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I got into 40k more or less by playing DoW, but before I had gotten into it, I wanted to read more about the fluff of 40k, and a friend recommended the Ciaphas Cain books, which were entertaining. After that, hearing that Dan Abnett was one of if not the best 40k writers, I read both Eisenhorn and Ravenor, and am now in the middle of the first Gaunt omnibus. Great stuff.

So I decided I should probably start reading something about the Astartes, but I imagine it would be too easy to write a crappy book about them because of how outright ridiculous they are. Maybe something non-Imperial, it looks like someone's written an Eldar-centric book and it's the first one like it I've seen.

So, who's worth reading, and who should I stay away from? I was thinking of reading some of the Ultramarines books or the Blood Angels ones, or even the new Salamander or Imperial Fists books. I also wanna read the Horus Heresy books, are they sequential? I already know to stay away from CS Goto.

HH do have a sequence to them. This has the order they were printed but it seems they might be slightly out of read order :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horus_Heresy#Novelization
The 1st 3 are in order but I would read descent & fallen angels in order.

If you like Eisenhorn, you will also like the following Inquisition novels:
Sandy Mitchell "Scourge the Heretic" and "Innocence Proves Nothing" (related to the Dark Heresy RPG)
Ben Counter "Grey Knights"

Horus Heresy has a high standard, the first three obligatory to understand the rest. My favorite "Legion" (John LeCarre in space )

Avoid everything by C.S.Goto, esp. if you care for Eldar and/or good writing. He has no clue about the 40k background and obviously doesn't give a damn. And he utterly hates Eldar and does unspeakable things to them (starting with every second Eldar being a Slaanesh worshipper ).

For Eldar wait for Gav Thorpe's novels, or try to hunt down the OOP Eldar novels "Shadow Point" (Gordon Rennie) and "Farseer" (William King).

If you liked books about inquisitors and Sandy Mitchell's Ciaphus Cain books, there's a series about inquisitorial henchmen - Scourge the Heretic and Innocence Proves Nothing are the first two and they're brilliant.

There are some stand-out books including Cadian Blood and the Soul Drinkers novels which you might want to consider.

Personally, I think the best Marine novels are the Ultramarines stories. There are five so far. The Omnibus is great value, three wildly different stories for £10.

Oh, and Angels of Darkness is truly wonderful. It's all about the interrogation of a Fallen Dark Angel.

And Storm of Iron, recently re-printed, is a fantastic book, too. It's all about the Iron Warriors besieging a fortress.

I'm surprized no one has mentioned the fantastic gaunts ghosts series by Dan Abnet. I think the first 6 books are grouped into two omnibuses now. Great gritty guard books. Also Ravenor is interesting if you've already read Eiesnhorn. Oh and the Cain books are just awesome

dumplingman wrote:I'm surprized no one has mentioned the fantastic gaunts ghosts series by Dan Abnet. I think the first 6 books are grouped into two omnibuses now. Great gritty guard books. Also Ravenor is interesting if you've already read Eiesnhorn. Oh and the Cain books are just awesome

Funny, he mentioned he has read all of them in the OP.

touche

I'm going to go home and take a nap now looks like I need it!

I disagree. Read everything C.S. Goto and nothing involving the Horus Heresy. This way you can read about the MULTILASERS!

Now that I'm done trollin'... The only argument I have with the above is the fact that the DA HH books just sucked. It was so full of emo idiocy and retardation I could barely stomach reading em. "Oh, my best friend betrayed me? I'm saddened. Let's go to the Rock!"

Okay, I'll get on some of the HH books. I just finished the first Gaunt book last night and just wow.

How are James Swallow's Blood Angels books? I think I probably will get that Ultramarines omnibus too.

Lorgar's_Blessed wrote:I disagree. Read everything C.S. Goto and nothing involving the Horus Heresy. This way you can read about the MULTILASERS!

Now that I'm done trollin'... The only argument I have with the above is the fact that the DA HH books just sucked. It was so full of emo idiocy and retardation I could barely stomach reading em. "Oh, my best friend betrayed me? I'm saddened. Let's go to the Rock!"

Yea the DA books are a bit emo but thats the story of the dark angels. It shows how the seeds of chaos were planted in Luther, how and why he fell to chaos.

Shas'O Dorian wrote:

Lorgar's_Blessed wrote:I disagree. Read everything C.S. Goto and nothing involving the Horus Heresy. This way you can read about the MULTILASERS!

Now that I'm done trollin'... The only argument I have with the above is the fact that the DA HH books just sucked. It was so full of emo idiocy and retardation I could barely stomach reading em. "Oh, my best friend betrayed me? I'm saddened. Let's go to the Rock!"

Yea the DA books are a bit emo but thats the story of the dark angels. It shows how the seeds of chaos were planted in Luther, how and why he fell to chaos.

In my opinion, who cares? I don't really want to know what the hell happened to Luther. Tell me what happened to the Lion in one book and I'm satisfied.

I want to move onto better books. Such as the new Thousand Sons book. THAT was an interesting piece of fluff right there.

Horus vs Emprah:
C.S.Goto Style

metallifan wrote:Then the Emprah did a backflip over Horus and shot him with his Multilasers. Horus deflected the Multilasers with his Multilasers. Then the Emprah dropped his Multilaser and grabbed his power-sword that was best power-sword in the Imperium and was better than other power-swords. The Emprah slashed his power-sword that was better than other power-swords at Horus' knees but Horus blocked it. The Emprah used his multilasers to shoot Horus. Horus got hurt. Then the Razorback drove in and ran him over. Then the Razorback that drove in and ran him over turned into a Land Raider. Then the Terminator and Kasrkin BFF backflipped off the Razorback and shot Horus with their Multilasers. Then Horus hurt the Emprah, but the Emprah killed him. Then the Emprah died but not really. Then they brought him back to Terra and put him on the Golden Throne and brought him back to life but he wasn't dead. The Imperium wins forever. I have a hard-on for Multilasers. The end.

Sadly, I am almost 100% certain that this is BETTER written than how C.S.Goto would write it.

*Converts His marines using spare multilasers*

/OT Off

I have so far read All the dan abnett omnibus editions, great writing and very enjoyable books

I would avoid the Imperial guard omnibus, abnetts story was good but the other two sucked like a pimped out dyson on crack in a hurricane...with multilasers!

*backflip*

Gwar! wrote:Horus vs Emprah:
C.S.Goto Style

metallifan wrote:Then the Emprah did a backflip over Horus and shot him with his Multilasers. Horus deflected the Multilasers with his Multilasers. Then the Emprah dropped his Multilaser and grabbed his power-sword that was best power-sword in the Imperium and was better than other power-swords. The Emprah slashed his power-sword that was better than other power-swords at Horus' knees but Horus blocked it. The Emprah used his multilasers to shoot Horus. Horus got hurt. Then the Razorback drove in and ran him over. Then the Razorback that drove in and ran him over turned into a Land Raider. Then the Terminator and Kasrkin BFF backflipped off the Razorback and shot Horus with their Multilasers. Then Horus hurt the Emprah, but the Emprah killed him. Then the Emprah died but not really. Then they brought him back to Terra and put him on the Golden Throne and brought him back to life but he wasn't dead. The Imperium wins forever. I have a hard-on for Multilasers. The end.

Sadly, I am almost 100% certain that this is BETTER written than how C.S.Goto would write it.

Actually, in a Goto version, the Emprah would be the secret leader of a Slaanesh cult, killing Eldrad, the co-leader of said Slaanesh cult, with a finger snip, then attacking Horus with a Necron artefact, riding a looted Falcon, a female enslaved Farseer child waiting as a reward (<- homage to Goto's "Tears of Blood" story )

You forgot the MULTILASERS Kroothawk.

Sandy Mitchells Ciaphas Cain I found to be thoroughly enjoyable.

Part of me wants to read CS Goto, just to see how awful it is. But since I can only just barely tolerate the stuff some people here think is GOOD, I'm not sure I could handle it.

You'll commit suicide before the third chapter Da Boss, trust me.

And yes, Ciaphus Cain is an excellent series. Its on the list of must-reads and is definitely the only humor to be found in the BL.

I beg to differ Lordgar's_Blessed. It's the only intentional piece of humour in the BL. The rest is only funny becuase of it's epic fail in writing skills.

(Not that the Ciaphas Cain series was a paragon of literature work, but it was decent enough by BL standards. Anyway, I just loved the interesting spin it put on 40k. )

Lorgar's_Blessed wrote:You forgot the MULTILASERS Kroothawk.

Yeah, and the braying Necrons and Tyranids
Or the torturing of a female Farseer for 180 pages ... or his favourite characterization of Eldar Elite troops like Harlequin ("pile of mutilated bodies") ... or Dark Reapers throwing their weapons away and going into close combat .... or children downing an Eldar Falcon with stones ... or Eldar trying to block Warp Spiders ... and succeeding ... or Slaanesh worshipping Ulthwe fighting Slaanesh worshipping Dark Eldar ... or a fat Slaanesh worshipping Farseer drooling (!) when looking at a child Farseer ...
Yeah, it's that bad

Ostrakon wrote:Okay, I'll get on some of the HH books. I just finished the first Gaunt book last night and just wow.

How are James Swallow's Blood Angels books? I think I probably will get that Ultramarines omnibus too.

The blood angels books are good, if you really like that kind of space marine action then get the SW omnibuses

Anything by Dan Abnett is generally ace. Aside from those mentioned above, I'd recommend Titanicus. Tons of fluff about the Mechanicum and the Titan Legions, much better than the HH Mechanicum book.

I also highly recommend Cadian Blood. Aside from being kick-ass it also actually is a very well written book; great plot, memorable characters and a really good space fight sequence.