Ten Years of Black Library

It’s been almost 10 years since I started Track of Words, and over that time I’ve read somewhere north of 400 Black Library books (not to mention goodness knows how many short stories), and reviewed a large proportion of those! As I draw to the end of this 10-year period, I thought it might be interesting to look back at all those BL books and pick out my personal highlights from the last decade. I’ve gone through each year from 2014 to 2023 and, from the books that a) were published that year, and b) I actually read that year, selected a single book as my pick for each year – and I tell you, that was not an easy task!

To help narrow things down throughout, I’ve stuck to novels only for this article, so that means no novellas, anthologies, short stories or audio dramas. For some of the recent years I had ‘Best of BL’ articles to pull from, which made things a little easier, but others warranted trawls back through past Goodreads challenges even to remember what I’d read. For some years it was an obvious choice, but others were trickier with multiple books I could have chosen. Either way, it’s worth remembering that these are all just my personal choices – other excellent BL books exist! Indeed, I’ve also included a section at the end with a few ‘honourable mentions’ for each year of books I can strongly recommend as well, along with some final choices that briefly look beyond the ‘novels only’ constraints of this article as a whole.

2014: The Talon of Horus by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

I can vividly remember reading this for the first time, and being blown away by its scope, its voice, and just the richness of this story and its exploration of one of the key characters in 40k lore. I wasn’t especially interested in Abaddon before reading this, at least no more than any other ‘special character’ from 40k lore, but I what I think this book did was demonstrate a way of linking the tone and feel of the Heresy series with the main 40k range in a way that I’d never really considered, offering insight into a key character in a way I’d never imagined. Here’s how I finished my review – words I still stand by nearly 10 years later:

“In time this will surely be looked back on as a crucial, seminal book for the 40k setting. As a standalone book this is without a doubt up there with the best that Black Library has ever published. As the first part of a series, it’s a mouth-watering start to what promises to be an incredible story.”

Read my review of The Talon of Horus

2015: Ahriman: Unchanged by John French

I’ve said it many times before, but it bears repeating: Ahriman is probably my favourite character in all of Warhammer – hero, villain and everything in between, he’s just the epitome of 40k for me personally. Ahriman: Exile might even be my all-time favourite BL novel, and while this – the third in the series – doesn’t quite hit the spot for me in the way the first book does, it’s still a fascinating novel in its own right and a powerful conclusion to the trilogy. It’s definitely a ‘culmination’ book, but I love that about it – John’s approach to this trilogy was exactly the sort of thing I love, and this felt like the perfect ending to this overarching story. Here’s what I said about that aspect of the book in my original review:

“The sheer scale of the story becomes apparent as the book goes on, with some genuinely awe-inspiring set pieces, and the gradual realisation of just how clever French has been with the plotting of the series as a whole.”

Read my review of Ahriman: Unchanged

2016: Fabius Bile: Primogenitor by Josh Reynolds

Completing the triumvirate of ‘40k books redefining Chaos characters and blowing readers’ minds’ (after Ahriman and Abaddon, of course), this might even be the most unlikely of the three to succeed. Fabius is, on the surface, a deeply unlikeable character after all. Except…somehow Reynolds makes him not just deeply compelling but also strangely endearing, and his coterie of apothecaries and monstrous allies too. There are all the Reynolds hallmarks here – pulpy adventure, great dialogue, wild flights of imagination, lashings of dry humour, and an overall sense of fun that’s often missing from BL stories. For all that though, it still manages that impressive sense of connection reaching back to the Heresy and ahead to the ‘now’ of 40k. Still…this is one of those books you read for the characters, especially if you’re on the lookout for antiheroes.

“[Reynolds] leverages a deft touch with dark humour and a (perhaps worryingly) wild imagination to deliver a compelling and highly entertaining tale, full of appalling characters who barely even qualify as antiheroes but somehow turn out if not sympathetic then at least engaging.”

Read my review of Fabius Bile: Primogenitor

2017: Vaults of Terra: The Carrion Throne by Chris Wraight

Black Library readers, and Chris Wraight fans in particular, had it good in 2017 with the release of both this and Watchers of the Throne: The Emperor’s Legion, two fantastic books that kicked off their respective series in real style. Really it was just a coin toss as to which one I picked for this list – in the end I think this just edges out The Emperor’s Legion by virtue of the gritty, down-at-heel humanity of its characters and the relatively low-key feel to the plot. There’s something special about exploring Terra (Terra! At last!) through the eyes of Crowl and Spinoza, trawling through the dirt of the throneworld in search of answers to a mystery that resolves brilliantly in this book, while leading to something more as the series progresses.

