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Broken Crusade
A Black Templars Novel
The Black Templars of the Second Dornean Crusade attempt to join the rest of their fleet to relieve a siege on the shrine world, Tempest. Thrown off course by a warp storm, and beset by doubt, can they cling to their faith and come to their brothers’ aid?
READ IT BECAUSE
This story offers insight into the relationship the Black Templars have with faith, and their sense of destiny. Plus, there's always plenty of action when the followers of Khorne are involved.
THE STORY
On the fringes of the Cicatrix Maledictum, the Black Templars of the Second Dorean Crusade tear through the void to join the crusade fleet on the sands of Tempest – an ancient, storied shrine world. Assailed by the murderous warbands of the Blood God, the crusade has come to burn the planet clean of the Ruinous Powers once and for all.
But when a violent warp storm scatters the fleet, the Dauntless Honour is left battered and alone in the void. Besieged by doubt, Castellan Emeric and his brothers must cling to their faith and carve a way to Tempest. For it is there that their battles will truly begin, and the cost of victory may be more than even they are prepared to pay.
The Black Templars of the Second Dornean Crusade attempt to join the rest of their fleet to relieve a siege on the shrine world, Tempest. Thrown off course by a warp storm, and beset by doubt, can they cling to their faith and come to their brothers’ aid?
READ IT BECAUSE
This story offers insight into the relationship the Black Templars have with faith, and their sense of destiny. Plus, there's always plenty of action when the followers of Khorne are involved.
THE STORY
On the fringes of the Cicatrix Maledictum, the Black Templars of the Second Dorean Crusade tear through the void to join the crusade fleet on the sands of Tempest – an ancient, storied shrine world. Assailed by the murderous warbands of the Blood God, the crusade has come to burn the planet clean of the Ruinous Powers once and for all.
But when a violent warp storm scatters the fleet, the Dauntless Honour is left battered and alone in the void. Besieged by doubt, Castellan Emeric and his brothers must cling to their faith and carve a way to Tempest. For it is there that their battles will truly begin, and the cost of victory may be more than even they are prepared to pay.
298 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 9, 2024
88 people are currently reading
201 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
November 18, 2024
A really good offering from Steven Fisher honestly. Lately, with the push from 8th edition to humanise some of the popular chapters, it’s easy to forget that Astartes are absolutely inhuman monsters. This book reminded me. The Templar protagonist does not give a single deep fried f*** about the Imperium’s citizens; only that they stay out of the way when there is crusading to be done.
I can only say also that the audiobook reader Alex Linipekun improved the books flow immensely! He definitely GETS reading for BL. Every word is punctuated by gritted teeth and fury that no one, not even the GOAT Toby longworth has been able to do. The reader makes you feel like you’re in the head of the DoomSlayer more than anything else. More from him ASAP!
Once the Protagonist(s) get to their destination, the plot gets a bit generic and bogged down. I definitely think the first half journey section was the best bit. Definately would like to see Fisher write more Templar books as some chapters seem to be generally coveted by certain BL authors - look at you Nick Kyme.
I can only say also that the audiobook reader Alex Linipekun improved the books flow immensely! He definitely GETS reading for BL. Every word is punctuated by gritted teeth and fury that no one, not even the GOAT Toby longworth has been able to do. The reader makes you feel like you’re in the head of the DoomSlayer more than anything else. More from him ASAP!
Once the Protagonist(s) get to their destination, the plot gets a bit generic and bogged down. I definitely think the first half journey section was the best bit. Definately would like to see Fisher write more Templar books as some chapters seem to be generally coveted by certain BL authors - look at you Nick Kyme.
November 19, 2024
Broken Crusade was a good book and really falls in between in the 4-5 review rating. It’s not Helsrech certainly, but’s it’s good on its own accord. If you’re a Black Templar fan stop reading this and just get a copy, I promise you won’t be disappointed. If you are a 40K fan it’s a good book even in the Newhammer age.
