Warhammer 40,000: The Fall of Cadia by Robert Rath

On January 2, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer7 Comments

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 5 August 2023)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 19 hours and 42 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Cadia Stands! I ended 2023 on a very high note with one of the best Warhammer 40,000 novels of the year that follows one of the biggest events in the franchise’s recent lore, The Fall of Cadia by Robert Rath.

There were several amazing Warhammer 40,000 novels released in 2023, with some of my favourites including The Lion: Son of the Forest and Warboss by Mike Brooks, The King of the Spoil by Jonathan D. Beer and Cypher: Lord of the Fallen by John French, just to name a few. However, in terms of sheer scale, epic battles, and larger-than-life characters, my favourite will have to be The Fall of Cadia. As the name suggests, The Fall of Cadia follows the final battle for the planet of Cadia at the end of the 13th Black Crusade, which was a major campaign in the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game. The original 13th Black Crusade campaign happened back in 2003, with the official result being something of a draw. However, in 2017, Games Workshop retconned the campaign to result in a much more substantial Chaos victory, which ended up having substantial impacts on the wider lore of the franchise, effectively reshaping the entire Warhammer 40,000 universe.

This change ended up being a pretty significant event, and Games Workshop provided some major write-ups about it that summarised the events and their explosive aftermath. Indeed, the lore events initiated in this event have already been featured in several novels, and most of the current Warhammer 40,000 fiction examines the consequences of this campaign. However, there has yet to be a novel solely dedicated to trying to capture the entirety of the action at the end, until now with The Fall of Cadia by Robert Rath. Rath was a great choice of author to write this book as he is a truly amazing author of Warhammer 40,000 fiction. His previous novels, Assassinorum: Kingmaker (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022) and The Infinite and the Divine, have both been exceptional five-star reads, telling elaborate, character-driven stories that cleverly capture complex aspects of Warhammer 40,000 lore and turn them into impressive and addictive reads. As such, he was the perfect choice to write The Fall of Cadia and he succeeded in creating a deeply moving and epic novel that perfectly brought the chaotic events that ended this infamous war to life.

In the far future of the 41^st Millenium, few battlefields are more significant or more soaked in blood than that of Cadia. A fortress world for the Imperium of Man, Cadia stands in the shadow of the Eye of Terror, a blazing rift that serves as a gateway into the Warp and the realm of the Chaos gods. For any substantial invasion by the forces of Chaos into the Imperium to be successful, Cadia needs to be taken and destroyed, and for that task the Chaos Gods have chosen the Warmaster of the Black Legion, Abaddon the Despoiler. Abaddon is a legendary warrior of hatred and spite who alone is capable of welding together the unruly and contentious forces of Chaos. Over the millennia, Abaddon has launched 12 Black Crusades against Cadia, leading an unholy alliance of monsters, daemons, cultists and traitor Space Marines to battle. However, each time Cadia has held, at great cost to the desperate Imperial defenders. But now, as the forces of Chaos appear stronger than ever before, a 13th Black Crusade has been declared, one that looks set to destroy Cadia forever.

The Fall of Cadia starts well into the 13th Black Crusade, as, after weeks of heavy fighting, the forces of Cadia and humanity once again appear victorious, with the armies of Chaos retreating on all fronts. However, despite the apparent victory over the heretics and the dark gods of Chaos, Lord Castellan Ursarkar Creed is uneasy, believing that the victory was too easy. As the celebrations continue, Creed is soon proved right, as the Eye of Terror disgorges a new enemy force unmatched in size and deadly potential since the legendary Horus Heresy.

At its head flies a dread Blackstone Fortress, an alien superweapon capable of intense destruction and now crewed personally by Abaddon. Faced with this threat, Creed attempts to bring together the various elements of humanities defenders, including legendary Space Marines, virtuous Sisters of Battle, the inhuman soldiers of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and the outmatched by steely rank-and-file troops of Cadia, determined to save their home.

As the final invasion of Cadia begins, Creed organises the defence the best he can to hold back the oncoming horde on land, in the sky, in space, and even far behind Cadian lines in their seemingly safe cities. If Creed has any hope of succeeding, he will need to bring together the scattered armies of the Imperium on Cadia into a single cohesive force, but not all of the defenders are fighting for the same goals. Even if these armies come together, can the legendary Creed hold off the fury of Abaddon and his dark gods? Cadia’s last stand has begun, but who will be left alive at its end?

Robert Rath continues to showcase just how varied and impressive his talent for writing Warhammer 40,000 fiction is as he captures the incredible events of the last siege of Cadia. The Fall of Cadia is epic in every way possible, as it presents the reader with a great coverage of these key lore events and the characters involved. Elaborate, intense, and featuring so much damn carnage and war, The Fall of Cadia is an incredibly addictive read that got a very easy five-star rating from me.

I think it is important to point out that Robert Rath had a difficult task ahead of him when he was chosen to novelise the events surrounding the end of the 13th Black Crusade. A lot of detailed lore has been written around this event, not only in the various guides, rulebooks and other material associated with the tabletop game but also in several years worth of novels and extended fiction that focused on the aftermath of the war. Any novelisation about these events ran the risk of being a stale retelling of events that all Warhammer 40,000 fans already know about. However, Rath rose to the challenge and presented a powerful, intense and memorable depiction of the events that really drags the readers in while showing just how incredible and epic a piece of Warhammer fiction can be.

