Every year, as we approach the end of December I look back at the best Black Library books I’ve read over the preceding twelve months, and it’s time now to take a look at 2022’s BL highlights. There are plenty to choose from, but I’ve narrowed it down to just five that I can personally recommend as being genuinely fantastic reads. It was hard to cut things down to five though, so I’ve also added a few honourable mentions that I couldn’t help but include. As always this comes with a few caveats, the first of which being that I can only talk about the books I’ve actually read. Black Library publishes somewhere in the region of 40 novels each year, of which I’ve read 14; that’s slightly more than last year, but still nothing like all of them. I’m sure I’ve missed out loads of great titles simply because I haven’t got around to reading them.
The second caveat is that I’m only including books first published in 2022, so that’s anything which was published this year in its original format (so for example, if a book came out in LE format in 2021 and regular format in 2022, that wouldn’t count). That means I’ve had to exclude some excellent titles I’ve read and enjoyed this year like Flesh and Steel, Warhawk and The Twice-Dead King: Ruin, all of which were originally published prior to 2022. Lastly, I’m (largely) concentrating just on novels and not looking at novellas, omnibuses, anthologies or short stories.
Last year I picked one book out as my top choice, but this year it was hard enough narrowing things down to just these five and I really couldn’t choose just one – so I haven’t! Instead, I’ve just gone with my five favourites, which I’ve listed below in the order in which I read them.
Ahriman: Eternal by John French
Ahriman might just be my favourite character in all of 40k, and the original Ahriman trilogy is right up there among my all-time favourite BL stories, so I couldn’t have been happier to see this novel kick off a new series. And it’s so good, I’ve already read it twice! It follows on from the previous novels, and this time sees Ahriman, Ctesias, Ignis and co. dealing with the xenos Necrons and searching for the power to affect time itself. It’s very much in keeping with the tone and feel of the original series, so I think it will appeal to anyone who loved Exile, Sorcerer and Unchanged, but it’s definitely the start of something new, and it’s not just more of the same. I mean, it does still feel very familiar (in a comforting, satisfying way), but it’s a development of these characters that sees them facing off against totally new enemies, and not just the Necrons but also the terrifying warp-phenomenon known as the Pyrodomon. As usual with French’s writing it’s dense and intricate and full of rich detail, and I loved it!
Check out my review of Ahriman: Eternal
Check out my guide to John French’s Ahriman series
Assassinorum: Kingmaker by Robert Rath
What’s not to like about a mismatched group of Imperial Assassins teaming up and using a combination of force, subtlety and social manipulation to avert the secession of an Imperial Knight world?! That’s the gist of this excellent novel, and it’s just as much fun as it sounds – part all-out action story and part subtle, smart spy thriller, with characters who are each utterly lethal in their own ways but who are really not used to collaborating. The assassins themselves are compelling in their own right, but what really makes this story is the combination of those characters and the complex culture and politics of the Knight world, resulting in a difficult mission and a fascinating story that grips from start to finish. Read the accompanying short stories first if you can, to get a sense of who two of the assassins are, but if you’re at all interested in the idea of a 40k spy thriller (with added big stompy robots) then this is definitely one to check out.
Check out my review of Assassinorum: Kingmaker
Prince Maesa by Guy Haley
Having followed the Age of Sigmar-set Prince Maesa short stories and audio dramas right from the beginning, I was keen to find out how Haley would wrap them all up and turn them into a single cohesive story. The end result, just titled Prince Maesa, far exceeded my expectations, cleverly bringing all of the existing narrative together (some of it unchanged, other sections interestingly adapted) and then expanding it onwards to a powerful, satisfying conclusion. For all that it’s cool to read about the big battles and the grand narratives of Age of Sigmar I really enjoy the way this book explores the Mortal Realms from a small scale, personal perspective, focusing on Maesa’s pain and grief as he searches for a way to return his lost love to some kind of life. Oh, and Shattercap the spite is brilliant too.
