Best books of 2023

[grailkeeper]

We're coming to the end of the year. Most books are out now bar a few Christmas offerings. What was everyone's favourite book or books of the year? (Hopefully something I haven't read yet)

[System Sound]

I haven't read much BL this year, since a certain block of paper said death and end too many times, so I took an extended break from BL. But Genefather and Cypher were very fun reads.

 

 

[Scribe]

Hmm, Volume 1, and I have Angron?

[DarkChaplain]

I just looked at the BL page and was shocked by how few new novels we actually got this year, if their 40k category is accurate. Lots of reprints and omnibuses, but new novels few and far between, it feels.

 

I'd put Fall of Cadia and Genefather at the top of the list.

 

I haven't read the sole Crime novel of the year yet, Horror didn't happen this year, and the only actually complete HH novel was Garro: Knight of Grey, which was decidedly not it. There hasn't been a 40k Characters novel since Shadowsun in spring, either, despite the thing being strong last year. Another series that's slipping?

 

My biggest disappointment has got to be Cypher: Lord of the Fallen. I still can't get over how little it actually had to say about Cypher himself, how short it was, and how it wasn't a 4-disc audio drama as originally announced but a novel, without actually changing to accomodate the format shift.

 

Great year for the backlog, pretty meh for new or surprising stuff on the whole.

 

Some more musings/ramblings/numbers on BL output this year:
 

Spoiler

Looking back at AoS this year, which I haven't read much of myself but seen reactions to, I would hazard the assumption that AoS beat out 40k this year.

Not only did it have FOUR new original characters debuting (French's Cado Ezechiar, Haley's Drekki Flynt, Noah Van Nguyen's Heldenar Fall (who I started on recently) and Kloster's Nyssa Volari, but it also had multiple big characters from the game getting covered and developed in depth on top of a few surprising sequels.

 

Putting it into numbers, I counted 12 new novels for AoS (not counting Realmslayer) vs 18 new novels for 40k, including the upcoming Sea of Souls.

 

There have been 12 omnibuses/anthologies/anniversary edition of old material and one new novella.

AoS had merely two anthologies, one omnibus and Realmslayer, which reworked two box set audio dramas into a full novel.

To make matters worse, a couple of the omnibuses 40k got were already in print before, they were merely reissued with new cover art.

 

It looks like an all-around good and creative year for that branch of Black Library. With 40k, not so much. It seems to me as if 40k rested too much on its legacy and backlog this year (even though I'm obviously a proponent of the backlog remaining accessible and omnibus editions getting reprinted if they go out of stock!), while new output has been on the backburner.

 

And I got another thing to point out here, which contrasts heavily between 40k and AoS, and in a way diminishes the amount of new material further: Short novels. Looking at audiobook runtimes alone, AoS's shortest audiobook (at 9 hours) is still longer than around a third of 40k's offerings. While 40k had some chunkers this year too (Fall of Cadia ~20h, Ashes of Cadia 14.5h), length varies much more greatly on the lower end here. Cypher: Lord of the Fallen, for instance, is a mere 5 hours in its audiobook - that's as long as a single audio drama box set would've been; funnily enough, that's precisely what Cypher was originally going to be and is narrated in the style of. Who knew.

 

While there haven't been as many short novels this year as I'd originally thought, it's probably more the lack of Characters entries aside from Shadowsun and Cypher that saved it. We had a lot more shorties last year (Vincula Insurgency, Saint Katherine, Astorath (though this was a re-release after limited jail), Day of Ascension, three characters books), and if the trend here is going back to the usual ~400 pager paperback, I'd be more than happy. We'll have to wait and see what the future holds, I suppose.

 

At the end of it, I'm honestly shocked by how few BL novels I took up and finished this year. Mostly backlog audiobooks, like Cain, Bile/Genefather and new Heresy things. I might have read more High Republic than 40k this year otherwise.

