Black Library Books of 2019

[aa.logan]

We’re close enough to the end of the year to be able to form more considered judgements of what’s been published this year.

 

The equivalent thread last year devolved into arguments about what books should count and what shouldn’t. So, my thread, my rules...

 

Eligible for Best Black Library book of 2019 is any book of novella length or longer that was published in the calendar year 2019; limited editions, hardbacks and paperbacks are all eligible.

 

I’ve read or listened to 51 BL books so far this year. By my reckoning, at least 28 of those are eligible. Goodness me, they are quite a busy publisher.

 

So, top five BL books of the year?

 

Despite starting the thread, I’ve evidently not done mine yet. I’m not getting capital-P political, but I’m planning on using making my list tomorrow as a UK general election dread and doom distraction...

[Malkydel]

Requiem Infernal

Honourbound

Mark of Faith

Solar War

The Hollow Mountain

[Lord Marshal]

Requiem Infernal

Gaunt's Ghosts: The Anarch

 

That's about it.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Lord Marshal

[bluntblade]

Solar War is certainly up there

[Boytoy]

Emperor's Spears and The Way Out. The latter introduced me to audiobooks and re-introduced me to the horror genre.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Solar War, Emperors Spears, Hollow Mountain, for me so far, off the top of my head.

 

Just starting Mark of Faith, so that may get added to the list.

 

EDIT: Ooh wait, and Konrad Curze.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Lord_Caerolion

[Fire Golem]

Solar War, Emperors Spears, Requiem Infernal and Hollow Mountain. 

[Kelborn]

Horus Heresy: Solar War hands down

 

Primarchs: Curze, though Corax and Angron were great, as Well

 

40K: Emperor's Spears by far

 

 

Though I have to admit that I haven't read all due to an AoS break I took this year.

 

But of those I read, that's my vote.

 

And it seems like I should give Requiem a try. :)

Edited December 11, 2019 by Kelborn

[Knockagh]

Vaults of Terra, Hollow mountain

Belisarius Cawl, The Great Work

Requiem Infernal

Angron

Cadian Honour

 

No particular order here. All the above I thought were absolutely excellent books.

I didn’t read as much this year as normal and I’m finishing the year with a large pile of unread. Terminal overkill nearly made it but I took it out as I only listened to it and have no ideas how it read. If would have been unfair as it’s a different experience for me reading and being read to.

Guy Haley has shone for me this year.

I’m annoyed at the lack of Eldar fiction again this year. Can’t remember if wild rider was this year or last, it was good but feels like an eternity ago I read it.

Other than that one gripe I think the overall quality this year has been fantastic. The current course of broadening the stories to different areas of life in the 41st millennium has continued and seems to be expanding so I’m excited about the new year and what it will bring.

[Shinros]

Requiem Infernal. 

 

That's it for me. 

[Gongsun Zan]

In no particular order:

 

Solar War

Requiem Infernal

Mark of Faith 

Honourbound 

Angron

 

Honourable mentions to Konrad Curze and Anarch.  

 

I've not read Vaults of Terra, but looking at the other replies in this thread I think I should. 

[Roomsky]

Anarch: A great (and hopefully temporary) finale to both the series at large, and to The Victory arc. 

Honourbound: Absolutely killer guard book that gets to the heart of its characters extremely well.

Requiem Infernal: Brilliantly executed madness that touches on some of the more internal horror of the setting.

Spear of the Emperor: An excellent stand-alone and some much needed context for the post-Cadia Imperium.

The Solar War: A very strong start to the Siege that, hearkens effectively back to the series' roots.

 

I have not read: Mephiston 3, Mark of Faith, Novella Series 2, Knights of Macragge, Celestine, Wild Rider, Shadowbreaker, or Death Knell.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Roomsky

[Red_Shift]

I rank in terms of enjoyment.

 

Belisarius Cawl The Great Work

Deathwatch Shadowbreaker

Always Cain & Jurgen

[Knockagh]

I put Spears of the Emperor in last year (controversy!) only reason it’s not in my list this year.

[DukeLeto69]

Order depends in my mood...

 

Anarch

Requiem Infernal

Rites of Passage

VoT: The Hollow Mountain

SoT: The Solar War

 

Spear of the Emperor would be there in a normal year but RoP & VoT:tHM had so much “domestic” insight that they pipped it (as prefer that to Space Marine stories)

[Sandlemad]

Requiem Infernal: a twisted masterpiece. Better horror than anything in the WH Horror line and with incredible atmosphere. It's so good, so 40k, and more self-consciously literary than most other BL works. At the risk of contradicting what I praise the other books below for, it was such a pleasure to read a 40k book as that, and not something to be sifted through for interesting background nuggets (though it does the 'unique and interesting but also perfectly normal and representative' thing at least as well as Spear of the Emperor. Fehervari is one of the best writers working with BL.

The Solar War: for its vignettes, cool set-pieces, chilly weirdness and excellent sense of scale. A more than solid overture to the heresy's final act.

 

The Hollow Mountain: even better than Carrion Throne, both for the increased nastiness Wraight brings to the imperium (that stuff about the vellum...) and for Crowl's PTSD/slow-motion mental breakdown.

 

Spear of the Emperor: maybe less than the sum of its parts and a bit of a case of "here's what it's like" overwhelming the rest of the novel but for what it is - a view of a unique yet perfectly ordinary chapter and situation in the post-Cicatrix dark imperium - it's great.

 

Apocalypse: not a great novel but so, so much better than it had any right to be considering the subject matter and circumstances of its creation. Reynolds again manages to fit some fascinating, unprecedented and surprisingly thoughtful stuff into a novel blatantly conceived of as a quick tie-in cash grab by BL/GW. Even when he sets out to make something that is just space marines shouting and shooting bolters, he still goes above and beyond.
 

There were other 2019 books I wanted to get to but those were the best of what I did read.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Sandlemad

[Marshal Loss]

Didn't have the time to read much BL stuff this year, and this list has reminded me that I need to buy The Hollow Mountain. Only two I'd like to bring up:

 

I thought Spear of the Emperor was fantastic. It's so good in fact that if I were trying to introduce somebody to 40k, this is the novel I'd hand them, which I think is high praise given how goddamn difficult it can be to allow people easy passage into the setting.

 

Best book of the year for me though was far and away Solar War. It started the Siege of Terra off with a bang, depicted both sides brilliantly, had some suitably epic moments, and left me really excited for the books to come. Unfortunately LATD and TFW haven't lived up to the lofty standards French set, and I really do hope he has another installment coming before this all wraps up.

[StrangerOrders]

Spear of the Emperor

Hollow Mountain

Konrad Kurze

Belisarious Cawl

 

Those were my favorites of the year I think. A very good year.

[aa.logan]

There have been an awful lot of books, true, but what I didn’t mention earlier is how damn good so many of them have been/how much I’ve enjoyed reading them.

 

Narrowly missing out- Spears of The Emperor (listened to the audio this year, read the LE last, loved the book but *hated* the audio purely because of the awfully bad ‘African’ accents used for the Celestial Lions), Valdor (really good, but shared too many of it’s good points with another book to fully stand out), Requiem Infernal (deserves a reappraisal as part of a Coil re-read, still really good), Apocalypse (really good fun, some outstanding passages), Terminal Overkill (fantastically grim) and Apocalypse (great fun, some *amazing* passages).

 

My top five, in the order that I read them (also presumably publication order)

 

Angron: Slave of Nurceria

 

Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter

 

Rites of Passage

 

Mark of Faith

 

The First Wall

 

I’ve made the cases for what I like about the last three at excessive length in the relevant threads, but I guess what they have in common is well-written non-Astartes characters, while the first two give a surprisingly detailed level of insight into two Primarchs’ psyches and the impact they had on their Legions (surprising because they may be the two to have the most words written about them already and the books still manage to feel fresh).

 

If 2020 is half as good, I’ll still be pretty pleased.

 

(Feel bad for not bigging up Slaves to Darkness, Honourbound, the Hollow Mountain, Severed, the Wicked and the Damned and Anarch too, but some idiot just asked for top 5s...)

[Indefragable]

I will have to hire a CPA to figure out when exactly books came out, but reading some of the titles here, hot :cuss 2019 had a lot of stuff!

 

I will do a better self-analysis, but my gut says Curze Primarchs novel and The Solar War right off the bat.

[byrd9999]

I have read/listened to about 20 BL books this year, of which I think 4 were published in 2019:

 

Sublime:

Requiem Infernal - Peter Fehervari. The best "feel" of 40k I have ever read.

 

Spear of the Emperor - ADB. Probably the best BL book I have ever read.

 

Pretty Good:

The Wicked & The Damned - Reynolds, Kelly, Annandale

 

The Beast Inside (audio drama) - Darius Hinks

[bluntblade]

this list has reminded me that I need to buy The Hollow Mountain. 

Ditto that

[Lord_Caerolion]

Wait, Slaves to Darkness was 2019? Definitely adding that to my list as well, in that case.

[DarkChaplain]

Wait, Slaves to Darkness was 2019? Definitely adding that to my list as well, in that case.

 

2018. The Hardback was out in June 2018, followed by Titandeath, and finally The Buried Dagger in February 2019. Slaves to Darkness is waaay disqualified this time.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Thought so, but my memory is terrible.