Longshot by Rob Young

[Sothalor]

Longshot, by Rob Young

 

 

Come for the Space Stalingrad Sniper Duel, stay for the cultural conflict theories.

 

This was quite good. I haven’t read anything else by Rob Young, but I’m impressed by this one. Longshot follows the travails of Darya Nevic, a sniper section leader of a Cadian regiment, during an urban combat campaign against the Tau. The novel is neither shy nor subtle about its inspiration; this is straight-up Stalingrad. The setting is a nasty urban-fight in a bombed-out industrial city sprawled across a river, filled with dense warrens of tunnels, collapsed buildings, layers of verticality, and sharpshooter ops trying to hold a river salient amidst a brutal approaching winter.

 

First up, the prose: very solid. Longshot won’t particularly stand out for esoteric style or wordsmithing, but it does an excellent job of conveying the claustrophobic, grungy environs, the exhaustion and toll it wreaks on soldiers fighting in such conditions, and the overall feel. The writing is functional and smooth, reminding me a little of Josh Reynolds’ works, or some of the early Gaunt’s Ghosts novels like Necropolis. It conveys a solid sense of immersion and verisimilitude to it all, from small details like appreciating hot food after days of cold rations to the confusion and chaos of a firefight in the ruins of a Mechanicum factory.

 

If you just wanted a straightforward Guard combat novel, this one would serve well.

 

If you want more than that, Longshot has you covered as well.

 

The real heart of the novel isn’t actually about the combat operations against the Tau as it is clashes of ideas over identity, in- versus out-groups, and how malleable those lines may or may not be. Darya’s real conflict isn’t the physical combat, it’s the fact that she’s what’s called a Transplant in her Cadian regiment; she (and others) were soldiers from other planets who were assigned to the Cadians as reinforcements/replacements for ongoing casualties and that minor detail that Cadia is no more.

 

The original Cadians, who call themselves Trueborn, tend to resent that fact, and the ongoing tensions within the regiment form one of the major threads of Longshot. Then you combine the internal Cadian tensions with views from another planet’s Guard conscripts they’re fighting alongside, and the propaganda recruitment/conversion efforts the Tau are waging…

 

That’s the real substance of Longshot. Inasmuch as you might say the novel is “about” something, it’s a look at geopolitical identity and conflicts; touching on everything from ethnic nationalism versus civic nationalism, intra-bloc dynamics of nominal allies and goals, and clashes between larger civilizations.

 

If I were to level a criticism, my primary one would be that Darya herself comes across a bit bland. She’s about as generically “IG soldier” as they come, and the rest of the soldiers have about as much characterization as may be expected in, say, the average war movie. Longshot probably won’t work for you quite as well if you’re really only looking for deep character dives, because this one is more of an “ideas” book. That said, it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book much. She’s a sort of default audience surrogate for the clashes of ideas that are really the core of Longshot. I don’t know how much of this was deliberate on Young’s part, but Darya is most a person in her camaraderie with her squad and the bonds and responsibilities she feels towards them. That actually works out well for giving the audience enough to identify with her while also giving the more abstract ideas time and space.

 

 

So all in all, I’d say Longshot frankly was better than it needed to be, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. This fits comfortably in the Recommend category for me.

[theSpirea]

Thank you for the great review, happy to see the restarted IG series, now AM, is doing well.

 

Before diving into the novel, I'd recommend two short stories: Transplants and Memories of Broken Glass. They are set before the novel and are not required to enjoy the novel but provide extra background to who Darya is.

 

 

[Sothalor]

  On 8/28/2023 at 8:02 AM, theSpirea said:

Before diving into the novel, I'd recommend two short stories: Transplants and Memories of Broken Glass. They are set before the novel and are not required to enjoy the novel but provide extra background to who Darya is.

 

 

Expand  

 

Oh neat, thanks! I had no idea the author had previous stories relating to this one.

 

Although, come to think of it this does seem to be a trend with a number of releases by newer/lesser known authors; one or several shorts that introduce characters and/or micro-settings.

 

Off the top of my head, Harrison's Honourbound, Rath's Kingmaker and The Infinite and the Divine, and assorted AoS works. It'd be nice if BL marketed their stuff better to highlight these things. 

