Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok

by Denny Flowers

A Warhammer 40,000 Novel

"I made Ghazghkull. Not the Gods. Me."

Grotsnik comes to the aid of Beastboss Bakum on Hive Prome, and it soon becomes apparent that the Mad Dok is feverishly working on something that could change the fate of ork-kind forever.

READ IT BECAUSE
How wild does a painboy have to be to earn the nickname "Mad Dok"? Find out as you follow Grotsnik – with eager scalpel in hand – as he plans his latest galaxy-changing creation. What could it be?

THE STORY
Da Mad Dok Grotsnik, creator of Ghazghkull Thraka, is a painboy beyond legend. What – and who – he harbours in his formidable brain is a mystery to every ork but himself, and an army of orderlies provides him with a constant supply of flesh with which to tinker.

So, when Grotsnik comes to the aid of Beastboss Bakmun, whose rampage on Hive Prome teeters on the brink of going out not with a Waaagh! but with a whimper, Bakmun can't believe his luck.

Following a series of increasingly unlikely accidents, however, it soon becomes apparent that the Mad Dok is working on something in the depths of his colossal Painwagon. Something big. Something that could change the fate of ork-kind forever, surpassing Grotsnik’s own forging of the Prophet of the Waaagh!…

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k

256 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2025

About the author

Denny Flowers is a writer of Warhammer 40k, Age of Sigmar, and Necromunda fiction. He submitted his first Black Library story during open submissions in 2018.

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ork novels are a more common thing than they used to be and that is all for the good. But sadly this one just doesn't feel Orky, not like the Ufthak Blackhawk novels by Mike Brooks. Flower's 'Orks' nearly all have decided un-Orky names like Valtun, Zhelle or Krille which all sound more like Imperial human names, and their dialogue doesn't have any of the bizzare spelling or contractions and slang of the Orks. I know that this can be a personal choice between authors, but when the Orks dialogue reads as flowingly and erudite as a human's would, it just rips me right out of the story.

Grotsnik himself is depicted as a Frankenstein's monster of a being, cobbled together from whatever bits he finds appealing enough to take from a corpse or kill for, and his brain is no exception. Its the old parallel of how much of something can you replace before there's nothing left of the original thing, and is it still that original thing? The Grotsnik that made Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka from an unnamed Ork yoof that had half of his head blown off by a Blood Angel's bolter may not be the same Grotsnik that remade him into the Prophet of the WAAAGH! after Ragnar Blackmane took his head off entirely, and the Grotsnik in this book may be neither of them.

But apart from Grotsnik no character in the book stands out. Valtun is a patient Ork, and the Mek Ironskull is a few page wonder, but nobody else really makes an impression. Except for the cameo at the end, who dominates those scenes and was definitely one of the highlights of the book. The Imperials, though they technically weren't Imperial, were a little more interesting but they got the standard antagonist treatment for shorter books like these and thus only had a few POV segments. The image painted by Captain Wesker's sections were interesting and could have used expanding on to show more of Diodata's supposedly perfected society.

The plot felt rather like Grotsnik, cobbled together, and only made sense by the end when we finally found out what Grotsnik had been doing the entire time. But until then it felt much like Valtun, wandering from place to place alongside Grotsnik and just observing the battle rather than being a part of it. It got there in the end, but felt meandering the entire way.

I really wanted to like this book because I love an Ork story, but this one lacked any of the joy that Ork stories do. Uncomplicated and boisterous, now obviously Grotsnik is definitely not the former and unlikely the latter, but none of the Ork sections had that straight-forward and uncomplicated nature that other Ork stories by Mike Brooks, Nate Crowley or others have done so well. Flowers does really good work with Imperial stories, his Lucille von Shard series is excellent, and after reading Grotsnik: Da Mad Dok I think maybe he should stick to those.

[AA_Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m glad that ork novels are now more commonplace, especially when they’re this good.

The Character Series of 40k novels was launched with Ghazghull, which remains the high water mark, but Grotsnik has the brilliance I’ve come to expect from Denny Flowers. It’s a lot shorter than some of his other works, and perhaps suffers a little because of that- I’m surprising myself here by hoping for more human PoV scenes, but the defenders of Hive Prome ooze narrative potential- but I guess being left wanting more is no bad thing.

With his other works Flowers explores the cost that the eternal war of the Imperium ekes out from its citizens, here he takes a surprisingly existential dive into the very nature of orks and their fundamental nature. Yes, there is more to them than screaming Waaaagh. I’m not sure if fatalist is the best way of describing how Flowers depicts them, and they are far from passive but there is a nuance and self-reflection in both his orks and grots that is really illuminating.

Grotsnik is one of the oldest characters in the setting, whilst the Beast Snaggas are relatively new; Valten, who features as much if not more than the titular mad doc, is a really compelling character, one of those outliers who help the reader understand the cultural norm better. The faction does not feel tagged on here, they are every bit as much a part of ork Kultur as the longer-established klans and factions.

Tonslly different to Brooks’ Ork books, this is every bit as much as enjoyable as they’ve been, whilst the homework the author refers to in the afterword pays off as it shares the same vibe as Crowley’s Ghaz.

[Matt Russotti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last few chapters were cinema

[Miles Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Orks doing ork things!

[Travis Langford · Rating 5 out of 5]

WAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s an ok story and written well, the battle scenes are fun and really orkish. What I didn’t like was the dialogue, that didn’t feel at all like how orks would talk to each other.

[Sunil S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, I thought that this book was fantastic (obviously, since I'm giving it 5 stars). I very much enjoyed that the orks in this one actually had individual personalities, as opposed to all just being the same; violent and dumb.

The literal only issue I had with this book -- and obviously it wasn't enough of an issue to not give it five stars -- was that it had some things in it that were a little... Un-orkish. Like their names being 'Klerval', and such. But, you know, there are people in the world who are French who have Greek names, etc. It obviously happens. I thought they didn't always seem to speak in their typical accent, too.

Beyond these very minor things, this novel was a treat. I wish that it had been longer, and I desperately hope that there's a sequel on the way! No pressure, of course.

[Robert Bridgewater · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was not expecting such darkness from Grotsnik. Reminded me of a dream I had some 10 years back. I loved the book. I know some are disappointed with the unorky names or unorky dialogue. However, I think it works, especially with Grotsnik, given how he likes to trade out pieces of himself. Grotsnik himself is decidedly unorky. I am trying not to give anything away, so I'm just going to say I enjoyed the humans(wink) that was nice.

[Robert Furlong · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had an interesting ending, but the beginning and middle dragged heavily. It felt like the majority of the opening at least was written for comedic effect rather than any kind of plot relevance, and overall the book just didn't feel very orky. It more felt like a regular 40k book where the author just occasionally made the characters speak in an accent.

[Rutger Gerrits · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading about orcs is great. It's like listening to two big bald guys from Liverpool talking about their lives and their crazy pitbull called princess.