‘Auxilia’ – Russell Zimmerman (Black Library)

 

Page Count: 352 Pages

Hi :o) Apologies for the brief period of silence… I’ll be honest, I got to the end of last Thursday and just needed to stop, for a few days, sit quietly in the new comfy chair and read without rushing to put it into a post. So… that’s exactly what I did and it was great. I managed to finish off a couple of books that I’d stalled on (hint: this week is going to be ‘40K Heavy’) and completed a reading challenge set by my youngest daughter. Definitely time well spent and I’m a little more up for posting this week. Anyway…

When I saw the blurb for ‘Auxilia’ I thought, ‘hang on, I’m pretty sure that I’ve come across Orysian Roane before…’ And I had, in one of my favourite stories from the ‘Death and Duty’ anthology. I would have read ‘Auxilia’ anyway (I love stories of the Imperial Guard) but was definitely up for finding out what happens next to a character who can be inspiring and infuriating all at the same time. And that’s just what I did, eventually…

Never one to take the full burden of command, can Castellan-Colonel Roane lead a ragtag group of soldiers through the fires of a civil war? Hard choices await him as he tries to forge his unit into shape.

A young and brash Cadian, Castellan-Colonel Orysian Roane was always content to leave the true burdens of leadership to others – that is, until his chain of command was suddenly shattered. Now, he is forced to take charge of a ragtag auxilia built around a clan of despised abhumans. A clash of different cultures and tactical doctrines, the regiment is filled with failures, survivors and veterans from every corner of the Imperium. Overseen and openly loathed by a murderous commissar and consistently ignored by the Departmento Munitorum, Roane struggles with the impossible task of hammering his unit into Cadian shape, while those around him would rather see it destroyed. But before Roane can find his footing, a broken world is plunged into civil war, and the auxilia faces a trial by fire. Will this be both his first and last command?

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is no such thing as an easy posting for any Imperial Officer looking to not only make their mark but also survive the ‘foibles’ of their own regiment. Seriously, right from the moment Commissar Ibram Gaunt took charge of the Tanith First and Only; Black Library writers have delighted in making life horribly difficult for their Officers. ‘Auxilia’ is no different and while that eventually leads onto some great moments, there is feeling (in the opening stages) that there isn’t really anything new happening here. While I appreciate the irony (that’s kind of the whole point of the Imperium), it did make ‘Auxilia’ difficult to get into and for the last couple of weeks, I’d struggled to find that ‘moment’ where you just know that you’re going to finish the rest of a book. ‘Officer takes his first command and struggles to understand his men etc, etc’, I’d read it before. But…

Stick with it, I did and I feel a little ashamed that ‘past me’ briefly considered putting the book down.

There are moments where we see that Zimmerman is a writer who is prepared to take a few risks, here and there, that combine to form a book where I got to the end and thought, ‘I really want to see where the Auxilia go next’. The climactic (and ‘anti-climactic’) battles are superbly drawn but it’s Zimmerman’s ‘deep dive’ into his characters that really give you the emotional engagement amongst the gun-fire.

I’m talking about the Ratlings of course. I won’t say that I’ve read a lot of 40K fiction but I’m struggling to think of another book that covers their culture as well as Zimmerman does here.

Zimmerman not only pays affectionate homage to the Ratlings ‘High Fantasy origins’ by basically setting them up in their own version of ‘The Shire’ (deep in the bowels of an Imperial cruiser) and then showing us how a people shunted to the periphery can not only make their predicament work but also make a real difference to the fight. It’s a risk but Zimmerman pulls it off without looking like he’s even trying. And these ‘Folk’ have real character as well. While the ‘ab-human’ races are usually just there to be cannon fodder, Zimmerman really takes us into who the Ratlings are as people and a community. Like I said, I’m struggling to think of another 40K where this group have been portrayed so well.

And then we have Roane’s arc which starts off fairly typically but becomes an example of how innovation is not only still possible but can be applied to devastating affect. It’s a very natural evolution for Roane who ends the book as cocky as ever but with an edge of maturity that casts him in a new light. You may not be able to fight Imperial bureaucracy but a little lateral thinking can send it in the direction that you need it to go.

‘Auxilia’ was a tough nut to crack but ended up being a gripping read when it mattered; especially when I realised that the twist had been hidden in plain sight the whole time. With new additions to the Auxilia, there is plenty of scope for this to become a series in its own right and I hope that happens. I’d definitely read more.