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Cadia #Omnibus
Minka Lesk: The Last Whiteshield
A Minka Lesk Omnibus
Minka Lesk began her career as a young Whiteshield, before earning her place as a Cadian officer. Follow her career through gruelling battles across the galaxy.
READ IT BECAUSE
Minka Lesk was there when Cadia fell – she remains as Cadia Stands, a testament to the indomitable will of the most celebrated uniform in the Astra Militarum. Watch her rise through the ranks as her story unfolds.
THE STORY
Cadia has stood in grim defiance against the enemies of the Imperium for ten thousand years, an indomitable bulwark against the forces of Chaos… but now, the Thirteenth Black Crusade has come, and there will be no victory. Here, Minka Lesk will be tested in the very fires of a world's destruction.
Join Minka as she grows from a young Whiteshield struggling to survive in the ruins of the kasr she called home, to a sergeant haunted by loss, fighting to excise the rot at the heart of an Ecclesiarchy world, to a lieutenant who will do anything to break the stalemate in the grinding mire that is the Siege of Crannog Mons.
She will battle on, bloodied but unbroken, for the honour of Cadia itself.
This omnibus contains three novels, and two short stories, all written by Justin D Hill.
CONTENTS
– Cadia Stands (novel)
– The Place of Pain and Healing (short story)
– The Battle of Markgraaf Hive (short story)
– Cadian Honour (novel)
– Traitor Rock (novel)
Minka Lesk began her career as a young Whiteshield, before earning her place as a Cadian officer. Follow her career through gruelling battles across the galaxy.
READ IT BECAUSE
Minka Lesk was there when Cadia fell – she remains as Cadia Stands, a testament to the indomitable will of the most celebrated uniform in the Astra Militarum. Watch her rise through the ranks as her story unfolds.
THE STORY
Cadia has stood in grim defiance against the enemies of the Imperium for ten thousand years, an indomitable bulwark against the forces of Chaos… but now, the Thirteenth Black Crusade has come, and there will be no victory. Here, Minka Lesk will be tested in the very fires of a world's destruction.
Join Minka as she grows from a young Whiteshield struggling to survive in the ruins of the kasr she called home, to a sergeant haunted by loss, fighting to excise the rot at the heart of an Ecclesiarchy world, to a lieutenant who will do anything to break the stalemate in the grinding mire that is the Siege of Crannog Mons.
She will battle on, bloodied but unbroken, for the honour of Cadia itself.
This omnibus contains three novels, and two short stories, all written by Justin D Hill.
CONTENTS
– Cadia Stands (novel)
– The Place of Pain and Healing (short story)
– The Battle of Markgraaf Hive (short story)
– Cadian Honour (novel)
– Traitor Rock (novel)
- Genres40kScience Fiction
750 pages, Paperback
First published June 29, 2023
31 people are currently reading
162 people want to read
About the author
Justin D. Hill
50 books65 followersJustin is a long-time Astra Militarum player with a trophy cabinet of painting and gaming awards. He now leads his Imperial Fists into the hell of the Horus Heresy.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 29, 2025
A lot of this book is descriptions of battle; reloading and progressing up a battlefield. Minka was the most interesting character and she doesn't really develop as a character at all, or even really have a personality other than being tough. There were some cool parts, mainly the end/climaxes of these huge battles.
April 16, 2025
Second time reading through Cadia #2 and Cadia #3, and my first time reading Cadia #1. Overall I loved the omnibus which is why I rated it 5/5 stars, however it is definitely carried by Cadia #1 & #3. Cadian Honour is good don't get me wrong, but the character of Minka Lesk still feels somewhat raw and undefined, and the action simply wasn't as comprehensive or as interesting as the other two books. Still a great read, and a definite for any Imperial Guard fans, especially if they want to sink their teeth into something that is similar to Gaunt's Ghosts. Very excited for the next two books in the series.
January 14, 2024
I’d give it a 4.5 if the app would let me but compared to other books I’ve rated enjoyed this the most.
June 18, 2025
Very nice to get a lower down perspective of cadians and the fall of cadia as a whole. Along with how they dealt with it afterwards
November 2, 2023
I am really great full for finding this. It reads a lot like historical novels that I read in college.
The battles are portrayed in a way that I feel doesn’t glorify battle but does move the story forward. I can’t recommend this enough if you are into the 40K universe.
The battles are portrayed in a way that I feel doesn’t glorify battle but does move the story forward. I can’t recommend this enough if you are into the 40K universe.
