Review: Death or Glory

Death or Glory by Sandy Mitchell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Synopsis

Set during the early years of Cain’s service as a commissar. Before taking charge of the 597th Valhallan Regiment, Commissar Cain was assigned to the Valhallan Artillery Regiment, surreptitiously placed at the rear of any army formation pointed towards the enemy and moral danger. Something which he secretly was grateful for. And thanks to the never tiring support of his loyal and hard working aide, the phlegmatic Jurgen, Cain is able to delegate most paperwork, sit back and relax.

That is, until the troop transport ship he was on board fell victim to psychic warp shenanigans, perpetuated by the ork weirdboyz, en route to their engagement of the green menace at the next contested imperial planet.

Cain, surviving the encounter by a hair’s breadth, managed to board an escape shuttle, accompanied only by the steadfast Jurgen, and ended up crash-landed on the planet, far behind enemy lines.

Realizing the gravity of his predicament, and with little hope for reinforcement of support, Cain and Jurgen make the most of their ordeal; traversing the entire length of the desert landscape, under the hope of rejoining with the Imperial line of defenders. Between them, the entire ork invasion force has beset the planet. An insurmountable odds for most men; but this is the legendary hero Caiphas Cain we’re talking about.

With his characteristic charm, personability, some bullshitting, and a monumental amount of dumb luck, the good Commissar somehow finds himself as the leader of a ragtag group of survivors, liberated from ork camps, and disparate bands of imperial forces, all of whom congregate under his banner, mounting a formidable front against the ork invaders.

In the very end, his resistance force manages to effectively blunt the brunt of the ork forces, while Cain himself, in a now common example of his luck turning from extremely good to extremely bad, ends up facing off against the Ork warboss in single combat. He comes out of it victorious, thus unwittingly adding another page to the growing legend of the Hero Caiphas Cain, liberator.


Thoughts

Out of the stories featuring the good Commissar that I’ve read so far, ‘Death or Glory’ has to be the one which I found the most entertaining. Also, one which I found to be the spiritual successor of the engaging and mirthful first book ‘For the Emperor’.

Perhaps it is the whole desert survival theme which dominates the first two acts of the story, or the usual guile with which Cain unintentionally ends up creating an army of meat shields to help his survival and boost his legend in the war against the orks.

The first half of the book, which sees Cain & Jurgen all alone behind enemy lines, with limited food and ammunition, most definitely puts into perspective the trust and camaraderie which the two have developed. Especially Cain, who regularly sees others as disposable shields for his own safety, actually values the loyalty and resourcefulness of his aide, partly because of just how many times the malodorous veteran has saved his skin.

Or perhaps Cain knows, subconsciously, with how things usually go down for him, when things get nasty and their backs are against the wall, he can trust on the taciturn trooper to have his back; against orks, tyranids, chaos or anything else that the universe has to offer. That dynamic, and the reciprocal professional courtesy they have for each other, helps soften Cain’s more self-serving, manipulative tendencies.

Another point of note is how, during the entire campaign, we as readers are privy to how the aide was always present by the commissar’s side and contributed significantly to their eventual outcome. Yet, when the propaganda pieces come out, it is the hero Cain who, ‘single handedly’ brought about the staggering Imperial victory. Which is something that made me chuckle.

Fortunately, this time around, we don’t get the repeated troupe of hostile enemy 1 followed by a surprise enemy 2 gate crashing Cain’s mission; it’s Orks all the way. Although there are some tangential side quests, with allusions to the warp, and an unresolved thread, which it is heavily implied will be followed through in subsequent iterations.

Also, thank god there is no mission where Cain takes a small squad underground; which at this point is as constant in these books as Jurgen; and frankly was something which was getting repetitive.

The battle scenes, of which there are many, are unique and inventive. They increase in intensity and carnage, the more forces Cain manages to gather. Starting from well placed two man ambushes by the duo, to co-ordinated search, rescue and destroy operations of ork encampments, all culminating with Cain obliterating a dam and dumping the entire colossal deluge onto an incoming ork invasion force ranging in the thousands. Imagine the final battle in LOTR, with the earthquake neatly obliterating Sauron's entire forces in one fell swoop. Now, instead of an earthquake, imagine a freaking tidal wave drowning the entire army; you’ll get the idea.

So, all in all, a well entertaining entry into the growing chronicles of Commissar Cain. Looking forward to the future installments.


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