Ciaphas Cain, Hero of The Imperium

[Jabber Swarky]

Anyone here read this book? Its Black Library, set in the WH40K universe, and follows Commissar Ciaphas Cain (as you'd imagine)

What i really like about it, though, is that its funny a lot of the time, much more than other WH40K books =p That and it helps you get a good look at the life of a Commissar and at one point, even life for Imperial Citizens, which you dont usually get in the 40K universe. That and it breaks the stereotype of all Commissars being ultra loyal ultra strict screaming maniacs xD

Ack. Im not good at describing stuff like this. Awsome book, though, i heartily reccomending getting the Compedium if you dont allready have it because its got Ciaphas' first ever assignment in it as a bonus short story.

[Reliant121]

No i havn't. Black library books can only be taken out by those in the last year of school here, and they arent found in public libraries here. And to be frank, i'm not spending my limited money on what i'm not sure about.

[Sonic Glitch]

Black Library?

[Mikey]

Black Library?

Black Library is the imprint of Nottingham Press which includes all the Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy fiction and background books. Ciaphas Cain is certainly on my "upcoming" list, as is the Ravenor trilogy (the Eisenhorn trilogy was great,) the Gaunt's Ghosts books, and the Iron Snakes stories, per Kendall's recommendation.

[Sonic Glitch]

Ah, OK Thanks. I'm very ignorrant about War Hammer, having never played or read it.

[Jabber Swarky]

Hehe. Well, thats a shame Reliant. Its a really good book, i think that someone like you would like it =p Its good. Mixes good battle storylines with humor.

Im not sure if it would be a good book to start with to ease yourself into the 40K universe.. though, it does have fotnotes and explanations of most things, so you dont have to be an expert. It just assumes that you know what things like Commissars and The Imperial Gaurd and the Tyrranids and such are allready. And it does list IG Tanks by name with no explanation, so that can be tricky sometimes =p

[Mikey]

One of Abnett's Inquisitor series - Eisenhorn or Ravenor - might be a place to start. There's not much mention of actual battlefield combat, and most things are human-based. There's not much explanation of the different types of weapons, but that's pretty easy to deduce.

[Aaron]

Start with The Last Chancers it's the perfect WH40K story, any darker and it would be a black hole. It follows the misadventures of an Imperial Guard Penal Legion and is styled after the Dirty Dozen.

[Jabber Swarky]

Eeeh, thats why im not really into most Black Library 40K books, and why i rather like Ciaphas Cain. Theyre all usually.. superdark. Which, i appreciate, is REALLY fitting for the 40K universe, but after the horrible mess that was Fire Warrior i got rather sick of. For some reason i dont like battle scenes in books, especially firefights, as they can be pretty confusing and end up as what we like to call clusterf*cks. Im aware that Fire Warrior wasnt particularly well written, and that it didnt help that it was written AFTER the game but the broody drama and slowly growing insanity, chaos corruption and shellshock the character went through, while fairly dark,was pretty overwhelimg at times. I like to read books to relax, not to get myself ready to jump off a bridge.

Mind you, a 40K novel is pretty much garenteed to have at least a spoonful of darkness =P The Warhammer Galaxy is not a nice place, after all. Its just, Ciaphas is lighter on it than most books in the Black Library. Heh.

Mind you, i rather like the Warhammer Fantasy books. More room to maneuvre there, i suppose. Tales From The 10 Tailed Cat and Tales Of The Old World are particularly good for people who prefer their heros with bows and swords rather than boltguns and.. uh.. chainswords.

[Aaron]

WH40K's thing is grimdark. But one should read at least one classic style WH40K novel before they get into Cain, makes it easier to get the references. The Last Chancers is a good one before Cain because it features a classic hardass Commissar.

[Mikey]

Just picked up and started the Iron Snakes set. While fairly dark (it is 40k after all!) I recommend Abnett, who Rochey first turned me on to, simply because his writing is superior to any other Black Library author.

[Aaron]

No i havn't. Black library books can only be taken out by those in the last year of school here, and they arent found in public libraries here. And to be frank, i'm not spending my limited money on what i'm not sure about.

Why would you need to be 18(?) to read a BL novel? Yes there quite violent but nothing too terrible and they lack the usual nutbar yardstick for "mature" content, there's no sex.

[Aaron]

Just picked up and started the Iron Snakes set. While fairly dark (it is 40k after all!) I recommend Abnett, who Rochey first turned me on to, simply because his writing is superior to any other Black Library author.

I'm not sure how far along you are but the first story was pretty upbeat and tame even for one with Primul's in it.

[Mikey]

Just finished that one, and it was fairly tame, but still dar in the sense of Priad resigning the contaminated area to be off-limits FOREVER, without so much as a second thought. It was written with a nice touch of irony, too, in how back-water the "enlightened" politicians were.

[Aaron]

Just finished that one, and it was fairly tame, but still dar in the sense of Priad resigning the contaminated area to be off-limits FOREVER, without so much as a second thought. It was written with a nice touch of irony, too, in how back-water the "enlightened" politicians were.

Yeah I liked that, in defense of Priad the time involved was beyond their understanding. That planet was screwy though, coaches pulled by servitors, blackpowder and las pistols?