 

Generally, 2023 has been a strong reading year for me (gonna hit the 100 short novel and upwards-milestone before the year ends, caught up with ~50 volumes of One Piece, all of Chainsaw Man, numerous light novels (because life is heavy enough lately as is!) and re-read the entire Harry Potter series, two of the four Sanderson kickstarter novels (which were both excellent!), and the massive Esrahaddon by Michael J. Sullivan, which despite being comparable in length to TEATD 1+2 (around ~30 hours) felt like it had no fat, and even the cut, unedited chapters published online were meaningful.

 

It's certainly not been a year where I've not felt like reading. It's been a year where BL made it very difficult to stay invested, excited and engaged, though. It took til Genefather and Fall of Cadia to bring that spark back, and that was fairly recently....

Edited November 22, 2023 by DarkChaplain

[theSpirea]

Same as last year, I was planning to create this thread closer to the end of the year to give people more time to catch up on the 2023 releases, as not all books are out yet.

I'm adding a list to make it easier for people to remember what was even published in 2023. Let's start with number:

 

We got 31 novels (10 AoS, 19 40K, 2 HH) , 2 novellas, 35 short stories, 5 anthologies

In 2022 we got: 40 novels (11 AoS, 24 40K, 5 HH), 1 novella, 46 short stories, 11 anthologies

 

I counted only those short stories that were published within the year as individual/separate ebooks, so the new short stories from anthologies are not included in that count.

There are still quite a few 2023 BL books I plan to read, so the list might not be final. My top 3 are:

• Godeater's Son by Noah Van Nguyen - The book is not perfect, but it's a great example of what can be done within Age of Sigmar. It demonstrates that not all books have to be atrocious Realmgate War novelized battle reports. Nguyen is a talented writer, and I'm hoping to see more from him.
• The Fall of Cadia by Robert Rath - Another year, another novel by Rath making it to my top Black Library reads. I've already shared my thoughts about this one in the related thread.
• Cypher: Lord of the Fallen by John French - French's prose is excellent, and I enjoyed every page. The writing is definitely stronger than the plot and characters; in that regard, the book is lacking, but it's still a worthy entry in the 40K Characters series.

Honorable mentions:

• Starstruck by Denny Flowers - didn't know I needed more Lucille von Shard in my life
• The Bleeding Stars by Rober Rath - a great companion to The Infinite and the Divine and The Fall of Cadia

 

Letdowns:

• Lion, The: Son of the Forest by Mike Brooks - already had my rant on this one
• The Iron Kingdom by Nick Kyme - not that long ago, I was hyping and defending the Devastation of Baal series, but this book killed it for me, and the next one confirmed the series is dead. It's a mismanaged mess with poorly written entries, representing Black Library's another shot at a series and another fail.

 

2022 was a much stronger year, at least for me. Finally, I put together a list of Black Library authors I'm never going to read again, something I do for all authors outside of Black Library. Not sure why I was more forgiving here. With so many books to read and other things to do, if an author disappoints me with three novels in a row, it's better to move on."

[Roomsky]

I was about to say there was plenty I enjoyed this year - then realized it was mostly paperback releases of good novels from last year. 

 

The Best:

• The King of the Spoil - Crime's still a fantastic range, let's not let it wither and die completely eh guys? Grim as hell, good intrigue, tightly paced, love it all.
• Longshot - The surprise contender, for me. What started as a typical Guard story went to places I didn't know I wanted but loved all the same.
• The Iron Kingdom - slim pickings when a Kyme book is in my top rankings. I think the community's still too harsh on the guy's writing, however, and I found this quite enjoyable. It's plotted well, and I still like Dawn of Fire. 

The worst:

• Garro: Knight of Grey - crap character gets a crap ending that makes Warhawk worse by association.
• Shadowsun: The Patient Hunter - Stop making Shadowsun boring! She's not a boring character! Bad Kelly! Bad!

Most Disappointing: 

• Cypher - it was an easy read but I expect better from French. There's simply not enough meat on them bones.
• Dishonourable mention to The End and the Death - still like `em both. Still think they're both horribly mismanaged.

