An interesting and original look at life in an Imperial Megacity

Delve into the lawless underbelly of the vast city of Varangantua in this fantastic Warhammer Crime novel.

Within the vast sprawl of Varangantua lies the Spoil. It is a broken crossroads, forsaken by the Lex, abandoned by the city’s uncaring masters, where the only choice is a slow death in the manufactories, or a quick one on the street.

And it is in turmoil.

Andreti Sorokin, the gangster king whose vicious rule brought order to the Spoil, is dead, slain in the most brutal fashion.

Melita Voronova, skilled info-broker and reluctant agent of the imperious Valtteri cartel, is tasked with uncovering the mystery of who killed Sorokin, and preventing his fragile alliance of thugs and narco-pushers from collapsing into chaos.

As street-blades clash and gang leaders turn against one another, Melita’s instincts tell her there is a larger conspiracy at work. Someone has created this crisis not merely to disrupt the Spoil, but to overturn the foundations of Varangantua itself.

The latest novel in Black Library’s Warhammer Crime/WH40k series, which went up for pre-order yesterday. I was lucky enough to receive an early copy of the book from the author. It’s my first full-length read from Black Library’s Warhammer Crime imprint, and it is very good. It did, however, leave me wondering about the “Crime” label. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this and it offers readers an interesting and pretty original perspective of life in the underbelly of an Imperial megacity.

Crime and mystery is by far my most-read and favourite genre of fiction. I have also been a long-time reader of Black Library/Warhammer fiction (actually, since many years before Black Library as their fiction-publishing arm actually existed), I have often thought there was plenty of scope for crime fiction set in the Warhammer and WH40k universe. There have been examples of stories — short stories and full-length novels — from Black Library that have ventured into the mystery/crime genre: for example, Dan Abnett’s Eisenhorn and Ravenor series are investigative mysteries, and the Gotrek & Felix series often wandered close to the genre when the stories were set in cities. With the launch, in 202?, of the Warhammer Crime imprint, I had high hopes that BL would offer readers some gritty, dark crime stories. For some reason, though, despite buying many of the books, I haven’t read any of them… Until now. Jonathan D. Beer reached out and asked if I wanted to give his first full-length novel a read, and I jumped at the chance.

The King of the Spoil is set in the sprawling metropolis of Varangantua, the sprawling megacity in which the majority (all?) of the Warhammer Crime series is set so far. The book states is part of a sub-series starring Melita Voronova, an information broker, making a living investigating and selling rumours to anyone who will buy the info, while simultaneously navigating the different factions that exert power on this section of Varangantua. She is also struggling with a drug problem, making her something of an archetype of the noir/mystery protagonist. In addition, she has a sidekick in the form of an ex-enforcer, who seems to spend a fair amount of his time policing Melita’s habit in addition to assisting in her investigations. (These might appear as clichés of the genre, but they don’t feel like it — Beer does a good job of incorporating it all into the characters’ dynamic and backgrounds.)

Something that jumped out at me, while reading The King of the Spoil: there were quite a few perspectives. Most of my favourite crime/mystery novels keep the number of perspectives to a minimum, which helps to ratchet up the tension, suspense, and convey the sense that the reader is learning as the protagonist learns. However, in this book, with its multiple POV characters, Melita didn’t even really feel like the main character for much of the novel. There are times when events she’s investigating get resolved/uncovered in ways totally separate from her actions. Strangely passive, for a main protagonist. The multiple perspectives had a strange side effect of making this novel feel like it wasn’t a crime novel. While I understand the conventions of the WH40k novel require a certain level of action, I think this was a missed opportunity to lean into the crime side.

This is not to say that this is a novel of wall-to-wall action and violence. Beer incorporates plenty of great observations and new perspectives on life in the 41st millennium. We learn more about how various factions operate away from the frontlines of warfare and politics — the politics in The King of the Spoil are on the smaller scale, focused on local power struggles. The characters are well-drawn and quite varied. There’s a particular scene featuring Melita and Bai that was especially good (I won’t spoil anything else), and offered something genuinely new in the setting.

Despite the subdued “crime” aspect of the plot, I did enjoy The King of the Spoil. Beer has written a novel that is engaging, interesting, populated by good characters. It adds layers to the WH40k setting, and has plenty of potential for expansion. I’ll have to go back and read his short fiction, too. If you’re already a fan of the Warhammer Crime series, or WH40k in general, then I think you’ll get a lot out of this.

*

Jonathan D. Beer’s The King of the Spoil is due to be published by Black Library in North America and in the UK, on July 6th.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter
Review copy received from author