Bloody Books Review: The Wraithbone Phoenix

The Wraithbone Phoenix is a follow up to 2021’s Dredge Runners, and continues the tale of Clodde and Baggit, an Ogryn BONEhead and his Ratling companion. Dredge Runners was a highlight of the Warhammer Crime imprint and did a lot of wonderful worldbuilding with the inclusion of Imperial Propaganda. It delights me no end to say that this continues in print with transcripts that have a resonating voice that dance between unrelenting grimness and laugh out loud silliness. Favourites include the rumours of a destroyed building that was obviously not destroyed, stop looking at where it was and what happens when you lock Ogryns in a cargo container. This is a very different experience of 40k, with Baggit’s ever suspicious mind creating plans and schemes against Clodde’s philosophising curving the imprints theme but never threatening to break it. There’s more of Ciaphas Cain in the DNA of this tale than would at first be obvious.

Wraithbone Phoenix and it’s predecessor are unique to the label as they deal with the criminal element of Varangantua rather than the lawmen of the 41st millennium, and as the chapters fly past, more and more criminal elements come to the fore in the shape of corrupt officials, assassins, thieves, cultists and bounty hunters. Oh my. Baggit and Clodde manage to weave through the chaotic cannonball run with a deathtoll in the range of a Epic 40k game. Usually accidentally. The most amazing part of of the moving parts of Wraithbone Phoenix is that somehow, it all comes together in a satisfying manner,

I would say this was my 40k book of the year, and is very much in a top five books of the year.