Check out my review of Prince Maesa
Outgunned by Denny Flowers
This one came out of nowhere – the first anyone knew of it was when it was previewed a week before it went on sale – and absolutely blew me away. It’s a book about propaganda, about what the truth really is and what it costs, and really it’s a book about the fundamental flaws of the Imperium. All wrapped up in an Aeronautica Imperialis story in which an Imperial propagandist is sent to an embattled world to film an inspiring story of brave pilots crushing the pathetic orks…only to find that the greenskins are considerably less feeble and more ferocious than he’d been led to believe, and that the dashing fighter ace Lucille von Shard is not exactly the hero he’d expected. It’s quite low-key as Warhammer stories go, and all the better for it – there’s certainly plenty of war, but it’s brilliantly characterful and has a lot to say about the Imperium. Highly recommended.
Check out my review of Outgunned
Check out my interview with Denny Flowers discussing Outgunned
Echoes of Eternity by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
The Siege of Terra is nearly over, with this the penultimate book in the series. For me personally, having spent some time thinking about it since I finished it, this is comfortably my second-favourite Siege of Terra novel, coming second only to Saturnine, and I’m already looking forward to revisiting it before reading the first part of The End and the Death (so presumably in February/March 2023). It’s not the book I was expecting, and to begin with I was surprised by the approach Dembski-Bowden took, ignoring most of the ongoing character arcs and concentrating almost exclusively on the Blood Angels and the World Eaters. It took me a little while to wrap my head around what he was doing, but in hindsight I think that was exactly the right approach, focusing on a (relatively) small but crucial element of the story before the inevitably explosive finale of the series. It’s maybe not an easy read, but it’s an incredibly powerful one.
Honourable mentions
Last year I included two short story anthologies as honourable mentions, but this year it was so hard to choose my top five novels that I had plenty more I wanted to talk about. I’ve picked out five further novels, and broken one of my rules by including a short story too.
Gothghul Hollow by Anna Stephens: a beast stalks the moorland around a lonely Shyishian town, and it’s up to a handful of brave souls to stop its predations, and along the way unlock a terrible secret that haunts the Gothghul family. The first in a new Tales of Mhurghast series, this is a great little gothic horror novel that harks back to the good old days of the Warhammer Old World. It works as a standalone whether you want to read the rest of the series or not, and it’s well worth checking out for its great characters and subtly haunting tone.
The Wraithbone Phoenix by Alec Worley: mismatched ratling/ogryn duo Baggit and Clodde get their first novel-length adventure in this fun but deceptively dark crime caper, searching for an alien artefact that could be just what they need to drag themselves out of the Varangantuan mud. The only problem is, they’re not the only people on the hunt for the artefact, so they’re up against it if they want to even survive, never mind succeed. This is a real change from the usual tone and feel of Warhammer Crime, and as a result is perhaps the most characterful and interesting of the range so far. Check out my review, and my interview with Alec Worley.
Rogal Dorn: The Emperor’s Crusader by Gav Thorpe: get an insight into the mindset of the Imperial Fists’ primarch and understand why he out of all of his brothers was chosen to be the Emperor’s castellan. Again, Dorn might not be a POV character here but there’s a lot to enjoy in watching him through the eyes of others as he wages war on a hidden enemy during the Night Crusade. Thorpe takes an unusual approach to this story with no chapter breaks and a relentless pace, but as a result it covers a lot of ground while mercilessly cutting out anything not entirely necessary (like endless fight scenes).
Grombrindal: Chronicles of the Wanderer by David Guymer: a legendary character from the World-That-Was returns to the Mortal Realms in this unusual book, which includes six short stories and a short novel. Grombrindal himself isn’t a POV character, but we get to see him interacting with all sorts of Dispossessed, Fyreslayers and Kharadron Overlords, subtly steering them and influencing events. It’s a real tour-de-force of the duardin mentality, a great example of just how good BL’s Age of Sigmar range is becoming.
