Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 1 July 2025)
Series: Warhammer 40,000
Length: 6 hours and 55 minutes
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
One of my favourite Warhammer 40,000 authors, Denny Flowers, returns with one of the more entertaining novels of 2025 with Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok.
Denny Flowers is an interesting rising author of Warhammer 40,000 fiction who has so far written several particularly notable books. Starting with his cool debut, Fire Made Flesh, Flowers went on to write his two exceptional Lucille von Shard novels, Outgunned and Above and Beyond (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2024), both of which are among some of my favourite pieces of Warhammer 40,000 fiction. I also had a great time with Flowers’s inclusions in Da Red Gobbo Collection, Da Gobbo’s Demise and Da Wrong Type of Green, two hilarious entries that focused the always entertaining orks and grotz. These short stories were quite hilarious, and it made me very excited when I saw that Flowers had a new Warhammer 40,000 novel focusing on the orks coming out this year with Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok.
Plot Synopsis:
“I made Ghazghkull. Not the Gods. Me.”
Grotsnik comes to the aid of Beastboss Bakum on Hive Prome, and it soon becomes apparent that the Mad Dok is feverishly working on something that could change the fate of ork-kind forever.
READ IT BECAUSE
How wild does a painboy have to be to earn the nickname “Mad Dok”? Find out as you follow Grotsnik – with eager scalpel in hand – as he plans his latest galaxy-changing creation. What could it be?
THE STORY
Da Mad Dok Grotsnik, creator of Ghazghkull Thraka, is a painboy beyond legend. What – and who – he harbours in his formidable brain is a mystery to every ork but himself, and an army of orderlies provides him with a constant supply of flesh with which to tinker.
So, when Grotsnik comes to the aid of Beastboss Bakmun, whose rampage on Hive Prome teeters on the brink of going out not with a Waaagh! but with a whimper, Bakmun can’t believe his luck.
Following a series of increasingly unlikely accidents, however, it soon becomes apparent that the Mad Dok is working on something in the depths of his colossal Painwagon. Something big. Something that could change the fate of ork-kind forever, surpassing Grotsnik’s own forging of the Prophet of the Waaagh!…
Denny Flowers continues to showcase why he is one of the fastest-rising authors of Warhammer 40,000 fiction with this highly entertaining and addictive new novel. Perfectly taking on the always entertaining Warhammer orks, including the over-the-top titular character, Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok was an absolute hoot from the very beginning, and I laughed my way through the entire epic story. One of the most hilarious novels of 2025, Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok gets a five-star rating from me due to the pure fun it contained.
Flowers comes up with an exceedingly fun narrative for Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok, which I ended up getting through in a very short amount of time. As the title suggests, this novel follows the machinations of Grotsnik, an ork dok partially responsible for the creation of the legendary Ghazghkull Thraka, the boss of bosses for all ork-kind. However, on the outs with his creation, Grotsnik joins up with a small band of orks led by Beastboss Bakmun, who is attempting to invade a mysterious human city. Amongst this new band of orks is the aptly named Valtun the Patient and his clever grot Ikor, both of whom are very suspicious about Grotsnik’s intentions in joining them, especially once various members of the warband start going missing. What follows is a hilarious series of events as Grotsnik gathers the material for his grand ambitions, while dealing with the strange humans and monsters within the city they are invading, as well as the unique intentions of other ork characters. Primarily told through the perspective of Valtun and Ikor, who find themselves stuck in Grotsnik’s murderous orbit, these perspective protagonists slowly learn more about the titular character’s intentions, as well as the unique modifications he has made to himself, which turns him into something truly sinister.
Flowers moves this story along at a very quick pace full of funny interactions, crazy battles and the typical brutish humour that all fans of the orks will appreciate. The action-packed and regularly over-the-top scenes that emerged were so damn fun, and there is honestly not a single slow moment in this book. At the same time, Flowers installs a clever story throughout Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok, mostly based around the maniacal machinations of the titular character and his attempt to outsmart the suspicious Valtun. It all leads up to a very entertaining ending that completely changes your perspective of Grotsnik’s intentions, while also leaving some of the remaining characters in ironic situations. I personally loved where the multiple character arcs ended up at the end of this book, and while Valtun and Ikor were both great central figures, Grotsnik really stole the show with his weird behaviour, insane experiments, and the hilarious interactions he had with his unsuspecting patients/victims. An overall awesome and well-written story that is guaranteed to suck you in with its exceptionally crazy characters and entertaining storytelling.
As with a lot of Warhammer 40,000 fiction, Flowers’s Da Mad Dok book is probably best read by established fans of the franchise, who will have a lot of fun seeing the titular character come to life. Grotsnik’s unique mentality and connection to the most iconic ork character, Ghazghkull Thraka, makes him a very interesting figure to follow for those in love with the Warhammer canon, and Flowers clearly had a lot of fun utilising him in his story. However, Flowers has already proven himself to be a very good at making his previous Warhammer 40,000 novels accessible to all readers, and this book is no exception. Most people with a general knowledge of Warhammer lore and fiction can easily dive into Da Mad Dok’s narrative, and the inherent humour of the characters and the ork faction will keep them coming back for more. I personally loved Flowers’s latest dive into the orks, and his takes on this crazy faction and some of their more distinctive members were both entertaining and accurate to the lore. As such, Da Mad Dok has a ton of appeal, and I think most readers are going to have an exceptional time with it.
As has become my habit with all things Warhammer, I ended up listening to Da Mad Dok on audiobook, which is easily the best way to enjoy this fantastic and fun novel. Coming in with a run time just under seven hours, Da Mad Dok is a very easy audiobook to power through, especially thanks to the great narration of Harry Myers. Myers, who has really impressed me with books like Day of Ascension and The Wraithbone Phoenix, has an outstanding voice for Warhammer 40,000 fiction, which really fits the over-the-top nature of the universe. He is particularly good at doing ork voices, such as in Da Big Dakka, Warboss and Da Red Gobbo Collection audiobooks, so I was very happy that he leant his voices to Da Mad Dok. Myers uses some very fun and excessively gruff voices to bring the various ork characters to life, and the multiple laddish tones he employs are very fitting and very funny. I cannot emphasise just how good Myers’s voice for these outrageous figures is, and I especially love how he changes from his deeper voices for the orks, to the more petulant and squeaky voice for the grot characters. There is even a cool voice he uses for one of the more intimidating and iconic members of the cast towards the end of the book, which sounds particularly epic thanks to some vocal enhancement. This great combination of voices, as well as Myers’s entertaining overall narration was extremely awesome, and it really enhanced Flowers’s already fantastic story. I honestly cannot recommend this Warhammer 40,000 audiobook enough, and it ended up being one of my favourite listens of the year.
Thanks to the outstanding humour and overall craziness of its characters, Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok was a truly wonderful Warhammer 40,000 novel that is very easy to fall in love with. Denny Flowers excelled at showcasing both the orks in general, and the cruelty and insanity of the titular characters, and the resulting intense and exciting story was a true joy to listen to. An overall exceptional read, I cannot wait to see what epic Warhammer fiction Flowers writes next.
The Unseen Library 