Hero of the Imperium

Ciaphas Cain #1-3

by Sandy Mitchell

In the war torn future of the 41st Millennium Commissar Ciaphas Cain, hero of the Imperium, is respected by his peers and an inspiration to his men – at least that’s what the propaganda would have you believe. The reality is very different, for Ciaphas is simply looking for an easy life and a way to stay out of peril. However, fate has a habit of throwing him into the deadliest situations, and luck (mixed with self preservation) always manages to pull him through and onto the loftiest of pedestals. To survive Commissar Cain must dodge, bluff and trick his way out of trouble, even if it increases his status beyond his control!

Featuring futuristic military action, thrills and humour, Hero of the Imperium collects the novels For the Emperor, Caves of Ice and The Traitor’s Hand, plus three exclusive short stories.

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k, Fiction, Fantasy, Humor, Military Fiction, Military Science Fiction

768 pages, Paperback

First published May 8, 2007

About the author

Sandy Mitchell is a pseudonym of Alex Stewart, who has been a full-time writer since the mid nineteen eighties. The majority of his work as Sandy has been tie-in fiction for Games Workshop's Warhammer fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 science fiction lines. The exceptions have been a novelisation of episodes from the high tech thriller series Bugs, for which he also worked as a scriptwriter under his own name, some Warhammer roleplaying game material, and a scattering of short stories and magazine articles.

His hobbies include the martial arts of Aikido and Iaido, miniature wargaming, role-playing games, and pottering about on the family allotment.

He lives in the North Essex village of Earls Colne, with his wife Judith and daughter Hester.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun and something quite different for the Warhammer universe. Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium, our protagonist, tells the various tales as memoirs, compiled after he retired by Amberley Vail, Ordo Xenos, whom he had a rather storied relationship with. All in all, this omnibus contains three full length novels and three short stories. Like Gaunt in the Gaunt's Ghosts series, Cain serves the Emperor as a commissar, e.g., a political officer outside of normal military hierarchies. Unlike Gaunt, however, Cain is something of a cad, a completely self-centered man concerned primarily with saving his own hide at any cost. Yet, he also has a reputation as a great hero! How does that work? Well Mitchell somehow makes it work nicely.

I loved the narrative voice of the novel, largely told via Cain's own notes, but with Amberley Vail serving as a rather sardonic editor, inserting footnotes and such as each tale progresses. Cain wants (in no special order) good drink and food, a nice place to crash, and ideally some lovely women. His job, however, often gets in the way. Luckily for him, he possesses a competent aide, albeit one that has a rather distinct and powerful body aroma. Cain is largely attached to a company of infantry from an ice planet, Valhalla, and a rather unusual one at that as it is mixed between men and women (bit of a story there). Despite his craven ways, Cain often finds himself in the thick of things, much to his own chagrin, as most often he tries to avoid such things. Ironically, his tendency to avoid combat as much as possible often involves strategies that land him right were he does not want to be.

While Hero of the Imperium may not be laugh out loud funny, it certainly had me grinning most of the way through. Cain manages to fool most everyone to prop up his hero image, but the editor knows him too well to fool her. Still, Cain's own tendency to belittle himself and his courage the editor often notes that he may be too hard on himself after all. He does manage to save many worlds here from Chaos agents, orcs and worse. If action is your bag, there is plenty of that here also, but definitely not as much as some other Warhammer installments. 4 humourous stars!

[Alytha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Warhammer 40K tie-in novel, presenting the life and works of Comissar Ciaphas Cain, the most heroic man in the human Empire. It contains 3 novels, For The Emperor, Caves of Ice and The Traitor's Hand and the short stories The Beguiling, Fight or Flight and Echoes of the Tomb.

The plot they follow is basically the same every time: Caine and his regiment, the 597th Valhallan, are sent to some Emperorforsaken planet to fight against the scum of the universe, and it generally develops into action-loaded military campaigns, and some politics, and things tend to go extremely ploin-shaped. (I don't know what a ploin is or what shape it is, but ploins and squinches are the funniest-sounding vegetables I've ever encountered in fiction) But the main reason to read these books is not the terribly original plot, but that they're really entertaining. Caine and his extremely malodorous aide Jurgen are basically Blackadder and Baldrick transposed into the far future (although Jurgen is actually very efficient in his work, if not the brightest bulb in the chandelier). The books are narrated by Caine as first-person narrator, and deliciously sarcastic.

In addition to that, there is an editor, who is revealed as Amberley Vail, an Inquisitor who shares Caine's sense for sarcasm (as well as...other things), and who peppers the text with her footnotes. At regular intervals, she adds excerpts from other sources to complement Caine's rather self-centered narration. These are generally written in a prose so purple that it verges on ultra-violet, and Amberley repeatedly apologises for inflicting this on her readers.

Caine keeps insisting that his reputation as Hero of the Imperium is wholly undeserved, and that what he really wants is peace and quiet and a nice glass of amasec. Although he does things which appear nice on the outside, like treating his soldiers with respect and sympathy, and in turn earning their respect and almost friendship, he insists that he does this for the sole reason that they'll like him enough to defend him in combat. Also, he goes on the first shuttle to embark, because that way, he'll get the nicest quarters...Somehow, this image gets him stuck into the worst crisis situations against the worst monsters, and through some cosmic irony (and Jurgen's melta), he always manages to vanquish them, which adds to his image and gets him sent off to the next tricky place...

It is questionable though how much of this hard shell is genuine, as often he goes quite a bit beyond what would count as sheer egoism, and he has a really good working relationship with both the simple troopers and the officers of the regiment.