Things-I-read-this-year-that-may-not-have-actually-come-out-this-year-that-I-must-praise-anyway: 

Assassinorum: Kingmaker, The Hollow King, Godsbane, Renegades: Harrowmaster, Lion: Son of the Forest, Angron the Red Angel, Godeater's Son (<- best one of the year right there)

[Sothalor]

Thank you @theSpirea for always having the BL lists.

 

Actually looking through it - wow, that list is sparser than I thought. And there's a bunch on there I haven't read.

 

Hmm... so Fall of Cadia and Angron: The Red Angel are both on my upcoming reading list, and based on the discussions here I'm really looking forward to them. Besides that... yeah, I guess I've been kinda let down by the books of this year.

 

As much praise as Godeater's Son and The Lion: Son of the Forest got, the first just didn't click with me and I thought the latter had major character and plot issues.

 

And as much as I love The End and the Death (Volumes 1-Bajillionty) as a wordsmithing House of Leaves-esque experimental mind-:cuss:ery behemoth of a rage-magnet, it's a wild mess.

 

 

So... I guess that leaves me with Longshot as my standout read of the year so far. Did not see that coming.

But as I said in my review, come for the Space Stalingrad Sniper Showdown, stay for the Grimdark Sociology Tragedy.

[Urauloth]

I think King of the Spoil is my absolute standout from this year, but Godeater's Son and Fall of Cadia were also terrific. I'd say all three are outstanding among Warhammer fiction overall - I'd have to consider them if I was drawing up a list of my favourite BL books of all time. In that respect, while it's been a bit of a sparse year for releases, the highlights have been extremely impressive.

I loved Son of the Forest as well, as I think I wrote about at length at the time. Enjoyed Angron, which I think represents a huge leap forward for Guymer as an author.

Still haven't gotten to Genefather, but if I manage to read that in December I expect it'll be of of my year's favourites.

[wecanhaveallthree]

I'm obliged to have the wholly opposite opinion of Roomsky, as always. Shadowsun was a great book that I loved - the Tau being forced to deal with the Way Things Work in the setting on a large scale was fantastic. I was a big fan of War of Secrets, but Patient Hunter is a much more Tau-focused version of the same themes, on a much larger scale, and it's great.

 

Genefather and Red Angel were both fantastic, and I have few complaints about either. Red Angel in particular is such a wonderfully intimate, melancholy and amusing look at the World Eaters and a monstrous showing from the GK who have been unfortunately absent for far too long. 

[theSpirea]

It seems a few people feel 2023 was a bit slow. We got fewer books, but that's probably due to the very strong showing in 2022. 2023 followed in the footsteps of 2020 and 2021.

 

	2020	2021	2022	2023
AoS novels	5	6	11	10
40K novels	18	18	24	19
HH novels	5	4	5	2
All novels	28	28	40	31

 

I wouldn't say AoS beat 40K this year. Both Cado Ezechiar and Drekki Flynt came out in 2022. The setting received more novels than in 2020/2021, but it doesn't seem like it was at the expense of 40K numbers. Getting around 30 new novels from Black Library in a year is, I'd say, a pretty healthy number. I might delve more into the previous year. I quickly checked average word count (if we want to compare length, word count should be used, both page and audio length are fairly misleading). Average AoS novel in 2023 95K words, for 40K it's 104K. If we exclude SoT two hefty volumes, The Fall of Cadia, and also Creed, we're still at 93K average word count.

[Nagashsnee]

Fall of Cadia and Genefather. Tho as other have noted it was not a very good year for BL offerings. 

 

Angron and Vainglorious were fun too but i would not re read either which for me is the sign of a truly good book.

 

 

The iron Kingdom was my worse read, it had so much potential and it squandered it it all. It has also cemented Nick Kyme as the BL nepo baby for me. He IS getting better but only because he has been allowed to fail, and fail, and fail and FAIL some more while cashing in at every stage of failure.  Its also one more Dawn of Fire book which has left me asking WHAT is the point of the DoF series other then specific cover art. 