[cheywood]

  On 8/28/2023 at 3:44 PM, Sothalor said:

 

Oh neat, thanks! I had no idea the author had previous stories relating to this one.

 

Although, come to think of it this does seem to be a trend with a number of releases by newer/lesser known authors; one or several shorts that introduce characters and/or micro-settings.

 

Off the top of my head, Harrison's Honourbound, Rath's Kingmaker and The Infinite and the Divine, and assorted AoS works. It'd be nice if BL marketed their stuff better to highlight these things. 

Expand  

The way short stories are priced doesn’t help.  If I wanted an ebook copy of Longshot in the US it would be $10. Totally reasonable price, especially by GW’s standards. But those two short stories are $8 in total. I’m not one to equate page count with quality, but it seems silly that two short stories cost almost as much as an entire novel. 

[chevalierdulys]

I don't why this is still a new.. BL always did this. We, the ... not going to say what , that support this and other authorsm in the end will pay for the HB or PB or other format you wish. You buy the short stories editions OR even ebook (Which I refuse to buy) then in 2 or 3 years BL releases the Omnibus edition of that trilogy or in this case the series with extra short stories releases elsewhere, and sometimes to insult us even more add a new brand short story. So the people who support the authors/company buying the individual novel we not read all the complete stuff and the peplum who go only for Omnibus get it for far cheaper.  It's an insult to us.  This is a trend not confined to books BUT to be honest is even worse in games where they make a game and then add DLC. In the end you pay 200€ for everything (looking at you Warhammer 2 or 3) and then when a new one is released they will release everything for other people to buy for lot less. 

 

If those two short stories enhanced the main character why weren't included in the paperback novel? I can understand BL wanting to try-out some authors before giving them a full length novel. But at least including it in the original novel. OH well... I am an idiot and will continue to buy LE or HB. But that doesn't mean it doesn't feels bad. I blame FOMO.

[sitnam]

This novel is next on my audible playlist, and this review has given me the motivation to press play.

 

  On 8/28/2023 at 8:02 AM, theSpirea said:

Thank you for the great review, happy to see the restarted IG series, now AM, is doing well.

Expand  

I’ve enjoyed the AM stories that have come out. I just hope they get away from Cadian stories. I like Cadians, but stories like Witchbringer didn’t HAVE to be centered around Cadians

[Sothalor]

I agree that not all Guard depictions have to be Cadians, but I'd say Longshot actually puts that particular group to good use by leveraging questions regarding identity and membership.

 

One of the issues facing Darya Nevic and others is just what it means to be "Cadian"; if you're born on random Planet X and are then drafted into "Cadian Regiment [ABC]", are you Cadian? Can you ever be? Does being Cadian necessarily mean purple eyes and a traceable lineage to the planet?

 

Or if you wear a uniform of a certain pattern and fight a certain way, does that make you Cadian?

 

There's actually a solid juxtaposition in Longshot with Tau notions of coalition membership and assimilation. Darya and her squad feel a visceral aversion to human auxiliaries wearing Tau uniforms and carrying Tau equipment. Of course, there's the general Imperium hatred of the Other at play, but you can't help but notice a certain parallel with their own situation...

[DarkChaplain]

The Cadia as we knew it also wasn't a thing until after the 1st Black Crusade. The mutations from proximity to the Eye of Terror were a thing for their natives during the Great Crusade as well, but considering that they actually were cultish and that Ingethel was key in getting Lorgar to worship the Pantheon, they got all wiped out.

 

So basically, Cadia as a world, from the very moment of its resettlement, has defined itself by its task in service to the Imperium. By being a bulwark against Chaos. I think it's interesting to explore that angle, that it really isn't necessary for the world itself to exist to still fulfill its role as a culture, even when drafted from elsewhere. They're the anvil to break Chaos against, by way of its people.

 

Though I would be very happy if at some point we'd get stories about Cadian regiments being sent out by way of Cawl to re-establish a pylon network to push back against the rift. That'd be spiritual redemption for them, I imagine.

[Roomsky]

Longshot - Rob Young (Audiobook)

 

Well, that was a ride.

