Mike Brooks’ second novel for Black Library, Road to Redemption swaps Navigator Houses for Necromunda in a dark and character-driven story about faith, atonement, buried secrets and impossible decisions. For Zeke, once of House Cawdor, a quiet life of hard work, hard liquor and honest friendship provides a way of silencing his demons, right up until it’s burned out from under him. With that life destroyed, and his friends’ children taken, all he has left is the drive to find the culprits and either rescue or avenge the children, but to do so he’ll need to face not just the risk of death but a return to the life he tried so hard to escape.
In many respects this is a classic quest story, as Zeke travels through the underhive searching for the children and in the process finding allies and confronting enemies. His journey brings him into contact with all manner of Necromundan archetypes, from gangers and settlers to slavers, muties and monsters, and Brooks maintains a brisk pace throughout with no scene or set piece overstaying its welcome. For all his apparent heroism, however, Zeke is a deeply troubled character, and the story is as much about his internal struggle as his physical battles. He’s a man who thought he’d escaped his fate, but comes to realise all he had been doing was hiding from the past; who had lost his purpose but now feels an obligation to try and make a difference if he can; whose faith once drove him to extremes, but now comes to sustain him in a different way.
While Zeke’s original allegiance is relevant, and themes of faith and fire abound, this isn’t a story about House Cawdor, in the way that Wanted: Dead was a story about House Escher – it’s about one man’s journey and his personal faith. Much like that novella however, and his other Necromunda short stories, this suits Brooks’ style perfectly with a strong cast of very human characters forced together by chance and mostly just trying to survive. Although it isn’t narratively connected to those stories, it feels of a similar vein by virtue of how Brooks writes the setting, locations, characters’ beliefs and behaviours. The wild variety and unique idiosyncrasies of the underhive’s inhabitants comes through strongly, from genders and relationships to speech patterns and variations of faith, all of which provide a grounded, relatable backdrop in a way that’s becoming something of a trademark for Brooks.
Necromunda as a setting is pretty grim, but away from the brutality of the usual 40k battlefields, stories set there often feel a little lighter, more human and relatable as they focus on everyday people and their everyday wants and needs (as opposed to aliens, demons and genetically engineered super soldiers). That’s certainly the case here in some respects, however Zeke’s story is every bit as dark as the grimmest war story – this is a man who gave up a life of religious extremism only to have what peace he found ripped away from him, and who sets out on his quest fully expecting to die…it’s not a happy story. The combination of straightforward, endearingly pulpy narrative, vividly drawn setting and complex, conflicted characters makes for a book which is easy to get into and hard to put down, and if the fiery finale is perhaps a touch abrupt, all told this is a tremendously characterful, dark and powerful story.
Check out this Rapid Fire interview with Mike Brooks talking about Road to Redemption.
Sounds great and very Mike! Will have to purchase
I’ve come to expect great things from Mike’s writing, and I’m yet to be disappointed 🙂 Hope you enjoy this too!