A science fiction writer who has already published many novels, works with Games Workshop, which has been selling board games since 1987, and then began publishing books and releasing disks about the Warhammer game universe.
The style of his works is close to Gothic fantasy with elements of an action movie. In books and stories the author uses a linear plot, or linearly-parallel. Therefore, novels are read easily and quickly.
Graham McNill Fantasy writer
Famous in fantasy circles, writer G. McNill was born in Glasgow. Until 1999, he worked as an architect. But since 2000, he decided to change his life and began writing novels about the Warhammer universe, the famous fantasy series of books based on the game. To date, more than 100 books related to the Warhammer universe have been published, 40,000, 53 books are written by different authors in the cycle "Heresy of Horus" and 11 books from the cycle "Primarchs". And also released many additions, small stories, audio books and laws, i.e. codes for living things from other planets.
For the famous Warhammer Universe, Graham McNill wrote the trilogy Legend of Sigmar, the series Ambassador of the Empire, and co-authored with brothers in the pen and wrote codes for the fantasy world. There is also a series of "Order of the Ultramarines", "Iron Warriors" and other books.
In addition to the main novels related to Warhammer, he wrote many short stories: "Eye of Retribution", "Codex", "Monsters of Kalt", "Victim of Skulls" and others.
The Legend of Sigmar series
A separate exciting story was written by the author about the great hero Sigmar, who freed people from orcs. The series "Legend of Sigmar" consists of 3 novels.
- Hammerholder - 2008
- "Empire" - 2009
- God the King - 2011
The first part of the trilogy tells the story of how Sigmar freed people from the raids of evil orcs and united humanity into one empire.
The second part is devoted to describing how the great conqueror and first emperor Sigmar fights wild tribes on the borders of the empire and at the same time solves issues of domestic politics.
The third book, God the King, is the most exciting. There is a strong (but not fully disclosed) hero antagonist, with the advent of which the plot is complicated. Against the Emperor of people - Sigmar, there is a strong and cruel necromancer - the king of the dead. And only the emperor can protect the human race from the atrocious forces of evil and thereby perpetuate his name, having received the title of God of men.
The book "Empire". Reviews
The second part has received many good reviews and is the best "creation" of Graham McNeill. "Empire. Legend of Sigmar" is written as a classic fantasy with a description of the battles, with many main and secondary characters. The storyline is not too convoluted. Some readers like this, others find the novel weak.
The main character - Sigmar - is described one-sidedly. It has no internal contradictions, which is characteristic of people. The struggle only in the outside world is a showdown with the provinces of the empire that do not want to obey, and wars with external opponents.
However, in the fantasy genre, the disclosure of the protagonist’s inner world is not as important as in dramaturgy. In general, the novel is very popular among fans of the Warhammer universe, and professional critics speak pretty well about it.
The cycle "Heresy of Horus"
In a cycle describing the events that preceded the era of 40,000, Grammom McNill also participated and wrote several novels.
He wrote the following books in this series:
- "False Gods" - 2007
- Mechanicum - 2011
- "1000 Sons" - 2012
- "Outcast Dead" - 2012
- "Angel Exterminatus" - 2015
- "Spirit of Vengeance" - December 2016
Graham McNill wrote another novel, “The Scarlet King,” in 2017, but there is no book in the Russian translation yet. And when the novel appears on store shelves, it is unknown.
All books of the Horus Heresy series describe events 10,000 years before the Warhammer 40,000 era. At this time, in the fantasy world, an intergalactic civil war takes place. The great Primarchs, the military leaders, lead campaigns on other worlds.
Primarch Horus is the commander in chief of all powerful armies and flotillas. He is called to return to the Empire of the autocrat those planets that flatly refused to obey the omnipotent ruler of Terra.
The novel "Fulgrim". Reviews
Another remarkable novel by the writer is the story of the primarch Fulgrim, who betrayed the Empire and its values. Fulgrim is obliged to lead the legion of "children of the emperor", but he is too absorbed in the desire to achieve unprecedented perfection, to learn all the secrets of the world and to master all available knowledge.
Primarch Fulgrim went against the orders of his father-creator, and after the empire split, he gave independence to those who did not want, like him, to obey authoritarianism. In essence, these are stories of Fulgrim's pride, which led to a new war and a split in the Empire.
The novel also has many scenes describing the battles. But at the same time, the book is serious. Answers many questions of readers on the ideology of the Empire and reveals the personality of the Emperor himself through a confrontation with Fulgrim - his son.
The series "Ambassador of the Empire"
Two more novels from the Warhammer universe written by Graham McNeill — the book Ambassador of the Empire and Teeth of Ursun — were published in Russian in 2007. But they were written a little earlier in 2003 and 2004.
They are talking about a dedicated hero - Caspar von Welten. He, young and courageous, came by order of the Emperor to restore order in the conquered lands. But faced with the forces of Chaos, penetrating from the other world.
The ambassador’s struggle with the demons of the dark world is the main storyline of this series by Grem McNeill. Caspar defeats the dark forces, despite deceptions and fears. But did he pay a high price for his loyalty?
Writer Award
In 2010, Graham McNill received a special award, valuable to science fiction writers - the David Gemmel Award for the novel "Empire." Grammom McNill continues to work with Warhammer publishers, and in the future, perhaps, will receive more than one award.