In the grim darkness of the present day, everything has to be an app. So it is that after many long years of service, Games Workshop’s Black Library website—home of its wide range of Warhammer novels—is being replaced with something a little more high tech.
Some scepticism is understandable, particularly because this means you now can’t download ebooks and audiobooks as DRM-free files—you can only read or listen to them within the Black Library app.
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- Find the Black Library app on the Play Store or the Apple store.
- Once you’ve got it downloaded, create and sign into a MyWarhammer account.
- You’ll find all the free books listed in the bar at the top of the app—just click through to each one, hit the big “Free” button, and they’ll be added to your library. No checkout screen or anything like that.
You can also grab them as both ebooks and audiobooks, which is a nice touch—just make sure to click the button for both versions.
If you have an existing Black Library account, you can link it to your MyWarhammer account to transfer all your purchases over. I was worried this would be a fiddly process but it was very quick and easy too, and my library updated instantly. Considering Games Workshop’s spotty history with apps and web development, so far this latest launch seems impressively smooth.
As for the books themselves, it’s a nice selection covering a variety of different novels that take place in the Warhammer 40,000, The Horus Heresy, Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, and Warhammer Fantasy settings. They’re mostly not the big, obvious classics—there’s no Gaunt’s Ghosts in here for example—but it still seems like a strong selection, especially for the very reasonable price of free. The full list is:
- Avenging Son by Guy Haley (Warhammer 40,000)
- Darkoath by Chris Thursten (Age of Sigmar)
- Dominion by Darius Hinks (Age of Sigmar)
- The Return of Nagash by Josh Reynolds (Warhammer Fantasy)
- Realmslayer by David Guymer (Age of Sigmar)
- Ciaphas Cain: The Anthology by Sandy Mitchell (Warhammer 40,000)
- Sanguinus: The Great Angel by Chris Wraight (The Horus Heresy)
- Mark of Faith by Rachel Harrison (Warhammer 40,000)
Now, I have to admit I haven’t read any of these myself, but there are definitely some that leap out as ones I’m excited to check out.
Realmslayer is a full-on audio drama starring Gotrek from the classic Gotrek & Felix novels, brought forward in time to the Age of Sigmar setting. Notably, Brian Blessed stars as the titular dwarf (just as he did in the Total War: Warhammer series), which has got to be worth a listen.
Ciaphas Cain is always good fun—he’s basically Warhammer 40,000’s version of Flashman, a legendary Imperial hero who’s actually a coward and a blowhard who keeps stumbling into renown. A collection of short stories seems like a good intro to the long-running series.
Though he’s no longer with Black Library, Josh Reynolds is one of the best writers ever for Warhammer Fantasy and Age of Sigmar stories, and his work with Nagash went a long way to defining the modern incarnation of the character, so I don’t think you can go wrong with that one. It’s also a good starting point for the End Times books, if you’re curious about that period.
Personally, I’m most excited to read Mark of Faith. I loved author Rachel Harrison’s Black Library debut, Honourbound—a novel that really found the humanity in Warhammer 40,000’s bleak dystopia. A story about the Sisters of Battle seems like a great fit with her style, and her talent for writing strong female characters.
If you’ve been meaning to check out some Warhammer novels, this seems like a great starter bundle to give you a taste, and it’s hard to argue with free—even if there are reasons to have some misgivings about the new app. Just make sure to grab them before that deadline of April 20.
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