‘Lost Hope’ – Justin D. Hill (Black Library)


Page Count: 35 Pages

This week has been all about short reads (just to keep myself ticking over really) and the way that things are going at the moment, you’ll see more than a few other short reads featuring here. What with work and my upcoming house move, things are about to get even more hectic before they start to die down. What a time to be alive etc etc 😉

In the meantime… I came across this title while I was looking for something to read on the way home last night. Justin Hill’s Warhammer books (40K and The Old World) haven’t let me down yet and I’m always partial to some 40K action where the heroes are the least powered faction in the setting, going up against certain terrifying death armed with a piss poor las-rifle and faith in the God Emperor. What’s not to like? Well, that’s what I thought when I saw ‘Lost Hope’ so I went with it and…

In desperate need of fresh troops for his long campaign against traitors and renegades, General Creed of the Cadian 8th and his aide, Colour Sergeant Kell, head to the world of Lost Hope, a frozen and dangerous prison planet. But when they discover that the prisoners have revolted and the world is in the grip of heresy, their mission becomes much more complicated, and they realise that their foes' plans are greater and more convoluted than they could have ever imagined…

It was only after I’d finished reading ‘Lost Hope’ that I realised I should have read ‘Last Step Backwards’ first, just to get a better view of the overall plot. Not to worry though, ‘Lost Hope’ stands very well on its own, a couple of sentences help you get your bearings and then you’re off on this mad dash through a world that Creed is looking to mine for ‘volunteers’ but is actually in league with the great enemy. The results are as you’d expect but Hill still manages to spring a few surprises that lend the story fresh impetus at just the right moment, punctuated by all the gunfire you could possibly want.

The big question that I was left with though was the ability of one Traitor Marine to withstand an assault by a determined yet threadbare group of Cadians and loyalist prisoners. I would have thought that the result would be a foregone conclusion but I was wrong and it did leave me wondering if/how that fight should have gone. In the end though, the power-fist makes for a fun spectacle and that’s really the main thing for me, especially after a long day like yesterday.

I also got to meet General Creed for the first time and that was a lot of fun in itself. There isn’t a lot of room for introductions but Hill still manages to make room for us to see what Creed is all about; mostly very determined to get the job done (so he can concentrate on what he sees as a far bigger threat) and able to chip in at any time with a great line in motivational speeches, you can’t ask for much more than that in a Cadian General.

‘Lost Hope’ was a great way to spend the bus ride home and I can see myself picking up the rest of these short stories as and when I get the chance. Is it a little corny to say that the future of Cadia is safe in Justin Hill’s hands? Probably, but it’s true.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘The Long and Hungry Road’ – Adrian Tchaikovsky (Black Library)

Image
After not finishing ‘Witchbringer’ (not the book’s fault, I still think it could be worth your time), I thought I’d change pace a little and go for a short, sharp burst of something instead. Something that would blow a few cobwebs away and wake me up a bit :o) Now in my experience, there’s nothing shorter and sharper than a Warhammer short story so that was the direction of my reading taken care of. And as far as the focus went… I’ve read a few Warhammer tales, in my time, but I’ve never read a tale that looks at the events of the 41st Millennium through the eyes of the rapacious Tyranids. So when I saw ‘The Long and Hungry Road’ on Amazon, it pretty much chose itself. To face a Tyranid invasion is a waking nightmare. The skies darken with spores, your mind echoes with alien screeches, and countless weapon-organisms descend upon you with razor teeth and claws. How much greater would your horror be, to realise that the hive ship above thinks nothing of your fate – that it crushes you
Read more

'Mad God' (2021)

Image
It's that time again where Youtube throws me a 'Shudder' advert and I think to myself, 'I'm paying five quid a month for this, I really should watch something, lets give it a go...'   This time round, 'It' was the film 'Mad God' and the trailer was this mad batshit crazy shot of stop-motion horror that was over before I'd had a chance to get my head round it; leaving me pretty unsettled but with no clear idea just why that was... That's all I need sometimes, I was in... It's almost an hour later and, damn, that was grim, bleak and... What the hell just happened? A corroded diving bell descends amidst a ruined city and the Assassin emerges from it to explore a labyrinth of bizarre landscapes inhabited by freakish denizens. That is about all I can tell you about 'Mad God' and that's only because I had a quick look on IMDB and that was all IMDB could tell me... 'Mad God' is any number of things but it's not
Read more

‘Worms of the Earth’ – Robert E. Howard.

Image
Page Count: 27 Pages I have a copy of this on my shelf and the plan was to pick it up for a read on the way into work this morning. Well, that was the plan but I was half asleep, leaving the house, and totally forgot… No matter though, that’s what the Kindle app is for (although if I’d been a little more awake, I’d have read it off Project Gutenberg instead, you can find ‘Worms of the Earth’ Here ). 99p later and my ‘commute reading’ was secured 😉 I always seem to fall into the trap of just reading ‘Conan’ stuff whenever I fancy reading a little Howard. Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just that there’s a lot of his other stories out there that are more than worth your time when you come across them. ‘Worms of the Earth’ is very much one of those tales but you knew that already, didn’t you? You didn’t? You should do something about that, take it from me… After witnessing one of his subjects die at the hands of Roman governor Titus Sulla, Bran Mak Morn vows vengeance on Sulla but at w
Read more