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hmm, pretty much anything by Dan Abnett is good although I recommend the Eisenhorn books as they are very good.
I also recommend battle of the fang by chris wraight, a good insight into the space wolves history.
my personal favourite has to be blood of asaheim by chris wraight, it has mixed reviews but I thoroughly enjoyed it, lots of action and a very chilling insight into what happens to a planet during a nurgle invasion.

One person's humdinger is another person's garbage, but I've yet to hear even one person say anything bad about Eisenhorn. That book is simply stunning! It was so good that I started reading the omnibus on a Saturday and finished the whole thing by the following Wednesday. The following are also boss (in my opinion):

Priests of Mars
Daemon World
Blood Gorgons
The Siege of Castellax
The Chains of Golgotha
Storm of Iron

Any of those titles should hit the spot if you like dark, powerful and charismatic characters and awe-inspiring scenes of dead killy action.

My favorite 40k books are the super-old school Inquisition War Trilogy (probably the single most "40k" stuff out there), Night Lords books (both ADB's and the earlier Lord of the Night), Storm of Iron, Dead Men Walking, the Eisenhorn/Ravenor books, the early Gaunts Ghosts books, and the first like half dozen or so Horus Heresy books.

Most of the other stuff is thoroughly forgettable.

 Muhr wrote:

Priests of Mars

Only problem with this one is the Matrix Syndrome.

Start with Abnett's Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies.

The Ork Codex.

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
The Ork Codex.

#BestBook

 IllumiNini wrote:

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
The Ork Codex.

#BestBook

#Exalted.

fallinq wrote:

 Beaviz81 wrote:

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:

 PrehistoricUFO wrote:
You could read the Ultramarines series by Graham McNeil.

You could, but you shouldn't.

They're terrible. The main character argues with his superior officer over whether or not it would be okay to use an improvised explosive device to destroy a bridge to stop an advancing enemy. And that's just in the prologue. It doesn't get any better from there. Graham McNeill doesn't understand how to write military fiction, which makes him perhaps the worst possible author to write about the Ultramarines, who are supposed to be among the universe's most skilled warfighters.

If you want Ultramarines, I'd say the best representation of them is in Know No Fear by Dan Abnett. The Mark of Calth anthology is decent. Those are both set in the Heresy era though.

I would not let the resident neo-nazi recommend anything to me. Graham McNeil is a superior author and this person needs a long term ban from this forum.

Resident neo-nazi? Maybe there's a story here I don't know about, but either way you probably shouldn't bring it into a non-political thread. If it's something truly ban-worthy, I trust the mods will be able to deal with it.

On topic: I think we've all learned that the Ultramarines omnibus is... divisive. I've never read it, so I can't weigh in.

Ultramarines books are generally "average", as far as 40k books go (so, below average in comparison to the usual standards), but they're not altogether terrible. Unfortunately, they do do a terrible job of portraying Ultramarines as sticks-in-the-mud with no imagination, despite several novels and Codex: Space Marine stating that the Codex Astartes thoroughly condones the utilization of improvisation and adaptation on the battlefield. McNeill definitley did a pretty bad job, in that regard. Other than that, though, it's just more Bolter Porn.

IllumiNini wrote:A couple of people have mentioned the Horus Heresy books. I would extend these recommendations to at least encompass the first five Horus Heresy novels (Horus Rising, False Gods, Galaxy in Flames, The Flight of the Eisenstein, Fulgrim) as well as Mechanicum, A Thousand Sons, and Prospero Burns. My recommendation for these would be to read the first five in order, read Mechanicum and then Read the 'A Thousand Sons'/'Prospero Burns' combo. The order in which you read A Thousand Sons and Prospero Burns may depend on who you ask by similar logic to watching the Star Wars movies in the Machete Order versus going in the episodes' numerical order, but this is up to you.

As for Dan Abnett, he is a very good writer, but the Gaunt's Ghosts series (at least in the first two novels) illustrates a number of the characters as seemingly unkillable from time to time which gets annoying. But never-the-less, he writes well and his stories are very enjoyable.