So, in general, I really enjoyed this collection, it was a nice, entertaining and funny read.
One little thing though: it kinda presupposes that you have a bit of background knowledge about Warhammer 40K, which I don't really have...I just painted a hippie jeans dealer Genestealer squad for somebody at BWRPS once :) So I sometimes couldn't really follow everything going on, or imagine what stuff looks like...but it is definetely possible to enjoy these books without having any 40K experience.

All in all 8/10, although I don't think I'll get the other books from the series.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

If epic science fiction stories aren't your thing, don't be thrown off by the total. The tag line of the 40K Universe setting may be "In the grim future of the 40th millennium, there is only war" but in the 41st millenium Commissar Ciaphas Cain is nothing so much as Flashman reborn.

The collection consists of three novels and three short stories starring Cain, and all take the form of the man's memoirs, arranged and annotated by the mysterious yet charming Inquisitor he frequently worked beside. In them the self-proclaimed coward trips, is thrust, or is promoted into one dangerous situation after another only to survive through a combination of luck, the loyalty of his taciturn aide, a powerful ability to bullshit, and some skill with the weapons of the day.

Overall I'd rate the book rather highly, finding it to be an easy and enjoyable read with multiple stopping points for those intimidated by its sheer size.

[Charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Imperial Guard commanders tended to distrust the political officers assigned to them, often with good reason. Most of the time, about all you could hope for was to develop a tolerable working relationship and try not to tread on one another's toes too much. That worked for me; even back then I realised commissars who threw their weight around tended to end up dying heroically for the Emperor, even if the enemy was a suspiciously long way away at the time.
(Fight Or Flight, Sandy Mitchell)

Ah, this was a disappointment. When I first heard the premise of the Ciaphas Cain series I was delighted. If Gaunt's Ghosts: The Founding is the 40k universe's equivalent of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe's Eagle, with grim-faced soldiers marching through hell on the back of martial virtues and charismatic leadership, then writing a Flashman novel in Games Workshop's grimdark setting seemed like the perfect foil to this grouchiness. After all, Harry Flashman was already lifted from Tom Brown's Schooldays anyway, so transposing a rascally coward who keeps blundering his way into looking like a hero into yet another universe seemed like a recipe for success.

Indeed, when I then heard that Sandy Mitchell further innovated on the formula by leaving his books open to the suggestion that Cain might actually be a genuine hero, albeit so full of self-hatred that he retrospectively ascribes the lowest possible motivations to his own actions, I was absolutely on board. Here was an update of Flashman, with an innovative twist to develop the character, ready to skewer the grimdark silliness of Warhammer 40k's universe with a series of comedic romps.

As my tone here undoubtedly suggests, this was not the case.

The frustrating thing is that the opening short story, 'Fight or Flight', actually pulls this off magnificently. The story is snarky, clever, and laugh-out-loud funny as the cowardly Commissar Cain stumbles his way into saving the day despite his best efforts to be a self-serving deserter. The character's voice is lively, the setting plausibly handled, and the escalating farce of desperate panic and improvised arse-covering had me giggling through every page. The story lived up to my expectations perfectly, and I looked forward to the first novel with fresh relish.

This, apparently, might have been the problem. From the introduction to this omnibus it is clear that Mitchell initially only had the short story in mind when he first came up with the character, and it was the popularity of the story that lead to Games Workshop asking him to expand the character into a series of novels. In the process... something slipped. The character changes, and although his snarky narrative voice is still present, the further I read the more obvious it became that this was not the same Cain that had appeared in the opening short story. Sure, he calls himself a coward and throws out self-condemnatory remarks before every action, but it is all very flimsy, and many of the actions he takes cannot be interpreted as unheroic no matter the cynicism you use to analyse it.

What's more, Cain is, unfortunately, an absolute badass. He is an astute military officer with a firm grasp of politics, attentive to tactical challenges and astonishingly effective in managing the morale of his troops. Though he claims that he is just being manipulative and trying to protect his own back, this rings false because he is constantly saving people's lives in an entirely un-grimdark fashion. Most annoyingly, he accomplishes this with a military prowess, particularly in melee combat, that is utterly ridiculous. One scene, at the end of the first book, where he single-handedly swordfights a genestealer patriarch in front of his memoir's editor (who does not then contradict this in any of the footnotes), cemented the decline in storytelling from the original story. Cain should have been a coward, but instead he is a hero, and a frankly implausible one at that. Aside from some cynical remarks about the Imperium's bureaucracy and some unflattering accounts of his own thinking in the moments before each fight, I cannot imagine that Cain's published memoirs are actually all that different from his secret ones.

Now the fact that Cain can be read heroically isn't necessarily that bad. After all, I liked the idea of the scoundrel coward slowly evolving across a series until the reader is left ambiguous as to whether he really is a coward any more, and not a brave hero suffering from imposter syndrome, but this hypothetical character arc is something that should have happened across the series. The first few books should have revelled in his cowardice, in him betraying loyal guardsmen looking to report his unscrupulous behaviour, and in him blundering by complete chance into victories he desperately did not want. What's more, this possibility of subtly showing a self-hating hero is completely undermined by the fact that Mitchell flat out tells the reader that this is the case on the second page of the first novel!

In fairness, it should also be pointed out here that Cain is his own harshest critic, often going out of his way to deny that the many instances in which he appears, despite his professed baser motives, to have acted primarily out of loyalty or altruism were any such thing. It would be ironic, indeed, if his awareness of his shortcomings should have blinded him to his own (admittedly often well-hidden) virtues.

It is also worth reflecting that if, as if often asserted, courage consists not of the absence of fear but the overcoming of it, Cain does indeed richly deserve his heroic reputation, even if he always steadfastly denied the fact.
(For the Emperor, Sandy Mitchell)

This passage boggled me when I read it, and only grew more frustrating when Mitchell repeated some variation to it at the start of each subsequent novel. If Cain developed into a self-hating hero (and that is a big IF), then it should have been a subtle process, and one riddled with ambiguity so that a reader could not really be sure whether such a development had taken place. If Cain's heroism ever became obvious and indisputable, then of course the editor would make this remark in their introduction to his work, thereby clearing up any ambiguity. But once that ambiguity is gone, it is impossible to interpret Cain as a coward, and we are left with a shallow outline of the Cain we first encountered.

It is not that a heroic Cain is a bad idea, but that this is the worst way Mitchell could have done it. A Mary Sue does not cease to be a Mary Sue simply because they vocally deny that they are one, whilst doing all the things that a Mary Sue would have done in their situation.

Setting aside my disappointment at Cain's character having all the interesting edges rubbed off in order to make a more marketable (and bland) hero, the stories of each novel are very formulaic. Even in the space of this three volume omnibus it became obvious how each story was going to pan out because they all use the following structure:
1 - Cain and his men are sent to an exotic planet to deal with an obvious threat (be them Tau, Orcs, or Chaos).
2 - Whilst preparing for this, Cain becomes aware of another, hidden threat that the obvious conflict is distracting people from. (Genestealers, Necrons, and... uhh... Chaos).
3 - In addition to these two threats, an internal agent that should be allied to the Imperium will end up working against them by the end (A planetary governor corrupted by the genestealer cult, Adeptus Mechanicus workers worshipping Necron technology, and a rival inquisitor who gets in the way of Cain's investigation).

Once you notice the formula developing, it is hard to unsee it - though it must be admitted that each novel does refine the formula a little more successfully than the last.

What's more, there is also a lot of writing that simply falls flat. Jurgen, Cain's aide, stinks, which is apparently a joke because it gets brought up in every chapter at least twice. There is lots of telling where there should be showing, such as when Cain's troops or commanders address him informally or with admiration, at which point a footnote points this out with excitement because Commissars are usually hated by everyone, showing how effective Cain is at manipulating/managing morale... as if the reader was not capable of noticing this themselves. Then there are all the stock phrases repeated every chapter ("If I had known X I was getting into, then I'd have Y" is a particularly annoying one) that make it feel like Mitchell is padding for time, or trying to drum up tension when the story was tense enough anyway.

Which I suppose draws me onto the inevitable concession... I did like these books. There is, despite everything, stuff to recommend to them. Although certain jokes are repeated about each character, they are fleshed out enough to be likeable, and Mitchell does an excellent job of making the 40k universe feel lived-in by situating his conflicts in plausible urban environments. I'm not sure how many other of the 40k writers mention wrangling your way into the best hotel rooms, or troopers bunking off to drinking taverns and hooking up with each other during space-flights, or depict officers more concerned with scoffing on the biscuits at tactical meetings than with looking grim-facedly at the malfunctioning holo-displays, but I imagine it's not many. The tone is breezy and it is clear that Mitchell is having fun resisting the typical 40k grimness.

Accordingly, when the cynical touches of darkness poke in at the edges every now and then, these moments are more effective because Cain doesn't really draw attention to them. Firing squads, forced lobotomies, and suicidal death squads are such a normal part of his political reality that he treats cavalierly the things that we would look on with horror. This is a horrible universe, full of colossal terrors and chittering teeth in the outer dark, but people still have to live their lives. They crack jokes about the doctrines they swear by, make friends in unlikely places, and live the messy and contradictory lives that more generic world-building is normally blind to. This, in combination with his attention to everyday material details, ultimately makes the drama more effective because you feel like these planets matter, that people actually live there, and that the citizens of the Imperium don't deserve all the horrible shit the galaxy/lore writers keep throwing at them. For that, Mitchell deserves applause.

It might seem unfair that I'm judging the book entirely on what it's not. If you go in expecting a narrative about an almost superhumanly brilliant, but under-confident commissar, then you'll probably have a great time. Unfortunately the opening story so perfectly captures a more ambitious and dangerous character, a charismatic rascal so awful and hilariously self-obsessed, that his subsequent softening in the novels made them frustrating to read, not least because his narrative voice pretends to be the same person. But he's not - this is a zombie Cain, speaking with the same tone, and using the same vocal cords, whilst being an utterly different character from what was promised. Perhaps this wouldn't be so annoying if the fan-base didn't believe that this change hadn't happened. To see the memes that other readers have made, I find myself wondering if they read the same book as me. The discourse around these books is of a rascal stumbling into heroism against his worse intentions, and maybe the later books in the series recapture the energy of that first story, but on the basis of this omnibus I can only conclude that this zombie-Cain has convinced his readers that he is something he is not.

What can I say? Mitchell teased me with a taste of the Flashman-in-Space story he clearly was capable of writing, only to then offer up a serviceable (albeit amusingly written) reluctant hero for our delectation. It wasn't an offensive meal, sure, but it isn't what I ordered.

[Nolan Goober · Rating 4 out of 5]

(25/30)
So many seemingly meaningless details that serve to make the IG feel more human in ways I haven't gotten from other IG books.
Some repetition, but that's to be expected from a 756 page long book that focuses on just one character.

[Johannes Hjortshøj]

A collection of the first three books in a series of novels depicting the adventures of the bold and swashbuckling political officer of humanities grimdark future. At least that is what most of the public believes. Ciaphas Cain is in fact a coward more often than not out to save his own neck, despite being frequently deployed to the frontlines of humanities eternal war. His heroic reputation is born from a series of coincidences and careful manipulations that stem as a result from him trying to stay alive against all odds and yet somehow ending up saving the day time and again, thus further cementing his undeserved reputation.
A fun yet grim depiction of a vast unforgiving sci-fi universe that I can recommend to any fan of Warhammer, Blackadder or high flying swashbuckler novels in science fiction.

