Teaser

The T’au Empire welcomes all who pledge themselves to the Greater Good, but their cause is built on a rigid caste system, each with its own place in society. It is only in times of direst need that the five castes will set aside their differences and work as equals . . .

Review

Up until fairly recently, Black Library readers who wanted to know more about the various xenos factions were faced with limited choices. The Aeldari have historically fared quite well, and the last few years have seen an explosion of orky goodness. Necrons have been developed more than ever before, and though not protagonists, tyranids have been cropping up in increasing number. If you wanted T’au, however, your only real option was Phil Kelly’s Farsight novels (another of which is up for pre-order this weekend). The Farsight series is enjoyable, but very much focused on one aspect of T’au society. Now, with Noah Van Nguyen’s first foray into the grim dark future, we have our first look at the broad spectrum of T’au.

I had one stumbling block with Elemental Council, and I’m going to get it out of the way now. If ever a book needed a glossary, it’s this one. We are immediately thrown headlong into an alien world, with alien points of view, and alien jargon, and there’s a lot that’s difficult to pick up on. The names of various war machines will be familiar to people who build and field them on the tabletop, but the T’au are people with their own sense of timekeeping, and their own names for concepts that exist elsewhere in the Warhammer canon. They are so markedly different from other factions in the world that even a seasoned reader is liable to stumble on some unfamiliar terms. A page or two of a glossary would have gone a long way towards making the opening onslaught more manageable.

That one quibble aside, however, Elemental Council is one of the best xenos books to come out of Black Library in recent years. And let me tell you, that is some stiff competition. It took a little while to get into, but once the surprisingly large cast is united, it is non-stop action and intrigue through to the end. Having one character representing each of the T’au casts makes it easy to remember who is who, even if a lot of the names are apostrophe-heavy enough to make an epic fantasy novel jealous. The spread of characters also helps give an expansive view of the T’au Empire. Obviously, the Fire Caste warriors have received the lion’s share of prior stories, but every branch gets a fair shake here, both in their natural element and out of it.

One thing that’s remarkable about the T’au is how different they are to the other factions. They’re younger. Fresh-faced and perhaps a little naïve. Yes, they seek to expand and conquer like every other species, because that’s how Warhammer works. But this is one of few Black Library novels where the xenos earnestly seek non-violent solutions. They plead for peace, and in their own way they mean it. Their relatively high technology level (drones and smart computers) feels almost like an intrusion on a setting so steeped in ritual and mysticism, but what it does is serve to reinforce how utterly alien the T’au are compared to the stagnant Imperium of Man.

Two non-T’au also deserve a mention. There are Kroot about in this book, and seeing the interplay between the T’au and their client species makes for some great nuanced conversations. The Kroot are barely more than animals at times, but still have a role to play in the Empire, even if they can never ascend to the upper echelons of the T’au. As an opposing force, we have a space marine. Just the one of them, but that’s more than enough. Van Nguyen does more interesting things with one space marine than some authors have with a whole book. Artamax isn’t just a super-solider, he’s a tactician. A manipulative force with an iron fist to back up his schemes. Having a single loyalist space marine as the primary antagonist is a new one for me, but it absolutely works.

If you want T’au, this is the book for you. If you want xenos, this is the book for you. If you want a new perspective on old ideas, this is the book for you. If all you want is a good story, guess what? This is the book for you.

Book Stats

• A Standalone Novel
• First Published 2024
• 393 Pages