January 31, 2025
A fantastic set of novels, some of the best written books I've come across in the Black Library.
July 25, 2025
Well Written. Goes deep into a guardsman's way of life while also showing you the general's point of view.
April 11, 2025
I'm a fan of the Imperial Guard in Warhammer, the every-day human armies of regular folks that have little-to-no-chance fighting against giant space monsters, mutant power-armored maniacs and worse. I gave in an got this volume to check out what's so special about Minka Lesk, who now has 2 very cool special plastic models made of her as a company cross promotion, sort of like what they did with Honourbound a while back.
This brick of letters is actually 3 novels and 2 short stories bound together. The first novel was very interesting - it covered the Fall of Cadia - a battle that stands apart in Warhammer as being HUGE, which is saying something when most planets that are in war look like World Wars 1, 2 and a couple of more thrown together with giant robots or mechs or whatnot for good measure. Such a massive scale event, which involves an entire planetary system, billions of lives and more can only be told with a wide cast of characters, and so the author does a great job of hopping between perspectives from the top on down while building the arch towards its inevitable conclusion. This time, the "good guys" lose. Bigly.
The troubles for me as a reader began in the second book, as the author continues this tack of just character hopping. The events of that story are suitably epic (as most Warhammer is epic in scale on so many levels) but Minka Lesk is on the cover here. She's not even a main character in the first two of her books! She's arguably not much of a character in the first even, though we get some time with her in the second.
By book three, this trend is reversed and things are about her and her squad/platoon. This was a welcome change. I wanted to read about her. What is she like, what's it like to serve in such a hardcore space army etc. This book was much better done than the second but I still felt like the main character is missing. Her motivation is clear and simple, which is not a problem. But her personality doesn't really develop. Things happen, she goes places and kicks ass or gets her ass kicked and that's about it really. Justin Hill is a good author, much better than some 40k authors I've read over the years. It just feels like the individuals get lost in all the epic scenery he has set up. I don't want to be that cliche guy that compares any 40k novel to something Dan Abnett, but The Founding (and it's series) does a much better job of keeping individuals busy with interesting and gripping drama in between all the giant craziness that 40k has to offer. I wish there was more of that going on here.
Over all a good read, though I am not sure if I want to bother with the newer additions in Minka Lesk's series. Maybe when they get another omnibus release like this later on.
This brick of letters is actually 3 novels and 2 short stories bound together. The first novel was very interesting - it covered the Fall of Cadia - a battle that stands apart in Warhammer as being HUGE, which is saying something when most planets that are in war look like World Wars 1, 2 and a couple of more thrown together with giant robots or mechs or whatnot for good measure. Such a massive scale event, which involves an entire planetary system, billions of lives and more can only be told with a wide cast of characters, and so the author does a great job of hopping between perspectives from the top on down while building the arch towards its inevitable conclusion. This time, the "good guys" lose. Bigly.
The troubles for me as a reader began in the second book, as the author continues this tack of just character hopping. The events of that story are suitably epic (as most Warhammer is epic in scale on so many levels) but Minka Lesk is on the cover here. She's not even a main character in the first two of her books! She's arguably not much of a character in the first even, though we get some time with her in the second.
By book three, this trend is reversed and things are about her and her squad/platoon. This was a welcome change. I wanted to read about her. What is she like, what's it like to serve in such a hardcore space army etc. This book was much better done than the second but I still felt like the main character is missing. Her motivation is clear and simple, which is not a problem. But her personality doesn't really develop. Things happen, she goes places and kicks ass or gets her ass kicked and that's about it really. Justin Hill is a good author, much better than some 40k authors I've read over the years. It just feels like the individuals get lost in all the epic scenery he has set up. I don't want to be that cliche guy that compares any 40k novel to something Dan Abnett, but The Founding (and it's series) does a much better job of keeping individuals busy with interesting and gripping drama in between all the giant craziness that 40k has to offer. I wish there was more of that going on here.
Over all a good read, though I am not sure if I want to bother with the newer additions in Minka Lesk's series. Maybe when they get another omnibus release like this later on.
February 17, 2024
The worst kind of fan fiction, written by someone who seems to have a decent understanding of the 40k universe , but no understanding of military business, not even fictional Cadian military business. Maybe I'm spoled by Dan Abnett, Aaron Dembski-Bowden or other more competent writers ofmilitary sci-fi, but this book was utter trash. Altogether poorly-paced, wirh a plot and characters that are badly established and defined. The waste of a potentially amazing character. Don't believe me? - buy a second-hand copy and read for yourself.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews