Book review: The Ciaphas Cain series by Sandy Mitchell

[Werthead]

Ciaphas Cain 1: For the Emperor

 

Commissar Ciaphas Cain has a formidable reputation: an outstanding soldier, an inspiring officer and a terror to the enemies of the God-Emperor of Mankind. However, it is completely unearned. Cain actually spends his missions desperately trying to stay out of trouble and trying to find the best place to hunker down and ride out any conflict. Instead, he finds that events conspire to place him on the front lines and in the most dangerous hotspots.

 

This time, Cain has been assigned to a regiment of Valhallan troopers which has been cobbled together out of two former single-sex units. With the soldiers of the formation mistrustful and resentful of one another, Cain must find a way of integrating the two sides before their new mission can even get underway. Their new assignment is Gravalax, a world on the border of the Tau Empire. Highly unusually for the Imperium, which prefers war and genocide over diplomacy and negotiation, Gravalax's exposed position on a salient into Tau territory means that it relies on the goodwill of its Tau neighbours to survive. When the Tau Ambassador is assassinated and war threatens to erupt, it falls to Cain, an Imperial Inquisitor and a penal detachment of condemned murderers to save the day.

 

We're back in Warhammer 40,000 territory with this novel, but this time around things are rather different to the fine novels of Dan Abnett. If the Gaunt's Ghosts series are a military SF take on Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe books, Ciaphas Cain is an SF take on George MacDonald Fraser's superb Flashman series of historical adventures, with a dash of Blackadder thrown in for good measure. As far as the rest of humanity is concerned, Ciaphas Cain is a brave, heroic warrior who brings terror to the enemies of mankind and instills valour in the men under his command. Cain himself thinks he is a cowardly, blustering braggart who is the first to dive for cover or beat a retreat when the firing starts, and this is how he comes across in these novels (his unofficial memoirs, with wry commentary from Inquisitor Amberley Veil and occasional extracts from other documents to add context). Cain sells himself short though: he is also cunning, impressively deceitful and has a talent for survival, not just for himself and his stalwart aide Jurgen (think of a cross between Baldrick and Gregor Clegane) but for whatever unit he is attached to.

 

As such, Cain isn't quite as cowardly and blustering as either Blackadder or Flashman and is a reasonably effective soldier. This is a good thing, as a simple pastiche of those characters in the WH40K universe would be briefly amusing but likely grating in the long run. By taking inspiration from those sources but allowing Cain to develop along his own path, Sandy Mitchell makes the character and the stories much more interesting.

 

The story cracks along at a fair old pace and characterisation of both Cain and his fellow troopers (not to mention Inquisitor Veil, whom we meet as both a character in the book and also as the memoir's editor) is nicely-done. For those coming to these books after Abnett's, there's also some pleasing references to the earlier books (Gaunt is briefly discussed, although not by name, at one point, as is the Sabbat Worlds Crusade) and, as a nice change of pace, we get to meet some other enemies of humanity other than just Chaos. In this book, the Tau, their Kroot mercenaries and the Tyranids (whom I have to mention, by tradition, preceded the Zerg by over a decade) are the main adversaries and provide some variety. However, familiarity with the WH40K universe and characters is not assumed, and For the Emperor! makes a viable starting point for those new to the setting.

 

The calling-card of these books is the humour, and Mitchell does a great job of subtly highlighting the inherent lunacy of the WH40K universe without ripping it to pieces and undermining the integrity of the setting. Instead, the satirical and comical edge works very well, resulting in a fair few major laughs as the book unfolds. Certainly the book's conclusion leaves you wanting to read more about Cain and Jurgen and their continuing misadventures.

 

For the Emperor! (****) is an enjoyable, fast-paced adventure story with a great line in humour. It is available now as part of the Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium omnibus in both the UK and USA.

[Werthead]

Ciaphas Cain 2: Caves of Ice

 

Commissar Ciaphas Cain continues to relate his honest, self-deprecating memoirs to an appreciative audience (albeit only of a few high-ranking Inquisitors who have the necessary security clearance to read it). In this episode, he relates the deployment of the Valhallan 597th to the frigid (and nonsensically-named) iceworld of Simia Orichalcae, which is an important source of promethium to the Imperium. An ork raiding force has arrived on the planet and the Imperial Guard must mount a defence of the primary mining installation. But, in the caves underneath the complex, another threat is stirring...

 

Caves of Ice is the second Ciaphas Cain novel (of seven so far published) and is, once again, a comedic book in the vein of George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman novels (with an added pinch of Blackadder), though Mitchell adds enough flourishes to avoid being derivative. In this book Cain's troops must defend a vital installation from enemy attack. Trying to find somewhere safe to ride out the battle, Cain volunteers to accompany a scouting party into the caves under the installation to ensure there isn't a way behind their lines, only to encounter some pretty horrific events and end up, once again, in the thick of the action.

 

It's fair to say that Caves of Ice isn't quite as successful as the first novel. The most limited, isolated location means a much smaller cast of characters and a fair bit of wheel-spinning. Cain has to mount no less than three separate incursions into the caves, and by the end the reader is as sick as Cain is of the icy, claustraphobic surroundings. It's a tribute to Mitchell's writing skill that he manages to retain reader interest despite the repetitive nature of these missions, as he raises the ante each time.

 

Once again, we get excerpts from other books (most notably from Lt. Sulla's ludicrously hyperbolic memoirs, but also a hilarious children's primer called Our Friend Promethium, plus the droll minutes of the tedious meetings the 597th's command staff take part in) that efficiently flesh out important bits of action where Cain is not present, whilst copious footnotes by Cain's erstwhile ally Inquisitor Veil establish the context of Cain's actions. But the focus is obviously closely on Cain and his fragrant aide Jurgen as they battle the enemies of the Imperium.

 

As usual, Mitchell's writing flows well and mixes effective moments of action and horror with characterisation (Logash is particularly well-handled, with the reader's irritation with his single-minded obsession with alien tech rising in step with Cain's) and his usual humour. Here he brings in some references to other books and series, with Aliens, Father Ted and possibly Babylon 5 all getting nods, and spotting these minor tips of the hat is fun.

 

Caves of Ice (***½) continues the story of Ciaphas Cain pretty well, although Mitchell arguably doesn't make the most of the isolated setting and the limited scope of the novel leads to some repetition. The book is available now as part of the Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium omnibus in the UK and USA.

[Werthead]

Ciaphas Cain 3: The Traitor's Hand

 

When a Chaos fleet breaks through Imperial lines and heads for Adumbria, the Valhallan 597th (and its increasingly famous commissar, Ciaphas Cain) and several other regiments are rapidly mobilised to intercept them. On Adumbria - a world tidally locked to its star and characterised by burning deserts and freezing icy conditions - Cain and his troops are spread thin, so they must bolster the morale of the native Planetary Defence Force. Cain, as usual, decides to find a nice rear-echelon position where he can avoid most of the combat. Also as usual, his luck doesn't quite work out as he finds himself battling Chaos Marines, unearthing secretive cults and pitting his wits against a rival commissar out to ruin him.

 

This third Ciaphas Cain novel sees the titular semi-hero once again thrust unwillingly into danger and adventure, and his every attempt to avoid it goes hideously wrong, once again leaving him festooned with medals and plaudits (despite the number of times that it his extremely smelly aide, Jurgen, who actually saves the day). The Traitor's Hand is a step-up from the claustrophobic, repetitive Caves of Ice by having Cain play a larger role in the defence of an entire planet from a Chaos army, with him moving from defending the capital to consulting the army's commanding officers to fighting in the field with his troops to storming enemy bases. It is with this book that the Flashman-in-space label starts to look even less appropriate, with Cain's reluctance to rush into the most dangerous places becoming less convincing (the occasional footnote interjection by Inquisitor Veil seems to agree with this) given the number of extremely hazardous scrapes he gets into here.

 

The book is well-paced, with a good mixture of humour (including the best bomb-defusing scene I've ever seen), action and character-building elements (the introduction of a nemesis for Cain within the commissariat is a nice touch). It's a busier and more impressive novel than its immediate predecessor, although it also arguably loses a little of the cynicism and cowardice that Cain is constantly trying to project as his heroics in this book become pretty bonkers (including spawning a cult that comes to worship Cain as a prophet and the Divine Will of the Emperor made flesh!).

 

The Traitor's Hand (****) is available now in the Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium omnibus in the UK and USA.

[cgk84]

My main gripe with the series is (especially when you read them back to back) Mitchell just repeats some things every second page, e.g. Cain explain what a coward/cynic he is, references to Jurgan's smell, refering to his 'blank' status and others. That can really begin to grate. But overall I have to say I quite enjoyed the series, particularly the 3rd book, and found the 3 to be far superior to the next 3 books.

[Werthead]

Ciaphas Cain 4: Death or Glory

 

Commissar Ciaphas Cain's adventures continue! This time we return to the beginning of his career, when he is still assigned to the 12th Valhallan Field Artillery. With the last few cushy years of the assignment on Keffia coming to an end, Cain and his unit are reassigned to Perlia, a world which has been deadlocked between the Imperium and a huge Ork invasion force for some months. Cain and his forces are part of a reinforcing army, but the Orks, aware that they are on their way, have laid a trap in the Warp. With Cain's ship heavily damaged, he and his constant companion Jurgen bail out in an escape pod and crash-land thousands of miles behind enemy lines, with hundreds of thousands of Orks lying between them and salvation. Cain, reluctantly, has to find his way through the Ork lines back to safety, only to find himself saddled with a band of gung-ho rebels and a train of civilian refugees...

 

Death or Glory is the fourth Ciaphas Cain novel and author Sandy Mitchell decides to shake things up a little by rewinding to his early days when he wasn't as well-known with such a formidable reputation. On the one hand it's sad not to see the familiar faces of the Valhallan 597th knocking around, but on the other Mitchell's decision to shake things up pays off handsomely, as Death or Glory is the best book in the sequence to date.

 

The structure is a sort-of demented black humour version of Erikson's Chain of Dogs, as a terrified Cain tries desperately to avoid confronting the enemy and hopes to be able to sneak past them. Instead he ends up escorting hundreds of civilians and isolated Planetary Defence Forces from behind enemy lines through several major battles towards safety. Along the way he meets a bunch of colourful characters and forges his later reputation, as Cain's actions inspire the demoralised defenders elsewhere to great deeds. As usual Cain is self-deprecating and makes claims of cowardice, but Mitchell seems to finally get a handle on the dissonance between Cain's self-professed cowardice and lack of acumen with the self-evident skills the character displays, by citing Cain's arrogance and his love of having an amazing reputation which he cannot risk being besmirched, possibly even at the cost of his own life. This realisation allows Cain to shake off the Flashman-in-space tag and begin developing more satisfyingly as a character in his own right.

 

Death or Glory is also the funniest book in the series so far. We learn that after Cain is reported KIA, the resulting bureaucratic controversy to get him undeclared dead takes so long to sort out that eventually a standing order is given that Cain is never to be reported KIA until he's been missing for several years (this order is not rescinded even when Cain apparently does die of extreme old age, meaning he's still on the active duty roster years after being buried with full military honours in front of the Imperium's most senior military personnel). Elsewhere we learn that a scholarly work on the Orks has the frankly brilliant title Waaagh! and Peace ("Waaagh!" being the traditional Ork battlecry in the WH40K universe), whilst the Orks have an apparently religious belief that any vehicle painted red or given red strips will go faster than anything else (solidifying the characterisation of the Orks as demented Essex lads and Cockney wide-boys). One of the members of Cain's convoy is a vet based on a character from the All Creatures Great and Small novels and TV series. And so on.

 

Weaknesses? Only a few niggles. Whilst it's great the book doesn't outstay it's welcome, at 250 pages (in the omnibus) it does feel a little short for its epic scope. A few more episodes of Cain's journey (which he admits he skips over) wouldn't have gone amiss. It also would have been interesting to see Cain reunited with his unit at the end given his CO's constant doubts over Cain's abilities, but alas we are denied this potentially amusing scene.

 

Death or Glory (****½) is ridiculously entertaining fun, written with verve and wit. Not high literature, but terrifically engaging and sure to leave a smile on your face. The novel is available now in the UK and USA as part of the Defender of the Imperium omnibus.

[Werthead]

Ciaphas Cain #5: Duty Calls

 

A planet-wide insurrection has broken out on Periremunda, necessitating the deployment of the Imperial Guard to the planet to help crush it. The Valhallan 597th is part of the deployment, along with its increasingly legendary commissar, Ciaphas Cain, hero of the Imperium. As usual, Cain hopes for a quiet, simple assignment where he can sit out the trouble, and also as usual he finds himself instead at the cutting edge of danger. This time, a simple rebellion is revealed to mask a whole number of other threats which Cain and his ever-faithful aide Jurgen have to deal with. In this case, operations are complicated by Periremunda's unique geography, a world of burning, uninhabitable deserts with settled plateaus rising above them.

 

Duty Calls is the fifth Ciaphas Cain novel and, disappointingly, is a little bit of a let-down after the terrific Death or Glory. The good news is that we are reunited with the Valhallans 597th and also with Inquisitor Amberley Veil and her retinue of demented allies. The bad news is that Mitchell has seriously dialled down the humour and amusing references in this book. There are a few (mostly restricted to the footnotes and the extracts from General Sulla's ludicrously bombastic memoirs that provide a commentary on events where Cain is not present), but this is a more serious novel than its predecessors.

 

Not that this is a bad thing. Mitchell is great at describing the action which is the cornerstone of any Warhammer 40,000 novel, and is also solid at handling horror and drama as well as the traditional black humour of the books. So whilst Duty Calls won't have you laughing as much as its predecessor, it's still a solid and readable action-adventure tale, refreshingly short and to the point with a good line in characterisation. Whilst the book's main storyline is self-contained, some dangling storylines are picked up from Death or Glory and carried through to the next book in the series, Cain's Last Stand, resulting in the sense of bigger events unfolding outside of this one conflict.

 

Mitchell has created an interesting world in Periremunda and describes its scenery and geography with gusto. Elsewhere the book suffers from perhaps a tad too much reliance on the Ciaphas Cain formula - Cain is bluff and cowardly but emerges a hero, whilst Jurgen and his melta gun and psi-inhibiting abilities save the day more than once - as well as a sense of plot overload. As well as the rebellion, Mitchell also jams in genestealers, Chaos cults, a renegade Inquisitor and a meeting with a particularly fanatical branch of the Sisters of Battle. As a result some elements are under-developed. The planetary arbitrator goes from being a major character at the start to virtually vanishing altogether, whilst Cain's ideological clash between his pragmatism and the Sisters' idealism is never developed to its full potential.

 

Still, even slightly sub-par Cain remains highly entertaining and readable. Duty Calls (***½) is available now as part of the Defender of the Imperium omnibus in the UK and USA.

[Werthead]

Ciaphas Cain #6: Cain's Last Stand

 

After eighty years on the front lines, Commissar Ciaphas Cain is enjoying a relatively quiet semi-retirement tutoring students on Perlia, the site of one of his greatest victories. The period of peace is rudely interrupted when the hordes of Chaos, led by Abaddon the Despoiler, launch a vast invasion of the Imperium through the Eye of Terror. Fortunately, Perlia is on the other side of the galaxy to the main battlefront. Unfortunately, a major Chaos battle fleet is on its way to invade the planet and seize an ancient relic that Cain has dealt with before...

 

Cain's Last Stand is the sixth (of seven so far) books in the Ciaphas Cain series and sees author Sandy Mitchell fast-forwarding to near the end of his protagonist's career, right up almost to the 'present day' of the Warhammer 40,000 setting. Thanks to the SF setting, Cain and his constant companion Jurgen are still hale and going strong, though they're a bit more seasoned and experienced than earlier books focusing on their earlier days. Cain is somewhat less cowardly and more commanding here and has evolved into a fine tutor of commissariat students, trying to imbue them with a degree of common sense and intelligence in their dealings with demoralised troops. With Perlia in danger of attack and the planet's defenders mostly being inexperienced soldiers, it falls to Cain and his students to keep morale high in the face of overwhelming enemy numbers.

 

As with the previous books, this is an entertaining romp with black humour laced through it. The time setting also introduces an element of regretful nostalgia to proceedings: Cain remembering various people he's fought alongside and reflecting that many of them have died (from either natural causes or enemy action) during the preceding years.

 

Plotting-wise, Mitchell has taken a leaf out of Dan Abnett's book. Aware that these last three books would be assembled into an omnibus edition, he's laced ongoing storyline points through them which build to a huge finale. This works well, but the actual ending is actually a little disappointing in its lack of resolution and it's difficult to work out if it's a final one or setting up more adventures in future. Elsewhere the book is very busy, combining planetary politics, Cain's activities in the college and interactions with other tutors and his forging of his students into an effective force whilst also taking part in military action proving to be a lot of plot to pack into just 250-odd pages (in the omnibus edition). As a result the book moves very fast, but doesn't have time to build up the secondary characters as successfully as Mitchell normally manages.

 

Cain's Last Stand (****) brings this three-book arc to a successful conclusion and shines a different light on Ciaphas Cain to great effect. Not the series at its best, but relentlessly entertaining nonetheless. The novel is available now as part of the Ciaphas Cain: Defender of the Imperium omnibus in the UK and USA.