers who flee from a lost planet and continue to fight on.  I don't have any urge to pick up a similar series.

calancid - you're perfectly entitled not to buy. Superficially there are similarities. Hell - it's common grunts with lasguns facing up against the horrors of the universe. (And both series written by bald men....)

 

At the BL Weekender I  complained - half in jest - that Dan had already written all the classic IG set ups - and he told me - quite rightly - that there are lots of great stories tropes left.  Following in Dan's footsteps is tough. Really tough. But i think that's good because it forces you as a writer to do better. And the real story is not the setting or the battlefield, but the characters and their experience, and Minka et al are very different to Gaunts Ghosts. They're Cadians who have the misfortune to have been alive when their people failed in their 10,000 year mission to protect the Imperium. That's frekking epic. And each Cadian will experience that differently. Those who were there. Those who weren't - and think in the back of their mind that if they or their regiment was there, then perhaps they could have done something to change fate.... 

The story is about that as much as it is about the guns and explosions. 

 

 

 

I’m more annoyed that I have to pay friggin postage from BL

 

Punishing Pete: yeah. That sucks. ;-)

 

 

Very cool for authors to drop in here and discuss books!

 

It isn't really an entitlement sort of thing (because of course I don't HAVE to buy it, though sometimes the downloads section of my account on the BL website might look like I have some sort of compulsion), more me trying to decide (by seeing what others have to say) whether to take a risk on something that at least initially didn't strike me as interesting.

 

Like I said though, the first one was great and I really thought it was different and well written.  And your description here certainly sounds more interesting than the official one.

 

-edit

 

As I look back on my first post it appears all I said about the first one was that it was interesting.  It was that.  But also very good.

[Sete]

I have to intervene. Cadians the toughest humans on the Imperium? Catachans want to know your location!

I'm joking, they are already there!

[aa.logan]

I have to intervene. Cadians the toughest humans on the Imperium? Catachans want to know your location!

I'm joking, they are already there!

He said human, not abhuman- canonically, surely they’re part Ogryn at least.

[JustinDHill]

Sete: yeah, you're right. I mis-spoke. They're the toughest military units in the Imperium. 

 

If anyone is interested Track of Words posted this short interview about Cadian Honour:

 

 

https://www.trackofwords.com/2019/03/19/rapid-fire-justin-d-hill-talks-cadian-honour/

[Knockagh]

I loved the introduction of Minka in the first book, it drew me right into Cadia. The cadian regiments, I feel, run the risk of being like human ultra marines but you definitely gave them a raw edge. Looking forward to following her career.

A good Cardinal certainly makes a change, we see far to few good members of the Ecclesiarchy. many good intensioned people would be drawn into it only to find themselves fighting corruption within the organisation. Front line Chaplins in the real world military are usually fantastic down to earth people with few airs and graces, it would be great to see a 40k ‘woodbine willie’.

[Red_Shift]

I am, I guess, just over half way through and I'm enjoying the good cardinal. There is enough going on to keep me guessing and the characters are all interesting, which is unusual, normally there are bits in books I plod through to get back to the characters I am interested in but not here.

[JustinDHill]

the characters are all interesting, which is unusual.

 Thanks Red_Shift! I thought I'd use a GRR Martin style with this book, which focusses on individual characters and their present state of mind/difficulties. You can't write that way without really making the characters come alive. So really glad its paying off. 

[Red_Shift]

Yes it's a good read. Any plans for more in the series?

The confessor is a bundle of laughs!

[JustinDHill]

Yes it's a good read. Any plans for more in the series?

The confessor is a bundle of laughs!

LOL! I LOVED writing the confessor. Yes - very exciting plans! Want to go BIG on the next novel. A bit like Dan Abnett’s Necropolis which was one of my fave GG novels.

[Red_Shift]

I think this must be one of the first times that I've read about the sororitas in fiction and thought they sounded like badasses rather than nutters. Really well done, and contrasted nicely with the frateris who really were nutters. I'm not surprised you had fun writing it. I got home from work and got glares from my wife as I've been glued to the pages for the evening and I've just finished it. Hope you do get around to writing a sequel.

[Knockagh]

My copy of this has been dispatched at long last! After the release difficulty I ordered it alongside some print in demand HH hardbacks and they held the whole order until today. Well over a month.

Fate is conspiring against me for this read. Hopefully all will go smoothly now...