I liked this book a lot. The Necron lore is in abundance but it’s written in such a way that I think any fan of the Tomb Kings styles Warhammer factions will enjoy it. It’s all about Necrons though and while it features other races, they tend to play a part that’s about as impactful as a random monster in an ARPG. Which is nice, for once, in a BL book.

I also noticed the fascinatingly obtuse communication technobabble was reduced in this book, but not to its benefit. The conversations seemed a lot more ordinary and human. Likewise, I missed Oltyx's subminds, a uniquely strange and entertaining aspect to the first book's POV.Everything I said about the first one applies here. Tie-in genre fiction shouldn't be this good at body horror, the experience of not living up to your potential, and mental illness. Thanks to Nate for speaking to us a second time – we really can’t wait to get under the Necrodermis. I was surprised by this. I was expecting your standard tie-in novel full of explosions, paper thin plot and more explosions. At times it felt like Crowley was trying to do a bit too much with what he had, given that he was also trying to appease the normal WH40K audience who probably just turned up to read about pseudo-Egyptian alien robots zapping their way through humans & Orks. Portions of this novel legitimately reminded of a fusion of "Rashomon" and "The Remains of the Day," and I'm still just processing that experience. Again, because it was in a novel about pseduo-Egyptian alien robots at war with Space Orks. But far be it from me to fault someone for ambition. I'm at least intrigued enough to look into the second novel in the series.

Similarly, Oltyx achieves redemption by accepting his decay into the curse to desire flesh and to live as a "flayed one" - a robot that hungers for organic matter even though it has no means to digest it, so is cursed with an insatiable appetite. He accepts this at the end, but the acceptance seems almost academic, and it simultaneously gives him new power and abilities. We see this upsides of this choice, but not the downsides. I think a more satisfying arc would have shown him leaving one tragedy (his failed kingship) for another (the horrors of accepting this unquenchable, unthinking, and unrestrained thirst for blood). But as it stands, we simply see him failing at being a necron king and succeeding at being a flayed king. No sé qué pasó, pero aunque me gustó mucho el libro, no me atrapó la lectura tanto como el anterior. Aún así, el final sobre todo es realmente impresionante. I dunno. I can allow talking, if it's weird and emotionless enough. Hard to write a book without it, unless necrons are antagonists. I just think necrons should never, ever, shrug. The flayer curse, which can turn any Necron into a wretch consumed with an irrational obsession with flesh and blood, features very heavily in the story – and it led to some of the most harrowing scenes I’ve ever written,” he explains. In one sense, this is part of his tragic story: Oltyx doesn't know how to be a king and truly has no plan for his people who, in addition to suffering from a pursuing army, are going mad from a plague and are burdened with an outdated mode of fighting and a rigid command hierarchy that requires absolute devotion to a king. And with the last king having gone insane, that doesn't put the kingdom in a very stable place.

To be honest I was inching towards a lower rating then the previous book but the last chapters turned me about and set me on course for a second 4 star rating, well done Nate Crowley for your contribution to necron lore! having read the book while in the grasp of a dark mood, I felt at times ill at ease to read the titular twice dead king Oltyx's woes and sorrow, his dark mood an at times uncomfortable mirror to my own bleakness surrounding new year. But, on the other hand that made it resonate stronger with me and the catharsis in the end I felt wholeheartedly. Absolute garbage. Nate Crowley wrote a teen’s light fantasy novel about a royal youth in space struggling against his newfound burden of leadership and a deadly family secret. So how do you demonstrate in a single story that you can have heart without having a heart, and write a 40K epic on the themes of love, solitude and hope with nuance, humour and action? Simply, reader, you do it like this. That’s a recipe for abject madness if ever there was one, and I don’t think it’s something which, as a species, they have any idea how to cope with. It’s something every individual has to either find their own solution to or else lose their minds.” Then the necrons, on hidden tomb worlds scattered through the galaxy, could awake (earlier than intended, if disturbed . . .), ready to restore their ancient dynasties – and rid the galaxy of all that hated upstart life that had flourished in their absence.