To tell the events of The Fall of Cadia, Rath elected to cover everything in a massive, multilayered, character-driven narrative, told from every perspective imaginable. Starting towards the final days of the battle, when Abaddon unleashes his true invasion of Cadia, the reader is soon engrossed a range of different storylines that cover many different angles of the battle. Not only do we get to see the overall strategy of both sides but the reader is also thrust into personal wars and fights across the theatre. So many amazing moments are covered, including a desperate last stand in the mountains, battles in the sky and space, Chaos infiltration in the cities, criminal enterprises, even internal dissension amongst the Chaos command. These scenes are usually shown through the eyes of a complex characters, whose desperate fight for Cadia helps to define them and presents the reader with some impressive and captivating character arcs. All these varied conflicts are expertly portrayed by Rath, who does a wonderful job capturing the intensity, brutality and lack of humanity involved in warfare, as his characters suffer on every battlefield imaginable. The sheer epic and destructive nature of these conflicts really come across in Rath’s writing style, and I honestly visualised many of the scenes being described in cinematic detail in my head.

The first half of the book primarily focuses on these various scattered storylines, and it was a lot of fun to see the different theatres of war, especially as you start to get attached to the major characters. All the battles featured are pretty awesome and intense in their own way, and I really have to emphasise just how skilled Rath is at bringing all the different elaborate bits of combat to life. The complex story pieces start to come together in the second half, especially as each of the characters find themselves drawn to the same battlefields. I really appreciated how the storylines tied together, and there are some brilliant moments featured here. I also felt that the multiple deus ex machina moments towards the conclusion of a big battle sequence that Rath needed to include because they were part of the lore was handled about as well as they could be. Rath did some good set-up for the most important of them earlier in the plot, and I liked how in many instances he tried to examine it from the perspective of the common soldier looking for miracles, so it often did not seem too ridiculous.

Everything leads up to the big final battle in the last third of the novel, and despite knowing how it was going to end, I still was extremely invested in the plot and eager to see how everything came about. A lot of this was because I deeply enjoyed the compelling character arcs of the newer protagonists, but I was also very interested in seeing how Rath envisioned some of the more essential events. The author really did not disappoint, as these epic and groundbreaking moments were expertly showcased to the reader in a powerful and captivating way. The big deaths were pretty shocking and hurtful, especially if you did not know they were coming, and the major conflicts were so damn epic in their scope and impact. The final devastating blows of the war really hit hard, especially as the climatic events featured some deeply personal moments alongside the mass devastation, which made everything that much more powerful. I really loved how everything came together, and the poetic conclusion that highlighted the final fights of the surviving protagonists is going to stay with me for some time. I am so damn impressed with how much passion and emotion that Rath was able to stick into this massive war story, and I honestly loved every single second spent reading The Fall of Cadia.

In addition to the amazing story, I really need to highlight the impressive array of characters featured throughout The Fall of Cadia. Rath did a wonderful job of presenting the massive events of this book through a range of intriguing character perspectives on every side of the conflict, and there is a fantastic combination of new characters and established Warhammer 40,000 figures. The author really tried to cover The Fall of Cadia’s narrative from every single angle he possibly could, and the resulting combination of generals, common soldiers, legendary warriors, ancient traitors and other interested onlookers, helped to make this Warhammer 40,000 story even more powerful and layered. This includes several Chaos characters, whose tainted perspectives allow for a compelling view of both sides of the conflict. The Fall of Cadia’s character arcs are mostly self-contained for the majority of the book, with their focus usually on that particular figure or theatre of the war. However, there are some clever and moving interactions between the characters as the novel continues, and it is testament to Rath’s writing style and ability to create a massive web of overlaying character storylines that these interactions fit together so well into a cohesive and powerful narrative. Rath really dove into the complex lives and personalities of every character he featured, even those that died quite quickly, and the resulting character arcs really added to the emotional impact of The Fall of Cadia. You become heavily invested in these characters as a result, and waiting to see who survives the war is an important part of experiencing this novel.

So many big personalities were expertly featured throughout The Fall of Cadia and every reader is going to come away with their own favourites. The better character arcs I personally loved included that of Major Marda Hellsker, who is forced to lead a desperate last stand for much of the book and grows into the leadership position thrust upon her. Captain Hanna Keztral’s exploits in the sky also make for great reading, especially as she desperately tries to gain respect whilst flying an unarmed aircraft. You also have to love the storylines surrounding Salvar Ghent, Cadia’s premier gangster, as he tries to exploit the war to his advantage before finding himself thrust into a much more prominent role. I particularly loved how well Ghent interacted with some of the major figures in the book, and his entire storyline was one of the most entertaining. The insatiable Necron collector Trazyn the Infinite was also a great inclusion in the plot, and Rath clearly had fun bringing back this hilarious character after featuring him so heavily in The Infinite and the Divine, and I got a good laugh at several of his pivotal scenes and petty moments.

