he Dark Angels have a vast wealth of Black Library tales of their exploits. Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge by Gary Kloster joins the sacred canon this week, so we’re looking back at the best stories of the Knights of Caliban. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but if you’re looking to unlock the secrets of the Chapter, you can’t go wrong starting here.
Legends of the Dark Angels by Gav Thorpe and C Z Dunn
A big omnibus of Dark Angels stories is the perfect place to start, with three full-length novels and five short stories covering a wide spectrum of the First Legion’s activities. In particular, Angels of Darkness – which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary – is a classic tale of Dark Angels defending a critical recruiting world, and also serves as a prequel to The Purging of Kadillus and Azrael by Gav Thorpe.
Legacy of Caliban Series by Gav Thorpe
The Legacy of Caliban series includes the novels Ravenwing, Master of Sanctity, and The Unforgiven by Gav Thorpe, collected in the anthology Legacy of Caliban. This saga follows on from the Kadillus conflict in Legends of the Dark Angels, following several characters from Brother Annael of the Ravenwing to Interrogator-Chaplain Asmodai as they navigate the Chapter’s secrets and conspiracies.
Pandorax by C Z Dunn and War of Secrets by Phil Kelly
These two standalone greats provide plenty of action and drama that wrap up neatly. Pandorax by C Z Dunn ties into an earlier Horus Heresy novel – The Damnation of Pythos – and features a rogues’ gallery of characters from across Warhammer 40,000 coming together for one of the 41st Millennium’s most brutal battles.
The Primaris Space Marines inducted into the Dark Angels had to rapidly adjust to the Chapter’s secretive ways, and War of Secrets by Phil Kelly follows one such group during a war against the T’au Empire. This is the first novel written about the Dark Angels in the Era Indomitus, and involves all of the twists and secrets you’d expect when a shadowy instigator threatens to destabilise the region.
Cypher: Lord of the Fallen by John French
Don’t tell them we’re recommending this one, but it pays to know the motivations behind a character as slippery as Cypher – the most infamous of the Fallen. Cypher: Lord of the Fallen by John French is told from his own unreliable perspective, as he breaks out of the most secure prison on Terra and pursues a mysterious agenda while hunted by agents of the Officio Assassinorum, the Custodian Guard, and even a clandestine squad of Dark Angels.
The Lion: Son of the Forest by Mike Brooks and Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge by Gary Kloster
The return of Lion El’Jonson shook the 41st Millennium, but before his dramatic duel with Angron at the end of the Arks of Omen series, he awoke to a galaxy in peril in The Lion: Son of the Forest. This epic novel is essential for all Dark Angels fans, and who wouldn’t want to witness the ancient Primarch’s first experience of Warhammer 40,000 in close-up detail?
This new era also serves as the backdrop for Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge by Gary Kloster – available to pre-order this weekend. Master Lazarus is called upon to honour an ancient debt to the Knight world of Reis, but the defence against the forces of the warp is hampered when the 5th Company discovers that Reis might not want to be saved.