Broken Crusade follows a Black Templar company on a crusade. Due to warp storms, the company gets separated from the Crusade and finds itself in the midst of a World Eater war band invasion of a shrine world.
The main character is the castellan of the Black Templars and his story mirrors to an extent Grimaldus in Armageddon ( Helsrech). Im sure this isn’t an accident mirroring the most successful and legendary BT story. The Castellan faces self doubt like Grimaldus living up to his heroes legacy.
The story also follows a World Eater leader in the war band and his pact with chaos demons.
The books themes are brotherhood and faith. It was a very satisfying read and I recommend it.
Broken Crusade follows a Black Templar company on a crusade. Due to warp storms, the company gets separated from the Crusade and finds itself in the midst of a World Eater war band invasion of a shrine world.
The main character is the castellan of the Black Templars and his story mirrors to an extent Grimaldus in Armageddon ( Helsrech). Im sure this isn’t an accident mirroring the most successful and legendary BT story. The Castellan faces self doubt like Grimaldus living up to his heroes legacy.
The story also follows a World Eater leader in the war band and his pact with chaos demons.
The books themes are brotherhood and faith. It was a very satisfying read and I recommend it.
April 1, 2025
It's rare that a 40k book makes me cry, but this one got me. If you're into stories involving the indomitable (super) human spirit, give this one a read.
January 11, 2025
Okay, listen, the plotting in this is really quite well done and there's lots of angst but it's a typical Warhammer book in its failings and by that I mean two main things:
The antagonist is WAY more interesting than the protagonist. Seriously. he was much more compelling, interesting, and better written.
And
The Astartes are boring. Like look I don't mind a bloodbath of an ending (it's pretty bleak) but like I did not care about a single Black Templar character. I mean, I understand that if you actually like your characters its harder to kill them, but suck it up. You're getting paid to write this so I wanna cry. I want to have a favorite character and worry worry worry if he's going to make it. And sob my face off if he doesn't but feel relief if he does I want to FEEL something other than a 'welp thank god that's over' by the end of the book.
Listen people read Astartes books because we are goddam nerds for our transhuman murder boys. Let's stop preventing us from caring about them.
And of course a very minor quibble but Liesl? Jfc what was that even. There is not a thing she added to the story, except broken promises. Like okay her dad is a servitor but...we're never gonna get the lore dump about what he did to become one? Also once again, these Warhammer boys can't write women to save their lives.
Read this one for the villain. Skip all of Emeric and his bad decisions.
The antagonist is WAY more interesting than the protagonist. Seriously. he was much more compelling, interesting, and better written.
And
The Astartes are boring. Like look I don't mind a bloodbath of an ending (it's pretty bleak) but like I did not care about a single Black Templar character. I mean, I understand that if you actually like your characters its harder to kill them, but suck it up. You're getting paid to write this so I wanna cry. I want to have a favorite character and worry worry worry if he's going to make it. And sob my face off if he doesn't but feel relief if he does I want to FEEL something other than a 'welp thank god that's over' by the end of the book.
Listen people read Astartes books because we are goddam nerds for our transhuman murder boys. Let's stop preventing us from caring about them.
And of course a very minor quibble but Liesl? Jfc what was that even. There is not a thing she added to the story, except broken promises. Like okay her dad is a servitor but...we're never gonna get the lore dump about what he did to become one? Also once again, these Warhammer boys can't write women to save their lives.
Read this one for the villain. Skip all of Emeric and his bad decisions.
November 20, 2025
Broken Crusade by Steven B. Fischer
4.5 stars
A strong Warhammer 40k entry and an excellent sci-fi read overall. Fischer does a fantastic job portraying the Adeptus Astartes as they should be: not compassionate heroes, but genetically engineered, unsympathetic killing machines. The Black Templars in particular are depicted with the zeal, fanaticism, and relentless fury that define them.
If you’re a fan of the Black Templars or any of the Sons of Dorn, this is absolutely worth picking up. The action is sharp, the pacing stays tight, and the fight scenes deliver exactly what you’d hope for from a Black Templars story.
Highly enjoyable—and a must-read for Templar fans.
4.5 stars
A strong Warhammer 40k entry and an excellent sci-fi read overall. Fischer does a fantastic job portraying the Adeptus Astartes as they should be: not compassionate heroes, but genetically engineered, unsympathetic killing machines. The Black Templars in particular are depicted with the zeal, fanaticism, and relentless fury that define them.
If you’re a fan of the Black Templars or any of the Sons of Dorn, this is absolutely worth picking up. The action is sharp, the pacing stays tight, and the fight scenes deliver exactly what you’d hope for from a Black Templars story.
Highly enjoyable—and a must-read for Templar fans.
May 13, 2025
I really loved this one. To see a black Templar through such a human lens was great. The main characters growth was excellent. And I loved how you saw some views and effects on the chaos end with the eighbound trying to control all the demons within. The action was great the plot was a great 40K operation. Honestly would make a great narrative for a space marine game. Fully recommend for fans of 40K definitely a must if you are a black Templar fan.
November 9, 2025
A must for any Black Templars fan, really delves into the piety and zealotry these sons of Dorn exude each moment of their lives. excellent characters with a very driven story. focusing on the duality of zealotry and Hatred and it's small step towards the possibility of corruption and damnation.
November 28, 2025
If you're a Black Templars fan this is a 4 star. If you just like 40k then this is a 3 star read. Based on my rating, I am a BT fan and sought out this book specifically because it was about the Black Templars.
Read physical copy.
Mild spoilers:
This is definitely a tier above "bolter porn" but still falls into the repetitive BT trope of "I will die on this world" pioneered by Helsreach. With that being said, the plot is quite lively and moves fast. I kept thinking to myself that this book could be made into a movie as the plot is quite cinematic.
The main protagonist is layered and even the "hardcore Black Templar" character you always get in BT fiction has a great arc. The main baddie is layered in a way that I found unique and interesting, however I found that the baddie was almost too layered, trying to make the reader emphasize too much with him, to the point that there is an even bigger baddie thrown in in the third act. I didn't love the baddie's arc, but I did find it an interesting an unique take. The climax was well done for everyone including our protagonist, no deus ex machina thankfully, but I felt like the climax was not well done for the baddie. The baddie's arc was built up only to under-deliver in my opinion. I like my 40k fiction written in two ways, either the clear good guys and bad guys, or everyone is a shade of grey. Yes, I know there are no good guys in 40k, part of the reason I like this universe, but if a story presents our protagonist and his faction as the clear good guys, I don't want the bad guys to have shades of grey. I felt the lowpoint of the book came when our baddie was rooting for our good guys - the book kind of jumped the shark here, "And yet, as he watches the dark forms of the Black Templars race across the [redacted: spoilers], he finds himself hoping" (pg. 238). Fortunately, the book gets back on track, but with this, it opens up a tall order to fulfill in our baddie's arc that the book can't quite deliver on.
One of the things I liked most about this book was the unique take on the ship, the Dauntless Honour and how the "computers" or void looms/machine spirits as they call them work with the various sensors. This was really interesting since in the 40k universe they don't use AI (called Abominable Intelligence after their lifted-straight-from-Dune version of the Butlerian Jihad, the War with the Men of Iron). There are a few sequences in this book regarding the ship collecting and processing data - which as I type now sounds super boring haha - but I actually found fascinating.
I felt like our apprentice surgeon character was interesting, especially her interaction with her father and with the space marines, but there was not enough regarding her. Like her own arc is happening then she just disappears for what seems like 100 pages, to the point where I started wondering what happened. Then when we get back into her perspective, we've kinda lost interest and forget what's going on with her. It almost feels like 10 pages or so with her were cut to keep this book under 300 pages?
The perspectives from the baddie were a cool concept that I liked. I just think the author tried to make the baddie too much of an empathetic character. I especially liked the perspective swapping during the climax, cool concept that delivered the action and not a concept that I can remember seeing done before so props to the author for that.
Overall, if you like 40k and Black Templars, you'll like this book. If you just like 40k you likely enjoy this book as well. A worthy addition to the Black Templar lore!
Happy reading!
Read physical copy.
Mild spoilers:
This is definitely a tier above "bolter porn" but still falls into the repetitive BT trope of "I will die on this world" pioneered by Helsreach. With that being said, the plot is quite lively and moves fast. I kept thinking to myself that this book could be made into a movie as the plot is quite cinematic.
The main protagonist is layered and even the "hardcore Black Templar" character you always get in BT fiction has a great arc. The main baddie is layered in a way that I found unique and interesting, however I found that the baddie was almost too layered, trying to make the reader emphasize too much with him, to the point that there is an even bigger baddie thrown in in the third act. I didn't love the baddie's arc, but I did find it an interesting an unique take. The climax was well done for everyone including our protagonist, no deus ex machina thankfully, but I felt like the climax was not well done for the baddie. The baddie's arc was built up only to under-deliver in my opinion. I like my 40k fiction written in two ways, either the clear good guys and bad guys, or everyone is a shade of grey. Yes, I know there are no good guys in 40k, part of the reason I like this universe, but if a story presents our protagonist and his faction as the clear good guys, I don't want the bad guys to have shades of grey. I felt the lowpoint of the book came when our baddie was rooting for our good guys - the book kind of jumped the shark here, "And yet, as he watches the dark forms of the Black Templars race across the [redacted: spoilers], he finds himself hoping" (pg. 238). Fortunately, the book gets back on track, but with this, it opens up a tall order to fulfill in our baddie's arc that the book can't quite deliver on.
One of the things I liked most about this book was the unique take on the ship, the Dauntless Honour and how the "computers" or void looms/machine spirits as they call them work with the various sensors. This was really interesting since in the 40k universe they don't use AI (called Abominable Intelligence after their lifted-straight-from-Dune version of the Butlerian Jihad, the War with the Men of Iron). There are a few sequences in this book regarding the ship collecting and processing data - which as I type now sounds super boring haha - but I actually found fascinating.
I felt like our apprentice surgeon character was interesting, especially her interaction with her father and with the space marines, but there was not enough regarding her. Like her own arc is happening then she just disappears for what seems like 100 pages, to the point where I started wondering what happened. Then when we get back into her perspective, we've kinda lost interest and forget what's going on with her. It almost feels like 10 pages or so with her were cut to keep this book under 300 pages?
The perspectives from the baddie were a cool concept that I liked. I just think the author tried to make the baddie too much of an empathetic character. I especially liked the perspective swapping during the climax, cool concept that delivered the action and not a concept that I can remember seeing done before so props to the author for that.
Overall, if you like 40k and Black Templars, you'll like this book. If you just like 40k you likely enjoy this book as well. A worthy addition to the Black Templar lore!
Happy reading!
February 6, 2026
Overall, I found the book fairly mediocre, mainly because of the characters and how they are written.
The setting and atmosphere were well crafted, and the battle scenes were engaging and intense, truly capturing the feel of a gritty military adventure within the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Unfortunately, the protagonist significantly weakened the experience. Instead of a hardened warrior, he comes across as constantly miserable, insecure, and discouraged. Throughout the entire book, he keeps doubting himself and complaining about his limitations. That would be tiring even for an ordinary human — let alone a Space Marine, and especially a Black Templar, who is supposed to embody fanaticism, determination, and unshakable faith.
I understand the attempt to make him more “human,” but the excessive self-pity ultimately hurts the story rather than enriching it.
Final score: 3/5. Enjoyable action, but a frustrating main character — and that’s coming from a Black Templars fan.
The setting and atmosphere were well crafted, and the battle scenes were engaging and intense, truly capturing the feel of a gritty military adventure within the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Unfortunately, the protagonist significantly weakened the experience. Instead of a hardened warrior, he comes across as constantly miserable, insecure, and discouraged. Throughout the entire book, he keeps doubting himself and complaining about his limitations. That would be tiring even for an ordinary human — let alone a Space Marine, and especially a Black Templar, who is supposed to embody fanaticism, determination, and unshakable faith.
I understand the attempt to make him more “human,” but the excessive self-pity ultimately hurts the story rather than enriching it.
Final score: 3/5. Enjoyable action, but a frustrating main character — and that’s coming from a Black Templars fan.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 12, 2025
"What is faith but bold action when others dare not? What is faith but sacrifice when others have nothing left to give?"
An interesting and more thoughtful look at what it means to be a servant of the Emperor as the Black Templars of the Second Dorean Crusade battle to reclaim the world of Tempest from a World Eaters warband... A compelling read, if a bit dry in places, and liable to make you wince at decisions, but all the characters are interesting, and in many ways not what you expect from them...
An interesting and more thoughtful look at what it means to be a servant of the Emperor as the Black Templars of the Second Dorean Crusade battle to reclaim the world of Tempest from a World Eaters warband... A compelling read, if a bit dry in places, and liable to make you wince at decisions, but all the characters are interesting, and in many ways not what you expect from them...
January 7, 2026
Another foolish business decision by warhammer 40k. Females are a minority of your readers. This book is mostly female characters. I am a male. I do read sororitas books, or books like the one with female characters I have seen before. But this is just pandering to females. Wake up wh40k, I am close to stopping reading the ENTIRE series. This is disgusting.
December 2, 2025
Four stars! For what it is, it's a good book! Unfortunately, as I was reading it, I realized that maybe 40K Space Marine books aren't for me. Loyalist Space Marines are, by design, very predictable and somewhat one-dimensional. Having read it will help me with playing my Black Templar army, though!
January 10, 2026
What a bleak, desolate story; excellent for my first foray into Black Templar focused books. The final battle was absolutely gripping, but in a very different way than the usual thrill of a last stand. This was ragged and desperate and ignoble, and so so perfect an ending for the vibe of the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 15, 2026
I really liked this book. I feel like it brought me back to the more Grimdark stories that first drew my interest in the Warhammer universe. It was well written and worth a read if you are a fan of Space Marine stories.
November 13, 2024
This was a fun and short Black Templars story with a lot of action, just Space Marines on crusade doing what they do best!
December 24, 2024
I enjoyed this book, exciting and suspenseful. The villain is a nasty one and was well written. Story is a to-the-last deathmatch between Black Templars and World Eaters. Recommended
January 6, 2025
Written in first person which I personally didn’t enjoy, content solid though.
January 8, 2025
A compelling last stand novel.
Read
January 17, 2025A fantastic audiobook performance by Alex Lanipekun
January 17, 2025
Solid book. Bit of a black templar love fest, but overall enjoyable.
June 15, 2025
Wasn't that good of a story and I didn't find the charecters interesting but it had a few good battle scenes.
December 26, 2025
Solid
Fairly standard action-packed story of space marines and demons. Nothing particularly compelling or different, but plenty of violence and a consistent pace.
Fairly standard action-packed story of space marines and demons. Nothing particularly compelling or different, but plenty of violence and a consistent pace.
January 20, 2026
Pretty by-the-books Space Marine story. Not much to speak of. I liked the possession but the characters felt flat for the most part. Great action and great world building so three stars ✨
February 4, 2026
I am a Black Templar player so maybe some bias but I love any and all stories about them. Though there was some humanization of these genetic superhuman warriors the ending was a chef's kiss.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews