Tag Archives: Necrons

Where to Start With Black Library: Necrons

Welcome to Where to Start with Black Library: Necrons, in which I offer up some suggestions for which Black Library stories to read if you’re particularly interested in the deathless legions of the Necrons. The expansive nature of the worlds of Warhammer can be both a strength and a weakness – there’s loads to explore, but it’s hard to know where to look and where to begin. That’s where this series of articles comes in, as I’ve scoured the dusty halls of the Black Library to pick out a range of great stories that will set you on the right path. I’ve split this article up into two main sections, looking at Necrons as protagonists and then Necrons as antagonists, each one further divided into older lore and more recent releases.

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The Twice-dead King: Ruin – Nate Crowley

Having tackled necrons once already in his phenomenal Black Library novella Severed, it felt inevitable that Nate Crowley would turn his hand to a full-length novel exploring this lesser-seen (in BL terms) 40k faction, so it’s a welcome bonus that The Twice-dead King: Ruin is in fact the first volume in a necron duology! After three hundred years of exile to a dismal outpost of a once-great dynasty, necron lord Oltyx is mired in bitterness at his reduced circumstances. When a vast ork invasion turns out to be the sign of an even greater doom to come however, Oltyx realises that his only hope – for himself, and for the dynasty itself – is to return home and break his exile. Determined to at least make the attempt, he sets out to rouse his brother and father on the dynasty’s homeworld, regardless of the personal costs he knows he will incur.

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The Twice-dead King: Ruin by Nate Crowley – Victoria Hayward Guest Review

Hello and welcome to this guest review here on Track of Words, where I’m opening up the floor to author Victoria Hayward to talk about Nate Crowley’s novel The Twice-dead King: Ruin, which is out now from Black Library. 40k fans may well already be familiar with Victoria as the author of short stories The Carbis Incident and The Siege of Ismyr (featured in the Warhammer Crime anthology Sanction & Sin), both of which are excellent! I knew Victoria had read and loved The Twice-dead King: Ruin, and I was delighted when she agreed to write this review – I think it’s a fantastic review, which brilliantly illustrates what this book means to Victoria while painting a vivid (but spoiler-free) picture of the story as a whole. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

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The Infinite and the Divine – Robert Rath

For his debut Black Library novel, Robert Rath goes big with The Infinite and the Divine, a grand tale spanning thousands of years of bitter rivalry between two virtually immortal Necrons. Trazyn the Infinite (archaeovist and Overlord of Solemnace) and Orikan the Diviner (Master Astromancer of the Sautekh Dynasty) have been rivals since their days of flesh and blood, opposites in both outlook and temperament. After Orikan steals the Astrarium Mysterios from Trazyn’s galleries on Solemnace, their enmity escalates into a deadly feud as, over the course of millennia, each attempts to outdo the other in pursuit of the ancient artifact and the power (or in Trazyn’s case, the collectible history) they hope it can unlock.

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RAPID FIRE: Robert Rath Talks The Infinite and the Divine

Welcome to this instalment of my Rapid Fire series of quick author interviews, in which I’m chatting to Robert Rath about his debut novel for Black Library, The Infinite and the Divine. This exciting new Warhammer 40,000 title is the first full novel to feature the ancient technological menace of the necrons as its protagonists, and promises to be something a little different to the usual Black Library fare. It’s available to pre-order as of Saturday the 3rd October.

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Indomitus – Gav Thorpe

Gav Thorpe’s Warhammer 40,000 novel Indomitus, released in July 2020 to coincide with the latest edition of the tabletop game and its ongoing background, pits the Ultramarines of Crusade Fleet Quintus – considered a cursed fleet by some – against the nightmarish Necrons led by Overlord Simut. After years of uphill struggle against the forces of the Archenemy, the Ultramarines onboard the Ithraca’s Vengeance are in dire need of a comprehensive victory to lift morale and spur the fleet’s momentum. When the strangely becalmed Warp strands them in a system afflicted by a bizarre psychic malaise, they’re drawn into a desperate defence against the undying Necrons, whose relentless assault and terrifying abilities threaten the Indomitus Crusade and the Imperium as a whole.

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RAPID FIRE: Gav Thorpe Talks Indomitus

Welcome to this instalment of Rapid Fire, my ongoing series of quick interviews with authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.

In this instalment I spoke to Black Library author Gav Thorpe about his latest Warhammer 40,000 novel, Indomitus, which pits Ultramarines against Necrons and has been released in hardback, ebook and MP3 formats alongside not one but two different special editions. If you want the lowdown on the Indomitus Crusade and how the Necrons get involved, this is a good place to start.

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QUICK REVIEW: War In The Museum – Robert Rath

Featuring one of Warhammer 40,000’s most idiosyncratic characters, Robert Rath’s short story War In The Museum sees Trazyn the Infinite, necron overlord of dubious sanity but boundless curiosity, hard at work in his museum of living wonders. While rehydrating a tyranid Hive Tyrant ready for it to take pride of place in one of his installations, something seems amiss – and at first Trazyn approaches the problem with confidence, for what could possibly threaten him in his own galleries? When it becomes clear that a particularly dangerous specimen has got loose, however, he seeks out allies from amongst his exhibits.

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Severed – Nate Crowley

It’s a rare Warhammer 40,000 story that’s told from a necron viewpoint, however Nate Crowley’s novella Severed achieves the unexpected – adding a fascinating sense of character, pathos and even soul to the supposedly soulless necrontyr. Vargard Obyron has fought beside Nemesor Zahndrekh for millennia, applying his loyalty and skill at arms in concert with Zahndrekh’s unrivalled strategic insight despite his lord’s idiosyncratic, troubled world view. Tasked with a mysterious mission to the Ghoul Stars alongside an old and dubious ally, they find themselves confronted by a darkness that profoundly challenges the bond between them, and Zahndrekh’s already tattered sanity.

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