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It's a tie between Abnett and Dembski-Bowden. Both of them rise above the normal ranks of military stories to bring novels with actual literary merit to the table. They understand story structure and nuance better than a lot of other authors out there, both in and out of franchised fiction. Abnett writes really well, but Dembski-Bowden in particular has a habit of always picking the factions I hate most to write about. I've thus far been delighted by his ability to write stories about these groups and make me love the faction, or at least his characters. I'm really looking forward to him turning his hand to the group I hate the most in the entire setting. (The Black Legion.) From what he's said about what he wants to bring to the setting in regards to them, I'm already excited.

John French is where it is at.

That guy is on his way to become a rising star among the BL goons, just you wait and see.

 Redcruisair wrote:
John French is where it is at.

That guy is on his way to become a rising star among the BL goons, just you wait and see.

Agreed.

Him, Rob Sanders and Chris Wraight all seem to have a lot of potential. I'd like it if they'd get them involved in the HH series a bit more to help speed it up, although I know Wraight is penning the White Scars novel.

 Just Dave wrote:

 Redcruisair wrote:
John French is where it is at.

That guy is on his way to become a rising star among the BL goons, just you wait and see.

Agreed.

Him, Rob Sanders and Chris Wraight all seem to have a lot of potential. I'd like it if they'd get them involved in the HH series a bit more to help speed it up, although I know Wraight is penning the White Scars novel.

Hmm, I wonder what draws people to a specific author (style wise.)

For me it has always been the about the characters, or to be more specific; the respective characters feelings and emotions. I want to feel what they feel and share their moment (of optimism, joy, anger, pain) with them.
I think French really succeeds in this department. He makes me care for the characters in a genuinely way, and I really like that. I like it a lot…


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I don’t know anymore.

Maybe I’m just a really sentimental person.

^ Yeah, Ahriman Exile was pretty cool...

 DarthMarko wrote:
^ Yeah, Ahriman Exile was pretty cool...

So French wrote that one?

Is it any good?

You gave me the option to vote C.S. Goto. How could I not abuse this privilege?

I haven't read enough BL books to really decide who is the best in my eyes, but from the books I have read (The HH series up to and including A Thousand Sons, with the exception of Tales of the Heresy; and, unfortunately, the Dawn of War books... All those lost hours...) James Swallow's writing has been the best thus far in my opinion.

I enjoyed Flight of the Eisenstein far more than any of the other books I've read. Second best was probably Horus Rising or Legion , although it's been a while since I last read it. Second best author is probably Abnett, as you might've guessed from the book choices above.

I've found that the weakest authors thus far have been C.S. Goto (a whole new level of suck), Ben Counter (Battle for the Abyss was, if you'll excuse the pun, abysmal.), and Graham McNeill (his books have been slow to start and never really seem to go anywhere; they're also not really very enjoyable).

I still have a lot of reading to go, so my opnions will probably change, but that's how they currently stand.

Abnett is good, but I prefer ADB. I can actually get attached to ADB's characters. My introduction to him was through Cadian Blood and I am currently really enjoying the Night Lords trilogy.

While I love ADB and Abnett's characters are some of my most memorable (though the man really seems to have issues writing endings), Rob Sanders has gotten a lot of love from me lately. He definitely has a knack for taking fairly poorly detailed bits of fluff, as he did with the Iron Warriors, the Alpha Legion, and the Feast of Blades, and really accentuating what makes those things awesome.

 Redcruisair wrote:

 DarthMarko wrote:
^ Yeah, Ahriman Exile was pretty cool...

So French wrote that one?

Is it any good?

O yes

Graham McNeil got me hooked with Storm of Iron. Before reading that, I think it'd read Warrior Brood by C.S. Goto (which had put me off the Black Library for a few years) and some bolterporn omnibus. Storm of Iron was bolterporn too, but it was well done bolterporn. And also it was about Traitor Legionnaires fighting Guardsmen. The loyalist Astartes weren't the main characters, which was nice. I read some more of his stuff and a lot of it was good (A Thousand Sons for example) but the sad fact is that most of it doesn't go much beyond bolterporn. Its well done to be sure, but you can only read about the same ole massacres and bloodbaths so many times.

