Teaser

Few regiments are as despised as the Savlar Chem Dogs. A penal legion from a toxic world, they loot and steal as much as they fight the enemy. But sometimes the right kind of mongrel is just what you need to win . . .

Review

It has not gone unnoticed (albeit only by myself) that I have fallen behind on my Warhammer 40,000 reading of late. I have a couple of recent releases sitting in my TBR, their covers glaring at me ominously, but Black Library’s small print runs and me living nowhere near my local Warhammer store means I seldom get all the books I want. That’s where audiobooks once again come to the rescue. If I can’t read the book myself, I’ll have on of Black Library’s phenomenal narrators read it to me. An elegant solution for all involved. Chem Dog is the debut novel by Callum Davis, but is narrated by Black Library stalwart Richard Reed, and it turned out to be just what I needed to get back into the game.

There’s a noticeable subset of Black Library novels that take the same basic premise. A commissar is assigned to a regiment that has a bad reputation, and is sent on a dangerous mission that will test the bonds of loyalty and duty. Of course, this trend goes far beyond Warhammer, but within the franchise there are examples all the way from fellow 2026 release Death Rider, by Rhuairidh James, to the venerable Dan Abnett’s Gaunt’s Ghosts. It’s a simple setup, but one with plenty of opportunity for action and derring-do. No wonder David slots nicely into this trend with his debut.

Commissar Hasp might not be the most memorable protagonist, but he has a few things going for him. He’s got absolute faith in the God-Emperor that comes across as genuine, but not quite fanatical. He’s willing to discipline his own troops with violence, but is also a gentler touch than he first appears. He also has a crippling chem addiction, but that just gives him more depth. If there’s a sequel to Chem Dog in the works, I know he could carry it.

Luckily he doesn’t carry the book alone. For that we have the Savlar Chem Dogs. While I do love Cadians, I also love seeing other Militarum groups getting more stories about them. The recent Astra Militarum run of novels was great for this, and Chem Dog, while not labelled as part of the series, is proudly continuing in those footsteps. Having your soldiers be rough around the edges is nothing new, but having them be a penal legion constantly on the verge of open violence does spice things up nicely. Especially when you partner them with the Mordians in the second half of the book. On which note, I would also love a Mordians novel. One novella was not enough!

Of course, war takes two sides. As does Waaaagh! Because this time humans are fighting orks. Orks in Warhammer reman a little silly, but Chem Dog does what a few others have done recently and turns these green-skinned lunatics into a genuinely scary threat. By keeping the orks in the background for much of the novel, Davis keeps them from being openly ridiculous. He also includes some of the most gut-churning fog-of-war I’ve ever read. Couple that with some of the orks’ more sinister aspects, and you’ve got a book that gives you every reason to take the orks as seriously as the Imperium does.

As debuts go, it’s hard to fault Chem Dog. Hopefully this isn’t the last we hear from Callum Davis, or the Chem Dogs.

Audio Stats

• Narrated by Richard Reed
• A Standalone Novel
• Published 2026
• Runtime 9hrs 29mins