However, the best characters in The Fall of Cadia had to be the opposing leaders of the war, Lord Castellan Ursarkar Creed and Abaddon the Despoiler. Both are major figures in Warhammer 40,000 lore and Rath ensured that they were done justice in this novel. Creed is shown to be a rough but brilliant commander, capable of inspiring an entire world while also suffering from the stresses of constantly being on the losing side. I particularly enjoyed the subsequent inclusion of Colour Sergeant Jarran Kell alongside Creed as his long-suffering aide and best friend, and the two make for a very powerful character combination for many of the scenes shown from the defenders’ perspective. Abaddon on the other hand is presented as the absolute beast that he is, and his obsessive desire to destroy Cadia is palpable. I deeply appreciated that Rath showcased Abaddon as the ultimate villain in this universe, and his appearances were always exceedingly impactful. Many of Abaddon’s appearances were cleverly shown through the eyes of his loyal servant, Dravura Morkath, whose rose-tinted opinions of her master barely covered the restrained evil within this figure. I quite enjoyed Dravura as a character, especially as she has the most intriguing insights into the Chaos ranks, and the resolution of her storyline with Abaddon might be one of the most heartbreaking in the entire book. These characters, and so much more, were such a brilliant part of The Fall of Cadia, and they helped turn what could have been a simple retelling of the lore into a particularly powerful and moving novel.

As with most Warhammer 40,000 novels, I feel that The Fall of Cadia is going to appeal to those fans of the franchise who already have a grip on the basics of the lore and main characters and can fully appreciate just how massive an event this book was. Due to the material the book is based on, there were a lot of crazy events and characters featured here, some of which would be obscure even to casual fans of the game. While Rath does an outstanding job of explaining and exploring the most important of these elements, some readers might occasionally be confused at what is going on or how certain characters came into being. Still, I feel that most new readers can still have an exceptional time with this book, especially as the epic battles, impressive characters, and heartfelt military focused story, is so damn good. The Fall of Cadia might even be a great gateway novel for those people trying to get into Warhammer 40,000 fiction, and it sure as hell encouraged me to read more Warhammer fiction.

One of the other things that I really appreciated about The Fall of Cadia was the way that Rath tried to paint a more nuanced picture of the planet of Cadia itself. Cadia is usually portrayed as a bastion of military prowess and resistance without some of the issues other planets in the Imperium had, so it was quite interesting to see Rath’s different take on the subject, showing Cadia to be a planet with hidden issues and dissent. In particular, Rath examines the problematic social structure of Cadia, where the active military are notably prioritized and those people who could not fight or be assigned other roles were considered a second-class citizen. I loved how well Rath examined and focused on the issues surrounding this unique military class system, and it became a surprising key part of the book. Indeed, the motivations of several characters are highly tied into these issues, with many seeking to prove themselves after being considered lesser for their contributions. It also serves as an intriguing motivation for several antagonistic figures, and I loved just how well Rath was able to weave the structure of a planet into these intriguing character traits. This, and more, really showcased Rath’s inventiveness and appreciation for the little details of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and it is one of the reasons why I really enjoy his novels.

As with most Warhammer 40,000 novels, I chose to enjoy The Fall of Cadia on audiobook, which proved to be a very smart decision on my behalf as it was one of my favourite audiobooks of the year. Coming in with a runtime of just under 20 hours, The Fall of Cadia is a bit longer than your typical Warhammer 40,000 audiobook, which reflects the massive story Rath came up with for this epic read. I really loved how well this audiobook format brought the epic nature of this narrative to life and the many battles, wars, and unique characters felt even more impressive when read out. I enjoyed the narration of Mark Elstob, who has previously lent his voice to other great Warhammer audiobooks, including Kal Jerico: Sinner’s Bounty by Josh Reynolds. Elstob’s narration of The Fall of Cadia is extremely good, and I loved how passionately he presented every big event and piece of action. I really enjoyed some of the great voices he came up with for the cast of The Fall of Cadia, and every larger-than-life character was gifted a fitting tone that perfectly captured their personalities and intensity. His voices for the opposing leaders of the battle, Abaddon the Despoiler and Ursarkar Creed, are amazing examples of this, and you really get awesome impressions of both character’s opposing determination and charisma in some outstanding sequences. I really cannot emphasise just how incredible this audiobook version of The Fall of Cadia is and it is definitely the best way to enjoy this world-shattering story.

Overall, The Fall of Cadia is a pretty exceptional piece of Warhammer 40,000 fiction that did such an impressive job of capturing this intriguing event from the game’s substantial lore. Robert Rath is such an impressive author, and I am really glad he had the opportunity to cut loose and present this massive inclusion to the Warhammer 40,000 franchise. The Fall of Cadia is easily one of my favourite books of 2023, and I loved how Rath told such an epic war tale in such a powerful and memorable way. I honestly hope they make a movie based around this book in the future, because it would be so damn spectacular. A highly recommended read that no Warhammer 40,000 fan should be without.

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Top Ten Tuesday – My Favourite Audiobooks of 2023

On December 27, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, List54 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics. The official topic for this list involved listing the ten most recent additions to your bookshelf, which is a topic I would usually try to address. However, I am afraid I’m going to have to skip this topic and instead I will continue my annual end of year wrap up of some of the best books of 2023. In previous weeks I have highlighted some of the best pre-2023 novels, best new-to-me-authors and the best 2023 sequels I read in the last year. However, this week I am going to look at something near and dear to my heart, the best audiobooks of 2023.

Readers of this blog only need to check out my extensive audiobook category to know that I have a lot of love for the audiobook format. In my opinion, the audiobook is often the best way to experience a good book and in many cases this format makes a novel far more enjoyable. As a result, I listened to quite a few audiobooks this year, and while a good chunk of them were books released before 2023 and featured in my Throwback Thursday posts, most were released this year. There were some truly outstanding and impressive audiobooks released in 2023 and I knew going in that I was going to have an extremely hard time coming up with a final version of this list.

