Where to Start Reading Age of Sigmar

The fiction of the Mortal Realms has a reputation for being hard to break into, and it is easy to see why. There is no single starting novel stamped read me first, the stories leap between eight realms and several eras, and the shelves groan with tie-in novels, audio dramas, and lavish background books. The good news is that you do not need to read it in order, read all of it, or read any particular thing first. This guide lays out sensible ways into the fiction, whether you are drawn to the storm-forged heroism of the Stormcast Eternals or the elegant menace of the vampire dynasties.

How the Fiction Is Organised

Almost all Age of Sigmar novels are published under the Black Library imprint, and the range has grown organically over years rather than being planned as one tidy saga. Broadly, the fiction tracks the eras of the setting: the early Realmgate Wars, when Sigmar's reconquest began; the Soul Wars, when the dead rose across the realms; and the more recent campaigns in the wild Realm of Beasts. Standalone tales and darker, more personal stories thread through all of these.

Because the range is so sprawling, the healthiest mindset is to treat it as a buffet rather than a syllabus. Pick one book that matches your taste, finish it, and let curiosity choose the next. If you would like to understand the world before you open a novel, our overview of what Age of Sigmar is is a gentle place to orient yourself first.

The Best Places to Begin

For newcomers, the strongest on-ramp is a novel written deliberately to open an era. The book that launched the Soul Wars is widely recommended as a jumping-on point, because it reintroduces the setting from the ground up while telling a complete, dramatic story of the dead rising and the living fighting back. It assumes little prior knowledge and rewards a first-time reader handsomely.

If you would rather begin at the true dawn of the age, the opening novels of the Realmgate Wars sequence dramatise the very first campaigns of Sigmar's reconquest, when the Stormcast Eternals first fell from the heavens like a thunderbolt. These are foundational rather than subtle, but they show you the setting's central conflict in its purest form. Either starting point works, and neither requires you to have read anything else beforehand.

For Returning Fantasy Fans

A great many readers come to Age of Sigmar from the older Warhammer Fantasy world, and the fiction offers them a very deliberate bridge. A famous pair of adventurers from the old world found their way into the Mortal Realms, and their ongoing series, especially its acclaimed audio dramas, has become one of the most beloved and accessible corners of the whole range. Following a grumbling, monster-slaying hero through this strange new cosmos is a wonderful way to experience the realms through familiar eyes.

Following a Faction

Once you have your bearings, tracking a single faction is a rewarding way to go deeper. Readers who love the immortal storm can follow dedicated Stormcast series that dig into the strange grief of the reforged. Those drawn to the sky-ports of the Kharadron Overlords will find swashbuckling novels of airship crews and cutthroat commerce. And admirers of the free cities can follow investigator-and-soldier duos through the intrigue-choked streets of the Cities of Sigmar, where the enemy is as likely to be a hidden cult as an open army.

The Grand Alliance of Death is especially well served for readers who like their fantasy gothic. Novels centred on the vampire dynasties of the Soulblight Gravelords and the spectral legions of the Nighthaunt explore the cruelty and tragedy of undeath with real relish, and make a fine counterpoint to the heroism of the storm.

Darker and Stranger Corners

Beyond the battlefield epics, a line of horror-tinged fiction uses the Mortal Realms as a stage for more intimate, unsettling stories: haunted villages, doomed expeditions, and quiet corruptions far from any army. These standalone tales make excellent entry points precisely because they demand no prior knowledge, and they reveal a different, more personal face of the setting than the great campaigns do.

Audio Dramas and Background Books

Black Library also produces a rich line of audio dramas, some written specifically for the format with full casts and sound design, and these are an ideal low-commitment way to sample the setting. A single hour can tell you whether a faction or author suits your taste before you commit to a full novel. Separately, the setting's illustrated background books are worth knowing about: though they are companions to the tabletop game rather than novels, they are gorgeously produced and often the fastest way to absorb the shape of the world and its factions.

Building Your Own Path

There is no wrong door into the fiction of the Mortal Realms, and no obligation to read a single thing you are not enjoying. Start with an accessible novel or audio drama, follow the threads that excite you, and abandon anything that does not earn its place on your shelf. If you would rather begin with miniatures than pages, our guide on how to start Age of Sigmar is waiting, and the catastrophic events dramatised in so much of the fiction are unpacked in the Soul Wars and the Necroquake. Pick a starting point, dive in, and let the storm carry you.