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Black Library Celebration 2025
A FREE* Black Library Anthology
Celebrate the fiction of Black Library with this selection of four thrilling stories from the worlds of Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer Age of Sigmar, and Warhammer: The Horus Heresy. The Novella will appear in the Free Download section of your Webstore account after making a Qualifying Order.
READ IT BECAUSE
It's a set of must-read stories by some of Black Library's most popular authors, showcasing the vast and awe-inspiring worlds of Warhammer. This is the ideal starting point for someone new to Black Library, and an excellent free taster for those who want to expand their collection.
Add to wishlist
THE STORIES
In Visage, Warmaster Horus attempts to put the treacherous Word Bearer, Erebus, in his place.
The One Road features an unconscious Gotrek Gurnisson in dire straits, pitting the bitter Sylvaneth against Freeguild Cavaliers.
Web of Ruin explores the Tarantulos Brood, as a Broodkin attempts to increase his status.
Finally, in The Long Promise, a Chaos Lord of the Alpha Legion infiltrates a Deathwatch watch station.
CONTENTS
– Visage, by Rich McCormick
– The One Road, by David Guymer
– Web of Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
– The Long Promise, by Mike Brooks
Celebrate the fiction of Black Library with this selection of four thrilling stories from the worlds of Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer Age of Sigmar, and Warhammer: The Horus Heresy. The Novella will appear in the Free Download section of your Webstore account after making a Qualifying Order.
READ IT BECAUSE
It's a set of must-read stories by some of Black Library's most popular authors, showcasing the vast and awe-inspiring worlds of Warhammer. This is the ideal starting point for someone new to Black Library, and an excellent free taster for those who want to expand their collection.
Add to wishlist
THE STORIES
In Visage, Warmaster Horus attempts to put the treacherous Word Bearer, Erebus, in his place.
The One Road features an unconscious Gotrek Gurnisson in dire straits, pitting the bitter Sylvaneth against Freeguild Cavaliers.
Web of Ruin explores the Tarantulos Brood, as a Broodkin attempts to increase his status.
Finally, in The Long Promise, a Chaos Lord of the Alpha Legion infiltrates a Deathwatch watch station.
CONTENTS
– Visage, by Rich McCormick
– The One Road, by David Guymer
– Web of Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
– The Long Promise, by Mike Brooks
145 pages, Paperback
Published February 22, 2025
5 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 5, 2025
Starts with an interesting insite into Erebus, not the easiest story to follow. The 2nd story about Gotrek was fairly forgettable with a minimalist part for him, the third had a good twist at the end, the last story about the Alpha Legion and the Deathwatch was the most enjoyable and tense. Not a bad selection of short stories, but nothing too earth shattering.
September 25, 2025
A friend and I shared a great conversation about video games and we started talking for so long about the series we loved and the character progressions and growth within those games that we sort of ended up speculating about the futures we wanted to see within those worlds. We were crafting fan-fictions and imaginary timelines while simply reflecting on a medium we already dearly loved. Something about the Warhammer series that stands out so vividly to me is the same level of deep world-building and near-infinite lore to pull from that even within similar conversations that seem to lean towards the Warhammer (and 40k) universes, there always seems to be some kind of passage written about it or some understood history that exists for various artifacts, realms, characters and races within that story. That rich tapestry of backlogged content reaches so far back that I rarely cease to be amazed and daunted by what a task it must be to understand all of that. He actually lent me this book, a free giveaway that he got at a comic book shop.
The first story is so mired in reference to the history and legacy of the series that it was a bit hard to latch on to. I love the darkness and abyssal evil that many of the realms of this world go into and this story did not shy away from any of it. The bigger issue overall was the lack of context-setting for someone who has no idea about the specifics of the world itself. On some level, it helped that I think the miniatures are rad as hell and the bleak and dark artwork of both the tabletop games and video games were able to somewhat guide my imagination towards the place that the book was implying. I thought it was written well if you know what you’re getting into, and as a surface run, it was pretty cool.
The second story was a little bit more high fantasy, living in a world of elves and sprites and I was less interested in it. Despite not needing as much context to understand the story, it just didn’t seem like it was ultimately my thing. The story didn’t grip me as much.
