Upcoming: “Fire Caste” by Peter Fehervari (Black Library)

In Fehervari’s debut novel for Black Library, he pits the Imperial Guard against the alien Tau Empire. I’d not heard of Fehervari before this novel was announced, so I was quite surprised to hear he’d been given a full novel contract. I’ll certainly be interested to see what he can come up with in the Warhammer 40,000 setting. Fire Caste will also be the first novel I read featuring the Tau, and only the second story overall. (For some reason, they don’t seem to have been particularly popular with BL authors…) Here’s the synopsis:

In the jungles of the Dolorosa Coil, a coalition of alien tau and human deserters have waged war upon the Imperium for countless years. Fresh Imperial Guard forces from the Arkhan Confederates are sent in to break the stalemate and annihilate the xenos. But greater forces are at work, and the Confederates soon find themselves broken and scattered. As they fight a desperate guerrilla war, their only hope may lie in the hands of a disgraced commissar, hell-bent on revenge.

Fire Caste will be published in March 2013 by Black Library.

Upcoming: “Yarrick: Chains of Golgotha” by David Annandale (Black Library)

Was just on Black Library’s website, and this moody cover really caught my eye. It’s for David Annandale’s upcoming novella, featuring on of the Imperial Guards’ most famous heroes, Commissar Yarrick.

From the ashes of the Second War of Armageddon a hero of the Imperium emerged. War-torn and bloody, Commissar Yarrick swore vengeance on the beast that escaped his righteous wrath, the despoiler of Armageddon – Ghazghkull Thraka. Tracking down the ork warlord to the desolate world of Golgotha, Yarrick leads an armoured company to destroy the beast but does not reckon on Thraka’s cunning. Ambushed, his army all-but destroyed, Yarrick is captured and awakes to find himself aboard the beast's space hulk facing a fate worse than death...

Yarrick: Chains of Golgotha will be published later this month as a limited edition hardcover and also eBook. I’ve enjoyed Annandale’s BL fiction to date, so I am definitely looking forward to this.

I really like the fact that the publisher has been working hard to get stories out featuring some of the best-known characters, fleshing them out even more.

“Angel of Fire” by Will King (Black Library)

King’s return to Warhammer 40,000

At the dawn of the forty-first millennium, Lord Commander Macharius and his forces embark upon the re-conquest of over a thousand worlds. A man of steel and fire, Macharius is the only one with the will to lead the massed armies of the Imperium to victory. As the crusade rolls onwards, it reaches the world of Karsk. In the city of Irongrad, the Imperial forces face the crusade’s end, unless Macharius and his army can defeat the dreaded Angel of Fire.

This is the first Warhammer 40,000 novel from King in quite some time – he took a hiatus from writing Black Library fiction, but has since returned with this and the Tyrion & Teclis series. Angel of Fire is a very good military sci-fi story. It’s not perfect, but it offers an alternative vision of a great Imperial hero that I hadn’t expected.

“Cadian Blood”, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (Black Library)

The Imperial Guard attempt to purge a horde of plague zombies!

When the Imperial shrine world of Kathur is blighted by Chaos, the brave Guardsmen of Cadia are sent to reclaim it. The plague of Nurgle has set in deeply on the planet, forcing the Cadians into battle with an innumerable legion of the infected. In the midst of battle, Captain Parmenion Thade is thrust into an unlikely commanding role. Yet, he cannot imagine what lies ahead on Kathur, and just how important it will be to ensure victory there…

I’m a big fan of Aaron DB’s novels – his Night Lords series and his Horus Heresy contribution The First Heretic are among the best novels Black Library has ever published. I completely missed Cadian Blood, his debut novel when it was available in print, and have been meaning to read it ever since it was made available as an eBook. While it does not quite match his others, it is still a really good novel, and one that shows the promise he would later build on.

“Salvation’s Reach” by Dan Abnett (Black Library)

A desperate mission that could decide the fate of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade

The Ghosts of the Tanith First-and-Only have been away from the front line for too long. Listless, and hungry for action, they are offered a mission that perfectly suits their talents. The objective: the mysterious Salvation’s Reach, a remote and impenetrable stronghold concealing secrets that could change the course of the Sabbat Worlds campaign. But the proposed raid is so hazardous, it’s regarded as a suicide mission, and the Ghosts may have been in reserve for so long they’ve lost their edge. Haunted by spectres from the past and stalked by the Archenemy, Colonel-Commissar Gaunt and his Ghosts embark upon what could be their finest hour… or their final mission.

The thirteenth book in Abnett’s hugely popular Gaunt’s Ghosts series, Salvation’s Reach offers the great action and characterisation that we have come to expect from Abnett, and should please existing and new fans alike.

“Imperial Glory” by Richard Williams (Black Library)

Tired & weary, the Imperial Guard face an Ork infestation.

Tired and broken by war, the men of the Brimlock Eleventh Imperial Guard are a force on the verge of collapse. Having been stretched across the galaxy by their loyalty to the Emperor, they are presented with one final battle that will allow them reward they all seek: to colonise the distant world of Voor and live out the rest of their days in peace. All that stands in their way is a force of savages – a plague of feral orks that has spread across the planet. But can the Brimlock’s battered bodies and minds hold up to this greenskin invasion?

