Picture two immortal robot wizards who have hated each other for ten thousand years, chasing one another across the galaxy over what is, essentially, a very fancy trinket. Now picture that being one of the best-written, funniest, most genuinely heartfelt books Warhammer has ever put out. That is The Infinite and the Divine — and after nearly five years of fans quietly begging for more, Black Library has finally announced a sequel: The Wicked and the Warped. We may have made an undignified noise when we saw the news.

The announcement dropped in Games Workshop's Sunday Preview — the same one heralding the new edition of Necromunda — and for a certain kind of 40k reader it rather stole the show. So let's talk about why: what the new book promises, and, more importantly, why the original is the novel we press into the hands of anyone who claims they don't like Warhammer fiction. You'll find both, when they land, over in our Black Library collection.

First, the news: what is The Wicked and the Warped?

The Wicked and the Warped is Robert Rath's long-awaited follow-up to The Infinite and the Divine, and it reunites the double act that made the first book sing: Trazyn the Infinite, the galaxy's most obsessive collector, and Orikan the Diviner, its most insufferable astromancer. Two Necrons, one grudge, endless opportunities for pettiness on a cosmic scale.

This time the backdrop is the opening of the Great Rift — the galaxy-splitting wound that tore reality in two and shoved the 40k setting into its current era. Against that apocalyptic weather, Trazyn finds himself in an unusually vulnerable position: trying to mend his spectacularly strained relationship with an embittered Orikan, while uncovering the fate of a long-lost expedition to the Chaos-corrupted world of Amenthis and the War in Heaven relic buried there. Ancient enemies, a doomed dig site, and an artefact old enough to remember the Necrons when they still had faces. It practically writes its own trailer.

The editions — and the reprint you've been waiting for

Per the Sunday Preview, The Wicked and the Warped arrives in a few flavours:

• English hardback: the standard collector-friendly edition.
• Special edition: the posh one, available while stocks last — so if you want it, don't dither.
• French and German paperbacks: for our friends across the Channel.

And here's the bit that made long-suffering fans cheer loudest: the hardback of The Infinite and the Divine is returning to print alongside the sequel. That original has been out of stock, gouged on the secondary market, and generally treated like contraband for years. If you missed it the first time, this is your window. Keep an eye on the Black Library shelf — pre-orders for these tend to open early in the month and the good editions evaporate fast.

So why all the fuss? An honest review of The Infinite and the Divine

Right. Deep breath. Because you can't understand the excitement without understanding the first book, and this is the part where we stop being a shop and start being unashamed fans.

The Infinite and the Divine (2020) has, quietly and without much marketing muscle, become one of the most beloved novels Black Library has ever published. It regularly tops "best Warhammer book" lists, and it converts sceptics — the people who assume 40k fiction is all bolters and shouting — faster than almost anything else on the shelf. There's a reason for that, and it isn't the explosions.

The premise: a ten-thousand-year grudge match

The setup is beautifully petty. Trazyn the Infinite — magpie, hoarder, curator of a museum stuffed with stolen history — has something Orikan the Diviner wants: the Astrarium Mysterios, an ancient device that might unlock a secret from the Necrons' deep past. Orikan steals it. Trazyn, naturally, wants it back. And so begins a feud that runs for ten thousand years, the two of them scheming, betraying, murdering, resurrecting and one-upping each other across the millennia in an escalating war of spite.

That's the engine. But what Rath does with it is the clever part. Because these two can't truly die — they're immortal machine-things — the stakes are never really "will they survive". The stakes are pride. Legacy. Being right. Watching two functionally omnipotent beings reduce themselves to squabbling academics is the funniest thing in 40k, and Rath plays it completely straight, which makes it funnier still.

Why it works: wit, worldbuilding and an unexpected heart

Three things lift The Infinite and the Divine above the pile:

• It's actually funny. Not "grimdark smirk" funny — genuinely, laugh-on-the-train funny. The bickering between Trazyn and Orikan has the timing of a great sitcom double act, all wounded egos and passive-aggressive one-upmanship.
• The worldbuilding is a gift. The Necrons are one of 40k's most alien factions, and most fiction keeps them at a distance — cold, silent, unknowable. Rath cracks them open and shows you a whole civilisation: its politics, its vanities, its grief over a lost golden age. You come out understanding the Necrons in a way no codex ever managed. If they've caught your eye, our Necrons Army Analysis is a good next stop.
• It sneaks up and breaks your heart. Underneath the comedy is a genuine meditation on immortality — on the meaninglessness of endless time, the weight of memory, and the loneliness of outliving everything you ever loved. Trazyn clings to the past; Orikan strains toward the future; both are, in their metal bones, deeply sad. You will not expect to feel things about two killer robots. You will feel things about two killer robots.

It's expansive, it's clever, and it's unexpectedly moving — a rare book that respects the setting's lore while telling a story that would land even if you'd never heard of Warhammer. New to all this? Our 40k Factions Hub will get you oriented before you dive in.

Do you need to read the first one before the sequel?

Short answer: no, but you absolutely should, and you'll want to. The Wicked and the Warped is built to pull in new readers, and Rath is a generous enough writer to make it work as a doorway. But the emotional payoff of the sequel — the "spectacularly strained relationship" the blurb teases — only hits full force if you've watched these two spend ten thousand years earning it. Read The Infinite and the Divine first. Then thank us.

Our advice, if you're building a Warhammer library: grab the returning hardback of the original when pre-orders open, add the Wicked and the Warped hardback (or the special edition, if you're feeling flush and quick), and you've got the complete saga. Both will live in the Black Library range alongside the rest of the Warhammer catalogue.

The verdict

A sequel to The Infinite and the Divine is the sort of news we didn't dare hope for — the original felt so complete, so perfectly self-contained, that more seemed almost greedy. But if anyone has earned another ten thousand years of feuding, it's Trazyn and Orikan, and if anyone can be trusted to write it, it's Robert Rath. Consider us thoroughly, unapologetically excited.

Final thought: if you've ever rolled your eyes at "Warhammer books", start here. The Infinite and the Divine is the friendliest, funniest, most quietly profound door into the grimdark that Black Library has ever built — and now there's a second room on the other side.

Further reading: get to know the faction behind the feud with our Necrons: Army Analysis, or if you're brand new, start with What Is Warhammer 40k? A Beginner's Guide.