Each novel works largely as a standalone, with context and chronology provided by the footnotes. It helps that the constituent books are fairly short and quickly paced, but there’s more to it than that. My only complaint in this regard is that having both the main text and the footnotes written by characters to refer to the other, it does sometimes take a sentence or two to remember whose perspective you are reading.ĭefender of the Imperium achieves something quite special, in that it’s one of the rare Black Library omnibuses that doesn’t feel long.
Simple to understand, but rewarding in the extreme if you dig a little deeper. Each layer of the story works perfectly well on its own, but when you place them together, they create something pleasingly intricate. The inquisitor in question, while admitting that Cain is not quite the hero he’s cracked up to be, argues that neither is he the villain he paints himself to be. Written by an Inquisitor who knew Cain, they ostensibly provide historical context, as do the extracts from other in-universe texts. With Ciaphas Cain, there’s a footnote every other page or so. I am a massive fan of footnotes, which really don’t get used enough in fiction. That’s good enough on its own, but then there is more. Then Cain writes his memoirs, in which he reveals himself to be utterly self-serving, and a coward who has simply lucked into his many victories. Ciaphas Cain is man widely regarded to be a paragon of Imperial values. The central conceit behind the Ciaphas Cain novels is as brilliant as it is simple. Equally, coming off a run of Black Library books that haven’t been afraid to let a little humour slip through the cracks, the more jovial nature of the Ciaphas Cain series no longer feels out of place.
All those references that sailed over my head five years ago now land squarely. And I have to say, having been immersed in Black Library’s science fiction for a year and a half now, I am much more appreciative of the humour contained herein. Five and a bit years later, I’ve returned to Sandy Mitchell’s corner of the grim dark future to read the second collection of Cain’s (mis)adventures. The first Ciaphas Cain omnibus, Hero of the Imperium, marked the end of my first attempt to get into Warhammer 40,000. Here in his own words, is the continued story of self-professed coward Ciaphas Cain. Military SF with a Grimdark sense of humourĬiaphas Cain is a name known throughout the Imperium.Features the novels Death or Glory, Duty Calls, Cain’s Last Stand, plus short stories.
0 kommentar(er)
