The Silent King: Dawn of Fire: Warhammer 40,000, Book 9

Dawn of Fire #9

by Guy Haley, John Banks (Narrator)

Book 9 in the Dawn of Fire Series

The first phase of the Indomitus Crusade is drawing to a close. Vast swathes of Imperium Sanctus are back under tentative Imperial control. Still the primarch Roboute Guilliman faces wars on every front. His desire to cross the Great Rift to save Imperium Nihilus remains strong, even as news of renewed assaults on Ultramar draw his attention home.

READ IT BECAUSE
The Dawn of Fire series reaches its epic conclusion! How will Roboute Guilliman deal with an ancient xenos threat? Was the Indomitus Crusade doomed from the very start, and can an already split Imperium survive?

THE STORY
The Avenging Son must delay his return home and head to the galactic south, taking a large part of the crusade with him, for the menace of the necrons is gathering strength. Battlefleet Kallides, despatched into the dangerous null space of the Pariah Nexus some years before, is feared lost. A greater unity is being forged between the necron dynasties, and with it come whispers of a power from the ancient past returned to rule them all… Whispers of the Silent King.

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction, Fiction

Audible Audio

First published July 12, 2025

About the author

Guy Haley is the author of over 50 novels and novellas. His original fiction includes Crash, Champion of Mars, and the Richards and Klein, Dreaming Cities, and the Gates of the World series (as K M McKinley). However, he is best known as a prolific contributor to Games Workshop's Black Library imprint.

When not writing, he'll be out doing something dangerous in the wild, learning languages or gaming.

Reviews

[Wish · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Warhammer 40K universe is massive. Over forty years of lore building and plenty of novels published. I mention this because it can take time to find your niche if you find the Warhammer 40K universe interesting enough to read about it.

I have read over forty novels now and I tried a variety of authors, settings and characters. I can safely say that for me personally, Warhammer novels work best when just being a character study of one or two individuals. The galaxy doesn't have to be at stake. You don't need endless "bolter porn".

I found several Ork books fun to read and surprisingly, I have found a previous novel and audio drama by Guy Haley worth my time.

This book, The Silent King, was a classic bait and switch that I have encountered many times in Warhammer 40K books. The title hints at an intriguing character and then the book proceeds to have almost nothing to do with the titled character or the events of the book don't really hinge on the character at all.

I understood that this book was an "event" book, being the last book in the Dawn of War series. I didn't read the previous books in the series and to be fair, I don't think you need to either.

The setup for the book takes a long time and then the pay off is not very good. The book deals with a lot of naval action with a host of characters that are not particularly interesting. Belisarius Cawl is the bright spot in this book that help me move along to the ending.

I am not sure who I would recommend this book to given how lackluster it felt. Once again I find that the more they flesh out and try to write about the Necrons, the more I find it boring to hear how the Necrons are so strong and keep getting up.

Thankfully, I will be staying away from any hint of Necrons in future Warhammer reading. Furthermore, I will stick to books that actually study a character instead of just plastering their name on the title.

[Laurence · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book mainly earns such a low rating through the fact that it is the ninth and concluding book a series, thus subject to higher expectations. Individually, the chapters and scenes within are perfectly serviceable, but as the supposed epic conclusion to a saga, they cannot help but disappoint.

For one, this serves as yet more set-up than an ending. The primary antagonists of the series, the ones with the buildup and ongoing development, were defeated in the previous volume. The title character takes their place here, but save a few chapters in the first book he has not been foreshadowed at all, and I actually had forgotten the returning characters from that plot! Even when he does appear, it is not conclusive, having little interaction with our protagonists and escaping purely for more future setup.

Other characters appear seemingly merely for their stories to be tied up from earlier volumes, without rhyme or reason; none of them was involved in any pivotal moments, so it reads to me merely as book-keeping.

The novel even has time to dedicate several pages to what an RPG might see as a random encounter, an obstacle that is quickly disposed of and not mentioned again; in a book so chock-full of characters, introducing another batch to kill the pace seems ill-advised.

There's good stuff in here - Belisarius Cawl is always a delight - but it is far from the epic tale promised. Almost of more interest is the timeline at the back, giving an order for where other books interweave with the series, although even that really is nothing more than set-up for buying other books.

