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My son sees me read Black Library books all the time and is starting to show an interest in them. They are generally over his reading level and I was thinking of reading him one.

Does anyone have a good suggestion for a Black Library novel to read to him for his first exposure to the 40K universe? He's really enjoyed me reading the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit and other adventure tales so the violence isn't an issue as long as it's not too graphic, but id like to avoid any overt demon worshiping if I can help it.

Any good suggestions? I have a few ideas, but I thought that my fellow Dakkaites might have some good insights.

Thanks!

definitely not the redemption corps. too much torture and debilitating injury... and i only made it half the way through before the plot turned off my interest!

i'd say go with the commissar cain books. the gore is usually to a minimum (except for one or two things) and there's actually a decent amount of humor in the book. there's a little bit of sexual inneudo here and there but nothing graphic except for one scene with some slaneshi cultists (and it was quite tame). plus... plenty of jurgen's smell and fart jokes in every book that a 12 year old is sure to appreciate!

Well in the books i read it has been a lot of choas enemies.

I think the Guants Ghost/Tanith 1st and only books are a good start for an introduction to the 40k universe. It has a Protagonist that is strong with great characters. Throughout the novels they deal with different races within the 40k universe (Choas space marines, traitor guard, eldar, etc.). They are also from an imperial guards point of view, and it emphasizes the badass-ness of space marines.

I agree with warboss, go with the cain books!

One series I'm working on is called the adventures of Gotrex and Felix. It is not 40k it is WHFB, but it is still really good, lots of fights, blood, guts, and battles. Might be a good transition from the Lord of the Rings books..

Leaving out overt demon worshiping is a bit much to ask for, that is pretty standard in both WHFB and 40k. "For the Emperor" is the second Ciaphas Cain 40k novel with Tyranids in it, haven't read it, but there should be only mild demon worshiping in that one if at all

Yup, another vote for Cain from me!

Looking forward to the new one!

Another vote for Cain, brilliant books and should be ok for a 12 year old! Mind you, my little brother has just read Dark Apostle and he's only 11!

Oh, but not Fulgrim.

Defo not Fulgrim.

Another advocate for Cain.

My brother, (same age as your son) read the second Cain book and liked it. Right now he is reading False Gods and he said that he prefers 'For the Emperor' at the moment.

If you don't want to delve too deeply into chaos you're leaving out the majority of the Black Library's better books, and not preparing your kid very well for 40k either. (Chaos and corruption being part of the central background story and all... ) For example, my favorite Black Library books are Storm of Iron, the Eisenhorn trilogy, the Gaunt's Ghosts series, the 3rd book of the Grey Knights series, etc. What do they all have in common? Chaos is the primary antagonist.

Now there's one very good book in which Chaos has a minimal presence; Brothers of the Snake is one of the BL's best, and the primary enemies through most of the book are the Orks. (Dark Eldar are central as well, but they don't get much screentime and what they do have leaves out the graphic torture and sexual connotations you'd typically expect of them, so I'd say it's a fairly safe book.)
Honestly the best way to go about it is to read the books yourself 1st to see if the book takes things 'too far' for your kid to hear about, in your opinion.

I'd personally stay away from any series of books in the beginning. Start with simple short stories like the space marine books and the other non-space marine short story books. It gives enough of the flavor of the entire universse without getting to deeply into storylines which realistically are going to be hard for a 12 year old to follow.

MasterDRD - this is exactly the info I'm looking for. Thanks! Brotherhood of the Snake and the Gaunts Ghosts books are dark and gritty with out too much time detailing the bad stuff going on while letting you know it's there on the edge of the readers vision. Actually the first few Heresy Books were weren't too graphic but still serious and dark in tone.

I don't want to avoid Chaos, just the REALLY graphic stuff like what was portrayed in "Fulgrim" and some of the grisly details such as what was in "Dead Sky Black Sun" where there is a Chaos Space Marine cloning vat factory underway. I loved both of these books, but they scared the bejeezus out of me. I'm sure it would give my 12 year old nightmares.

brainwashed wrote:They are generally over his reading level and I was thinking of reading him one.!

Considering Charles Dickens and john Steinbeck are on the UK school sylabus for a twelve year olds. He could handle any of the books the black library has to offer.

That's not to say they are childish. They just aren't difficult to read.

I'd recommend the Eisenhorn novels.

General Stoner - that's a great suggestion. Do you have any suggestions for short stoies that aren't too grisly?

Has anyone listed to the audio books? Is the Space Wolf Audio book with in the purview I'm looking for?

Also, currently ploughing my way through 'Temple Of The Serpent'.

I'm liking it rather a lot, and what I've thus far read of 'Fear The Alien' is a mixed bag. First one is excellent, second one just confused me (far too SST).

Im gonna have to vote for my all-time favorite BL book, 15 hours, its dark its gritty but against orks so there really isnt any daemon worship.
For BL its probably one of their better written books with a relatable protagonist.
Also its IG which means its usually truer to fluff and less

"well the PDF is getting its a$$ kicked so brothercaptain awesomeius has to go and kill all of the tratorous scum barehanded and its a tough battle but we only lose one guy and its sad but we're space marines so we win, ALWAYS!!!!"

Get the Ciaphas Cain omnibus - it even has a few short stories in there that will be good if he just wants something short. I mean, they're still 40k books so there's still violence and daemons and the like, but it's from a more humorous perspective that will be easier to swallow.

Rynn's World has no Chaos presence whatsoever, just Marines and Orks. It's a bit violent, but I don't think it's any more violent than any other BL book. It's one of the better books.

For short stories, pick up "Dark Imperium".
It had a few good short stories in it like"hive fleet horror", where hive fleet kraken is the enemy and its from the point of view of a runaway techpreist.
Another is "battle of the archaeosaurs" which is giant dinosaur like creatures vs titans.
"small cogs" is guard vs elder from the perspective of an ig commander, they are all in dress uniform and only have limted ammo.
"hellbreak" is also good but it has dark elder in it but they don't really toture anyone, I think you might want to read this one first before reading it to your son.

First off, I'm 12 myself and read all sorts, Cain, Eisenhorn, Gaunt's Ghost, Horus Heresy (yes, including Fulgrim) and find absolutely nothing wrong with them. Your kid will be fine.
And tell him to read them himself. Get him to read them himself. If he can't read thick books at 12, he's got something wrong with him.

I used to read "battle comics" when I was 12, so BL is no great shock to me (apart from how bad some of the writers are. CS Goto should be avoided AT ALL COSTS).

As for "demon worship" - it's no different to filling their heads with other mythology from books. Kids can get a pretty warped view of things from the Bible, let alone Lotr.

In my opinion, either Rynn's World or the first Tanith 1st omnibus. The one with the large number of short stories.

EDIT: I do believe it is called 'The Founding'

chromedog wrote:I used to read "battle comics" when I was 12, so BL is no great shock to me (apart from how bad some of the writers are. CS Goto should be avoided AT ALL COSTS).

As for "demon worship" - it's no different to filling their heads with other mythology from books. Kids can get a pretty warped view of things from the Bible, let alone Lotr.

Aren't Battle Comics the ones with Hook Jaw and Judge Dread and were banned for being ultra-violent?

The Space Wolf Novels are really good. I read them when I was 12. Also, the 'Let the Galaxy Burn' collection of short stories is nice and diverse, without delving too deep into the background of 40K. Really good gentle Chaos too (if thats possible).

No, no.

Battle comics are ww2 and Viet-Nam themed stories.

More American than brit. 2000AD was a couple of years later for me (got one in a Sydney Royal Easter showbag when I was 13)

Ah, that clears that up then.

What sort of Black Library book can you read to your 6YO?

"Kharn and Vulkan learn their colors!"

Commissar Agro wrote:For short stories, pick up "Dark Imperium".
It had a few good short stories in it like"hive fleet horror", where hive fleet kraken is the enemy and its from the point of view of a runaway techpreist.

Hive Fleet Horror is one of the absolute worst BL pieces I've ever read. It's complete garbage. I wrote a review for Dark Imperium a while ago in an old thread, and it does have some great stories in it. Many are lousy though.

Seconding the Space Wolf books this time around. Chaos is only in there as a cartoon villain, and the Wolves are pretty much noble goodguys.

Sounds like I have some great feedback. Thanks all.

I'll be looking into:
The Commissars Cain books
Space Wolves books in general
Brothers of the Snake
Gaunts Ghosts
Short stories like - Let the Galaxy Burn

... and see if anything sticks. I'm seeing if I can get him to be less of a sporto and a little more of a geek like his dad. Here's to hoping!

Not to spoil your fun or anything, but a 12 year old should be capable of reading such books by himself. Maybe you should read slightly more advanced books to him? Something like Edgar Rice Burroughs, H Rider Haggard, John Steinbeck, Ian Fleming or a lot of others, is the kind of thing that would make a perfectly good father son activity, but your kid might have a hard time getting into himself. I mean, of all the things to encourage a kid to read . . . I've read some of the books recommended here, some of them are fine of their type - but they're time-fillers, that's all. Spend your time getting the sprog to read something which is a little bit thought-provoking or informative, not only mindless action/fun.

Just my input, sorry if that sounded really condescending.

Deadshane1 wrote:What sort of Black Library book can you read to your 6YO?

"Kharn and Vulkan learn their colors!"

Kharn: "Red is for- BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Vulkan: "No, red is for *fwoosh* YOU'RE ON FIRE NOW MOTHERF***ER!!! YOU SEEING RED YET?!?!?!?!"
Kharn: *agonized screams, then silence*
Vulkan: "*soft singsong voice; acoustic guitar* Black is for the charred corpses of the heeeereeetiiiiiiiiiiics,
As we burn them alive in our Emperor's name,
Their souls go screaming to their twisted gods' domain,
As they suffer extreme agony foreeever mooooooooooooooooooooore..."
*power chords*