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Quite simply what are some of the better books from the black library that you would recommend others to read

Flight of the Eisenstien. People need to know what a beast Garro is.

Also the Alpha legion book. some of the most interesting and thought provoking fluff at the end.

As a fan of Military Sci-fi i really recommend the Gaunt's Ghosts series. Also Ciaphis Cain is a good series. If you like more investigative, and spy like stuff both the Ravenor and Eisenhorn omnibus are good.

For fantasy, Gotrek and Felix are epic.

ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:As a fan of Military Sci-fi i really recommend the Gaunt's Ghosts series. Also Ciaphis Cain is a good series. If you like more investigative, and spy like stuff both the Ravenor and Eisenhorn omnibus are good.

For fantasy, Gotrek and Felix are epic.

The cain adn gaunt books are both very good at portraying life in the guard, not just the footsloggers you see. Eisenhorn is written in first person which i have trouble getting my head around but thats my prefrence. Gotrek and Felix are also good books yet i shy away form the non-Bill King ones, the same stands for the Blackmane books. The HH books are good, especially 'Alpha'.

Cain is terrible at 'portraying life in the Guard'.

The whole point of the Ciaphas Cain novels is that they're meant to be a kind of 'propaganda', done in an over the top exaggerated hero style.

What to read

the Eisenhorn and Ravenor omnibuses

both Space Wolf Omnibuses

the Grey Knight Omnibus

Titanicus

The Ultramarine Omnibus, the Killing Ground, and Courage and Honor(in that order. they are nice books even if they are about the smurfs)



What NOT to read

anything with C.S. Goto as the Author

Flight of the Eisentstein was gold. Loved it.

Avoid the Blood Angels Omnibus! I was thoroughly unimpressed with Arkio's antics. Thought I'd love it as it was by James Swallow too... I've also heard Ravenor Omnibus isn't written very well from a friend.

I thoroughly recommend CS Goto stuff...honest

But in all seriousness, FotE was great as was Fulgrim. (HH)

NiallCampbell wrote:
I thoroughly recommend CS Goto stuff...honest

I hope you're being ironic there.

I liked the Ultramarines books by McNeill. They're actually really good.

Titanicus is literally epic. I loved it!

Gunheads is quite good too. Not really excellent concerning cannon and fluff, but a very nice view of the 41st millenium through the eyes of normal troopers. Some of the scenes in this book are really moving. And the war scenes are extremely realistic.

Eisenhorn was the greatest series in 40k literature so far.

Titanicus, the mechanicum are awesome in that book.

Storm of Iron is a truly good read. Also Lord of the Night kicked ass. Even though I'm not really into chaos both of those book are some of the best I have read. If you read the Ultramarine Omnibus you won't be disapointed, if you do I recommend Storm of Iron first because it introduces you to one of the main villians later in the Ultramarine series.

Kanluwen wrote:Cain is terrible at 'portraying life in the Guard'.

The whole point of the Ciaphas Cain novels is that they're meant to be a kind of 'propaganda', done in an over the top exaggerated hero style.

Wait? I thought it was Cain's own memoir, arranged by Amberley Veil
with notes on it , including self depreciation, written by Cain.

I'll agree wholeheartedly with Titanicus. It as really good.

Quite frankly, most of Abnett's 40k stuff is very good. He's their top dawg, and for a reason.

The Horus Heresy series has been, for the most part (I'm looking at you Battle for the Abyss) very good. The first three books are wonderful, and the past four books have been equally wonderful.

Aaron Dembski-Bowden is a serious up-and-comer. Soul Hunter, his first Night Lords book, was excellent. Early reviews indicate that its sequel, Blood Reaver, is even better.

For Fantasy, I've had a good time with the Thanquol books. They're fun, don't take themselves too seriously, and read quickly. I'm about half into Nagash the Sorceror right now, and really enjoy it. The Sigmar Time of Legends books were very good as well. It seems that the Time of Legends books are aiming to be the Horus Heresy books for the WHFB universe.

Not that I want to toot my own horn, but I have some reviews of the more recent books on my blog. You're welcome to check them out imperialathenaeum.blogspot.com

Cheers.

Dooley said it spot on about the majority of the HH stuff. Battle for the Abyss is an Abomination in paperback.

I liked the Soul Drinkers books, but I was the only one of my friends to read it.

I also liked the Path of the Warrior book as it gave a different perspective of the 40k universe. It puts you in the life of a Craftworld Eldar.

