Shadowsword continues the story of the Baneblade crew as they join a Shadowsword super-heavy artillery company as close support. With the fate of three star systems in the balance, the tank’s commander faces harsh truths about the nature of the Imperium and his place in it, giving you a different perspective on the duty and honour of the Astra Militarum. You’ll notice that I’ve also included a trio of Ursarkar E. Creed short stories on the timeline – more on those shortly. In a galaxy replete with mysteries, the Cadian Pylons were amongst the most enduring. There were over five thousand such edifices scattered across the surface of Cadia before the fall, each one standing some five hundred yards above the surface, and reaching two hundred and fifty yards below. Reports differ, but it was understood that there could have been anywhere between two and three thousand more concealed below ground as the result of tectonic movement down the ages. One out of every ten Cadians was recruited into the Interior Guard, regardless of ability or achievements, and as a result some of the most able human soldiers in the galaxy spent their entire Imperial military service on Cadia. The troops of the Interior Guard were amongst the most skilled fighting men in the Imperium, the equal of many other worlds' Imperial Guard regiments. Let's get the obvious one out of the way first - This isn't Gaunt's Ghosts. Don't deny it, just about all of you thought of them at least briefly during that introduction due to the direction and style of Cadian Honour. While there are some general comparisons which can be drawn up between the two series, they more or less begin and end with "Regiments who have lost their homeworld and are dying out".

The whole premise of Cadia’s fall seemed horribly beautiful and appealing to me as a fan of Warhammer 40,000. Unfortunately, I can’t say that my interest was in any way sated after reading Cadian Honour. The book starts relatively well, but then it settles into what I can only describe as mind-numbing tedium for the first 65% or so. That’s not to say that there isn’t some good old-fashioned grim-style violence, but it just felt like it all was more ‘for the sake of putting it in’ rather than for furthering the story. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book, I would have liked more character development, notably for Minka, but things were not too predictable. I have the feeling that some things were maybe not clear enough some times (for instance, I didn't really get where the author wanted to go with the commissar character), but the overall tone and structure of the story were enjoyable.

The vast majority of what I’ve mentioned so far has shown events from an Imperial viewpoint, but there are a few books which take a look from different perspectives as well. These are all set after the Great Rift has taken place. Characterization: I'd hazard to call what we have in the book more viewpoints than characters. Obviously, they are characters, but none of them are particularly developed, they all have the same basic drive and behave in basically the same fashion, effectively making it very easy for one to blend into the other. 2/5

The storm has broken, and the forces of Chaos batter against Cadia's defences. Lord Castellan Creed leads the defence of the fortress world, but for how much longer can they hold out. Cadia stands...but will it stand forever? Led by the skilled strategist Ursarkar E. Creed, the colonel of the 8th Cadian Regiment who was suddenly vaulted to the position of Lord Castellan, the Imperial forces were able to contain the initial Chaos assault and hunt down most of the occupying forces after the defeat of the initial Chaos armada in orbit.While it would be a spoiler to delve into who the book's antagonists are, you might be able to guess who they will be very early on. The story tries to partially disguise it as a secret, but it doesn't quite work. In fact, the book seems to half reveal and half disguise who they are at the start, while also trying to establish their presence as a surprise. It never fully works because of this muddled state, in spite of a few genuinely good scenes which makes it look as if this will all come together in the final few chapters. However, even with this considered, they never appeared to be all that engaging. There's a definite logic as to why they were chosen, but even in chapters intended to flesh them out, I never regarded them as more than an obstacle. Unless they are a force of nature like the Tyranids or (in some cases) the Necrons, this rarely works. The few times it does offer their primary characters a chance to speak also doesn't do much to raise them beyond being a general archetype. Within the Eye of Terror, the Chaos Gods rule over uncounted numbers of planets, all warped to reflect their own dark aspects. It was there that the Traitor Legions found refuge, isolated from the rest of the galaxy by potent Warp Storms. Each of the planets within the Eye is a Daemon World, warped and twisted by the whims of the Ruinous Powers and the powerful Daemon Princes who rule over them in the Dark Gods' name.