The Twice-Dead King Omnibus

The Twice-dead King

by Nate Crowley

Oltyx was once heir to an entire dynasty, destined to command legions of noble warriors. Now he is an exile, living out a feeble existence on the miserable world of Sedh, leading a dwindling cabal of warriors against the interminable appetites of rampaging orks.

Determined to reclaim his birthright, Oltyx returns to the heart of the court that cast him out, and so begins a journey of profound discovery, the secrets of which are entangled with the origins of the necrons themselves. And if Oltyx is to save his precious Ithakas Dynasty from the barbaric war-cult known as the Imperium of Man, he must become the kind of king he never expected to be.

This omnibus contains the novels The Twice-Dead King: Ruin and The Twice-Dead King: Reign, plus the novella Severed and several short stories.

Genres: 40k, Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories

923 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 21, 2025

About the author

Nate Crowley is an author, interactive fiction consultant, video games journalist, and public speaker.

Reviews

[Tavi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even better on a re-read, I appreciated the second book so much more knowing the full story. The novella and short stories are great inclusions as well.

[Mira · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is it about necron books that makes them so good? Is it crack? Is it crack you're writing with?? This is easily one of the top contenders for my favourite 40k book. I loved seeing Oltyx's slow descent into madness AND the novella of the best Nemesor/Vargard duo.

[Stefan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Het is gemakkelijk om een factie van zestig miljoen jaar oude robots weg te zetten als niets meer dan een stel dementerende en stugge protocollen. Het is daarom bewonderenswaardig knap hoe Crowley deze factie - ondanks het feit dat ze deze niet meer kan bezitten - kan voorzien van een ziel. Niet enkel in de fantastische Twice-Dead King duologie, maar ook in de novella Severed en de verschillende korte verhalen.

Lezend vanuit het perspectief van de Necrons verlies je jezelf in hun ongrijpbare wereld en genadeloze geschiedenis: een worsteling met het bestaan, het vastzitten tussen rituelen en instinct, en een interne strijd met duistere gedachten. Verhalen gevuld met rijke karakters en motivaties, melancholieke reflecties, en duizelingwekkende - explosieve - scenarios.

Een aanrader, voor zowel sci-fi liefhebbers als de Warhammer-fan.

[Alexander Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

People weren't kidding, this is a really top tier Necron book. Dare I say a close second to The Infinite & The Divine? I dare indeed.

[Lewis Doherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the first one, but the second I found very difficult to read and the ending was not to my liking

[Arturo Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute triumph of Necron lore that literally made me cheer out loud.
5/5 Stars

​The Twice Dead King Omnibus is a phenomenal deep dive into the tragic, decaying minds of the Necrons, and I'd confidently say it is almost as good as The Infinite and the Divine. The character growth of King Oltyx is incredibly well done, anchoring a story that completely shifts how you view this faction.

​One of the absolute highlights is how the book handles the Flayer Curse. It masterfully reframes it and not just as a simple magical affliction, but as a horrifying state of mind and a desperate, twisted yearning to go back to the flesh. It adds a layer of psychological horror to the Necrons that makes them far more compelling.

​The combat sequences are top-tier, but there is one specific moment that stole the show. When the ancient Necron Denet, suffering from severe engrammatic decay finally summons the monoliths, it was so incredibly epic that I literally screamed "My King!" out loud while sitting on a commercial flight at 10,000 feet. It is that good.

​Finally, the addendum stories are the perfect chaser. Getting the perspective of a religious fanatic and a regular human fighting the Necrons provides a terrifying sense of scale. It shows exactly how monstrous Oltyx and his kind look from the other side of the battlefield. Highly recommended.

[scourgemarx · Rating 1 out of 5]

besides pacing, which is a complaint I have about all Warhammer 40k books, I wanna say say that I liked this book. RUIN: ruin is very slow in the beginning and also a lot more serious and it took a lot of getting used to when I am so used to the shenanigans of Trazyn and Zahndrekh, not to say that it's bad. I don’t really know how I feel about they way these books treat Otlyx, unnas, and djoseras's relationship. you can have a ‘maybe my hatred of them distorted my perception of them’ kind of story but I don't know if I think that should be the end all be all and I think Otlyx has a right not to like unnas and djoseras and I think that the healing process of something like should take longer. I would recomment 'Lady Bird, Fences, and Why You Don't Need to Forgive Your Parents' by Cheyenne Lin for a more in-depth explanation of what i'm trying to express. REIGN: The first book gave me the impression that unnas was Otlyx’s older brother and thats why unnas was protective and djoseras was more of a teacher and a uncle that was surrogate father and unnas being the father and djoseras being the brother in the second book changes that dynamic in a way a way that i think makes the story worse. Second, Otlyx is written very out of character in reign. In ruin he was broodish in an emo teenager kind of way and in reign they make him more conrad curze-esk, more edgy, stand off-ish, and they dropped a lot of the stuff in ruin about Otlyx rejecting the doctrinal submind and ending with djoseras admitting that there wasn’t anything wrong with Otlyx being unique and not fitting in with tradition and reign does away with that by forcing Otlyx into the position of trying to meet that expectations of what being a dynast means when that is the opposite of what he has been characterised to do and makes him less nuanced as a result. In fact i think the ending of this book is a character assassination of otlyx as a character and i grew to REALLY hate it towards the end. I don't know why Warhammer writers write books if they don't care about endings or character consistency. the short stories were pretty good though.

[Saltwater January · Rating 4 out of 5]

After I really didn't like The Infinite And The Divine I was expecting to dislike this one as well. But as it turns out I really loved the first Twice Dead King book. The second one I really didn't like up until the ending. (I really like the parts about the Flayer Curse if you can't tell).

And no one prepared me for Severed! I definitely wasn't expecting it to be as emotional as I found it. Not because of the regular grim tragedy of 40k, but because there's such atypical love portrayed where there should be none.

The short stories after that were alright, there was nothing too interesting about them.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twice Dead King: Ruin 5/5
- being a full novel, review done separately

Twice Dead King: Reign 5/5
- being a full novel review done separately

Severed: 4/5
- another emotional tale given to soulless ‘robots’. i don’t think i’ll ever get tired of how crowley portrays the necrons. wonderful.

One Million Years: 4/5
- very good! had to go back for a quick reread because i was a little confused about the implications of this story lol.

The Life of Jethras The Martyr: 5/5
- beautiful story! this adds a very beautiful pov to the first novel in the omnibus.

Patience: 4/5
- hellll ya! just a friendly reminder after all these heart-felt stories about how terrifying necrons are

[daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. I think it starts very well, mid way it starts to get a little repetitive. Not with the story, but the feelings the characters have. The remaining chapters before the end are just wonderful, especially chapter 20, which was one of my favorites. The big twist, kinda foreseeable. one thing I will say, the short stories are awesome and the way they tie back to the main story

[Jake Bolger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good 40k space romp focusing on Necrons.
Interesting twist as they are constantly fleeing a much more powerful Imperium fleet for the whole series. Delves into the lore of the Necron Flayer curse.

As usual, interesting perspectives/ideas on how one lives an infinite life.
The short stories in this omnibus are particularly great.

[Lucien · Rating 5 out of 5]

the twice dead king: ruin 5/5
ttdk: reign 5/5
severed 5/5
one million years 4.5/5
the life of jethras 4.5/5
patience 4.5/5

probably my favourite warhammer book, just absolute bangers all around! horror, tragedy, comedy AND offhand trans rep in one book? hell yeah brother

[Christian Hudgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, well written Necron stories. As with everytime, I now want to buy and build a necron army.

[Long Pham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting tales to learn about Necron history and their hierarchy. They are not just the silent killing machines that the Mechanicus think they are.

[Alexander Ecclestone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, slightly anticlimactic ending but really unique character building and development of one of the lesser spoken about races in 40k

[George Costanza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun collection with necron protagonists. The main event is The Twice Dead King: Ruin & Reign; reign was a bit stronger. It's basically a heros journey but with a deranged 40k twist. The sort of overarching issue I have is that these millions years old alien undead robots seem to mostly still have the temperament of children, though maybe that's how they're supposed to be, when they ascended their development was arrested at that age. There's some good introspection and the action serves a purpose beyond "bolter porn". Recommended to any necron fans especially of the flayers.

The omnibus includes several shorts stories related to the pain event. "Severed", one of the short stories is the sweetest 40k story I've read.