For this list I have only included audiobooks released in 2023 that I have listened to, which left me with a long list of extremely impressive audiobooks which I wanted to include in this post. To help cut this down, I considered a range of factors, including the quality of the original novel, the skill of the narrator, production value, pacing and other features. Looking at all this I was eventually able to cut the list down to the absolute best 10 audiobooks, with my typical generous honourable mentions section. I had to make some very hard decisions here, and I ended up excluding several extremely good audiobooks from the main list. Still, I think it really represents the best audiobooks I enjoyed this year and there are some amazing productions below.

Honourable Mention:

The King of the Spoil, written by Jonathan D. Beer and narrated by Gabrielle Nellis-Pain

A fun and intense Warhammer 40,000 book that effortlessly blends gothic science fiction with a great crime fiction narrative.

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The Last Kingdom, written by Steve Berry and narrated by Scott Brick

Intriguing European history and modern-day espionage combine perfectly in this new Cotton Malone novel by Steve Berry, which is expertly brought to life by veteran narrator Scott Brick

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Cypher: Lord of the Fallen, written by John French and narrated by Jon Rand

The very talented Jon Rand does a wonderful job of bringing one of the most mysterious Warhammer 40,000 figures to life in this cryptic and fast-paced audiobook by John French.

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Murtagh, written by Christopher Paolini and narrated by Gerard Doyle

Christopher Paolini cleverly adds to his iconic Inheritance Cycle with original series audiobook narrator, Gerard Doyle, returning as well, bringing some familiar and compelling voices to this epic piece of fantasy fiction.

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Top Ten List:

Son of the Poison Rose/Cave 13, written by Jonathan Maberry and narrated by Ray Porter

In 2023, we were lucky to get two novels from one of my favourite authors, Jonathan Maberry, as he continued some of his best series. These novels were the dark fantasy epic, Son of the Poison Rose and the science fiction thriller, Cave 13, which continued the outstanding Rogue Team International series. Both books were awesome in their own way, but I chose to combine their audiobooks into a single entry here, due to the fact both shared the same narrator in the legendary Ray Porter. Porter, who is one of my favourite audiobook narrators, is synonymous with Maberry, having lent his voice to most of his books, and he always provides an exceptional performance that works so well with Maberry’s style and captures his complex and damaged protagonists. The combination of Maberry and Porter is always a winner, and the resulting audiobooks are something extremely special. As such, both come highly recommended, and both are some of the best audiobooks of the year.

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Holly, written by Stephen King and narrated by Justine Lupe

I have been really enjoying some of the legendary Stephen King’s more recent books and my favourite so far is his latest novel, Holly. A continuation of the adventures of Holly Gibney that started in Mr Mercedes, Holly was a complex and dark thriller that saw the protagonist investigate a missing persons case, only to discover something truly disturbing and horrifying. This was such an incredible novel, that featured great characters and some shocking twists, and I can honestly say that my love for Holly was even more enhanced because of its amazing audiobook as the producers cleverly brought in actress Justine Lupe to narrate the book. Lupe, who played the character of Holly Gibney in the Mr Mercedes television series, once again dove into the character and really brought her to life. Combined with her great take on several other impressive characters, including two of King’s most surprisingly sinister villains, and Holly was a joy to listen to from start to finish, and indeed proved to be an excellent accompaniment for a fun road trip.

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The Will of the Many, written by James Islington and narrated by Euan Morton

One of my favourite fantasy novels of 2023 was the inventive and exciting release from Australian author James Islington, The Will of the Many. A powerful read that saw a clever teenager with secrets attend a prestigious magical academy while also trying to bring down a destructive empire, The Will of the Many was one of the most impressive books of the year and I got really addicted to its elaborate storytelling and unique new world. The audiobook version of The Will of the Many proved to be extremely good, especially as it allowed me to absorb more of the compelling world detail and envision some of the more elaborate elements of the story. Narrator Euan Morton also provided a unique voice to the story, and this ended up being on of the best fantasy audiobooks of the year.

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The Last Devil to Die, written by Richard Osman and narrated by Fiona Shaw

After wowing me with his previous Thursday Murder Club books, including The Thursday Murder Club (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2020), The Man Who Died Twice (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021) and The Bullet That Missed (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022), Richard Osman produced another outstanding release this year with The Last Devil to Die. Thanks to its clever mystery, subtle humour, and some of the best character work you likely to see, The Last Devil to Die was Osman’s best book yet, and I cannot emphasise how wonderful and moving it ended up being. The audiobook version proved to be particularly good, as they once again brought back actress Fiona Shaw to narrate. Shaw has an amazing handle on all the characters, and her excellent voice conveyed all the intense and powerful emotional that this book contained. I honestly teared up in placed while listening to this audiobook and I cannot recommend it enough as a result.

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The Fall of Cadia, written by Robert Rath and narrated by Mark Elstob

I’m still listening to this next entry; however, I’m having such a great time with it that I had to include it here. This book is a fantastic Warhammer 40,000 book, The Fall of Cadia. Covering one of the most important events from the Warhammer 40,000 canon, the end of the 13^th Black Crusade, The Fall of Cadia follows the epic last stand of the fortress planet of Cadia to the forces of Chaos. Massive in its scope and carnage, The Fall of Cadia is a difficult book to pull together but Robert Rath, who massively impressed me with his prior novels Assassinorum: Kingmaker and The Infinite and the Divine, does an incredible job of tying everything together into an exciting and manageable read. I am particularly loving the audiobook version as narrator Mark Elstob moves the lengthy novel along at an excellent pace and provides a huge range of voices to cover all the over-the-top personalities featured in the book. His narration also perfectly captures the full intensity of the many battles featured within The Fall of Cadia and he makes it sound as epic and brutal as possible. I am loving every second with this audiobook and I look forward to seeing how well the big finish comes out.

