Redemption Corps

Redemption Corps - Rob Sanders
Typical unremarkable "pulp sci-fi" following Imperial Storm Troopers in the 40k universe.  A charasmatic leader must wage a war while the rival factions of the imperium vie for supremacy.
Enjoyable while you're reading it, but totally unrememberable (hence the even less revealing than normal review having read it nearly two months ago). A very easy read, being completed in a few hours or so.

Hitler's War

Hitler's War - Harry Turtledove

A credible what if, looking at how the second world war could have started early.  Follows the typical many angled telling that Turtledove commonly uses and does it well as always.
As with the Great War series, Turtledove, only tweaks minor events at the beginning and lets things run in a sort of butterfly effect. The spanish civil war is still happening, the alliances are different but plausible, France invades the Rhineland, the USSR enters the war early, Japan invades the USSR, the Nazis are desperate to keep the USA out of the war. And all it takes is the death of one individual to alter the cause of history...

Singularity Sky

Singularity Sky - Charles Stross

In a galaxy where faster than light travel is banned by a man made artificial intellgence with a tendency to overeact in it's enforcement of the edict, a technologicaly repressive regime aims to "bend" the rules when it is attacked by a superior force that drops the technology to create more or less anything into the hands of everybody on the planet, what happens when every nutter with a grudge can get his hands onto nuclear weapons or biological agents?
Caught up in this event is a UN diplomat, and a starship engineer, who must prevent the casuality violation before it leads to the deaths of millions....
A very good story,  Stross delivers another exciting sci-fi thriller...

Seeds of Earth (Humanity's Fire)

Seeds of Earth (Humanity's Fire) - Michael Cobley 

The book opens onto a last ditch rearguard battle against generic "bug" aliens while  three colony ships try to make their escape, which didn't leave me with much hope.
I was soon thankfully proved wrong.  The tale rapidly moves on 150 years to the survivors of a colony ship and their struggle to survive and flourish in a hostile galaxy.
Revolves around several main characters, telling an intertwined story from several viewpoints, and does it quite well.  Not a particularly easy read but doesn't drag, plenty of different factions and alliances to get your head round though.
An interesting twist at the end, which can be spotted earlier if you pick up the clues, whether this is intentional I don't know but they're there.
Lives up to the quote on the front...

The Atrocity Archives

The Atrocity Archives - Charles Stross

Daemons are real, parallel universes are real, alternate dimensions exsist. Alan Turing didn't commit suicide, what happened to him was far nastier They're all connected by mathematical formula, and magic is a function of maths.
This is the world you find yourself in, following the exploits of Bob the IT guy who once found out too much, and now asked for a transfer to field work.
He finds himself cleaning up after the SS, in a tangled web of secret agencies that make the ones you know about look like a public library.
An easy read yet thoroughly gripping, literally couldn't put this book down, didn't realise I'd already read the sequal (not reviewed it, will do if I get round to it ) but it made that make more sense.
Added short story at the end is also worth reading, but just remember the average person is allegedly caught on cctv three hundred times a day....

Azincourt

Azincourt - Bernard Cornwell
A stand alone historical novel based upon the battle of Agincourt and the events leading upto it mainly from the viewpoint of an English longbow man.
The book starts in England and gives an idea of life in the feudal system in a small village and progresses to the battlefields of France through political intrigue, aristocratic in-fighting and the odd betrayal.
Graphiclly depicts the horror along with the boredom of Henry V campaign in northern France leading up to the inevitable final showdown, which is considerably well researched and accurate without becoming boring or turning into a history lesson.
Follows Cornwell's standard formula for minor heroic central character that is skilled, abit of a rogue and gets about abit, but this just lets him write about more action and events than watching the walls of a nameless minor town while the main character scratches his arse.
Overall a good book, that teaches you some history while you enjoy it.

Cardinal Crimson

Cardinal Crimson - Will McDermott

The second Kal Jericho book and I'd like to say it's better than the first, but I haven't read that one yet so don't know, missed the necromunda books while they were in print so get them when I can at a reasonable price.  The third's quite good though.
The obvious downside to working backwards through a series is you already know who will live and die to some extent.  On the other hand not many authours have the hero killing ability of Dan Abnett anyway so you usually know who probably lives by chapter three in most books anyway.
Another vicious trip through the underhive mostly from the POV of a band of bounty hunters, but also from the various characters surrounding the story.
The plot follows the return of a wandering prophet, and both sides of the pro- anti- prophet religous gang types and a couple of other factions with varying intersecting interests.  Plus Scabbs, Yolanda's, and not forgetting Kal Jericho-Bounty Hunter Extrodanaire looking for their next big score, or meal anyway.
A good violent action "romp"  (how tabloid) with plenty of laughs.  Not overly complex and easy to digest in four or five hours, if that.

