2024 was a busy year for the Black Library, with 40K-associated output up slightly higher than the year before. Fans of the Imperial Guard and loyalist Astartes in particular were spoiled for choice, with just over half the year’s offerings featuring them as protagonists (as well as each getting their own digital short story theme weeks!)
Last time we covered Warhammer’s fantasy properties here, but 40K has just so much going on that we can’t fit it all in one piece. As a result, today we’ll be taking a look at the year in novels for the Black Library’s 40K and Horus Heresy lines, and then concluding next week with an examination of the short stories, anthologies and omnibuses, the Black Library Celebration, and everything else.
But now, let’s tear into some books!
New Talent Makes a Splash
While it was a year that the veterans got to shine, we did see some new- and very noteworthy- efforts from some more recent Black Library authors.
Jonathan D. Beer was no rookie in 2024, having written a trio of short stories for various anthologies in 2021-22 before debuting with The King of the Spoil in 2023. With all of his prior work in the Warhammer Crime imprint, however, Dominion Genesis marked his first foray into Warhammer 40K proper.
Given the depth of arcane knowledge needed to do justice to an Adeptus Mechanicus story, Beer’s story was an ambitious one but he pulls it off with one of the year’s highlights.
Also sticking the landing was Deathworlder, the debut novel from Victoria Hayward. This tale of Imperial Guardsmen on a mission as the world around them falls to the Tyranids is a superb blend of ripping action and body horror- and my favorite read of the year for just how well Hayward writes of a world being rapidly digested.
Another debut effort saw the spotlight shine on the Emperor’s Children as Rich McCormick’s novel Renegades: Lords of Excess followed up his trio of short stories for the Black Library. One of those stories, Visage, was featured in the Black Library Celebration paperback anthology this year and starred everyone’s favorite character, Erebus.
Releasing first in a Special Edition, Rob Young’s Leontus, Lord Solar was a tight, fun action story that reminded me a bit of the A-Team. Young’s second novel behind 2023’s Longshot, his next one featuring Ferren Areios has just been teased on Warhammer Community.
Finally, Noah Van Nguyen was a true genre-jumper with Elemental Council. His fourth novel/novella, his previous three had been in the Age of Sigmar setting (including the superb Godeater’s Son). Like Beer, he cracked into 40K with an ambitious faction in Elemental Council, and if you want to see how seriously he took researching the T’au he’s got a great piece about it here.
All four bring a terrific voice to the universe, and I hope to be writing much more about them in next year’s roundup of 2025.
Anti-Heroes Get Their Due
For fans of existing heroes, there was plenty on offer. John French’s eternally-cursed sorcerer Ahriman returned for his fifth installment, Ahriman: Undying. Betrayed at the moment of triumph, Ahriman must contend with the price that is paid for power. An extra short story, The Players of Fate, was included in the book’s Special Edition release.
Another anti-hero gets her due in Lelith Hesperax: Queen of Knives by Mike Brooks, one of his two novels in 2024. As the titular wych is dragged into the lethal schemes of Comorragh, she discovers that not all knives behind her lead with the pointy end. As the third-place finalist in the Black Library Book of the Year vote, Hesperax clearly landed well with readers.
For Ork fans, the year saw the latest installment of Ufthak Blackhawk’s saga with Da Big Dakka, successor to 2020’s Brutal Kunnin’. Author Mike Brooks has been filling in the gaps with a trio of short stories, and his latest yarn sees Blackhawk tread in Hesperax’s neighborhood, the Dark City.
Hero? Anti-hero? Not sure what you’d call Da Red Gobbo, except perhaps for a force of liberation and freedom- if you’re a grot, that is. The Black Library’s Santa Claus stand-in got a new novella this year (Long Live da Red Gobbo), this time penned by Justin Woolley.
There’s little question about Eidolon, on the other hand. The Lord Commander of the Emperor’s Children is an unrepentant villain, but that’s clearly part of his charm as Marc Collins’ Eidolon: The Auric Hammer took runner-up in the Black Library Book of the Year vote.
We Do Need Another Hero
Classic heroes charted a little lower on the volume list, but we still had a few reads in 2024. Leontus, Lord Solar was already covered above, but there was also tales starring Lazarus and Morvenn Vahl.
Gary Kloster penned Lazarus, Enmity’s Edge, where the Dark Angels must try and save a world that may not want to be saved after all. Like van Nguyen, Kloster is comfortable on both sides of the property line, also penning Skaventide which released alongside Age of Sigmar’s 4th Edition last July (catch our review of that one here).
Jude Reid star has been shining recently as we prepare for the arrival of Fulgrim- The Perfect Son. Her short The Reskard Purgation was recently printed in the Blood of the Imperium anthology, and is the perfect appetizer to one of her two 2024 novels, Morvenn Vahl: Spear of Faith. Here Vahl- now Abbess Sanctorum- must fight to defend a shrine-world from the terror of the Night Lords.
Morvenn Vahl also saw a lavish Mega Edition release. The relic box case contained a signed, limited edition of the book, a set of art cards, and a 56-page bonus book The Book of Saints that offers more on the legends of Celestine, Sabbat, Ephrael Stern, and more.
Finally for those preferring a little more shadowy tale, Lord Inquisitor Torquemada Coteaz headlines Deamonhammer, by Darius Hinks. Coteaz appeared more than two decades ago in the 3rd Edition Codex: Daemonhunters and has his own miniature, so it’s always fun to see an older character get a new look.
Fight and Flight
For fans of aerial action, 2024 brought Abnett’s long-awaited follow-up two decades after Double Eagle’s release with a Mega Edition that pulled out all the stops. The special “flight recorder” box contained the signed, special edition of the book and a raft of other goodies. A map, a pin badge, an embroidered patch, and the pièce de résistance, a 64-page flight manual and pilot’s log that tells the story of their flight to Vesperus and the events that follow. For a closer look, make sure to check out the Goonhammer review here as well.
That wasn’t the only stick-jockey sequel last year as Denny Flowers served up another dose of Lucille von Shard, flying ace, propaganda star, and hero of 2022’s Outgunned. In Above and Beyond, von Shard is near breaking point after perpetual conflict on a world in rebellion against the Imperium. Can her former partner help her pull up before she crashes?
The Dawn of Fire Series Concluded
With the release of Hand of Abaddon by Nick Kyme, the Dawn of Fire series finally wrapped up. This was the main overarching narrative for 9th Edition and kicked off with Guy Haley’s Avenging Son in 2020. The following year saw the next two release, with another in 2022 and three more in 2023.
I’d try and summarize it a little better but I haven’t gotten all the way through the series myself yet, and, you know…
Other Tales to Be Told
No list of 2024’s stories would be complete without a good look at the Krieg. While the Battle Box didn’t release until this past January, as diligently as the Krieg lay fortifications the Black Library was preparing the ground for their arrival.
Steve Lyons’ third Krieg novel, Siege of Vraks, landed in June in both standard hardback as well as a Limited Edition, which kicked off the Special Edition re-release of the previous two (Dead Men Walking and Krieg).
Siege of Vraks proved a big hit with readers, topping voting for the Black Library Book of the Year for 2024.
Meanwhile, Broken Crusade by Steven B. Fischer and Robbie MacNiven’s Oaths of Damnation provided plenty of Space Marine action. Oaths of Damnation featured the Exorcists, a successor chapter with a heretical secret, as they race to recapture a living prison filled with daemonic spirits. MacNiven’s world-building is crackling here, and you can see why some of his other work with the Carcharodons successor chapter has remained highly sought-after by readers.
In Fischer’s tale- his second for the Black Library after 2022’s Witchbringer– a band of Black Templars separated from their crusade must battle World Eaters to save the soul of a shrine world. In my review, I found Broken Crusade to be particularly noteworthy in its treatment of faith, which more frequently takes on a cosmetic element in Warhammer.
Speaking of faith, the Adepta Sororitas had a second novel last year, Jude Reid’s Daemonbreaker. This one introduced a new Sister of Battle, Aveline, who must track down a rogue sorcerer on a minor shrine world in the Cadian Gate. Games Workshop also released a miniature of Aveline, something the collector in me wishes we saw more often.
Finally, Black Library veteran Gav Thorpe gave the League of Votann their first novel with The High Kahl’s Oath. Just beaten out for a top 5 finish in the Book of the Year, this was a terrific spacefaring yarn that mixed in a dash of hard sci-fi into the usual Warhammer space fantasy.
And there you have it! A busy year in books, but there’s plenty left to check out in our next installment. As you’ll see, 2024 was very much the Year of the Rookie, with plenty of new names you might not recognize now, but almost certainly will soon. See you then!
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