Warhammer Adventures – The Adventures Begin

Back in May 2018 Black Library announced the first details for Warhammer Adventures, a new range of novels aimed at younger readers. Fast forward to February 2019 and the first two books are in stores and available to download online – Warped Galaxies: Attack of the Necron by Cavan Scott and Realm Quest: City of Lifestone by Tom Huddleston. There’s been plenty of conversation along the way, from the community’s initial thoughts about the idea through to news about famous names narrating the audiobooks, but now that I’ve read the first two books I thought I’d do a quick recap of the range’s purpose and talk a little about what these stories are actually like.

The concept
The idea behind Warhammer Adventures boils down to this – they’re books written for readers aged roughly eight to twelve, and designed as introductions to the wider Warhammer hobby. They’re entry points to the Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 universes, aimed at getting younger readers interested at an early-ish age by providing age-appropriate stories – presumably with the idea being that once they’re hooked on these stories they’ll gradually move on to both the wider range of Black Library stories and the games themselves. As far as I’m aware this is the first time Games Workshop/Black Library have tried anything like this.

If this is your first introduction to the idea of Warhammer Adventures you might want to read a bit more about them before carrying on here. I’d suggest checking out this Warhammer Community post, having a look through the Warhammer Adventures website, or having a read of my previous article entitled Warhammer Adventures – What’s All the Fuss About?

My first reaction upon hearing about these books was that I would have absolutely LOVED to have had something like this back in the day when I was first getting interested in Warhammer. We’re talking 25 years ago, and the Warhammer books back then were definitely not aimed at children! That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy my first few Warhammer books, but just that what I really wanted back then was simple, entertaining, exciting adventure stories. A range of books specifically written to be Warhammer ADVENTURES, then? Written by authors with specific experience writing for this age group? It’s a no-brainer to me.

The controversy
I always try to look for positives, but that’s not necessarily the approach that a lot of people – especially online – choose to take. If you haven’t already, I’d suggest reading back through my previous article about Warhammer Adventures to familiarise yourself with the sort of comments that came up online when the range was first announced. Suffice to say there were concerns that these books were somehow going to dilute the essence of the Warhammer settings or that they would take away from the work being put into the main-range Black Library releases, and even comments complaining about the inclusion of female or non-white characters (sigh).

After the initial wave of comments from concerned gamers worried about their favourite settings, one further (and slightly more interesting) concern which I’ve heard discussed is around whether 40k in particular is even suitable for kids of that age group at all. It is, after all, a setting in which ‘there is no peace amongst the stars’ – in 40k, ‘there is in only war’. Personally I think this is a much more valid concern than almost all of the others I’ve seen people discussing – not so much the question of what sort of child-friendly story could be told in 40k (surely there are some planets in the Imperium where things aren’t quite so bad) but rather whether parents would want their children reading about 40k.

It’s also a question which doesn’t have one answer – surely it’s up to each parent to make that decision? In context of everything else that kids are exposed to on television, in video games and so on, I’m sure some parents will be fine with 40k while others will be less keen. I don’t think that’s a problem, personally!

The reality
Having now read both of the first two novels, I’m pleased to say that – in my opinion at least – the vast majority of the concerns and complaints about these books are simply nonsense. Forget for a minute that these are Warhammer books, and look at them purely as books for young readers – kids want to read fun stories packed full of action, excitement and humour, with viewpoint characters that they can relate to. In those respects I think these first two books have absolutely nailed it. They’re SO MUCH FUN, even for an adult reader, and ultimately they’re just great stories.

Out of interest, I did a quick bit of research online into what children want from books, and found a Scholastic report which included this particularly interesting graphic showing the answers that children selected when asked what they look for:

Ok, so Warhammer books are never going to be full-on funny stories, but there are moments of humour in both of the first two. Beyond that first point, though, look at how high the proportions are for things like imagination, relatable characters, and mysteries. In truth I wonder how different this is for adults – after all, I too enjoy books which let me exercise my imagination, with great characters and with exciting central mysteries! Let’s just quickly address those three points in relation to the Warhammer Adventures books, though.

• Imagination: we’re talking about books taking place across multiple Realms or planets, full of aliens, monsters, wild technology and magic. If you can’t exercise your imagination in the worlds of Warhammer, where can you?
• Characters: the two main protagonists – Kiri in City of Lifestone and Zelia in Attack of the Necron – are both strong, clever and brave, and just a little older than the target audience so that readers can look up to them at the same time as relating to them. They’re also flawed in realistic ways.
• Mysteries: in City of Lifestone the central mystery revolves around Kiri’s birthmark (which looks suspiciously like the symbol for Chamon) and a mysterious destiny, while Attack of the Necron asks questions of why the Necrons invade and how Zelia is going to find her way to a location for which she only has a name.

It’s almost as though Cavan and Tom were chosen to write these books because they already understand the things that kids want to read about, and how to incorporate those into the stories, right?! I can’t speak for any of the previous books these guys have written, but it’s clear from the two books in this range that a lot of thought has gone into making sure they’re really suitable for and interesting to younger readers.

If you haven’t already, you can check out my reviews of both of the first two books by clicking on the links below:

• Realm Quest: City of Lifestone by Tom Huddleston
• Warped Galaxies: Attack of the Necron by Cavan Scott

I don’t want to talk too much about each book as I’d mostly be duplicating what I’ve already said in those reviews, but I do want to quickly address the question of how these books represent the settings themselves. As I touched on earlier, 40k as a setting is fundamentally dark and unpleasant, and while Age of Sigmar is arguably a little less bleak it’s still pretty grim. It’s obviously important for these books to capture at least the essence of the settings, otherwise they might as well be standalone fantasy or sci-fi stories. Ultimately it’s going to be a subjective question as each person has their own understanding of what these settings are about, but for me personally I think that Cavan and Tom have done a great job of capturing the tone and feel for each setting.

In terms of Age of Sigmar, Tom manages to get across that crucial sense of opportunity and possibility that the Mortal Realms possess, incorporating two wildly different Realms into the story and populating them with Darkoath barbarians, skaven and various horrible monsters. We’re introduced to Stormcast Eternals, to the idea of Realmgates, and to the different characteristics that each of the Realms feature. It’s all a little simplified, of course, but inasmuch as Age of Sigmar has developed an identity (bear in mind it’s only a few years old as a setting) I think that’s captured pretty well in City of Lifestone. There’s also a palpable air of danger – Kiri starts off the story as a slave, and while the skaven aren’t quite as vicious as they are in main-range BL stories, there’s still plenty of violence and danger.

There’s no getting around the fact that 40k is considerably darker than Age of Sigmar, and the question posed earlier still remains – are parents going to want their children reading about a galaxy wracked by war? I’d argue that Cavan does a smart job of using the backdrop of constant conflict to highlight the strength of his characters, and while things inevitably feel a little sanitised compared to full-on 40k, he still gets across just how grim things are. People die, and there’s violence all around, but the focus is on the characters and their relationships rather than the violence itself. To me it still felt very much like 40k, with implacable Necrons, heroic (if slightly intimidating) Space Marines, and plenty of in-universe details to help the specifics stand out, just a little simplified so as not to overwhelm a new reader. Oh and there’s also a Jokaero!

I think I was looking for two things from these books – I wanted them to feel like they took place in the worlds I know and love (simplification is fine, as long as the core ideas felt familiar) and I wanted them to be fun, pacy adventures. I was very pleased on both counts, and while I don’t want to spend all of my time reading children’s books I’m unashamedly looking forward to the next instalments of both series. I’m not a parent, so I can’t speak with authority regarding the question of how appropriate these worlds are for youngsters, but I’d suggest that what these books do is provide kids with the option to check out Warhammer and see what they think.

They might not like it – which is fine! If they do like it, there are two more books in each series already announced, and I’m sure we’ll see more coming in due course. Over time it might be appropriate for them to then check out some of the main-range Black Library books, but there are so many different elements to the Warhammer hobby that I don’t think there will be any shortage of inspiration.

What it boils down to is this: we all love the Warhammer hobby, and we all (I hope) want to see new hobbyists getting involved. The Warhammer Adventures books are going to encourage that – there’s no question about it. Kids are going to read (or listen to) these and want to get into the wider hobby, and that can only be a good thing! I really hope this is only the beginning – I can’t wait to find out what happens in both of these series, and likewise can’t wait to see what comes afterwards for Warhammer Adventures. On the basis of these books I think Warhammer Adventures is going to be a huge success!

Click here to order Realm Quest: City of Lifestone by Tom Huddleston.

Click here to order Warped Galaxies: Attack of the Necron by Cavan Scott.