Triumff

Triumff - Mr. Dan Abnett

The first "original universe" paperback offering by Dan Abnett (according to the review I saw that made me buy it), who has an impressivly long list of titles to his name, across several fictional universes.
Described as an alternate history of Elizabethan steampunk meets magic (that same uncredited review, being rather lazy here) I'd like to say it is, but am not familiar enough with steam punk to offer a yay or nay, it sounds good though, and it feels like it could be accurate.  Does do a good job of avoiding crossover or leakage from the other backgrounds he writes which I could imagine would be an occupational hazard.
The lead character could have been inspired by Blackadder , but fused with Lord Flasheart and Baldrick just for good measure.  This could be construed as lazy but it's done so well it's easily forgivable.
The supporting cast is an interesting mix of the usual generic sidekicks, with the odd interesting twist. 
The story is a really interesting idea, with a couple of side plots running alongside the main storyline.  The "universe" lends itself to wider exploitation, either by Abnett, or equally by other authours overseen by Abnett to keep/set the conventions.  I like the idea of seeing the alternative view of the rest of the world, possibly a pre-quel following Sir Rupert's expedition.
Despite all this I couldn't settle to read it.  Suppose some of that was having two other books on the go at the same time, and trying to look after this one a bit more (for the novelty first book value)  meant i wasn't taking places like work or in my bag when down our lasses, so wasn't giving it the same attention, plus it is a bit closer to fantasy than the usual sci-fi or alternative history I normally read, but I did enjoy it.
I will at some point review something I didn't enjoy, I know "coming soon" (probably within three months) a book about sparkly vampires....

Kal Jerico - Underhive Bounty Hunter

Kal Jerico - Underhive Bounty Hunter
Gordon Rennie/Karl Kopinski/Wayne Reynolds

Now I'm not usually one for graphic novels, they don't really last long enough for me to justify the outlay, but I've enjoyed the Necromunda books I've read and saw this cheap second hand at the weekend, as I write this it starts at £27 + postage for a second hand one on Amazon, and £30 inclusive on Ebay, so glad I got it when I did.
Barely took an hour to read, hence why I don't usually bother.  But was worth it, never realised what a sense of movement and shear violence you could get from what is essentially a comic, the "sound effects" as such especially made me laugh being in the style of the terrible tv batman (not the cartoon).
It's a good introduction to Kal Jerico for the Necromunda novels he features in, but I wouldn't have wanted to pay the inflated price it fetches these days on the 'net.

A Field Guide To The British.

A Field Guide To The British - Sarah Lyall

Following the complete lack of diversity so far three out five books being from the Black Library, and the other two being by Charles Stross (though almost representative of my collection and tastes at least 60% of my books being sci-fi 50+ both 40k and Star wars, and big collections of particular authours, 25+ plus of both Bernard Cornwell and Harry Turtledove) thought I'd better put something else in, and this just jumped out at me when I was in a discount book shop, and for £3.99 you can't go wrong.
Just scanning the blurb on the back had me raisinng a wry smile, the authour captures her American view of Britain quite well, though a lot of her conclusions are skewed by her geographical location, and the social circles she moves in, some of the language nuances she picks up on could easily be more dialect issues than class as she asserts, but overall she entertains more than offends ( though baseball is still just a girls sport).
Covers everything from sport, politics, attitudes to children and animals, the animosity in the British newspaper industry, drunkeness and more.
It also gives some insight into the U.S. The outrage at page 3, the gushing at weddings, the bordom that is congress all feature ( footnotes are a wonderfull thing).
Even at the end though you get the feeling she hasn't quite grasped irony, the importance of the weather, and the differnce between British and English, or that Wales isn't a country.
Literally laugh out loud funny, although people unfamiliar with some of the people mentioned ( The sports and political figures for example) might find it less easy reading, less funny or even boring. Though the good bits should make up for that.

