You might be familiar with Wargamer’s guide to the best Warhammer 40k books, the titles that we recommend to any reader in search of action, adventure, intrigue, or horror in the grim darkness of the far future. For this list we’ve picked something a little different: five novels that show the 41st millennium from a perspective you won’t find anywhere else. Whether you’re a long time Warhammer 40k veteran, or a sci-fi fan who’s never read a single Black Library novel, these books will set your imagination alight.
We’ve restricted this list to purely books set in the Warhammer 40k timeline, leaving aside the 64+ Horus Heresy books. The Horus Heresy saga has some true genius in it, but the books are most effective when you engage with them as a series – whereas you can open up any of the books on this list and jump right into the action.
Double Eagle
A standalone tale on the periphery of the Sabbat Worlds crusade from Dan Abnett’s long-running Gaunt’s Ghosts series, Double Eagle is a military drama with an ensemble cast that follows an air war between Imperial and Chaos forces.
It portrays the scale of the Imperial war machine from multiple very human perspectives, and plays with a suite of made-up military tech you won’t find anywhere else. Believable, likable characters, and nail-biting dogfights, make this hard to put down.
The Lords of Silence
In the aftermath of the Chaos victory at the Cadian Gate, a warband of Death Guard find themselves utterly unopposed in Imperial Space, faced with an uncomfortable question – what does it mean for them if things are suddenly easy?
As a Space Marine fortress monastery comes into their crosshairs, schemes and politics unfold aboard a ship rife with psychedelic decay. You might come to Lords of Silence for the brain melting hell weapons, but you’ll remember it for the contemplative subtext Chris Wraight injects throughout.
The Twice Dead King
I’m sneaking in a duology here, because author Nate Crowley originally intended for Twice Dead King: Ruin and its sequel Reign to be a single book, before the scope of the story expanded so much it had to be split into two. The exiled Necron prince Oltyx must confront his past, and the terrifying curse afflicting his dynasty, as he attempts to save it from a mad Phaeron and an encroaching Imperial crusade.
Twice Dead King: Ruin does an incredible job juggling contrasting tones. There’s action; horror; plenty of humor; and deep melancholy and sadness. This is a proper pulp action adventure, and it’s a story about regret, and it’s a tale of trauma, grief, and acceptance. And somehow, the second book takes all of that and pushes it even further.
Bloodlines
The first and best of the Warhammer Crime novels, Bloodlines has two things that are extremely rare in 40k novels – a focus just on humans without any Xenos or Chaos in sight, and the word “fuck”.
A tale of low-life crime that connects back to the seedy dealings of the elite, it paints the most detailed picture of day to day life in the Imperium of Man you’ll find anywhere. Chris Wraight has written a classic hard-boiled detective novel in the Raymond Chandler style – it just happens to be set in an Imperial Hive city instead of LA.
Sea of Souls
Though it’s part of the Dawn of Fire series, Sea of Souls works perfectly as a standalone novel. In fact it stands apart from just about every other 40k novel I’ve read, though it’s frustratingly hard to describe what makes it so different without spoiling the surprise.
The book introduces us to a broad cast of interesting officers and specialists on board an Imperial battleship, and then proceeds to put them through hell. If you enjoy J.G. Ballard, particularly High-Rise, you’ll love this. And yes, it’s another Chris Wraight book.
Have you read any of these? Are there other great titles that we’re missing? Should we have put fewer Chris Wraight titles on the list? Come and share your recommendations in the Wargamer Discord community.
If you want to dive into the lore of 40k, check out our guides to the Warhammer 40k factions and particularly the Space Marine chapters – or this recent feature about the overall story that has emerged within 40k, and the novel series you can find it in.