[Mervis · Rating 3 out of 5]

When this was initially announced, I like many of the community was skeptical of any genuine or positive depiction of the Silent King in an Imperial-focused story. And given Dawn of Fire's quality track record, my expectations were tempered. Not a terrible book by any means, but many unimportant Imperial POV's could easily have been replaced with more chapters from necron POV's. I understand the need to showcase just how threatening they are, but this feels like such a waste of an opportunity to give us more insight into the Silent King, instead we just have two passages involving Szarekh, that don't acknowledge any of the juiciest of lore details that Szarekh was involved in, nor was there any character depth. Maybe I'm hoping too much for more character-focused novels but I can only hope that eventually we get a proper necron-focused novel that features him in-depth.

[Miles Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was disappointed that some characters in this series just seemed to disappear as things went on. That being said, I did enjoy this story. I like Belisarius Cawl a lot, and the Necrons were super cool.

[Jack Neighbour · Rating 4 out of 5]

I overall enjoyed the book and loved the primarch interactions. But I won’t be sad to see an end to the series. Few misses for me, some storylines felt unnecessary and it dragged at times without a big pay off.

[SMeKed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather weak "ending". Felt more like a montage summary at the end of a film.

[Jakub Sládek · Rating 2 out of 5]

3/5 if rated as a standalone; 2/5 for this horrible ending to an abysmal series. The whole series is a mismanaged mess. The only decent entries are the first one and the excellent Sea of Souls.

[Gary · Rating 2 out of 5]

A confusing conclusion to a series that has been very polarising.

The writing is good, no doubt, but the context of this story and some of the minor characters that crop up feels very mismanaged.

Cawl (easily one of 40k's most interesting mechanicus lead) and Messinius were great, but the other characters did not feel significant to the story much at all. Also, the Necrons here for me felt a bit half arsed and flat. The Silent King simply has zero presence, and as this book is titled after him, it's very disappointing.

A real shame to be honest as Guy Haley is a very accomplished author and has written some bloody fantastic 40k fiction, but it has to be said that this book has to be his weakest one to date.

[Alan Aspinall · Rating 5 out of 5]

My God this was good

I'm a huge Necron fan, but often find them being watered down in most 40k fiction, not so in this book. The Necron's in this story are a near unstoppable force, one that even Rob Gill adults is unlike any enemy he has ever faced. There are even hits that even Chaos may have cause to fear a fully awaken Necron race, highly recommend.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dawn of Fire series comes to an end! While I read most of the books in this series, I did skip a few here and there as the series went on as it felt like this series was struggling to go somewhere. However, with Guy Haley coming back to round things out and The Silent King making an appearance, I knew I couldn't skip this one.

Overall, I like The Silent King. Moment to moment, the writing is solid, some cool stuff happens (see my spoilery list below for my favorite moments), and a ton of loose ends are tied up, while creating some more, to lead us into whatever is next and the Dark Imperium trilogy.

That said, this title is misleading. The Necrons barely feature prominently as proper characters (though when they do it really is quite good) and are mostly relegated to being a BIG THREAT that Guilliman has to deal with before going to deal with Mortarion's shenanigans near Ultramar. The Silent King, in particular, is mostly a cameo and aside from a few solid named characters getting scenes, it is Imperium characters fighting nameless Necrons in various (to be fair, very well written) battle scenes.

So, overall I think this is a solid book, but I'm not sure how well it ties up the Dawn of Fire series since I skipped Hand of Abaddon. It does serve well leading into Dark Imperium, though that creates new loose ends since we know Guilliman isn't going to be continuing to deal with the Necrons. At least, not right away?

Some of my favorite bits in list form:

- Everything Cawl. Guy Haley writes him and the various Admech characters very well.
- The named Necrons, particularly the xenologist, were a delight to read and it is a shame they have so little time to be in the story.
-Messinius continues to be a solid Space Marine protagonist and his introductory scene is really a great little bit of writing for the Imperium.
-The various battle scenes are great throughout. The fleet engagements feel really weighty and exciting, but the top award goes to the scene of the zealot crash landing in the landing cathedral and going through literal hell for the next several pages. It matches one of my favorite Gaunt's Ghosts scenes for how well it handles the sheer chaos of what the battlefield in the 41st millennium must be like for the average soldier.
-Guilliman turning and looking out at the reader and saying, "What are we, some kind of Dark Imperium?" Seriously though, I loved that line. I also continue to really enjoy how Haley handles Guilliman.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://magicandmeteors.wordpress.com...

The Silent King by Guy Haley is a thrilling and ambitious finale to the Dawn of Fire saga, plunging readers into the epic scale of the 41st Millennium. The story follows the Indomitus Crusade, with Roboute Guilliman leading the Imperium across a galaxy fractured by war, while the long-hidden and controlling Necron ruler, Szarekh — the Silent King — stirs, threatening to reunite his ancient dynasties and reclaim dominance.