While the third in the series seemed to be written with a firmer hand and a strong certainty, so much of the content went by me without a sense of what was going on. Lots of different races and power struggles, spiders and madness, just a great deal of ‘noise’ overall which gave nothing in the way of a new read or an interest of what would lie beyond it. I don’t have the perspective to know if it is good or bad based on knowledge of the subject matter. But to me, it felt like reading a newsletter about a school I’ve never been or an email about a job I’d never have.
On the inverse of that, the fourth story is far more inviting, paced in a way to allow newer readers into the fold. It opens and reads like a novice science fiction action novel but continues to up the pace and immersion as one goes. On that level, it was perfect. It may just be that I didn’t intend to follow up on the series in the first place but I felt a little flat as it went along, nothing to convince me to get more invested than the surface I was already coasting along. Dialog is a little stiff and theatrical, and no plot element drew me further in.
If you’re not already into the Warhammer world, I don’t think this is for you and I don’t recommend it. It’s not bad, I just felt like I was often on the outside looking in. Absolutely capable writing and in most cases, gives a great deal of exposition and depth.
The first story is so mired in reference to the history and legacy of the series that it was a bit hard to latch on to. I love the darkness and abyssal evil that many of the realms of this world go into and this story did not shy away from any of it. The bigger issue overall was the lack of context-setting for someone who has no idea about the specifics of the world itself. On some level, it helped that I think the miniatures are rad as hell and the bleak and dark artwork of both the tabletop games and video games were able to somewhat guide my imagination towards the place that the book was implying. I thought it was written well if you know what you’re getting into, and as a surface run, it was pretty cool.
The second story was a little bit more high fantasy, living in a world of elves and sprites and I was less interested in it. Despite not needing as much context to understand the story, it just didn’t seem like it was ultimately my thing. The story didn’t grip me as much.
While the third in the series seemed to be written with a firmer hand and a strong certainty, so much of the content went by me without a sense of what was going on. Lots of different races and power struggles, spiders and madness, just a great deal of ‘noise’ overall which gave nothing in the way of a new read or an interest of what would lie beyond it. I don’t have the perspective to know if it is good or bad based on knowledge of the subject matter. But to me, it felt like reading a newsletter about a school I’ve never been or an email about a job I’d never have.
On the inverse of that, the fourth story is far more inviting, paced in a way to allow newer readers into the fold. It opens and reads like a novice science fiction action novel but continues to up the pace and immersion as one goes. On that level, it was perfect. It may just be that I didn’t intend to follow up on the series in the first place but I felt a little flat as it went along, nothing to convince me to get more invested than the surface I was already coasting along. Dialog is a little stiff and theatrical, and no plot element drew me further in.
If you’re not already into the Warhammer world, I don’t think this is for you and I don’t recommend it. It’s not bad, I just felt like I was often on the outside looking in. Absolutely capable writing and in most cases, gives a great deal of exposition and depth.
April 17, 2025
A nice, short collection of 4 stories set in the different Warhammer universes.
Being a 40k fan, I wasn't expecting too much from any of the stories that weren't set in that universe, but I still committed to reading all of them and I'm happy that I did!
Out of the 4 stories, Web of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and The Long Promise by Mike Brooks stood out to me as being especially well written! Obviously the length of each story means that a basic understanding of the universes is expected as there isn't much time to establish much backstory, but even though I have very limited knowledge of the Age of Sigmar universe, both stories set in this universe really gripped me and I finished both of them in one sitting.
If you can still find this little book in your local Warhammer store, definitely pick it up! (It's free after all!)
Being a 40k fan, I wasn't expecting too much from any of the stories that weren't set in that universe, but I still committed to reading all of them and I'm happy that I did!
Out of the 4 stories, Web of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and The Long Promise by Mike Brooks stood out to me as being especially well written! Obviously the length of each story means that a basic understanding of the universes is expected as there isn't much time to establish much backstory, but even though I have very limited knowledge of the Age of Sigmar universe, both stories set in this universe really gripped me and I finished both of them in one sitting.
If you can still find this little book in your local Warhammer store, definitely pick it up! (It's free after all!)