 

For the first half or so I thought it was decent, certainly above average, but I had some hangups over what seemed to be full steam ahead to "missed potential." Then up until the last chapter and epilogue it got GREAT and paid off everything I feared it wouldn't; great stuff. Then the ending was… fine. A bit too by-the-numbers for the very potential it surprised me with, TBH. (I also don't know much military history so the Stalingrad-ish setting was lost on me.)

 

  Reveal hidden contents

As I said, the book is competent at the start. Nevic is a solid lead, but most of the story elements had a big caveat for my appreciation of them. I love seeing the Tau as the antagonist, but not giving us a substantial Tau POV (even just more Gue'La) is wasted potential. I like the cultural divide between pure-blooded Cadians and recruits from other worlds (including a very effective scene involving a lighter,) but it doesn't go anywhere (until much later.) The supporting cast is strong, at least when the book actually devotes time to them. The first members of Nevic's squad to die may as well have not existed, and really only Eliyas (sp?) made me feel anything when he died. I LOVE that we have a book devoted to a sharpshooter, but I wanted something slower and more tense and long-range than what we got, which amounted mostly to Tanith scouting work.

 

I was very ready for it to be an average Guard book through-and-through, but out of seemingly nowhere, it decided to get interesting instead.

 

First we get Keen (sp?) a pureblood Cadian recruit to replace some of Nevic's more forgettable squad mates. Keen is generally unlikeable, but you can understand where he's coming from and he's a good personification of the prejudice against "adopted" Cadians. Nevic's sudden role in a propaganda campaign also brings out the more interesting parts of her character; expanding on why she dislikes her "Ghost" moniker so much and how much it clashes with her desire to just be a simple soldier.

 

Once she's taken prisoner by the Tau, everything really slots into place. Keen's betrayal pays off the tension between Cadians, and Nevic's pursuit of "Longshot" is far more what I'd hoped for out of a Sniper book. Nevic's POV of Tau society enriches the sequence of events greatly, and would have been undercut by more "objective" viewpoints earlier on. The most important death in her squad was Eliyas, and the book did quite well teasing a grisly off-screen fate that proceeds nicely into a fake-out rescue. Honestly, everything between Keen's betrayal and Nevic's eventual return to the Imperial fold kept me guessing which side she'd end up on, by the end.

 

But the ending was just too clean for me. I'm glad fake Longshot lived to fight another day, but the Ethereal landing in Nevic's sights, the straightforwardness of the final battle, and the apparent dissolving of Nevic's misgivings by the end felt too easy for me. I can see why she went back to the Imperium, but I don't see why the whole experience softened her resentment at being used as she had been. I'd have much preferred Nevic at least consider the similarities between each empire by the end instead of just sagely nodding as the Commissar said she learned a valuable lesson. In many ways that's Imperium to the core, but Nevic was already feeling pretty jaded BEFORE the Tau illustrated why their side was so appealing. If this was all supposed to be "Nevic learns to appreciate her place in the Imperium," I needed more than "Nevic saw that the Tau also treat some people like the Imperium does."

 

Also, while it kicked off my favourite parts of the book, Nevic's transition into Tau custody was very clumsy. She slits the Tau sniper's throat and passes out… then wakes to find Keen abandoning her, and is knocked out (and not killed, for some reason)… Then she's woken up by Eliyas, who is shortly killed and she passes back out… it got kinda funny by the last one TBH.

 

Overall I see an uneven book from a very promising author. Some of the storytelling is very good and overall I think it works as a piece. If Young improves in writing his next novel, it'll really be one to watch out for.

 

7.5/10. Pretty Gewd.

Edited September 2, 2023 by Roomsky

[Sothalor]

  On 9/1/2023 at 11:10 PM, Roomsky said:

  Reveal hidden contents

But the ending was just too clean for me. I'm glad fake Longshot lived to fight another day, but the Ethereal landing in Nevic's sights, the straightforwardness of the final battle, and the apparent dissolving of Nevic's misgivings by the end felt too easy for me. I can see why she went back to the Imperium, but I don't see why the whole experience softened her resentment at being used as she had been. I'd have much preferred Nevic at least consider the similarities between each empire by the end instead of just sagely nodding as the Commissar said she learned a valuable lesson. In many ways that's Imperium to the core, but Nevic was already feeling pretty jaded BEFORE the Tau illustrated why their side was so appealing. If this was all supposed to be "Nevic learns to appreciate her place in the Imperium," I needed more than "Nevic saw that the Tau also treat some people like the Imperium does."