Definitely most things written by Dan Abnett. He's a fantastic author.

Retrias wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:Cain is terrible at 'portraying life in the Guard'.

The whole point of the Ciaphas Cain novels is that they're meant to be a kind of 'propaganda', done in an over the top exaggerated hero style.

Wait? I thought it was Cain's own memoir, arranged by Amberley Veil
with notes on it , including self depreciation, written by Cain.

Your right Retrais. Maybe Kanluwen is thinking of the book with in a book that is Cain's official memoirs.


But yeah CS Goto is horrible. My mom bought me his Dawn of War Omnibus and its still unread after 3 years. But like said Ultramarines is good. Gaunt's ghost is awesome, if a bit long, 12 books so far.

Edit: Typos.

My fav would be
- Cain book
-Ultramarine
-the world bearer book (I didn't know CSM actually think like that
-I liked eisenhorn book and the/Grey Knights
-Path of the warrior(Xeno book on the part of Eldar that I do like)

I'd heartily recommend Gaunt's Ghosts and Ciaphas Cain. They're what got me into BL and what really got me into the fluff in general.

I personally recommend: Flight of the Eisenstein, Legion, Horus Rising, False Gods, Galaxy in Flames. all of them from the horus heresy. (working on reading the space marine battle novels currently)

The thirteenth Gaunts Ghosts book is out in October according to the BL website. (£17.99 for hardback)

I agree that all of Abnett's books are the bomb. The Gaunt's Ghosts books are simply amazing, They are the best books I have ever read when it comes to realistic battlefield conditions and fights.

I'll also second (more like fifth) that Flight of the Eisenhorn was awesome.

So I picked up the Ciaphas Cain omnibus... wow, I love Sandi Mitchell now.

I was really struggling to get into the Gaunts books, but Ciaphas just reminds me so much of what I loved about Eisenhorn.

Ciaphas Cain omnibus = amazing.

Anything by Sandy Mitchel. His writing thus far (for my experience anyway) has the best and easiest to follow literary style.

Soul Hunter and Blood Reaver are my favs. I enjoyed most of the Cain books as well.

A Thousand Sons and anything written by Graham McNeil. Amazing books, definitely my favorites. Flight of The Eisenstein, First Heretic, The First three Horus Heresy Novels.
FULGRIM! How could I forget. Basically, most of the Horus Heresy excluding a few which were quite horrible IMO.

McNeill, Mitchel and Abnett are the best 40K authors, anything by them is good

Gaunts Ghosts
Horus Rising
Titanicus
Ravenor
The Ultramarines Omnibus

And, as above, anything by Dan Abnett!

Melissia wrote:Anything by Sandy Mitchel. His writing thus far (for my experience anyway) has the best and easiest to follow literary style.

Could not agree more - really enjoy the books - both 40k and Warhammer

Picked up the recent audio book which was "ok" missed the asides by Amberely..............

Here's the way to find good Black Library books.

1. Does it have either Warhammer/Warhammer 40,000 on the outside covers? If so, continue.
2. Find the author. Is his first name Dan? If so, continue.
3. Look at the author's last name. Is it Abnett?

If all 3 criteria have been met, congratulations! You are now holding a fantastic Black Library book.

In my experience, a lot of Black Library books are kind of poorly written, but there are definitely some gems.

Anything by Dan Abnett is awesome. Specifically I'd recommend:

The Eisenhorn Omnibus
Gaunt's Ghosts
Graham McNeil's Ultramarines
Storm of Iron
The Luna Wolves books in the Horus Heresy
Legion
Flight of the Eisenstein
A thousand Sons/Prospero Burns (although, as much as I love 1k sons, Prospero is definitely the better book)


What I would recommend avoiding would be:

The soul drinkers omnibus - poorly written, one dimensional characters & my copy is full of type errors

Anything by C.S. Goto - Do I really need to explain this?

William King's Space Wolves - Not serious enough for me. They fly around in Thunderhawks making fart jokes.




Most of the other Horus Heresy novels are pretty good, the ones I mentioned above just happen to stand out for me.

Dunno, I find Gaunt's Ghosts to be rather slow in comparison to most sci-fi books I read. And I don't mean that in a good way. Once it gets on with it and picks up the pace to a proper pacing for the sort of story it's telling, it works damned well-- but he still seems to have a problem with pacing.