Teaser

The Cadian 101st has walked many battlefields, and faced many foes, as the carve their legend across the Gallows Cluster. Will the ravaged world of Alia be their crowning moment, or their final stand . . ?

Review

You know the drill by now. Justin D Hill’s Minka Lesk series is my favourite Warhammer series going right now (and probably my favourite overall). Hell’s Last is no exception. It’s an absolutely fantastic book that is sure to be in contention for my book of the year. That’s all the review you need. Go read this book. Now.

Oh, you want more? I guess I can give you a longer review. Hell’s Last certainly deserves it.

I could talk at length about how brilliantly vivid Hill’s action scenes are. The way he puts you right into the middle of the action. The thing is, however, that when you’re reading a military SF book, you expect action, especially a book set in the grim dark future. What a lot of people forget is that there is more to the military than just shooting targets and ducking for cover. Hill does not forget this.

The first half of this book sees very little engagement with the enemy. Instead, we bear witness to a gruelling death march through a festering jungle. One of the many things I love about the Minka Lesk series is that each book takes us to a different kind of warzone. Not enough books make use of jungle settings, and Hill truly brings the foetid landscape of Alia to life. It’s a planet where native bugs and parasites can be every bit as deadly as Chaos worshippers, and where the weather is one of the greatest threats of all.

The second half of the book marches inexorably to a last stand, and what a last stand it is. Shades of Zulu abound – and let’s be honest, if you’re going to draw from history, Rorke’s Drift is one of the most iconic last stands in history. The death toll is staggeringly high, in raw numbers and named characters alike. There were moments towards the end of this book that I genuinely thought Hill might end the series in a bloodbath from which no one emerges. A finer ending to the saga, its hard to imagine, but I hope Hill isn’t quite finished with Lesk and the 101st just yet.

In the middle of all this sound and fury, there are quieter moments of more personal significance. Characters have died along the way, and fresher faces have filed in dutifully to take their places, but the 101st as a unit feels familiar after four books. Whether they are debating matters of military etiquette, grappling with PTSD, or forming unlikely bonds of friendship, this is a book that lets all its characters shine, even if only for a moment.

Sucker for last stands that I am, I will happily put Hell’s Last up there with Traitor Rock. It has, to put it simply, everything I look for in a military SF novel, and then a little more besides. I am sincerely hopeful that Hell’s last won’t prove to be Hill’s last adventure for Minka Lesk.

Book Stats

• Minka Lesk #4
• First Published 2025
• 340 Pages