Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work

This may just be the best non-Dan Abnett Warhammer 40k novel I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a lot of them. It features the titular Belisarius Cawl, as well as Tetrarch Felix, the remaining non-Primaris Scythes of the Emperor, Cawl’s bodyguard Alpha Primus, and more. Belisarius Cawl is also legitimately funny, which is not something I generally expect from a 40k book. I will note that readers will benefit from reading the Horus Heresy novel “Pharos”, also by Guy Haley, before this one, as much of the action occurs in the same location, just 10,000 years later. It is mostly set on the planet Sotha, post-Tyranid invasion.

Speaking of 10,000 years, through means of xenos tech-induced flashbacks, we get a lot of scenes from 10,000 or so years back, as well as a few hundred years back. I don’t want to spoil anything, but there are some great throughlines here that really flesh things out with character development and add some good flavor to the story. There’s just something about it that feels a bit more “literary” than most Warhammer novels - in a good way, I assure you!

In any event, there’s a lot going on here. Interesting things happen in the present, we get some light shed on pre-Great Crusade Terra, and the book lays groundwork for some very interesting things that could happen in the future, which I really hope get picked up on in forthcoming novels.

Warhammer 40,000 has countless novels at this point, providing insight into some of our favorite characters. Now, it's time for Belisarius Cawl to get his own novel. That's probably a fact that will make more than one fan scream from excitement, right?

Written by Guy Haley, Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work does a deep dive into a beloved character from the franchise. Known as the Archmagos Dominus of the Adeptus Mechanicus, he is arguably one of the most brilliant people you'll ever meet.

Belisarius Cawl is an old soul, both figuratively and literally. He has constantly been driven to create and achieve more. A fact that has simultaneously earned him adoration and criticism. Now, he's found yet another project worth diving into on the dead planet of Sotha.

Belisarius Cawl is a novel that weaves together stories from many different novels. While many fans might have read all of the lore reading up to this point, many newer fans might be feeling a bit intimidated. There's no need to worry, however. Haley does a brilliant job of bringing everyone up to the same speed, all while building on the same qualities that have made this character so iconic.

“The Andarnians are gone. The last rendered down. Their world is empty. Once I inject this dose, there will be no more. I am sorry.”

Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work is an intense and intricate read. It is every bit as grand and complicated as I would have expected or hoped, given who we're talking about here. It's one of those novels that you can really sink your teeth into.

What surprised me about this novel had to be all of the additional elements woven into the narrative. I wasn't expecting all of the tension, the intentional foreshadowing, for example. Nor was I expecting to laugh at points. And yet that is exactly what happened here.

It wasn't just Belisarius Cawl's character that I enjoyed so much, but all of the secondary and tertiary characters as well. They brought the world to life. Or more accurately, through them, Haley brought the world to life. I'm not sure I ever read a novel where the characters from this world felt so...human. Relatable. Given how grand and epic the characters from Warhammer 40,000 tend to be, that's probably not all that surprising. But it is an impressive feat here, nonetheless.

If you're looking for a novel that is a slight breach from the norm, then this is absolutely the novel for you to check out. It's refreshingly honest about itself and the characters within, and frankly, I adore that.