As for other recommendations which I've been given:

-- The Armageddon Omnibus (I'm a bit biased because I love and collect Black Templars haha)
-- The Shield of Baal Novellas.
-- 'Angels of Darkness' by Gav Thorpe

I've also heard nothing but good things about Gav Thorpe from everyone I've talked to, so his novels in general are to be recommended.

I second your recommendations regarding the HH, though I would remove Fulgrim from that list (that particular novel was the first of many rushed and poorly done novels in the HH series that could have been so much better had they not been so poorly thought out).
As for Angels of Darkness, I found Gav Thorpe's writing style rather grating, myself, and the afterword is downright narcissistic, but it does feature some excellent back-and-forth between Astelan and the Interrogator-Chaplain (can't for the life of me remember his name), and the ending isn't half bad.

 Furyou Miko wrote:

 Muhr wrote:

Priests of Mars

Only problem with this one is the Matrix Syndrome.

I'm not sure what you mean by that, but I can guess, and if I'm right then I agree wholeheartedly. Do you mean that the following two books in the trilogy are pants? I was absolutely blown away by Priests of Mars. I enjoyed it as much as Eisenhorn. It had some of the best scenes I've ever read in ANY sci-fi book, period! When I say the words 'Warlord Titan' and 'plasma annihilator' to anyone who's read this book, they will know exactly what scene I'm referring to. The characters are all richly realised and the combat is memorable - "put it down, Tanna!" (another awesome scene). However, the sequel was a massive disappointment, almost as if it had been written by a completely different author. It lacked everything that made its predecessor such a seminal novel. And the third book was even worse! I can't think of any other books I was more disappointed to read...ever!

Is that what you meant by the "Matrix Syndrome"?

The Ultramarines omnibus is bad because Captain Ventris is the worst Ultramarine. He's even worse than the glory hound, Sicarius.

The entire Ultramarines Omnibus series is Ventris flipping the codex the bird. Which, for a book about Ultramarines, is particularly bad.

Captain Titus did a better 'the codex is a book of guidelines, not rules'.

I just created a user on dakkadakka just to reccomend books. First you'll get what most people have already said in a "read to get 40k" order and then a few special cases. I love me some 40k books and have spent a great deal of time and Money on it.

Getting 40k:
1* Ciaphas Cain for the Empeoror -good starting book
2* Eisenhorn. -hands down the best 40k litterature out there.
3* Horus Heresy. -Imperium civil war, not a fan of the 30k stuff myself but they are good books.

Ultramarines:
1* Warriors of ultramar. -this one and only this one. Sadly I've yet to come across any (non short story/non horus heresy) space marine fiction that I'd reccomend. If you like ultramarines then this one is quite the read, if only for the maddening ammount of opposition they're up against.

Personal top 3:
1* Let the galaxy burn -Damn this book. A collection of short stories set i a myriad of settings. Hit and miss but many of them made me get the Imperium and 40k on a whole diffrent level. Probaly the first book to make me think of it as a sci-fi universe and not just as a wargaming setting.
2* Tales of heresy (The last Church). -wow. omg. wow. This book. It is not a good 40k book, it is a great piece of sci fi litterature. Note that it is only the short story "the last Church" and nothing else in this book that is worthy being on this list. Anyone who claims there is no great 40k litterature should read this one. It's only about 20 pages. Do not let anyone spoil it for you.
3* Salvation. -A lonely scribes journey through a sprawling hive citiy. I just love it so much. It's not a great piece of 40k litterature but it's so nice to have this desk job guy fight through the bureaucracy of the imperium and go on his own epic journey. It might be usefull to have some idea of necromunda before this one but it's not neccessary.
bonus:
4* The last chancers. -Some nice pretty brutal imperial guard penal legion action.
5* Fire caste. -recently read this book and it is the most imperial guard book I've ever read.
6* Dark Heresy first rulebook. -40k roleplay. 'nuff saíd.

Asurmen and Valedor are my personal favorite 40k books to date, and if your interested in expanding to lore beyond the imperium id definitely recommend them. The Path of the Renegade is also amazing if you like the Dark Realms of Commoraugh

 Muhr wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:

 Muhr wrote:

Priests of Mars

Only problem with this one is the Matrix Syndrome.

