Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 18 July 2023)
Series: Warhammer 40,000
Length: 5 hours and 8 minutes
My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars
One of Warhammer 40,000’s most mysterious and elusive characters finally gets the spotlight in the awesome new book from John French with Cypher: Lord of the Fallen.
Gosh, 2023 is turning out to be a brilliant year for Warhammer 40,000 fiction. I have already had a ton of fun with such great books as The Lion: Son of the Forest, Warboss, Shadowsun: The Patient Hunter, Leviathan, The King of the Spoil and Longshot, but the best is honestly yet to come. There are still several great Warhammer 40,000 novels coming out before the end of the year, and one of the most intriguing was Cypher: Lord of the Fallen. Written by well-established Warhammer fiction author John French, Cypher: Lord of the Fallen follows one of the most iconic and mysterious figures in the Warhammer 40,000 canon and places them in a sinister new adventure.
Thousands of years ago, at the end of the Horus Heresy, the Space Marines of the Dark Angels Legion suffered a devastating schism, as betrayal and deceit tore them apart from within. The resulting civil war destroyed their home planet, killed their Primarch, and scattered the Dark Angels who rebelled across space and time. Since then, the remaining loyal Dark Angels and their successor Chapters have hunted these traitors, known as the Fallen, throughout the galaxy, determined to bring them all to justice and hide the truth about their Legion’s fall.
Out of all the Fallen still at large in the galaxy, none is more hated or more dangerous the mysterious warrior known only as Cypher. A Space Marine with strange motivations and deadly martial ability, Cypher has haunted the Dark Angels for centuries, manipulating them for unknown reasons and threatening everything they hold dear. His latest mysterious scheme saw him and a small band of Fallen save the reborn Ultramarines Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, from the forces of Chaos and then accompany him to the Imperial Palace on Terra for his own purposes. But rather than being welcomed as honoured guests, the suspicions around Cypher have seen him and his Fallen comrades locked up in the Dark Cells of the Adeptus Custodes, the most secure prison in all the Imperium, designed to never be breached or release their occupants.
But Cypher is no ordinary prisoner, and as the Great Rift unfolds across the skies of Terra, strange and seemingly unpredictable events will allow him to escape from the Dark Cells into the Imperial Palace proper. Now loose in the most sacred and heavily guarded location in the entire Imperium of Man, Cypher leads his Fallen brothers from captivity and deeper into the palace complex.
However, their presence has not gone unnoticed, and Cypher and his comrades find themselves contending with the relentless defenders of Terra, including the Emperor’s personal bodyguards, the Adeptus Custodes, lethal Imperial Assassins and powerful predictive seers. Worse, the Dark Angels are aware of Cypher’s presence on Terra, and a desperate strike force soon arrives, determined to capture or kill Cypher no matter the cost. But as all these forces start to close around the members of the Fallen, it becomes clear that Cypher has a far greater agenda than anyone realised: to stand before the Emperor on the Golden Throne. But are Cypher’s intentions noble, or does he intend to destroy the Emperor and sacrifice all of humanity to Chaos gods?
Cypher: Lord of the Fallen was a very fun and tricky Warhammer 40,000 entry that fans of the franchise are going to absolutely love. French does a wonderful job of bringing the enigmatic and chaotic Cypher to life in all the best ways, pressing him and several other unique figures into a fast-paced and intense series of manipulations and conflicts. The book is slick, addictive and loaded with clever references and allusions to the wider Warhammer 40,000 canon. I managed to power through the audiobook version of this book in no time at all and had a wonderful time doing so.
Cypher: Lord of the Fallen has a short but exceedingly sweet story to it that wastes no time dragging the reader in. This is primarily because of the unique narration that French features in this book, with the entire story told through Cypher’s enigmatic perspective. Cypher describes all the events that are occurring, even when the chapter’s focus is on other characters far away from him, and his depiction of events is quite unique, as you are never certain how he is seeing events, or whether he is making everything up. French, through the mechanism of Cypher, quickly dives into the events of Lord of the Fallen, efficiently setting the scene of the Imperial Palace in chaos and the defenders stretched thin. Thanks to the arrival of the Dark Angels and other machinations, Cypher and his cohort are soon unleashed into the larger palace.
