The Lords of Silence Book review spoiler free...ish

 

Lords of Silence by Chris Wraight.

The Plague Marines of the Death Guard are basically walking outbreaks, living reservoirs of disease and toxins. Some of them, like Typhon, literally carry their plagues inside their own bodies. They’re notoriously hard to put down, too; even under the heaviest fire, they just keep trudging forward like nothing can stop them. Their strategies almost always revolve around biological warfare, twisting Imperial worlds to fit their rotten agenda. Virus bombs, custom‑made pathogens, and anything that can turn civilians into shambling, plague‑ridden carriers are all part of their toolkit. Every one of them has taken Mortarion’s lessons to heart. The Death Guard never rushes. They play the long game, grinding down any resistance until defenses collapse, long before the real fighting even starts. And the thing is, they enjoy that slow, inevitable decay. To them, watching a planet’s infrastructure rot, its people weaken, and its defenders lose hope is just as satisfying as any battlefield victory. Across the Imperium, there are entire warzones where their touch still lingers centuries later. The Scourge Stars, for example, are practically a monument to their methods: systems choked with toxic fogs, derelict hives filled with corpse mold, and plague cults that survived long after the original invasion force had moved on. Even Imperial scholars grudgingly admit that once the Death Guard sets its sights on a world, it’s rarely “won” back in any meaningful sense. At best, the Administratum writes it off as a quarantined wasteland and hopes the contagion doesn’t spread. And then there’s the way they fight alongside the daemonic. When the veil thins, Great Unclean Ones and swarms of Nurglings spill into realspace, turning battlefields into grotesque carnivals of rot. Plague Marines don’t just tolerate this—they thrive in it. The air becomes thick with spores, the ground turns soft and pulsing underfoot, and the Death Guard march on as if they’re coming home.

Lords of Silence follows Vorx, the warband’s grim commander, his heir‑apparent Dragan, and the walking disease‑engine that is Philemon. What really stood out to me is how fully realised these characters are. They’re not just lumbering plague‑carriers; their choices have weight, purpose, and personality behind them. Chris Wraight even manages to make them oddly sympathetic at times, which is no small feat when you’re dealing with the Death Guard. He brings them to life in a way that feels fresh compared to previous portrayals. The inclusion of the Nurglings adds a surprisingly welcome bit of humour to the otherwise bleak subject of Plague Marines, something other authors often skip in favour of focusing purely on their grotesque appearance. For me, this book is an absolute must‑read for any Death Guard fan. And honestly, Wraight has crafted a novel that anyone in the wider 40k community can enjoy, even if they don’t usually gravitate toward the followers of Nurgle.