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City of Last Chances, written by Adrian Tchaikovsky and narrated by David Thorpe

Probably one of the cleverest fantasy books I got to read in 2023 was City of Last Chances by the unstoppable and highly talented Adrian Tchaikovsky. Set in an occupied city loaded with rogues, revolutionaries and other lost souls, City of Last Chances was a clever, character-driven read, loaded with unique personal stories and unusual scenarios. This fascinating and entertaining narrative was expertly expressed by narrator David Thorpe who really dove into the strange characters and showcased all the absurdities and deep dramas perfectly. A wonderful audiobook from start to finish that I honestly could not stop listening to.

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Burner, written by Mark Greaney and narrated by Jay Snyder

One of the leading authors of spy thriller fiction, Mark Greaney, produced another outstanding entry in his Gray Man series this year with Burner. Setting his infamous protagonist against both his former lover and a desperate Russian special forces unit, Burner was an amazing and intense read that expertly and tastefully utilised contemporary events to tell a complex story. The resulting action, spy craft, personal drama and carnage was expertly showcased by narrator Jay Snyder, who has lent his voice to all the Gray Man books. The resulting audiobook was extremely moving and intense, and Burner was one of Greaney’s best releases yet.

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The Shadow Casket, written by Chris Wooding and narrated by Simon Bubb

The longest audiobook I listened to in 2023 was the epic fantasy novel, The Shadow Casket by Chris Wooding. The sequel to Wooding’s previous novel, The Ember Blade, The Shadow Casket was an outstanding listen that saw a desperate group of freedom fighters try to turn the tide against their relentless oppressors. Perfectly continuing the story set up in The Ember Blade while also featuring some impressive character interactions and a ton of worldbuilding, The Shadow Casket was a brilliant book, and I was so glad to get a continuation of this series. I deeply appreciated the audiobook version of The Shadow Casket, narrated by Simon Bubb, as it really helped me absorb this massive read so much better. Bubb did an outstanding job of making this lengthy story easy to follow, and I loved the fitting voices he gifted to all the complex characters. A captivating and extensive listen, I don’t think I would have enjoyed The Shadow Casket as much in any other format.

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The Traitor, written by Anthony Ryan and narrated by Steven Brand

Bestselling fantasy author, Anthony Ryan, brought his Covenant of Steel trilogy to an awesome end this year with The Traitor. The fantastic follow-up to The Pariah and The Martyr, The Traitor showcased the end of Ryan’s scribe protagonist’s big adventure, and the inevitable fall to darkness that accompanied it. Intense, highly detailed, and featuring an outstanding antagonist, The Traitor was such a good conclusion, and I had such an incredible time listening to the audiobook version. Steven Brand, who did such a great job narrating The Pariah and The Martyr, provided another brilliant bout of narrating in this finale, and he perfectly captured the protagonist’s despair and determination as they fought to do the right thing one final time. A highly recommended audiobook and the only way to enjoy the Covenant of Steel books.

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The Lion: Son of the Forest, written by Mike Brooks and narrated by Timothy Watson

The final entry on this list is another Warhammer 40,000 audiobook, The Lion: Son of the Forest by Mike Brooks. Brooks, who is quicky becoming one of the best authors of Warhammer 40,000 fiction (a quick shoutout to Brook’s other 2023 release, Warboss), sought to bring back one of the canon’s most significant characters, and did so with this deeply personal and symbolism laced novel. Intense, moving, and featuring some compelling characters, The Lion: Son of the Forest was extremely good, especially in the audiobook format narrated by Timothy Watson. While all Warhammer 40,000 audiobooks are pretty special and fun, I really enjoyed this one as Watson captures the gravitas of the main character perfectly while also highlighting the complex plot and pivotal action. One of the best Warhammer 40,000 audiobooks of 2023 as a result, this is really worth a listen.

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Well that is the end of this latest Top Ten list, and as you can see, I have been lucky enough to listen to some awesome audiobooks this year (although I clearly focused a little too much on Warhammer fiction). All the above audiobooks are extremely good and I would highly recommend each of them in their audiobook format. Let me know what your favourite audiobooks of 2023 were in the comments below, and make sure to check back next week to see what my overall favourite novels of the year were.

Kal Jerico: Sinner’s Bounty by Joshua Reynolds

On February 25, 2021March 1, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer20 Comments

Kal Jerico - Sinner's Bounty Cover

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 29 February 2020)

Series: Necromunda – Book 11

Length: 14 hours and 43 minutes.

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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After enjoying the exciting novel Deathwatch: Shadowbreaker by Steve Parker last year I once again dive into the intricate Warhammer 40K expanded universe with another fantastic tie-in novel. This time however, I check out the awesome pulse pounding Necromunda adventure, Kal Jerico: Sinner’s Bounty by Joshua Reynolds, which reintroduces the iconic and entertaining bounty hunter Kal Jerico.

