Krieg by Steve Lyons

Colonel Jurten is a legend of Krieg, a world that he essentially helped self-immolate in ancient nuclear destruction when he fought against the growing spread of heresy on the world. The story follows the decisions Jurten took leading to and beyond that fateful moment, but also jumps into the “present” in which the world of Krieg is churning out astonishing numbers of robust, zeal-filled soldiers and sending them to do war in the farthest reaches of the Imperium.

The two threads of plot interweave in some meaningful, though slightly predictable ways. I liked the mystery of the Death Korps being at the center, and, while I guessed the main events of the denouement before they happened, I still found it satisfying.

Lyons delivers on a good amount of action, though this doesn’t really go into the category of straight up “bolter porn” as some Warhammer books do. Instead, much of the novel is about the zeal of Jurten and the decisions he had to make in circumstances that seemed unwinnable. In the “present,” meanwhile, following a Cadian and an Inquisitor spice perspectives up a bit.

One thing about Warhammer is that it is so lore-heavy that it can be intimidating to know where to start. However, more and more, apart from some of the big series, I think that it’s tailored to letting people just dive in and figure out the feel of the universe for themselves. Krieg by Steve Lyons is a novel that introduces readers to the Death Korps. For people who haven’t read Warhammer 40K lore or know anything about the universe, I imagine that the fast and hard hits of how the novel plays out might get confusing (talking about the Mechanicum, Ordo Hereticus, and more without much context). But I also imagine that the way Lyons guides the story is enough to keep most readers afloat. I’d be curious to know someone’s thoughts if this was their first-ever WH40K novel.

Krieg is a satisfying chunk of Warhammer 40K meat. It’s pretty lore heavy, and when I finished it I dove deeply into more lore about Krieg and the Death Korps. I appreciated that Lyons appeared to be quite accurate in the lore for the Korps, while revealing a few mysteries along the way. I would recommend the novel to fans of Warhammer 40K, though I don’t know about those who haven’t dived in yet.

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SDG.