The narrative splits off into several threads, some following Cypher, some following the Dark Angels infiltrators, and some following the Palace defenders trying to restore order. However, all of these scenes are still shown through Cypher’s mind’s eye, and his confident and possibly unreliable narration gives each sequence a compelling and ethereal edge that I quite enjoyed. There are some great sequences spread throughout this part of the story as everyone dances to Cypher’s tune one way or another and you quickly grow attached to the great cast and their unique motivations. Each character meets an intriguing end or conclusion to their tale, which is quite fitting in its own way, as French layers in the action, the compelling world building, and the constant allusions and stories from Cypher. The overall conclusion of the main story is interesting, if a tad anticlimactic and overly mysterious, but the reader can make some substantial inferences from what happened. I honestly was hooked the entire way through, and French did such a great job of creating as unique a read as possible that was perfectly fitting for the titular character.
While I usually find most Warhammer 40,000 novels are quite accessible to readers somewhat unfamiliar to the franchise, this is one piece of Warhammer 40,000 fiction that is best enjoyed by those people exceedingly familiar with the franchise’s lore. French does do a good job of explaining certain aspects of what is going on, however this story quickly dives into some of the more complex pieces of lore surrounding the game, such as the hidden history of the Dark Angels and the mysteries surrounding the character of Cypher. As someone highly familiar with the background lore, I personally found this to be extremely fascinating, although I could see new readers getting fairly frustrated. However, even those fans of the game might get a little frustrated here, mainly because they are not going to find as many solid lore revelations here as they might hope for. The narrator flat out states at the beginning of the book that this tale is not about him, and Cypher’s history remains mostly hidden as a result. There are certain hints and anecdotes that could lead knowledgeable fans to make guesses, but the narrator fully admits that these could be lies or falsehoods designed to hide the truth even from the reader. Those Warhammer 40,000 fans familiar with who or what Cypher might potentially be and how he operates will absolutely love this, and I personally enjoyed how French kept us guessing.
For those readers who are hoping for more, French does paint a fantastic and elaborate picture of the Emperor’s Palace on Terra, which is one of the more fascinating settings in Warhammer 40,000 fiction. The dark and elaborate depiction of the palace, with its excessive bureaucracy, forgotten corners, vast religious underpinnings, and millions of workers, is endlessly fascinating, and I loved all the cool details French provided. I particularly enjoyed seeing the Custodes in action, and the elaborate depictions of the Dark Cells, a truly unique location, was very damn fun. This compelling dive into one of this universe’s best locations more than makes up for any disappointments a reader may have regarding the lack of revelations around Cypher, and French does such a great job bringing this entire setting to life. A fantastic read for those already in love with all things Warhammer!
As I mentioned above, I ended up listening to the audiobook version of Cypher: Lord of the Fallen, which is honestly the best way to enjoy a Warhammer 40,000 novel. This was once again the case in this tricky and fun book as Cypher: Lord of the Fallen’s impressive story really comes to life when it is read out to you. All the secrets, twists and fantastic depictions of Terra are so much more epic in this format, and I really had a blast listening to it. It helped that the audiobook was narrated by the very talented Jon Rand, who has previously impressed me in Ghazhkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! and Dredge Runners. Rand has a great voice for dark Warhammer 40,000 fiction, and he puts that to full use in Cypher: Lord of the Fallen, especially when he brings the very cryptic narrator to life. The near whispering and often gloating tones Rand ascribes to Cypher are pretty perfect, and I felt he captured this mythical and notorious trickster perfectly. His portrayal adds a lot of depth to Cypher’s appearance in this audiobook, especially as he also covers the evident regret and occasional sad despondency that Cypher experiences as he manipulates events, which makes you grow attached to the figure, even though he could be faking it. At the same time, the rest of the cool cast, including the proud Custodes, the vengeful Dark Angels and the lost members of the Fallen, are also portrayed extremely well. Rand gives each of them very fitting voices and you cannot help but feel their relative emotions of duty, resolve and occasional despair that follow. This was a masterful bit of voice work by Rand, and he really helps to turn this format into the ultimate way to enjoy the exceptional Cypher: Lord of the Fallen.
Overall, Cypher: Lord of the Fallen is an outstanding and epic piece of Warhammer 40,000 fiction that I cannot recommend enough. John French did a remarkable job bringing together a novel that perfectly portrays and encapsulates one of the most mysterious and beloved figures in the canon, and shows him at his manipulating best. Featuring a unique and enjoyable writing style, as well as a ton of hints for established Warhammer 40,000 fans, Cypher: Lord of the Fallen was one of my favourite Warhammer books of the year and is really worth checking out, especially in its audiobook format.
The Unseen Library 