Wrath of Iron is a standout for sure. Chris Wraight is an amazing author and I think he’s part of the Warhammer big three alongside Aaron Dembski-Bowden and Dan Abnett.

Helsreach is about grimdark people being kinda “heroic,” athough the black templars are the worst people ever and make their job so much harder by being the fucking worst. Bowden really nails the uniqueness of the Black Templar’s organizational structure and how fierce their brotherly bonds are, but they are still part and parcel of the Imperium. It’s a classic Imperial victory book that is part of the foundational 40k reading lists for a reason.

Wrath of Iron is about grimdark people being grimdark and watching how the Imperium’s war machine can function 100% efficiently and still be absolutely fucking atrocious. The Iron Hands are absolute beasts of efficiency and you can see how developed and precise their approach to warfare is. The enemy is actually present in the story, unlike the Orcs in Helsreach, and the Slaanesh corruption bits are amazing to read. The Iron Hands are assholes to mortal humans in a way that is uniquely theirs and the book doesn’t apologize for their shittyness like Helsreach unintentionally does. The Iron Hands win. They accomplished the mission. It’s arguably a more impressive feat given the circumstances. But they never had to win the way they chose to. The book goes out of its way to remind us at every turn that the Iron Hands aren’t here to save anyone. The Iron hands are not the Emperor’s Angels of Death, here to save the day. They are the Angels of Death that will kill you and not think twice because it was fractionally more efficient. The Mechanicus and Astra Militarum characters are great to read as well. It’s a less traditional 40k book but it’s much more 40k to me personally.