Flesh and Iron

Flesh and Iron - Henry Zou,
Potentially a new Dan Abnet, starts off with a book about an inquisitor (Emperors Mercy 9781844167340) and follows up with an imperial guard novel, time will tell....
Flesh and Iron follows the dangerous mission behind enemy lines of a rough and ready imperial guard battalion, the kind you see in every vietnam war movie on the riverboats, but this time with lasguns.
It is written from the point of view of the Colonol desperatly wanting to be accepted by his men, and from the indiginous warrior driven into the arms of the arch-enemy of man by the brutal treatment of their Imperial liberators, with minor side trips for supporting cast and higher command element politicol bickering.
Zou portrays the the tension well, the set piece battles work, and while you see some of the plotlines and battles develop how you expect, the books climax is definatly unexpected.
My biggest complaint is I can't remember what happened to a major supporting character, either it was so undramatic it didn't register, or he just wandered off and the author forgot about him, or I read that when I should have been asleep....
Defintly worth a read.

Soul Hunter

Soul Hunter - Aaron Dembski-Bowden,
Another 40k book I know, but they release that many there's usually one on the go, and the Black Library website is back up so theres even more temptation to get books....
This is the first in what I assume is going to be a series following the Night Lords, a renegade legion of geneticlly modified/enhanced "super soldiers".
The book revolves around one marine, the remnants of his squad in the remains of a company, as he struggles against factional squabbles, betrayals, the temptations of the Chaos Gods, failing logistical support, and inconvienent visions of the future.
A thouroughly enjoyable book, the set piece battles work well, with an effective tangent into space combat as well.  Just when you don't think the action can get bigger, the author pulls another rabbit out the hat...

Glasshouse

Another Charles Stross book, I'm enjoying them though so you'll have to bare with me. 
Set in a 27th century future, humanity has spread to the stars through digital technology, humans can be downloaded copied reintergrated etc.  Now if a modern day computer virus is bad what does it do in a completely (more or less) digital unverse?
The story follows an ex-soldier following the end of a war against a computer virus, and his struggle to come to terms with his lack of memory, the reason for that lack, and trying to figure out why someone wants to kill him.
From the outset new ideas are thrown at you, and the implications of them one example the callous disregard for life, cause it's when it's so easy to back yourself up, you can just keep dying.  Or the social implications massivly increased lifespans would have on basic instituitions such as marriage and relaitionships...
Yet it's still an easy to read enjoyable espioage/action romp in a science fiction setting.  Definatly worth a read.

Iron Sunrise

I was reading this at the same time as "A Thousand Sons" and had trouble deciding which to read at any given moment.
The plot follows the events after a massive act of genocide against a backwater planentary system, and the efforts to stop the "second strike" weapons from retaliating at likely aggressors.
It follows several characters from various interested factions, through various plots, counter-plots, espionage, politics, action and there's even some sci-fi thrown in for good measure.
I did really enjoy this book, but I've enjoyed all the half dozen Charles Stross books I've bought since reading "Halting State"(which I'll probably review at some point).  I find them very readable compared to some authors that can be very hit and miss.  
I think that Stross explains the ideas of his fictional universe well and gives some vivid descriptions.  I suppose you could argue that most technological ideas in sci-fi have probably been covered in some form or another but when it still feels fresh and interesting something's being done right.

A Thousand Sons

Since Horus Rising, in 2006, I've waited for every book in this series to be released eagerly. Now bear with me, I'm trying to do this without spoilers and aim to eer on the side of caution.
A Thousand Sons has not disappointed, taking slightly longer than usual for me to read over three evenings (not wanting to damage the shiny gold cover dragging it to work in the bag). But was definitely worth it.
The book opens to the typical image in the series of a legion as it was 10,000 years before the current game universe (for anybody not familiar with the Horus Heresy, the series is set 10,000 years before the current setting of Warhammer 40,000).
Graham McNeill sets a good scene, portraying well the idea of the genetically enhanced psychic warrior scholar, but also plenty of hooks and flags that keep you guessing what is going to happen, or make you realise you should have guessed that earlier, but without making it too obvious. There's a good use of background from the series, and the wider game universe, and it's always interesting to see the different Black Library authors portrayal of the Emperor of mankind, which i think McNeill does well.
I like how Magnus is written, with the arrogance of a demi-god shining through unfiltered, but not the same violent arrogance of Russ. I always had the image of Magnus as a fantasy type cyclops, but prefer the missing eye, and the explanation, version here. And the wolves of Russ are captured better in the few chapters they appear than the last two books of the space wolf series...
It will be interesting to see the similarities and differences in Prospero Burns.
My main criticism would be it needed another 50-100 pages, the end felt too rushed, too crammed in and too many loose ends(I REALLY HATE LOOSE ENDS LOL), which just seems a shame after the impressive build up, but I enjoyed the book over all and I'm still wanting to know what's happening and what will happen next...