Welcome to Where to Start with Black Library: Necrons, in which I offer up some suggestions for which Black Library stories to read if you’re particularly interested in the deathless legions of the Necrons. The expansive nature of the worlds of Warhammer can be both a strength and a weakness – there’s loads to explore, but it’s hard to know where to look and where to begin. That’s where this series of articles comes in, as I’ve scoured the dusty halls of the Black Library to pick out a range of great stories that will set you on the right path. I’ve split this article up into two main sections, looking at Necrons as protagonists and then Necrons as antagonists, each one further divided into older lore and more recent releases.
Who are the Necrons, then? To their enemies, the Necrons appear as faceless, terrifying legions of soulless automata, an implacable enemy to be truly feared. From the perspective of their leaders – the few of them to retain any sense of personality and awareness from their time as physical beings – they’re a tragic remnant of a once-powerful race, desperately holding onto what remains of their pride and glory. How this translates to BL fiction is that some stories take the ‘soulless automata’ route while others delve into the history and character of the Necrons – both approaches are great, depending on what you as a reader are looking for.
Necrons as Protagonists
Until relatively recently there were very few stories written from a Necron perspective; historically Black Library has tended to focus on human POVs, so the Xenos races always got short shrift. That’s changed recently however, largely down to the efforts of Nate Crowley and Robert Rath, and there are now some truly fantastic stories that explore these fascinating characters. I’ve split this section in two to reflect these changes, so you can get a sense of the differences.
Older Lore
As I said, in the past there really wasn’t much in the way of Necron POV fiction. I do have a couple of short story suggestions though, both by LJ Goulding – one that’s fully from the Necron perspective and another that mixes Necrons and Blood Angels.
The first – The Lords of Borsis – opens with the titular lords of Borsis (or the Bor Enclave) seated around a table for a banquet, before developing into a tale of hushed whispers and outright rebellion. I don’t want to say too much about it and spoil the fun, but suffice it to say this is full of the scheming and internecine conflict that I personally enjoy in Necron stories, as well as an intriguing dose of deceptively dark madness. When it was first published it was perhaps a little ahead of its time, but I think it stands up really well now. The only downside is that it’s technically a prequel to Ben Counter’s The World Engine, which I…would not recommend.
Secondly there’s The Word of the Silent King, which switches between Necron and Blood Angels perspectives and tells a tale of unlikely allies in the face of the Great Devourer. An alliance between Commander Dante and Szarekh, the Silent King, might sound far-fetched, but that’s sort of the point of this story – some readers might find it hard to believe, but I rather like this sort of edge-case narrative. Again, I don’t want to spoil what happens, but I will say that it’s more of a militaristic story than The Lords of Borsis, and it offers an interesting contrast between the unthinking automatons of the rank and file, and the devious scheming of the lords.
You can buy both of these short stories individually, or pick them up in the digital anthology The Everliving Legion. If you’d prefer physical copies, see if you can get hold of the Crusade + Other Stories anthology or The Great Devourer: The Leviathan Omnibus, both of which include The Word of the Silent King. From what I understand, the only physical book that ever included The Lords of Borsis was The Black Library Anthology (2013/14), which I imagine you’d be hard pressed to get hold of, sadly.
Newer Releases
In the last few years (since about 2019), two authors have done sterling work bringing the Necrons to new life – Nate Crowley and Robert Rath. If you’re looking to find out more about the Necrons, and get a sense of what it might be like to live as an ancient, (largely) undying metal construct, you can’t go wrong with any of these stories.
Nate Crowley
Nate’s Necron stories include an excellent (and really good value) novella and a fantastic duology. They feature different characters so it’s not a series as such, but they certainly share a tone and feel. In the case of the novella Nate chose some existing named 40k characters, but for the duology he explored characters of his own creation.
Severed was Nate’s first Necron story, and possibly (although I don’t know this for certain) the first longer-than-a-short Necron story BL ever published. It’s a tale of Nemesor Zahndrekh and Vargard Obyron, an unexpectedly brilliant double-act whose relationship is full of both whimsy and bleak sadness, which I described in my review as a story “of friendship, honour and duty seen through the lens of characters who have lost much over the long span of ages”. Only Crowley could write an entertaining 40k story about more-or-less immortal robots while also exploring the painful realities of watching an old friend battle dementia, and make that combination work – but work it really does. I can’t recommend this enough.
A couple of years after Severed came out, Crowley followed it up with a two-part story – The Twice-Dead King: Ruin and then The Twice-Dead King: Rein. This duology is the story of Oltyx, exiled Necron Lord of a once-proud dynasty, who’s now reduced to watching over a shabby outpost world in the company of ageing retainers and his own multi-part mind. Over the course of two books Oltyx attempts to save what’s left of his dynasty from impending doom, while also coming to terms with who he really wants to be. Once again Crowley explores complex questions of emotion and mental health, making a story about inhuman, mechanical aliens incredibly, touchingly human.
Read my review of The Twice-Dead King: Ruin
Read Victoria Hayward’s guest review of The Twice-Dead King: Ruin
Robert Rath
Rob’s stories all focus on the same pair of classic characters: Trazyn the Infinite and Orikan the Diviner. If you’ve ever wondered what Statler and Waldorf (the two old guys from the Muppets) would look like in the 40k setting, these stories will give you everything you want and so much more!
Depending on your enjoyment of short stories (not everyone likes them) you can either start at the beginning with War in the Museum for a quick introduction to Trazyn and Orikan’s rivalry, or jump straight into The Infinite and the Divine. Personally I’d recommend starting with War in the Museum, as it nicely sets the scene and gives you a sense of Trazyn’s protectiveness over Solemnace – his expansive museum/tomb world – while also being a fantastic story in its own right with an absolute bucket-load of 40k Easter eggs. Just don’t blame me if you can’t stop rereading it to look for more hidden references!
After that, The Infinite and the Divine really digs into the rivalry between these two ancient frenemies, over the course of a tale that literally spans millennia. It’s nominally about Trazyn and Orikan competing over an ancient artefact with potential ramifications for the Necrons as a race, but really it’s a story about two characters who appear on the surface to be polar opposites, but who are in fact much more important to each other than they really realise. It’s packed full of humour, but also feels very melancholy in the way it explores the nature of Necron existence. Oh, and one of them punches a dinosaur. What more could you want?
Read my review of The Infinite and the Divine
Finally (for now, at least) there’s another short story: Bleeding Stars, which links Trazyn with the events on Cadia at the end of the Gathering Storm narrative. Definitely worth reading last of the three stories – and while I haven’t yet read Rob’s The Fall of Cadia, I’ll be interested to see if there are any connections between these two.
Check out my interview with Rob talking The Infinite and the Divine
Necrons as Antagonists
In contrast to the Necron Protagonists section, there are loads of options for this part of the article. Right from the early 2000s, authors have capitalised on the cold, implacable, inhuman nature of the Necrons to make dangerous antagonists for a range of beleaguered heroes. I certainly haven’t read everything featuring Necron bad guys, but I’ve read plenty – so these are just my personal recommendations. Again I’ve split this section up to talk about older stories first, and then some newer releases.
Older Lore
I could have chosen all manner of books for this section, but for the sake of brevity I’ve narrowed it down to three. These are all considered vintage BL these days, and they very much emphasise the implacable, force of nature, Terminator-esque element of the Necrons, rather than the more individualistic approach of recent releases.
I’ll go in chronological publishing order, which means starting in 2004 with Caves of Ice by Sandy Mitchell – the second novel in the much-loved Ciaphas Cain series. The Necrons aren’t the only antagonists here, as Orks play a big part, but Cain and Jurgen face off against a range of Necron Warriors, Flayed Ones and more as they stumble from one disaster to another. Cain’s viewpoint always offers up something a little different to most 40k stories, but even here the Necrons are portrayed as genuinely terrifying foes.
Next we skip ahead to 2010 for Steve Lyons’ Dead Men Walking, which sees the Death Korps of Krieg battling the Necrons over the fate of an Imperial mining world. It’s very much a tale of relentless legions of inhuman warriors facing relentless legions of inhuman warriors, playing on the idea of the Death Korps as this faceless mass of humanity and an appropriately Imperial approach of fighting fire with…endless waves of bodies. This had a paperback rerelease in 2021 (part of the BL Reader’s Choice) so if you’re lucky you might even find a physical copy.
Lastly, there’s 2011’s Fall of Damnos by Nick Kyme, accompanied by 2013’s Veil of Darkness audio drama (subsequently adapted into a short story). Cato Sicarius is very much the clean-cut Ultramarines hero, albeit one with a tendency towards recklessness and arrogance, so pitting him against the Necrons – who are very much not the foes you want to underestimate – proves to be a smart move. Cue the unexpected (for Sicarius, at least) – the Ultramarines quickly find themselves in trouble, and much soul searching ensues for this most confident of characters.
Newer Releases
What’s notable with more recent releases is that even when Necrons are included as antagonists they’re given a lot more character than they used to. Partly that’s down to the development of Necrons as a 40k faction, but I think it’s also a sign of BL’s changing approach, preferring bad guys with proper motivation over moustache-twirling villains. That’s great for us as readers in general, and for Necron fans in particular, although not everyone prefers this newer approach – but then there are plenty of older stories available for those readers to enjoy!
I’ve picked out two novels here by Gav Thorpe – Wild Rider (the oldest of the selection, from 2018) and Indomitus (2020), both of which feature – in my opinion – Necron antagonists that almost steal the show. In Wild Rider the Aeldari forces of Saim Hann and Yvraine’s Ynnari race to deal with an awakening Necron tomb, and while the vast majority of the book is from the Aeldari POV the brief sections focusing on Phaerakh Hazepkhut – the Watcher of the Dark – are really entertaining, and offer an interesting outside perspective on the Aeldari. I’d have loved more from her point of view, to be honest!
Check out my review of Wild Rider
Indomitus seems to be a bit of a contentious book, but I rather enjoyed it – and in particular the trio of Necron characters who Gav writes as almost skaven-like in their scheming and politicking. With three very different characters to play with – an Overlord, a Plasmancer and a Skorpekh Lord – there’s a nice mix of personalities and approaches, and they all contrast well with the Ultramarines characters, ensuring that this doesn’t just feel like a Space Marines book. Whether or not you like the Ultramarines characters, I think it’s well worth reading for the interactions between the trio of Necrons!
Check out my review of Indomitus
Check out my interview with Gav talking about Indomitus
Lastly I’ve gone for John French’s Ahriman Eternal, the fourth book in his Ahriman series, which sees the Thousand Sons racing to stay ahead of a terrible, looming doom…by attempting to harness the time-bending abilities of Setekh, a captured Necron Cryptekh. Setekh makes for a brilliant antagonist, his arrogance and considerable power offering an interesting reflection of Ahriman’s own – and what’s not to love about time-bending Necrons? To be honest this really features a Necron rather than Necrons in general, but I thoroughly enjoyed the combination of Necrons, Thousand Sons and Harlequins.
Check out my review of Ahriman: Eternal
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So there you have it – hopefully there’s something of interest for any Necrons fan amongst all of those recommendations. If you’re still looking for more recommendations, definitely check out more by all of the authors mentioned here. I’m personally a big fan of Nate Crowley and Robert Rath’s stories in particular, as they’re consistently brilliant!
Please feel free to get in touch in the comments below or on social media if you have any questions, or to let me know how you get on with these stories – otherwise happy reading!
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