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I've seen a few posts asking about AoS books recommendations and I thought I can do my share of work and post a rough guideline on what is worth purchasing (IMO ofcourse).

First off, I want to say that if you're a raging AoS fan like me you'll most likely not regret buying any of the books in the long run - they are all worth your attention for various reasons. Some help flesh out how soldiers of the realms battle, other follow the main story line and other still are set in a story arc all by themselves and shed light on the races themselves or on different aspects of the heroes.

Second, If you're just getting into the lore and want to get the most bang for your buck (the best fiction written so far) buy the novels labeled with "thumbs up" in the end.

Third, some of the books may be marked with one or more pluses ( +). Each plus means that I have seen someone recommend it in this or some other thread (as from now on). A plus is a recommendation from another use (even if I have not recommended it) This should mitigate the subjectivity of my opinion to an extent.

Independent/faction novels

Labyrinth of the Lost - this is a nice vanilla story tied with the Silver Tower boardgame. A classic sword & sorcery adventuring story about a band of unlikely adventurers going against an evil sorcerer. It has a nice ending and the characters are generally likeable. Has a certain "The Cube" feel to it. Recommended if you've bought the boardgame and if you're a big AoS fan, passable otherwise as it doesn't bring much to either the main story line or the setting. Still, it is a nice book. Half-hearted thumbs up.

Legends of the Age of Sigmar - Skaven Pestilens - a story which will see Stormcast, Skaven and Seraphon pitted against each other. Features an interesting view on the existence of the Seraphon (or atleast the constelation - read slann+retinue - in question), their way of battle and communication with the Stormcast. Lord Celestant Zephecleas leads the stormcast which is a plus as he's the most likeable of all their commanders. The skaven bring some lulz as always, the cunning bastards.This is one of the best AoS books I've read so far and I can definitely recommend it as it details all three of the races and is interesting enough on its own. Thumbs up!

Legends of the Age of Sigmar - Fyreslayers - this one has several stories about fyreslayers and as the above one is a solid pick. You get to see the fyreslayer society and, ofcourse, some fighting - quite interesting even if you don't collect fyreslayers. The first story is the story of a gradually dwindling lodge on a quest for their "homeland" - they follow a map that basically says "walk this way for 4k days". The second story follows a war group on a quest to find their sister lodge and the source of an ominous wind. The third one is another one dealing with an ancient prophecy and sees a battle group walking to the aid (or so they thought) of their ancestor lodge, but it all turns out a little greener that expected . The last one is the best - it follows the exile of a new founded lodge escaping the doom that befall their unbelieving kin. It goes on in search of a new home and ultimately new allies. All of the stories tell of how isolationists the fyreslayers are and how they still manage to survive in the turbulent times of this chaos dominated age without even knowing if there are other survivors other than themselves. Thumbs up!

Call of Archaon - short stories about chaos champions on their way to joining Archaon's entourage - there are stories about a Nurgle champion, a Khorne champion and a Tzeentch champion. IMO less than half the stories are worth reading and that marks it as passable for me. On the other hand it is being pointed as one of the better books for AoS so it's your call... + +

Warbeast - a story set in the realm of beasts. A story about a returning hero of old, set on liberating his own lands. He's aided by a more level-headed (and haughty) lord celestant and the conflict between the two is a major theme in the novel. The action pits Stormcast vs beastmen & marauders and ultimately Skaven. Starts off slowly then gathers some speed. The second part of the book is a lot better than the first one and the last 20 or so pages see . It is a decent novel by itself - definitely better than the ones in the 20 euro bundle (atleast this is my impression now). I give this a half-hearted thumbs up.

Fury of Gork - a story about a Lord Celestant's quest to stop a chaos champion(ess) from obtaining a powerful artifact, the Astral Templars' task to deliver a perfumed letter from Sigmar to Gorkamorka, and the orruks' quest to find... a good fight (no surprises here ). This one is mostly a fighting novel, which puts it, not surprisingly, a bit low in my ladder of "essential" AoS books. There's a good bit of orruk dialogue there that you won't find it in any other novel, so far, so if you're into Ironjaws and want to get pumped up for your games - this is the book to get. I mark it as passable, otherwise. +

Black Rift of Klaxus - haven't read it yet. +

Campaign/main story line novels

Gates of Azyr - the "intro" novel. Just a big fight with some heroic moments. You can totally pass on this unless you want to flesh out the starter box battles.