 

Expand  

 

I think I read it differently, which made me enjoy the ending all the more.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I took it less as a return to the Imperium and more of a rejection of the Tau - and that stemming from a particular source that ultimately had nothing to do with ideology or devotion to causes.

 

Darya doesn't say anything about "for the Emperor" or some Imperial platitude as she's strangling Ceres (symbolically, her rejection of what the Tau might offer). Rather, she tells him that it's because he 'had no right to take it out on my people.' As she's killing Ceres, she wants him to say the name of her squadmate that he killed in order to capture her and hand her over to the Tau.

 

Ultimately, what stood above both Imperium and Tau propaganda, ideology, and indoctrination was something even more primally human; tribalism. It's what comes up repeatedly throughout the novel - subgroups within the Imperial Guard that treat each other like opposition but must work together at some point. I against my brother, my brother and I against our cousin. My brother and cousin against our village, our village against our neighbor.

 

And so on and so on - boundaries and definitions of in-group and out-group contract and expand depending on identities and context.

 

In a way, Longshot delivers a sort of quiet indictment to the indoctrination and ideological capture of both the Imperium and the Tau. Despite it all, human nature endures and persists.

 

Darya doesn't return to the Imperium out of some deep-seated loyalty or belief; she slaps away the outstretched hand of the Tau because they hurt her family. It's a deeply human, visceral response, and the ending of the novel is all the more quietly tragic for it. Her human choice just gets entirely brushed over by the uncaring meat-grinder of the Imperium - she just returns to being one more tool at the disposal of her commanders.

 

"I have a job for you."

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by Sothalor

[aa.logan]

This was great.

 

Not got much insight to add to everyone else’s analysis, other than to note that it’s interesting that there have been so many books of late to paint the Imperium as if not fractured socially, certainly non-homogeneous. The schisms between the AdMech and wider society in King of the Spoil, the criminal underworld in Cadia Stands, the entirety of the Iron Kingdom all share the fractious nature of this book. It’s great seeing this side of society.

[Preliminary Bombardment]

  On 9/1/2023 at 12:14 AM, DarkChaplain said:

The Cadia as we knew it also wasn't a thing until after the 1st Black Crusade. The mutations from proximity to the Eye of Terror were a thing for their natives during the Great Crusade as well, but considering that they actually were cultish and that Ingethel was key in getting Lorgar to worship the Pantheon, they got all wiped out.

 

So basically, Cadia as a world, from the very moment of its resettlement, has defined itself by its task in service to the Imperium. By being a bulwark against Chaos. I think it's interesting to explore that angle, that it really isn't necessary for the world itself to exist to still fulfill its role as a culture, even when drafted from elsewhere. They're the anvil to break Chaos against, by way of its people.

 

Though I would be very happy if at some point we'd get stories about Cadian regiments being sent out by way of Cawl to re-establish a pylon network to push back against the rift. That'd be spiritual redemption for them, I imagine.

Expand  

 

Another bit of lore I read is that Cadia has needed to be totally resettled several times during the last 10,000 due to various chaos related reasons. Mind you that's still plenty enough time to develop another national/ planetary identify!

 

I quite enjoyed this book. I like a down and dirty guard book.

[grailkeeper]

Just finished this. Pretty standard fair. Her getting captured by the Tau was interesting but otherwise the book is fairly unremarkable.

[The Scorpion]

  On 2/13/2024 at 11:11 PM, grailkeeper said:

Just finished this. Pretty standard fair. Her getting captured by the Tau was interesting but otherwise the book is fairly unremarkable.

Expand  

 

I think the main appeal of this book is the Stalingrad vibe. If you really dig that most of the warfare is moving around unseen, waiting for days for that one critical moment of action, the fight to prevent the morale from crumbling, and all that jazz... then it can be pretty enjoyable.

But I can perfectly understand why a lot of people, hell even most people, would not vibe with this book. I liked it, but I must admit it can't be to everyone's taste.