“It’s like a sign of a new golden age for Black Library – inquisitors exploring the Imperium away from the battlefield, on Holy Terra itself, and even – the cover rather gives it away – Custodians joining in the fun!”

Read my review of Vaults of Terra: The Carrion Throne

2018: Spear of the Emperor by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

How do you follow The Talon of Horus and Black Legion, when the expectation is now SO high for any new AD-B book? Well, turns out the answer is that you write about something totally different, exchanging Traitor Space Marines in the wake of the Heresy for Primaris Space Marines in the wake of the Great Rift. That’s what Dembski-Bowden did, and the results were spectacular – another 40k tour de force, equally packed with great characters and powerful, impactful action, with plenty of his usual trademarks but lots of surprises too. It’s not necessarily the easiest of reads, but my word it’s a brilliant story!

“It’s endlessly thought-provoking, sometimes (enjoyably) challenging, and deeply satisfying, and suggests that this is going to be a hugely influential series that does for the ‘new’ 40k lore much the same as what the Black Legion series does for classic 40k lore.”

Read my review of Spear of the Emperor

Check out RAPID FIRE: Aaron Dembski-Bowden Talks Spear of the Emperor

2019: Requiem Infernal by Peter Fehervari

In some respects I surprised myself by only including one Fehervari book on this list, but if it had to be just one…it should definitely be this one. Whether you’re new to the Dark Coil or a seasoned Coil Traveller, I would personally say that this is essential reading for any 40k fan – it’s strange, it’s super dark, it’s anything but an easy read, but it’s utterly brilliant! For anyone who’s interested in the idea of interlinked stories with subtle connections that grow increasingly intriguing the more you read, the Dark Coil is what you’re looking for, and this is almost like a ‘hub’ story for the whole thing. You could start anywhere, but this is as good a place as any. I still remember the thrill of starting this, and the sense of revelations lurking just out of sight as I was reading!

“It’s perhaps the most developed and fully-realised example of [Fehervari’s] writing yet, and feels like a distillation of everything that’s gone before into a single story which – as you might expect – doesn’t provide any concrete answers…but does set the imagination aflame.”

Read my review of Requiem Infernal

Check out Peter Fehervari Talks Requiem Infernal and The Dark Coil

2020: Saturnine by Dan Abnett

There are many great Horus Heresy novels, many of which are written by Dan Abnett, but if I had to pick just one that epitomises everything I love about both the Heresy and Abnett as an author, I think it would be Saturnine. For me it’s easily the standout story in the Siege of Terra, and it’s jam-packed with scenes and moments that blew me away when I first read them, and have remained with me since. I don’t want to be specific for risk of spoilers but…yeah. Even writing this makes me want to go back and reread Saturnine! I can’t imagine how tricky it must have been to write, but where The End and the Death isn’t quite doing it for me, Saturnine absolutely nailed what it was trying to achieve – it’s so good!

“It’s an incredibly complex book packed with characters (the dramatis personae stretches to eight pages) but Abnett nails the pacing and variation, always knowing when to switch between narrative strands, when to throw the reader headlong into the action and when to pull back for little moments of calm and humanity.”

Read my review of Saturnine

Check out RAPID FIRE: Dan Abnett Talks Saturnine

2021: Ghazkghull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! by Nate Crowley

BL’s ‘short novels’ can be a little hit and miss, but with this – the first of the 40k ‘Character Series’ books – Crowley absolutely nailed the brief, delivering (in my opinion) one of the best BL books of all time, and (again, in my opinion) easily the best depiction of Orks in all of BL fiction. What’s even more impressive is the way this goes beyond being ‘just’ a book for Ork fans, using its exploration of the greenskins as a way of holding up a mirror to the Imperium too. Would I have loved it to have been a full-length novel? Sure, I think it could have been even better with some additional word count. But don’t be put off by its length – Crowley is one of the best writers around at the moment, and this is a stone-cold classic.

“Crowley has delivered a phenomenal character study here, but with his unique style and sense of imagination he’s also brought 40k orks to life with a depth of culture that we as readers have never seen before, and of which the orks themselves are probably happily unaware.”

Read my review of Ghazgkhull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh!

2022: Outgunned by Denny Flowers

I chickened out of picking one favourite novel in my 2022 BL roundup, but if I had to choose just one then it would be Outgunned. I think a lot of BL readers would have chosen Echoes of Eternity, but there was something about the smaller scale and general tone of Outgunned that really appealed to me. A non-military perspective always adds a little something to a BL novel, given the preponderance of ‘soldier’ POVs; factor in the Imperial propaganda angle, the dark humour, the Aeronautica action, and the contrast between Simlex and Shard, and you’ve got a recipe for something that’s fun, insightful, and different to anything else that’s gone before.