[Noctvrnal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This omnibus contains 3 novels and same amount of short stories so I won't be delving into discussing each because it would take up too much time. I will just briefly say that I think Cain books are a good entry point into a Warhammer 40k universe. They are lighthearted when appropriate and otherwise fast-paced and exciting to follow the lead and his adventures.

[Lee Dunning · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never read military sci-fi before, and those who are more serious minded will claim I still haven't. The Ciaphas Cain books take place in the Warhammer 40K universe, which for anyone at all familiar with the gaming system, will be aware of the fact that it is a very grim place to visit. So, it's doubly amazing that Sandy Mitchell's tales are such fun to read.

Before we get much further, allow me to tell you a bit about the "book" itself. It's actually a compendium. Within its 700+ pages you will find three short stories and three novels. It's arranged so you start with a short story and follow it up with a novel. Repeat that pattern three times. As an added bonus, the short stories serve as an introductory to the big nasty Ciaphas faces in the novels. They're roughly chronological, and they're presented as excerpts from his autobiography with added notes by an inquisitor of his acquaintance. For added depth a few sections from other historical works are sprinkled throughout to give a broader view of the ongoing conflict detailed in the stories.

One of the things I liked about the series was that little to no knowledge of Warhammer 40K is necessary. A number of vehicles and weapons are discussed throughout the stories, but they're presented in context, so it's very easy to get a good idea of what a Chimera or a lasgun are like. The nasty monsters are presented in vivid detail, so regardless of whether the story focuses on Necrons, Genestealers, or Orks, it's easy to visualize what it is Ciaphas and his soldiers are struggling against.

In addition to Ciaphas Cain, a number of other interesting characters appear throughout each story. One in particular, Jurgen, Cain's primary flunky is highly entertaining. He doesn't actually have much in the way of personality, however that is indeed part of his character. The way the other characters react to him is what really brings him to life. He's as stalwart a sidekick as any could ever ask for, and as the story progress, it becomes apparent that he is more than just a collection of bad odors and skin diseases.

Cain himself is an interesting individual. He claims throughout the stories to possess little to no courage, or interest in keeping those around him alive (unless in doing so his odds of survival will increase), however many of his actions indicate he's more complex than this. His dealings with other soldiers show a shrewd person with innate leadership skills. His manipulation of people (which he claims is purely self-serving) is one of the more entertaining aspects of the books.

The only problem I had with the collection was that Cain uses certain phrases fairly frequently. This wouldn't be too apparent if one were to read a single novel and then read a second a few weeks or months later. However, with a compendium I found myself reading three shorts and three novels back-to-back. In that situation, the reuse of phrases got a bit annoying. However, not annoying enough to keep me from putting the second compendium on my wish list.

[scafandr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Комиссар Каин - знаковый персонаж для мира Вархаммера. У Сэнди Митчелла случайно получилось придумать героя, которого читатели требовали еще и еще. А началось все с небольшого рассказа, в котором комиссар Кайафас Каин, который искал пути сбежать с поля боя, неожиданно вышел героем из ситуации. А дальше пошли новые романы и рассказы, и вроде как даже продолжают выходить.
В комиссаре легко запутаться. Особенно если еще ориентироваться на мнение других читателей. Большинство называют его трусом, который при первом удобном случае убегает от проблем. Да, не без этого, конечно, героизма Каин не ищет, но все-таки трусом его назвать сложно. Как только кто-то указывает комиссару на его слабость и направляет на правильный путь, он тут же превращается в грамотного стратега и хорошего руководителя. Так что какой же это конченый трус?
Поначалу мне показалось, что цикл представляет собой пародию на бравого солдата Швейка, но снова нет. каину до Швейка оооочень далеко. Да и юмора в книге не так много, как сразу кажется. Но мне нравится, как Сэнди Мичтелл периодически вставляет шутки или стебет ваховские стереотипы. Из-за этого романы читаются легко, без напряга.
Сборник включает в себя первые 3 рассказа или 3 романа цикла о Кайафасе Каине, комиссаре, приставленному к полку имперской гвардии. Астра милитарум мне не так интересна, как космодесантники, но иногда же нужно чем-то разбавлять один и тот же надоевший напиток. Цикл о Каине мне напомнил другие циклы о героях, как, например, "Комические волки". Каждый роман - это герой и еще кто-то. Герой и тираниды, герой и некроны, герой и еретики. Каждый раз это новое место, новые враги, но старые набившие оскомину победы. С Каином все то же. Примерно половину романа ты гадаешь, кто стоит за всем этим мракобесием, а потом плохиши выходят из тени и остается только дождаться финальной схватки.
Первые два романа неплохи. Сначала казалось, что все на уровне семерочки, ваха как ваха, ничего особенного, но потом все же решил, что автор неплохо раскрыл героя, читалось легко и удовольствие от чтения я таки получил. Поэтому пускай это будут восьмерки.
А вот третий роман мне показался сильно скучнее. Орды еретиков не смогли зажечь во мне огонь интереса. Слишком много возни, отсутствие продвижения сюжета, невнятные антагонисты... Я очень надеюсь, что цикл не скатился сразу после второго романа, а то ж у меня еще два омника куплены и лежат в очереди...
Рассказы приятные, они дополняют следующие за ними романы, поэтому пропускать их крайне нежелательно.
В целом получилось по романам 8/8/6 из 10. Довольно приятный цикл с духом старой вахи (все писалось в нулевые годы). Весело, задорно, подруга у Каина зачетная (и симпатичная), местами ее комментарии в сносках весьма смешные. А если бы Каин не прятался иногда в кусты, то скорее всего все ограничилось бы одним романом и венком на его могилке.

