Category Archives: Black Library

A Guide to John French’s Ahriman Series

Regular readers of Track of Words will probably know how much of a fan I am of John French’s Warhammer 40,000 series of Ahriman stories. I remember reading Ahriman: Exile back in 2012 and just being blown away by the atmosphere, the storytelling and the depth of this intriguing character, and as the trilogy progressed it developed into one of my all-time favourite Black Library series. It might not be for everyone, but I just love the narrative complexity and the detail of these characters! There’s more to this series than just a trio of novels (and counting) though, and one of its strengths is the way the books are complemented by a host of additional short stories. The only problem is, it’s not necessarily easy to know where to start – so that’s where this article comes in!

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RAPID FIRE: David Annandale Talks The Deacon of Wounds

Welcome to this instalment of my Rapid Fire series of author interviews – today I’m chatting to David Annandale about his new Warhammer Horror novel The Deacon of Wounds, his second book in Black Library’s growing range of Warhammer 40,000-set horror stories. If you’re keen to know more about this novel, and how a plague story came to be released in the midst of a global pandemic, read on to find out! The Deacon of Wounds will be be available to pre-order from Black Library on the 30th January, in both hardback and ebook formats (no word as yet on whether there will be an audiobook or not).

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A Few Thoughts On: Servants of the Imperium

Black Library’s Warhammer 40,000 anthology Servants of the Imperium features a trio of novellas, all of which were first published as part of the ‘Black Library Novella Series 1’ back in 2018 – Auric Gods by Nick Kyme, Danie Ware’s The Bloodied Rose, and Steel Daemon by Ian St. Martin. As with its Age of Sigmar counterpart Champions of the Mortal Realms, this anthology has had a slightly strange release history, but it’s worth checking out for anyone interested in Imperium-focused stories a little different to the usual Space Marines fare. I’ll take a quick look at each novella and link out to my individual reviews, but before that I’ll talk a bit about the anthology as a whole and its unusual publication history.

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A Few Thoughts On: Champions of the Mortal Realms

Black Library’s Age of Sigmar anthology Champions of the Mortal Realms collects together four novellas originally published in 2018 as part of the ‘Black Library Novella Series 1’ – Warqueen by Darius Hinks, Heart of Winter by Nick Horth, The Red Hours by Evan Dicken and The Bone Desert by Robbie MacNiven. All four novellas are excellent, and as an anthology this offers great value for a collection of stories covering a wide variety of characters, locations and themes from across the Mortal Realms. It’s had a slightly strange publication history, however (as has its 40k companion Servants of the Imperium), so I’ll talk a bit about that as well as taking a quick look at each story and linking out to my individual reviews.

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Black Library: Getting Hold of Limited Editions

For many fans of Warhammer fiction, the swanky Limited Editions, Special Editions and Mega Editions that Black Library produces are must-have items, but actually getting hold of them before they’re all snapped up by other fans (or scalpers) can feel stressful and difficult. They are, after all, limited in number, with demand usually (if not always) exceeding supply, and so most of them tend to sell out very quickly. In this article I’m going to offer up some suggestions for what to do if you want to get your hands on one of these books, and how you can give yourself the best possible chance of success. I’m aiming this mostly at anyone who’s looking to get hold of their first LE, but even if you’re a long-term BL fan there might be something useful here for you to take away.

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RAPID FIRE: Mike Brooks Talks Alpharius Head of the Hydra

Welcome to this instalment of my Rapid Fire series of author interviews – today I’m chatting to Mike Brooks, author of Alpharius: Head of the Hydra. This is Mike’s first Horus Heresy novel for Black Library, and the 14th novel in the ongoing Primarchs series, and promises to be a treat for all fans of the ambiguous XX Legion – the Alpha Legion. I asked Mike for the lowdown on the new book, and despite all the secrets in which it’s shrouded he was able to reveal a little information about what to expect. Alpharius: Head of the Hydra is available to pre-order in swanky Limited Edition hardback on Saturday 16th January, with the standard hardback, ebook and audiobook versions presumably coming three months or so later.

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Black Library: ‘New 40k’ Reading List

After decades of remaining more or less static, these days the Warhammer 40,000 setting is evolving before our eyes, and many of the new and upcoming novels from Black Library are helping to shed light on these new developments in the lore. It’s not always clear how the various stories fit into the ongoing timeline, however, and Black Library as usual doesn’t seem inclined to provide anything in the way of an official reading order. I’ve put together this reading list to try to fit together where all of the recent books go in the ‘new 40k’ timeline – it’s entirely unofficial, and I can’t guarantee that I’ll have got everything right, but hopefully it will be a useful resource to anyone interested in keeping up with Warhammer 40,000 fiction.

NOTE: until such time as BL produces an official resource, I’ll do my best to keep this reading list up to date with new releases as and when they’re published. This version of the article was created in January 2021, but I’ve added books in here and there along the way – the last minor update was in August 2022.

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Avenging Son – Guy Haley

Guy Haley’s novel Avenging Son kicks off the nine-part Dawn of Fire series, which promises to explore in detail the events of the Indomitus Crusade – the driving force behind the ‘current’ Warhammer 40,000 timeline. This first instalment features the first great battle of the Era Indomitus, as Fleetmistress VanLeskus leads Fleet Tertius against the Khornate Crusade of Slaughter for control of the Machorta Sound, determined to stop the forces of Chaos from claiming territory that would allow them to threaten Terra itself. Before the returned Primarch Roboute Guilliman can dispatch VanLeskus and Fleet Tertius, however, he has to navigate his way through the byzantine politics of an Imperium still reeling from the opening of the Great Rift, a task which even a Primarch can’t manage alone.

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A Guide to Guy Haley’s Prince Maesa Stories

Over the last couple of years, one of my personal highlights in Black Library’s Age of Sigmar range has been Guy Haley’s slowly-growing series of stories featuring Prince Maesa and Shattercap. Haley has written a lot of 40k and Horus Heresy stories but relatively little for Age of Sigmar, however this ongoing saga of an aelven Wanderer in search of a way to bring his lost love back to life – told across multiple stories and different mediums – is well worth checking out. As it’s not a novel, however, I sometimes wonder if it falls under the radar for a lot of readers, especially as BL hasn’t provided any guidance on how everything links together or in what order to read the different stories.

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Rise of the Ynnari: Wild Rider – Gav Thorpe

Word is that 2019’s Wild Rider, Gav Thorpe’s second Rise of the Ynnari novel, is likely to be the final instalment in the series, which is a shame as it’s both an entertaining story in its own right and a fantastic exploration of the Ynnari and their role within Aeldari culture. After unintentionally awakening a Necron tomb complex on the maiden world of Agarimethea (see the events of short story Fireheart), Wild Lord Nuadhu Fireheart returns to Saim Hann to try and rouse his Craftworld into an alliance with the Ynnari of Yvraine. Nuadhu hopes to reclaim his honour by returning to Agarimethea in force to deal with the Necrons before they can fully awaken, but the council of Saim Hann are loath to commit their forces, wary of Yvraine’s motives.

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