Various authors, Honour Imperialis: an Astra Militarum Omnibus. Nottingham, UK: Black Library, 2014. ISBN: 9781849706674.
- Cadian Blood by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.
- Redemption Corps by Rob Sanders.
- Dead Men Walking by Steve Lyons.
The volume also includes four short stories:
- "Regicide" by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.
- "Down Among the Dean Men" by Steve Lyons.
- "Hunters" by Braden Campbell.
- "The Mouth of Chaos" by Chris Dows.
As in any collection or anthology, especially one featuring various authors, story quality can vary quite a bit. This volume has its ups and downs. Let's look at the contents.
For me, Cadian Blood may be the best novel in the set. The world of Kathur has a serious Chaos infestation, and it is up to the Cadian 88th Armored Regiment and other imperial units to take the planet back. Nothing is simple here. After the setbacks, the 88th is assigned a commissar they do not want and then get seconded to an inquisitor. Meanwhile, the Chaos forces get reinforced. We get action and a good amount of intrigues and plotting. The story has a good pace, and it keeps readers interested. The author delivers a strong story here.
On a side note, previous Dembski-Bowden works I have read so far are Helsreach and The First Heretic (part of the Horus Heresy series); links go to my reviews of the books.
The second novel is Redemption Corps. Here, Major Mortensen leads the elite storm troopers of the Redemption Corps, who are described in the novel as:
"The Redemption Corps were a mixed group-- from schola students to veterans: the best that bring born on a dozen different worlds could offer. Each brought their own natural talents to Mortensen's small, elite storm-trooper company, honed to zealous perfection in the sector's various schola progenium institutions and drawn together to damn the enemies of the Imperium" (220).
Like many elite units that operate with high autonomy and risk, they are unconventional and don't always work by the book. As a result, Mortensen and his troops have admirers, and a lot of enemies, and that does not include the orks they are assigned to fight. To make things worse, Mortensen and his troops are outright assholes, which does not endear them to their allies and superiors. In fact, a battle sisters superior really hates him and makes things even more difficult for the company.
An issue with this novel is that pretty much every character is a seriously unlikable asshole. Yes, I get this is 40K, a setting full of assholes, but this novel has no one with any redeeming qualities. The result is the reader spends a lot of time annoyed at the characters that you hope die sooner rather than later. Also at times the novel's pace slows down, making the novel feel longer. Mortensen gets away with stuff because he gets results, but still certain higher ups want his head. That he is an outright dick does not help his cause. As for his men, they may be seen as elite, but they are more psychos and feel more like dregs drafted to do their worse, which they do to both friend and foe. In other guard novels sure the guardsmen may be flawed, but you can find some reason to be sympathetic to somebody. Not here. To be honest if they all get killer it may be an improvement. Add to it that their superiors are no better. The plot at times seemed to just get more complicated for the sake of complication rather than making a good story.
The third novel, Dead Men Walking, is not an improvement. Though it may appear to be a novel about the Death Korps of Krieg, it focuses a good amount on local characters, including the spoiled niece of the planetary governor who we can't wait to see killed during a Necron invasion. The other key character is a mining administrator, who the upper class niece, sort of toys with and teases. At least he eventually does some growing and maturing, but she is pretty much worthless. The Death Korps are the ones we really want to see, and we don't get enough of them. The novel has one or two side plots too many that could've been removed, and the novel would be improved. By the way, the novel includes a sample of the "old veteran only days from retirement getting killed" trope. Still, Commissar Costellin's death is a rare moving moment in the novel.
As for the short stories, "Hunter" may be the best in the lot. This is a tale of Catachan Jungle Fighters facing great odds against a Tau invasion and the value of reading essential information others may overlook. "The Mouth of Chaos" featuring the Elysian Drop Troops was pretty good too.
Note that the novels were published previously as individual books. It may be difficult to find them in print given Black Library's propensity to let print books go out of print quickly and the awfully expensive used book market that follows (that is another rant for another day), but you may be able to find them as e-books from the publisher or you may be able to find them at your local library (or via Interlibrary Loan through your local library). Out of the three novels, Cadian Blood is the one I recommend. The short stories were previously published in issues of Black Library magazines.
What I like overall about the omnibus is the variety. It strives to give a sampler of different Imperial Guard units. Fans of the units featured may find something to like here. For me, I did appreciate the variety, even if most of the stories fell short. The good ones made the overall reading experience worth it. Yet in the end, as a package, the volume is just OK. One or two works were good; the rest were average or below average.
For libraries, if you already collect 40K books, and you have readers who are Imperial Guard fans, you may want to add this, For less comprehensive 40K collections, I would consider this optional. This is a volume to borrow if possible, or find it cheap if you must buy it. This one feels like not the best in the Imperial Guard series. Still, I will keep looking for other Imperial Guard tales to see if they get better.
2 out of 5 stars.
This book qualifies for the following 2025 Reading Challenge:
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