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Imperial Guard
Redemption Corps
An Astra Militarum novel
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?
READ IT BECAUSE
It's Rob Sanders' debut Black Library novel, and it delivers all the action, intrigue and unusual antics you'd expect from him!
THE STORY
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 and survive into the bargain?
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?
READ IT BECAUSE
It's Rob Sanders' debut Black Library novel, and it delivers all the action, intrigue and unusual antics you'd expect from him!
THE STORY
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 and survive into the bargain?
416 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 27, 2010
17 people are currently reading
191 people want to read
About the author
Rob Sanders
114 books86 followersRob Sanders is the author of twelve novels, as well as numerous anthologised short stories, novellas, audio dramas, computer games and comics. His fiction has won national writing competitions, been featured on the BBC and appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list. His poetry has been short listed in national contests. He lives off the beaten track in the small city of Lincoln, UK.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
May 24, 2012
Balls to the walls action! A very memorable classic cast of characters: gene stealer cultists, an Imperial storm troop officer who looks like hammered shit, but is the very definition of badass, a monomaniacal Commissar, and an insane bolter nun. The story is non-stop action from front to back. This book is why I got into Warhammer 40,000 novels and is the definition, for me at least, of what a good Warhammer book should look like.
January 17, 2013
Full review can be read over at The Founding Fields: http://thefoundingfields.com/2013/01/...
Eroldren reviews Rob Sanders’ debut novel from Black Library, Redemption Corps, an Imperial Guard novel.
“Sidestepping away from the Guardsman norm Rob Sanders instead tackles their elite: Storm Troopers. However, certain aspects of the novel muddle down part of the reading experience.” – The Founding Fields
Being the first novel for Rob Sanders is no means his first published story for Black Library, in fact he’s already gotten out short stories here and there back in the Inferno! days before that magazine line shutdown. Although what those titles were yet still eludes me much to my knowledge. Nevertheless, he’s done much work for BL in more recent times since the 2010 publication of his book debut: Atlas Infernal – a Inquisitor Czevak novel, Legion of the Damned (Space Marine Battles), The Serpent Beneath novella and “The Iron Within” for the Horus Heresy and a number of other short stories for 40k.
In the past year I've become bit interested in the brutal lives of the Imperial Guardsmen from Gaunt's Ghosts verses that of the Space Marines offer; the prospect of us human struggling for survival in the far grim dark future can just as well be enthralling as demigods. Considering that Redemption Corps here presented itself as a new venue of Guardsman action I took a shot at it.
Reader’s Notice: minor spoilers are in this review but nothing of substantial material that’ll ruin the story.
Before you begin reading the meat of the story you’ll notice immediately that each chapter starts off with scenes detailing matters in regards with the Sisters of Battle and namesake group. On my part whenever the flash-forward technique used either in television or print fiction, they have always felt drearisome, becoming rather more irritating than a suspenseful mood of foreboding danger by the time I finally reach the relevant plot point. While some may have no issue with this, others uneasy with this storytelling device like myself can read them sequentially out of context if it would seem prove more beneficial reading experience.
Story-wise, we’re set abroad the Imperial vessel Deliverance during warp transition, on its way to the next planet and battle engagement wherever the war effort requires them at. Major Zane Mortensen and his elite outfit however find themselves amidst a regiment’s uprising against their severe commanders and it’s up to the storm troopers to quell the matter. The drudging journey to achieve their mission objection is incredibly written. By itself, chapter one is utterly brilliant and forever gripping. And the following chapters that brought Koulick Krieg’s character into the picture and joining together with his new regiment I thought I was hooked from start to finish. However, over the course of the plot’s progression into the followup arcs I found myself quite bothered with juggled set of character perspectives.
Eroldren reviews Rob Sanders’ debut novel from Black Library, Redemption Corps, an Imperial Guard novel.
“Sidestepping away from the Guardsman norm Rob Sanders instead tackles their elite: Storm Troopers. However, certain aspects of the novel muddle down part of the reading experience.” – The Founding Fields
Being the first novel for Rob Sanders is no means his first published story for Black Library, in fact he’s already gotten out short stories here and there back in the Inferno! days before that magazine line shutdown. Although what those titles were yet still eludes me much to my knowledge. Nevertheless, he’s done much work for BL in more recent times since the 2010 publication of his book debut: Atlas Infernal – a Inquisitor Czevak novel, Legion of the Damned (Space Marine Battles), The Serpent Beneath novella and “The Iron Within” for the Horus Heresy and a number of other short stories for 40k.
