Post by Manius on Apr 30, 2009 12:34:43 GMT
Cain the loveable rogue of the Imperial Guard rejoins his story telling apparently some 30-40 years since his last printed adventure. Just about a century old now and having formally retired from active duties he’s been enjoying himself teaching the next batch of Commissars at a learning facility seemingly far from war.
Of course we as a reader already know that his tranquil lifestyle will be rudely interrupted…
The book is again written in the form of an Inquisitor taking extracts from Cains own diary and elaborating where needed to cover more “galactic” occurrences that have bearing on our anti-hero. This is a good format, different from most, perhaps easier to write but it also means that we, if we think about it, know to a certain extent that Cain survives…in order to write the entries being transcribed.
Happily, again, I found this didn’t detract from the novel too much as much of the enjoyment is not from the dangerous situations we find Cain in but his unusual and oft-times amusing methods he uses to evade death…who does he thrown into dangers way this time to save his own neck? How does he always make it seem like he’s the hero whilst putting others in the danger zone instead of him?
A recommended read if you’re a tad jaded by the constant gritty Warhammer 40k novels in circulation. A lightweight, enjoyable and dare I say it “rip roaring” tale about the person we really ought to hate but just love anyway!
Of course we as a reader already know that his tranquil lifestyle will be rudely interrupted…
The book is again written in the form of an Inquisitor taking extracts from Cains own diary and elaborating where needed to cover more “galactic” occurrences that have bearing on our anti-hero. This is a good format, different from most, perhaps easier to write but it also means that we, if we think about it, know to a certain extent that Cain survives…in order to write the entries being transcribed.
Happily, again, I found this didn’t detract from the novel too much as much of the enjoyment is not from the dangerous situations we find Cain in but his unusual and oft-times amusing methods he uses to evade death…who does he thrown into dangers way this time to save his own neck? How does he always make it seem like he’s the hero whilst putting others in the danger zone instead of him?
A recommended read if you’re a tad jaded by the constant gritty Warhammer 40k novels in circulation. A lightweight, enjoyable and dare I say it “rip roaring” tale about the person we really ought to hate but just love anyway!