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Apologies if this has been posted before but was wondering what you guys think is the best book of the Horus Heresy series.

I have read 12 of them so far and have really enjoyed most of them and was not particularly bothered about a few.

With the Age of Darkness due for release soon (23rd April I think) I wanted to list my faves and see what you guys thought.

I've included all the releases but not the audio books as I haven't listened to them.

Horus Rising: 9/10

Great start to the series for me, gripped me instantly and really made me want to read more.

False Gods: 5/10

Disappointing follow up for me but enough there to keep me intrigued

Galaxy in Flames: 9/10

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Really captured the battles well I thought.

Flight of the Eisenstein: 7/10

Probably a little harsh score but might of been on a bit of a come down after the first three "mini-series"

Fulgrim: 7/10

Definately preffered to Mcneill's first book in the series but I thought he over embellished at times, in parts it dragged a little.

Descent of Angels: 2/10

Didn't interest me at all. I don't even think it should be in the series. At best it introduced characters for the "2nd part"

Fallen Angels: 5/10

Thankfully a little better than the first. Might of helped had I not read these two back to back.

Legion: 8/10

Excellent read. Took a bit of getting into but really grew on me. Thoroughly enjoyed by the end.

Battle for the Abyss: 3/10

Big let down. A shame because the base plot interested me. School report would read "must try harder".

Mechanicum: 7/10

Liked it more than I was expecting too. Took its time to get me interested though.

Tales of Heresy: 0/10

Zero score by default as it is still unread next to my bed!

A Thousand Sons: 8/10

Favourite Mcneill book by a way. Even toyed with doing a pre-heresy Thousand Sons army after this.

Prospero Burns: 0/10

Only half way through this but so far so good. Will score when I finish it.

The First Heretic: 0/10

Think this one is underneath Tales of Heresy!

Nemesis: 0/10

Don't own it yet. Been told it is a very good book so looking forward to it once I've caught up.

The score I've given them is a comparison between books in the series and not of my book reading experiences as a whole as I don't want this thread to spill into
"well you've given Horus Rising a 9 but thisthatandtheother book by whathisfacethingymagig was a way better read!"

If anyone has any info on how good the Audio books are (Raven's Flight and the 2 Garro ones) then please let me know.

Ta

Hmm this was tied for me between my top 5 I can never fully settle on an order between Galaxy in Flames, Prospero Burns, First Heretic, Nemesis and Flight of the Eisenstien.

Agree on Descent of Angels but think False Gods isnt that bad I'd give it at least a 7.

I'm tied between Prospero Burns and A Thousand sons, but I picked Prospero burns.

Mechanicum, but special mention goes to Prospero burns for making me change my opinions on Space Wolves. First heretic was very good as well.

First Heretic for me.

Honourable mentions for Horus Rising, Mechanicum and Prospero Burns too.

Nemesis was OK I thought but the main plot was very weak IMHO.

Yeah maybe I was a little harsh on False Gods but out of the first 3 "mini-series" was my least favourite.

It's great to hear good feedback on the books I'm yet to read in the series, as I said I'm halfway through Prospero Burns and am enjoying it so far
and am looking forward to the First Heretic after those comments.

Thousand Sons. Was a great book, I really liked it, very dark and well written. and so sad :(

Fulgrim was definitely number one for me with very close runners up by The First Heretic and A Thousand Sons

Galaxy in Flames, Prospero Burns, Flight of the Eisenstin and Legion are also incredible books


Bottom of the barrel in my Opinion are Battle for the Abyss and Decent of Angels. Abyss was completely unnecessary and while I found Decent of Angels interesting, it really doesn't apply to the Heresy.
It would be cool if the Black Library made a novelization for all of the known 18(19 Omegon) Primarch's origin tales, I would own every single one.

Descent of Angels would have been the perfect start to a series like that as they are the first legion.

Legion was awesome. I really really really (3x) enjoyed the traitor-no traitor-fool everyone storyline.


Mechanicum - Just because I love the Adeptus Mechanicus & Titan Legions. Titanicus was a very good read, too.


Still reading on 1000 Sons, looks good so far

Also, as to Tales of Heresy, there were good stories and bad.

