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Cadia #4
Shadow of the Eighth
A Minka Lesk Novel
As Cadia burned, one young recruit rose to prominence. Now a respected captain, Minka Lesk and her Cadian 101st are on a mission to track down the missing 8th Regiment on a nightmarish war-wracked planet.
READ IT BECAUSE
The next chapter in Minka Lesk's saga after her battles in Traitor Rock shows us both the horror and glory of the Cadian legacy in a violent galaxy.
THE STORY
The forces of Cadia struggle ever onward, desperate to avenge the destruction of their home world and prove that even in the wake of profound loss, they remain the exemplars of the Astra Militarum.
When Minka Lesk and the Cadian 101st discover a relic of the missing Cadian 8th – thought lost in the planet’s defence – they see an opportunity to right a past wrong, and follow the trail to Telken’s Rest, a world at the core of the Chaos warlord Drakul-zar’s collapsing regime.
But the Imperium are not the only force to pounce upon the carcass of Telken’s Rest, and Minka soon discovers that there are dark secrets hidden amidst the icy sprawl of hab blocks and manufactoria. As the past comes back to haunt them, the Cadian 101st face a choice – will they stand firm and do what needs to be done, or will the spectre of what they have lost lead them astray?
Written by Justin D Hill
As Cadia burned, one young recruit rose to prominence. Now a respected captain, Minka Lesk and her Cadian 101st are on a mission to track down the missing 8th Regiment on a nightmarish war-wracked planet.
READ IT BECAUSE
The next chapter in Minka Lesk's saga after her battles in Traitor Rock shows us both the horror and glory of the Cadian legacy in a violent galaxy.
THE STORY
The forces of Cadia struggle ever onward, desperate to avenge the destruction of their home world and prove that even in the wake of profound loss, they remain the exemplars of the Astra Militarum.
When Minka Lesk and the Cadian 101st discover a relic of the missing Cadian 8th – thought lost in the planet’s defence – they see an opportunity to right a past wrong, and follow the trail to Telken’s Rest, a world at the core of the Chaos warlord Drakul-zar’s collapsing regime.
But the Imperium are not the only force to pounce upon the carcass of Telken’s Rest, and Minka soon discovers that there are dark secrets hidden amidst the icy sprawl of hab blocks and manufactoria. As the past comes back to haunt them, the Cadian 101st face a choice – will they stand firm and do what needs to be done, or will the spectre of what they have lost lead them astray?
Written by Justin D Hill
351 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 29, 2023
25 people are currently reading
196 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 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 6, 2024
Another solid entry in the Minka Lesk series. Here the author does a good job of spreading around the spotlight to various characters, but all tie together the central narrative. There are relatively few battle scenes, which is a nice change of pace to see the characters in a different light.
September 2, 2023
Justin D. Hill has written some awesome guard novels. This isn’t one. It’s so weird to read through this when you’ve read a lot of the authors other work, it’s just so different and… well… terrible.
The best way to describe this book is that it’s how having ADHD feels like on a bad day where nothing makes sense.
Don’t read it!
The best way to describe this book is that it’s how having ADHD feels like on a bad day where nothing makes sense.
Don’t read it!
October 11, 2025
Very solid book about the Militarum. I thought it did a good job of showing both the horrors of battling against chaos and highlighting the characters personalities. Only knock on it is that at the end things go from zero to a hundred very fast, otherwise it is another great book by Justin.
December 29, 2023
Really like Hill’s style when tackling the human aspect of war in the 41st millennium.
Easy to read, interesting story. Looking forward to more from Lesk 🤞
Easy to read, interesting story. Looking forward to more from Lesk 🤞
January 27, 2025
Surprisingly bad, considering the previous Minka Lesk novels were quite decent. This one has way too many flaws to list them all, from subpar dialogue, boring action scenes, a disjointed story that makes no sense and has nothing interesting to say, with an absurd amount of coincidences and a whole patch of plotholes.
At one point I had to double check because two characters had the very same conversation a few pages apart, with one of them somehow being surprised the second the very same information was told to him, and that was the moment I realized how little effort was put into this.
Avoid this, it's abysmal even for 40k standards.
At one point I had to double check because two characters had the very same conversation a few pages apart, with one of them somehow being surprised the second the very same information was told to him, and that was the moment I realized how little effort was put into this.
Avoid this, it's abysmal even for 40k standards.
November 28, 2024
Let me tell you, there's a lot of setup, but dang, that finale was an adrenaline rush and a half.
I read the last 200 pages in two days and now I can't wait for the sequel, I'm really hoping Justin Hill continues this series!
I read the last 200 pages in two days and now I can't wait for the sequel, I'm really hoping Justin Hill continues this series!
September 14, 2023
That’s how it ended? What!? NOOO! I need more now. But seriously, typical great read by Mr. Hill. The first part of the book reintroduces you to the world of the humble Astra Militarum; you’re in the shit kid and life is sucky and you have to embrace the suck. So many personal flashbacks *shudder*. Then off we go and we’re with Captain Minka (very natural how she was promoted) and the people around her in the grimdark. It’s enthralling how I can be fully engrossed in the detail and the relationships and it’s all organically pertinent and I never feel like it’s a drag or a pet should have been edited out. When the ending came, and it’s an ending (especially for some really likeable characters ‘Cadia Stands!), I was in my morning commute Tokyo train thinking: Justin! What!??? You can’t end it like this cause I need more. But seriously, great read. You’ll eat it up. I just need more.
August 7, 2023
A good read (listen actually) I have enjoyed all of the Lesk books and short stories and if I have one caveat about this book it’s that it seemed to meander too much, personally a shorter more compact book would been preferable. Narration was yet again very good
August 12, 2025
Fantastic but Abrupt
Great story, excellent depiction of setting, battles, and compelling dialogue as always. However, there are spots throughout where events weren’t as fleshed out as others and the ending felt rushed to conclude, which is unfortunate, considering the build up of the struggle towards that climax. A lot of loose ends weren’t tied off and I can’t help but wonder “where’s the rest of it?” Still, I loved Lesk’s final trial in the end and the secret of her resolve harkening back to her very first book. I want to love this book, but too much of it is missing to leave me anything but disappointingly hungry at the end of a fancy dinner.
Great story, excellent depiction of setting, battles, and compelling dialogue as always. However, there are spots throughout where events weren’t as fleshed out as others and the ending felt rushed to conclude, which is unfortunate, considering the build up of the struggle towards that climax. A lot of loose ends weren’t tied off and I can’t help but wonder “where’s the rest of it?” Still, I loved Lesk’s final trial in the end and the secret of her resolve harkening back to her very first book. I want to love this book, but too much of it is missing to leave me anything but disappointingly hungry at the end of a fancy dinner.
March 2, 2025
Again, an improvement over the third book provides a compelling albeit small mystery as to what's going on, and the book having less action than the previous entry meant more time was spent developing the plot. Some plot threads aren't fully developed or concluded, so hopefully, an eventual 5th book could wrap those up.
Overall 7/10, low 4 stars.
Overall 7/10, low 4 stars.
May 9, 2024
Honestly, nothing about any of it made any sense.
The more you think about everything that happened in the story the more confused you get.
The dialogue between the characters also seemed very...I don't know how to put it into words, wooden and stale, like...that's not really how people tend to talk to each other.
I would say only buy this book if you really...really love your Cadians. Even then, if you really want to read a book about Cadians I would recommend Longshot by Rob Young.
The more you think about everything that happened in the story the more confused you get.
The dialogue between the characters also seemed very...I don't know how to put it into words, wooden and stale, like...that's not really how people tend to talk to each other.
I would say only buy this book if you really...really love your Cadians. Even then, if you really want to read a book about Cadians I would recommend Longshot by Rob Young.
July 27, 2024
3.5 rounded up to 4* for me the final third seemed to loose its way a bit, the build up to the final battle scene seemed a bit rushed and then didn’t end on a satisfying payoff. That said If you are a fan of this series as I am, you’ll find a lot to love, and it’s clear that things are in place for the series to continue, and I look forward to the next instalment!
April 21, 2025
I like the Minka Leak books but I found this one to be a little bit of a let down, it tried to build up this mystery but it never really paid off
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews