Friday, December 24, 2010

The Emperor's Finest - Book Review

The Emperor's Finest by Sandy Mitchell
Commissar Cain is called to duty once more, saving a governor’s daughter from aplanet over-run by rebels. The uprising hides something far more sinister however – genestealer hybrids! The search for the source of the alien threat leads Cain to a drifting space hulk – a far safer place than beside the obsessed governor’s daughter. But when the Reclamator Space Marines suffer devastating losses at the hands of the Great Devourer, Cain and his trusty aide Jurgen must go it alone. With the tyranids waking and a group of stow away orks on the loose, there are no safe places to run or hide, and Cain must use all his ingenuity and cunning to escape the space hulk alive.


Just a brief review this time due to Christmas and other demands, so on with the show!


Cain is back doing what he does best, getting in to scrapes and blagging his way out of them again! Ok so the story arc could be epic and there could be a great sense of plot, but for some reason there doesn’t seem to be that! The novel just feels a little rushed and lots of the stories don’t interact very well. Though all is not lost, yes there is some pretty solid dialogue with the usual mix of self-depreciative humour, a touch of classic melodrama and this all works to keep the novel moving. I guess as well when you throw in that Cain is crossing paths with the Astartes you know that it’s going to have something for everyone. This, all in, saves the book and makes this a great title in the continuing series of the Imperium's greatest reasonably unmodified hero and one that will only add to his heroic saga.

There are however lots of sections in the book that are predictable and dry with everything that is going on seeming mundane and tedious but the odd Cain moment changes it up. There are a few nice nods to current fiction characters and current trends, however the footnotes are a great disappointment! Normally they are a great humorous touch to the books but in this case they just don’t add to the appeal and are almost completely pointless, still it’s nice to see their still there.

Unfortunately because of a few let downs the book only scores a 4 out of 5 from me but given its a Cain book and the character is great fun I personally can’t wait for the next one to see how things improve.





Available from:

http://www.blacklibrary.com/
The Emperor's Finest by Sandy Mitchell
Hardback • ISBN 9781844168903

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