March 19, 2025
I thought that the premise of this book was to be an absolute introduction into AOS, Horus Heresy, and 40k but it seemed to require a lot of background knowledge that I just didn’t have.
That being said, the four short stories are well written and enjoyable to read - I just didn’t know what was going on, but that’s my issue, not the book’s.
That being said, the four short stories are well written and enjoyable to read - I just didn’t know what was going on, but that’s my issue, not the book’s.
July 30, 2025
As with any anthology some stories will be better while some will be worse. The two standouts for me were the opening 40k story and the spider story. Knowing very about the overall lore of either Warhammer or 40k, I found myself lost at times in a flurry of proper nouns with no context or explanation. That being said, it's a quick enjoyable read
March 13, 2025
4 short stories, I've never read it warhammer stuff before but it was free so thought I'd give it a try. The two 40k stories were confusing and without knowing prior lore make next to no sense. The age of sigmar stories were solid high fantasy, enjoyed reading on a train ride home.
April 2, 2025
This was a great anthology.
June 4, 2025
Moyen.
July 6, 2025
Un sympathique recueil de nouvelles qui manque toujours un peu de contextualisation pour aider à entrer dans des portions des univers de Warhammer par forcément super bien connus.
June 26, 2025
Black Library Celebration 2025 is a collection of short stories set in the different areas of the Warhammer universe and is meant to act as an introduction to the literature side of Warhammer.
The stories collected here are a bit of a mixed bag in quality and whether they clicked with me as a reader.
First up is Visage (by Rich McCormick) set in the Horus Heresy. Having not dipped my toe into this area of the Warhammer universe I was intrigued by this one. However it didn’t feel new reader friendly, not being familiar with the characters. Those familiar may get more mileage here.
The One Road (by David Guymer) is next and is my favourite of the collection and felt very new reader friendly. Set in the fantasy Age of Sigmar corner of the Warhammer universe, this follows displaced dwarf Gotrek Gurnisson who gets on the wrong side of some Sylvaneth (think angry Ent/tree creatures). A lot of fun and action in this one that made me want to read more about the character.
Web of Ruin (by Adrian Tchaikovsky) is next. It’s new reader friendly and set in Age of Sigmar too. I’ve liked this authors writing in other books, but this one didn’t click with me. But think that’s more of a me not enjoying the subject matter.
Finally we get The Long Promise (by Mike Brooks). This one is set in the Warhammer 40K universe. It follows a team of Deathwatch space marines being hunted down by a lone Alpha Legion Chaos Lord. This was a lot of fun and you do swap between the two sides. This is how to do an intro story, it’s entertaining and hooks you - and I’m not invested in either faction present!
Overall a mixed bag but with some worthwhile content. I like that it also suggests what your next read should be after each short story so can you continue to explore the elements you enjoyed.
The stories collected here are a bit of a mixed bag in quality and whether they clicked with me as a reader.
First up is Visage (by Rich McCormick) set in the Horus Heresy. Having not dipped my toe into this area of the Warhammer universe I was intrigued by this one. However it didn’t feel new reader friendly, not being familiar with the characters. Those familiar may get more mileage here.
The One Road (by David Guymer) is next and is my favourite of the collection and felt very new reader friendly. Set in the fantasy Age of Sigmar corner of the Warhammer universe, this follows displaced dwarf Gotrek Gurnisson who gets on the wrong side of some Sylvaneth (think angry Ent/tree creatures). A lot of fun and action in this one that made me want to read more about the character.
Web of Ruin (by Adrian Tchaikovsky) is next. It’s new reader friendly and set in Age of Sigmar too. I’ve liked this authors writing in other books, but this one didn’t click with me. But think that’s more of a me not enjoying the subject matter.
Finally we get The Long Promise (by Mike Brooks). This one is set in the Warhammer 40K universe. It follows a team of Deathwatch space marines being hunted down by a lone Alpha Legion Chaos Lord. This was a lot of fun and you do swap between the two sides. This is how to do an intro story, it’s entertaining and hooks you - and I’m not invested in either faction present!
Overall a mixed bag but with some worthwhile content. I like that it also suggests what your next read should be after each short story so can you continue to explore the elements you enjoyed.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews