Review: Soul Wars

The mortals of the realms worshipped many gods, some old, some new, some real, some false. Who was to say that there hadn't been a god of cats, who did as cats often do and slunk into some small crack in the universe to wait out catastrophe?

– from Soul Wars by Josh Reynolds

Soul Wars is a significant book in the Age of Sigmar range because it’s the first real “edition book”: a work of fiction that delves into the major plot line of an edition of the tabletop game, establishing the path that Dominion and Skaventide will follow. While it’s a perfectly enjoyable read, its status as an early book in the series really shows. And that’s a problem for the modern reader.

I’d have probably enjoyed this book far more if I’d read it when it came out. As it is, nearly 9 years after publication, I did find It a struggle to get through. This is very much a transitional book in the Age of Sigmar series. It both explores the roots of the Necroquake, the event that launches the 2nd edition, and its impacts on the Mortal Realms.

But it’s also a transition between two styles of Age of Sigmar fiction. And that blending is apparent as you read.

Leaving the first wave of Age of Sigmar fiction behind

When I started out reading Age of Sigmar fiction, I tried to go chronologically, starting with the giant Realmgate Wars omnibuses (bough as ebooks directly from Black Library). This was not a great choice, and one I eventually abandoned.

Although I enjoyed them at first, those first edition stories eventually became something of a slog because they all followed basically the same pattern: we follow a group of Stormcast Eternals through a series of battles. They were clearly the work of authors working in a brand-new setting, with very little idea of what that setting looked like, beyond the battles that characterise the game.

So, we get an occasional point of view character who isn't Stormcast, but they’re rare. The characters are predominantly male. In fact, through most of the books, you’d assume that Stormiest were all male. It’s a right old sausage fest. And they tend to be a bit… boring. The characters only start becoming more three-dimensional and less dully portentous later in the series. And the writing quality varies wildly.

Bringing humanity to the Mortal Realms

Soul Wars, though, brings something new. After an introduction focused on Nagash and the Death godly events around him, we dive into the city of Glymmsforge in Shyish, the realm of death. And we start to see how ordinary people, the Freeguilds and the Stormcast interact. This is immediately more compelling than the old style of novel because it brings relatable humans to the fore. And it continues the process of humanising the Stormcast we saw in the latter first edition books.

Seeing the relationships between a couple of the principal Stormcast characters and a young girl really make the setting start to come alive. These threads of relationship are nicely woven through the book, and come to a largely satisfactory ending. So far, so good. The problem? The pacing. It’s all over the pace.

There are great chunks of the book where nothing really happens, and which often just reiterate ideas we’ve already explored. We have it rammed home time and again that a particular character is distant and self-focused, not paying enough attention to the people around him. We have a long sequence in Azyr, which is critical to the plot and to the storyline of the second edition, but which notably drags in places. It does give us the chance to compare Sigmar and Natasha more directly, though, and it makes me regret that Sigmar has become a more distant figure in later books.

The whole novel feels like it could really have done with one more editorial pass to make sure the developed relationships were more deeply interwoven with compelling events. Or, alternatively, the author could have dug deeper Into the brooding sense of doom as the city waits for the inevitable attack from the forces of death.

This isn’t aging well

Again, if I’d been reading this at the time of publication, or having never read any later novels in the series, I wouldn’t mind this so much. It’s a notable step up from the Realmgate Wars. But it’s not as good, as relatable and as human, as the books that will follow.

And so, it’s left as an uneasy crossbreed of the early “battles and Stormcast” and the later “exploring life in the Mortal Realms” style of novels. Sure, it does an impressive job of setting up the storyline of 2nd edition, and of seeding potential plot hooks, the vast majority of which I gather have never been followed up on. But, in 2025, it’s badly showing its age.

It’s also the only book I’ve yet read in the series that seems to delight in calling back to the Old World. Well, the only book that doesn't feature Gotrek Gurnisson, that is. At least one character is clearly a WFB character reborn, and there are some obvious allusions to events from that world, that even I could spot, despite having missed something like 20 years of fiction and narrative in that world, during eye extended break from Warhammer. I suspect there are many more I didn’t spot. This dances on the line between a satisfying nod for long-term fans, and annoyingly knowing, and crosses over into the latter a little too much for my taste.

Do I regret tracking down a hardback copy and reading it? No. But did I feel a sense of relief when it was done? Yes. But I also felt a lingering sense of regret, knowing that many of the major plat points will never be followed up on.

Age of Sigmar: Soul Wars

A novel of the Necroquake.

Also available from Amazon and Apple Books.

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