Black Library: New 40k Reading List – Track of Words

cadia is found by justin d. hillthis offers a “boots on the ground/grunt view” perspective on the fall of cadia, told from multiple points of view of the imperial guard and reflecting the chaos and confusion as the cadians reel through the invasion of abadon.

read my review of cadia stands or my quick interview with justin.

vaults of terra: the carrion throne by chris wraightif you want to see what life on terra is like from an inquisitorial point of view, this is the book to choose . it’s largely set just before the big rift opens, so it’s less about finding out what happened and more about giving the time period some interesting context as the backstory to a great story with some fantastic characters, namely the crowl inquisitor and the spinoza interrogator.

Read my review of Carrion Throne.

vaults of terra: the hollow mountain by chris wraight the sequel to the scavenging throne, continues the story of crowl and spinoza on terra immediately after the big crack. once again, the big picture is vaguely in the background, but it’s more about the next steps in an ongoing mystery that lurks beneath terra’s surface.

read my review of hollow mountain or my rapid fireinterview with chris.

dante and the devastation of baal by guy haleythese two books focus on the blood angels in the construction of the great rift , and they are worth checking out. dante is torn between the chapter lord’s origin story and his actions during the baal shield campaign, while baal’s devastation ( the first space marine conquests novel) deals with the tyranid invasion of baal himself, which takes place just as cadia is about to fall. if you wanted to try to be as chronologically correct as possible, then you could read dante before the gathering storm books in the background.

however,

baal’s devastation is harder to pin down in terms of chronology, but that’s how I understand it. Narratively speaking, the book starts before the rift opens and then covers the immediate aftermath of Baal. from the blood angels perspective then, when the book ends, it’s just after the rift has opened. however, due to some complicated warp-related time games, from the perspective of imperium sanctus (ie terra, the indomitus crusade, etc.) they are a few years after the start of the indomitus crusade.

technically speaking then, baal’s devastation probably also fits into the timeline sometime after the events of the dark imperium books (now that they’re being adjusted that would take place earlier in the crusade) and great work… but for the sake of ease I’ve included it here.

read my reviews of dante and the devastation of baal, or my quick interview with a guy who talks about the devastation of baal.

Thronewatchers: The Emperor’s Legion by chris wraightAlso set on terra, it takes a different approach from The Scavenging Throne and shows the same time through the eyes of the imperial chancellor, sister of silence and member of the adeptus custodes. it also features a major battle that takes place around the same time as the end of the rise of the primarch.

read my review of the emperor’s legion or my quick interview with chris.

vaults of terra: the dark city by chris wraightthe third and (I guess) last novel in the series of vaults of terra, promises to continue where the hollow mountain Ran out of Raven and Spinoza delving deeper into the ongoing mystery. I haven’t read it yet but I’m hearing some very good things, and from what I understand this ends shortly after the events covered at the end of Thronewatchers: The Emperor’s Legion.

the untamed era

as guilliman leaves terra and departs to liberate besieged imperial worlds, the indomitus crusade kicks off the ‘indomitus era’, which for the purpose of this article i’m using as a catchall for all the books that take place on o near terra, involve some part of the indomitus crusade, or generally have a decent impact on the larger 40k narrative. until recently, the crusade itself was only covered in the dark imperium books, which take place towards the end of the crusade, but we’re slowly finding out more about this period (with more on the way) .

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the avenging son of guy haleythe first book in the new dawn of fire series, this effectively takes place as the indomitus crusade begins . If you haven’t read Dark Imperium yet, this is definitely the place to start for Indomitus Era stories. there’s a lot about guilliman and lots of great new lore, but also all sorts of interesting arcs featuring the imperial army, the inquisition and the administratum.

read my avenging son review or my rapidfire interview with guy.

the door of the bones by andy clark book 2 of the series the dawn of fire, which portrays the next steps in the first stages of the indomitus crusade. It takes place en route to Gathalamor, when a mixed force of Imperial soldiers, led by Custodian Squire-Captain Achallor, race to keep the vital sanctuary world from Abaddon’s clutches. It’s a bit more of an all-out action story than The Avenging Son, but it’s a fun read and broadens the scope of the series even if it’s not exactly a sequel to the first book.

the time of the wolf by gav thorpe I haven’t read this, the third book in the dawn of fire series, so I can’t say much about it. however, from what I understand, it shifts the focus of the series away from the imperial forces fighting chaos and the space wolves facing the greenskin menace led by the legendary ork warlord ghazgkhull thraka.

throne of light by guy haleyanother book i haven’t read yet, but this is book 4 of dawn of fire. The synopsis suggests it’s about Kor Phaeron’s word bearers targeting black ships, and the Rostov Inquisitor searching for Abaddon’s hand.

knights of macragge by nick kymeone of the most interesting space marine character arcs in post-great rift 40k is the cato sicarius one, and this book Explore what happened to the heroic captain of the Ultramarines 2nd Company after he and his ship were lost to the warp after being sent by Guilliman to ensure the safety of Ultramarines. it’s hard to know exactly where this fits in the timeline, but somewhere around here feels like the right place to go. Ideally, read Assault at Black Reach, Dammon Drop, and Veil of Darkness first.

read my review of knights of macragge or my rapid fireinterview with nick.

watchers of the throne: the regent’s shadow by chris wraightthe sequel to the emperor’s legion, takes a similar approach and features two of the three main characters of its predecessor. The regent in the title refers to guilliman, and the primarch’s absence, and the void he left behind, is at the heart of this excellent politically charged story.

read my review of shadow of the regent or my rapid fire interview with chris.

indomitus by gav thorpeis set in the first decade of the indomitus crusade and details a crucial conflict between the ultramarines of the quintus fleet and the necrons. So far, this provides the best vantage point on the events surrounding the Outcast Nexus. It doesn’t seem to be the most popular of books in some circles, but I enjoyed it.

read my review of indomitus or my quick interview with gav thorpe.

ephrael stern: the holy heretic by david annandaleas far as i can tell, this is the black library story that most closely relates to the awakening arc psychic that’s been happening recently in the main game. ephrael stern is undeniably great, and this expands on his story from the original daemonifuge graphic novels to bring it to the current 40k setting. I wouldn’t call it absolutely essential, as the psychic awakening doesn’t seem to have had much of an impact on stage, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

read my rapid fire interview with david annandale talking about the holy heretic.

