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Cadian Blood (2009)

by Aaron Dembski-Bowden(Favorite Author)

3.95 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1844167712 (ISBN13: 9781844167715)

languge

English

genre

Science Fiction

publisher

Games Workshop

review 1: I'm afraid I had problems with Cadian Blood. I just couldn't get into it.My first problems was that the main enemy seemed to be zombies, which imho defy any real science. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with them in the right genre, I watch Walking Dead like many others, but Warhammer is supposed to be SCIENCE fiction and science really doesn't have any place for Zombies.The second problem is that the troops themselves seemed kind of two dimensional. After a hundred pages, there were four of five main characters introduced that seemed to be 'the good commander', 'the maverick soldier', 'the tech soldier' and 'the crazy psycher who no one trusts or likes'.I didn't get much further than this, but I was a little disappointed. I'd been told that Dembski-Bowden was a very good ... morewriter - and he may well be; I just couldn't get into this book. I may try again later.It may well deserve a better score than this, but that is all I felt I could give it.
review 2: I'll remember Cadian Blood for two things --fast and furious combat scenes and promising characters that became near-misses. I say near-misses because the characters started out as very interesting individuals, with distinct viewpoints regarding their profession of being consummate and elite infantry, the boots on the ground as they say. These men do not have the special powers of the Space Marines, nor the special tools of other elite forces of the Emperor of Mankind's Imperium. What they do have is an intense tie with their homeworld's warrior culture and history as well as an unshaken belief that infantry is, at the end of the day, the only way to win and hold ground. Come the middle of the book though, these ideas which had shown so clearly during the first few chapters failed to germinate further, leaving characters that weren't fully fleshed out and started to look indistinct from one another. The middle chapters sacrificed characterization with tedious paragraphs meant to promote the ambiance of the 40K universe. The plot is simple enough and familiar enough with regards to stories set in the Warhammer 40K universe. A shrine world has begun showing signs of Chaos activity. The Cadian 88th Mechanized Infantry is sent in together with other Imperial Guard forces to reclaim the planet, not knowing that a Chaos force approaches from space. Meanwhile, larger forces are at play, making the regiment's job of reclamation far more important than they realize. I liked how the Cadians were portrayed as career soldiers with immense pride in their homeworld and warrior culture but sometimes the portrayal seemed too narrow-minded in scope and it soon became a one-trick pony act. The introduction of a non-cadian Commisar with his own brand of bad ass machismo could have been played better to portray the regiment as they see themselves and through the eyes of a non-Cadian fighting beside, and sometimes against, them. This wasn't to happen though. I also didn't like the way some characters were deftly built up then casually killed off, sometimes in situations that totally disregarded the characterization invested previously on the individual. The abruptness of these deaths, even the way the approaching forces of Chaos suddenly changed plans was unsatisfying and, to my mind, as a waste of investment. All that said though, I still enjoyed the book, enough to want another novel about Captain Parmenion Thade and the Cadian 88th. Maybe another installment or two featuring the regiment can rectify the lapses in character development and finally deliver a winning combination punch that this first book so temptingly promised. less

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