Tag: Warhammer 40K

Warhammer 40,000: Renegades: Harrowmaster by Mike Brooks

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, WarhammerLeave a comment

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 29 October 2022)

Series: Warhammer 40,000: Renegades – Book 1 

Length: 11 hours

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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One of the leading authors of Warhammer 40,000 fiction, the highly entertaining Mike Brooks, dives into the minds of humanity’s most complex traitors with the outstanding and particularly gripping novel, Renegades: Harrowmaster.

Mike Brooks is an author who I have really grown to appreciate in recent years thanks to his ability to pull together complex and highly addictive Warhammer 40,000 narratives from across the expansive franchise.  Brooks’s great contributions to Warhammer 40,000 fiction include some deep dives into several iconic characters, such as Huron Blackheart: Master of the Maelstrom, Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives and The Lion: Son of the Forest, as well as his absolutely hilarious ork focused novels with Warboss, Brutal Kunnin and Da Big Dakka, as well as his short story contributions to Da Red Gobbo Collection.  All these amazing novels were quite exceptional reads, and it has really made me appreciate Brooks’s ability to dive into the entire Warhammer universe and bring its various characters and factions to life.  As such, when in the mood for more Warhammer 40,000 fiction, it was a very easy choice to check out his 2023 release, Harrowmaster, which has been on my to-read list for a while.  The first book in the Renegades sub-series that focuses on traitor Space Marines, Harrowmaster proved to be an epic and noteworthy first entry in this series, especially as Brooks choice to focus on the deeply intriguing Alpha Legion.

In the far future of the 41st millennium, there are many renegades and traitors assaulting the faltering Imperium of Man, but few are as dangerous or as insidious as the notorious traitor Space Marines of the Alpha Legion.  Masters of deceit, espionage and achieving victory through alternate tactics, the Alpha Legion have long haunted humanity with their spies and schemes.  But despite all their careful planning, even the Alpha Legion are unprepared when a new dangerous enemy is thrown against them.

Attempting to exploit the chaos caused by the opening of the Great Rift, the Alpha Legion warband known as The Serpent’s Teeth are the first of their legion to encounter Primaris Marines, a new breed of Space Marines that have been enhanced into something far more dangerous than anything the renegades have encountered before.  Now forced to contend with even more deadly threats from the hated Imperium, the members of the Alpha Legion gather to decide whether to hide from this new enemy or adapt to face it.

Into this uncertainty enters Solomon Akurra, the new leader of the Serpent’s Teeth.  Determined to lead a decisive war against the Imperium, Solomon claims the title of Harrowmaster and works to bind the various Alpha Legion bands to his cause.  Through deceit, lies and superior tactics, Solomon soon leads his men to victory, but that is only the start of the war to come.  With shadowy forces from the Imperium hunting him, and his own allies waiting to see if he fails, can Solomon survive all his enemies, as well as the hidden blades at his neck, to achieve his goal?  Only the most adaptable can become Harrowmaster, and the galaxy is unprepared for the carnage to come.

Harrowmaster was an exceptional Warhammer 40,000 novel from Brooks, and it is one that I wish I had read a lot sooner.  Perfectly blending action and intrigue with a fascinating dive into one of the franchise’s most notorious factions, Harrowmaster was a deeply impressive read that I couldn’t turn away from.  A very easy five-star read, this is one of my new favourites from Brooks due to its complex story and great characters.

I loved the very fun and captivating narrative that Brooks came up with for Harrowmaster, especially as it featured a lot of awesome moving parts that really came together perfectly.  Starting off with an excellent introduction that showcases the Alpha Legion’s tactics of manipulation, the villainous protagonists soon encounter a deadly new threat that forces them onto the backfoot.  From there the story takes on a bit of a lore-heavy focus, with Solomon Akurra, gathering different Alpha Legion factions and manipulating them into a single host.  This interesting focus on the Alpha Legion in this part of the book is well balanced by the appearance of a fun Inquisitor character, Kayzen Hart, who serves as an alternate protagonist for the plot, providing some excellent additional intrigue.

Following some great action sequences, the plot evolves into a complex game of cat and mouse, with the various characters trying gain advantage and achieve their varied goals.  For Solomon Akurra, this involves moulding his forces together into an effective and cohesive force, while using his Legion’s talents for deception and infiltration to their advantage.  At the same time, Inquisitor Hart finds himself not only trying to capture Solomon but also locked in a deadly battle of wits against a rival inquisitor.  The central plotlines of Harrowmaster cleverly force these two characters into greater danger, with both Solomon and Hart losing everything and being forced into some truly desperate action to get what they want.  This leads up to a great big confrontation sequence towards the end of the novel, which wraps up a lot of ongoing storylines.  There are some great twists here, including one that was particularly clever, and it was so much fun seeing it unfold.  Everything comes together very nicely, with some fitting final scenes that really highlight the underlying betrayals and battles of intrigue that categorised this novel.  Brooks ended this novel on a fun note that hints of more chaotic adventures to come.

Harrowmaster proved to be another exceptional read from Brooks, who honestly has one of the most readable and entertaining writing styles of all the current Warhammer 40,000 writers.  Presenting an intricate action narrative that expertly blends interesting character stories with some compelling dives into Warhammer lore, Harrowmaster will appeal to a wide range of readers.  Brooks does an excellent job breaking the story down across several interesting characters, which allows the reader to see various parts of the overarching and multilayered narrative.  I personally loved the combination of Alpha Legion action and deception that went alongside the inquisitor focussed shenanigans of Kayzen Hart’s storyline, and the high level on intrigue and alternating moves from the participants was a lot of fun.  Throw in some over-the-top action sequences which have an excellent flow to them, and Harrowmaster had a lot to recommend it, especially as it was easy to get caught up in the story.

One of the things I liked most about Harrowmaster was the way in which Brooks ensured it was open to new readers unfamiliar with the franchise, while also providing interesting details for Warhammer 40,000 fans.  The author ensures there is plenty of context and information for new readers to get involved in this universe, enough so that Harrowmaster would be a good introductory novel for new readers.  At the same time, Brooks also features a nuanced and layered look at the always awesome Alpha Legion, which established Warhammer readers will appreciate.  I personally enjoyed how cleverly Brooks dove into the disparate nature of the Alpha Legion, including their various philosophies and different way of interacting with the Imperium.  The focus on how they fight war through infiltration, deceit and spies was particularly awesome, and it was fascinating to see how they adapt and react to new threats, such as encountering Primaris Space Marines for the first time.  At the same time, Brooks also has fun showcasing other unique parts of the Warhammer universe here, such as the internally warring Inquisitors, who always make for entertaining narratives.  As such, I would honestly recommend Harrowmaster to readers of various experiences with Warhammer fiction, with everyone guaranteed to have an amazing time with this clever read.

I must also take this time to highlight some of the excellent characters contained within Harrowmaster, with Brooks focusing his narrative on some interesting figures.  This naturally includes the main character, Solomon Akurra, a veteran Alpha Legion member who seeks the title of Harrowmaster.  A clever and ambitious figure, Solomon proves to be an entertaining character to follow, with his schemes and plans allowing for some excellent story moments.  Despite being a member of an apparently villainous faction (very hard to judge with the Alpha Legion), Solomon proves to be an extremely likeable character, and you get really invested in seeing him succeed, even if his plans are quite destructive.  I felt a lot of Solomon’s likeability came from the entertaining friendship he had with his human sorceress comrade Tulaava Dyne.  A particularly sassy and dangerous figure in her own right, Tulaava served as a good foil to the more serious Solomon, and their partnership was a fantastic centre for Harrowmaster’s plot, especially when considering the unlikely loyalty that sprung up between them.

The other awesome main character for Harrowmaster was Inquisitor Kayzen Hart, whose obsession with hunting down the Alpha Legion, especially Solomon, resulted in some of the more compelling storylines of the entire book.  A radical Inquisitor, Kayzen attempts to understand and use his own target’s methods against them more much of the book, which has mixed results as he engages in a system-wide battle of wits against Solomon.  However, Kayzen’s methods put him at odds with his fellow Inquisitor Nessa Karnis, an old comrade who is just as obsessed with defeating the Alpha Legion.  However, the conflict between Kayzen’s radical methods and Nessa’s puritanical philosophies sees them fighting each other, and I loved how their conflict matched the infighting amongst the Alpha Legion.  Throw in a fantastic array of other over-the-top Alpha Legion members, each with different specialities and beliefs that Solomon is forced to manipulate, as well as the steadfast loyalist Space Marines of the Silver Templars, whose attempts to outthink the Alpha Legion lead to some of the book’s more exciting moments, and I have a lot of love for the characters in Harrowmaster, especially as Brooks weaves some intense and impressive storylines around them.

Unsurprisingly, I decided to check out Harrowmaster on audiobook, which is my go-to format for all things Warhammer due to how much more awesome the over-the-top stories become when read out loud.  This was the case with Harrowmaster, as its elaborate narrative of intrigue and action really came to life when read out, allowing me to absolutely power through its 11-hour long runtime.  A lot of this is due to the outstanding voice work of narrator Theo Solomon, whose work I preciously enjoyed in Leviathan by Darius Hinks.  Solomon perfectly captured the various characters contained within Harrowmaster with his narration, especially the main character Solomon Akurra, with the fitting voice for this protagonist forming the basis for much of the audiobook.  The rest of the cast was also voiced extremely well by Solomon, and I loved the fun array of voices that went to the complex and often outrageous cast, with some excellent choices for the crazed Chaos Space Marines, as well as the feuding inquisitors.  I honestly had such a great time listening to the Harrowmaster audiobook, and it is easily the best way to enjoy this incredible read.

Mike Brooks continues to showcase why he is one of the best current authors of Warhammer 40,000 fiction with his fantastic Renegades novel, Harrowmaster.  An exceptional read that perfectly showcases the iconic Alpha Legion, while also telling its own outrageous story of deceit, intrigue and chaotic action, Harrowmaster was so damn good, especially on audiobook.  I honestly cannot recommend Harrowmaster enough, and I am actually reading the recently released sequel to it, Ghost Legion, at this very moment.

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WWW Wednesday – 8 April 2026

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WWW Wednesday is a weekly post hosted by Taking on a World of Words, where bloggers share the books that they’ve recently finished, what they are currently reading and what books they are planning to read next. Essentially you have to answer three questions (the Three Ws):

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

So, let’s get to it.

What are you currently reading:

The Exes by Leodora Darlington (Trade Paperback)

I started to read the awesome and compelling debut novel, The Exes by Leodora Darlington, this week. Following a complex character who finds herself involved in a series of problematic relationships that all end tragically for her untrustworthy partners, The Exes is a deadly and entertaining psychological thriller with some fun twists to it. I’ve made a bit of progress with The Exes this week and I’m hoping to finish it off soon.

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The Book of Fallen Leaves by A. S. Tamaki (Trade Paperback)

I also started the new fantasy novel, The Book of Fallen Leaves from author A. S. Tamaki this week.  An interesting release, The Book of Fallen Leaves is a Japanese inspired fantasy epic that I think has a ton of potential. I’ve only made a little progress on this novel so far, but I’m hoping to get a good chunk of it finished in the next week, especially as it has a very compelling story behind it.

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Warhammer 40,000: Chem Dog by Callum Davis (Audiobook)

I’m still in a major Warhammer 40,000 mood this week, so I decided to listen to one of the more intriguing recent releases from the franchise, Chem Dog. The debut novel of the talented Callum Davis, Chem Dog sees a dedicated commissar lead a group of soldiers from an infamously criminal regiment on a desperate suicide mission, where the greatest risk comes from the commissar’s own troops.  I’ve already made a decent start on Chem Dog, and I’m already quite addicted to its excellent and outrageous story.

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What did you recently finish reading?

Dark Desert Road by Tim Ayliffe (ebook)

I finished off the awesome Australian crime fiction novel, Dark Desert Road by Tim Ayliffe this week, which has been on my to-read list for a while.  An intriguing read, Dark Desert Road follows a Sydney police officer who journeys into the countryside, looking for her long-lost sister who has gotten herself caught up with a group of domestic terrorists.  A thrilling novel with some great contemporary focuses, this was an outstanding novel that comes highly recommended.

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Warhammer 40,000: Ghazghkull Thraka: Warlord of Warlords by Denny Flowers (Audiobook) 

I also finished off the highly entertaining Warhammer 40,000 novel, Ghazghkull Thraka: Warlord of Warlords by the always impressive Denny Flowers this week.  Another book from Flowers that focus on the volatile and brutal ork faction, Warlord of Warlords sees betrayal, intrigue and the usual ork carnage engulf the court of the infamous, Ghazghkull Thraka. One of the more amusing and enjoyable Warhammer novels of 2026, Warlords of Warlords was an exceptional read I’m really glad I got the chance to listen to.

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The Writers Retreat by Victoria Brownlee (ebook)

I had the time to check out the fun Australian novel, The Writers Retreat by Victoria Brownlee, which saw an aspiring author caught up in a dark conspiracy at a French writing retreat.  A clever and cosy read that is worth checking out.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

Dead Fall Lake by S. R. White

If I manage to get through the two books I’m currently reading in the next week, I’m hoping to dive into the new Australian murder mystery from S. R. White, Dead Fall Lake.  Another curious and clever sounding release from one of Australia’s more distinctive, rising crime fiction authors, Dead Fall Lake has a ton of potential, and I cannot wait to check it out.

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That’s it for this week; check back in next Wednesday to see what progress I’ve made on my reading and what books I’ll be looking at next.

Warhammer 40,000: The Greater Good by Sandy Mitchell

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Throwback Thursday, Tie-in Novel, WarhammerLeave a comment

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 1 January 2013)

Series: Ciaphas Cain – Book Nine

Length: 9 hours and 50 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Continue to follow the legendary and complex Commissar Ciaphas Cain into death and danger, with another amazing book in Sandy Mitchell’s awesome Warhammer 40,000 series, The Greater Good.

After recently reviewing the eighth book in Sandy Mitchell’s iconic Ciaphas Cain series, The Last Ditch, I just had to continue following the fun adventures of the Imperium’s most charismatic yet cowardly commissar, Ciaphas Cain.  As such, the moment I finished The Last Ditch, I immediately read the ninth book in the series, The Greater Good, which had a very interesting scenario behind it that builds on several previous storylines from the series.

Commissar Ciaphas Cain, legendary hero of the Imperium of Man and self-declared fraud, is once again thrust into mortal danger when he is assigned to bolster the defences of the human planet of Quadravidia, against the high-tech attacks of the Tau.  Amid the expected brutal fighting against the advanced aliens, Cain is surprised when the Tau not only recognise him amongst the fighting but also single him out to request an unexpected ceasefire right on the cusp of a Tau victory.

Expecting the worst from this unlikely turn of events, Cain is unsurprised when the Tau reveal that an even greater threat is moving towards the sector, a hive fleet of Tyranids.  With neither side capable of fighting both each other and the ravenous Tyranids, the Imperium and the Tau agree to an uneasy truce, with both sides agreeing to coordinate their offensive against the incoming hive fleet.

Accompanied by a Tau ambassador, Cain, his trusty aid Jurgen, and the Imperial fleet journey to the vital Forge World of Fecundia, a potential target for the incoming Tyranids.  Using Fecundia as a base of operations, the Imperium are hopeful the Tyrands will focus their attack on the Tau controlled planets.  However, the chances of Cain remaining out of the fight are always slim, and the commissar soon discovers the existence of a secret facility hidden on the planet, one guaranteed to draw the Tyranids to Fecundia.

Caught between an invading fleet of ravening aliens, and the troubled politics of Fecundia, Cain must rally the defenders for another deadly battle.  However, the secrets lurking within the hidden facility look set to doom them all, and Cain must discover just how far the rot goes in Fecundia, before the entire world is devoured.

The Greater Good was another excellent and highly entertaining Warhammer 40,000 novel from Sandy Mitchell that combines excellent and action-packed storytelling, with a fantastic and humorous protagonist.  Featuring an outstanding story, The Greater Good was a ton of fun from start to finish, and it served as an amazing continuation of one of the best Warhammer 40,000 series out there.

I quite enjoyed the plot of The Greater Good, although it did go in some different directions to what I was expecting.  From the cover and the official plot synopsis, I assumed this novel was going to feature humans and Tau fighting side by side on the initial planet the book is set, after temporarily setting aside their differences.  Instead, the plot is primarily set on a secondary planet of Fecundia, with the only Tau being a controversial ambassador providing some interesting alternative insights.  While this was still a fun and exciting narrative, it did run the risk of being a bit too similar to some of the previous Ciaphas Cain novels that focused on Tyranid invasions.

I felt that Mitchell compensated well for this change in direction, by drawing together an interesting read about infiltration, isolated battles and the Imperium’s research in the Tyranids as they attempt to find ways to defeat them.  Revisiting key story elements from the previous two Ciaphas Cain novels, the protagonist soon finds himself trapped amid a series of controversial and dangerous experiments that begin to attract the Tyranid hive fleet.  After a series of exciting set pieces, including a great extended sequence with the protagonist trapped in an alien filled desert, you reach the final third of the book which primarily takes place in the secret research centre.  Unsurprisingly, things go wrong, and Cain and Jurgen are forced into a seemingly hopeless situation as they fight enemies on all sides.  There were some good twists here, especially around potential betrayals, and while the culprit is easy to predict, there is an excellent amount of uncertainty and red herrings to keep you guessing.  The entire story comes together in an awesome way, filled with Mitchell’s usual excellent fight sequences and humour, and this proved to be a compelling and satisfying addition to the larger series.

Long-term fans of this Warhammer 40,000 series will know that Mitchell has a set format for the Ciaphas Cain books that blends clever character-driven humour with the usual grim action and lore of the universe.  This was also the case for The Greater Good, which features the usual chronicle style told from the protagonist’s perspective, bolstered by funny external commentary from a fictional editor, who also adds in some entertaining in-universe texts for some additional context.  While this style and certain narrative elements are very familiar, especially if you read a few of these books in a row, The Greater Good was still an awesome novel, and Mitchell did make it stand out by adding in some intrigue with Tyranid infiltrators, as well as some curious looks at diplomacy between the Imperium and the Tau.  I quite enjoyed seeing the conflicts that emerged between the various factions of this impromptu alliance, especially as Cain and the Imperial Guard had more issues with their Adeptus Mechanicus and Space Marine allies than the Tau.  Add to that Mitchell’s usually impressive humour and wonderful action set pieces, and The Greater Good was an overall outstanding novel that I quickly powered through.

While most of the Ciaphas Cain books work well as standalone reads that are very accessible to new readers, The Greater Good stood out as it had more of a connection to the previous entries in the series.  There were a lot of heavy references to the events of For the Emperor, The Emperor’s Finest and The Last Ditch, with key plot elements and some returning characters coming into the play during The Greater Good’s narrative.  As someone who enjoyed all the previous books, it was nice to see the consequences and aftermath of these prior adventures be utilised in this entry’s plot, and I think that long-term fans will really appreciate it.  These references also helped to dispel some of the usual issues this series has with reusing descriptions and thoughts from the previous books.  While much of the plot is geared towards established fans, new readers can still easily follow The Greater Good’s plot without too much issue, as Mitchell does an excellent job of recapping these previous adventures.  As such, The Greater Good proves to be an amazing overall entry in the Ciaphas Cain series, especially as it remains accessible and enjoyable to readers of varying experiences.

