My reading time has taken a real battering over the last couple of weeks, not that I’d want it any other way but the ‘book geek’ part of my brain has been starting to get withdrawal symptoms... As has often been the case, over what’s been an incredibly hectic last few months, I’ve found myself going back to what I’d loosely call ‘comfort reads’. You know the ones, they may not be books that you’ve read before but you pretty much know that you’re going to enjoy them.
At least, that was the plan. The latest ‘Imperial Guard’ novel, from Black Library, looked like it would be right up my street and give me just the read I was after. Any book with a cover like this has to worth checking out... right? Well, yes and no.
‘Redemption Corps’ has a story that’s worth the read but you do have to wade through a lot of filler to get to it. I was left wondering if it was all necessary...
If the Imperial Guard are the backbone of the Imperium’s military might then its storm troopers are very much the blunt weapon, used for those missions where a quick and decisive outcome is required. Captain Mortensen’s ‘Redemption Corps’ is one such regiment and their current deployment sees them headed back and forth across the Kaligari Cradle, carrying out high risk assignments in various warzones.
Life is tough for Mortensen and his troopers but now things are about to get even tougher. Orks are invading the system but it’s an invasion unlike any Mortensen has ever seen, something fundamental has changed and dangerously so. If that wasn’t bad enough Mortensen suddenly finds himself under the puritanical gaze of the Sisters of Battle, the Ecclesiarchy’s brutal warrior maidens. If the xenos threat doesn’t get Mortensen then the darker side of the Imperium surely will. It’s a tight spot for anyone to find themselves in but tight spots are where Mortensen and the Redemption Corps work best...
‘Redemption Corps’ is full of everything that makes a Black Library read a great one. It’s just a shame that... I’ll get to that in a minute...
What the reader gets here is a read that typifies the Warhammer 40K universe; unrelentingly brutal but full of characters and events that stir the blood and will keep you reading. Sanders is more than happy to show his reader that he has a keen eye for both of these, capturing future warfare (and the people who fight in it) in fine style.
Sanders sets his stall out very early in terms of what he’s promising his readers with the quelling of a troop transport mutiny the ideal way to meet the ‘Redemption Corps’ and find out just what they’re capable of. A fine balance is maintained between introductions to each character (although don’t get too attached to any of them) and letting them get on with what they do best. The result is a suspenseful opening couple of chapters that burst into bullet ridden life at just the right moments; just the right kind of hook to have you coming back for more.
Sanders gives the rest of the battles in the book a similar treatment and, for the most part, it all comes off nicely. There were moments where I thought that things could have been faster paced but you could forgive these seeing as initial landings, securing perimeters etc are never going to be the most action packed of affairs! Infiltrating a gigantic Titan war machine (in the middle of a planetary revolt) though? Fighting your way out of a maximum security prison? These are the moments where Sanders really shines. You can feel the tension in every footstep that a trooper takes, not knowing what’s round that next corner. You can feel bolter shells fly past your head and I found myself glad that it was the guys in the book who were the casualties of these, it meant that I was able to keep reading.
Sanders also takes time to remind his readers that these moments of excellent military sci-fi are taking place in the Warhammer universe. Not only is he fully conversant with all the terminology but he hits the nail firmly on the head in his portrayal of just how bleak and dark this universe is. Lots of religious imagery and a stark reminder of the punishment for heresy (on board Canoness Santhonax’ starship) is the order of the day here and Sanders isn’t afraid to hold back in terms of his descriptive passages in all of this. A brutal universe has to be depicted brutally otherwise what’s the point? Sanders knows this and makes it work to his advantage.
The promise of an excellent read is maintained all the way through ‘Redemption Corps’ but, for me, it never quite made that transition. ‘Very good’ is nothing to sniff at but when you’re faced with something that could have been ‘excellent’ then it’s hard not to feel disappointed...
The Imperial Guard is a massive organisation numbering billions of soldiers across a war torn galaxy. Sanders may not have a cast that size but he is determined to reflect this resulting complexity in the character introductions that he makes. Every character comes with not only a rank and regiment but also a list of regiments that they previously served with, prior engagements that they served in and a detailed summary of just where they fit into the Guard structure. While this approach does what it sets out to, when you take into account the number of characters being introduced over the course of the book (a lot!) what you end up with is a plot that doesn’t have as much room to breathe as it would like. When things do get going they roar along nicely but you have to wade through a lot of filler first. If you’re a Warhammer gamer then this level of detail may appeal to you but what I was after was the story itself and having it being drip fed to me wasn’t part of the deal (at least I didn’t think so)...
I also found that I wasn’t too keen on the way that the story would start off by feeding us a future event and then show us the events leading up to it. The gap between past and future was just that little too big for the two timelines to properly fit together and do the job they were meant to. It felt like I was reading two stories instead of one...
Like I said, ‘Redemption Corps’ positively screams with the potential to be an excellent read but issues with its style and structure keep it firmly in the ranks of the ‘Very Good’. This isn’t bad in itself but I was left wondering what could have been...
Eight and a Quarter out of Ten
No comments:
Post a Comment