Haley excels at contrasting the civilizations of the galaxy. The Imperium of Man, sprawling but bureaucratic and rigid, relies on massive armies, superhuman Space Marines, and cutting-edge—but often unwieldy—technology like the Phobos-class battleships and advanced warforged constructs. In stark contrast, the Necrons wield ancient and almost mystical technology: living-metal bodies, gauss weapons that strip matter atom by atom, and planet-shattering constructs that hint at their supremacy across millions of years. Even the Tyranids and other xenos species feel distinct, their biology and hive-mind strategies highlighting how differently life can evolve and wield power.

The novel also explores the Warp, the psychic dimension that powers faster-than-light travel and sorcery in the galaxy. Haley shows the Imperium’s reliance on psychic navigation through the Warp, with its inherent dangers of daemonic incursions, in tension with the Necrons’ immunity to such forces. This difference underscores the broader clash not just of armies, but of entire philosophies: organic life struggling against entropy and corruption versus immortal machine civilizations resurrecting their dominion.

The story delivers spectacular battles, from the fleet engagements of Battlefleet Kallides to planetary invasions against Necron tomb worlds. Characters like Belisarius Cawl and Roboute Guilliman are portrayed at their most compelling, navigating the complex interplay of strategy, technology, and the unpredictability of both the Warp and ancient enemies. Ancient events like the Great Sleep, the War in the Galaxy, and conflicts with the C’tan provide context and scale, emphasizing how the choices of millennia past still reverberate across the galaxy.

Ultimately The Silent King is a richly textured, action-packed, and lore-heavy installment. It celebrates the diversity of the galaxy’s empires, the awe-inspiring technologies at play and in use, and the omnipresent threat of the Warp, while delivering a narrative that is both monumental and personal. For people people who know Warhammer 40,000 events, it is a stunning showcase of the scale, danger, and wonder that define the universe.

[Delta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet again, not an easy review to write. I think I've repeated some version of this for the last 3-4 DoF novels, on its own, this is a good book, even bordering on great, considering its plot strays dangerously close to super generic (Imperium attacking Necrons in the Pariah Nexus turned into the most generic bolter porn back in Indomitus...) it really does its best to add some interesting twists and turns and character work, and draws from a cast that has been established through a lot of novels.

But as the grand finale of Dawn of Fire? This is lacking. First of all, the Necrons. After 8 books of constant Chaos shenanigans, now it's all Necrons all of a sudden, at the last minute? The big conclusion of DoF is Guilliman facing off against an opponent that his literally not shown up or gotten mentioned once in the whole series? If this was the opening of another chapter of DoF and leading into multiple necron-focused books, would be one thing. As it is, it stands as a testament to the big issue of DoF, a total lack of direction and missed potential. Again, this book isn't awful on its own and worth a read if you like the topic, but thinking about what more you could have done with a 9 volume series like this still makes me sad.

[Christopher Prats · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Silent King is easily in the top five list for most interesting characters in 40k. As a leader, he essentially seems to be focused on the greater good of the galaxy with his focus on going against the Necron, blames himself for the state of un-life the vast majority of the Necron are in, and generally has no enmity with the Imperium. It's even hinted at that he spoke with Sanguinius once during the Crusade and had an amicable relationship with him.

Then, in this book, he's a one-dimensional bad guy character filler. And in a book named after him, he has such short, uninteresting appearances that it seems that this was just GW baiting people in.

The book does some good things, like giving certain characters satisfying endings and others not-so-satisfying ones. Some of the major characters in the Dawn of Fire series aren't here, and as this is the last book in this series, who knows when we'll next see them?

The Necron battles are probably the most interesting parts of this story in that they're lore-accurate. The Necrons are vastly superior to the Imperium, and it shows.

Overall, a meh book. It probably would have ranked higher for me if it weren't for the dumb title bait and switch.

[Al Ch · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was terrible, but I’m not sure how much the author holds fault.

Guy Haley is typically a great writer. He expands upon characters, and adds the nuanced layers towards their traits that define them.

The Silent King lacked any and all character development. Gulliman comes off a black and white child with daddy issues, arrogant and yet overconfident through a sense of his association to the Emperor. The Necrons come off with a lack of intelligence associated to them - the beings that can calculate the millions of future situations in advance. The Custodes come off as grumpy boomers that loathe their generational duty. Random characters come off as the privileged you learn to resent in your lives, yet randomly develop at the last minute.

Yet, you sense that Guy tries. It’s almost as if he’s been given a script to fulfill, and he has to write backwards
towards it. And that’s probably what happened here - Games Workshop had a linear narrative to fill in, and he was boxed into a very limited scope.

Story? 2/5.
Guy Haley? 3/5.

[Ben Secker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, holds your attention. However, I struggle to see it as a worthy end to the series. None of the previous story lines have been tied up. Makes me wonder if there will be a new series that follows on? There is still so many questions to be answered.
Finishing this 539 page novel of a 9 book series does not feel rewarding.
But don't let this stop you from reading it, it is a well written romp where the imperium faces the full force of the necron empire.

[Jayme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ending to the Dawn of Fire series, though of course it feels like a spin-off since the majority of the characters from the rest of the series are absent (their stories having already reached their climax). Necrons are now officially cool. Great into to them. Guilliman is strong here, and Cawl is even stronger. Great, great cast of characters, very exciting action sequences and the growing tension of the rise of the Necrons from their tomb world was SICK.

[Matt Tyrrell-Byrne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bittersweet finish to the Dawn of Fire series.

Some may remember it was marketed in 2020 or so as the next big multi character series to rival Horus Heresy.

Being told after book 6 dropped that 9 would be the last was a bit of a slap!

This book was very good at what it does, adds the growing Necron threat and imperial response to the tale, but as good as it is it leaves us with the previous plot lines all about chaos and different parts of the crusade almost abandoned.

[Christian Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay ending to a meandering series. The positives are that we get to see both more of Guilliman, Agathey, and even some of the indomitable Cato Sicarius… but I’m not sure what the point of Dawn of Fire was?

The big bads we built up to over the last books? Nowhere in this book. The Crusade itself? Still meandering. Guilliman comes off less like the tactical genius he is and more like he fumbles his way into battle. It’s not a good look and I’m a bit disappointed by the overall conclusion.

[Jay Brian Wantland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice conclusion for DoF

This book was far more interesting to me than the previous DoF novels. I was pleasantly surprised to see just how tough of an opponent the necrons were in this book. I've never seen them on this scale before, and it felt good to see them come into the spotlight rather than another Chaos plot.

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very meh. Kind of par for course in Dawn of Fire.
Doesn’t advance lore or characters at all. Even though it is the most recent book (and was much hyped), it officially retcons the series and a couple of the characters so that it ends just before Dark Imperium begins (great series).

Only gets 3 stars because I spent on on it smh

[Tom Fishwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent finale to the Dawn of Fire series. Featuring an epic showdown with the Necrons at the Pariah Nexus in the biggest space battle in 40k that I've read.
Gulliman and Cawl are both excellent characters. It also brings together many of the other main characters that we have seen through the Dawn of Fire series.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Overall

End of the dawn of fire series - overall I enjoyed it but very uneven as a series. This was one of the better books but a little frustrating that it doesn’t advance the timeline, in fact it reveals the whole series took place before the dark imperium series.

[Doom Party · Rating 1 out of 5]

Greatly disappointing.

Most of this book is just filler with the first and last 3 chapters being actually relevant.

the Necrons show up for less than 3% of this book despite being in the majority of the cover, the silent king only appearing for 4 pages.

This book can be skipped

[Dan D · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a story Titled 'The Silent King' it has very little of him or the Necrons so a little disappointing however this is still a great Read and Guy Hayley is fast becoming one of my favourite authors I just need more Necrons in my life.

[Paul Sparks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much silent king and when he does show up it’s over very quickly, DoF series should have been better but has been overshadowed from the start by Dark Imperium removing any real threat, interesting to see the navy get seriously outgunned by the necrons, John Banks as always did a superb job narrating

[Richard Cheng · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Andrew Peel · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of good stuff here unfortunately it commits the sin of having too many chapters that don’t drive the story along. Finally ‘The Silent King’ is too silent.

[Allen Lyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Ken Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

G-Man in action, and Cawl. Smoking on that Necron pack but only a lil cuz they rebuild themselves.

[Jesper Karlsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this was the 4th book of the series it would have been given a 5, but its not and that's its biggest problem.

A lot of characters that were heavily invested in previous books and did not have a conclusion are not mentioned, and even for the characters that it does mention, it more so acts like a setup.

The writing is great, its funny its fast paced and reading it was a joy, it was simply that the ending left me sour, knowing that this was supposed to wrap things up, and it really didn't feel like even close to it.