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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)
750 pages, Paperback
First published June 29, 2023
About the author
Justin D. Hill
52 books79 followersJustin D. Hill is the creator of Minka Lesk and the author of the Warhammer 40,000 novels Cadia Stands, Cadian Honour, Traitor Rock, Shadow of the Eighth, Hell’s Last and Pilgrims of Fire. His other Black Library fiction ranges from the underhives of Necromunda in Terminal Overkill to the darkness of The Bookkeeper’s Skull and the battlefields of the Space Marines.
He has been part of the Warhammer hobby for most of his life. He bought his first White Dwarf at the age of ten, became a long-time Imperial Guard player, and has accumulated armies, miniatures and rather more unpainted plastic than is probably reasonable.
As Justin Hill, he is an award-winning novelist whose work has three times been nominated for the Booker Prize. In 2001, The Independent on Sunday named him one of the UK's Top Twenty Young British Writers.
Born in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, he grew up in York and studied Old English and Medieval Literature at Durham University. After graduating, he spent seven years working with Voluntary Service Overseas in rural China and Eritrea.
Much of his writing career has been devoted to stories about people caught up in the collapse of worlds, from the fall of Cadia to England on the eve of the Norman Conquest, the upheavals of modern China and the aftermath of war in Eritrea.
He travelled overland from China to Europe twice, once on the Trans-Siberian Railway and once through the Hindu Kush. His time in Eritrea ended dramatically in June 1998, when he was airlifted out through a recently bombed airport, with Ethiopian fighter jets circling overhead.
His first novel, The Drink and Dream Teahouse, won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and a Betty Trask Award, was chosen by The Washington Post as one of the top novels of 2001, and was banned in China. His second novel, Passing Under Heaven, won the Somerset Maugham Award. Ciao Asmara, his account of his years in Eritrea, was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award.
His historical novels Shieldwall and Viking Fire explore the wars and upheavals that culminated in the Norman Conquest. Shieldwall was chosen by The Sunday Times as a Book of the Year, while Viking Fire, which follows the extraordinary life of Harald Hardrada, was a Times Book of the Year.
He was also selected to write Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, the novelisation of the sequel to the Oscar-winning film.
His books have been translated into seventeen languages.
He lives in the foothills of the North Yorkshire Moors, where he still paints and plays Warhammer.
He has been part of the Warhammer hobby for most of his life. He bought his first White Dwarf at the age of ten, became a long-time Imperial Guard player, and has accumulated armies, miniatures and rather more unpainted plastic than is probably reasonable.
As Justin Hill, he is an award-winning novelist whose work has three times been nominated for the Booker Prize. In 2001, The Independent on Sunday named him one of the UK's Top Twenty Young British Writers.
Born in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, he grew up in York and studied Old English and Medieval Literature at Durham University. After graduating, he spent seven years working with Voluntary Service Overseas in rural China and Eritrea.
Much of his writing career has been devoted to stories about people caught up in the collapse of worlds, from the fall of Cadia to England on the eve of the Norman Conquest, the upheavals of modern China and the aftermath of war in Eritrea.
He travelled overland from China to Europe twice, once on the Trans-Siberian Railway and once through the Hindu Kush. His time in Eritrea ended dramatically in June 1998, when he was airlifted out through a recently bombed airport, with Ethiopian fighter jets circling overhead.
His first novel, The Drink and Dream Teahouse, won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and a Betty Trask Award, was chosen by The Washington Post as one of the top novels of 2001, and was banned in China. His second novel, Passing Under Heaven, won the Somerset Maugham Award. Ciao Asmara, his account of his years in Eritrea, was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award.
His historical novels Shieldwall and Viking Fire explore the wars and upheavals that culminated in the Norman Conquest. Shieldwall was chosen by The Sunday Times as a Book of the Year, while Viking Fire, which follows the extraordinary life of Harald Hardrada, was a Times Book of the Year.
He was also selected to write Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, the novelisation of the sequel to the Oscar-winning film.
His books have been translated into seventeen languages.
He lives in the foothills of the North Yorkshire Moors, where he still paints and plays Warhammer.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
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 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.
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.
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.
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
June 18, 2026
Minka Lesk: The Last Whiteshield
☆☆☆☆
Short "i got mini's to paint, make it quick" version:
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
40k life simulator. What's it like living in the 41 millenium for a normal human being ... living on a world with a demon spouting black hole hanging over it ... being trained as a soldier since you could walk ... and praying to a skelletal god sitting on an iron throne somewhere ...? Well this book(s) answers all these questions and more! It's gritty, it's bloody, its balls to the wall action and thats how a warhammer book should be.
