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So, I finally got around to buying and then reading some of the Horus Heresy books from The Black Library. I have no idea why, but until now, I've just never got around to buying them. I've finished 'Horus Rising' and am just about to finish 'False Gods'. I must say that I'm thoroughly enjoying them and have bought the next three in anticipation. If you've been planning on reading them, but haven't got around to it, trust me, it's worth it!

Does anyone have any other particular recommendations for further reading?

Please please please don't use this thread to discuss potential spoilers for me, other than those 'universally' known eg. we all know that Horus mucks things up a bit, but I'm still waiting to find out exactly what happens, so don't post that detail.... Thanks.

Feel free to skip Descent of Angels.. adds NOTHING to the series, (IMHO).. all the other books are fun though.. I have read up to Mechanum and DAMN.. good gripping stuff there..

I'd heard that about 'Descent Of Angels'. Does it not add any relevant background fluff for the chapter though?

Anything particular from the other non-Heresy series?

All the books are good in there own way, apart from descent of angels, if you like Dark Angels give it a read but otherwise it is a book than can be glossed over, however a word of caution on that their is a new HH DA book lined up as the next release so if you skip it you may become confused.

Particular favorites of mine have been Mechanicum and Legion, both are written very differently to the other books and give you a different perspective of the great crusade and the Imperium as a whole.

Also read the latest book Tales of the Heresy just for a short called The Last Church, it is perhaps one of the best written 40k stories ever.

I think I'm going to try and read them all in the order they were published so that I don't miss out on anything. It's really helping tie things together for me, especially about the Chaos Marine special characters. Every time a new one pops up, it's almost as if you've discovered a fresh nugget of information that makes you want to paint the model! Damn GW and their ability to get me to spend more cash....

InyokaMadoda wrote:Anything particular from the other non-Heresy series?

Lord of the Night.

Storm of Iron.

And both the Eisenhorn and Ravenor series.

Angels of Darkness is good for DA stuff-- seminal I guess, and I really like Anthony Reynolds Word Bearer series. So far they've released Dark Apostle and Dark Disciple. Both very good.

To make sense of the forthcoming DA Heresy book -- Fallen Angels-- it will be worth reading the oft slighted Descent of Angels. Which is fairness is actually not a bad book per se, I think it just was advertised as being different and people were expecting something much more than what we got.

I read the Eldar Prophecy and Farseer novels, neither of which inpressed me much. I thoroughly enjoyed Horus Rising, however. Our FLGS has a Black Library book exchange (bring one in, take one home) for used books, but most of what they have are the Ragnar Blackmane/Space Wolf books. Anyone know if those are good?

Further reading of what I may ask. If the HH books, then just keep reading those. The next one is slated for June/July (I don't recall). I think there'll be three next year, but I'm only certain on two.

Try the Ciphas Cain novels, they are rather good.

First couple are alright, 3rd one is good, 4th one is ACE- one of the best 40k books written. Sadly ( change of author) it's downhill from there and you can avoid the last 2. Very much for completists only if you follow.

Avoid anything written by C.S. Goto, Lucien Soulban and the author of those Blood Bowl novels.

There is another Dark Angels based HH book coming out so I'd read Descent of Angels if you want to read the next one. I'd skip Battle for the Abyss or whatever it's called. It's generic and feels like it was originally written as a 40k book then re-edited to fit in with the HH setting.

Legion is awesome and can be read stand alone so make sure you read that one.

Ozy is right.
Battle for the Abyss is horrible. More so than Descent of Angels!

The Tales of the Heresy book is quite good actually. I went through that in like a day and a half. And 99MDeery is absolutely correct ... the last church was awesome!

DO NOT waste your money on the dawn of war books. I really dont know who or what edited those, but it couldnt have been someone familiar with 40k.

OK, so you've all convinced me that I need to read all of the Horus Heresy books, which is fine by me. I'm still puzzled by the need to have three authors write the original trilogy, but there you go. I think I'll probably end up reading the two that have been slated here as I'm a bit of a completist at heart.

Could anyone give me a bit of a clue what the other various series are about? Horus Heresy was pretty obvious in it's title, so I knew what it was going to be about (hence reading it in the first place). But the other series don't seem to be as obvious in their subject matter, without spending ages trawling through online book reviews. Thanks!

This may be a bit off topic but have you read any of the Ciaphas Cain series? They're very predictable but each book is a lot of fun to read and of course it's from the IG Commissar point of view. What about the Gaunt's Ghost series?

The Second ultramarines book is pure awesome sauce....marines against a tyranid invasion with a little hive ganger acion thrown in. Actually, the first book was great too. The third in the series has been very hard to read for me for some reason. But you should enjoy the omnibus (has all three collected)

I posted a simalar topic called "horus rising"

not to hijack the post but I had similar questions. After completeing the first in the horus heresy series, i began wondering if the rest were as good as the first, or if the series flat lined. Ive noticed their is a general disdain for the blood angel book, is there any reason for this? Is it because its about blood ravens? or just the skill of the writer?

Also, how important is reading the Horus heresy series? Horus rising was my first warhammer book, I originally thought i knew a great deal about the universe but while i was reading a learned more and more and have come to the conclusion that new very little. Is the horus series an important step as it servers as a foundation for the universe? or is skipping to say "gaunt's ghosts" a possibility? (if you'd even recommend that)

Whatever you do, DON'T even touch C.S. Goto's books.

If you ever want to read a bit of WHFB, the Witch Hunter trilogy is a good start.

InyokaMadoda wrote:

Could anyone give me a bit of a clue what the other various series are about? Horus Heresy was pretty obvious in it's title, so I knew what it was going to be about (hence reading it in the first place). But the other series don't seem to be as obvious in their subject matter, without spending ages trawling through online book reviews. Thanks!

Gaunt's Ghosts series - Dan Abnett .. follows 1 regiment of IG from their inception through several warzones all fighting the incursion of Chaos. A very good series for following "grunts" .. regular humans. Some books are a little over the top but generally a good read.. over 10 in the series now, grouped into 3-4 arcs.. my opinion The Saint (books 4-7) is the best at the moment..

Ciaphas Cain - Sandy Mitchell .. the life and times of the IG most unashamedly cowardly commisar. At least in his own mind. Written as memoirs from Cain's retirement.. very fun reads.. my current favorite series.. read this series in order!

Eisenhorn and Ravenor - Dan Abnett - 2 series, 3 books each... Ravenor semi-sequel to Eisenhorn. both series follow an Imperial Inquisitor and retinue as they fight against the insidiousness of Chaos .. very very good. Got a friend into 40k fiction with the Eisenhorn series..

beyond that, no real idea of the serieses that BL puts out..

in terms of stand alone books, Storm of Iron is very good..

-Porkuslime

Cheese Elemental wrote:Whatever you do, DON'T even touch C.S. Goto's books.

what did this guy do? It seems as though the entire warhammer fan base wants him dead.

porkuslime wrote:

InyokaMadoda wrote:

Could anyone give me a bit of a clue what the other various series are about? Horus Heresy was pretty obvious in it's title, so I knew what it was going to be about (hence reading it in the first place). But the other series don't seem to be as obvious in their subject matter, without spending ages trawling through online book reviews. Thanks!

Gaunt's Ghosts series - Dan Abnett .. follows 1 regiment of IG from their inception through several warzones all fighting the incursion of Chaos. A very good series for following "grunts" .. regular humans. Some books are a little over the top but generally a good read.. over 10 in the series now, grouped into 3-4 arcs.. my opinion The Saint (books 4-7) is the best at the moment..

Ciaphas Cain - Sandy Mitchell .. the life and times of the IG most unashamedly cowardly commisar. At least in his own mind. Written as memoirs from Cain's retirement.. very fun reads.. my current favorite series.. read this series in order!

Eisenhorn and Ravenor - Dan Abnett - 2 series, 3 books each... Ravenor semi-sequel to Eisenhorn. both series follow an Imperial Inquisitor and retinue as they fight against the insidiousness of Chaos .. very very good. Got a friend into 40k fiction with the Eisenhorn series..

beyond that, no real idea of the serieses that BL puts out..

in terms of stand alone books, Storm of Iron is very good..

-Porkuslime

good suggestions

this is where ive been getting all my information on the novels

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Category:Novels

porkuslime wrote:
Gaunt's Ghosts series - Dan Abnett .. follows 1 regiment of IG from their inception through several warzones all fighting the incursion of Chaos. A very good series for following "grunts" .. regular humans. Some books are a little over the top but generally a good read.. over 10 in the series now, grouped into 3-4 arcs.. my opinion The Saint (books 4-7) is the best at the moment..

Ciaphas Cain - Sandy Mitchell .. the life and times of the IG most unashamedly cowardly commisar. At least in his own mind. Written as memoirs from Cain's retirement.. very fun reads.. my current favorite series.. read this series in order!

Eisenhorn and Ravenor - Dan Abnett - 2 series, 3 books each... Ravenor semi-sequel to Eisenhorn. both series follow an Imperial Inquisitor and retinue as they fight against the insidiousness of Chaos .. very very good. Got a friend into 40k fiction with the Eisenhorn series..

beyond that, no real idea of the serieses that BL puts out..

in terms of stand alone books, Storm of Iron is very good..

-Porkuslime

Good list of good books/ series.
How could we forget the Tanith :(

Do read Storm of iron. It's very good. However, the storyline is sort of picked up in the third Ultramarines novel and that kind of destroyed it :(

fuzzbunny wrote:

Cheese Elemental wrote:Whatever you do, DON'T even touch C.S. Goto's books.

what did this guy do? It seems as though the entire warhammer fan base wants him dead.

His stuff SUCKS. If you have the time (and money to spare) go ahead and order the DOW omnibus. I really had to fight to get through that garbage. It was boring and a lot of it didnt make sense whatsoever.

To be honest, you will have some trouble following everything. There is just too much stuff coming out.
The best ones have been named though. Eisenhorn, Ravenor, Gaunts Ghosts, Word Bearers, UM (if you like em) Ciaphas Cain .... and obviously the heresy books.

Id have to go back to my shelve to see what else I have that I remember liking.Pawns of Chaos is one of my favorites, its a stand-alone though


EDIT: I just now saw this ... appearently the war for Prospero will be a duology. Each book featuring the war from one of the factions
# A Thousand Sons - Graham McNeill - March 2010
# Prospero Burns - Dan Abnett - April 2010

Right now, that sounds like its made of win

Thanks chaps. That makes more sense for me now and is good for suggesting a route through the wealth of books out there.

Quick question, which books are the Word Bearer books?

InyokaMadoda wrote:Thanks chaps. That makes more sense for me now and is good for suggesting a route through the wealth of books out there.

Quick question, which books are the Word Bearer books?

I believe Battle for the Abyss focused on the Word Bearers with some Ultramarine/World Eaters/Space Wolf action. Fulgrim was my favorite so far out of the HH series, but Legion and Flight of the Eisenstien are close seconds.

I really enjoyed the Grey Knights books from Ben Counter. There are three of them, currently.

Thanks.

Pawns of Chaos is great - I actually really like Brotherhood of the Snake as well - I think it's possibly the only 41M Space Marine novel that isn't gung-ho rubbish.

C.S Goto is exactly that - gung-ho rubbish for kids. To be honest, I find Graham McNeill's Ultramarine books pretty similar, though. It's really hard to do believable Marines, as they have no human flaws...

But THIS is why the HH books are so great. The interplay between the Marine and human characters and institutions is what makes it much more interesting. The best examples of this are in human-centric novels like Mechanicum and Legion (Legion is widely regarded as the best).

The worst HH novels are the ones that are entirely marine action stories, which is why Battle for the Abyss is EASILY the worst of the bunch. It's probably written by CS Goto as well. Really REALLY fething awful....

Although everyone seems to hate Descent of Angels (possibly because of the lack of Marine action and the way it casts an unfavourable light on Jonson - most of it is set before the rediscovery of Caliban) I actually really like it. It gives a great backstory to the Dark Angels and explains why they are the way they are.

ArbitorIan wrote:Although everyone seems to hate Descent of Angels (possibly because of the lack of Marine action and the way it casts an unfavourable light on Jonson - most of it is set before the rediscovery of Caliban) I actually really like it. It gives a great backstory to the Dark Angels and explains why they are the way they are.

I just don't like the way it was written. To me, it came across as the author saying: "Here is a sentence. Here is another sentence. This is now what is happening with the sentences." It works better when described out loud.

InyokaMadoda wrote:Thanks chaps. That makes more sense for me now and is good for suggesting a route through the wealth of books out there.

Quick question, which books are the Word Bearer books?

Dark Apostle ist the first,
Followed by Dark Disciple.

The next one shall be Dark Creed

Battle for the Abyss also involves the Word Bearers, but Heresy Era obviously.

Ok, apart from Battle for the Abyss, which is simply clunky, unnecessary and a poor read, every single one is well worth a look. Even Descent of Angels.

Actually, especially Descent of Angels.

Allow me to back up that statement. Prior to DoA, each HH novel had been:

Focused on a Traitor Legion.
Set at the tail end of the Crusade.
Featured a split within the Legion and the clashes there.
Had Primarchs whooping arse left right and centre.

Therefore it was no suprise to find that most people expected this, but with the Dark Angels rather than the Sons of Horus etc. And this is why it was (and still is) treated as sub par. Which in my opinion is a gross misjustice. DoA tackles the roots of the Dark Angels, it's formation and most significantly it shows Luther and the Lion at a time when Terra was a myth. In other words, it sets the scene for a sideshow to the Heresy, and being a conspiracy theorist I like this. DoA also fleshes out the transformation from warrior knight to Primarch of the Astartes and shows friendly Imperial Intergration - as opposed to the stomping show we are so familar with.

DoA sets the scene for a microcosm of the Heresy at large. It's a good book in and of itself, it just wasn't what people were expecting.

The first chapter of Horus Rising had me hook, line, and sinker. "I was there when Horus killed the Emperor." I will probably finish Horus Rising tonight.

Ravenor is awesome. I couldn't get the following books soon enough. Ciaphus Cain is awesome. Trying to discern when he is being lucky, cowardly, or just plain heroic was the greatest part of the series.