The Imperial Guard always present an interesting perspective on the Warhammer 40,000 universe: considerable in number, but physically unimpressive next to Space Marines, they are the backbone of the Imperium’s forces. Imperial Glory offers an interesting and original take on the plight of the Guardsmen, and despite a slightly rocky start, was very enjoyable, and a novel with surprising heart.

“Redemption Corps”, by Rob Sanders (Black Library)

The latest in the Imperial Guard series of science fiction action/war novels

Led by the fearsome Major Mortensen, the Redemption Corps is a regiment of ultra-tough storm troopers sent to the deadliest warzones on missions of mercy and destruction. But when Mortensen comes to the attention of the deadly sorority of the Battle Sisters, he not only has an ork invasion to contend with but these fearsome warrior-fanatics too.

Caught between the xenos and the fury of the Imperium, can the Redemption Corps fulfil their mission as well as survive their own side?

This is the first novel in the Imperial Guard series that I’ve read, and I am rather impressed. My initial, less-than-eloquent thought as I read the introduction was “Damn, this is good”, and that impression remained with me throughout the novel.

The Volscians, the overall regiment Mortensen and new cadet-commissar Krieg are attached to, are a rough bunch: lots of home-world hive-gang loyalties remain, undermining protocol and sometimes peace/unit cohesion on the transport ships. Krieg’s introduction to his unit (and Mortensen’s) adds yet more colour to the portrayal of life and service in the Imperial Army. Krieg is sent to join the regiment to do “The Emperor’s work... slowly”; because of their entrenched loyalties, biases and proclivities, the Volscians are unlikely to accept any thing buts “change, at a pace”. A slow one, much to Krieg’s annoyance. We meet Mortensen, already attached to the Volscians, when he is ordered to put down a bloody mutiny. (If this chapter doesn’t make you respect the Redemption Corps, then nothing will – simply put, they are harder as nails.)

Redemption Corps embodies the aesthetic and atmosphere of the Warhammer 40,000 universe perfectly: grim, dangerous, gritty, and violent; populated by a vast, diverse and colourful cast of characters – the good, the bad, the ugly, and the in-between. None of them is from central casting, all are slightly (or largely) flawed, fallible and three-dimensional (even the emotion-stripped co-pilot of Rosencrantz’s ship feels more realistic than characters I’ve read in more hyped and ‘respectable’ fiction). The dialogue is crisp and clipped, avoiding cliché and always realistic.

Sanders has a gift for making both the macro- and micro-scale of life in this grim future feel intense and gripping. When Mortensen’s looking out over a city at war, or when his storm troopers are fighting through the corridors of a transport ship, or the streets of the city, you get a sense of the atmosphere, the scale of devastation or intimate tension. The action, which comes at you from almost the beginning of the novel, is fast and furious, bloody and in-your-face.

Occasionally succumbing to the temptation of including a textual flourish (sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t), Sanders is a confident writer whose prose  is quick-paced and he’s able to draw the reader along with the story (it was very difficult to put this novel down). His prose is very well crafted, often minimalist, but able to convey a great deal – painting just the picture he wants us to see, without over-describing or adding extraneous wordage and exposition. After dealing with the mutiny aboard the Deliverance, for example, Sanders’ description of the recuperating Major Mortensen is pithy:

“Leaning forward he put his head between his knees, the sickening tang of adrenaline subsiding, and slowly bled.”

Sometimes the description is a little over-done, but mostly the author manages to bring the universe to life on the page. I wouldn’t go so far as to say you can ‘smell the cordite’ and ‘hear the gunshots’ (I’m British, after all, and not overly prone to hyperbole), but he gets pretty close. The Warhammer 40k universe offers near endless, colourful possibilities for imaginative world-building, and Sanders does a great job with each of the worlds his characters visit: Illium, the Mechanicus world, is a hive of industrial sectors and areas devoted to the worship of the Omnissiah (the ‘Machine God’) – vast, choking, awe-inspiring edifices cover the world, every inch developed and put to use by this or that fabricator. Ishtar is the polar opposite - a “deathworld”, where every bit of flora and fauna is deadly (even some geological formations, including “cryogenic swamplands” and flensing glass forests). Both of these worlds, as well as a couple of others mentioned in the novel, are vividly realised, and Sanders is able to really give us a sense of what it would be like to be there. His descriptions of Ishtar and the ordeals of his characters there are particularly vivid.

Sanders includes some interesting and refreshing, classic-40k elements, in a measured-reveal towards the end of the novel (I wasn’t expecting it, so I shall also not spoil it here). It feels like an age since a Black Library novel featured these antagonists – the focus now seems to be mainly the grand, Imperial-Chaos struggle (no bad thing, of course: the Horus Heresy and Gaunt’s Ghosts series remain my favourite Black Library novels).

Highly recommended for fans of military science-fiction, and certainly all fans of Warhammer 40,000 and other Black Library releases. Redemption Corps is a thoroughly enjoyable science fiction war novel.

For fans of: Dan Abnett’s Gaunt’s Ghost series, James Swallow’s Faith and Fire (2006), Graham McNeill, Sandy Mitchell, Andy Remic, Simon Spurrier