Full "my pile of shame aint going nowhere, F-ck it" version:
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
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Check out my individual reviews of the books contained in this omnibus of sorts. Or ... get to the pile of shame! No more excuses, paint those guards ... and they better be Cadian.
☆☆☆☆
Short "i got mini's to paint, make it quick" version:
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
40k life simulator. What's it like living in the 41 millenium for a normal human being ... living on a world with a demon spouting black hole hanging over it ... being trained as a soldier since you could walk ... and praying to a skelletal god sitting on an iron throne somewhere ...? Well this book(s) answers all these questions and more! It's gritty, it's bloody, its balls to the wall action and thats how a warhammer book should be.
Full "my pile of shame aint going nowhere, F-ck it" version:
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Error page not found
Check out my individual reviews of the books contained in this omnibus of sorts. Or ... get to the pile of shame! No more excuses, paint those guards ... and they better be Cadian.
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.
October 20, 2026
This is an omnibus with quite an awkward concept. The loose thread is Minka Leak, a Cadian soldier who is featured in different roles throughout the stories contained here.
Cadia Stands: this one works as a side story to The Fall Of Cadia, starting before the invasion of the planet, and ending with the last stand on Faith's Anchorage. The first part is more of a collection of single sketches from the war, than a coherent story, and it is quite boring at times, while the second part, starting with the Warp invasion of Cadia, and the escape from it, is better executed. Minka Lesk is a minor character here, graduating from whiteshield to shock trooper at the end of the story.
The Place Of Pain And Healing: a short story about Minka's and Rath's time on the Space Wolves' cruiser, before joining the other Cadian survivors. There are some oneiric moments that don't amount to much, and all in all, this is an ok, but forgettable tale.
The Battle For Markgraaf Hive: this one is quite nice, with real tension and elements of horror; too bad it ends in an unsatisfactory way, with an open finale that doesn't explain much of what has happened.
Cadian Honour: the second long-form novel in the collection, and the best one so far. Once again, Minka (now a sergeant) is the least interesting character in the story; the writer seems to think so too, judging by the time he spends on other characters. There is a lot of military sci-fi action, and while nothing is groundbreaking, this is a solid read.
Traitor Rock: the last novel, a straightforward military piece about a siege on the planet Malouri against traitor troops. I suspect this is what the author really wanted to write about, because this is the finest moment in the whole collection. No demons, no Space Marines, just strategy, action, and camaraderie. Even Minka comes out as a rounder, developed and better character.
In the end, this is a good book, but Minka is a strange choice for the main character of the omnibus. In a way, her portrait is realistic: she is not a super soldier, has doubts, but an earnest faith in the Emperor, she doesn't know much, but war. That said, most of the time she is frankly boring, and most of the narration is carried by other characters.
Cadia Stands: this one works as a side story to The Fall Of Cadia, starting before the invasion of the planet, and ending with the last stand on Faith's Anchorage. The first part is more of a collection of single sketches from the war, than a coherent story, and it is quite boring at times, while the second part, starting with the Warp invasion of Cadia, and the escape from it, is better executed. Minka Lesk is a minor character here, graduating from whiteshield to shock trooper at the end of the story.
The Place Of Pain And Healing: a short story about Minka's and Rath's time on the Space Wolves' cruiser, before joining the other Cadian survivors. There are some oneiric moments that don't amount to much, and all in all, this is an ok, but forgettable tale.
The Battle For Markgraaf Hive: this one is quite nice, with real tension and elements of horror; too bad it ends in an unsatisfactory way, with an open finale that doesn't explain much of what has happened.
Cadian Honour: the second long-form novel in the collection, and the best one so far. Once again, Minka (now a sergeant) is the least interesting character in the story; the writer seems to think so too, judging by the time he spends on other characters. There is a lot of military sci-fi action, and while nothing is groundbreaking, this is a solid read.
Traitor Rock: the last novel, a straightforward military piece about a siege on the planet Malouri against traitor troops. I suspect this is what the author really wanted to write about, because this is the finest moment in the whole collection. No demons, no Space Marines, just strategy, action, and camaraderie. Even Minka comes out as a rounder, developed and better character.
In the end, this is a good book, but Minka is a strange choice for the main character of the omnibus. In a way, her portrait is realistic: she is not a super soldier, has doubts, but an earnest faith in the Emperor, she doesn't know much, but war. That said, most of the time she is frankly boring, and most of the narration is carried by other characters.
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 - 11 of 11 reviews