[Jonny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another foray into military science fiction, this time from the slightly more tongue in cheek side of the Black Library. The eponymous Comissar (yes, think those cheery Stalinist types, although our hero's own sense of self preservation steers him wrote resolutely away from any such excesses) fumbles his way through three novels and an equal number of short, backstory filing short stories. Aided and abetted by his ever loyal, rarely thinking and terminally malodorous aide Jurgen, with occasional aid from the Imperial Inquisition, it's a light-hearted sci-fi homage to George McDonald Fraser's Flashman series, well written with enough of a sense of irony regarding its setting to be entertaining, although I do have my doubts as to the ongoing longevity of the series.

[AJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty much “Flashman in Spaaace”. I have no interest in WH40K generally, but Cain is an inveterate liar, a cheat, utterly selfish and self-serving, and in a setting as sincerely fascist and edgelord as this it’s a lot of fun to read about someone like him conniving to survive.
It’s pulpy, clever, fun with good prose and recommend it as a pleasant diversion or peccadillo during the Inside Times.

[Edward Willems · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ciaphis Cain was not at all what I was expecting. I've read a few exploits of the various heroes of the Astra Militarum, and most of them boil down into exciting military skirmishes with some intrigue and politics as a backdrop. From the description of Cain the reluctant hero, I was expecting a comedically arrogant coward bumbling his way into success and honour at the expense of his regiment in the heart of pitched battle. But the three books contained in Hero of the Imperium are fast and punchy military spy thrillers. They read more like Indiana Jones or James Bond action flicks than Warhammer battles - mysterious temples, multi-level conspiracies, femme fatales and desperate gambits. Cain is an incredibly engaging lead - a debonair and fiercely intelligent tactician. But his speeches and interactions are always framed (by himself as narrator) as manipulative, his motives always selfish, and acts of concern for his compatriots always laden with ulterior motives. He seems to want to present himself as a con man, while all the events of his story are faultless and heroic. Author Sandy Mitchell surprises you with a genius move, calling out these contradictions within the text through an "editor" annotating the proceedings. Inquisitor Amberley Vail invites us to second guess everything Cain has written about himself, and throws another layer of complication into the reader's perception of our titular hero. Cain tells us he's not what he seems, and the structure of the book challenges him on that. Truly unique and constantly charming. The three adventures are all chock full of rivals, heroic banter, and a multitude of twists that keep everything moving in interesting directions.

My few complaints are more nitpicks than anything severe: certain jokes and descriptions feel pretty repetitive throughout these three tales. Cain's aide Jurgen is described almost exclusively by his body odour on every page, the editor's inclusion of supplemental materials is always preceded with the same dig at its poor prose (despite it reading pretty similarly to the rest of the book), and far too many scenes and chapters end with a clumsily foreshadowed sentence basically reiterating "but if I'd known what THAT would lead to, I would have stayed home." Warhammer novels also almost universally refuse to describe what their vehicles and starships look like, which might hold this back from being truly accessible to new readers. But those small issues don't get in the way of a trio of fun and unpredictable action mysteries. I'd highly recommend this to anyone either curious about Warhammer, or just looking for a unique spy thriller set in the impossibly distant future.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Right, yep, it’s a Warhammer novel. A geeky Warhammer novel based on those little make-believe soldiers you paint and then battle your friends with.

BUT YOU KNOW WHAT - I LOVED IT.

Let me explain - this book was sold to me as Flashman in Space. And if anything is described in such terms, I’ll bloody read it.

Flashman in Jane Austen? Sound, I’ll grab my corset. Huzzah, sisters!

Flashman in We Need to Talk About Kevin? Great, assemble the Fusiliers outside the school!

I’d even read a Danny Cipriani fan-fiction based upon A Court of Thorns and Roses if there is even a hint of the swash-cowering Victorian imperial endeavour.

This book is exactly what it promises to be. A ruddy-good-show-old-sport romp in the world of Warhammer 40K where Ciaphas Cain runs away from cannibalistic orcs and chaos hordes in equal measure. There is no depth in which his self-serving fleeing bravado won’t allow him to plummet, meaning his smelly and underappreciated aide has to save the day (again and again).

Great at every turn! Huzzah for the Empire! Huzzah for the God Emperor!

      

[Nose · Rating 4 out of 5]

La idea meter a un personaje cuya principal motivación es sobrevivir y alejarse del peligro lo máximo posible en un mundo con tanta guerra, sacrificio y fanatismo como el de Warhammer 40K es muy curiosa. Además, la preocupación por sus tropas nos hace ver que no es tan egoísta como parece y le da cierta complejidad al personaje.

Tanto los 3 libros como las historias cortas que hay en este libro tiene la misma fórmula pero aún así consigue sorprender. Tampoco es que tengan que cambiar la fórmula ya que la gracia del personaje es precisamente el ver como se mete en líos e intenta sobrevivir a ellos, aumentando su gran reputación. Con respecto a las anotaciones de la inquisidora, que va comentando y añadiendo información de las aventuras de Ciaphas Cain, algunas son interesantes pero otras no tienen relevancia alguna y podrían incluso descartarse.

[Señora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ojalá pudiera vivir solo de historias de Ciaphas Cain.

[nooker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had been curious about Ciaphas Cain, now I will have to look into him more.

[Alexandre Mainaud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plaisant à lire - du Grimdark avec de l'humour ça fait du bien

[Abbi Parke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved everything about this, as soon as the others are available they will be bought and read immediately

[Mitch Larkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! I love Ciaphas Cain! I already have the next omnibus ready to go!