Witchbringer by Steven B. Fischer: Cadian officer-turned-psyker Glavia Aerand finishes her training at the Scholastica Psykana and is immediately (and unhappily) sent back to her old regiment, who are embattled against Traitor Guard and a worrying number of enemy psykers on a misty, rainy, depressing world with secrets at its heart. This is both a classic footslogging Guard novel and a fascinating examination of what it’s like to be a sanctioned psyker, with some great characters, an interesting antagonist, a world that’s as much an enemy as the actual bad guys, and a bleak tone that’s pitch-perfect for 40k. Check out my interview with Steven, and keep an eye out for a review coming soon.
(Short story) The Sins of My Brothers by Peter Fehervari: ok, I’m cheating by including this here as it’s not a novel, but I couldn’t talk about my favourite BL stories of the year without mentioning this. The absolute highlight of the mixed-bag The Successors anthology, it’s a brilliant addition to the Dark Coil – it cleverly accompanies and develops ideas from earlier stories (like The Crown of Thorns and The Reverie) and sheds fascinating new light on what’s gone before, while still delivering an impactful story in its own right. I wouldn’t start here if you’re new to Fehervari, but experienced Coil Travellers will absolutely love this. Check out my review.
2022 TBR
Back in 2021 when I was putting last year’s article together I got a suggestion from someone on Twitter to talk about recent releases that I hadn’t got around to reading, but definitely wanted to. I thought that was a great idea, and I’m happy to do the same thing this year, so here are a few books that came out in 2022 and which I’m particularly looking forward to reading at some point. Again, these are all novels rather than novellas, anthologies, omnibuses etc.
Hallowed Ground and The Vulture Lord by Richard Strachan: I’m a huge fan of Strachan’s writing, and I absolutely loved his previous two AoS novels. I’ve bought both of these 2022 releases just haven’t got around to them yet, but I’m confident they’re going to be great. I like the way Strachan is happy to explore all sorts of different characters too, with these two covering the Order of Azyr (witch hunters) and the Ossiarch Bonereapers.
Void King by Marc Collins: ever since reading his short story The Shaper of Scars I’ve been hoping to get more from Collins about Fenrisian Rogue Trader Katla Helvintr, so I was delighted to see that she’s involved in Void King. Rogue Traders are such a great, quintessentially-40k concept, and I’m very much looking forward to finding out more about these particular characters.
Kasrkin by Edoardo Albert: here’s another author whose BL work I’ve loved right from the start, especially when tackling human characters with the Imperial Guard, so a novel about the Kasrkin sounds right up my street. And a three-way fight between the Kasrkin, T’au and Necrons just makes it all sound that much more fun!
The Dark City by Chris Wraight: the Vaults of Terra series has been one of the real highpoints of BL’s 40k range over the last few years, so the concluding part of the trilogy is something I’m really looking forward to. I actually revisited books one and two in audio earlier in the year, to make sure I’m fully prepared for this – can’t wait!
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So there you go, those are my personal Black Library (novel) highlights from 2022, along with a few of this year’s releases that I’m still looking forward to reading.
Writing this article has given me a bit of deja vu, with a few striking similarities with last year’s post – not just the fact that I haven’t read anywhere near as much BL stuff as I used to, but also in the way that there was very little for me to talk about in terms of next year’s releases up until the day before I published this. With so little announced for 2023 prior to the recent BL online preview, all I was going to mention was the (presumably) two parts of Dan Abnett’s The End and the Death. The end of the Heresy is in sight, at long last! As it is, there are few more books to look forward to next year now, with my personal standouts being Andy Clark’s Bad Loon Rising (love that title), Richard Strachan’s Blightslayer (always interesting to see a new author take on Gotrek) and Gary Kloster’s The Last Volari (I’ve been hoping for a novel from Gary for a while). Oh, and I’ll also be interested to read Jude Reid’s debut novel Creed: Ashes of Cadia!
Anyway, let me know what you thought of the books I’ve talked about here, and what your favourite Black Library releases of 2022 were! Whatever you enjoyed the most, drop me a line in the comments below or over on Twitter.
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My #1 for 2022 is Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh!. I don’t consider LE release date a proper date, if only around 1000 get to read the book, it should count for that year release. I go by the general release so the book falls to 2022. #2 Kingmaker, #3 Prince Maesa, #4 The Dark City, #5 It Bleeds (a short story by David Guymer)