Best of Black Library 2020 – Age of Sigmar

As 2020 comes to a close and 2021 beckons, I’m looking back at the Black Library stories I’ve read over the last twelve months or so and picking out some of my highlights for the year. I’ve already written articles like this for 40k and the Horus Heresy, but now it’s time to look at Age of Sigmar. Have a look at those earlier articles if you haven’t already, then read on for a few thoughts on each of the three Age of Sigmar stories I’ve enjoyed reading the most in 2020. Once again, I’ve set myself two criteria – stories that were published in 2020, and (obviously) that I have read during 2020.

Similar to my Heresy roundup, I have to confess that I’ve only read two eligible Age of Sigmar novels this year (alongside a few others that were published in 2019 or earlier), so I’ve included a fantastic short story on this list as well. Once again though, I’m very happy to include that story on this list – it’s genuinely excellent, so much so that I ended up writing a review that’s more than twice as long as my usual ‘Quick Review’ format for short stories! Bearing all that in mind, though, I’ve asked Aaron from the Mortal Realms podcast to get involved and tell us about his top 3 Age of Sigmar stories as well.

I’ll stick to the usual format, so I’ll talk about each of the stories in my top three (in no particular order), complete with links to reviews and author interviews where available, before handing over to Aaron for his top three as well….or in actual fact his top three plus one extra, just because! Let’s get straight onto it.

Blood of the Everchosen by Richard Strachan
I read Strachan’s short story Blood of the Flayer just a few weeks before this novel, and was impressed by its nuanced take on Chaos in the Mortal Realms. I was delighted to find that this novel takes the same sort of approach and expands upon it, telling a thrilling adventure story while exploring the day to day realities of life for the mortal followers of Chaos. Despite all the action this is a brilliantly character-driven story, with a handful of viewpoint characters all offering different but equally interesting perspectives on the search for glory in the eyes of Archaon. These aren’t necessarily likeable characters, but they’re relatable and entertaining to read about, while Strachan’s evocative prose makes the whole thing an absolute pleasure to read. It’s one of those books that I would recommend to anyone interested in Age of Sigmar, whether as a reminder of how interesting Chaos stories can be or a really strong introduction to the setting.

Check out my review of Blood of the Everchosen, and my interview with Richard Strachan about it.

Profit’s Ruin by CL Werner
2018’s Overlords of the Iron Dragon had previously been one of my absolute favourite Age of Sigmar novels – I can remember reading it in a single day, just unable to put it down! I can happily confirm that its sequel, Profit’s Ruin, is just as much fun, taking a relatively similar approach (if it ain’t broke…) and offering another blast of pacy aerial excitement. Werner’s writing just seems to really suit this sort of fun, small-cast adventure story, and he’s created a fantastic set of characters in Brokrin and the crew of the Iron Dragon. What I particularly love about this (and Overlords…) is that Werner isn’t trying too hard to pack in masses of detailed character development, but rather he’s focusing on telling a rollicking story with characters you want to read about simply because they’re fun to spend time with. There’s still plenty of interest to be had in exploring the mercenary nature of the Kharadron Overlords, but the focus of this novel is set squarely on being a fast-paced, entertaining adventure story. And what’s not to like about that?

Check out my review of Profit’s Ruin, and my interview with CL Werner about it.

The Method of Madness by Peter McLean
I’m cheating ever so slightly with this, as it was first published in the 2019 Warcry Anthology, but it was also released separately in 2020 as a standalone e-short…so I’m including it anyway! It’s on the long side for Black Library short stories, almost a novella really, and alongside Blood of the Everchosen it’s my favourite example of Warcry fiction so far. There’s something really satisfying about this sort of street-level gang warfare story, and McLean nicely balances the brutal close-quarters action that you’d expect with all manner of intriguing schemes and plots, and no small amount of alchemical nastiness as well. It’s a pretty dark and gritty story even by Black Library standards, and the main protagonist – Thrallmaster Vignus Daneggia of the Cypher Lords – is not so much likeable as compellingly evil, but then that’s all entirely appropriate when we’re reading about life on the lethal streets of Carngrad. Once again, if you’re interested in reading about everyday Chaos, this is definitely one to check out.

Check out my review of The Method of Madness.

Aaron’s top 3 Age of Sigmar stories of 2020

I never would have guessed that in 2020 the Mortal Realms would end up feeling like a safer and calmer place to spend my days than the real world. And spend those days in the realms I did, as we were gifted with some great tales this past year to distract and delight. Stories from expert writers who know the realms like the back of their hands, to new authors casting a fresh glimpse into those same spaces. Stories following our old favorite characters up to their old tricks, and new favorite characters making names for themselves (for better or worse). Stories that remind us why we keep coming back to the world of Age of Sigmar.

So with that being said, if you’ve got a minute, I’d love to tell you about some of my favorites from this year.

Realm-Lords by Dale Lucas
I’m going to start with an easy one. By that I mean this story was an easy one to enjoy, because there was so much NEW to experience. A new faction in the Mortal Realms in the Lumineth Realm-Lords. A new environment to explore in the realm of Hysh. New people and things and concepts. Everywhere you looked in this book was something new to experience and explore, and I couldn’t help but be taken in. Now that we’ve had the realms of AoS for a few years now, it becomes harder to find those novel experiences, and yet this story serves them up on a silver platter (as would befit a Realm-lord, I think).

Mechanically, this is a story about a band of aelves on an important quest to save…well that would be telling. But what I can say is that you follow this cast of interesting characters on a roller coaster ride across the realm, and dare I say, the journey is as worthwhile as the destination for both the characters and the reader.

ToW: check out my interview with Dale Lucas talking about Realm-Lords

Darkly Dreaming by Josh Reynolds
Ok bear with me, this is a Warhammer Horror audio drama SET in the Mortal Realms – that counts right? Good, I’m glad we agree. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a sucker for anything that my best friend in the whole world Josh Reynolds writes. And for good reason: everything he writes is awesome. Darkly Dreaming is no exception. What it does is give you a completely different type of story than you’re used to from AoS. Instead of casting you across far-flung battlefields or alien hostile environments, you spend this hour-long drama in an altogether different type of warzone – that of a social gathering of the aristocracy. And my friends, let me tell you – it’s just as deadly.

I’ll highlight that the horror elements are chilling and turned up to 11 in a way that only the horror audio drama medium can really accomplish – that element does not disappoint. And perhaps I’m the only person this applies to in the whole world, but if you’re at all like me and have been connecting every dot and collecting every link between the AoS stories that Reynolds sprinkles in, there’s a pay-off here that I just loved – and I hope all 2 of the rest of you loved too. All in all, it was spooky, unsettling, philosophical at times, and pretty fun.

Blood of the Everchosen by Richard Strachan
I was hesitant to include this one because it made Michael’s list as well and I didn’t want to be redundant [not a problem at all – this book deserves all the plaudits! – ToW]. However, I thought about it, and I seriously can’t think of a story I liked more than this one coming out of Black Library this year. Plus I just finished it a couple minutes ago and I want to talk about it.

This book has everything. And that’s only barely an exaggeration because there’s actually a whole lot in this book. More characters than I can count, plenty of set pieces and action scenes, flashbacks AND visions of the future. Though, come to think of it, there’s not as many catacombs in it as the title would lead you to expect…anyways [agreed – ToW]. Despite how jam packed this book is, I never found it confusing or hard to follow – on the contrary, its quick pace and Eightpoints-spanning settings were handled deftly, and I was glued to the pages to see what would happen next (because guess what? Something was always happening next!). I really liked it and think it’s a definite-read if you’re a Warcry player, a must-read if you’re an AoS fiction reader, and a hard-pass if you’re squeamish about eye stuff, because I forgot to mention in my list above there’s a fair bit of that in this book too. Blah, gross. [I think I’d blanked that out, actually…but fair point – ToW]

Honorable Mention: The Court of the Blind King by David Guymer
If for whatever reason a Warhammer Horror audio drama doesn’t count (yes it does) or including a redundant book is disqualifying (no, you’re disqualifying), I’ll break yet another rule [I’ll remember this for next time – ToW] and recommend a book that was technically released the last few weeks of 2019 when we were all still young and carefree. The Court of the Blind King was a fun adventure that scratched a lot of the same itches that Realms-Lords did for the same sort of new-race/new-setting reasons, full of interesting characters and a story structure I really dug. Check this one out too. [I agree, it’s a great book – ToW]

ToW: check out my review of The Court of the Blind King, and my interview with David Guymer talking about it.

***

There we are then, those are my personal Age of Sigmar highlights from 2020, and the same from Aaron! What are yours? Whatever you enjoyed the most, drop me a line in the comments below or over on Twitter, and make sure you also check out my top 3 articles for 40k and for the Horus Heresy.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to support Track of Words, you can leave a tip on my Ko-Fi page.