I'm not sure what you mean by that, but I can guess, and if I'm right then I agree wholeheartedly. Do you mean that the following two books in the trilogy are pants? I was absolutely blown away by Priests of Mars. I enjoyed it as much as Eisenhorn. It had some of the best scenes I've ever read in ANY sci-fi book, period! When I say the words 'Warlord Titan' and 'plasma annihilator' to anyone who's read this book, they will know exactly what scene I'm referring to. The characters are all richly realised and the combat is memorable - "put it down, Tanna!" (another awesome scene). However, the sequel was a massive disappointment, almost as if it had been written by a completely different author. It lacked everything that made its predecessor such a seminal novel. And the third book was even worse! I can't think of any other books I was more disappointed to read...ever!

Is that what you meant by the "Matrix Syndrome"?

Basically, yes. The third book was atrocious, and the second book was filler to link the first and the third. Also, just like the Matrix, the second book was basically fight scene, followed by speech, followed by fight scene, followed by speech, done.

What are you looking for? Good literature? Something which introduces the setting as a whole, or something that showcases your favourite faction?

I would recommend Ian Watson's Draco (originally published in the early 90s as Inquisitor). The setting has moved on since then (although there's not much that's terribly at odds with things as they stand now), but the whole thing simply evokes "40k-ness". The characters and their thoughts and behaviour, the imagery as conveyed by the descriptions of people and places and even the word choice (the choice of similes and metaphor really hammers home the idea of decay and fall from grace). He was a succesful and established author before writing for GW (As were all the early authors) and the diversity of styles and subject matter really fleshed the setting out, in my view.

Don't bother with the sequels, though. They go to really weird places, and the third one ends in a cliffhanger for the unwritten fourth book. Space Marine was also good, although it's less compatible with the current setting. I wouldn't let that stop you, though - it's still a good read, and most of the background of the Imperial Fists comes from this book.

Of the current books, I'd recommend the Eisenhorn trilogy (and the Ravenor trilogy, although I didn't think that was as good), Matthew Farrer's Enforcer trilogy and the Ciaphas Cain books. The latter as a light-hearted antidote to the relelntless darkness of the other books I've recommended. Sandy Mitchell's two Dark Heresy novels - Scourge the Heretic and Innocence Proves Nothing are good - if you're interested in the Inquisition, then the story of Inquisitor Carolus' Angelae as compared to Eisenhorn and Ravenor's associates gives you a look at how different Inquisitors carry out their work. Again, annoyingly unfinished.

Gav Thorpe's Last Chancers series is pretty good, and gives you an interesting look at the Imperium from an angle you otherwise won't see. My only problem was .

fifteen hours is a good book to read, its written well in a very "Catch-22" style, gives you a good view of IG(AM) and a little ork.

Fifteen Hours is a good book to get into the average life of the guardsmen, as well as get a taste in the depressing grimdark that is 40K's aesthetic.

Titanicus is also a recommendation from me. Very good look at Titanic warfare and the Mechanicus; As well as the Imperium's government. Very cool Political subplot is involved.

I would highly recommend the Ciphas Cain novels or the Yarrick books.

Some of my favorites:
Eisenhorn
Scourge the Heretic
Lord of the Night
Fifteen Hours
Fire and Faith
25 for 25

My favorite fiction is Execution Hour, Its more Battlefleet Gothic, but it shows you a good bit about Chaos and IG.

Some other good books that don't get many mentions are Double Eagle and Relentless.

I'm reading Crossfire right now, so in a few days ill tell you if its good or not.

I would recommend Talon of Horus because not only is it a great story but also explains the warhammer universe more than any other book. It explains the end of the horus heresy. The present state of the Imperium, exactly what Chaos is, the Black Legion, the Eldar and even the Old ones.

What I found particularly intriguing is the authors take on the Black Legion. In the past it was just the renamed Sons of Horus. However in Talon of Horus most of the Legionaries that Abbadon recruits are from other Legions. His second in command is from the Thousand Sons, his emissary is from the Emperors Children.

The 3 eisenhorn novels, then the 3 ravenor ones, then the first of the 3 Eisenhorn AND Ravenor ones and then cry yourself to sleep at night because it is taking so long for him to write the second!