Here's how I rate them(0-10 scale):

Wolf at the Door - 10
Simply put, my favorite Black library story I've read to date. Though, to be fair, I am a huge fan of "The 13th Warrior" and it's predecessor "Beowulf" which the story is based upon.


Scions of the Storm - 8
Good story, good action, good twist.

Call of the Lion - 3
To be honest, i cannot remember this story... and I know for a fact I read it. As I remember every other one perfectly, I have to give this one a low score simply because it doesn't stand out.

The Last Church - 7
Cool Story, pretty obvious twist... if you can even call it that. It puts a new view point on the Unification Wars and "Imperial Truth"

After Desh’ea - 9
Very awesome and unexpected story. I definitely want more story's like this one.

A Thousand Sons and Prospero Burns are the only novels so far that have had a really believable emotional element involving the Primarchs. The first 3 attempted it with Horus and didn't do so well and Fulgrim had his emotional moments at the end with Ferrus but it just wasn't as well written or told as Prospero Burns and particularly in A Thousand Sons.

It is going to be hard to beat A Thousand Sons in my opinion.

1k Sons was my favorite by far, with Nemesis a close second.

My personal favorite would have to be flight of the Eisenstein. i just love the space battles along with the death guards way they adorn their armor. a single skull should be all you need on your armor to make foes fear you.

Just Dave wrote:Nemesis was OK I thought but the main plot was very weak IMHO.

I think the problem with Nemesis, fo us gamers who know the story at least, is that we know that neither side accomplishes their objectives. We know that the Execution force doesn't pop Horus and likewise Spear doesn't make it to Terra. Therefore, it was very difficult to make a story that kept you interested in knowing what happens, because you already do. It had some twists (for instance, ), and I appreciated the more in-depth look it gave to the pre-heresy Officio, but apart from that I find I'm forced to agree with you.

Little lord Fauntleroy wrote:

Just Dave wrote:Nemesis was OK I thought but the main plot was very weak IMHO.

I think the problem with Nemesis, fo us gamers who know the story at least, is that we know that neither side accomplishes their objectives. We know that the Execution force doesn't pop Horus and likewise Spear doesn't make it to Terra. Therefore, it was very difficult to make a story that kept you interested in knowing what happens, because you already do. It had some twists (for instance,

Spoiler:

Malcador being the Master of Assassins

), and I appreciated the more in-depth look it gave to the pre-heresy Officio, but apart from that I find I'm forced to agree with you.

Oh I completely agree, although

Just Dave wrote:

Little lord Fauntleroy wrote:

Just Dave wrote:Nemesis was OK I thought but the main plot was very weak IMHO.

I think the problem with Nemesis, fo us gamers who know the story at least, is that we know that neither side accomplishes their objectives. We know that the Execution force doesn't pop Horus and likewise Spear doesn't make it to Terra. Therefore, it was very difficult to make a story that kept you interested in knowing what happens, because you already do. It had some twists (for instance,

Spoiler:

Malcador being the Master of Assassins

), and I appreciated the more in-depth look it gave to the pre-heresy Officio, but apart from that I find I'm forced to agree with you.

Oh I completely agree, although

Spoiler:

I thought Spear was (by far) the best thing about the novel, whilst the main team of assassins were underwhelming. I found their actions predictable and the recruitment process was weak and fairly repetitive IMHO.
I did enjoy the insight into Dorn and the Emperor for example, but otherwise I was unimpressed by the whole thing...

They are all pretty awful. I wish they were never written. They pretty much universally made every character that used to be cool into a brainless tool. The 40K universe is the way it is because everyone is apparently mentally slowed and have the emotional maturity of a 3-year-old. Bah.

withershadow wrote:They are all pretty awful. I wish they were never written. They pretty much universally made every character that used to be cool into a brainless tool. The 40K universe is the way it is because everyone is apparently mentally slowed and have the emotional maturity of a 3-year-old. Bah.

Troll much?

On topic, galaxy in flames for me.

Loken is one of my favorite characters in the Horus Heresy, but I think Thousand Sons does the best at capturing the characters and theme of a Legion that is so different from the others.