For the Emperor is the first full-length book in the Astra Militarum series featuring Ciaphas Cain. It features all the joyous Imperiam Propaganda that you’d expect from the faction and really sucks the reader into the world of Warhammer 40k – as viewed from the Imperium of Mankind. Ciaphas Cain himself is a Commissar in the Imperial Guard; an officer that works as an attachment to an established regiment and inspires them to keep on fighting, living, and dying in the name of duty. Cain is seen as a ‘Hero of the Imperium’ and with that comes a certain degree of responsibility, however, it’s quickly established that his unofficial title has come about more through good fortune and being in the wrong place at the right time!

As a lead character, Ciaphas Cain is thrilling to read about. He is an ultimately flawed character whose bad qualities round him off nicely and make him a more captivating character to read about. He’ll do absolutely anything to stay alive, even if that means spinning his seemingly cowardly actions into ones that ‘Have the Emperor's best interests at heart.’ What is very quickly shown is that Cain knows his flaws and he knows how to use them to his own advantage – he is a swift talker and expert reader of people and this covers up his known negative traits with casual ease. This also helps with the narration style of For the Emperor, which serves as a hand-written account of Cain’s exploits.

Interspersed with the main chapters of the novel are other voices chipping in. Cain is an unreliable narrator and spins a tale that serves his purpose – putting the reader back on the right track are the accounts of Inquisitor Amberley Vail and the extracts she chooses. They give a slightly alternative view of some of the events that transpire in the novel and show a complete picture as the world shifts around the characters.

While Cain is clearly the star of the novel, the supporting characters around him also hold their own merit. Cain’s loyal-beyond-all-reason aide, Gunner Ferik Jurgen, is of particular note. His quirks of character were interesting to read about and his steadfast loyalty to something other than himself made for a breath of fresh air compared to Cain’s self-serving nature; it is however the only thing fresh about him! The descriptions of his personal hygiene were raw to the point of physical assault, they were so richly depicted. The general ethos of For the Emperor sees Commissar Cain merging two decimated regiments – both of the fractured regiments seeing themselves as better than the other; and each one consisting of different genders to the other. The juxtaposition between them and how they merge together adds another complication to the novel as the plot progresses and just another element to make Cain’s job more difficult, and humorous.

The plot of For the Emperor is a concrete mixture of War-Time events with an overspill of Mystery. While on the surface, there is a civil war being handled between the loyalist citizens and those that have been turned to the ways of the Tau. The situation is tense and when the Inquisition becomes involved, you just know that there is more going on than first meets the eye. The description of the Tau technology through the eyes of Imperial Guard Loyalists is sublime and, because of the narrow-minded perspective, goes to show how little the regular citizens of The Imperium of Mankind know about the other races they encounter; the fact that they don’t open up guns blazing on their ‘enemy’ on first sight was another interesting element to the novel, there was more to For the Emperor than just all-out war – which is always a pleasure to read in a Warhammer novel. Of course, there is combat in the book, but it comes as a secondary element to the story.

What I felt was truly magical about For the Emperor is the humor which it brings to the usually deadly serious setting of Warhammer 40k. Ciaphas Cain meets his new regiment – one of his choosing – in the middle of a canteen-room wide brawl. It’s his reactions to this, and other events throughout the book, that make him a pleasure to read about. The core of Cain’s character lends itself well to this sort of novel; his self-centered, self-serving attitude would come across as irritating in a novel that has a more serious undertone. For me, For the Emperor is exactly what Warhammer 40k should be about; War, Conflict but ultimately, a heck of a lot of fun too!

There is a lot of background in this book. There’s world-building and characters being established. This takes up a lot of page space in the novel and is what keeps the pacing from being truly captivating. The moment events pick up, someone new is introduced or something else explained, which stops For the Emperor from being the shining star that it could be; I am being somewhat assumptive in thinking that some of the other books in the series don’t suffer from this as much and I am eager to read them. There are times when the pacing really ramps up and this is when the novels shine; I like character and world-building very much, but in this case, the action needed to start a little bit sooner to get rid of the ‘Just get on with it’ frustrations.

Whenever Commissars come up in the world of WH40k, people always have two names - Gaunt and Cain. As someone who was firmly on the Gaunt side, I couldn't imagine another Commissar who could even hold a candle to Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt - his adventures with the Tanith First and Only were literally the books that got me into WH40k. However, after barely being able to put down Hero of the Imperium, so invested was I in Cain and the Valhallans, I am forced to say that I am now fifty-fifty down the middle - both of these Commissars are among the best-written and most engaging characters within the WH40k universe, and I eagerly anticipate reading more of Cain's adventures. Sandy Mitchell (Alex Stewart) is one of the best writers within this universe, hands down.

A great, substantial introduction to Ciaphas Cain -- the Flashman of the WH40k universe. Capable and yet not particularly dedicated to the Imperium's request for all to sacrifice their lives for the Emperor, Cain has an uncanny ability to find himself at the wrong place at the right time.

Mitchell manages to create a compelling view of the grim dark future of the 41st Millennium. His protagonist and others inject some welcome humour into the setting, while not compromising on the grittiness and brutality of this war-torn future. The action scenes are very well written, and the characters are compelling and engaging.

Definitely recommended.

The tales of Ciaphas Cain and Jurgen are the antidote to the grim dark universe of 40k, Cain and Jurgen always (sadly for Cain) see a lot of action and if I was an agent of chaos/necrons/ xenos I would be making them a number one priority to be removed 😉 but the humour which is dryly sardonic is a thing of pleasure