Book Review: Redemption Corps - Rob Sanders
Time for some classic 40k.
Title: Redemption Corps
Book: Redemption Corps
Author: Rob Sanders
Commercial Fluff:
"Led by the fearsome Major Mortensen, the Redemption Corps is a regiment of ultra-tough storm troopers sent to the deadliest warzones. But can they survive being caught between xenos horrors and the fury of the Sisters of Battle?"
Review
I was fortunate and found this book in a thrift store. It's been interested me for a while, as who doesn't love a good guard book? So once home, I began reading straight away. It turns out Redemption Corps was Rob Sanders's debut novel and his first full novel for Black Library.
The story begins by throwing us straight into the action. With the Redemption Corps on a troopship called 'Deliverance', set during a troop revolt. Tasked by the onboard Commissar, the Corps started moving throughout the ship in search of the head of the revolt. This is a fantastic opening chapter full of detail, action and suspense. This chapter alone should have been a short story. Alas, it's not. For the rest of the book, we jump from the present to the future / the past to the present. This personally unnerved me as a storytelling technique and ultimately left me confusing some of the information along the way. As the story progresses, we end up with a system-wide battle involving Orks, Inquisitors, and Sisters of Battle, with the Redemption Corps stuck, slap bang in the thick of it, fighting from mission to mission, slowly uncovering the truth, until they are locked up and imprisoned by the Sisters of Battle for knowing too much.
Character-wise, most of them are throw-away at best, serving a purpose and disappearing forever, either by being killed off or never being spoken of again. Only two of the characters are worth remembering, the first being Major Mortensen: Leader of the Redemption Corps, horrifically burned when his planet was destroyed, now able to resist pain, a pure badass, possibly infused with the Emperor’s essence (if the troopers are to be believed) or he’s heretic attempting to start a cult that will worship him (if you believe the Inquisitor or the Sisters of Battle). Then the second character is Cadet-Commissar Krieg: An inquisitor's aid sent to spy on Mortensen, straight-laced, mission-oriented, believes in the goal, and slowly sides with the Major as the story progresses, and as the truth finally is revealed. Neither made me want to like them, but they are worth remembering.
Highlights
Chapter One- Great opening!
The super-intelligent Ork Boss battling on an Ogryn homeworld made/covered in glass. This chapter was a great look inside a world beyond the norm. I need more of this.
I would have preferred to have had more details on the Inquisitor's plot. But it was an interesting arc.
Lowlights
Too much jumping back and forth. I prefer a more linear timeline.
The Sisters of Battle are too fanatical and zealot in this tale for me. Maybe that is how they are, but it jarred with me.
With a lack of Character depth, I found myself wanting the Orks to win.
Ultimately, this is an action-packed novel, good enough for an afternoon read, but it lacked some of the exciting aspects I need from a 40k book. I would have preferred it as a bunch of collected short stories rather than jumping back and forth trying to tell multiple stories at once. But this is truly a personal preference and I can see others enjoying it more. Each to their own, I guess.
Thanks for reading this review. If you have any thoughts on it, drop me a comment below!