In the past year I've become bit interested in the brutal lives of the Imperial Guardsmen from Gaunt's Ghosts verses that of the Space Marines offer; the prospect of us human struggling for survival in the far grim dark future can just as well be enthralling as demigods. Considering that Redemption Corps here presented itself as a new venue of Guardsman action I took a shot at it.
Reader’s Notice: minor spoilers are in this review but nothing of substantial material that’ll ruin the story.
Before you begin reading the meat of the story you’ll notice immediately that each chapter starts off with scenes detailing matters in regards with the Sisters of Battle and namesake group. On my part whenever the flash-forward technique used either in television or print fiction, they have always felt drearisome, becoming rather more irritating than a suspenseful mood of foreboding danger by the time I finally reach the relevant plot point. While some may have no issue with this, others uneasy with this storytelling device like myself can read them sequentially out of context if it would seem prove more beneficial reading experience.
Story-wise, we’re set abroad the Imperial vessel Deliverance during warp transition, on its way to the next planet and battle engagement wherever the war effort requires them at. Major Zane Mortensen and his elite outfit however find themselves amidst a regiment’s uprising against their severe commanders and it’s up to the storm troopers to quell the matter. The drudging journey to achieve their mission objection is incredibly written. By itself, chapter one is utterly brilliant and forever gripping. And the following chapters that brought Koulick Krieg’s character into the picture and joining together with his new regiment I thought I was hooked from start to finish. However, over the course of the plot’s progression into the followup arcs I found myself quite bothered with juggled set of character perspectives.
April 11, 2014
It took me a while to get into the book due its structure which has sections describing parts close to the ending, but perseverance paid off with a story which slowly sucked me in. Each little bit of the ending which came up was slowly filled in as you read. The major characters are quite interesting and you become more interested in who they are and become as you get deeper. The ending was quite a surprise; finding out the hidden intentions of the Sororitas, who the enemies really are and the origins of the protagonist. The ending leaves me wanting to read more about the Redemption Corps. Heck, it was probably done that way to allow further sequels (hopefully). WH40k would definitely do well with more Imperial Guard series. Bring on the next one!
March 23, 2013
Liked the book but was a hard going read compared to much of the genre I've been reading recently. Plot flashes forwards and backwards in time too much. This goes too far and becomes annoying
May 2, 2015
Meh.
November 8, 2018
no... sequel?
January 5, 2022
This is a Warhammer 40,000 novel that won't make much sense unless you know at least a bit about the background. I suspect some of the characters appear in other stories, but I haven't read any of them personally.
A group of Imperial Guard storm troopers that is made up of various misfits get into a spot of bother. There's a lot going on with inquisitors, Sisters of Battle, commissars and various other factions, and that's just on the Imperial side. There's quite a lot of action, but I struggled to keep up with some of it, and I didn't feel like I really cared who lived or died. Not bad, but there are better Imperial Guard books out there.
A group of Imperial Guard storm troopers that is made up of various misfits get into a spot of bother. There's a lot going on with inquisitors, Sisters of Battle, commissars and various other factions, and that's just on the Imperial side. There's quite a lot of action, but I struggled to keep up with some of it, and I didn't feel like I really cared who lived or died. Not bad, but there are better Imperial Guard books out there.
April 13, 2021
An awesome book! With a great narrative, sometimes hard vocabulary (I am not native english) and a fascinating structure similar to Fernando Meirelles movies, I really enjoyed reading through it. It has an interesting evolution on the characters and, even when sometimes it has too much of "macho-clashes because we are cool" it really makes you feel stuff.
Great book, I liked it a lot.
Great book, I liked it a lot.
May 23, 2022
Немного иначе представлял себе Милитарум Темпестус, здесь скорее отряд "последний шанс" из приговоренных к смерти, чем элита гвардии. Понравилось про оркищехранилище, я слышал что орки вырастают из грибницы, но что они там лежат как кабачки, забавно. Остальное не очень запоминается.
May 28, 2019
Woof. I didn't even make it far enough in to have anything worthwhile to say.
