In this article series, we take a look at some top suggestions for your favourite Warhammer factions in Black Library’s action-packed novels. Last time round, we introduced prospective readers to the disturbing delights of the Emperor’s Children, and now it’s the turn of the Blood Angels – stars of the Warhammer+ animated series Angels of Death. Read on to discover some of the blood-soaked Black Library books* that await you if you seek to learn more of the sons of fair Sanguinius.
The Blood Angels are a First Founding Chapter, originally one of the Legions that played a pivotal role in the Siege of Terra. Their Primarch, the Great Angel Sanguinius, was slain by the arch-traitor Horus during an epic encounter aboard the Warmaster’s flagship, Vengeful Spirit, at the height of the conflict. His death caused a psychic backlash so fierce that his gene-sons have borne the curse of the Black Rage – a furious madness in which the afflicted Blood Angels relive the death of their Primarch first-hand – ever since.
The stories we’re suggesting here bring the saga of the Blood Angels right up to the latest events in the Era Indomitus. First up are some novels recounting the tales of the two mightiest lords of the Blood Angels – Commander Dante, their Chapter Master; and Mephiston, Lord of Death, their Chief Librarian.
In Dante, Guy Haley delves into the storied history of the galaxy’s longest-lived Chapter Master. Having led the Blood Angels for more than a millennium, winning victories beyond count, Commander Dante is a true legend of the Imperium. This book recounts the many great deeds accomplished by Dante across his long career as the galaxy’s oldest living Space Marine.
The Librarian once known as Brother Calistarius is the only warrior of the Blood Angels to ever recover his lucidity after having been driven to madness by the Black Rage. Reborn as Mephiston, the Lord of Death, his indomitable display of will represents the Chapter’s greatest hope for a future free from the curse that has plagued them for so long.
Darius Hinks’ Mephiston trilogy – Blood of Sanguinius, Revenant Crusade, and City of Light – sees the Blood Angels’ Chief Librarian pitted against threats so grave they could not only doom his Chapter, but the entire Imperium itself, all the while confronting the darkness that yet lurks within his soul.
Even as the Cicatrix Maledictum tore across the galaxy, the Blood Angels faced the single greatest threat to the Chapter’s survival since the Siege of Terra when Hive Fleet Leviathan’s largest tendril descended upon their home system of Baal. Only the gathered might of all the sons of Sanguinius – the Blood Angels and as many of their successor Chapters as could be mustered – stood any chance of defending their ancestral heartland.
Guy Haley’s Space Marine Conquests novel, Devastation of Baal, recounts the climactic battles that would decide the fate of the Blood Angels.
Darkness in the Blood, also by Guy Haley, brings the lore of the Blood Angels right up to date with all the latest events in the galaxy. Having been named as Warden of the Imperium Nihilus by Roboute Guilliman himself, Commander Dante must find a way to balance the weight of his new position with that of rebuilding his shattered Chapter after the Devastation of Baal. Yet Dante’s thoughts are ever occupied by his desperate quest to seek a cure for the Black Rage that besets his battle-brothers.
All of Dante’s hopes lie with Mephiston. Can the lords of the Blood Angels finally succeed where so many others have failed, and in so doing, save their Chapter before the Flaw tears the sons of Sanguinius apart?
You can get the ebooks of all these novels (among many others) on BlackLibrary.com now, or download them as audiobooks on the Black Library Audio app and Audible. Alternatively, you can also order physical copies of the books from Games-Workshop.com, and your local Warhammer Store will have a selection of Black Library books to choose from, too.
* Don’t worry – it’s the stories that are soaked in blood, not the books themselves.