Warhammer 40K fiction is a particularly fascinating franchise built around Games Workshop’s tabletop war game of the same name, which follows armies, heroes and monsters as they fight for supremacy in a gothic far future. While Warhammer 40K started as models and gaming, it has since evolved into a massive expanded universe, featuring comics, video games, board games, a film, an upcoming television show and a vast collection of tie-in novels written by an impressive group of science fiction authors. This is a really fantastic universe that I have a great deal of love for as I was a major Warhammer nerd when I was younger (heck, I’ll admit it, I’m still a Warhammer nerd). Thanks to an incredible amount of lore, history and character bios that have been created to accompany the various iterations of the tabletop game, this universe has so much potential for great fiction and stories that are a lot of fun to explore.

While my last dive into Warhammer 40K fiction focused on the wider wars of Space Marines versus aliens, this time I am looking at something very different as I check out my first Necromunda novel. Necromunda fiction is based around the spin-off Necromunda game which was launched in the 1990s. Set in the same universe as the rest of Warhammer 40K, this sub-franchise takes place on the industrial planet of Necromunda, a desolate husk of a world devastated by thousands of years of pollution and expansive industrial ambition. The stories take place within and under the Hive Cities, vast multi-layered industrial hubs resembling termite mounds that reach both high into the sky and deep underground, and which are home to untold billions of inhabitants. Broken up with the wealthy on the top spires and the poor on the bottom and below (the Underhive), control and influence of these cities is constantly fought over by powerful clans, families, and gangs, resulting in a huge range of different conflicts, which fuel both the tabletop game and the associated fiction. With Game Workshop’s recent relaunch of the Necromunda game a couple of years ago, several new Necromunda novels have been published, including this novel which focuses on one of the most intriguing characters ever created as part of this game, Kal Jerico.

Kal Jerico, the self-proclaimed greatest bounty hunter in Necromunda, was introduced back in 1998 in the Kal Jerico comic strip, written by Gordon Rennie and drawn by Karl Kopinski, which appeared in the Warhammer Monthly magazine. The Kal Jerico comic ran for 30 comic strips between 1998 and 2004, although the character subsequently appeared in three Kal Jerico novels written by Will McDermott (with Gordon Rennie co-authoring the first novel), Blood Royal, Cardinal Crimson and Lasgun Wedding. I am a bit of a Kal Jerico fan, as I was lucky enough to receive several Warhammer Monthly magazines when I was a kid and I used to really enjoy all the cool and fantastic comics contained within. Out of all the comics, the Kal Jerico ones were always my favourite and I absolutely loved seeing the outrageous and daring adventures of this cocky bounty hunter. My love for this character is the main reason that I decided to check Sinner’s Bounty out, and I was really interested to see a more modern take on the character years after seeing him appear in comic book form.

In the sordid depths of Hive Primus, the biggest hive city on Necromunda, a daring crime has been committed and all hell is about to break loose in the aftermath. The infamous and manic preacher, Desolation Zoon, led a brazen robbery on a guilder tithe-hall, stealing vast quantities of weaponry, credits, imported goods and other mysterious treasures. Now, with his band of fanatical followers, Zoon is heading downhive in an armoured mining hauler, modified with an impressive amount of firepower. However, these zealots are not the only ones heading downhive as they are being followed by every hired gun and killer in Hive Primus, each of whom wants a piece of the massive bounty that has been placed on Zoon’s head.

At the forefront of the rogues, killers and gangers chasing after Zoon is the infamous bounty hunter Kal Jerico. Travelling with his faithful sidekick, Scabbs, the murderous woman he was forced to marry, Yolanda, and his cyber-mastiff, Wotan, Jerico is determined to catch up to Zoon and claim both the money and the accompanying reputation boost. To claim their prize, this unconventional team will need to traverse some of the most dangerous locations in the Underhive and face off against giant monsters, dangerous tunnel creatures and mutant cannibals, as well as all their friendly bounty hunter colleagues.

However, as they get closer to capturing Zoon, Jerico and his cohorts will swiftly discover that is far from the simple bounty mission they thought it was. Many powerful people, both inside and outside of Hive Primus, have a stake in Zoon’s capture, and soon Jerico will face off against some old rivals who are just as likely to settle old grudges as they are to claim Zoon’s bounty. Worst, something dark and dangerous is rising in the deeps of the Underhive, and Kal is about to find himself in the middle of a massive fight that even his unnatural good luck may be able to save him from.

Now, that was a fun novel! Sinner’s Bounty is an awesome read that not only successfully reintroduces a fan-favourite character but which also provides a pulse-pumping science fiction adventure for reader in the mood for an exciting and captivating story. To tell this impressive new Kal Jerico novel, the Black Library has recruited veteran tie-in author Joshua Reynolds to continue the legacy started by authors like Renni and McDermott. Reynolds is a talented author who is well-established in Warhammer fiction, having written a substantial amount of Warhammer 40K and Warhammer fantasy novels over the years, following a wide range of different characters and storylines. I ended up really enjoying Reynold’s Kal Jerico novel and I was deeply impressed with the excellent combination of compelling narrative, great characters, and an iconic setting, all wrapped up with a fantastic sense humour, that helped to turn Sinner’s Bounty into such an exceptional read.

