Lucius: The Faultless Blade

Warhammer 40,000 Series

By: Ian St. Martin

Narrated by: John Banks

A Warhammer 40,000 Audiobook

He is Fulgrim's champion, the Soulthief, and the Scion of Chemos. His name is whispered and cursed across both time and space, a peerless blademaster who even death cannot threaten. He is Lucius the Eternal, blessed by Slaanesh and the greatest swordsman of all the fell Legions imprisoned within the Eye of Terror.

LISTEN TO IT BECAUSE

He's died a thousand times, but for Lucius the Eternal, there's something worse than death on the horizon unless he can control the forces that threaten to annihilate all that he has worked to build.

THE STORY

With his armies exhausted by unending war and consumed by their own twisted iniquities, Lucius turns to an erstwhile brother of the Emperor's Children to rebuild his strength. Faced with betrayal from without and even from within his own flesh, will Lucius discover something that even one who cannot know death should fear?

©2025 Games Workshop Limited (P)2025 Games Workshop Limited

At least it revolved around the books “namesake”

Good story, plot line, nice to see a book that actually revolves around the title character. The Fabulous Bill cameo was a nice twist…all in all a good base to what’s hopefully a trilogy etc…I wish they would get someone else to narrate/read…he’s absolutely robotic…almost ruins the whole novel, Jonathan Keeble he is not.

dark elders, atypical plot, fabius bile!

My new favorite!

I had so much fun listening to this book! John Banks is my absolute FAVORITE Warhammer reader and he did not disappoint!!
This book was so good, an emperor's children story with a rather unique plot and set of characters, not the typical space marine battle /world conquest / cult / seeking sacred relic... storyline, none of that!

Throw in fabius bile and his charming thought direction, the perspective of a servitor, a splash of the web way, and you have yourself a very enjoyable book!

Great work to the author, love you John!!

As a Non-Emperor Children’s fan…

This book is very interesting, if you are already a fan of the EC. While I do not share the opinion of so many others that the EC are the elegant or perfect warriors, as this book tries to demonstrate that they are both warriors and addicts of super-crack, I do admit that this story has some important notes into the character of Lucius and is a good look at the insights of the EC as a whole before the 13th Black Crusade and the legion’s reunification.

With that insight I would recommend this story, and also say it is best experienced at .95 speed as the narrator feels like he’s trying to get out of the recording booth as quickly as he can, and all the info he’s talking at you with is lost if you don’t turn the speed down ever so slightly.

Some fun stuff here.

Its not the best EC book i've read, which is a shame because i think lucius is a rather good character to pull from. Frankly, theres too much fighting in the book, and the pacing is very odd when it comes to perspective switches. That said, theres a few fun twists and turns and a decent amount of chaos goodness you'd want from a chaos book. I think its serviceable to decent for what it is.

That said, this is not john banks best performance. I dont rate him the highest to begin with, and he sound absolutely bored here. Im not sure if im misremembering, but i thought his work in the fabius bile books was just so much better.

Excess Without Substance

A bloated slog of bolter porn that mistakes length for depth. The only real highlights are John Banks’ narration and the occasional glimpse into Slaanesh corruption and the Emperor’s Children within the Eye of Terror. If you’re not already a fan of them, there’s little reason to bother. For a superior take, read Fulgrim by Graham McNeill instead.