Warstorm - the continuation of the Gates of Azyr. Mostly consists of fighting scenes. The second novel (the one written by Guy Haley) is perhaps the best of the three and worthy of reading on its own. Does it justify the purchase of the entire book? In my opinion - no.

Quest for Ghal Maraz - two stories - one continuing the story arc in the realm of life while the other is set in the realm of metal. Both are good enough on their own to warrant the purchase of the 20 euro bundle that comes with it, but not good enough to buy the book separately.

Hammers of Sigmar - consists of two stories - one about the celestant prime, the other is not . Both aren't good enough to warrant a separate purchase IMO - it is fortunate that they are included in the 20 euro bundle.

The above four are featured in a 20 euro bundle (it is starting to sound like an advertisement). Is the bundle worth it? If you really like AoS, have the starter box (this is a bigger turn on than you imagine,,,) and want to get more into the main story line - yes. If you are on the verge, aren't sure about diving in or just want info on the setting's civilizations, then no - there are mostly battles in it. All in all I'd have to call this one as mostly passable...

Wardens of the Everqueen - continues the story line set in the realm of life. Stormcast vs mostly Nurgle folk duking it out on a frozen sea and later on - on solid land. Funnily enough, the campaign book (Balance of Power) is a LOT better purchase... Again, passable.

Bladestorm - a story about the stormcasts' Lord Celestant Thostos coming to terms with their reforging (to be honest there's a lot less of this in the novel than I'd like and I'm not sure it was interesting enough) while being on a mission to take a bastion from the chaos boys and hold it against da real boyz (har har). All in all this compilation of stories is not that bad. Personally, I found the dungeon crawling part of the novel the most interesting one (three stormcasts + some human warriors hunting an escaped chaos wizard and a filthy betrayer). The most interesting battle scene would be the first, real brawl encounter with the ironjawz in the canyon. The fist part of the series is free for download and is a fairly good read. The last part was a really odd one though - it was somewhat detached from the other five (after going through all the rumble for the chaos fort the stormcast assault a random chaos tower to meet with their rendezvous). Ends with the muster of a grand army meant to take Archaon's dolly palace in the All-Points. Not really sure if I'd recommend it - it is certainly better, IMO, then Wardens of the Everqueen and Hammers of Sigmar for example. I'll make up my mind when I finish the Black Rift of Klaxus. In the meantime shinros recommends it so it gets a +

Summary:
If you're an Age of SIgmar fan in search for fiction, but don't know what to buy then get these (in that order) - they are the safest bet IMO when it comes to pleasing a wider audience.

-Legends of the Age of Sigmar - Skaven Pestilens
-Legends of the Age of Sigmar - Fyreslayers
-Warbeast
-Labyrinth of the Lost

If you happened to like them and are looking for more, find the one that pictures your army from the listed books above.

I'll try to update this with new arrivals and older ones that I haven't gotten to, but I can't promise (I'd like to buy some models aswell after all ). Everyone's free to share their own thoughts, though.

Really liking this, so glad you put it out.

I am having trouble making my minis, just bummed out seeing how awesome everyone's else's minis are and life is not helping at all. So buying Labyrinth of the Lost, do you think it will inspire me to do more minis for Silver Tower?

As someone who doesn't like what he's heard about AoS fluff but hasn't actually read much on it besides the initial stuff that put me off, what would you suggest I get into to help haul me back? My specific issues are the lack of non-stormcast representation, the initial feel of Stormcasts as Sigmarines and the feel that the realms are infinitely large and therefore battles within have little consequence.

So I'm looking for a book that makes me care about Stormcasts, pays homage to the Old world in theme or characters, and makes the setting feel consequential. Would any of these books fit that?

 ALEXisAWESOME wrote:
As someone who doesn't like what he's heard about AoS fluff but hasn't actually read much on it besides the initial stuff that put me off, what would you suggest I get into to help haul me back? My specific issues are the lack of non-stormcast representation, the initial feel of Stormcasts as Sigmarines and the feel that the realms are infinitely large and therefore battles within have little consequence.