Sinner’s Bounty contains an epic tale of greed, adventure and friendship in the twisting tunnels of the Underhive that provides a ton of action and excitement. Reynolds starts this story off with a bang (well, several bangs, a multitude of bangs if I am going to be honest), setting up first the main plot catalyst in Desolation Zoon and his mission, before introducing Jerico and his partners as they encounter their first obstacle on their hunt. This entertaining first encounter serves as a fantastic introduction to the main protagonists, and Reynolds swiftly hurries them on their way, ensuring that they encounter more of the deadly elements of life in the Underhive, such as their lethal competitors. At the same time, Reynolds starts introducing several additional characters who embark on the same mission of catching up with Jerico and Zoon. These additional side characters introduce some intriguing alternate viewpoints and opinions, especially as each of them have their own agendas and motivations for being there. These alternate viewpoints work extremely well in conjunction with the main narrative around Jerico, and Reynolds starts adding more and more in as the novel progresses, with nearly every supporting character and plot point coming together towards the end of the book. Reynolds writes up a big conclusion with every major character in the same location forced to work together to survive in a scenario that was fantastically reminiscent of The Magnificent Seven. At the same time, every character attempts to betray each other, resulting in some extremely entertaining and fun sequences, with the reader unsure who is going to end up on top and who is going to survive. All of this is wrapped up perfectly, with a clever and fitting conclusion to the main story, while several open story threads set up some additional stories for the future. All of this was deeply captivating, and while I personally got hooked on the cool story within the first few pages, there is so much intense action, clever betrayals and compelling plot points, that most readers will find themselves wanting to see how this awesome book ends as quickly as possible.

While many tie-in novels in the Warhammer 40K range have a somewhat limited audience, often requiring pre-knowledge of game lore, I felt that Sinner’s Bounty was extremely accessible and can be easily enjoyed by anyone interested in a fun science fiction adventure. Reynolds does an exceptional job introducing all the relevant elements of Necromunda throughout the course of Sinner’s Bounty, and the reader is easily able to understand what is happening and why without any issue whatsoever. Indeed, Reynolds makes this book so accessible that I would recommend Sinner’s Bounty as a fantastic introductory novel to anyone interested in seeing what Warhammer 40K fiction is all about, especially the Necromunda subset. At the same time, Reynolds also ensures that Sinner’s Bounty caters for established fans, as there are a ton of references to the Necromunda game, previous Kal Jerico adventures and wider Warhammer 40K lore. Not only do huge amounts of elements from the tabletop game make it into Sinner’s Bounty’s story, but Reynolds skilfully references events that occurred within both the Kal Jerico comics and novels, recapping them for new readers while also making some jokes about the events that occurred. This great blend of references and detail makes Sinner’s Bounty an excellent Warhammer 40K novel for all readers and you are guaranteed to have a good time no matter how familiar you are with Kal Jerico or this fictional universe.

Without a doubt one of the best highlights of this entire novel was the incredible setting of the Underhive of Necromunda. Reynolds goes all out throughout the course of this book to bring this grim, cavernous and incredibly deadly expanded setting to life in all its gory glory, and it is spectacular. The reader gets a real sense of how life in the dark under a massive hive city must be like and the author has included all manner of details about crumbling façade, the unusual life forms and perilous living conditions that its many, many inhabitants must face. Naturally, this turns out to be an outstanding setting for this action-packed storyline, and I had an amazing time seeing which horror or unique landscape would appear next. Reynolds also loads up his novel with a huge amount of additional detail about the various gangs, families, and groups that control Hive Primus and inhabit the Underhive, which proves to be deeply fascinating. The author really goes out of his way to provide a fantastic introduction to several factions that were featured in the tabletop game, allowing readers with limited knowledge of this universe to easily follow who these groups are and how they relate to wider story and world. All of this proved to be extremely fascinating and readers are guaranteed to want to dive back into the depths to see more outstanding adventures here.

Another impressive part of Sinner’s Bounty was the extremely likeable and distinctive characters whose adventure the readers follow during this multi-perspective narrative. Many of these characters were originally introduced in the previous comics and novels and Reynolds does an excellent job revitalising them and fitting them into his fantastic story. The main protagonist of Sinner’s Bounty is the titular Kal Jerico, the Underhive’s most dashing and fashionable bounty hunter. I really enjoyed the excellent version of Jerico that appeared in this novel, and the author has styled him as a particularly bold, resourceful, vain, and exceedingly lucky figure who moves from place to place bringing chaos and destruction. Jerico is a very entertaining character, constantly delivering witticisms and fun one-liners to his compatriots, his enemies and himself, and you cannot help but enjoy seeing everything going wrong around him as he manages to annoy or enrage everyone he comes across. It was particularly fun to see so many other characters get drawn into the events of this book partially out of spite towards Jerico, after being bested by him in previous adventures. Despite his outer edge of pragmatism, greed and selfishness, Sinner’s Bounty shows that Jerico has a bit of a soul when it comes to some of the other people he encounters. Not only is he shown to care about both his companions, despite several discussions where he implies he would sell them for his own benefit, but he also has a deeply ingrained sense of honour that drives him to do the right thing, even if it puts him in greater risk. This makes for a fantastic and enjoyable character and I had a wonderful time seeing him scamper around in the Underhive making enemies and generally pissing everyone off.