As always, I must give a shoutout to the outstanding cast of this novel, especially as there is an interesting array of unique characters contained within.  This includes a great mix of familiar and new characters, with much of the action focused on the titular Commissar Ciaphas Cain, who remains the usual complex rogue we’re so familiar with.  It is always fun to see Cain struggle with his imposter syndrome and supposed cowardice, and Mitchell ensures that the protagonist is the main source of the book’s humour thanks to his self-centred narration and hilarious insights into the usual grimdark universe.  Cain’s aide Jurgen remains an excellent source of additional entertainment, while Inquisitor Amberly Vail is once again perfect as the overarching editor of the story, providing her sarcastic insights and corrections to Cain’s actions and conclusions.  Throw in a captivating combination of new or minor characters, including a frustrated general, a calculating Tau ambassador, some returning Space Marines and a cunning Tech Priest with her own agenda, and the cast of The Greater Good is exceptional and drives the story into some fascinating places.

After hyping up the audiobook versions of all the previous Ciaphas Cain entries, I doubt anyone will be too surprised that I decided to check out The Greater Good on this format.  All Warhammer 40,000 novels are damn awesome on audiobook, and The Greater Good is a particularly epic example of this.  Coming in with a runtime just short of 10 hours, The Greater Good audiobook is an amazing listen that is easy to get addicted to, especially as the excellent use of several outstanding narrators really helps to enhance and highlight Mitchell’s unique writing style.

The Greater Good audiobook features an impressive six separate narrators, all of whom will be quite well known by Warhammer audiobook enthusiasts.  As with the rest of the series, most of the work is done by returning narrators Stephen Perring and Penelope Rawlins, both of whom have a key role in this production.  Perring serves as the entertaining and flippant voice of Cain as he recounts this adventure in his own words, while Rawlins is the voice of Inquisitor Vail as she provides her editorial notes throughout the plot and introduces other intermissions.  These two have long proven themselves to be perfect main narrators for the Ciaphas Cain books, and they fulfilled their roles in The Greater Good extremely well, full grasping the complexity of their respective characters.  The other four narrators for this audiobook, Matthew Hunt, Andrew James Spooner, John Banks and Tara Rawson, have minor but entertaining roles in this audiobook, providing voices for the various in-universe history texts and other books/messages that appear at various parts of the book, which allows for some additional comedy.  This mixed narration comes together extremely well throughout the entirety of The Greater Good, resulting in a particularly epic listen.  As such, I would once again recommend that potential readers of this Ciaphas Cain novel check out the audiobook version, as there is frankly no better way to enjoy The Greater Good.

With yet another clever, exciting and hilarious take on the epic Warhammer 40,000 universe, the ninth Ciaphas Cain novel, The Greater Good, was an outstanding addition to the series that I had a wonderful time listening to.  Utilising his tried and tested writing style, Sandy Mitchell produces another compelling and entertaining read that proves to be highly addictive and a lot of fun to get through.  I really enjoyed this excellent entry in the Ciaphas Cain series, and I am hoping to finish off this series by the end of the year.

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Warhammer 40,000: The Last Ditch by Sandy Mitchell

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Throwback Thursday, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer1 Comment

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 1 February 2012)

Series: Ciaphas Cain – Book Eight

Length: 9 hours and 29 minutes

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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The mighty hero of the Imperium returns for another rip-roaring and highly entertaining Warhammer 40,000 adventure, with The Last Ditch by Sandy Mitchell, a wonderful Ciaphas Cain novel that proves exceptionally hard to put down.

I have been in a real Warhammer 40,000 mood lately, so I decided to continue my exploration of the franchise by diving back into one of its best and most hilarious series with another Ciaphas Cain novel by Sandy Mitchell.  The Ciaphas Cain series are particularly awesome Warhammer 40,000 novels that follow the adventures of the legendary human hero Commissar Ciaphas Cain as he faces down the many horrors the grimdark Warhammer universe has to offer.  However, what sets the series apart from other series in the franchise is the fantastic tongue-in-cheek way in which the supposed hero of the series sees himself as a substantial coward concerned more with his own survival, and whose heroic exploits are down more to luck and chance.  This results in a fantastic collection of books, each one of which throws the protagonist into danger despite his best efforts, often resulting in a series of hilarious and over-the-top adventures.  I have had an outstanding team reading the previous entries in the series, including For the Emperor, Caves of Ice, The Traitor’s Hand, Death or Glory, Duty Calls, Cain’s Last Stand and The Emperor’s Finest, and I have been eager to read the eighth novel in the series, The Last Ditch for some time.

Commissar Ciaphas Cain, famed hero of the Imperium of Man, is at the height of his legendary career, fighting back the many enemies of humanity despite his best attempts to stay out of battle.  However, despite his reputation usually landing him in the most challenging of conflicts, Cain’s next mission seems to be relatively straightforward.  Once again accompanied by the Valhallan 597th regiment of Imperial Guard, Cain is tasked with eradicating a simple ork infestation on the frozen planet of Nusquam Fundumentibus.  However, not even Cain’s most pessimistic musings of the future can prepare him for the horrors to come.

Travelling aboard a disreputable freighter, Cain and his soldiers are forced to make a deadly crashlanding on Nusquam Fundumentibus, right into the middle of an ork horde.  Engaged in a desperate fight for their lives against the greenskins, the Imperial Guard are blind to other threats hiding on the planet, threats that are far more insidious than a group of rampaging orks.

As the conflict continues and several isolated communities on the planet start to go dark, Cain soon becomes aware that something apart from the orks are stalking the citizens of Nusquam Fundumentibus.  Something ancient and malevolent lies hidden beneath the ice of the planet, and the new war has finally woken them up.  Outnumbered and outmatched, the Imperial Guard need to pull a desperate and no doubt suicidal plan to survive.  Luckily, they have a bonified hero to lead the charge, even if he’d rather be anywhere else in the galaxy.

The always outstanding Ciaphas Cain series continues in impressive form, as Sandy Mitchell adds further depth to some of the more entertaining and gripping novels in the Warhammer 40,000 franchise.  Combining intense action with the protagonist’s unique insights into the grimdark Warhammer universe, The Last Ditch was a brilliant addition to the series that I couldn’t get enough of.

Mitchell once again came up with an outstanding narrative for The Last Ditch that grabs your attention early on and keeps you hooked to the very end.  I must admit that I was a little apprehensive about reading The Last Ditch, as it looked like Mitchell was going to rehash the similar ice-world story found in Caves of Ice.  However, this book has a very different narrative, while still maintaining all the familiar story elements that make this series to dependable to read.  Starting off on a different footing with a fun transport arc that ends in deadly tears, The Last Ditch has an explosive first third (literally), which provided a lot of initial drama and risk.

The Last Ditch’s story quickly dives into even more awesome action, as the protagonist is reluctantly forced into action against the orks, while other dangerous threats lurk beneath the surface.  I liked how Mitchell did a good job building up tension in advance of the reveal about the true antagonists of the novel, with the reader knowing that something worse was coming thanks to Cain’s prescient narration from the future, and the author used this time to expand on his new setting.  The eventual sequence revealing this enemy had a great horror vibe to it as Cain explored tight quarters underground, and it led naturally into an extended campaign.  The rest of the book is a good mixture of connected action scenes, as Cain and the other characters slowly work out just how desperate the situation is and attempt to take steps to address it.  This works well as an overarching narrative, and you really appreciate the scope of the situation and the protagonist’s continued accidental heroics as he tries to run away.

All this perfectly leads up to a final big sequence, where the desperate protagonists are forced into a particularly brutal fight with little hope of survival.  Unsurprisingly, this requires Cain to engage in another suicide mission, which leads to some of the best action scenes in the entire book.  This entire last section of The Last Ditch is a particularly awesome thrill ride which I powered through so very quickly to see how everything came to an end.  Readers come away very satisfied from The Last Ditch, which honestly was one of the stronger books in this cool series, and I really enjoyed how Mitchell continues to entertain with his amazing and entertaining Warhammer 40,000 premise.

Mitchell maintains pretty much the same writing style for The Last Ditch he has previously utilised in the other Ciaphas Cain books, which allows for a very impressive light read.  It is told primarily in a chronicle/journal format written by an older Cain, which recounts the events of this adventure through the narrow focus of the protagonist’s unreliable memory.  This allows for a fun and self-centred take on events that examines Cain’s reluctant action while also loading up the story with some entertaining humour that provides a great satirical look at the usually grimdark Warhammer 40,000 universe.  This main narrative of action, adventure and supposedly cowardly behaviour is cleverly interspersed with a range of entertaining footnotes, commentary and in-universe texts that have been provided by the account’s patient, if sarcastic, editor, Inquisitor Amberly Vail.  This combination of narrative elements not only cleverly provides readers with and informative and light-hearted look at events taking place outside of Cain’s selfish storytelling, but it also pumps up both the humour and the stakes of the plot, especially as you become aware of the planet-wide impacts of the central adventure.

As with all the books in the series, The Last Ditch does work well as a standalone novel that readers can enjoy without any previous knowledge of the other Ciaphas Cain books, or indeed the wider Warhammer 40,000 universe.  While this novel is set in the middle of Cain’s personal chronology and makes mentions of several previous adventures, readers should have no trouble following along, with the point of these references made clear quickly through the writing and context.  Established fans of the series will also have a lot of fun with this book, especially as Mitchell continues Cain’s adventures with the Valhallan 597th, and there are a lot of entertaining familiar beats with this newer entry.  Like many of the previous books, The Last Ditch does have some repetition issues, with Mitchell reusing a lot of basic story ideas and phrases in Cain and Vail’s descriptions that returning readers will notice.  However, I felt that this entry was distinctive enough, especially with a more horror vibe to it, that any readers can come in and easily enjoy it.  This allows The Last Ditch to remain an awesome addition to the overall series, and it’s one I personally had an outstanding time getting through.

I also must once again highlight some of the great character work in this novel, especially when it comes to the main character of Commissar Ciaphas Cain.  A complex figure and self-professed coward, Cain spends most of the book trying to come up with ways to avoid combat and survive the inevitable danger his reputation and own bad lack force him to participate in.  With a very cynical and self-deprecating writing style, Mitchell always tries to emulate classic, comedic and craven military figures like Flashman or Blackadder with his depictions of Cain.  However, despite the protagonist’s best efforts to showcase himself as a dishonourable coward, his resultant heroic actions and Inquisitor Vail’s notes help to show the reader that his is somewhat lying to both us and himself, as he continues to be an inspirational figure.  This allows for quite a complex and relatively light-hearted read, as you are constantly wondering just how honest the protagonist is being with his observations and descriptions of his actions.  This all blends well with Cain’s witty and sarcastic humour, which lightly lampoons the usually serious Warhammer 40,000 universe and ensures that you are constantly entertained as you follow Commissar Cain into danger once again.

The rest of the cast of this novel are also a ton of fun, especially as many fan favourite characters from the previous novels are well utilised here.  This includes Cain’s faithful aide, Jurgen, who continues to toe the line between gormless soldier and ultra-effective sidekick, and is a very entertaining inclusion in any of these books.  Inquisitor Amberly Vail once again has a big impact, despite her actual appearance in the novel being quite negligible, and her no-nonsense overarching commentary allows for quite an amusing read.  The returning members of the Valhallan 597th regiment were a welcome inclusion, and it is always cool to see the close relationship that Cain has with these soldiers after so many adventures.  Throw in a young gung-ho commissar that Cain is forced to school, and a planetary governor trying to stay in control of her planet amongst the chaos of war, and the cast of The Last Ditch was pretty exceptional and continues Mitchell’s habit of showcasing entertaining and complex supporting characters.

I have long extolled the impressive virtues of the audiobook format when it comes to Warhammer 40,000 fiction, as it is just so much fun having the over-the-top stories read out loud.  Some of the very best Warhammer books in this format are the Ciaphas Cain audiobooks, due to their elaborate casts and the fantastic way their narrators capture the unique style of the series.  This is particularly true for The Last Ditch, which was another absolute joy to listen to, as its amazing narrators perfectly captured both the humour and complex action.  Coming in with a decent run time of nine and a half hours, listeners can absolutely fly through The Last Ditch audiobook, which once again features all the awesome elements that the rest of the series had.  This includes the use of several different narrators, with the incredible vocal talents of Stephen Perring, Penelope Rawlins, Emma Gregory, Toby Longworth and Andrew James Spooner, all adding a lot to the impact of this fun and fantastic story.

Perring is particularly awesome as he voices the main plot of The Last Ditch from the perspective of Cain.  Voicing the protagonist’s conflicted memories of the events, Perring perfectly captures the complex personality of the main character, while also providing a fun take on the action and adventure occurring around the protagonist.  Perring has a great range of different voices for this part of the book, with each of the characters getting a very fitting tone that showcases their separate personalities, including many recurring voices the narrator used in previous audiobooks in the series.  Perring is once again supported by Penelope Rawlins, who voices the character of Inquisitor Amberley Vail as she edits Cain’s memoirs.  Rawlins really dives into the sarcastic character of Inquisitor Vail in these supporting parts of the book, providing a calm, indulgently humorous voice that fits the fun feel of the series.  Rawlins’s interruptions and inclusions as Vail complement Perring’s narration extremely well, adding some great  humour to the plot without ruining the flow of the main story.  These two narrators work together extremely well to bring out much of the book’s humour, and I love how they both have kept coming back to this series to ensure some excellent continuity.

While Perring and Rawlins do the main narration, the additional narrators each have a fun supporting role in proceedings.  Emma Gregory probably gets the most use of the three as she once again voices the memoirs of an ambitious officer in Cain’s regiment, retelling events in a particularly bombastic way.  Gregory deliberately over-acts her part of the audiobook to show off the brash personality of the memoir’s author, and you have to love the pomp and self-importance that Gregory adds to her voice work in these scenes.  The other two, Longworth and Spooner, both of whom are well-established narrators of Warhammer fiction in their own right, have a lot of fun with more minor supporting roles in The Last Ditch, and their cool, if short, inclusions added some fun variety to the experience.  The overall result was another excellent listen that really enhances the fun and impact of the story and the larger franchise.  I honestly think that the Ciaphas Cain series has some of the best audiobooks, and The Last Ditch perfectly showcased how well these books come across in this fun format.

With all the fun action, humour and great focus on a fantastically flawed protagonist fans have come to know and love, Sandy Mitchell continues his exceptional Ciaphas Cain Warhammer 40,000 series with The Last Ditch.  A wonderful and deeply entertaining read, The Last Ditch was a joy to read from start to finish and I had such a brilliant time with it.  Indeed, I enjoyed The Last Ditch so much that I immediately dove into the next book in the series, The Greater Good, the second I finished it.

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Warhammer 40,000: Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok by Denny Flowers

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer1 Comment

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 1 July 2025)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 6 hours and 55 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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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.

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Top Ten Tuesday – My Favourite Pre-2025 Novels

On By The Unseen LibraryIn List6 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. This week participants of Top Ten Tuesday get a freebie to list whatever topics they want.  So, I am going to take this opportunity to start my annual end-of-year lists here by looking at my favourite pre-2025 novels that I read this year.

Each December I have a lot of fun looking at some of the best and most impressive books and comics that I have read throughout the year in a series of Top Ten Lists.  While these lists will mostly focus on books that came out in 2025, for the last few years I have also taken the time to list out some of the best older novels that I have read in the last 12 months.  There are some excellent novels that were released pre-2025 out there that I haven’t had the chance to read before and it is always fun to go back and explore them.  I ended up reading a bunch of awesome older books throughout 2025, including some incredible novels that got easy five-star ratings from me and are really worth checking out.

To come up with this list I had a look at all the novels I read this year that had their initial release before 2025.  While I struggled due to an overabundance of choice, I eventually managed to pull together a fantastic list that covered some of the best books I read this year released before 2025. I did have to put one restriction on my choices for this year’s list, primarily because I read quite a few novels from authors, Matt Dinniman and Terry Pratchett, and I could have filled this top ten list with books from these two alone.  As such, I limited myself to three books from each author, which ensured a bit more diversity in this list.  With this rule in place, I feel that this list still reflects the best pre-2025 novels I read throughout the year, so let us see what made the cut.

Honourable Mentions:

Warhammer 40,000: Crossfire by Matthew Farrer – 2003

An intense classic novel from the Warhammer 40,000 franchise with a great crime fiction twist.

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The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso – 2024

An intricate fantasy novel that makes excellent use of a clever, time-loop scenario

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Death on the Tiber by Lindsey Davis – 2024

Flavia Albia returns for another ancient Rome mystery, this time hunting down an organised crime boss that she has a dark history with.

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Top Ten List:

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett – 1992

I had a lot of fun re-reading several Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett in 2025, including the impressive and thought-provoking Small Gods.  One of Pratchett’s absolute best Discworld books, Small Gods provides a clever and hilarious look at religion and how it impacts the human condition, all while following two of the author’s most relatable protagonists.  There is so much to love about Small Gods, and it was a pleasure to read it once again, especially with the new audiobook format that featured narration from Andy Serkis.

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Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett – 1993

Another outstanding Discworld book I enjoyed in 2025 was the second entry in the City Watch sub-series, Men at Arms.  The sequel to Pratchett’s earlier release, Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms sees the unlikely heroes of the Ankh-Morpork city watch attempt to stop a deranged killer wielding the Disc’s first firearm.  A very impressive crime fiction novel that makes full use of the iconic city of Ankh-Morpork as a gritty background setting, Men at Arms was another early classic from Pratchett, that I will never get tired of re-reading.

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Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett – 1996

The final book from Pratchett that I want to highlight on this list is the third City Watch book, Feet of Clay.  Following the returning protagonists from Men at Arms as they attempt to solve a series of brutal murders connected to Ankh-Morpork’s golem population, as well as stop the poisoning of the patrician.  Probably the best crime fiction novel that Pratchett ever wrote, Feet of Clay is an exceptional book that still brings me joy whenever I read it.

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Warhammer 40,000: Titanicus by Dan Abnett – 2008

It wouldn’t be a reading year for me without some older Warhammer 40,000 novels thrown into the mix.  One of my favourites of these was the epic novel Titanicus by the legendary Dan Abnett.  A spin-off of his Gaunt’s Ghosts series, Titanicus follows a sprawling war between the gigantic Titan war machines, as they rain destruction and death across an entire planet.  Massive in scope and featuring some outstanding battle sequences, Titanicus was an outstanding read and one I had such an incredible time getting through.

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Warhammer 40,000: The Emperor’s Finest by Sandy Mitchell – 2010

I also continued my dive into another awesome older Warhammer 40,000 series this year with The Emperor’s Finest by Sandy Mitchell.  A particularly hilarious entry in the entertaining Ciaphas Cain series, The Emperor’s Finest once again follows the galaxy’s smartest, if most cowardly, commissar, as he attempts to avoid deadly danger in space, only to inadvertently end up facing even worse monsters or deadly situations.  I laughed myself silly throughout The Emperor’s Finest and it was a great entry in one of my favourite Warhammer 40,000 series.

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Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman – 2020

Those who are familiar with this blog will already know that 2025 started my obsession with the incredible Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman, as I dove into several of these novels which were all released before 2025.  I ended up powering through the entire series on audiobook in a couple of weeks, it was that damn good, and I just had to include a few entries from this series on this list as a result.  This includes the very first book in the series, Dungeon Crawler Carl, which serves as a powerful introduction to the elaborate narrative and setting.  I love how well Dungeon Crawler Carl sets the entire adventure up, and you get a perfect taste of the author’s unique humour and crazy imagination with this incredible read.  Highly recommended, although be warned, once you start reading this book, you won’t be able to stop.

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Mickey7 by Edward Ashton – 2022

The highly entertaining and inventive science fiction novel, Mickey7, proved to be excellent entertainment for a road trip earlier this year.  A fantastic novel that I’ve been meaning to read for a while, Mickey7 featured a great story about an expendable member of a distant space colony, who gets in trouble when an extra clone of him is created.  I really enjoyed this awesome novel and it really worth going back and checking out.

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The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt Dinniman – 2022

After already featuring the first Dungeon Crawler Carl novel on this list, I was spoiled for choice about which other entries from the series to feature here, especially as I read them all this year.  however, in the end the choice was rather easy for me as I had to feature one of the very best books from Dinniman with the fifth book in the series, The Butcher’s Masquerade.  Featuring an elaborate plot that sees the increasingly damaged protagonists transported to a new level filled with alien hunters who plan to butcher them for sport, The Butcher’s Masquerade was another exceptional entry in the series.  Between its epic story, amazing humour, crazy moments, and impressive emotional depth, The Butcher’s Masquerade was a true standout amongst an already incredible series, and I just had to feature it here.

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The Eye of the Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman – 2023

The third Dungeon Crawler Carl novel I decided to feature on this list was the sixth book, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride, which I honestly think was one of the most impressive entries in the series.  Perfectly building on the plot from the previous novels, Dinniman turned what could have been a fun bridging novel into an emotionally charged and traumatic read that really dived into several of the series’ outstanding characters.  Funny, exhilarating and absolutely heartbreaking, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride features some of Dinniman’s best writing, and I honestly could not get enough of the elaborate scenarios and shocking moments in this book.  The crown jewel of one of the best ongoing series you need to read.

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The Ascent by Adam Plantinga – 2024

The final book I want to highlight on this list is the very exciting 2024 thriller The Ascent by Adam Plantinga.  A compelling read that saw a damaged former cop attempt to climb up through a chaotic and deadly rioting prison, The Ascent was a very impressive novel, and one I flew through extremely quickly.  I really enjoyed this great book, and I’m hoping to read the sequel, Hard Town, sometime soon.

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And that is the end of this list.  As you can see, I have managed to read a huge number of epic pre-2025 releases this year.  Each of the above were exceptional and fun reads and I would strongly recommend all of them, especially if you are in the mood for some fun fantasy or science fiction adventures.  I look forward to reading many more older books in 2026, and it will be interesting to see what makes my next version of this list then. Make sure to check back in next week for some other end-of-year lists as I continue to highlight some of my favourite reads from 2025.

Warhammer 40,000: Crossfire by Matthew Farrer

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Thriller, Throwback Thursday, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer2 Comments

Publisher: Black Library (Paperback – 1 January 2003)

Series: Warhammer 40,000: Shira Calpurnia – Book One

Length: 320 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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I finally got around to reading the awesome Warhammer 40,000 novel, Crossfire.  A classic entry in the Warhammer 40,000 canon with a cool crime fiction twist, Crossfire was a great novel that serves as an excellent first entry in Farrer’s Shira Calpurnia trilogy.

In the grim future of the 41st millennium, order and control of the massive Imperium of Man is maintained through the strictest interpretation of Imperial law, with no room for variation or leniency.  The ultimate arbitrators of this law are the dedicated members of the Adeptus Arbites, elite law bringers, trained to weed out corruption, dissent and disloyalty wherever they are deployed.

Shira Calpurnia Lucina, recently promoted arbitor senioris of the Adeptus Arbites, has been assigned to the bustling dockyards of the Hydraphur system.  A glistening gem of Imperial rule dedicated to providing material to the navy, Hydraphur is a seemingly unlikely place for dissention.  But this elite planet harbours dark secrets which come to the surface after a deadly assassination attempt is made in public against Calpurnia amid the distraction and celebration of a major religious festival.

Attempting to uncover who would want her killed after only just arriving on world, Calpurnia begins her relentless investigation.  However, this is no simple case, and soon Calpurnia finds herself forced to navigate the many plots and schemes of the Hydraphur elite.  With more attacks striking close to her and the fate of the whole planet seemingly in the balance, Calpurnia must uncover all Hydraphur’s secrets before the assassins stalking her finally succeed.

Crossfire was an excellent and compelling Warhammer 40,000 novel from Farrer that proved very fun to get through.  Featuring a fantastic plot that is one of the earlier examples of a crime fiction narrative melding with the iconic Warhammer 40,000 universe, Crossfire was a great read and one that is worth checking out.

I liked the captivating story that Farrer came up with for Crossfire, which quickly gets the reader’s attention with a powerful introduction to the protagonist, as she quickly finds herself under fire from a lethal assassin.  Serving as a good start to the main investigation arc, the plot follows the protagonist as she attempts to uncover the identity of the assassin, while also learning more about the planet of Hydraphur.  While a very lore-heavy story, Farrer keeps the plot going quickly and effectively, especially as there are soon more apparent attacks against the protagonist, each of which give her more clues to follow to try and find the mastermind of the plot against her.  At the same time the protagonist gets bogged down in dealing with various other interested parties on Hydraphur, including the planet’s local elites, agents of the Imperial church, the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Inquisition, each of whom have their own interests in finding out who is trying to kill Calpurnia.

While Farrer keeps up a good pace for Crossfire as the plot continues, I do think that he might have overloaded the narrative with details about Hydraphur’s society, as well as the various plots that infest it.  While these serve as good red herring motives for the protagonist to follow, it did overcomplicate the plot at times, which slowed things down even amid some great action sequences.  Despite this, the overall narrative for Crossfire was quite strong, and you get hooked into the continued investigation, especially as the author kept raising the stakes of the case.  After some exciting scenes, everything leads up to the big final confrontation, as the protagonist fully unwinds all the conflicting conspiracies they’ve been forced to encounter.  The conclusion was a sufficiently intense and over-the-top fight, which you need in Warhammer 40,000 fiction, and I liked the clever way the protagonist was able to turn the tables on the antagonist, even if the set-up for it was a little heavy handed.  An overall excellent Warhammer 40,000 plot that nicely tells its own story, while also introducing the character for the larger trilogy.

I’ve previously had a lot of fun with previous Warhammer 40,000 novels that utilise strong crime fiction elements in their story telling, such as Bloodlines by Chris Wraight and Grim Repast by Marc Collins, as there are some outstanding crime narratives in this grimdark universe. Crossfire is an interesting early example of this utilisation of crime fiction in Warhammer 40,000 fiction, and I felt that Farrer did a pretty good job of building a compelling investigation around this fantastic setting.  The resulting story is a layered and intense read that sees the protagonist slowly unwind the case amid various battle sequences and other dark distractions.  The relevant clues, hints and misleading details are well scattered throughout the plot, and I felt there was a good amount of foreshadowing to some of the key plot reveals.  While some story elements and conspiracies came a little out of nowhere, for the most part this was a concise and ordered novel, well told through the perspective of the protagonist.  Farrer excelled at fitting a ton of interesting and heavy lore elements in the plot, and I particularly appreciated how well he utilised his setting throughout the story.  The various plots and schemes of planet’s noble families and prominent organisations, as well as the elaborate religious festival the novel is set around (ceremonial details of which are cleverly included at the start of each chapter), are expertly worked into the larger plot, and it was fascinating to see how they impacted the story and drove the investigation.

One of the more entertaining elements of Crossfire I enjoyed was the narrative’s compelling characters.  The focus is primarily around series protagonist Shira Calpurnia Lucina, the arbitor senioris through whose eyes we see the story unfold.  Calpurnia serves as an interesting central figure, especially as she provides an outsider perspective to the complex setting.  While Farrer writes Calpurnia as a somewhat bullish and highly determined figure that is initially hard to appreciate, I felt that this was an intentional choice by the author, which reflects the typical attitudes of the Arbites in the general Warhammer 40,000 setting.  Forcing her to deal with the more subtle techniques needed for the politically delicate Hydraphur brought in some interesting conflict for Calpurnia, as well as producing some interesting character growth.  Despite this, the outsider status of Calpurnia continues to be a compelling plot feature throughout Crossfire, which Farrer utilised extremely well with his writing.  The rest of the cast, while less prominent, adds some complexity to the plot, and I enjoyed the compelling array of fellow Arbites members, the gentry of Hydraphur, and other prominent figures in the planet’s hierarchy.  I particularly enjoyed the motivations of the book’s eventual antagonist, which had a great hint of madness behind it, and this was an overall excellent group of characters.

While I really enjoyed Crossfire’s compelling story, I must admit that this wasn’t the easiest Warhammer 40,000 novel to read.  The plot details of Crossfire are very dense, and it takes a lot of effort to absorb and follow the story.  I felt this was especially noticeable in the small-print paperback version I had, and you really had to focus to take everything in.  As a result, this one probably wouldn’t be a recommended starting point for a new Warhammer reader.  Farrer utilises a lot of intricate details about the Warhammer 40,000 universe that even people casually familiar with the franchise are going to struggle to follow at times.  While most new readers can probably follow along well enough through context, I would suggest it’s best enjoyed by veteran fans who will probably have a lot more fun with it.

Overall, Crossfire by Matthew Farrer was an awesome Warhammer 40,000 novel, and one that I was glad I finally got the opportunity to read.  A compelling crime fiction novel that makes great use of Farrer’s complex setting, Crossfire proved to be an exciting and interesting read.  While not the easiest novel to get through at times, Crossfire proved to be an excellent piece of Warhammer fiction and I’m hoping to get through the rest of the Shira Calpurnia trilogy soon.