Edited November 23, 2023 by Nagashsnee

[Orange Knight]

I think Genefather is far and away the best 40k book of 2023.

 

I enjoyed Leviathan and the Iron Kingdom more than I expected, but objectively they aren't as good. Son of the Forest was ok - gets props for having a returned Primarch but pales in comparison to Dark Imperium - the first major novel featuring Guilliman. I hope they deliver more novels featuring the Lion soon, and the Votann for that matter.

 

Overall it wasn't the strongest year.

[cheywood]

4 hours ago, Nagashsnee said:

Fall of Cadia and Genefather. Tho as other have noted it was not a very good year for BL offerings. 

 

Angron and Vainglorious were fun too but i would not re read either which for me is the sign of a truly good book.

 

 

The iron Kingdom was my worse read, it had so much potential and it squandered it it all. It has also cemented Nick Kyme as the BL nepo baby for me. He IS getting better but only because he has been allowed to fail, and fail, and fail and FAIL some more while cashing in at every stage of failure.  Its also one more Dawn of Fire book which has left me asking WHAT is the point of the DoF series other then specific cover art. 

I don’t think you can justifiably call Kyme a nepo baby. His writing’s not the best, but as an editor he’s arguably more important to BL’s success than any single writer. People seem to really value his insight in that role too. Paul Kearney, who’s worked with a lot of publishers, called Kyme the best editor he’s had.

[theSpirea]

Often authors praise Kyme as an editor in their afterwords and interviews. We owe Nick thanks for believing in Fehervari; no one disputes that. However, some are pointing out Kyme's sub-par abilities as an author, especially considering how many books he has written.

Additionally, editing a standalone novel differs from managing a multi-author series.

The track record shows Black Library struggles with multi-author series management. The Horus Heresy ended up a bloated, over-extended series (though beloved), The Beast Arises was a narrative mess, and the DoF series has also its issues.

[cheywood]

15 minutes ago, theSpirea said:

Often authors praise Kyme as an editor in their afterwords and interviews. We owe Nick thanks for believing in Fehervari; no one disputes that. However, some are pointing out Kyme's sub-par abilities as an author, especially considering how many books he has written.

Additionally, editing a standalone novel differs from managing a multi-author series.

The track record shows Black Library struggles with multi-author series management. The Horus Heresy ended up a bloated, over-extended series (though beloved), The Beast Arises was a narrative mess, and the DoF series has also its issues.

I’m well aware of the difference between Kyme’s editing and writing (go look at all my reviews of his novels ). But the whole concept of a nepo baby is someone who only gets opportunities because of who they know. Kyme clearly gets opportunities to write because he’s a respected contributor to BL in a lot of ways. Seems like an inaccurate descriptor to attach.

[Jareddm]

I want to give a special shout-out to Da Red Gobbo trilogy(?). Mike Brooks, Denny Flowers, and Rhuairidh James wrote a lovely little set of stories that absolutely deserves a portmanteau-style connecting arc. I feel the third didn't get much spotlight because of the aforementioned Fall of Cadia (deserved) and TEaTD (still working on it) but all three are great and were so much fun to read.

 

Similarly, I nominate "The Sum of Its Parts" as the best short story of the year, though I don't read much AoS, which seems to be the main contender for the title.

Edited November 23, 2023 by Jareddm

[Nagashsnee]

1 hour ago, cheywood said:

I’m well aware of the difference between Kyme’s editing and writing (go look at all my reviews of his novels ). But the whole concept of a nepo baby is someone who only gets opportunities because of who they know. Kyme clearly gets opportunities to write because he’s a respected contributor to BL in a lot of ways. Seems like an inaccurate descriptor to attach.

Yes but I am talking about him as a writer. A writer who got published by BL where he is a editor, and a well liked person and a long time member of staff. A writer who first X books were terrible quality.  But still got to write and publish book after book and has been included in every flagship series. 

 

If nick kyme was not a senior figure in BL with a in built friendship network does his work justify his large number of commissions and inclusion in just about everything? 

 

Do people whose fantastic work in BL marketing have lead to large increases in readership get a crack or 6 at writing? Accounting? Does GW best bugmans staffer? He could be the BEST editor in existence but that does not change just how many WRITING opportunities he has been given?. 

 

The basic question is would Nick Kyme be publishing the same body of work at BL if he WASNT a well liked senior editor and long term employ? But had approach them as a writer? The answer based on his work ( and your own reviews ) is....probably not. 

 

Maybe nepotism is not the right word and for that I admit I was mistaken. Favoritism? Opportunism?.

 

But i wont derail this thread with my admittedly biased anti Kyme feelings, i simply will never forgive him for the hours of my life i have up reading his HH salamanders books. Not ever.   They remain for me the single worse reading experience of my life. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by Nagashsnee

[Azaiel]

Oh boy, I´ve read alot of BL books but most of them are older than 2023 (Twice dead king books, Valdor birth of imperium, Assassinorium: Kingmaker, Fabius Omnibus)

 

I did like the Ciaphas Cain book Vainglorious. This series of books are, for me, a safe bet since they are basically all the same for all the good reasons. They always put a smile to my face.

 

Disappointments for me was Cypher, I usually love Frenchs writing such as the Ahriman books but this one, besides a cool world building, didn't tell anything. There was barely a story in there.

Garro was also disappointing, felt rushed and way short for a book release at that price.

 

The beginning of the end of all death part 1 is still half read. I love Abnetts work but this one was a slog. I got annoyed at the long sentences of description for example to show how many layers of people/institutions/whatever there are to get to the golden throne. "Closest are the Custodes by the throne, then comes the augurs, then the Osmotian scientist, then the janitors chambers and then and then..."

[cheywood]

2 minutes ago, Nagashsnee said:

Yes but I am talking about him as a writer. A writer who got published by BL where he is a editor, and a well liked person and a long time member of staff. A writer who first X books were terrible quality.  But still got to write and publish book after book and has been included in every flagship series. 

 

If nick kyme was not a senior figure in BL with a in built friendship network does his work justify his large number of commissions and inclusion in just about everything? 

 

Do people whose fantastic work in BL marketing have lead to large increases in readership get a crack or 6 at writing? Accounting? Does GW best bugmans staffer? He could be the BEST editor in existence but that does not change just how many WRITING opportunities he has been given?. 

 

The basic question is would Nick Kyme be publishing the same body of work at BL if he WASNT a well liked senior editor and long term employ? But had approach them as a writer? The answer based on his work ( and your own reviews ) is....probably not. 

 

Maybe nepotism is not the right word and for that I admit I was mistaken. Favoritism? Opportunism?.

 

But i wont derail this thread with my admittedly biased anti Kyme feelings, i simply will never forgive him for the hours of my life i have up reading his HH salamanders books. Not ever.   They remain for me the single worse reading experience of my life. 

 

 

 

 

 

 My point was mostly in the name of definitional accuracy. Does Kyme’s position give him opportunities others wouldn’t necessarily have? Yeah absolutely, but that’s the case for lots of people in many fields. Working in the film industry gives you connections you can parlay into opportunities, but that isn’t the same as being given an acting gig or corporate position based solely on who your parents or siblings are. Kyme’s output isn’t incredible in the minds of many, but in terms of credentials he’s more qualified to write for BL than the overwhelming majority of people on the planet. He knows the setting, he’s integrated in the production infrastructure and has plenty of experience producing IP fiction. Thus I think, fundamentally, his continued presence as a writer has nothing to do with nepotism. These days it seems like he’s often a fill-in writer anyways, jumping in to existing series to write something that another author didn’t have time to, which is a sensible skill for an editor to have. 
 

