I now have a whopping 155 Warhammer 40,000 books in my library. These range from novellas and anthologies, to novels and omnibuses, and cover everything from snazzy hardbacks to ethereal audiobooks, with tens of thousands of paper pages in between. I reckon this collection has a little something for every reader, and certainly contains every faction in the setting, even if some are better represented than others.

Of course, with so many books to choose from, it can be hard to know what you’re getting into. I’ll be the first to admit that not every book is a winner. Some of them I don’t care for much at all. I’m not here to talk about those, however. Today I’m here to run you through some of the best authors who work or have worked under the Black Library banner.

One Book Wonders

These are either authors who have only written one book for the franchise, or from whom I have only read one book. Nevertheless, each of their books has received a solid five out of five rating from me.

William King – One of the elder statesmen of Black Library, King has is most famous for his fantasy creations Gotrek and Felix. His magnificent Macharian War trilogy, which I own in omnibus, is even better. If you want a first-hand account of one of the Imperium’s bloodiest crusades, this is the place to go.

Thomas Parrott – Parrott may have only published a single novella before parting ways with Black Library, but Isha’s Lament is one of the high points of the Blackstone Fortress narrative. Well worth reading if you can find a copy.

Jude Reid – One of the rising stars of Black Library’s newer crop of writers, Reid’s Creed: Ashes of Cadia is a phenomenal piece of post-apocalyptic military horror, while also pushing the Cadian narrative into fascinating new ground. She has a new book out soon too, and I am very excited for it.

Adrian Tchaikovsky – One of the best writers in British science fiction, Tchaikovsky stopped by the grim, dark future long enough to write Day of Ascension, which plays with his usual non-human themes by pitting cyborgs against mutants in a fight where neither one can win. Tchaikovsky is a busy man, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed he has time for another Warhammer novel somewhere along the way.

Alec Worley – The Warhammer Crime range is the most interesting part of Black Library to emerge over the past few years, and Worley is one of its hidden gems. Infusing the crime-ravaged city of Varangantua with a hefty dose of gallows humour, and a pair of leads you can’t help but root for, The Wraithbone Phoenix is my go-to recommendation for people who like their Warhammer on the funnier side.

Rob Young – Some elements of Warhammer continually frustrate me, so I have to give credit to Young for employing motorbikes on the battlefield in a plausible manner. In addition to that, Longshot gets under the skin of the propaganda that drives the Imperium and its enemies in equal measure. definitely an author to watch in the coming years.

The Top Eight

Each of these authors has written multiple works and continually scored high ratings The number in brackets denotes their average star rating.

Edoardo Albert (5) – The only author to score a perfect five across all of his books, Albert’s two releases are among my favourites. Silent Hunters is a rare treat from the Space Marine side of things, while Kasrkin is a Militarum story with a sting, plus ne of the best descriptions of the Imperium I’ve ever encountered.

Steve Lyons (4.67) – No one can write the Death Korps of Krieg like Lyons, and that alone is enough to secure his place on this list. Krieg and Iron Resolve are well-known, but I’d also like to shout out his Mordian novella Iron Resolve as a gripping slice of military SF.

Robert Rath (4.33) – Perhaps the author on this list with the most varied body of Work, Rath seems to turn everything he touches into gold. Kingmaker sees Knights and Assassins do battle, The Infinite and the Divine tracks a rivalry across thousands of years, and The Fall of Cadia does the impossible and does justice to the most significant event in the setting’s recent history.

Danie Ware (4.33) – The modern-day mistress of all things Sisters of Battle, Ware’s chronicling of Sister Augusta covers enough novellas and short fiction to keep any completionist happy, and hopefully her recent novel The Rose in Darkness will not be the last we see of Augusta or Ware.

Justin D Hill (4.29) – No one writes warfare the way Hill does, and his Minka Lesk series Cadian Honour, Traitor Rock, Shadow of the Eighth is easily the best ongoing thing in Warhammer right now. If you want grimdark military SF, look no further than here, it does not get better than this.

Mike Brooks (4.14) – If you like orks, you will love Mike Brooks. No one can capture the pure insanity of the greenskins the way he does, as showcased in Warboss and Brutal Kunnin. But if you want something more serious, Brooks can do that too, as demonstrated by the excellent Navigator novel Rites of Passage, or his Chaos-centric Harrowmaster.

Nate Crowley (4) – One of those authors who makes the non-human side of the setting sparkle, Crowley is at his best with the bonkers yet brilliant Ghazghkull Thraka. He’s also a dab hand at Necrons, as seen in Severed and the duology of The Twice-Dead King.

Dan Abnett (4) – No list of Warhammer’s greats would be complete without Abnett. Be it Inquisitors, the Sabbat Worlds, or anything in between, Abnett can always be relied on for a good story. The Founding is an all-time classic, but a personal favourite of mine is Double Eagle.

Whichever authors you end up reading on your journey through the grim, dark future, I hope they bring you as much joy and excitement as the ones listed above have done for me. It’s a dark world, but the talent is incredibly bright.