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, here in its new home on the Wordforge! Last time I spoke about its move from Tabletop Battles, and we continue to be grateful to them for all their support of this important fan-driven imitative.
Today we are excited to welcome eight more books into the Hall, with the books of 2020 having been considered and assessed. As a reminder, we are almost at the end of the project as a biweekly enterprise, since we’ve nearly caught up to the current day. Thereafter it will be an annual exercise, just like most other sports and entertainment halls of fame. Here’s what that timeline looks like:
Today: The winners of 2020 announced, voting for the Class of 2021
22 Nov: The winners of 2021 announced, voting for the Class of 2022
06 Dec: The winners of 2022 announced.
07 February 20271: Voting for the Class of 2023.
21 February 2027: The winners of 2023 announced.
And then we’ll go dormant for another year, because it’s difficult to assess the historical impact of books unless you give a little time and distance for history to do its thing.
Vote for the Class of 2021
Before we jump into 2020’s winners, a note that the ballot for the Class of 2021 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 eight books inducted into the Class of 2020.
Michael, Track of Words: “Guy Haley injects character and interest into every scene, and it’s testament to his talents that this feels like both a powerful, dramatic tale in its own right and an exciting start to a much grander story yet to be unveiled. The wealth of rich 40k lore to absorb is worth the asking price alone. Haley has nailed it.”
Michael, Track of Words: “It’s fascinating to read a story which takes a notionally neutral character – this is 40k after all, so the enforcers are still pretty brutal – and asks him to dig beneath the surface of an element of Imperial life which perfectly encapsulates the inequality between rich and poor. This is undoubtedly the best example of ‘domestic’ 40k yet.”
Jay, Warhammer Wordforge and Tabletop Battles: “Long ago and far away- all the way back to May of 2001, in fact- Inferno! Editor Marc Gascoigne explained why they weren’t interested in submissions from non-human POV characters. ‘Things to avoid: any plot which features an ork (or orc) or eldar as a central hero; we will not take these.’
“It was likely the right policy at the right time, but as they say, times change, and in 2020 we saw our first novel with an Ork as the main character. Brooks was clearly the man for the moment, delivering a high-octane tale of absolute, kinetic mayhem that embodies the greenskins in Warhammer 40K perfectly contrasted with the dogmatic logic of their Mechanicus foes. An instant classic.”
Michael, Track of Words: “Bloomin’ brilliant, it reads like a proper hardboiled detective story, all noirish first-person narration and tropey but clever characterisation, which is exactly what I want from Warhammer Crime! It offers a great viewpoint on everyday, ‘domestic’ 40k and explores the fascinating setting of Varangantua, but where it stands out even amongst this series is the way it really digs into the contrasts and hypocrisies of the Imperium, with Noctis providing the absolute perfect POV character. He knows he’s a hypocrite, and he’s come to terms with it, and this makes him deeply interesting to read about.”
Jay, Warhammer Wordforge and Tabletop Battles: “This is the perfect example of a book that hits the ‘trifecta’ of being historically, culturally, and aesthetically significant. Historically, it’s been a massive success, a strong statement of intent for then-debutante Robert Rath that eventually dethroned Dan Abnett’s Horus Rising at Warhammer World for ‘top book.’
“Culturally it not only pushed out the envelope on Necron character work, but it opened up a new avenue for grimdark humor that had largely been the purview of the Orks and Commissar Ciaphas Cain. And aesthetically, it’s masterfully written, a perfect balance of humor and earnestness that even conceals an absolutely clever word-puzzle reveal. The Infinite and the Divine was destined for this.”
Michael, Track of Words: “The dynamic between Trazyn and Orikan makes for a wonderful mixture of humour and pathos, and this translates into a book that’s often laugh-out-loud funny as Trazyn mercilessly teases Orikan, who responds with increasingly sharp mockery of his own. Their relationship lends itself beautifully to witty crosstalk and cutting humour, which is a huge amount of fun to read, but there’s a darker side to it too.
“Their rivalry results in cataclysmic damage to various non-Necron civilisations, much to Trazyn and Orikan’s absolute lack of concern – to them, such damage is barely worth noticing, but of course to the younger races things look rather different. As it develops, the plot also digs into the painful history of the Necrons and their ill-fated alliance with the C’tan, and what biotransference has done to the once-glorious Necrontyr empire.”
Michael, Track of Words: “The Regent’s Shadow picks up where 2017’s phenomenal The Emperor’s Legion left off, and delivers another brilliant slice of Warhammer 40,000 storytelling. The narrative, character development and continued exploration of Terra are all deeply satisfying, and in typical Wraight fashion it continues to fill some of the gaps in recent 40k history in a powerful, very human way. In short, it’s another must-read.”
Michael, Track of Words: “An understated masterclass in balancing complexity and readability, The Reverie takes full advantage of the freedoms provided by the Warhammer Horror range to dig deep into everything that makes his style so compelling. It’s a character-driven tale full of typically vivid imagery and a creeping sense of dread and discomfort, where nothing is quite what it seems, where obsessions come to the fore and where ideas and intent are more important than strength or pretty words.
“This is low-key horror, heavy in intense dialogue, ambiguous visions and dream sequences, and relatively light in pulse-racing, visceral action (although there’s a bit of that, still). It’s the sort of story that leaves you uncomfortable rather than outright scared, and while it reveals all manner of truths about the Angels Resplendent it leaves just as many questions teasingly unanswered, inviting readers to draw their own conclusions and search through Peter Fehervari’s other stories for clues.”
Lenoon, Tabletop Battles (HoF Alumni): “Fehervari knows horror well. The Reverie feels like an experiment cut short, the first half playing with the boundaries of what Marines can be, the environments they can live in and their purpose when there isn’t Only War. It’s a horror without the horrifying, a Rebecca-style gothic novel where suspense, set dressing and dialogue create the feeling of looming, vital, doom without the need for a monster lurking under the stairs.”
Michael, Track of Words: “A 500+ page beast of a book in which secrets are revealed, big names start to fall, and the stakes – somehow – get even higher. This is classic Abnett – the master of the multiple-viewpoint war story – with four major conflicts taking place intertwined with smaller, subtler subplots exploring recurring characters and setting up questions or concepts for future development.
“It’s an incredibly complex book packed with characters (the dramatis personae stretches to eight pages) but Abnett nails the pacing and variation, always knowing when to switch between narrative strands, when to throw the reader headlong into the action and when to pull back for little moments of calm and humanity. All told, it’s a beautifully constructed book, an incredible achievement even for an author as talented as Abnett, and an absolute must-read for any Heresy fan.”
Congratulations to all, and especially to first-time winners Mike Brooks and Robert Rath!
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.
Guy Haley continues to be enjoying a moment, with an incredible five books getting inducted from 2019 and 2020 and vaulting him into top-three territory. Another two first-time winners join the club this week as well.
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
We’ve gone a number of weeks without a lot of change to this table, leading to a general sense that the days of books getting extraordinarily high public acclaim might be in the rearview.
Then came The Infinite and the Divine, the first book to crack the Top 10 of the chart in a decade. The next-newest books on there, Soul Hunter and Helsreach (both by Aaron Dembski-Bowden) were from 2010, giving you some idea of how hard it is to crack. That says a lot about Rath’s masterpiece and how it’s perceived in the Warhammer community, but sadly it also does mean that Abnett’s Traitor General falls off the bottom of the table.
Horus Heresy
By way of a consolation prize for Traitor General, Saturnine charted on the Horus Heresy Top Twenty this week. That means we must bid farewell to John French’s The Solar War.
Age of Sigmar
This table remains in flux, with Age of Sigmar a relatively young imprint so far. With Profit’s Ruin jumping aboard, it knocked three books from their perch: Fury of Gork by Josh Reynolds, Scourge of Fate by Robbie MacNiven, and C L Werner’s Wardens of the Everqueen, which were all tied at 9.
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.
The Hall of Glory
Finally, for a look at all the books that are in the Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame, the complete list is here!
That’s all for this week! Congrats to the winners, thanks for reading and don’t forget to vote!
2027 dates tentative, but probably correct