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Warhammer 40,000: Final Deployment by R. S. Wilt

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer1 Comment

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 30 August 2025)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 11 hours and 23 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Prepare for battle as R. S. Wilt presents his debut novel, Final Deployment, a captivating read that perfectly highlights bloody war in the grimdark future of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

There are few franchises that bring me as much joy as the Warhammer 40,000 series, which follows the numerous factions of the infamously grimdark 41st millennium.  The sheer amount of imaginative stories and tales that are featured in this universe, as well as the talented authors who contribute to it, is quite impressive, and includes some major established writers.  I particularly like how the Warhammer 40,000 publishers also give some interesting opportunities to new authors looking to break into the fantasy or science fiction space.  Many aspiring authors have had their very first novel published in the Warhammer canon recently, and I deeply enjoy reading debuts from these new writers.  Examples of this include Fire Made Flesh by Denny Flowers, The King of the Spoil by Jonathan D. Beer, Ashes of Cadia by Jude Reid, Longshot by Rob Young, Deathworlder by Victoria Hayward and Lord of Excess by Rich McCormick, to name a few.  Many of these debuts are first class reads, and I’ve featured a few on my favourite Warhammer 40,000 novels lists over the years.

Due to my previous awesome experiences with debuts in this franchise, I am always very excited to check out first Warhammer 40,000 novels from new authors, especially those with epic plots.  The latest example of this is Final Deployment by R. S. Wilt, which was the author’s very first novel.  Spinning off from his previously published short story Eradicant, Final Deployment had a very exciting plot behind it that follows the most lethal human soldiers in the grimdark future, the Tempestus Scions.

In the far future, the Imperium of Man battles for survival on thousands of planet-spanning battlefields, with untold numbers of human soldiers fighting and dying every day against monsters, xenos and heretics.  Of these soldiers, none are more deadly or skilled than the Tempestus Scions.  Moulded into unquestionable killing machines from a young age with relentless training and mental manipulation, the Tempestus Scions serve as an elite force with the soldiers of mankind, taking on the missions that no other soldier could complete.

Amongst these Tempestus Scions are the fighters of First Eradicant squad of the Xian Tigers.  Led by Tempestor Traxel and “inspired” by Commissar Fennech, First Eradicant are an unusual regiment made up of several misfit Scions damaged by the battles they have seen.  Deployed to the planet of Rilis, a formerly loyal world now fighting a brutal civil war, First Eradicant is tasked with destroying the rebelling regiments and bringing order to the planet.  Utilising their superior training and equipment, First Eradicant quickly turn the tide against the enemy and being to lead the loyalist forces on Rilis to victory.  However, their success leads them discover the full strength of the traitors, as well as their dark allegiances.

After a disastrous battle that sees their loyalist allies massacred, First Eradicant find themselves facing monstrous opponents even more lethal than they are; three Chaos Space Marines from the Iron Warriors legion.  Determined to slay the ancient, genetically enhanced traitors, First Eradicant take the fight to the Iron Warriors across the planet.  However, with their leader traumatised by past battles and Commissar Fennech playing his own sinister games, can even the best human soldiers in the galaxy defeat the evolved might of the Chaos Space Marines?

R. S. Wilt starts his professional writing career off in explosive fashion with this amazing and compelling debut. Final Deployment was a deeply exciting character-driven Warhammer 40,000 story that followed several highly damaged characters as they attempted to survive the horrors of war. Intense, action-packed and deeply addictive, Final Deployment was an outstanding read that I had an incredible time getting through.

I really enjoyed the epic and deeply exciting narrative that Wilt pulled together for Final Deployment, which perfectly showcases futuristic special forces soldiers going after a deadlier opponent.  Set after the events of the author’s previous short story Eradicant, Final Deployment has a quick and effective start to it, as Wilt first sets the scene for the war on Rilis, before introducing the members of First Eradicant as they literally drop onto the scene.  Each of the protagonists, especially lethal and reckless recon trooper Norroll, gets their moment to shine in these opening scenes, which also work well to highlight Wilt’s intense writing style.  You are soon dragged into the story, and while the initial parts of the book are a tad slow, that changes with the pivotal battle around a third of the way through that sees the Chaos Space Marines arrive in bloody fashion.

Wilt did an outstanding job of changing the tone of Final Deployment after this big moment, as the protagonists find themselves heavily on the backfoot, and there are some notable PTSD elements hitting Tempestor Traxel.  The rest of the novel revolves around the protagonists attempting to hunt down and stop the Chaos Space Marines, no matter how the rest of the war is going.  The story from that point is essentially broken down into three distinctive parts, each of which showcase the very different, but equally brutal, fights against the separate deadly antagonists.  Wilt does an excellent job setting up the scenarios around these battles, which include infiltrating a deadly facility, a brutal ambush by a daemonic possessed foe, and an air drop into enemy territory, and you soon get enthralled in the protagonist’s desperate mission.  These events work extremely well as a sequential and cohesive narrative, and you get really absorbed in the mission of the slowly dwindling group of Tempestus Scions.  Everything leads up to the desperate final confrontation between the protagonists and their deadliest foe, which hits hard and keeps you guessing about who is going to survive.  I felt this entire story came together perfectly, and the ending does an excellent job wrapping up Final Deployment as a standalone Warhammer 40,000 story, with the potential left open for a sequel.  An overall excellent narrative that was quite impossible to put down at times.

While the story is very cool, I also felt that Final Deployment was extremely well written, as Wilt produces a powerful, character-driven narrative that focused on the horrors of war in the grimdark future.  Expertly utilising the iconic Warhammer 40,000 universe in this clever and brutal war story, I loved how the intense personal narratives blended with the more outrageous elements of franchise.  Wilt puts his evident skill at writing brilliant and bloody action sequences to good use in Final Deployment, and the resulting firefights and close combat sequences were some of the more intense and striking you are likely to see in Warhammer fiction.  The author maintains an excellent, fast pace throughout the entire novel, and there wasn’t a single slow moment or inclusion that didn’t play into the story in some interesting or compelling way.  I also appreciated the great use of alternate perspectives, as the story cleverly jumps between several key characters.  This is primarily utilised to showcase multiple angles to the book’s awesome action sequences, which was a ton of fun.  However, I also enjoyed how Wilt took the opportunity to examine the plot from the perspective of several interesting supporting character, including a couple of antagonists.  This helps Wilt to present an even more layered narrative, and it is always really entertaining to see the villain’s reactions to the protagonist’s actions.

Final Deployment is also an excellent and entertaining addition to the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, which works well as an exciting standalone novel.  Despite diving straight into the universe, Final Deployment is accessible to readers no matter their experience with Warhammer fiction, as the author provides a lot of intriguing universe details.  This includes the Tempestus Scions, who serve as the human faction’s ultimate special forces unit outside of the genetically enhanced Space Marines.  The author does an incredible job showcasing the skill and tactics of the Scions throughout Final Deployment, and you really appreciate that they are a highly trained and better equipped regiment.  While Wilt somewhat exaggerates the effectiveness of the Scions and their equipment for narrative purposes (especially carapace armour), you get a realistic sense of these figures in combat, and I appreciated how the characters were slowly debilitated by injuries and losses.  There is also a fascinating look at the harsh training and religious brainwashing these figures undergo, which fits the grimdark Warhammer 40,000 universe perfectly.  Other elements of Warhammer fiction are cleverly utilised here, and I loved the author’s depiction of just how dangerous Space Marines and their chaotic counterparts are compared to normal humans, even the Tempestus Scions.  The damage three Iron Warriors were able to do to the loyalist army, and the lengths the protagonists went to beat them, was so beautifully excessive, and I felt it was an appropriate amount of power scaling.  Thanks to these cool features from the Warhammer 40,000 universe, this book will primarily appeal to established fans of the franchise, although thanks to Wilt’s great writing, new readers will also have a lot of fun with it, even if they didn’t read the author’s previous short story.

While much of the appeal of Final Deployment was its epic story, great writing, and impressive action, I also felt the complex characters helped to make it even more special.  Primarily set around a group of Tempestus Scions, Final Deployment featured an intriguing look at these figures, their damaged pasts, and the struggles they experience on and off the battlefield.  Wilt does an excellent job of splitting the focus of Final Deployment over much of the extended cast, and indeed its nominal main characters, Tempestor Traxel and Commissar Fennech, don’t have that much of the book shown from their perspective.  Instead, most of the story is told through the eyes of other key members of the squad, including Norroll and the squad’s medic, Daviland.  This allows these secondary figures in the squad much more room to shine, and I felt the book was stronger as a result.  Norroll in particularly was quite a fun character.  An overly reckless Scion, Norroll finds himself caught between loyalty to Traxel and his squad, and his own death wish, and it was often really intriguing to see him in the middle of the bloodiest scenes in the book.  Daviland served as an excellent counter to Norroll’s more outrageous perspectives, especially as she is one of the saner members of the squad.  A transplant from another regiment, Daviland provides an interesting outsider’s perspective to the book, especially as she has a lot less mental damage the rest of First Eradicant.  Despite her loyalty primarily being to Fennech, Wilt writes an excellent storyline around Daviland becoming closer to her squad, and I felt that her perspective scenes were some of the more thoughtful and provided some great insights in the minds of the rest of the characters. 

Of the rest of the cast, Tempestor Traxel and Commissar Fennech, had the most presence.  Despite not serving as perspective characters, both were major parts of the book’s plot, and Wilt did an excellent job showcasing their personalities and issues through the eyes of the other protagonists.  This includes Traxel’s mental trauma at once again facing Chaos Space Marines after a previous deadly mission, and his impacted leadership adds an extra layer of difficulty to the protagonists’ mission.  Fennech, on the other hand, was a great portrayal of a classic, cold-blooded Imperial commissar, shooting allies first and never asking questions.  Fennech served an interesting role as both an ally/gun-bearing motivator, and a potential secondary antagonist to First Eradicant, especially as he questions their effectiveness and resolve.  While Fennech’s storyline doesn’t go as far as it could have, and I would have liked seeing some of the book through his steely eyes, I felt that he was an outstanding inclusion to Final Deployment’s cast that added some excellent alternative menace.

