Path of the Eldar
science fiction
Series · science fiction
Night Lords
The Night Lords series by Aaron Dembski-Bowden has 3 books and is best read in publication order, starting with Soul Hunter (2010).
- Books
- 3 books
- First published
- 2010
- Status
- completed
- Last checked
Start here: Soul Hunter (2010) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Soul Hunter
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Soul Hunter - Book 2:
Blood Reaver
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Blood Reaver - Book 3:
Void Stalker
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Void Stalker
About the Night Lords series
The Night Lords trilogy is widely regarded as one of Warhammer 40,000's best pieces of tie-in fiction, and the book that made Aaron Dembski-Bowden's name before he became a mainstay of the Horus Heresy line. It follows Talos, a Night Lords sorcerer-prophet cursed with unreliable visions of the future, and the diminishing warband he leads -- traitor Space Marines who despise the Imperium they once served but have long since stopped believing in the cause that made them turn. Soul Hunter (2010) sets the tone: this is Chaos Space Marine fiction that treats its 'villains' as genuine protagonists, worn down by ten thousand years of war rather than gleefully evil.
Blood Reaver (2011) and Void Stalker (2012) escalate the warband's situation from bad to catastrophic, pitting Talos and his brothers against fellow renegades, the Imperium that wants them dead, and -- most dangerously -- the eldar of Craftworld Ulthwe, who hunt the Night Lords back to the site of their greatest historical defeat for a reckoning the warband cannot possibly win outright. Dembski-Bowden writes the trilogy as tragedy as much as war fiction: flawed, darkly funny, genuinely sympathetic antagonists trapped by choices made centuries earlier, in prose regularly compared to Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn for how far it pushes 40K fiction's literary ambitions.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in the Night Lords trilogy?
Three: Soul Hunter (2010), Blood Reaver (2011) and Void Stalker (2012).
What order should I read the Night Lords trilogy in?
Publication order -- it's one continuous story following the same warband, led by the sorcerer-prophet Talos.
Do I need to read the Horus Heresy series first?
No. The trilogy is set millennia after the Horus Heresy and is one of Black Library's more self-contained entry points, though it assumes the reader is willing to root for the traitor side.
Is the Night Lords trilogy complete?
Yes, it's a complete, self-contained trilogy. Aaron Dembski-Bowden also wrote further Night Lords short fiction (including Blood Song and Thief of Revelations), not tracked separately in this file.
If you like the Night Lords series
Reading order last verified .