Teaser

Few of the Imperium’s battles are as infamous as that waged for the planet Vraks. A conflict so brutal, so unrelenting, that it is said to have broken even the Krieg themselves . . .

Review

The Siege of Vraks is not a new story. Like a lot of tales from the forty-first millennium, it traces its roots back to rulebooks, specifically those put out by Forge World. Steve Lyons’ new novel is, to the best of my knowledge, the first piece of longform fiction to depict that particular warzone. Like his previous novels Dead Men Walking and Krieg, it shows us the battlefields of the grim dark future through the eyes of the Death Korps, soldiers teetering on the brink of inhumanity while still in absolute dedication to the Imperium of Man.

First off, I want to say how much I enjoy Lyon’s depiction of the Krieg. Once again we get some deep dives into their culture, notably in their approach to names. Writing a book in which few people have names is no mean feat, but Lyons not only pulls it off, he provides adequate justification for the lack of names. The most interesting part for me was the conflict between the Krieg and the needs of Imperial administrators in this regard, with Krieg once again submitting to the needs of the Empire rather than their own traditions. This is also true for the ranks among the Krieg. In that regard, you might benefit from reading Krieg beforehand for additional context, but I don’t think it’s really necessary to enjoy Siege of Vraks.

On the topic of the siege itself, I’m in two minds. This is a legendary battle both in and out of universe, so I was perhaps expecting more than two hundred and forty pages. Especially upon learning that the book covers some three decades of conflict. Clearly, not every book has to be the mighty tome that is Fall of Cadia, but Siege of Vraks does feel noticeably slim given the content. There are multiple significant time jumps herein, with the book divided into clearly labelled acts, but it doesn’t really feel like a long war. So much is glossed over in favour of showing another pivotal moment. Oftentimes, I love Black Library for their standalones, but in this case I would happily have seen the book expanded into a trilogy, or even just a single volume twice this size. the book we end up with is an odd combination of stop and start narrative, and relentlessly aggressive moments.

Those moments, however, are well worth the lack of context. Lyons can write a battle like few others, and some of the moments where he pulls back the camera remind me of Justin D Hill in all the best ways. Lyons isn’t afraid to take no prisoners, and the death toll is exactly as high as you’d expect for a Warhammer novel. People die in wars, after all, even if they are important people with names and stories of their own. It’s also a thrill to see Krieg, who are – demeanour excepted – just average humans, thrown up against all manner of horrors, from cultists, to daemons, to even worse things. There are times when Siege of Vraks feels more like a collection of scenes than a fully fleshed book, but every single one of those scenes is a winner.

For fans of Krieg, this is obviously a must-buy. Yet while it might be somewhat less than the sum of its parts, there’s enough in here to make me recommend it to any regular reader of Black Library too.

Book Stats

• A Standalone Novel
• Focuses on the Death Korps of Krieg
• First Published 2024
• 240 pages