In addition to these characters, I enjoyed how the rest of First Eradicant also got their time to shine in this novel.  Featuring a mixture of existing members and later transfers from another squad, each of these characters had their own unique charm, and their compelling interactions added a lot to the novel’s enjoyment.  While there isn’t an excessive amount of development with some of these characters, which is mainly down to the mental indoctrination they’ve gone through, they were still fun to follow.  Just make sure not to get too attached to them, as the death toll in this novel is quite high.  Wilt matches these excellent perspective characters with several additional outsider characters, including several gloriously over-the-top antagonists, and the clash of styles and mentalities increased the overall fun and excitement I had with Final Deployment.

Unsurprisingly, I ended up listening to Final Deployment on audiobook, rather than seeking out a physical copy of the book.  I always find that the audiobook format brings out the very best of the grimdark Warhammer 40,000 universe and the unique characters that inhabit it, and the Final Deployment audiobook was a great example of this.  Perfectly narrated by Andrew Wincott, who previously impressed me with his voice work in Deathwatch: Shadowbreaker by Steve Parker and Huron Blackheart: Master of the Maelstrom by Mike Brooks, the intense action and harsh nature of war featured in Final Deployment really comes through in this audiobook, and I loved hearing all the intense firefight sequences come to life.  Wincott did an excellent job moving this intense story along at a quick clip, while also providing all the characters with distinctive voices that really fit their unique and gritty personalities.  The fun mixture of voices between the battle-weary human soldiers and the more unnatural forces of Chaos was extremely enjoyable, and you really get drawn into the compelling narrative as a result.  I honestly flew through the over 11-hour long audiobook in no time at all, and I loved every second I spent listening to it, especially some of the more brutal and deadly fight sequences.

Loaded with awesome action, damaged characters and an epic narrative, Final Deployment by R. S. Wilt was an incredible read and an amazing piece of Warhammer 40,000 fiction.  A fast-paced novel that follows some intense protagonists through hell and back, Final Deployment was an outstanding debut from Wilt, and comes very highly recommended, especially on audiobook.  I look forward to seeing how Wilt’s writing career continues in the future, and I am sure I will enjoy any additional contributions to the Warhammer franchise.

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Warhammer 40,000: Dominion Genesis by Jonathan D. Beer

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer1 Comment

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 21 September 2024)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 10 hours and 47 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Destitute tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus embark on a massive quest for redemption in the excellent 2024 Warhammer 40,000 novel, Dominion Genesis by Jonathan D. Beer.

Beer is a talented rising author in the Warhammer 40,000 fiction space who has so far impressed with two interesting books covering unique spheres of the fandom’s canon.  I deeply enjoyed his first novel, The King of the Spoil, which was a particularly epic entry in the Warhammer Crime sub-series, and which ended up being one of my favourite debuts of 2023.  Beer followed up this debut last year with his second novel, Dominion Genesis, an intriguing read that takes place in a very different Warhammer 40,000 setting.  I had an excellent time with Dominion Genesis, although I spectacularly failed to write a review for it last year.  However, with Beer’s third Warhammer 40,000 novel just released, I felt that this was a good time to finally write something about Dominion Genesis, which honestly was an awesome read.

Plot Synopsis:

Gryphonne IV is dead – one of the mightiest forge worlds in the arsenal of the Adeptus Mechanicus, succumbed to the relentless hunger of Hive Fleet Leviathan. Devoured. Lost.

The few magi that survive drift in idleness, robbed of purpose and direction. But there is one who rejects that fate.

READ IT BECAUSE
It’s the gripping tale of an Explorator desperately seeking ancient technologies from humanity’s past as she races against time to restore one of the mightiest forge worlds in the Imperium.

THE STORY
Explorator Talin Sherax seeks ancient and miraculous technologies from humanity’s distant past. When she learns of a fabled relic that could restore all that has been lost, Sherax embarks on a journey, the outcome of which could change everything. Nothing will stand in her way… even if the quest brings her to the brink of heresy.

Dominion Genesis was a particularly intense and compelling entry in the Warhammer 40,000 canon that proves quite enthralling to read.  I like how Beer managed to achieve quite a few things with this book, as he produced an excellent quest narrative with a focus on obsession, trauma and survival, while also cleverly showcasing several different factions of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Beer came up with a very awesome story that hits a lot of highly emotional story notes early on.  The start of Dominion Genesis was one of the more striking sequences of Warhammer fiction I have read, as the protagonist, Explorator Talin Sherax, is forced to witness the destruction of their home world.  Moving quickly into a time skip, you see a very different version of Sherax several years in the future, as she still attempts to make sense of the destruction while searching for valuable lost technology.  After a great sequence aboard a derelict spacehulk, Sherax finds a clue about a potential artifact that could help to restore her planet.  Going against the orders of her superiors, Sherax leads a crew of human soldiers and Adeptus Mechanicus forces on a quest to several deadly and hidden locations in the galaxy.  Along the way, the protagonists examine their humanity in several different forms, while also being stalked by dangerous alien fighters determined to stop them achieving their goal.

There are some great sequences in the middle of this book, as the protagonist desperately follow the clues into a trap, which shakes all the characters to their core.  After a gruelling sequence of events that help to highlight and move along several, well-constructed character development arcs, the adventure moves to its destructive conclusion.  After another disaster, the protagonists are dropped in amongst a war between rival xenos forces and must journey into the fray to achieve their goal, resulting in a brutal series of battles and the intense conclusion to the narrative.  Beer wrote in some great tragic moments as the protagonists are outmatched at nearly every turn, although many of these sequences work well to provide closure to some of the book’s various character arcs.  The conclusion to Dominion Genesis was as bleak as you would hope for a novel in the grimdark Warhammer 40,000 universe, but it provides some great closure for the main character and will keep readers very satisfied.

I felt that Dominion Genesis was a particularly good addition to the Warhammer 40,000 canon, as Beer provides a thoughtful and complex novel loaded with unique action and damaged characters trying to survive the inherent darkness of the war-torn universe.  Beer ended up producing an intense character-driven story for Dominion Genesis, and I loved the great balance between action, exploration and interaction between certain unique Warhammer races, and the focus on character elements.  I personally really enjoyed the deep dive into the Adeptus Mechanicus, with various character perspectives diving into their culture and thought processes, even though certain sections of the plot need to be altered to emulate the machine nature of the tech-priests.  Beer tried to showcase a more emotional side to the Adeptus Mechanicus in this book, especially through his protagonist which, while different from other portrays of this faction, fits the trauma-rich narrative as all these characters struggle with the loss of their home.  The author also has fun fitting in several of the main alien races of the Warhammer 40,000 universe into the story, including orks, Tyranid, Aeldari and Necrons.  While not a lot of focus is given to understanding them, they serve as good foils to the obsessed protagonists, and it was interesting to see the Mechanicus takes on these different enemies.  In the end, Dominion Genesis proved to be a compelling, and impressive standalone novel that makes great use of its Warhammer 40,000 elements.  However, be warned that this novel is probably better read by more established fans of the franchise, rather than newer readers, as Beer covers a lot of complex lore in a short period of time.

One of the key things I liked about Dominion Genesis was the rich array of compelling characters featured throughout the plot.  Beer does an outstanding job introducing and following several very damaged figures, including the protagonist Explorator Talin Sherax, who finds herself in a depressed state following the opening sequence of book.  Cutting herself off from the technological hivemind used by the rest of Adeptus Mechanicus brethren, Sherax proves to be a brilliantly complex figure in Dominion Genesis, and Beer’s take of her as the depressed member of a group known for having no emotions was really fascinating.  The author also features an interesting array of other Adeptus Mechanicus members who provide great alternate viewpoints to that of Sherax.  I really enjoyed how Beer managed to include a lot of intriguing individualism in these machine-like Adeptus Mechanicus characters, and the range of different opinions and feelings around Sherax and her mission added some interesting drama to the story. 

Finally, I must highlight the human members of the Dominion Genesis cast, who provide intriguing alternate viewpoints to cybernetic protagonists. I particularly enjoyed the focus on a depressed former Imperial Knight pilot, who, after losing his ancient war machine, decides to join the crew of Sherax’s ship.  There are some fascinating focuses on his parallel grief to that of the Adeptus Mechanicus characters, as well as his own self-anger, especially while forced to pilot a seemingly lesser machine.  Beer writes some interesting side plots around this more human character, including his relationship with an Imperial Guard regiment also aboard the ship, and he must balance his need for human contact with his own grief and arrogance.  I felt this compelling collection of distinctive characters helped to make Dominion Genesis really stand out, and I enjoyed seeing their unique interactions.

As with most Warhammer 40,000 novels I review, I ended up listening to Dominion Genesis on audiobook, which is pretty much the best way to enjoy this series.  The Dominion Genesis audiobook ended up being a lot of fun to listen to, and I managed to get through it’s near 11-hour runtime quickly.  It helped that Dominion Genesis was narrated by the very talented Colleen Prendergast, who is becoming the go-to narrator for any Warhammer 40,000 audiobook that features a human female protagonist, such as Justin D. Hill’s Cadia series, or standalone books like Creed: Ashes of Cadia by Jude Reid or Longshot by Rob Young.  Prendergast did an outstanding job bringing the various complex cast members of Dominion Genesis to life, and I particularly appreciated the skill need to voice a variety of cybernetic humans with altered or robotic voices.  This great voice work turned Dominion Genesis into a fantastic listen, and it was very easy to enjoy Beer’s outstanding and lore-heavy story when it was being read out.

