The Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame is the long-term, reader-participation initiative to recognize those novels that have “cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance” to the Black Library. Through the votes of readers as well as our community panel of community voices, we’ll examine the entire history of the Black Library, induct the latest winners, and vote for the next round’s candidates every other week.
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Hello and welcome to the latest installment of the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame- and the first one to be hosted here on the Wordforge!
As I shared in Black Library Weekly, Tabletop Battles has carried the ball this far, and are leaving it up to us here to get to the finish line.
We’re almost there, with 2022 being the last of the “catch-up years” before we switch to an annual format for the 2023 books and beyond.
Today we’re unveiling the ten winners of the Class of 2019, an incredible year that offered readers some of the best work the Black Library’s ever offered. The Horus Heresy wound down, giving rise to the Siege of Terra. Meanwhile, Age of Sigmar continued to get its legs beneath it as its fiction really started coming together.
Also, for those of you who enjoyed the Top Twenty lists I shared in The Hall Monitor, my “director’s commentary” companion piece to the Tabletop Battles articles, you’ve got a few less clicks today! Going forward, The Hall Monitor is being merged into the main Hall of Fame article, so once you get to the end of the ten inductees keep on scrolling to find the list of top-performing books in all four categories (40K, Horus Heresy, Fantasy, and Age of Sigmar) across the full range of the Hall project, as well as the “author leaderboard” for most inducted books!
Vote for the Class of 2020
Before we jump into 2019’s winners, a note that the ballot for the Class of 2020 is now live!
Remember, you may vote for as many (or as few) books as you think are worthy of being inducted!
Now, let’s see those winners!
The Envelope Please
Here are the ten books inducted into the Class of 2019.
Michael, Track of Words: “The fifteenth (!) Gaunt’s Ghosts novel, and the fourth and final instalment in the long-running The Victory arc, Dan Abnett’s Anarch picks up almost immediately after the conclusion to The Warmaster. This might just be the darkest place Abnett’s taken the Ghosts to yet.
“It’s not just dark in the violent sense either – for all that the series is very much about war stories, it’s also always featured personal dramas and tragedies, both of which are present and correct in this book. While the explosive action is undoubtedly great fun, the real reason you want to keep turning the page – and boy is this a page turner – is to understand where the characters go and what happens to them, and Abnett’s great success here is in seeing through so many characters’ journeys to their logical, (largely) satisfying conclusions.”
Michael, Track of Words: “Prolific Black Library author Guy Haley continues to explore the ‘Dark Imperium’ era of Warhammer 40,000 with Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work, tackling not just the titular Archmagos Dominus and his idiosyncratic adventures but also the fate of the remaining Scythes of the Emperor.
“Never one to take the easy option, Haley draws together threads from his Dark Imperium series and his Horus Heresy novels Pharos and Wolfsbane, plus the Scythes of the Emperor arc created by Richard Williams and LJ Goulding, cleverly bridging the Heresy, pre-Dark Imperium 40k and the ‘current’ timeline.
“All told this achieves the impressive feat of being a pacy, compelling read in its own right while balancing multiple existing story arcs in a cleverly constructed narrative packed full of creativity and character.”
Michael, Track of Words: “An Age of Sigmar novel released under Black Library’s Warhammer Horror imprint, Josh Reynolds’ Dark Harvest is a sinister, atmospheric tale of old gods and lost faith in the grey swamps of Ghyran. It’s a perfect backdrop to a slow-burn story about the weight of unhappy history, mortals trying to coexist alongside unfathomable, rage-filled nature, and questions of contrasting faith which hark back to the pantheon of the Old World. Old-school, atmospheric, and properly grim!”
Michael, Track of Words: “Andy Clark’s Age of Sigmar novel Gloomspite is straight-up disturbing…and the best thing he’d written yet. It’s crammed full of insects, spiders, lurking horrors and stomach-churning fungus-based disgustingness. The Gloomspite Gitz themselves are largely kept as distant antagonists but that gives them a real sense of danger and avoids any chance of them coming across as comedic. These are not cheeky little goblins – they’re murderous, insane monsters that bring with them fear and pain and death, and the toll they take on Draconium’s defenders is appalling.
“As Age of Sigmar stories go this is dark and disturbing and comfortably up there with the best.”
Michael, Track of Words: “Rachel Harrison’s debut Black Library novel, Honourbound follows on from several excellent short stories and features Commissar Severina Raine serving with the 11th Antari Rifles as part of the decades-long Bale Stars Crusade.
“Honourbound goes above and beyond expectations, delivering a complex, characterful, brilliantly plotted and beautifully written narrative that does everything a 40k story should do and then some. ‘I have always been keen to write a story that takes in the scope of a massive conflict,’ she shared in an interview, ‘with big battles (as befits the Astra Militarum), but that has very personal stakes as well as the crusade-scale ones.’”
Michael, Track of Words: “A twitchy, jittery collection of characters and plot threads, it sees Curze – twisted, haunted, damaged – spending the final hours of his life reliving some of the key events which led him inevitably to a moment he’d long foreseen.
“As Guy Haley said in our interview, ‘Curze’s story is totally messed up, just like him. My main question about his character always is how much of his madness is the result of his own choices.’ It’s not a book which provides straight answers, but instead it offers a sharp, insightful representation of a complex character which actively encourages the reader to draw their own conclusions.”
Michael, Track of Words: “Book two in Black Library’s Siege of Terra mini-series concluding the Horus Heresy, Guy Haley’s The Lost and the Damned picks up where The Solar War left off as Horus Lupercal launches his assault on Terra itself. Overall Haley has done a fantastic job of maintaining the tone and illustrating the complexity and ferocity of these first stages on Terra, while moving the narrative on, setting the scene for the siege to ramp up in intensity, and simply telling a compelling story.”
Michael, Track of Words: “Peter Fehervari has a unique perspective on the dark heart of the 40k setting, a mind-bending balancing act which takes familiar 40k elements and explores them in wildly different ways. It’s deeply unconventional and won’t appeal to everyone; readers who want to see bombastic, adrenaline-fuelled action bringing the familiar aspects of the setting to life might well find this impenetrable and unfamiliar.
“For those looking for a story which goes way beyond the battlefield and explores Fehervari’s intriguing corner of the 40k universe, this is an incredibly rewarding read which starts to consolidate much of what’s been written before about the Dark Coil. It’s perhaps the most developed and fully-realised example of his writing yet, and feels like a distillation of everything that’s gone before into a single story which – as you might expect – doesn’t provide any concrete answers…but does set the imagination aflame.”
Michael, Track of Words: “This is a complex book. It’s bold and brave, a single coherent narrative which manages to be both action-packed and deeply characterful, with the trademark Heresy achievement of fulfilling expectations and answering key questions while throwing in a few surprises along the way. It’s the sort of book which demonstrates just how painstakingly well planned it must have been by virtue of just…working.
“After a slightly slow start while characters are (re)introduced and arcs established, it quickly develops into a fascinating exploration of a war taking place on multiple planes – the physical and metaphysical, body and mind, the void and Terra – as seen through largely human eyes, featuring numerous viewpoint characters both established and brand new, bringing together plot threads from across the breadth of the (50+ book strong) series…and it simply feels effortless.”
Jay, Warhammer Wordforge and Tabletop Battles: “Although comparatively slender in page count, Chris Wraight manages to use every word to craft one of the greatest pieces of historical lore present in the Black Library. The wordbuilding here is extraordinary, offering a look at the early Imperium we rarely get. It’s not only the novelty aspect of a largely unexplored era of the setting, but Wraight’s masterful depiction of Constantin Valdor that makes this one such a page-turner. An essential read.”
Congratulations to all, and especially to first-time winners Andy Clark and Rachel Harrison!
The Leaderboards
As promised, here are the updated leaderboards. We’ll start with the list of authors, ranked by the number of books they have had inducted into the Hall.
With three books in the Class of 2019, Guy Haley is having a moment as he leaps up the table into a top-three position. It’s always great to see new names get added, and we had two first-time winners this week.
Now, here are the top twenty books that got the highest level of support in the public voting. While not every book had enough votes to be inducted, this kind of acclaim is an accomplishment all its own!
Warhammer 40,000
No changes to the 40K leaderboard. 75% support has remained a fairly challenging barrier to entry. On the other hand…
Horus Heresy
Three of this week’s books landed on the Top Twenty for the Heresy, while four books were knocked off their perch at the bottom. We bid aideu to Graham McNeill’s Vengeful Spirit, Guy Haley’s Titandeath and Pharos, and Slaves to Darkness by John French.
Age of Sigmar
This table is still in a good amount of flux, with the Age of Sigmar property only recently having been founded. Nagash the Undying King by Josh Reynolds, Matt Westbrook’s Bladestorm, and The Tainted Heart by C L Werner all depart the table, with this week’s inductees taking the top two spots and setting a high bar!
Warhammer Fantasy
No changes here. We won’t see a new Fantasy book for a few years to come yet, when McNeill’s Lords of the Lance arrives in 2024.
That’s all for this week! Congrats to the winners, thanks for reading and don’t forget to vote!
Great to see the HoF continuing here. One thing missing: A link to an overview of all the HoF novels.