“No glory, no heroics, just sacrifice and ignorance and desperation and sheer bloody-mindedness. In short, it’s a breath of fresh air and a welcome new take on a 40k war story.”

Read my review of Outgunned

Check out RAPID FIRE: Denny Flowers Talks Outgunned

2023: Sea of Souls by Chris Wraight

This one snuck in right at the end of the year, and it was really just a spur of the moment decision to read this (seeing as I haven’t yet read Dawn of Fire books 3-6), but I’m thankful that I did! 2023 has been another year in which I didn’t pick a single favourite for my BL roundup, and I could have happily included several others here…but I went with this one because it not just surpassed expectations but it really nailed the tone of the old-school 40k stories I grew up on. It’s a typical Chris Wraight story in many respects, engagingly plotted and full of brilliantly fleshed-out characters (my personal favourite being the unexpectedly straight-talking Sister Hospitaller), but it also ramps the darkness up to 11 in a way I haven’t seen him do before, the end result being probably the best depiction of life on board an Imperial Navy vessel I’ve ever read.

This is the only one of the 10 books on this list that I haven’t reviewed, so I don’t have a snippet of review text to include here. I’ll just close by saying ignore the synopsis on the back of the book, as that has very little to do with the actual story of Sea of Souls – instead, just do what I did and give it a go. You don’t need to have read the preceding Dawn of Fire books, as this is essentially a standalone story. I don’t think you’ll regret picking it up.

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So there you have it – 10 fantastic Black Library books from the last 10 years, each one my personal favourite from the year in which it was published. Looking back now I’ve compiled this list I think it’s a shame that this is so 40k-heavy, with not a single Age of Sigmar title, but that’s just how things worked out I guess. And if you check out my Honourable Mentions section below, you’ll see a fair few excellent AoS books that are well worth picking up if you haven’t already read them!

Honourable mentions

I’m very happy with my choice for each year, but most of them were pushed very close by at least a couple of other books that year. Here are some honourable mentions for each of the last 10 years – click on the titles to read my reviews.

2014: Vengeful Spirit, Ahriman: Sorcerer

2015: I Am Slaughter, Pharos

2016: The Path of Heaven, Praetorian of Dorn, Genestealer Cults

2017: Dante, Watchers of the Throne: The Emperor’s Legion, Black Legion

2018: Lukas the Trickster, Eight Lamentations: Spear of Shadows, Anarch

2019: Honourbound, Gloomspite, Hamilcar: Champion of the Gods, The Red Feast

2020: The Reverie, The Infinite and the Divine, Blood of the Everchosen

2021: Penitent, The End of Enlightenment, Grim Repast

2022: Ahriman Eternal, Assassinorum: Kingmaker, Echoes of Eternity

2023: The King of the Spoil, Longshot, Ashes of Cadia

A few other highlights

To finish off, I thought I’d pick out a few final highlights that look beyond my main ‘novels only’ criteria. It’s so hard to just pick one favourite for each of these, so if I came back to this another time I might come up with different options, but as it stands here are my choices for the best Black Library audio drama, novella and short story released over the last 10 years.

Best audio drama: Titans’ Bane by Chris Dows – still the tensest, most powerful hour of audio I think I’ve ever come across, brilliantly told and beautifully performed. Setting this solely within the confines of a tank was a genius idea – it works so well!

Best novella: Severed by Nate Crowley – for me this kicked off the recent resurgence of xenos-POV 40k stories, and forever cemented Zahndrekh and Obyron as my favourite 40k double act (closely followed by Trazyn and Orikan).

Best short story: The Sum of its Parts by Rhuairidh James – it’s so hard to remember every BL short story I’ve read over the course of a decade, but I struggle to think of one better than this. I’ve never read anything quite like it, following a rugged Imperial tank through decades of service and the people who interacted with it, but I’d urge any 40k fan to check it out.

Best anthology: Divination by John French – I’m slightly cheating here by choosing a single-author anthology, but while I appreciate French’s Inquisition stories aren’t for everyone, I loved every single one of these stories and the character studies they offer for Inquisitor Covenant and his warband. Pretty much any one of these could have taken the ‘best short story’ prize, and the whole thing sits together beautifully.

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If you’ve got this far, thanks for sticking with me! It’s been an interesting experience digging through Goodreads challenges and old reviews, and generally wracking my brain to remember stories I’ve read and written about over a decade of covering Black Library fiction here on Track of Words. Here’s hoping the next 10 years of BL fiction will be as good!

What would you choose as your favourite Black Library books of the last decade? I’d love to know what you’d go for, so please do let me know in the comments below or over on social media.

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