Overall, Dominion Genesis was an amazing second novel by Jonathan D. Beer, who did an outstanding job pivoting to a different area of Warhammer 40,000 fiction.  I loved the complex character-driven narrative contained within Dominion Genesis, and this was one of the more enjoyable Warhammer 40,000 novels that came out last year.  I cannot wait to see how Beer continues to develop as a writer in the future, and I currently have a copy of his latest book, Tomb World, in my audiobook queue to listen to.

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Top Ten Tuesday – Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2025 (Fantasy and Science Fiction)

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, List, Science Fiction7 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.  For this latest Top Ten Tuesday participants need to list their top anticipated releases for the second half of 2025.  I am planning to do two versions of this list, one that will exclusively look at upcoming thrillers, crime fiction, historical fiction, and more, and this one that will focus on upcoming fantasy and science fiction books.

2025 has so far been a pretty amazing year for books (something I will cover in next week’s Top Ten Tuesday), with some outstanding and impressive novels coming out and blowing me away.  However, the year is far from over and there are so many incredible and epic-sounding novels set for release in the second half of 2025.  To fill out this list I have scoured my list of anticipated upcoming releases and tried to work out which of the books coming out between the start of July and the end of December I am most looking forward to.  I already have a couple of these books in advance, but I think it’s worth including them here, especially as I still need to make time to read them.

I had initially intended to only do a single list featuring all the genres, however, I ended up with way too many awesome upcoming novels on my radar.  So, to fairly feature them all, and to save myself from some hard decisions, I decided to split this post into two separate lists, starting with this one on fantasy and science fiction.  I still had to cut out several impressive upcoming releases, but I was a lot happier with how these lists turned out, especially as I was able to feature so many epic upcoming reads that I am going to have the most fun reading.  Due to how much potential that I think the entries on this list have, several have previously appeared in my weekly Waiting on Wednesday articles, as well as on my recent Winter TBR list.   So let us get to my selections and find out which upcoming novels are my most anticipated fantasy and science fiction releases for the second half of 2025.

Honourable Mentions

Seven Recipes for Revolution by Ryan Rose – 22 July 2025

A cool fantasy debut with an interesting cooking theme that I have had my eye on for a while.

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Katabasis by R. F. Kuang – 26 August 2025

A fantastic dive into academic hell from the acclaimed R. F. Kuang.

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King Sorrow by Joe Hill – 28 October 2025

A very interesting upcoming book from Joe Hill that will see a group of friends suffer the consequences of summoning a dragon.

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Warhammer 40,000: Voidscarred by Mike Brooks – announced for 2025

I’m very excited for the upcoming Warhammer novel by Mike Brooks that will set Aeldari Corsairs against Ork Freebooterz. Brooks is exceptional Warhammer 40,000 author, with books like Warboss, Da Big Dakka and The Lion: Son of the Forest really showcasing his talent, and I look forward to seeing this very fun upcoming book.

Top Ten List

Warhammer 40,000: Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok by Denny Flowers – 1 July 2025

There are several awesome Warhammer 40,000 novels still to come in 2025, but the one I’m currently most looking forward to is the epic novel Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok.  Written by the very talented Denny Flowers who has previously impressed me with books like Outgunned (one of my favourite Warhammer 40,000 novels) and Above and Beyond (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2024), Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok has a ton of hilarious potential as it dives into the most insane and diabolical “medical” practitioner amongst the brutal orks.  I already know this is going to be a clever and very funny read (especially after seeing Flowers write ork characters in Da Red Gobbo Collection), and I cannot wait to see what insanity awaits in this cool upcoming book.

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Stone and Sky by Ben Aaronovitch – 8 July 2025

The always outstanding Ben Aaronovitch returns to his iconic Rivers of London series with the compelling upcoming Stone and Sky.  Part elaborate urban fantasy, part clever police procedural, Stone and Sky will see the series protagonist and his unusual family journey up to Scotland on a holiday, only to encounter a new supernatural mystery from the depths of the ocean.  Set to feature another amazing and addictive story told in Aaronovitch’s distinctive style, Stone and Sky will likely be one of the most captivating fantasy novels of 2025 and I look forward to continuing the series.

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Three Shattered Souls by Mai Corland – 15 July 2025

In the last year I have had an amazing time checking out the awesome fantasy novels of the Broken Blades trilogy by Mai Corland.  Following several dangerous killers as they are forced to pull off impossible missions for a power-hungry king, the first two books, Five Broken Blades and Four Ruined Realms, have set up an outstanding story with some brilliant characters.  Fans of this series will be getting a conclusion to the trilogy later this year with Three Shattered Souls, which should be particularly epic.  I cannot wait to see how Corland wraps everything up, and I already know I’m going to love it, especially in its elaborate audiobook format.

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The Last Soul Among Wolves by Melissa Caruso – 19 August 2025

Another great upcoming fantasy murder mystery novel I have my eye on is The Last Soul Among Wolves by Melissa Caruso.  The sequel to Caruso’s amazing 2024 novel, The Last Hour Between Worlds, The Last Soul Among Wolves will see the series protagonist caught in a cursed mansion during a doomed will reading.  Looking set to combine a classic murder mystery scenario with Caruso’s elaborate fantasy world, The Last Soul Among Wolves has a ton of potential and I cannot wait to check it out.

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Born of an Iron Storm by Anthony Ryan – 26 August 2025

One of my favourite fantasy authors, Anthony Ryan, returns with the second book in his awesome Age of Wrath trilogy, Born of an Iron Storm.  The amazing sound sequel to his 2024 novel, A Tide of Black Steel, Born of an Iron Storm will continue the elaborate adventures started in Ryan’s last book.  Set to once again feature a cool Norse-inspired setting, compelling characters, and all manner of plots and conspiracies, Born of an Iron Storm sounds pretty damn incredible and I have no doubt this is going to be one of the better fantasy releases of 2025.

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Cold War by Jonathan Maberry – 14 October 2025

The always impressive Jonathan Maberry continues to showcase his brilliant writing skills with Cold War, a fantastic upcoming follow-up to his 2024 dark science fiction novel, NecroTek.  Pitting human scientists and soldiers trapped far away in space against ancient cosmic horrors, Cold War should be another gripping read, especially as the humans are fighting back using their powerful, death-powered alien mechs.  Likely to be another particularly dark and haunting read, Cold War has the potential to be an incredible sequel, and I am very keen to check it out.

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The Blackfire Blade by James Logan – 23 October 2025

Last year I had the very great pleasure of reading the outstanding fantasy debut, The Silverblood Promise by James Logan.  An elaborate and compelling fantasy adventure that saw a young man travel to an unfamiliar city to try and uncover his father’s killer, The Silverblood Promise was an amazing read that blended cool worldbuilding with a great conspiracy storyline.  I had a ton of fun with this first book from Logan, and I have been quite eager to get my hands on the sequel for a while now.  Luckily, I only have to wait a few more months as Logan’s second book, The Blackfire Blade is one of the big fantasy releases of October.  Continuing to follow the protagonist’s quest to find clues related to his father’s murder, The Blackfire Blade takes the reader to another elaborate fantasy city within the same realm and forces the characters to uncover the new setting’s dark secrets to get what they want.  I have no doubt this is going to be an impressive book, and I cannot wait to see how Logan continues his amazing series.

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Our Lady of Blades by Sebastien de Castell – 6 November 2025

One of the more impressive fantasy novels coming out later this year is the very cool novel, Our Lady of Blades.  The next book in Sebastien de Castell’s The Court of Shadows series, Our Lady of Blades will be another standalone novel in the author’s Greatcoat universe, that will build on the previous novels Crucible of Chaos and Play of Shadows.  Our Lady of Blades will explore a new location in this universe and will feature a The Count of Monte Cristo inspired plot, as a mysterious masked duellist returns to a corrupt city to get justice and restore her family through any means necessary, all while the big conspiracy of the series continues to unfold.  Based on how exceptional the last two books in this series have been, I feel that Our Lady of Blades is going to be a top book of 2025, and it is one I am especially keen for.

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The Strength of the Few by James Islington – 11 November 2025

Probably the most anticipated book for fantasy fans coming out in the second half of 2025 is the elaborate and intriguing novel, The Strength of the Few by James Islington.  The sequel to Islington’s highly acclaimed The Will of the Many (one of my favourite books, audiobooks and Australian novels of 2023), The Strength of the Few, will continue to follow Islington’s compelling protagonist as he attempts to undermine the empire that destroyed his family, while uncovering the hidden secrets from the past.  However, this book looks set to be even more complex as different versions of the protagonist are split amongst three separate worlds, each of whom must face its own troubles and adventures.  I am extremely intrigued to see how this split narrative is going to work out but based on how damn exceptional The Will of the Many was, I have very little doubt this is going to be a particularly epic novel.

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Star Wars: Master of Evil by Adam Christopher – 11 November 2025

The final book that I want to highlight on this list is the impressive and character-focussed Star Wars tie-in novel, Master of Evil by Adam Christopher.  Set to follow Darth Vader during his early days as a Sith Lord, Master of Evil will provide some complex insights into this iconic villain’s mind as he attempts to uncover the true dark side of the Force.  With a very cool plot idea, and an even more awesome cover, Master of Evil has certainly caught my attention, and I cannot wait to see Christopher’s take on this legendary Star Wars character.

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That is the end of this list.  I am extremely happy with how my latest Top Ten Tuesday article turned out, and this list contains an intriguing collection of upcoming fantasy and science fiction books that should prove to be incredible reads.  I think that every one of the books I mentioned above has some amazing potential, and most, if not all, will probably end up with a full five-star rating from me.  Make sure to also check out my next list where I dive into upcoming thrillers, crime fiction, historical fiction and more.  Let me also know if any of the above interest you and let me know what your most anticipated releases for the next six months are in the comments below.