The Swords ofCalth by Graham McNeillGraham McNeill’s latest Ultramarines novel updates Uriel Ventris’ ongoing saga with the current 40k timeline. As I understand it, to see the full picture of how Ventris fits into the Dark Impérium trilogy, you should check out the short story The Death of Uriel Ventris, then the first Dark Impérium novel, and then the Swords of Calth. If you’re interested, you can check out my reading order for the entire Uriel Ventris (and Honsou) series here.

dark empire, plague war and godblight by guy haleyfor a long time dark empire and plague war were the two main books set in the current 40k timeline. they focus on guilliman’s battles against his brother mortarion’s forces, and in addition to telling great stories, they provide a lot of information about guilliman, cawl the primaris marines, and the state of the imperium (and i guess godblight does the same).

The first two novels were originally set at the end of the indomitus crusade, but not anymore! The long-awaited Book 3, Godblight, has now been released, along with updated editions of the first two books that have been adjusted to now take place during the Crusade, rather than at the end. Personally, I haven’t read godblight or the new editions of books 1 and 2, but it doesn’t seem like the tweaks are massive beyond that timeline tweak.

Read my reviews of dark imperium and plague war, or my quick interview with a guy talking about plague war.

belisarius cawl: guy haley’s great workwith this book, haley completely focused his attention on belisarius cawl, combining threads from the history of his empire dark books, the horus heresy, and the ongoing story (mainly told by lj goulding) of the emperor’s scythes. personally, he would say this is essential reading once he has tackled the two dark imperium books.

read my review of great work.

the aftermath/fill in the gaps

after the great rift, there are some good stories that don’t necessarily fit into the indomitus era arc, but continue with previous individual character arcs. These are all character-focused stories that don’t cover too much of the wide variety of galactic events, but they’re worth checking out.

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cadia honor and traitor rock by justin d. hilltwo of the cadia stands characters – minka lesk and general bendikt – return in honor of cadia, a story about how the cadians are trying to cope with the loss of their world and the impact the fall of cadia has had on its identity. I haven’t read the next novel yet, traitor rock, but it’s billed as “a minka lesk novel”, so I’m assuming it’s a direct sequel to cadian honour.

read my cadian honor review or my rapid fireinterview with justin.

eye of the night and hand of darkness by gav thorpeI have included these two audio dramas here because they feature some key characters from the gathering storm stories, namely inquisitor greyfax and yvraine, with a bit of guilliman and eldrad ulthran in the mix as well. Of all the stories I include, these are the closest to a direct sequel to the coming storm.

read my reviews of eye of the night and hand of darkness.

our lady martyr by gav thorpeif you’re a fan of inquisitor greyfax, this four-part audiodrama is the next step in his story after eye of the night. It also heavily features Saint Celestine, and has brilliant performances from Katherine Tate (Greyfax) and Emma Gregory (Celestine). I wouldn’t say it was essential to the ongoing story, but it does provide a good look at the ecclesiarchy and inquisition after the great break.

read my review of our lady martyr or my rapid fireinterview with gav.

mephiston: revenant crusade and city of light by darius hinkshaven’t actually read any of these, but as darius points out in this interview, revenant crusade takes place after the great rupture, after the events of the devastation of baal. meanwhile, the synopsis for city of light specifies that it is set “deep in imperium nihilus”. If you want to explore blood angels further, they seem worth having on your list (see the previous list of blood angels for where they fit in the timeline).

darkness in the blood by guy haleyexplores what happens to the blood angels, and in particular commander dante and the chief librarian mephiston. after the events of the devastation of baal. technically speaking, if you want to read this in chronological order, do so between the second and third mephiston novels but after you’ve read astorath: angel of mercy.

read my interview with guy haley talking about darkness in the blood and astorath: angel of mercy.

the emperor’s spear by aaron dembski-bowdenlife in imperium nihilus on the wrong side of the great rift is grim enough, which this fantastic book demonstrates with great efficiency. it’s a story about an overly stretched chapter of space marines on the verge of defeat, but it explores a lot of interesting ideas along the way.

read my review of spear of the emperor or my rapid fire interview with aaron.

other perspectives

The vast majority of what I’ve mentioned so far has shown events from an Imperial point of view, but there are a few books that look at them from different perspectives as well. this is all set after the big crack has taken place.

shroud of night by andy clarkone of the first post-great rift novels to be published, this entertaining team-style tale of the alpha legion features a couple of big-name characters in the background, but it’s mostly a small-scale special forces kind of story. Do you want to know what a tight-knit squad of the Primaris Marines Alpha Legion thinks about the state of the galaxy? check this out.

Read my review of shroud of night.

chris wraight’s lords of silencedeath watch are the antagonists in the dark imperium books, but here they are the disgustingly brilliant protagonists of a story that explores what life is like for the ‘bad guys’ after the big breakup. It’s a relatively small-scale story, but it’s worth investigating for a brilliant version of the Chaos Space Marines.