It doesn't get much nerdier than this - Warhammer 40000 is a dark, violent, all-around horrible far-future setting for tabletop games, video games, and for our purposes here, various sci-fi books about people doing hideous things to each other (or the endless swarms of monstrous aliens). I can't imagine anyone reading this list (here I'm thinking of my parents and sister) will be interested in these books, but they're listed here since I read 'em.
Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium (Sandy Mitchell)
The first three Ciaphas Cane books are collected here - Cain is a Commissar (he's attached to infantry units and is in charge of maintaining morale, usually by shooting whatever unlucky soldier is the first one to run away from whatever horror they're ineffectively plinking away at today). The fact that this is as light-hearted as W40k gets probably tells you all you need to know. The novels are well-written, as is the first short story; The other two short story parts I can't say the same for (I don't know how you make an attack by undead space robots boring), but they don't make up much of the total package. This, and the issue that you get in any omnibus (recapping a novel you just finished a few pages ago) aside, I have nothing to complain about.
Nerd Grade: A-
Everyone Else: D-
Editor's Note. On thinking back, this is probably a great starting place for a non-Warhammer 40,000 fan to start reading; I'm not sure what I was thinking with that grade of D-, but please disregard it. Thank you.
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