Then I started reading Dan Abnett's stuff. The major difference between McNeil's and Abnett's stuff is that, after reading Abnett's stuff, I remembered the characters's names. I remembered who Ravenor and Carl Thonius and Harlon Nayl and Patience Kys were. The characters had depth. I mean, the plotlines weren't always great (Why did Abnett have to drag timetravel into Ravenor Rogue, why?) but it was like the TV Show LOST. You care enough about the characters to overlook the flaws in the storyline and setting. Really though, in recent years, Abnett's writing seems to have lost its flare. Know No Fear feels like bolterporn at a larger scale than usual, and I felt cheated by Pariah (which was marketed as the conflict between Ravenor and Eisenhorn). Maybe its not that he's getting worse, but that I'm starting to read more non-licensed merchandise books, and Abnett's work is starting to pale in comparison.

So, my favorite 40k author is ADB. You can tell he's excited about the setting, and everything in his writing just fits - the story, the setting, the prose, and the characters all come together perfectly. This feels like what 40k would actually be like. His writing is by no means perfect. You can tell when he's rooting for his own characters/factions. But no author is perfect, and really I think a lot of authors have problems with this. ADB's novels are the only ones I really make an effort to read anymore. I mean, I might read something of Abnett's or McNeil's on an long flight or something like that, but otherwise I probably won't. But with ADB, I'll actually go to a store intending to buy one of his novels, which is really something.

I always wandered why someone likes Gav Thorpe? Seriosly - perhaps I can open my mind to his positive parts.....

The Lion was pretty decent I guess, but I have never read a full-length novel by him.

Raven's Flight was awesome for how parody-esque Corax's manliness was in it. I mean, he pulled the pin from a grenade, punched his fist into the chest of an Iron Warrior (Surely killing him), and then let it detonate in his palm.

Because any less is not manly enough.

The Eldar path books were decent, but frankly you'll like them if you're an Eldar fan and prolly won't care for them if you aren't. Thorpe's writing is tolerable but not really amazing, imo.

Got about a third into Deliverance Lost and lost interest. Thorpe doesn't write good marines, imo. They're too emotional and human... that's probably why he does Eldar decently enough.

I've never really had a problem with his writing style, personally (although I struggle with Nick Kyme's and James Swallow's). I thought The Lion was good, but the Path novels progressively worse (the first was good, but the final one was crud IMHO; and I'm an Eldar fan).
I guess I can't really hate him for Deliverance Lost, as that plot was no-doubt devised by the HH team, rather than just him.

So I guess I'm fairly neutral-to-positive regarding Thorpe.

So little love for Commissar Cain? Whenever I go on a long ride I always take one of the Omnibuses. They are great books that are totally different from anyother black libary book. Just try to look past the recycled sentences used in every book...

Also Where is the option for Andy Chambers? The Dark Eldar Path series is magnificent. I really puts the Eldar one to shame! The discribtion of Commaragh sounds immpossible, but he does it well. The dark eldar are suitably alien, extreamly scheaming and the whole book is very fast pasted. If you have any inclanation for eldar, stay way from the eldar path books, Join the dark side!

 ALEXisAWESOME wrote:
So little love for Commissar Cain? Whenever I go on a long ride I always take one of the Omnibuses. They are great books that are totally different from anyother black libary book. Just try to look past the recycled sentences used in every book...

Also Where is the option for Andy Chambers? The Dark Eldar Path series is magnificent. I really puts the Eldar one to shame! The discribtion of Commaragh sounds immpossible, but he does it well. The dark eldar are suitably alien, extreamly scheaming and the whole book is very fast pasted. If you have any inclanation for eldar, stay way from the eldar path books, Join the dark side!

Sorry, I kind of missed those books, are they good ?
Btw, poll updated....