[J.P. Harker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't believe I didn't review this at the time! Currently re-reading these (which I hadn't truly appreciated as 3 seperate books so that's DEFINITELY counting towards my 2023 reading goal!)
Cai Cain is Harry Flashman, but deeper. The Flashman books are certainly fun, but there's always that hint of discomfort at reading and sort-of supporting someone who is so completely amoral. Cain is a perfect blend; he THINKS he's amoral because he's a fairly selfish person, but amidst the duty-dodging and double-dealing, he has multiple flashes of genuine heroism for which he gives himself zero credit (I've heard it theorised that he suffers from a massive dose of inferiority complex and imposter syndrome, and I completely agree). I absolutely love this character, and the addition of Jurgen is just perfect.
Though I've read and enjoyed the other Cain books, this one in particular has a special place in my heart - it's one of those rare books that I'll happily finish, turn to the start, and immediately read again.

[Thomas Senechal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Commissar Ciphas Cain is one of the most stoic characters in 40k The only other one i can think about is Kharn the Betrayer, i mean this guy called the acolytes of khorne pansies. keep in mind Khorne is one of the most bloodthirsty and mallice of the four chaos gods. this guy who is an unagumented human can dual weild bolt pistols which are very big guns.

[Matthew Tyas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was just so much fun. It really stands out from other Warhammer 40k books (which I love, for all their self seriousness and thrilling war stories) with it's "hero" and gentle bend towards humor alongside all the battles you'd expect from the Black Library. An absolute blast and one of the most enjoyable books I've read all year.

[Lukša Vlajki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this book

[Brian Wilkerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Commissar Ciaphas Cain is a legend. His bravery is unmatched among The Emperor's servants. His sense of fairness and compassion are without equal in the history of the Officio Prefectus commissariat. His ability to slay The Emperor's enemies is exceeded only by his capability to inspire the men and women under his command. He is THE HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!

He is also a selfish and cowardly man who sincerely believes that his reputation is both nonsense and totally undeserved. He is just trying to survive in a job he never wanted.

This book is a lot of fun to read.

The key thing that makes this work, in my opinion, is the format of the narration. It is a first-person narrative, but it is more than that. It is the autobiography of Ciaphas Cain, which helps with certain problems of the first person narration format. This is not Cain writing down events shortly after they happen, but much later when he is much older. So the events depicted have this reflective air to them. There is no attempt at maintaining suspense, at least with regards to Cain's mortality. Cain regularly references events that occur after what he is currently narrating, so the reader doesn't have to struggle with suspending disbelief regarding whatever danger he finds himself in.

The autobiography is not self-conscious or awkward because the reader is reading a document that exists in-universe. So, yes, Cain is talking to you, Unknown Reader. He is telling you his story in his own cowardly and self-interested words. He is able to do novel-style things like foreshadowing because it is couched in the reflective air of someone reminiscing about things that happened long ago. A phrase similar to "If I had known what danger I was going into, I wouldn't have gone there" serves as foreshadowing, or some joke that makes sense on its own at the time but gains additional meaning later.

What's more, there is an additional step to the frame narrative, and that is what really pulls everything together. You see, "autobiography of Ciaphas Cain" is only one part of it. The other part is that Inquisitor Amberly Vail is the editor of the "Cain Archive", as she calls it. She pulled together Cain's autobiography from small and disorganized pieces that Cain wrote prior to his eventual death. She is the one responsible for making this in-universe autobiography coherent. This then provides a justification for the other limitations in a first person narration.

Amberly adds notes to flesh out some of the things that Cain says. She intersects the autobiographical parts with information from other sources that provide context to the situation, and explain events that are relevant to Cain's adventure that he did not take part in, and thus knew nothing about. So Cain can write his self-focused narrative about how he is a selfish coward who doesn't care about anything but surviving, and it can stay that way. The real life author, Sandy Mitchell, doesn't have to compromise the authenticity of the narrative voice by wedging in necessary information.

In other words, the reader is given the experience of finding the "Cain Archive", written by Ciaphas Cain and edited by Amberly Vail, and then reading it within the Warhammer 40K universe.

It is a fun experience. The jokes that Cain makes, mostly at his own expense, are a good source of comedy, and there is plenty of black comedy as well. Cain derives a certain pleasure from Jurgen's use of a melta during the final mission of "For the Emperor".

The stories themselves are good too. It is not just the narrative framework that makes them fun. The short story at the start of this collection, for instance, makes great use of the narrative framework. One can read Cain's account of his first mission and understand how he sees his actions as utterly self-serving, and then consider the events themselves from an external perspective and understand how so many people started thinking of him as this brave and brilliant hero.

If I had to make one complaint, it would be that the climax for the story "For the Emperor" feels weak. I had the feeling of soggy bread as I read it. The reasoning "the inquisitor had cool tech that I didn't know about" feels like an asspull. However, it is totally appropriate, and would fit in-universe. In fact, I imagine someone who is more familiar with the gear that Inquisitors' have access to from playing a Warhammer 40K game would pick up on the foreshadowing. To me, it felt like an asspull rather than a Chekhov's Gun. As much as I dislike that, I don't feel justified in lowering the grade as a result, given the rest of the book as a whole.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Ciaphas Cain - HERO OF THE IMPERIUM" an A+

[Xavier · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5★

My first warhammer book!

It was a really fun introduction to a world I new a little but not a lot about. I heard the premise of the reluctant protagonist amidst the gung ho emperor lovers and felt that it would be a good perspective for the first dive, and it was!

I loved the framing of the book as Cain's memoirs containing editorial footnotes from the Inquisitor, it placed the novels firmly within the universe and the personality of the voices fed each other satisfyingly.

Cain as a character didn't quite live up to the premise I was sold, ahead of reading I believed the tone to be a little more comedic, that Cain's attitude would lead to clumsy but fortuitous moments but in reality he reads as cautious hero. The Inquisitor says as much, and Cain finding himself in the most dangerous scenarios despite his best efforts can be a little hamfisted. It works best when he realises the danger and makes a cerebral decision make decisions with the stakes under clear consideration.

I really liked Jurgen, he acted as the perfect foil in his calm stoicism as well as his attribute. Too many not novel references towards his ignomonious odour became an unfortunate irritation in the second book.

The short stories were neat, especially the first one (Fight or Flight). It encapsulated Cain's personality and his approach, if you like this you'll probably like reading more of it.

For the Emperor 3.5★

The first novel in the omnibus wove greater political tensions between the Tau Empire and the Imperium, with the boots on the ground tactical scenarios very effictively. I was engaged all the way through, all of the factions introduced to me were interesting.

Caves of Ice 2.5★

The weakest for sure, I found myself frustrated with the writing at times, particularly references to Jurgen's smell and Sulla's writing were tedious and all too frequent. Cain's references of the danger yet to come were also tiresome. The necrons were cool, and the ending struck the landing well.

The Traitor's Hand 4.0★

My favourite of the three novels. An interesting planet. Familiar characters built up among the 597th had developed. Serious tension among allies. And use of Cain's best attribute, his cerebral awareness, to progress and make decision amid dire circumstances.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hero of the Imperium by Sandy Mitchell is an omnibus which contains the first three Ciaphus Cain novels and three short stories.
The three novels are "For the Emperor", "Caves of Ice" and "The Traitor's Hand". The three short stories are "Fight or flight", "Echoes of the Tomb" and "The Beguiling".
Honestly cannot remember why I bought the book I think I heard Ciaphus Cain mentioned by a YouTube channel and thought I'd give it a look buy I'm so glad I did.
The first thing is that the short stories are not just in this to pad it out they add wonderfully to the story and give just a little bit of background to the man and are also referred to in the main novels.
Right from the off this book is funny and I mean properly laugh out loud funny and not just the main narrative, how it's written is a brilliant idea. Each novel being written by a member of the Inquisition using the diaries of Ciaphus and trying to piece together what actually happened, sometimes having to use sources from other books. When you think about it, the idea is so clever because there are moments when the "author" will refer to a different book and apologise because it's not a very good book but it's the best reference available but it's all written by the some person and I loved this thought.
I think I said in my last review that there were moments that made me think of blackadder but this is pure blackadder goes forth. Ciaphus Cain is a man who is just trying to stay alive, but due to luck or the protection of the Emperor or whatever it may be he keeps ending up in heroic situations which most of the time he comes out on top and has grown into this absolute legend. The downside of which means he keeps getting put forward for more and more death defying missions.
There are so many quotable moments in these books that I was planning on giving some examples but I didn't know if I'd get in bother so I am going to put my favorites as inspirational stories.
I would recommend this book very much and I can't wait to get the next one

[Tsvetomir Mitov · Rating 1 out of 5]

The narrative is too slow and dragging, you wade through a 100 pages of descriptions of meeting rooms before anything happens and when it does it is over in half a page. Cain meets in combat a Chaos Space Marine, something that really happens to a vanishingly small number of ordinary people in the Imperium and then the fight is over in the space of one paragraph, with Cain behaving as if that is something ordinary to him. The terror Chaos Space Marines are supposed to inspire is nowhere to be seen, their martial prowess nonexistent and they seem to behave like brainless amateurs despite their millennia of experience. Same boredom when Cain meets allegedly powerful Chaos cultist psychers. The author is simply bad at writing military fiction, logistics seem to be his main interest. You get more description of the cargo holds of transport ships and troop deployment, than actual description of combat in an universe where there is supposedly only war.
The trope of Cain being a self-centred coward gets tiresome after you are told that 20 times in one novel, the terrifying experiences he tells you in the beginning will happen to him during the course of the story appear only after pages and pages of Tanna tea drinking and complaints about the weather. And when they do happen are usually blindingly obvious and predictable. Overall, a passable read for readers new to the Warhammer 40000 universe, but to anyone familiar with the genre it will be a boring time.

[Sam Bakos · Rating 4 out of 5]

✨Review time✨ - Hero of the Imperium

I got this book such a long time ago. This is an omnibus that collects the first three novels in the Ciaphas Cain series, as well as some short stories.

Cain is a commissar in the Imperium, he is heralded as a hero and one of the best. From his point of view however he's just trying to survive as long as he can and avoid heroics at all cost. The book is an even more satirical look at the universe then usual told through his reports and annotated by an inquisitor.

And the book is quite witty in this regard. The writing is pretty good, especially when it comes to the characters. I really like the how well the dialogue is written. The descriptions of people and places are good too but the fighting leaves a bit to be desired. I found myself being a lot less interested once the shooting started, the dialogue, tactics and characters is where the book excels. Not to say all the fighting is bad, there are some good set pieces that involve Cain himself, but the larger conflicts in each novel are largely forgettable.

I do like the major theme of the book too. The main point of his whole story is that the best way to benefit yourself and to keep yourself alive is to be a good person to others. I wish there was a little more to it by the third novel though.

As a witty action sci-fi novel, it's great but do not expect to get much more out of this. I did enjoy it a lot though.

[Filipa · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I'm a bit late on updating my book status. let us say that I read a lot faster than I update so I'll be reviewing this book from memory.

The adventures of wily Commissar Cain, his malodorous aide Jurgen, and the Valhallan 597th have proved great favourites among Black Library fans. This omnibus edition is an attractive introduction to a very popular series.

This book have three novels:

1 # For The Emperor

Quote from Lexicanum:
"Assigned to the fractious Valhallan 296th/301st regiment, Commissar Ciaphas Cain has barely enough time to mold them into a semblance of a fighting unit, before it is deployed to Gravalax, which is threatening to secede to the Tau Empire. Once on the ground, the situation proves to be much more complicated than it appears, and Cain makes the surprise acquaintance of the Inquisitor sent to sort out the mess"

Here we are introduced properly to Caiphas Cain! The great hero of the Imperium. And his company of brave heroes (that try to kill each other half across the book) of the Valhallan 597th, the ice-lovers. Not only we get to know the story of a mix unit (yes yes females and males working side by side to save the glorious Imperium of evil) but also we get to know some of the characters that will escort us to the rest of the books (why Amberly, whyyyy???). And you get to see Tau and sub-races. Now, how often you get that chance? The book have a nice pace to it, the actions scenes are well accomplished (I always get bored with bad elaborated actions scenes) and, now and then, you get a pretty good laugh out of the book.

2 # Caves of Ice

Where do Valhallans feel like home? In an icy planet of course! Let me quote the Lexicanum again:
"The 597th is deployed to the Ice World of Simia Orichalcae, to defend a vital promethium refinery from Ork marauders. Like all good Valhallans, the 597th are looking forward to confronting their ancestral enemies, but Cain is looking for any excuse to avoid the front lines. Deciding to lead an investigation into the disappearance of several miners in the underground ice caves, he stumbles on something a thousand times worse than any number of Orks."

Orks are cool. "Tha red one runs fasta" it is always a good laugh. But then again, what they stubble across another type of Xenos, things get ugly. And guess who stumbled on them? You got it! Caiphas! But, by the time I was in this book, I was already getting the negative points of Sandy Mitchell interfere with the fun of the situations (please keep reading for the negative/positive aspects in a general idea). Still the turn over of the story kept me reading.

3 # The Traitor's Hand

Lexicanum!

"After completing a relatively uneventful campaign on the world of Kastafore against the Orks, astropathic reports of Chaos raiders calling themselves the Ravagers come in from the Imperial Navy saying that the raiders are heading for the Adumbria system. Cain and the Valhallan 597th, alongside several other regiments including the Tallarn 229th whose attached regimental commissar turns out to be an old acquaintance of Cain’s named Tomas Beije, set out to defend the unremarkable backwater. As they make planetfall and set up the defenses of the world against the incoming chaos raiders, heretical Slaaneshi cultists reveal themselves and an insidious plot to bring forth an unspeakable evil slowly unfolds as Cain and the Imperial forces fight for their very souls."

Now, none omnibus of a Imperial hero is complete if there aren't demons! It's like trying to eat a cake without sugar. It may be very good, but something went missing. Specially if you get old school "friends" in the middle and get your way kicking their butts again. In this novel we get to see that Ciaphas is not always very loved by everyone. Which means he can't trick all the galaxy. And yet, although Ciaphas is an annoying bastard, he is also a worthy fighter and Beije is a boot licking boring guy. The fact that we have two commissars in the story, makes one realize how different Ciaphas really is from other commissars (except for Gaunt. GO TANITH!) Once more, all the story underneath the writing kept me alive through the book.

In a overall:

Once more I've navigated in the seas of darkness. Warhammer 40K novels are, in the best of times, a deep sense of dark grey and in the "worse" of times, all full pitch black. Caiphas Cain brings us another kind of Commissar (I've read before Gaunt's Ghosts,as you guessed if you reached here) and I do have to say, he is a coward. I mean, the ones that think that they are something and in truth they are the precise opposite. The funny part is: Caiphas himself tells you that.
Over and over and over and...
That is one of main negative aspect of these novels: the repetition of Caiphas flaws and Veil over-repetition of "how bad that girl writes" statements across the entire books! (jealousy is an ugly thing). That and the first person view with so many details. Come on! No one have memories with 150 years old that clearly! So, if you ignore the narrative memorie mistake and the over-repetition of "how coward I am" and "how I don't give a damn about others", you have a nice perspective from another type of Imperial Guard Commissar.
On the bright side: Ciaphas Cain novels take you around with a lot of Xenos and rebellions. For my first true deep contact with Necrons, it was lovely. Besides, Cain does have a tendency to be exactly where he wasn't supposed to. So the book have a lot of variety of situations, which makes it interesting. Another great thing about this omnibus is the original short stories that come before the book. In a way, they spoil a bit of what is going to happen. In another way (the very positive way!) they give you insight of what was. I loved their presence here.

I am not so eager to read more about Cain just because Sandy Mitchell does that error: over - repetition. As I can understand that from book to book (alas, this is supposed to be separated books, no one told me to read them all in one go!), in the same book it becomes boring.
Maybe in the future I will miss the dissaventures of Caiphas and go back.

Still, if that detail of narrative doesn't bother you at all, read up. It is a very nice serie of novels. And you get to laugh... now and then.

[Igor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three novels and three short stories in a single volume, hours and hours of fun.

Presenting the grimdark future of an universe where there is only war, these tales are injected with enough black humor and snark to offset the definitely grim outlook its protagonist faces on a regular basis. They're fast paced with lots of action but there's also great character development, camaraderie between soldiers, battles, plots, twists and monsters of all nightmarish kinds.

I'll definitely be buying the other omnibuses (omnibi?) and it definitely piqued my interest in other Imperial Guard stories.

And something I figured out while reading the omnibus: the stories present a different Cain to the one in the novels, which I found interesting once I figured it out. See, the stories are set earlier in his career than the novels and it's during the stories that he's the self-centered asshole coward he always presents himself to be. The novels' Cain is actually a good man who only still believes himself an asshole, which makes him very compelling :)