But I’d also say I disagree about his writing quality. His early books are pretty awful, but it’s not like they were much worse than a lot of what BL was publishing at the time. They gave Ben Counter the third book in the Heresy after all. I’ve read shampoo bottles with better prose than Counter’s. And Kyme’s more recent works are a lot better. They’re still not particularly good, except for Volpone Glory, but they’re nowhere near bad enough to take away his typing privileges. 

[Scribe]

In many many many areas of life, its not what you know, its who.

 

Sure nepotism isnt the fully correct word, but I think we all get the intent. :)

[cheywood]

1 minute ago, Scribe said:

In many many many areas of life, its not what you know, its who.

 

Sure nepotism isnt the fully correct word, but I think we all get the intent. :)

Right, connections are everything. But I think it’s important to distinguish between reasonable use of connections to gain opportunities you’re qualified for, and exploiting connections to gain opportunities you have no business getting. To me Kyme clearly falls into the former category, but it sounds like agreeing to disagree is the way to go. 

[Noserenda]

Isnt he the editor in chief? So its not nepotism if you are giving yourself opportunities right? Hes still one of the worst BL authors, ive enjoyed bits of his work but almost every book ends up disappointing, sometimes grossly. 

So yeah, worst book of the year was Iron Kingdom, possibly one of the worst BL books ive ever read, and ive read everything by CS Goto (So yeah im a literary masochist)  to the extent that just remembering it exists makes me angry. 

That does remind me of the reason id heard as to why the Prospero box had no tie in novel, apparently Nick Kyme wrote one, but it was so bad that even he couldnt get it published. Which makes one wonder just how bad it was? 

Anyhow, on a more positive note! Ive been readign a lot more non BL stuff this year so havent gotten to the various Cadian books and im in no rush to it up The end and the death's saggy middle just yet, but from what i did its a toss up between Son of the Forest which really gripped and resonated with me on a rare level and Genefather, which was similarly compelling but i think had a bit of a leg up from following a lot of great books and also being an easter egg goldmine for this old grognard :D 

[tgcleric]

The End and the Death 2/3rds is probably the best I've read. 

 

I really enjoyed Outgunned as a airport novel type read. 

 

Haven't read much actually published in 2023, mostly catching up on series I was behind on. 

[Roomsky]

I was going to say something along the lines of "wow, if Iron Kingdom was your worst book of the year, you haven't read the really bad stuff!" I then realized that was, in fact, a good thing, y`all are lucky.

 

I'm shocked at how much you guys dislike it, though.

[Nagashsnee]

10 hours ago, Noserenda said:

That does remind me of the reason id heard as to why the Prospero box had no tie in novel, apparently Nick Kyme wrote one, but it was so bad that even he couldnt get it published. Which makes one wonder just how bad it was? 

I have never heard that before, does anyone know if there is anything to this or just one of those internet rumors' that gets passed around? If they ever start doing BL events again i think i  will (politely) ask. 

9 hours ago, Roomsky said:

I was going to say something along the lines of "wow, if Iron Kingdom was your worst book of the year, you haven't read the really bad stuff!" I then realized that was, in fact, a good thing, y`all are lucky.

 

I'm shocked at how much you guys dislike it, though.

Well the great thing these days is i get to read lots of reviews of things before i buy them. Most of my non BL book reading is done based on friend recommendations (reading a book called 'A Libertarian Walked into a Bear' atm which someone who knows me well told me i would enjoy and i am!) or me hearing about something and AFTER looking into it buying it.  So its not very likely i will end up reading something in the wild going in blind and hence very unlikely i will end up reading something i will hate/dislike. 

 

BL is different tho, as its mostly about the settings, so like Iron Kingdom was 'well i read all the other DoF books and only 3 to go so might as well'. Or that terrible flesh tearer book 'i love Blood Angels and their lore so this book should be for me!'. 

 

Iron Kingdom for me suffered because it had the makings of a good book, but then shot itself in both feet and challenged itself to a run. And its always easier to dislike a book that had potential.