In addition to his own vaunted self, Jerico also brought along two of his long-term associates Scabbs and Yolanda, both of whom have been part of the Kal Jerico series since the beginning (Scabbs appeared in Issue #1, while Yolanda was introduced in #2). Both characters are heavily featured in Sinner’s Bounty and proved to be an excellent addition to the story. The most significant inclusion is probably Scabbs, Jerico’s long-time friend and sidekick with a serious skin condition (hence the name Scabbs), who often unwillingly follows Jerico into danger. Scabbs is a fun character who serves as a great counterpoint to Jerico’s insanity, often complaining about the terrible plans and generally looking for a more intelligent way to complete the mission. Scabbs has a rather significant character arc within Sinner’s Bounty which forces him to examine his half-ratskin (a gang/clan in Necromunda) past, especially when he encounters Amenute, a ratskin mystic who is inexplicably drawn to him. This forces Scabbs to re-examine his loyalties to Jerico, and it is intriguing to see this character act rashly as he faces off against powerful gangs to save his new acquaintance.

Next we have Yolanda, the dangerous and unpredictable wild woman who is currently Jerico’s wife (see the previous Kal Jerico novel, Lasgun Wedding). Despite this marital relationship with Jerico, Yolanda is a just as likely to cut her husband’s throat as she is to help him, as she only serves her own best interest or her desires to kill as many people as possible. Yolanda is another great character, especially as the reader is constantly left waiting for her inevitable betrayal of Jerico and Scabbs (I also had a good chuckle at an early joke about a poet trying to describe Yolanda, which does not go well for the poet!). While Yolanda is a tad one-dimensional at times, Reynolds does a good job of trying to explore her inner psyche, showcasing some interesting parallels between her and Jerico, as both fled from a cushy life in the Spire to experience the joys of the Underhive, and there are some hints of some genuine feelings for Jerico, even though the two mockingly reference their sham marriage throughout the book. I had a lot of fun with both these supporting characters and they proved to be an excellent accompaniment to Jerico’s antics.

Aside from these three protagonists, Reynolds has also loaded up Sinner’s Bounty with a raft of side characters, each of whom has their own agenda or plan, most of which revolve around killing Jerico (the guy is very popular). The side characters featured within this book are an intriguing combination of established Necromunda bounty hunters and power brokers (I believe several are playable characters in the tabletop game), and original characters. As a result, the reader gets to follow a range of religious fanatics, outrageous bounty hunters, scheming gangas, deranged mutants (including an entertainingly grandiose queen) and a whole range of other intriguing figures. Thanks to the author’s excellent use of multiple perspectives, the reader gets a useful and suitable introduction to each of these characters, ensuring that they can be easily slotted into the narrative when necessary and cause their little bit of havoc.

Out of all these supporting characters, one of my favourites had to be the Adjurator (a fancy bounty hunter) Baertrum Arturos III, who serves as a major point-of-view character and secondary antagonist for this novel. Baertrum is a slippery and treacherous hunter who is drawn into this chase not just for money but for the opportunity to one-up Jerico, who he has a deadly rivalry with. Baertrum’s scenes are fun to read, especially as he is usually coming up with a new way to betray the other characters, and the reader has a great time hating him throughout the book. I also liked the character of Desolation Zoon, the mad preacher whose brazen heist is the cause of all the events of this book. Reynolds creates a particularly intriguing character in Zoon, showcasing him as a tired old preacher who, after a lifetime of piety and bloodshed, is starting to lose his faith and question his past actions. However, this old dog still has some holy fire in him, and readers are in for a great time seeing him lay into his enemies with sword and blistering verse in equal measure. Zoon has some particularly fantastic exchanges with Jerico in the second half of the novel, and I really enjoyed seeing this compelling figure come to life and be utilised throughout the book. Overall, I thought that each of the characters in this exceptional novel were pretty damn fantastic and I had an exceptional time watching them attempt to survive and betray everyone they encounter.

I chose to grab Sinner’s Bounty on audiobook, which ended up being an amazing way to experience this fantastic and compelling novel. The Sinner’s Bounty audiobook had a decent run time of just under 15 hours, which I managed to get through in about a week with a few extended listening sessions once I really got hooked on its outrageous tale. I had a lot of fun listening to this audiobook and I found that the cool action sequences and gloriously gory setting of the Underhive were particularly awesome in this format. A lot of this is down to the excellent narration of the talented Mark Elstob. Elstob, who has previously narrated a small but interesting collection of audiobooks, has a lot of fun with Sinner’s Bounty as he comes up with some unique voices for this fantastic science fiction adventure. All of the characters are gifted with a fitting and fun voice that really captures the depth of their personality, whether they be a scheming bounty hunter, a former aristocrat or a fantastical preacher, while also modulating to match their emotional state at that time. This makes several of the battle scenes particularly fun, especially when you have characters like Desolation Zoon shouting out religious verse during a fight. I also really appreciated the more nasal or gravelly voices the narrator came up for the various Abhuman or mutated beings featured within the book, and it was great to have some of the more different characters identified differently (I need to give a particular shoutout to one of characters, a mutant pirate captain, to whom Elstob gives a very enjoyable Scottish accent). Overall, this was an outstanding way to enjoy Sinner’s Bounty and I would strongly recommend it to anyone interested in this book.

Kal Jerico: Sinner’s Bounty is an outstanding Warhammer 40K novel that reintroduces the epic Kal Jerico back to his adoring public after a lengthy absence. The always impressive Joshua Reynolds has produced another outstanding Warhammer novel, containing an exciting and compelling adventure story, equipped with an incredible setting and some fantastic characters. This results in an addictive and entertaining novel that I had an absolutely awesome time getting through and which made me so very glad that Kal Jerico is back. Here’s hoping that we’ll get some more Kal Jerico novels in the future, especially if they feature more of Reynolds’s epic writing.

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