August 19, 2020
Plot progression was abit like weaving through spaghetti but once I got used to the back and forth of it all I enjoyed the story.
January 22, 2022
An absolute slog of a read. Suffering from bloated overindulgent prose and utterly forgettable characters, Redemption Corps is truly a bottom of the barrel BL offering.
February 20, 2022
Quite fun.
July 23, 2023
Personally just didn't get warm with any of the characters, I felt like the story was jumping around a lot too so I had trouble focusing onto it most of the time
June 23, 2024
Definitely a cut above the usual 40k brain junkfood. Action packed and full of turns throughout. One of the best 40k pieces I’ve read in a while.
October 28, 2016
This was an interesting reading even for IG branch. A bit of mystery and full of mayhem (as all of them). The only difference was the pace of the story. This one was at sometimes a bit slow.
This book centers on Mortensen (the only survivor of his world) and his band of stormtroopers. With Krieg (Commissar) are the main characters and most developded characters. There are a couple of other characters (like Rosenkratz) with some insight and development.
Inbetween each chapter or couple of chapters we get glimpses into a future events with characters that only appear near the end.
The Squads of stormtroopers go from suicidal mission to another, never pausing or resting (besides the time travelling). Some characters do die which enrich the tale but most of them goes from theater of war. Afterall the Stormtrooopers are the elite of the elite. Of course as we travel with him we realize that each mission has only the point to have him kill. The main reason is that the ecclesiarchy and adeptus sonoritas don't like the cult of personality that follows Mortensen. I had another impression about the Sisters of Battle and now I have another.
I enjoy reading the novel even if sometimes I felt that it was going too darn slow or that it didn't go anywhere.
This book centers on Mortensen (the only survivor of his world) and his band of stormtroopers. With Krieg (Commissar) are the main characters and most developded characters. There are a couple of other characters (like Rosenkratz) with some insight and development.
Inbetween each chapter or couple of chapters we get glimpses into a future events with characters that only appear near the end.
The Squads of stormtroopers go from suicidal mission to another, never pausing or resting (besides the time travelling). Some characters do die which enrich the tale but most of them goes from theater of war. Afterall the Stormtrooopers are the elite of the elite. Of course as we travel with him we realize that each mission has only the point to have him kill. The main reason is that the ecclesiarchy and adeptus sonoritas don't like the cult of personality that follows Mortensen. I had another impression about the Sisters of Battle and now I have another.
I enjoy reading the novel even if sometimes I felt that it was going too darn slow or that it didn't go anywhere.
August 24, 2010
A terrible disappointment. The opening pages contain some of the most vivid prose I've ever read, it's therefore tragic that the book races downhill from then on with some fundamental writing errors and an utter dearth of believable characters, in fact his main protagonist stretches the boundaries of 'suspension of disbelief' to beyond breaking point.
His opening chapter introduces a glut of characters and then races into a combat scene before any of them have lived long enough to make an impression. Worse still is the fact that before I've gotten to know any of them the author switches between the name and rank of his characters causing further confusion.
Added to this is Sanders's rather hackneyed foreshadowing and the result is an intensely frustrating book that I was unable to finish.
His opening chapter introduces a glut of characters and then races into a combat scene before any of them have lived long enough to make an impression. Worse still is the fact that before I've gotten to know any of them the author switches between the name and rank of his characters causing further confusion.
Added to this is Sanders's rather hackneyed foreshadowing and the result is an intensely frustrating book that I was unable to finish.
January 25, 2013
In the empire of humanized planets, the emperor is the only authorized religion. This is enforced by various military and religous orders including a military force called the Redemption Corps. When Major Zane Martensen becomes too successful at the profession of arms, a set of cult-sisters similar to the Spanish Inquistors want him dead.
June 22, 2013
This to me felt like a love-child between Warhammer 40,000 and Black Hawk Down. It's not an amazingly paced book but it brought enough to the table to make it feel like a solid science fiction military scrap worth a good glance.
February 14, 2014
One of the worst 40k books I have ever tried to read. Confusing prose and forgettable characters. It's pretty common for main characters to get killed off in 40k books, but these ones keep living 300 pages too long.
October 9, 2010
Great story, difficult to read though. Not a bad writer, he just was not fluid and easy to understand the first time through.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews