Book Club Book #170: Death Rider by Rhuairidh James

Every two weeks we read a new book in the WH40k universe and discuss it on our podcast. We invite you to read along with us and join in on our conversation via comments, Twitter, Discord, email, or vox cast.

For this episode, we’re reading Death Rider by Rhuairidh James. You can purchase it at Amazon, the Black Library, and Audible.

From the back of the book:

The battle for Rezlan VI is over, but for Commissar Valian Hesh of the Death Korps of Krieg, the war has just begun.

After an Imperial battleship condemns the ravaged world to an agonising death, the t’au and the Imperium of Man are locked in a bitter stalemate. Hesh has only one chance to escape this madness – preventing the 472nd Siege Regiment of Krieg from attempting a suicidal final assault on enemy lines. But as the t’au tighten their grasp on the planet and fire and poison leach into its atmosphere, the commissar’s time is running short. With few allies save for Jens, his cryptic prefectus militant, he must risk everything to save his soldiers.

Can Hesh bring the 472nd to heel, or will he lose himself in the process?

Discussion guide for Death Rider:

• Did you like the book?
• Which parts stood out to you?
• Did you like Hesh as a character? Was he a good commissar?
• Things are going less than well on Rezlan VI. As always, is this planet worth it? For either the T’au or the Imperium?
• Did you like Hesh’s band of misfits? Who were you emotionally invested in?
• For a book called “Death Rider” are there a lot of Death Riders in this book? Do we feel as though we got a better view into the Death Riders? How about the Krieg?
• Was the end satisfying? Was Katarin a good foil to Hesh?
• Was this book well written? Did you struggle with it as much as we did?