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Series · science fiction
Soul Drinkers
The Soul Drinkers series by Ben Counter has 7 known books (7 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Soul Drinker (2002). The latest book with a fully recorded publication date is Phalanx.
- Books
- 7 known books (6 novels + 1 novella)
- Published
- 7
- First published
- 2002
- Status
- completed
- Shelved under
- Science Fiction
- Last checked
Start here: Soul Drinker (2002) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Soul Drinker
Soul Drinker opens Ben Counter's Black Library series in 2002, introducing the Soul Drinkers Space Marine chapter -- created for the novels themselves rather than drawn from established tabletop lore -- under the psychically mutated Chapter Master Sarpedon. Their prizing of art and culture as proof of the humanity they defend draws Imperial suspicion that erupts, across this opening volume, into the chapter's fall from grace. It runs 288 pages.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Soul Drinker - Book 2:
The Bleeding Chalice
The Bleeding Chalice followed a year later in 2003, continuing the Soul Drinkers' desperate war against both Imperial and Chaos forces as Sarpedon searches for the truth behind his own mutation and the chapter's fractured gene-seed. At 416 pages it's a significant jump from the series opener.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Bleeding Chalice - Book 3:
Crimson Tears
Crimson Tears arrived in 2005, matching The Bleeding Chalice's length exactly at 416 pages as the third installment in Ben Counter's chronicle of the Excommunicate Traitoris Soul Drinkers, hunted by the very Imperium they once served.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Crimson Tears - Book 4:
Chapter War
By Chapter War in 2007, the Soul Drinkers' war against Imperial suspicion and their own dark heritage had settled into the series' now-familiar 416-page length -- the third consecutive book to hit that exact count -- as Sarpedon's chapter fights on two fronts at once.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Chapter War - Book 5:
Hellforged
Hellforged, published in 2009, runs 409 pages -- just short of the 416-page streak of the three books before it -- and carries Sarpedon and the Soul Drinkers further into the series' escalating war against Imperial and Chaos forces alike.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Hellforged - Book 6:
Daenyathos
Daenyathos is the series' one novella, published in 2010 at 128 pages. Black Library packages it alongside Chapter War, Hellforged, and Phalanx in the Soul Drinkers Omnibus II, and it reads well either just before or just after Phalanx.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Daenyathos - Book 7:
Phalanx
Phalanx closes the series on April 2, 2012, two years after Daenyathos, returning to the 416-page length that marks four of the series' seven entries. It brings Sarpedon's long fight against Imperial suspicion and his chapter's fractured gene-seed to a close, and is collected with Chapter War and Hellforged in the Soul Drinkers: Annihilation omnibus.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Phalanx
About the Soul Drinkers series
Soul Drinkers is Ben Counter's own contribution to Black Library's roster of Space Marine chapters -- unlike many Warhammer 40,000 series built around a chapter already established in Games Workshop's tabletop lore, the Soul Drinkers were created for the novels themselves. The chapter, led by the psychically mutated, multi-limbed Chapter Master Sarpedon, prizes art and culture as proof of the humanity it exists to defend -- an indulgence the wider Imperium regards with deep suspicion. When that suspicion hardens into an Inquisitorial denouncement, the Soul Drinkers are declared Excommunicate Traitoris and hunted as renegades by the very Imperium they spent centuries defending.
Soul Drinker (2002) opens with the chapter's fall from grace and sets the pattern for the whole series: increasingly desperate warfare against both Imperial and Chaos forces, run alongside Sarpedon's search for the truth behind his own mutation and his chapter's fractured gene-seed. Counter carries the Soul Drinkers across six novels and one novella, from The Bleeding Chalice (2003) and Crimson Tears (2005) through Chapter War (2007) and Hellforged (2009), to Phalanx (2012), which closes out the chapter's long war against Imperial suspicion and their own dark heritage.
The series was Counter's first major work for Black Library and remains his best-known creation -- a rare case of a Black Library author being handed a blank-slate chapter to build an entire identity and story arc around, rather than writing within an already-established one.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in the Soul Drinkers series?
Six novels -- Soul Drinker (2002) through Phalanx (2012) -- plus the novella Daenyathos (2010).
What order should I read the Soul Drinkers series in?
Publication order: Soul Drinker, The Bleeding Chalice, Crimson Tears, Chapter War, Hellforged, Daenyathos, then Phalanx. It's one continuous story of a Space Marine chapter's fall and fight for survival.
Are the Soul Drinkers an existing Warhammer 40,000 chapter?
No -- Ben Counter created the Soul Drinkers specifically for these novels, which is unusual among Black Library's Space Marine series.
Is Soul Drinkers connected to Ben Counter's Grey Knights trilogy?
No -- they're separate series with different casts and no shared characters, tracked separately in this catalogue at grey-knights.json.
Is the Soul Drinkers series finished?
Yes -- it concluded with Phalanx (2012) and has not continued since.
If you like the Soul Drinkers series
Reading order last verified .