Teaser

The Death Korps of Krieg are famed and notorious in equal measure. There are none more dedicated to laying down their lives for Imperial victory. But what happens when even the men of Krieg can not be relied on . . .

Review

The grim and dark battlefields of the forty-first millennium are rife with different factions, of whom the Imperium of Man is only one. And even within the Imperium, there are diverse groups and cultures. The Cadians are likely the most famous, but there are also Catachans, Tallarn, Mordians, and Krieg, among others. These different cultures are written by an equally diverse bunch of writers, but some writers really carve out a niche of their own. So it is with Steve Lyons, who returns to the Krieg for his fourth novel of grimdark violence and misery. Following on from Dead Men Walking, Krieg, and Siege of Vraks, The Relentless Dead offers more of the same, which is both a blessing and a curse.

The problem I have with the Krieg is that they make for great imagery, but this does not necessarily translate into a compelling narrative. the Death Korps are laconic, taciturn, fierce in a fight, and have no time for frivolities like interpersonal drama, or dialogue, or names. Our protagonist here, Colonel Graven, has a name, but nobody else does. Unless you count the poor soul identified only with a number. Now, the idea behind the Krieg, a planet of soldiers who give everything in a quest for redemption for past misdeeds, is a good one. It dials all the grim darkness up to a solid eleven. But in terms of characters, every Kriegsman falls flat. There’s just nothing going on behind those gas masks that makes for good drama. This is unusual for Warhammer, which has generally done a good job of turning plastic models into exciting and complex characters.

The action in The Relentless Dead is solid, albeit quite repetitive. It also comes in a really weird length. at a little over two hundred pages, there’s a feel that this should either have been thickened up with some additional storylines, or else stripped back to a novella. at its intermediate length, it manages to start dragging while still lacking in substance. Plenty of fight scenes, and it’s always nice to see beastmen turning up on the page, but it needed something more.

One area in which The Relentless Dead does exceed expectations is in the atmosphere. Oleris III is an incredibly evocative setting. It’s a graveyard world, and it doesn’t take much of an imagination to picture the fog curling around the headstones, or the warren of tunnels and catacombs coiling underneath. There’s a creeping sense of gothic horror as whispers intrude on minds and friends start turning on each other. Yet at the same time, it feels like a holdover from the old days of Warhammer Fantasy. Like someone dropped a Krieg regiment into a classic horror story. I can picture everything vividly, but in my mind it’s all unfolding on a backlit, nineteen-sixties’ soundstage. It’s all very claustrophobic, and feels genuinely creepy, but it didn’t always feel like part of the far future.

If you’ve enjoyed Lyons’ other work, you’re probably going to enjoy this one too. For myself, I wonder if he has wrung all he can out of the faceless Krieg. When the starring roles go to side characters and all that remains is a pervading sense of threat, maybe it’s time I look to another world’s soldiers to get my grimdark fix.

Book Stats

• A Standalone Novel
• Published by Black Library
• Published in 2025
• 228 Pages