So I'm looking for a book that makes me care about Stormcasts, pays homage to the Old world in theme or characters, and makes the setting feel consequential. Would any of these books fit that?

Warbeast would be your best bet, I think.

Fury of Gork is quite nice aswell I might add.

Sete wrote:
Fury of Gork is quite nice aswell I might add.

It was recommended to me aswell and it is next in the queue (sometime soon).

 CoreCommander wrote:
I've seen a few posts asking about AoS books recommendations and I thought I can do my share of work and post a rough guideline on what is worth purchasing (IMO ofcourse).

First off, I want to say that if you're a raging AoS fan like me you'll most likely not regret buying any of the books in the long run - they are all worth your attention for various reasons. Some help flesh out how soldiers of the realms battle, other follow the main story line and other still are set in a story arc all by themselves and shed light on the races themselves or on different aspects of the heroes.

Second, If you're just getting into the lore and want to get the most bang for your buck (the best fiction written so far) buy the novels labeled with "thumbs up" in the end.

Labyrinth of the Lost - this is a nice vanilla story tied with the Silver Tower boardgame. A classic sword & sorcery adventuring story about a band of unlikely adventurers going against an evil sorcerer. Recommended if you've bought the boardgame and if you're a big AoS fan, passable otherwise as it doesn't bring much to either the main story line or the setting. Still, it is a nice book. Half-hearted thumbs up.

Legends of the Age of Sigmar - Skaven Pestilens - a story which will see Stormcast, Skaven and Seraphon pitted against each other. This is one of the best AoS books I've read so far and I can definitely recommend it as it details all three of the races and is interesting enough on its own. Thumbs up!

Legends of the Age of Sigmar - Fyreslayers - this one has several stories about fyreslayers and as the above one is a solid pick. You get to see the fyreslayer society and, ofcourse, some fighting - quite interesting even if you don't collect fyreslayers. Thumbs up!


Gates of Azyr - the "intro" novel. Just a big fight with some heroic moments. You can totally pass on this unless you want to flesh out the starter box battles.

Warstorm - the continuation of the Gates of Azyr. Mostly consists of fighting scenes. The second novel (the one written by Guy Haley) is perhaps the best of the three and worthy of reading on its own. Does it justify the purchase of the entire book? In my opinion - no.

Quest for Ghal Maraz - two stories - one continuing the story arc in the realm of life while the other is set in the realm of metal. Both are good enough on their own to warrant the purchase of the 20 euro bundle that comes with it, but not good enough to buy the book separately.

Hammers of Sigmar - consists of two stories - one about the celestant prime, the other is not . Both aren't good enough to warrant a separate purchase IMO - it is fortunate that they are included in the 20 euro bundle.

The above four are featured in a 20 euro bundle (it is starting to sound like an advertisement). Is the bundle worth it? If you really like AoS, have the starter box (this is a bigger turn on than you imagine,,,) and want to get more into the main story line - yes. If you are on the verge, aren't sure about diving in or just want info on the setting's civilizations, then no - there are mostly battles in it. All in all I'd have to call this one as mostly passable...

Call of Archaon - short stories about chaos champions on their way to joining Archaon's entourage - there are stories about a Nurgle champion, a Khorne champion and a Tzeentch champion. IMO less than half the stories are worth reading and that marks it as passable for me. On the other hand it is being pointed as one of the better books for AoS so it's your call...

Wardens of the Everqueen - continues the story line set in the realm of life. Stormcast vs mostly Nurgle folk duking it out on a frozen sea and later on - on solid land. Funnily enough, the campaign book (Balance of Power) is a LOT better purchase... Again, passable.

Warbeast - a story set in the realm of beasts. A story about a returning hero of old, set on liberating his own lands. He's aided by a more level-headed (and haughty) lord celestant and the conflict between the two is a major theme in the novel. The action pits Stormcast vs beastmen & marauders and ultimately Skaven. Starts off slowly then gathers some speed. The second part of the book is a lot better than the first one. It is a decent novel by itself - definitely better than the ones in the 20 euro bundle (atleast this is my impression now). I give this a half-hearted thumbs up.

I'll try to update this with new arrivals and older ones that I haven't gotten to, but I can't promise (I'd like to buy some models aswell after all ). Everyone's free to share their own thoughts, though.

Thanks for the input
I'm hearing consistently Pestilens and the new Gork/Orruk novel are the best, about equal with Warbeast. I enjoyed the Fyreslayers book and found it a necessary companion to starting my army and just knowing exactly WTF are these guys and how are they not WHFB dwarfs It helped on every level. Call of Archaon was also excellent, especially the Khorne guy who hates Khorne.

 VeteranNoob wrote:
Call of Archaon was also excellent, especially the Khorne guy who hates Khorne.

It certainly had some interesting ideas, but IMO fell short in some other areas (this is, ofcourse, subjective). Overall I base my score on an AoS book on the overall usefulness to a beginner reader/player. I try to keep in mind the setting portrayal, character development, interesting ideas, intriguing plot and good writing style when I'm making judgement on a book. Ultimately, as I said in the beginning, they're all worth getting if one is getting seriously in the hobby, but I want to help people that want to start reading, but don't know where to begin and point them to the more well rounded books.

@CoreCommander Thanks for the list!
I have two questions to though:

How does the campaign books compare to the novels in terms of providing the fluff for AoS?

Also which one item would you recommend for someone wanting to know more about the fluff of the Death alliance?

Spiky Norman wrote:
@CoreCommander Thanks for the list!
I have two questions to though:

How does the campaign books compare to the novels in terms of providing the fluff for AoS?

Also which one item would you recommend for someone wanting to know more about the fluff of the Death alliance?

The campaign books follow (and summarize ) the stories in the novels atleast until Godbeasts - I've just roughly flipped through it so I can't tell anything about the story yet. If you want a brief summary on what happens then you should get the campaign books. If you want to see the interaction between characters, their thoughts and drives aswell as more detail to the battles then the novels. This only applies to the novels about the ongoing campaign. I'll update the description of the books with more details tomorrow.

The info on the death alliance is a tough question. Hammers of sigmar has a story where two of the secondary characters were a necromancer-philosopher and a somewhat scholarly wight king. The hunt for Nagash audio drama gives the realms of death and their inhabitants some colour but doesn't really go into detail. It has some interesting easter eggs though like the purple sun of xerxes. As far as my knowledge goes I'd say that for now the alliance book and the ghoul battletome must serve as your inspiration atleast until a death novel comes out. Someone that has Fury of Gork, the black rift of klaxus and the bladestorm series can share if there is something in there.

Thanks corecommander, i think ill give warbeast a go based on your recommendations.

On a side note, what did you think of the audio dramas? Im completely sold on them. The voice acting and sound effects are really good Its like listening to a movie!

 CoreCommander wrote:

 VeteranNoob wrote:
Call of Archaon was also excellent, especially the Khorne guy who hates Khorne.

It certainly had some interesting ideas, but IMO fell short in some other areas (this is, ofcourse, subjective). Overall I base my score on an AoS book on the overall usefulness to a beginner reader/player. I try to keep in mind the setting portrayal, character development, interesting ideas, intriguing plot and good writing style when I'm making judgement on a book. Ultimately, as I said in the beginning, they're all worth getting if one is getting seriously in the hobby, but I want to help people that want to start reading, but don't know where to begin and point them to the more well rounded books.

Hope you didn't think that was an argument on my part I agree with you. Call of Archaon is one I still see recommended as a top option for a brand new reader or one from 8th ed. But since Warbeast, Pestilens and Orruks it was a good link. I also agree with your rankings for beginners and especially that Balance of Power seems to be unanimously (online) better than its sister fic companion (by C.L. Werner). Thanks for having this thread.

Spiky Norman wrote:
@CoreCommander Thanks for the list!
I have two questions to though:

How does the campaign books compare to the novels in terms of providing the fluff for AoS?

Also which one item would you recommend for someone wanting to know more about the fluff of the Death alliance?

The Flesh-Eater Courts battletome might interest you if you want fluff.

Thanks for the recommendations!
I'm starting a mainly Deathrattle army, and really would like to know more of the fluff, but it seems the most is still to come.
I'll consider the recommendations here and maybe pick up the battletome or one of the campaign books and take it from there.

Curry_Supreme wrote:

On a side note, what did you think of the audio dramas? Im completely sold on them. The voice acting and sound effects are really good Its like listening to a movie!

The Hunt for Nagash is pretty sweet. It is quite the standard march and kill story on a macro level, but the voice acting and the sound effects more than make up for it. Also both the Bullhearts and Mannfred were presented in a very likeable manner. Tarsus may be a more or less stock Hallowed knights lord celestant, but you end up cheering for him nonetheless. That is the power of audio dramas - they speak to your soul so to speak .

 VeteranNoob wrote:
Hope you didn't think that was an argument on my part I agree with you.

I don't mind even if it was. I'm counting on other people to come and say what did they like in the novels that I didn't recommend so they can make their good parts shine and bias people towards them. After all I have my own expectations from a novel and my experience is subjective - one may miss a novel that he would have enjoyed based on my subjective opinion. I just wanted to point out how I make my judgement on whether a novel is a good initial pick or a not so appropriate one. While not all are equal (in my eyes) in all accounts when taken as separate pieces of literature, they are nonetheless worth it in the context of the AoS hobby.

A short update with "Furry of Gork" . This was a fun one to be honest and a big part of the fun comes from Zaphecleas (which is my favourite of the Lord-Celestants) whose wide knowledge of Ghur is worth atleast as much as his fighting skills and good spirit. Mostly a "march and fight" novel, though, which marks it as not-a-first-pick for me unless you collect Ironjawz.

Great overview! I'd have to disagree on Call of Archaon, as you alluded to I'm one of those people who think it's probably the best AoS novel so far. I found all the champions interesting, and it's not just endless fight scenes (although there are many of them). I would recommend it for sure.

 Mymearan wrote:
Great overview! I'd have to disagree on Call of Archaon, as you alluded to I'm one of those people who think it's probably the best AoS novel so far. I found all the champions interesting, and it's not just endless fight scenes (although there are many of them). I would recommend it for sure.

i'll add some indication on the books as to whether (and how many) people like them. It is certainly useful. Call of Archaon gets two pluses (++) from you and Veteran Noob (I haven't forgotten his affront to my views !!!! )

I will also recommend the Black Rift of Klaxus series. It's a lot of "boltstorm porn" ;-) but it has some epic moments indeed and very satisfying battles overall.

 Mymearan wrote:
I will also recommend the Black Rift of Klaxus series. It's a lot of "boltstorm porn" ;-) but it has some epic moments indeed and very satisfying battles overall.

I've just finished the Bladestorm series (opinion later) and will begin Klaxus sometime next week. I'll add the Klaxus series now though.

I've just finished reading the silver tower novella, and wanted to share a few thoughts:

Silver Tower: Labyrinth of the Lost

Overall, i feel this was a very off the shelf, write a book to go with our product type of novella. The characters while generic, are likable and its story has a fairly straight forward plot line which really tries to be sophisticated, and does hit some marks. All things said though, for the price, it is worth picking up.

The characters are good enough for the story, with only the mistweaver seeming off. I feel the doomseeker, Stormcast and Chieftain really worked well with each other and as a reader you definitely feel that if this were a longer book, one could get attached to them. The gaunt summoner is interesting and the end twist surprisingly alludes to a greater sub plot that may become part of the main AOS storyline at a later date. I did also like the room for future uses of some of these characters and also getting a glimpse of how the Gaunt summoners interact with mortals and amongst their own kin.

Curry_Supreme wrote:
I've just finished reading the silver tower novella, and wanted to share a few thoughts:

Silver Tower: Labyrinth of the Lost

Overall, i feel this was a very off the shelf, write a book to go with our product type of novella. The characters while generic, are likable and its story has a fairly straight forward plot line which really tries to be sophisticated, and does hit some marks. All things said though, for the price, it is worth picking up.

The characters are good enough for the story, with only the mistweaver seeming off. I feel the doomseeker, Stormcast and Chieftain really worked well with each other and as a reader you definitely feel that if this were a longer book, one could get attached to them. The gaunt summoner is interesting and the end twist surprisingly alludes to a greater sub plot that may become part of the main AOS storyline at a later date. I did also like the room for future uses of some of these characters and also getting a glimpse of how the Gaunt summoners interact with mortals and amongst their own kin.

Hmm it seems I may need to pick up this book I just ordered the bladstorm novel and picking it up today. I have personally listened to all the audio dramas so far and I personally give it my mark of recommendation it gives a good description of the realm of death and the relationship between the lord celestant and a certain vampire is interesting to say the least.

Honestly I get the feeling after the recent audio drama great red it's more about mannfred and his development than anything else. Yes stormcast are there and they are great characters as well but I kinda feel its like a continuation of Vlad's last words to mannfred in end times. Oh and nagash is amazing in the first volume his speeches that ramp up each audio drama is amazing.

 shinros wrote:

I have personally listened to all the audio dramas so far and I personally give it my mark of recommendation it gives a good description of the realm of death and the relationship between the lord celestant and a certain vampire is interesting to say the least.

Honestly I get the feeling after the recent audio drama great red it's more about mannfred and his development than anything else. Yes stormcast are there and they are great characters as well but I kinda feel its like a continuation of Vlad's last words to mannfred in end times. Oh and nagash is amazing in the first volume his speeches that ramp up each audio drama is amazing.

I just got to the last of the Search for Nagash series and it's been very entertaining for me aswell. Needless to say the fun comes from the voice acting and the sounds themselves - the story itself is just ok without revealing any WOW bits. The descriptions of the realms of death were spotlight though> I saw your other thread about Great Red, but I hadn't gotten to it yet so it's still on stand by

 CoreCommander wrote:

 shinros wrote:

I have personally listened to all the audio dramas so far and I personally give it my mark of recommendation it gives a good description of the realm of death and the relationship between the lord celestant and a certain vampire is interesting to say the least.

Honestly I get the feeling after the recent audio drama great red it's more about mannfred and his development than anything else. Yes stormcast are there and they are great characters as well but I kinda feel its like a continuation of Vlad's last words to mannfred in end times. Oh and nagash is amazing in the first volume his speeches that ramp up each audio drama is amazing.

I just got to the last of the Search for Nagash series and it's been very entertaining for me aswell. Needless to say the fun comes from the voice acting and the sounds themselves - the story itself is just ok without revealing any WOW bits. The descriptions of the realms of death were spotlight though> I saw your other thread about Great Red, but I hadn't gotten to it yet so it's still on stand by

Yeah as I said it's decent the good part of the great red is the end hence I am excited for the 4th one I am getting a feeling this might be a pretty long series.

Just finished the bladestorm novel I recall it was an e-short series I give it my mark of recommendation. One of the main characters is a human and she is mighty interesting. It also gives us some insight on how some people survived the age of chaos.

One thing the book addresses is the problem of the reforging and the effects are seen in full. Those who like stormcast will get a surprise in the middle of the book dealing with the normal humans.

 shinros wrote:
Just finished the bladestorm novel I recall it was an e-short series I give it my mark of recommendation. One of the main characters is a human and she is mighty interesting. It also gives us some insight on how some people survived the age of chaos.

One thing the book addresses is the problem of the reforging and the effects are seen in full. Those who like stormcast will get a surprise in the middle of the book dealing with the normal humans.

Sounds interesting. Can I buy this on the iPad? Reason I ask is you said e-short so not sure what that is. Also the book is called Bladestorm? This sounds really interesting.

Hearing good stuff about BladeStorm. Glad to hear you all liked it.

Davor wrote:

 shinros wrote:
Just finished the bladestorm novel I recall it was an e-short series I give it my mark of recommendation. One of the main characters is a human and she is mighty interesting. It also gives us some insight on how some people survived the age of chaos.

One thing the book addresses is the problem of the reforging and the effects are seen in full. Those who like stormcast will get a surprise in the middle of the book dealing with the normal humans.

Sounds interesting. Can I buy this on the iPad? Reason I ask is you said e-short so not sure what that is. Also the book is called Bladestorm? This sounds really interesting.

Yes you can.

Thank you Nova_Impero.

No problem.