Teaser

For thousands of years, Cadia has stood as the Imperium’s first line of defence against the forces of Chaos. Now, the fortress world faces its darkest hour. As an army of unprecedented scale pours forth from the Eye of Terror, Lord Castellan Creed leads Cadia in what will either be its finest hour, or its final one . . .

Review

Several years ago, the higher-ups at Games Workshop made the decision to trigger the apocalypse. Or, to put it less dramatically, they decided to advance the setting of their most famous game, Warhammer 40,000. As the forty-first millennium came to a close, the Chaos forces of Abaddon the Despoiler 1) launched the 13th Black Crusade, 2) literally ripped the Galaxy in half, and 3) reduced the storied world of Cadia to a smear of pebbles. This was a momentous event in and out of the game setting, and was described in great detail in dozens of footnotes across an equal number of rulebooks. In terms of fiction, Black Library covered the event with Justin D Hill’s Cadia Stands. But that book took a largely boots-on-the-ground approach to the cataclysm, and largely served to introduce readers to the wonderful Minka Lesk, whose own series remains a high point of the franchise. It wasn’t until earlier in 2023 that the full story of Cadia’s Fall was chronicled. First released as a limited edition, and now available in hardback, The Fall of Cadia is as full a story as we’re ever likely to see. Happily, the story is as good as it is grim.

As anyone who has seen the book in the papery flesh will attest, this is a big book. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the largest single novel Black Library have put out. Certainly it’s the largest on my shelves. It even rivals the Dan Abnett monolith Lord of the Dark Millennium for size. Usually with a book of this pedigree, telling as it does a truly historic event, I’d expect to see one of Black Library’s legacy authors at the pen. The Abnetts and Dembski-Bowdens of the world. Instead we have relative newcomer Robert Rath, author of the widely-acclaimed The Infinite and the Divine and the brilliant Assassinorum: Kingmaker. The Fall of Cadia can proudly sit alongside those other books, as it elevates Rath into the upper echelons of Black Library’s crop of writers.

The Fall of Cadia earns its size. Yes, there’s a lot to juggle in a single book, but everything has a part to play. Nor is there any bloat, even with multiple ongoing arcs that never really intersect. First and foremost we have the story of Ursarkar E. Creed, the legendary Lord Castellan. Right from the start, Rath cuts to the flawed man at the core of the near-mythic figure. Chain-smoking and borderline alcoholic, Creed is not the paragon of virtue that later Cadians would have you believe. In one early scene, he makes such a tactical blunder that he wipes out a large portion of his own army. Contrasting with that we have the awe with which other Cadians view him. Cutting between his near-messianic speeches and boardroom scenes of the man himself makes for a great analysis of the man at the heart of the Cadian myth. Further contrasting this we have Abaddon the Despoiler, who very much believes all the stories told about himself, and indeed tells a few himself. A perfect counterpoint to Creed, Abaddon is depicted here with such depth that I am yet again reconsidering my anti-Space Marine bias. Here is a man caught up in a legacy that is not his own, trying to find his place while surrounded by literal demons. A man clinging to a warped humanity even as he seeks to wipe out the species that birthed him.

Away from the main conflict, there are numerous other characters going about their grim lives. Take Hellsker, the soldier forced into a position of command she is not ready for, only to end up a symbol of hope. Feeding back into the same loop of propaganda that Creed has built around himself, Hellsker’s story is one of resilience amid unimaginable suffering. But not everyone is quite so noble. Throughout the novel we see warp-twisted soldiers who live only to slake their thirst for blood, children raised in the belief that to live at all is to serve the dark powers, traitors with the Cadians themselves, and, as there always must be, those soldiers who are only in it for themselves. Though Rath’s story is grimdark on a hideous scale, he has a keen eye for the sorts of oddities that war throw up. The opportunists who will print fake ration cards, the awestruck soldiers who just want an autograph from their heroes, and commanders who would rather be at home writing poetry, but fight for their home because it is the right thing to do.

Oh yes, and a certain Infinite Necron turns up as well, skulking in the a shadows of the greatest conflict in history. Trazyn is an amusing distraction at times, but ultimately involves himself in what I can only consider to be the Warhammer equivalent of Pokémon duelling.

With so much going on at once, and centred on such pivotal events, The Fall of Cadia is definitely not a good novel for beginners. But if, like me, you’re slowly being absorbed by the lore and setting of Warhammer 40,000, then it is a positive smorgasbord of good and grim things. If you want to know what really happened on Cadia during those dark days, then this is as good as it gets.

Book Stats

• A Standalone Novel
• First published in 2023
• Published by Black Library
• Grimdark Military SF
• 536 Pages