Teaser

Ivar Krakenblood knows greatness awaits him. But one can not simply wait for destiny. One must seek it out. One must seize glory with both hands, whatever the consequences may be . . .

Review

Last year I really started to fall behind on new Black Library releases. For one thing, there were a lot of them. For another, my local Warhammer store always seemed to sell out before I could get my grubby little mitts on the hardcovers. Technically, I could wait for the paperbacks, which I expect will be arriving over the next few months. But I’m an impatient man, and my physical TBR is already far too large. Thankfully, Black Library are one of the best publishers of audiobooks out there. Great narrators and the merest hint of music and voice modulation when appropriate makes for some cracking listening experience, so when Audible had a massive sale recently, I dived deep into my wish list and emerged with my hands (and ears) full of grimdark goodness.

The first of these beauties I listened to was Krakenblood, by Marc Collins. Collins has had quite a varied output so far, tackling Warhammer Crime, the Dawn of Fire, and Black Templars, to name just the ones I’m familiar with. The topics may vary, but the quality is always solid, and with Krakenblood he’s back to add Space Wolves to his extensive repertoire. I’m fairly confident in saying that this is his longest Warhammer novel to date, and it definitely earns that length. The book actually feels a little longer than it is, because Joshua Manning is one of the slower-paced narrators I’ve come across, but the glory of audiobooks is that you can speed them up a little if you want to.

So. The Space Wolves. On the one hand, they’re the sort of big stoompy soldiers I sometimes complain about. On the other hand, their space viking aesthetic and semi-feral culture gives them an edge of mysticism that Warhammer authors have historically used to good effect. That’s very much the case here. Warhammer is unabashedly a science fantasy setting, and Krakenblood more than many others feels like a fantasy novel transposed into an interstellar setting. Again, this sort of thing sometime bothers me, but not here. Why? Because this is exactly what it would feel like if David Gemmell had written a Warhammer 40,000 novel.

On the face of it, this is a simple story. Ivar Krakenblood is sent to retrieve an item of great value, and his quest leads to all manner of violence. That would be fun enough on its own. But Collins adds so much more. More than just the story of a man destined for greatness, this is a story about what it means to actively seek one’s destiny. the Space Wolves may love a good story, but they’re not wholly willing to throw in their lot with a man obsessed with the pursuit of glory. At what point does such a quest become arrogance? At what point does blind faith in fate become ignorance? Krakenblood is a mighty hero by the standards of his people, but he’s also a complicated hero. One willing to not only throw away his own life, but also endanger those of his brothers-in-arms if it will help him achieve greatness. Warhammer books are filled with people trying to be heroes, or who think themselves to be heroes, but Krakenblood is one that truly looks at what it means to be a hero in the grimdark future.

More complicated than it may appear on first examination, Krakenblood is a fine example of how Warhammer can interrogate its own assumptions about the world. And if you’re not interested in any of that, it’s still a really fun book. Can anyone really ask for more than that?

Audio Stats

• Narrated by Joshua Manning
• Published in 2025
• Runtime 15hrs 8mins